Jams & Dips Archive

December 5, 2007

Muhammara

[Bell Pepper Spread with Walnuts and Cashews] Sometimes, when I have a minute, I sit back and think about the world of food, how vast it is, and how many rivers, hills, and valleys remain uncharted to me: I know so little, and have so much yet to learn. I don't find the prospect overwhelming, far from it. I find it encouraging, I find it promisi...

"Muhammara" continues »

February 5, 2007

Crème de Feta à la Tomate

[Tomato Feta Dip] Every once in a while I get the sudden impulse to hop on a stool and spring-clean my pantry. The urge strikes with no warning, often at the most inconvenient moment, and I get pulled into the task like those cartoon characters who slip a finger into a spinning cogwheel. I will be looking for an item that time has pushed to the...

"Crème de Feta à la Tomate" continues »

October 9, 2006

Spiced Chocolate Peanut Butter

Considering my love of good-for-you nut butters and my passion for the unabashedly trashy peanut butter cup, it was only a matter of time before I attempted to coalesce the two and make a peanut butter cup spread of some sort. I thought I would simply use unsweetened cocoa powder to flavor an otherwise classic homemade peanut butter, but when I ...

"Spiced Chocolate Peanut Butter" continues »

September 20, 2006

Faisselle de Chèvre à la Ciboulette

[Goat's Milk Faisselle with Chives] Originally, a faisselle (feh-sell) is a container pierced with tiny holes, in which fresh cheese is placed so the whey will drain out. But then metonymy came into play (or perhaps came in to play) and the word now also designates an unsalted soft curd cheese sold in such a container, itself nested in a larger,...

"Faisselle de Chèvre à la Ciboulette" continues »

July 23, 2006

Beurre de Cajou

[Cashew Butter] My jar of old-fashioned chunky peanut butter having mysteriously evaporated somewhere between the store where I bought it and the apartment where I thought I'd brought it back, I had to devise a strategy to assuage the feeling of disappointment and vexation, the kind that makes you bang your fist on the kitchen counter as you mut...

"Beurre de Cajou" continues »

June 8, 2006

Pesto Fraise Basilic

[Strawberry Basil Pesto] What do you do when your deepest desire is a little homemade pesto in your sandwich, but you discover with a sinking heart that you have but a handful of basil? Sure, you could go out and buy more, certainly, yes, that would be the sensible thing to do. But what if you can't go out for some reason, say, because you've ju...

"Pesto Fraise Basilic" continues »

May 1, 2006

When your sister gives you lemons

...make almond lemon curd. I like it when I can count the degrees of separation between an ingredient and myself, especially when I only need the fingers of one hand to do so. In this case, there were just four degrees of separation between me and three large lemons: my sister Céline has a boyfriend I adore, named Christian. Christian has a fath...

"When your sister gives you lemons" continues »

July 18, 2005

Dip Fromage Frais et Coriandre

[Fresh Cheese and Cilantro Dip] Last Saturday we organized a little impromptu dinner party at our place with our dear neighbor-friends Stéphan and Patricia, and our new neighbor-friends Ligiana and Peter. Ah yes! Didn't I tell you? We have new neighbors! They moved in a few weeks ago and now occupy the apartment just to the left of ours. A littl...

"Dip Fromage Frais et Coriandre" continues »

May 17, 2005

Anchoïade

Anchoïade, a garlic and anchovy dip, is a specialty from Provence and the city of Collioure in particular, famous for its anchois. It is typically served with an assortment of raw vegetables, or spread on little toasts. When I was in Lourmarin for Easter, my aunt served a delicious anchoïade for lunch the first day, and it had the consistency of ...

"Anchoïade" continues »

May 10, 2005

Confiture de Poire aux Eclats de Fève de Cacao

[Pear Jam with Cacao Nibs] Just recently, I had a sudden urge to make jam -- it may have to do with my own dwindling supply of the homemade stuff, or the sudden realization that spring strawberries would not last forever (as opposed to strawberry fields). In any case, when I went to the market a couple of weeks ago, it was with the firm intentio...

"Confiture de Poire aux Eclats de Fève de Cacao" continues »

April 15, 2005

Petites Moutardes

I'm sure this happens to you all the time, too. You set out to buy a gift for someone, say, a hostess gift. You happen to be on the Place de la Madeleine, or any other place where razzle-dazzle food stores abound -- La Madeleine is home to Fauchon, Hediard, Petrossian and La Maison du Chocolat among others. And you think: a food gift! Now, th...

