Don’t let your mother tell you that the Internet is a scary place! Nutmeg has met so many interesting people via Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest that she has decided to start a Guest Blog Thursdays, so they can share their stories. Volia:
Aidan Larson is an American mom of three navigating her way through life in France and writing about it on her blog: Conjugating Irregular Verbs. She writes from her dining room table in the south of France in between motherhood, French lessons and perfecting her oeuf en croute. If you want to read more from Aidan she can be found on her blog site Conjugating Irregular Verbs (letters from my dining table in the south of France) or on Twitter @aidan_larson.
We are smack dab in the middle of summer. It’s my favorite season of the year, especially here in the south of France where the produce is tantalizingly displayed at weekly markets all over the region. This is the time of year that could make even the most vegaphobic person fall for a green bean, squash flower or misshapen tomato. Endless possibilities for creating fresh, cool, and perfectly filling summer lunch dishes abound. There really aren’t enough Sunday midis to make all the things I want to make. I jot down notes, tear out recipes and plan menus while greedily dreaming of long lunches around the table in the dappled sunshine of the terrace.
When I thought of what I’d like to share with you, the readers of Ginger and Nutmeg’s blog, I picked some of my favorite easy summer dishes and made you a typical French Sunday lunch menu. It’s something you would be served at any southern French maison during the summer, probably outside under a wisteria laden pergola or rush covered terrace. It would also make a great pique-nique lunch to enjoy under the shade of a plane tree while you wait for the speeding cyclists of the Tour de France to whiz by.
The French love to serve appetizers and desserts in small shot glasses, called verrines. They make for pretty portions and are fun to dip your small teaspoon into. The soup and white chocolate mousse would be perfect served this way rather than family style. You can fill the glasses ahead of time and keep them refrigerated until ready to serve.
Everything can be made ahead so it is an easy menu for entertaining. You can, of course, prepare the tomato and crab tart up to the point of cooking and then put it in the oven while the soup is served, if you want it to be piping hot. If not, it’s just as good at room temperature or even refrigerator cold eaten like morning pizza, right out of your hand. (The French would never eat it this way, but what they don’t know won’t hurt them.)
French Summer Sunday Lunch for 6
Cold Melon Soup with Basil
So simple, so fresh and so summer. A must try recipe.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 6-8
Serving Size: Appetizer portions
Ingredients
Cooking Directions
Tarte à la Tomate with Crab
An excellent lunchtime dish and one that impresses your guests every time. Serve it with a simply dressed green salad of lettuce leaves, finely sliced scallions, green and white parts, and a tablespoon of drained capers. NOTE: Even if you do not like Dijon do not skip this step it gives a depth of flavor. NOTE: You can prepare the tart and leave in the fridge for up to a half hour before cooking. Any longer and your crust will get soggy.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 6-8
Serving Size: Slices
Ingredients
Cooking Directions
Summer Cheese Trio
The cheese course is a luncheon staple here in France but the trick is not to serve too many choices or too much of each. Pick three different cheeses and serve a small wedge of each on a wooden cutting board. Some good ones to try would be a firm, ripe bleu d’Auvergne, a low-fat cow Tomme de Savoie made from cow’s milk, and a Pélardon, goat’s cheese from our Languedoc region.
White Chocolate Mousse with Frozen Raspberries
When ready to serve, add a couple of frozen raspberries to the top of each glass. Or you could mix your raspberries in a couple of tablespoons of Grand Marnier if you like before topping each.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours
Yield: 6
Serving Size: Parfait glasses
Ingredients
Cooking Directions
Food Travel Tags:
Chocolate, Crab, Entertainment, Food, France, French Food, Friends, Guest Blog, Melon, quiche, Recipes, Seafood, Soups, Travel
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I was suggested this web site by way of my cousin.
You're incredible!
Thank you!
What Happened To The Baguette
I could not agree more!
What Happened To The Baguette
Great post - I remember being horrified to see sliced white bread in plastic packaging on the sup...
Provence Land of Lavender
Thanks Rhonda - Provence is close to paradise, but there is the odd pesky critter
Merci Aidan for this excellent yet blissfully easy menu (I am such a lazy cook at this time of year)!! I will definitely be trying ALL of this out and as a fellow expat in the South, can attest that this is as good as it gets.
What a nice menu; it would be perfect in the South of France or here in Northern California where markets are in full swing too. Bon Appetit.
Oh Aidan, this sounds divine – the perfect summer meal. And having eaten at your house before I can vouch that you have got it all goin’ on in the kitchen. Thank you!
Kirsty: I agree looks divine.
Ah yes the wonders of summer markets
Wanted to tell you that I used your recipes for a lunch one day a few weeks ago, the ones with the Cantaloupe soup, Tomato Tart and wonderful white chocolate mouse. I was trying to decide on a menu when yours came, so guess what? We sat under my tree in the garden and had a blast and so enjoyed all your suggestions for a French lunch!! Many many thanks for sending it!