Bonjour French Market friends.
Whilst we continue to battle here through disruptive power cuts, this week in France President Macron and his Ministers reinforced their efforts to reduce energy consumption in the face of rising costs and potential disruption of ga
s supplies emanating from Russia. Their project is entitled “Sobering Energy” plan, with a view to raising general public awareness of the crises and a goal of reducing energy consumption by 10% within 2 years, to ensure sufficient stocks for the following winter. They hope to achieve this goal to avoid implementing rationing (power cuts). In every walk of life, government and private, the French are being asked to make a massive effort to reduce consumption. Whilst private establishments would not be monitored, the visible impact will be in the public spaces, lighting at sports events, public signage, and heating for example. France is a net energy importer; the monthly gas import was averaging EUR1 billion a month for 20 years. Since 2022 the gas price has escalated to EUR5billion a month. The impact is financially catastrophic. It is going to be a huge challenge. I wish Macron lots of courage and success with his plan, the agricultural industry, fortunately is one of the lower uses of energy, so hopefully we will continue to get all our beautiful cheeses in from France. (Image courtesy BENOIT TESSIER / POOL / AFP)
New stock in from France this week is Brie de Meaux. On
e of the great classic, raw milk cheeses produced in France. The ridged white crust has a delicate white mushroom aroma and the soft centre has an ivory colour with a wonderful taste that fills the mouth with flavour.
W
e have also received a new stock of Morbier, an unmistakeable cheese from the Jura. This is also a raw milk cheese and is made with a layer of ash running through the centre. The crust is dry and the texture is medium firm. The unique flavour is well rounded and completely different to other cheeses.
We also received more stock of Roquefort, the raw milk shee
p’s cheese from the hotter southern region of France. This blue is considered (by the French) to be one of the greatest blue cheeses on the planet. I think they are right, however a good Stilton and gooey Gorgonzola offer strong competition. You can try a slice of each and compare them. There are plenty of other wonderful cheeses for you to share with your friends and family.
As we slo
wly approach summer, we have a whole range of terrines and pates which are ideal for picnics Pair these with crunchy green cornichons, French gherkins, and serve these with Italian savoury crackers or home baked French baguettes.
Summer is coming and the year is racing away with the Festive season appearing on the horizon. We have now returned to our full trading days at the Garden centre with open hours up to 7 pm each evening Mon-Fri until further notice. Please remember that we are still taking orders, you can ask up to prepare in advanced and you can collect, or we can deliver to you.
In our fresh produce range we continue to get in kilos of the violet globe artichokes and plenty of other local produce. One of my fav
ourite local products is our free-range eggs. Our service provider, Moses, arrives with trays and a big smile, straight from the countryside, where the chickens run amongst the vines. It really does make a difference to the quality and taste, the yolks are a deep golden yellow and they are huge.
For gourmet treats, in our seafood range, we stock caviar from Italy and Madagascar. The Italian caviar is Ascetra aka oscietra, and the Madagascan caviar is Baerii. In addition we stock Keta, pink salmon roe from Italy and black lumpfish roe from Iceland. These all add an exotic touch to simp
le dishes.
For this week’s recipe I decided that we needed a simple but exotic recipe that could be whipped up in the space of a few minutes in time to beat the power cuts that always seen to happen over supper time. This recipe is creamy scrambled eggs containing caviar, the flavour of the caviar pairs well with the gentle egg taste. See recipe below.
Wishing you a very enjoyable weekend, looks like the temperature is warming up for the weekend with 29C degrees forecast for Monday.
Regards
Suzanne and The French Market Team.
French Market Recipe 2022 38 Œufs brouilles au caviar
Scrambled eggs with caviar
Ingredients for 4 servings
- 300gr flour
- 125gr +25g butter
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 30g Caviar
- 30ml milk
- 8 eggs
- 1 lemon
- freshly ground pepper to taste
Directions:
Sift the flour and pile in a heap on a pastry board
- Make a well in the flour and add the salt
- Cut 125gr butter into small pieces and allow to softem
- Add butter to the flour and work the butter and salt into the flour using finger tips.
- Add a little water to the dough to help mix but not much, mix until a ball of dough is formed
- Leave the dough to rest for for several hours
- Preheat oven to 220Cdegrees
- Roll out the pastry thinly and line 8 small tartlet cases
- Prick the pastry all over with a fork, to allow air to escape while cooking
- Bake for 12 minutes
- Remove tartlets from the pastry cases and keep warm
- Stir the caviar into the milk
- Squeeze juice from lemon
- Beat the eggs and add pepper
- Add caviar, milk and a little lemon juice to the eggs and stir in
- Use a double boiler to cook the eggs, adding 25g butter piece by piece, as the eggs thicken, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon
- Spoon the mixture into the pastry tartlets and serve immediately
Pair with a glass of Tribaut Schloesser brut champagne, available at the French Market shop in Cape Town.
Bon Appetit!
Suzanne and The French Market Team
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