"Petites Moutardes" continues »

April 4, 2005

Miel de Lourmarin

Yet another edible souvenir I brought back from my stay in Lourmarin over the Easter week-end: this large jar of thick and gloriously amber-colored honey. I happen to have somewhat childish tastes in honey, and I am often put off by honeys that taste too much like sap, sharp and woodsy to the point of bitterness. This probably makes me a diletta...

"Miel de Lourmarin" continues »

March 18, 2005

The Saddest Thing Since The Invention Of Jam

...is an empty jar of jam. Particularly if it is Christine Ferber's Confiture de Framboise à la Violette (raspberry and violet jam). I held on to that one for months after buying it, not opening it until the heart of winter so it could act as my cheerful companion on those bleak mornings when you wake up and it's still dark, you get ready and i...

"The Saddest Thing Since The Invention Of Jam" continues »

December 16, 2004

The Jam Smuggler Strikes Again!

I know someone who flies into Paris with her bags full of June Taylor jams. She distributes them to a few lucky friends, fills her bags again with Christine Ferber jams, and flies back stealthily to San Francisco. Those in the know refer to her as The Jam Smuggler. I had my first brush with her activities a couple of months ago, as she oh-so-kin...

"The Jam Smuggler Strikes Again!" continues »

December 9, 2004

Gelée de Pomerol

[Pomerol Wine Jelly] I am a religious reader of a handful of carefully selected cooking and women's magazines. Some I subscribe to, some I buy at the marchand de journaux (self-respecting magazines are not sold at the grocery store in France). New issues are welcomed with a tiny whoop of joy, carrying the promise of relaxing entertainment and a ...

"Gelée de Pomerol" continues »

November 3, 2004

Moutarde du Pêcheur

My parents took a short vacation to Brittany a few weeks ago, to Carnac-Of-The-Many-Happy-Childhood-Memories, and to Belle-Île, a breathtakingly beautiful island (or so I'm told) a few miles off the Atlantic coast, where a dear friend of theirs now lives. Brittany, as I've mentioned http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2003/10/like_caramel...

"Moutarde du Pêcheur" continues »

October 8, 2004

Candied Seville Peel

And as if her company wasn't enough of a treat, Pim also brought me a gift from Sunny California. "It's from June Taylor", she said, "our local Christine Ferber". In a pretty jar with square shoulders, strips of soft and chewy peel swimming in a velvety syrup. In a pretty jar that glows like an orange lightbulb, the false twins Sweetness and Bit...

"Candied Seville Peel" continues »

September 22, 2004

Confiture de Noix du Périgord

The great thing about bringing food souvenirs back from your vacation -- besides choosing them, buying them, fitting them somewhere in your already overbulging suitcase, hoping and praying and crossing your fingers that they don't break/shatter/squish/smoosh/leak -- is that it prolongs the magic indefinitely as you savor your goodies, little by l...

"Confiture de Noix du Périgord" continues »

September 7, 2004

Chez Christine Ferber

Maxence and I are spending a few blissful and brightly sunny days, hidden out in my parents' vacation house in the Vosges mountains. Today, we took a happy little daytrip to Alsace, the region just on the other side of the mountain, famous for its wines, its storks, and little houses with pointy roofs and exposed beams. Amongst other fabulous th...

"Chez Christine Ferber" continues »

July 22, 2004

Confiture d'Abricot aux Amandes

[Apricot and Almond Jam] When I spend time at my parents' house in the Vosges, my mother and I start out by making a mental list (we haven't reached the point of actually writing down that list - yet) of what we're going to cook, bake and eat. One of the items I mentioned this time was jam : over the years, I've often seen my mother make jam, I'...

"Confiture d'Abricot aux Amandes" continues »

July 9, 2004

Aprikose Berberitze Marmelade

Last Saturday, Maxence and I were invited to dinner by our German friends Christoph and Susanne. Christoph has been a faithful reader of Chocolate & Zucchini since the early days, we almost met at the Salon Saveurs last spring, and finally did meet at the first Paris Potluck about a month ago. He hosted the second one, but we couldn't be there (o...

"Aprikose Berberitze Marmelade" continues »

July 7, 2004

Les Abeilles

Les Abeilles is a tiny little store perched at the top of the Butte-aux-Cailles, in the 13th arrondissement, and incidently just a skip and a hop from my office (which has, in passing, been trying quite hard to keep me away from my regular blogging schedule, sending me this way and that, thus tragically depriving me of a decent Internet connectio...

