Saturday, November 11, 2006

Cold Weather Grilling

Normal fall weather here in France. Frosty-n- foggy mornings sometimes turn into a clear sunny day. Straight from back-to-back cooking class.....Gastropub Class......the 'old man' decided, late yesterday afternoon, to cook dinner for me!


Fall Table Setting for the Gastropub Class

He suggested Grilled Steak, big baked potatoes and a vegetable from the Ferme de Gally. I agreed to let him cook! Actually, his menu sounded great!
We stopped at the Ferme and found some beautiful bulbous Fennel (I was taking over this part of dinner). I thought they'd be great par-boiled till just tender and finished in a quick butter saute'......lookin' good, huh?


Then after stopping at the Ferme, we stopped at the butcher in the 'old' part of town. You will never leave your butcher or vegetable stand in France without a recipe or wise words of wisdom. I asked the young butcher for a suggestion for the BBQ Grill. Yes simple question, really! The butcher pointed outside and said 'you can't BBQ in the winter'!!!!
The 'old man' countered with 'We BBQ ALL winter long'....

Once this fact was settled, he picked out a nice steak, cut to our desired thickness and then he shared a quick grilling tip. The French like their steak on the bleu side.....
We smiled and left the shop holding the door open for a little old lady. I'm sure our butcher will be telling her all about the crazy Americans who just left the shop!


Grilling by the light of the moon.....and the small spotlight courtesy Target. It sheds just enough light to grill all winter long!

5 comments:

Betty Carlson said...

Oh how I love fennel -- I think I had never tasted it before moving to France. It looks great grilled.

Banlieue Blog said...

Betty,
It is one of those veggies that not everybody likes or even knows....but it is so worth a try!

Unknown said...

Thanks for visiting my blog and for the compliment. Your blog looks pretty yummy too.

LPM

Guy said...

Well, YEAH. Not only do it taste good, but smelling the grill going while the air is crisp and most are inside really does the psyche good.

Biggles

Banlieue Blog said...

I know you grill all year long!! Hope you and 'the fam' had a fantastic holiday!