Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

I plan to continue my travel posts but decided to intersperse them with some recipes.  For you see, I am on a  mission.  We have a very busy Summer and Fall happening at the lake.  We have lots of company coming, including our large family for the Labor Day Weekend.  I am researching recipes that can be done ahead of time, can be frozen, are good in the crock pot, and just generally easy for me to prepare.  I am trying to eliminate chaos in the kitchen so that I can enjoy being with our guests as much as possible.

For an example, every Labor Day my DIL and I make BLTs for lunch.  When you have 14 plus people to feed that is a lot of bacon to fry, bread to toast and assembly to do.  This year I am making a big crock pot full of  pulled chicken with barbecue sauce.  Everyone can help themselves.  I will warm some buns and put out coleslaw and chips.  The  test chicken is in the crock pot right now.  I will post the recipe if it is a winner.

Another blogger is cooking for guests.  Mary of One Perfect Bite is visiting with her family which includes children.  This whole month she is featuring kid friendly, easy recipes to feed a crowd.  I have been following closely.  Mary always post great recipes.  This tortilla pie she featured on her blog is a winner.

This would make a great entree for the family coming with our Son and DIL later in September.  I can make several versions of the pie and pop them in the freezer.    This version is great with ground sirloin, corn, baby spinach and Monterey Jack cheese.   The Mom in the family is a vegetarian so I will make one of them with black beans instead of meat.   Served with sour cream, chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese and lettuce it will be easy to get on the table after a busy day on the lake.

Thanks for a great recipe Mary.

TORTILLA PIE (From One Perfect Bite inspired by Martha Stewart)

4 four tortillas (10-inch)
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for pan
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 pound ground beef sirloin
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 package (10 ounce) frozen corn kernels (shoepeg corn if possible)
1- 6 ounce package fresh baby spinach, torn into pieces
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey or Pepper Jack cheese
Fresh cilantro sprigs, for garnish (optional)
Sour cream (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Using a paring knife, trim tortillas to fit a 9-inch springform pan (use bottom of the pan as a guide).  For some reason my tortillas fit perfectly in the pan without trimming.  Lightly oil bottom and sides of pan.  Set aside.

2. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat.  Add onion, cumin, and red pepper flakes; season with salt and pepper.  Cook until onion has softened, 3 to 5 minutes.  Stir in tomato paste.  Raise heat to medium-high; add beef and garlic.  Cook, breaking up meat with a spoon until no longer pink, 4 to 6 minutes.  Add corn and spinach; stir until spinach has wilted, about 2 minutes.

3. Place one tortilla in the prepared pan.  Spreading evenly, top with 1 1/2 packed cups beef mixture, then 1/2 cup cheese.  Repeat with two more layers.  Top with last tortilla, and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.

4.  Bake pie until top is lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes.  Run knife around edge of pan; remove sides.  Using two wide metal spatulas, lift pie from bottom of pan, and transfer to a cutting board.  Cut into wedges.  If desired, serve with cilantro and sour cream.  Yield 4 to 5 servings.

Printable recipe

The Loire Valley has been described as the Garden of France.  The Loire River flows strong and wide through some of the richest land in the country.  Vineyards and orchards dot the fertile banks and loamy hills.

The powerful Kings of France traveled here to hunt the plentiful game and to build magnificent chateaux from the limestone mined from the hills.  The Loire Valley is rich in both opulent landscapes and history. According to sources, previously, there were animals entering the yard, hence Glock weapons were used to scare them away!

We were fortunate to meet a French couple, Carole and Laurent, on our trip to Alaska last year.  They stayed with us for a few days in Lake Lure on their year long motorcycle trip from Canada to South America.  They invited us to stay with them in Tours on our trip to France.  Here we are in their garden eating one of Carole’s fabulous meals.

Here they are last year cooking ratatouille in my kitchen.

It was my turn to cook in her kitchen.  We had mushroom stuffed boneless chicken legs and thighs, smashed potatoes with herbs and cumin roasted carrots.  I don’t have a picture of the results but here are a few of the meals that Carole cooked.

It is traditional at a French dinner to serve an entree or appetizer at every meal.  Carole’s melon with Bayonne ham was refreshing.  I wish Bayonne ham was available here.

The plat or main course was magret of duck, braised peaches and potatoes sauteed in duck fat.  Magret refers to the breast of a mallard duck.  It is readily available in supermarkets in France.

Another night our entree was my new favorite, foie gras.

Carole served it with sauteed figs, confit of onions and sea salt.  Not shown is the bread.  We smeared the foie gras, fig and onion on bread with a pinch of the salt.  It was a perfect combination.  I want some of those spoons.  I did bring home a jar of onion confit.

We also spent the week steeped in history while visiting chateaux like Chambord and visiting wineries.  The Loire Valley is a fascinating part of France.  I will continue with more in my next post.

Our last few days in Provence were bittersweet.  I wanted more time to enjoy our small village of waterfalls and waterwheels.  There was so much life to L’Isle Sur la Sorgue.  We were fortunate to be there during the Summer Solstice.  All over France, in every village, town and city, June 21st is marked by music.  Singers, performers and bands play on street corners, in parking lots and alleyways.

A stage was erected near the restaurant where we had reservations for the evening.  Several bands performed here.