"Les Abeilles" continues »

June 7, 2004

Duo de Pesto : Pesto de Roquette et Pesto Rouge

[A Duet of Pesto : Rucola Pesto and Red Pesto] On Saturday night, my dear friends Marie-Laure and Laurence and their respective (and dear, too) boyfriends Ludo and Jean-Christophe came over for dinner. This had been decided just the day before, so Saturday morning saw me sitting on the couch, surrounded by cookbooks, perusing them for inspiratio...

"Duo de Pesto : Pesto de Roquette et Pesto Rouge" continues »

June 2, 2004

White Bean and Nut Butter Dip

Our neighbor-friends Stéphan and Patricia have been busy repainting their living-room these past few weeks. On Sunday they were finally done, so they rearranged the furniture, knocked on our kitchen window with the Ceremonial Wooden Spoon, and invited us over for a little newly-repainted-house-warming drink. You just don't go to a house-warming ...

"White Bean and Nut Butter Dip" continues »

May 11, 2004

Rhubarb Jam : What it Says about You

And here you thought, ingenuously, that a bunch of rhubarb was just a bunch of rhubarb. But no. A bunch of rhubarb, or any other delightful but fleetingly seasonal fruit, is in fact a test that life puts before you. Think Cosmopolitan meets Jean de la Fontaine : are you a grasshopper or an ant? The grasshopper will enjoy the rhubarb now, and ...

"Rhubarb Jam : What it Says about You" continues »

May 5, 2004

Confiture de Fraises au Poivre Noir et à la Menthe Fraîche

[Strawberry Jam with Black Pepper and Fresh Mint] This is another one of the jams I made last summer, during my jam-making spree. The recipe comes from a great little book by Christine Ferber, the Jam Fairy, simply titled "Mes Confitures". After a section with tips and techniques, which is kept nice and short, Christine goes on to share over se...

"Confiture de Fraises au Poivre Noir et à la Menthe Fraîche" continues »

April 28, 2004

Crème de Calisson

On a recent Saturday morning, Marie-Laure, Ludo and I embarked on a large-scale cooking-toy shopping expedition, ostensibly to get Laurence a birthday present. It was their first time experiencing the magic of E.Dehillerin, A.Simon and Mora, and we had a grand time, which culminated in a delicious lunch at Oliopanevino, a tiny Italian restaurant ...

"Crème de Calisson" continues »

March 24, 2004

Confiture de Melon au Gingembre et Citron Vert

[Lime and Ginger Melon Jam] The truly magical thing about making your own jam is that they tell you to store the jars in a cool and dark place for a few months, to let the flavors develop fully. Oh sure, it is something of a heartbreak at first - you would so like to keep it close to you and dip the occasional finger in - but you know to be reas...

"Confiture de Melon au Gingembre et Citron Vert" continues »

January 7, 2004

Confiture de l'An Neuf

[New Year Jam] Just a couple of days ago, I happened to be around La Grande Epicerie de Paris, the quite huge gourmet food store attendant to the store Le Bon Marché. This kind of place works like a magnet on me, and although I was laden with different heavy items to carry, I still went in to browse around. This is really heaven for food lovers,...

"Confiture de l'An Neuf" continues »

December 19, 2003

Confiture de Tomates Cerises à la Cannelle

[Cherry Tomato Cinnamon Jam] My mother has been making jars and jars of delicious jam every summer as far back as I can remember, using fruit bought at the Sunday morning market (strawberry, apricot), hand-picked by my family (raspberry, blackberry, blueberry), or given out by friends with overflowing orchards (rhubarb, plums, cherry plums). She...

"Confiture de Tomates Cerises à la Cannelle" continues »

December 4, 2003

Sucre d'Erable

When my parents came over for lunch a few weeks ago, my mother, who knows me oh-so-well, brought me a cute little jar of maple sugar from Quebec. It is made by a company called Les Sucres du Quebec, who makes a variety of maple-based products. I love, love, *love* maple syrup, and I'd never had maple sugar before, so I was very intrigued, and it...

"Sucre d'Erable" continues »

October 9, 2003

Like Caramels au Beurre Salé, only Spreadable

The other day, I was walking up the avenue d'Italie in the 13th arrondissement - I was coming back from the information meeting for a singing class I may take - and I noticed a bakery named "Le Grenier à Pain". It was very inviting, so I walked in. I didn't need or want to buy bread or pastries, you see, but I like to look anyway. I do the same t...

"Like Caramels au Beurre Salé, only Spreadable" continues »