Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Stuffed

Ken made stuffed zucchini for our lunch on Sunday. He started by steaming three of the larger squashes to soften them up. Then he hollowed them out.

Stuffed squash ready for the oven.

He made the stuffing with the squash from the center, some sausage meat we had in the freezer, some diced carrots and tomatoes, parsley, red pepper flakes, some cooked millet, and egg to bind it all. Once the squash boats were stuffed, they went into the oven for about an hour to finish cooking.

A section sliced through the baked stuffed squash.

After, I felt like we needed dessert, so I used a bunch of the "dead bread" that we have in the refrigerator to make a bread pudding. I call it "dead bread" because it's stale, left-over bits and pieces of baguettes that we use for making bread crumbs and puddings.

The bread pudding, dotted with butter, ready for the oven.

The recipe came right out of the Joy of Cooking. It's made with milk, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, and nutmeg. We had a few ripening peaches from our neighbor's yard in the kitchen, so Ken cut them up and I added them to the pudding.

The finished pudding.

It baked in a bain-marie (water bath) for about forty-five minutes. A lovely dessert, a bit rustic, but great with local gamay red.

Our neighbors' family out for an after meal break.

Also on Sunday, our neighbors across the street had a big family event. It was in celebration of the christening of one of their numerous grandchildren. There were at least fifteen cars parked over there. After the meal, many of the kids and grand-kids and friends walked out into the vineyard to stretch their legs, smoke cigarettes, and play boules.

I was amazed to see how many of them carried their own set of boules for the game. And you won't believe how many times I had to re-write that sentence so it wouldn't sound funny; I'm not sure I succeeded.

9 comments:

  1. Wow, that all looks great! and is making me incredibly hungry

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  2. your posts and pictures always make me hungry.

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  3. Huh, that is surprising about the boules. But you know, I think it's good practice to have your own boules and not rely on others to provide them for you as so many people do.

    And yes, your post also make me hungry as well. I'm off to eat some cold cereal...

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  4. Strangely enough, and unfortunately I must say, the risqué and funny meaning of your last paragraph doesn't work in French. In English the possibilities are endless!

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  5. I love the photo of the family's walk in the park. I also like to see les boules being played in France. You've given me a taste of France which is a good diversion from current US problems.

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  6. The dress code for men at your neighbour's lunch appears to have been smart casual or sleeveless!

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  7. justin, then I have done my job!

    kylie, ditto!

    susan, sounds like a good philosphy: walk tall and carry your own boules.

    chm, et en plus, en français, il y en a quatre...

    evelyn, they play in the ruts in the dirt road which is full of rocks! That's dedication.

    victor, most of them came from church, I think. Not sure about the sleeveless guys...

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  8. It is important to carry your own boules. In a big group, you just can't have too many boules. Otherwise everyone gets stuck with only one boule to play with or worse yet, having to share their boules with a bunch of others.

    I love Petanque, a great game everyone can enjoy. One of the great things about little villages in the south, if nothing much is happening you can almost always find some guys playing with their boules.

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  9. papadesdeux, you must have seen my drafts of that sentence... Nothing says "friendship" more than sharing your boules with an other.

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