Sunday, June 05, 2011

Une assiette de frites

I went to the St.-Aignan market on Saturday morning just after Ken left for his trip up north. The day was sunny and warm and the market square was buzzing with people shopping for the weekend. I made the rounds looking at all the good stuff, but I was really after some strawberries. They guy from whom I buy asparagus every year also sells strawberries. His son (or is it is son-in-law?) grows them not far from here.

A plate full of fries. I like them with salt and pepper.

After I scored the berries, I stopped by the poultry vendors for something to grill for lunch. They had some nice looking sausages (the long thin kind called chipolatas) made with chicken and herbs. I got two of those. I also couldn't resist a couple of duck sausages. Then I saw that they had some made with rabbit; I took two of those, too.

I grilled one chicken and one rabbit sausage and made this batch of frites (fries). Very tasty with some hot Dijon mustard. I followed that with a salad of frisée from the garden. Dessert was, naturally, fresh strawberries in a little port wine. I sat out on the deck and enjoyed a leisurely lunch while tennis was on the tv inside.

The rabbit sausage was good. It had a richer and very slightly gamey flavor compared to the chicken sausage.

By the way, the strawberries are of a variety called Charlotte. It's an ever-bearing variety and the fruit is a little more hardy than the gariguette or the extremely fragile mara des bois varieties that we also get this time of year.

10 comments:

  1. I had rabbit sausages once, in Brittany. We grilled them on the BBQ and they were extremely good. Like you say, a richer and slightly gamey flavour. I've never seen or eaten them since. Pity!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are so lucky to find different kinds of good strawberries in France. I was at the open air market yesterday; the big, beautifully formed ones they sell are a bit sweeter now but still don't really taste like "real" strawberries. But at "Harry's berries" the Gaviottas are smaller and delicious. They also cost $ 16 for 3 baskets.
    Apriums, peaches and nectarines have finally arrived. Summer is here!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sausages and chips (OK fries)... nothing wrong with that. Comfort food. Mind you, almost any food is comfort food for me!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like heaven! I think I've never seen rabbit sausage, but I love all sorts of game when I've been in Hungary. And now I'm hungry again. Time for breakfast.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Strawberries in wine. Interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Those frites look marvelous. Your lunch sounds great :)

    Your 5-minutes-of-rain story reminds me of Jean de Florette. Have you seen that movie? or read Pagnol's book?

    Judy

    ReplyDelete
  7. Those fries look mouth-watering. Don't tell me you didn't eat a huge plate of greens with your frites and sausages? Apparently they were at your disposal. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don't allow myself to get nasty but oh so delicious fries anymore, but when I do, I like them with tabasco and creamy dressing dip.

    ReplyDelete
  9. martine, I liked them, and I'll look for them again soon so Ken can try them.

    nadege, the strawberries here are not too expensive, but they're worth what they cost because they're soooo good!

    craig, I know what you mean!

    kristi, lol!

    starman, fraises au vin rouge is a classic in France.

    judy, yes, I've seen the movie a couple of times. But we finally got a good rainstorm yesterday!

    ginny, I ate a big plate of greens on Sunday with the duck sausages. :)

    michael, that sounds tasty!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ah, a plate of fries.....my favorite. My taste buds actually stated to salivate when I saw your wonderful picture.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me what you think!