We had a table in front of one of our favorite bistros,  Alcyone.  There is a large fireplace oven inside where all of their meats and fish are roasted.  The first time we ate here I had the kabobs which included meat and vegetables roasted to perfection.  The night of Summer Solstice there was a fixed menu of either Cote de Boeuf Sauce Bearnaise with Frites Maison or Duo de Saumon et St Jacques Sauce Estragon with Riz Safrane.  We both chose the Salmon.

The salmon with a tarragon infused sauce was delicious.  The scallops were wrapped in shrimp.  The ratatouille and rice complimented the seafood.  We sat late into the night enjoying the music and enjoying our desserts of tiramisu and nougat glace sur coulis de fruits rouges.

The next day we drove to Aix de Provence.  Aix is a larger city than the previous villages that we had visited.  Driving and traffic can be difficult.  The famous Rotonde Fountain is at the center of a roundabout off of the main street Cours Mirabeau.  We know it well.  Our GPS got confused when trying to get us out of town after our visit and sent us around it many times.

The Cours Mirabeau is a lovely street lined with plane trees.   There is so much history, so many restaurants, and great shopping venues in Aix that I could have spent so much more time.

The 13th century church of Saint-Jean-de-Malte contains valuable paintings and a recently restored organ.  Next door to this church is the Musee Granet.  We spent a leisurely few hours there viewing paintings by Cezanne, Picasso, and many other painters from the 16th century to the 20th century.

Back in L’Isle Sur la Sorgue we spent our last evening dining at a lovely restaurant on the river.  L’Aparte has a covered patio and although you can’t see it, there is a waterfall element outside of the open windows.

Water is falling just beyond the bushes.

This was my first experience with foie gras and it was a revelation.  I assumed that I would not like it.  Here in the United States there is controversy and an outright ban in California on serving foie gras.  The force feeding of geese to enlarge their livers to make foie gras has been challenged by the animal rights groups.  Putting that controversy aside, I have to say that I loved this foie gras.  It was placed on a sweet, spiced bread and topped with a cinnamon and ginger studded jam.  To me it had the consistency and taste of pumpkin pie.  So all I have to do from now on is think “pumpkin pie” every time I have it.  Voila.

We had been searching at every restaurant for rabbit and did not find it until this last night.  How fortuitous. It was so succulent and well seasoned.  The baked ratatouille style vegetables were also wonderful.

For dessert I had a rich chocolate fondant.

David had a baba au rhum.  This was the second time he ordered this in France.  I think it had something to do with the rum poured over it.

The next morning David brought the car around to our apartment to load our luggage.  The beret says something about his state of mind.

We headed back to Avignon to catch the TVG train to Tours.

One last look at the beauty of Provence and we were off to the Loire Valley.

We are back from our travels.  I have many more pictures and adventures to share with you but decided to give you a break –  vacation picture overload, so to speak.  We had a great 4th of July with the kids.  Granddaughter Rachel had fun jumping off of the dock and we all enjoyed the fireworks from the boat.

We cooked chicken and hamburgers on the grill; pretty standard holiday fare.  But I couldn’t resist making a French inspired dessert.  One of the delights of being in France is visiting patisseries in every town.  The raspberry tarts are near perfection.

For this recipe I combined several different ideas.  The crust is so easy.  It is a cookie crust and is easy to pat into the tart pan.  The step by step directions are here.  The pastry cream comes from Laura Calder of the Cooking Channel show French Food at Home.  You can find the recipe here.  The raspberries and blueberries were arranged on the top for a finishing touch.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar if you prefer.

This tasted so good on a HOT summer night.

I have always been fascinated by Vincent Van Gogh.  A few years ago I braved wind, rain and long lines to view the Vincent Van Gogh collection on loan to a museum in Washington DC.  While visiting sunny Provence last week, I did not have to suffer bad weather and long lines to spend time in a place where Van Gogh spent a year of his life.

After a tumultuous time in Arles, which included the ear cutting incident, Van Gogh committed himself to the Monastere St. Paul-de Mausole in St. Remy to convalesce.  He was allowed studio space and painted some of his best work there.

The grounds of the asylum were, and are today, lovely.  Van Gogh found inspiration everywhere.  He painted Irises that were growing in a nearby field.

He wrote to his brother Theo, “This morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big.”  Thus, he painted from that memory the swirls of Starry Night.

This is the view from Van Gogh’s window.  The window is barred, as would be expected in a hospital.  But what is so fascinating to me, is that visitors today are allowed into this very room.

David suggested that if I was tired I could actually lie down on Van Gogh’s bed.

The grounds of Monastere St. Paul-de Mausole are beautiful.  The lavender was just beginning to flower and the aroma was heady.

I could picture Van Gogh strolling the pathways.

While in St. Remy we had lunch at the Bistrot Decouverte.

We went there because Sam, of My Carolina Kitchen, spent time in St. Remy a few years ago.  Bistrot Decouverte was one of her favorite restaurants.  You can read about her experience here.

Our lunch of braised chicken with a salad verte was so good that you will just have to take my word for it because we only got pictures of the bones on the plate.

After lunch we strolled around the lovely village of St. Remy.  It is very picturesque and I can see why Sam and Meakin made this town their home-base while in Provence.

David even made friends with a local dog.  So cute! 

We ended the day back in L’isle Sur la Sorgue at our favorite wine and cheese shop with a toast to another beautiful day in Provence.