Saturday, December 19, 2009

tartiflette and good news

I was expecting to hear by email, this news that I've been anxiously awaiting for ten days, but it arrived by post, as I was lying on the sofa in a trance, covered in a purring cat fur coat watching the snow falling and listening to St. Paul's cathedral choir singing Christmas carols. Between ding, dong, merrily on high and silent night the post lady gave a toot toot and handed BB a thick white envelope bearing a Paris postmark. For years now I've been talking about doing a cookery course and I finally went ahead and applied to the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu cookery school in Paris last week and I've been accepted to do the basic cuisine course in March. So I'm off to live in Paris for three months. How good does that sound?

The envelope contained the usual admin stuff - terms and conditions of payment, tuition fees payment form, internal rules of the school, housing information - and a measurement sheet for my uniform. I've never worn a uniform for work before - unless you count the Batman cape I had to wear in court. BB, whilst happy for me, is sad that I'm going away for so long but I can always pop back for the odd weekend (three hours by TGV) to re-stock the freezer with PC dinners. I'm so excited.

To celebrate I made my favourite winter comfort food - tartiflette - and because I was feeling in such a generous mood, I didn't fight BB for the crusty cheese bits stuck to the sides of the (chipped) dish.


Tartiflette
Ingredients
Serves 4-6
2½ lb/1.1 kg potatoes, peeled
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, sliced
½ lb/225 g bacon, diced
½ cup white wine
1 large Reblochin cheese, cut in half horizontally
salt and pepper

1. Boil the potatoes until just cooked. Drain and cut into chunks.

2. Heat the oil in a frying-pan and fry the onion for about 5 minutes until golden brown then add the bacon and cook for another 5 minutes.

3. Place the potatoes, onion and bacon in a large ovenproof dish and season with salt and pepper. Place the cheese halves rind side up on top and pour over the wine. Bake in the oven at 350°F/175°C for 20 minutes.

8 comments:

Hils said...

Good for you!

Mlle Paradis said...

Oh WOW! So cool for you! Can't wait for your further posts about this! Yes we imagine some will miss your cooking, but remind them of the cooking to come! Felicitations!

cj said...

How absolutely brilliant! Congratulations and best wishes to you! Break out the champagne! Sing from the rooftops! PARIS and COOKING.

Janet said...

That's wonderful for you! I love Paris and dreamed about going to the Le Cordon Bleu. You will have to let us know how things go. When you get the time.

Enjoy!!

Kathie said...

Parabéns, Baby Chou! I know BB will miss you, but on the up side, just think, he'll have an ironclad excuse for trips to Paris.

You know, of course, that this is how Julia Child got her start, at LCB in Paris.

Sarah said...

Thanks for all your kind comments!

Di Overton said...

Just dropping by to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas
and a big thank you for your friendship throughout the past year.
From a very snowy UK
Love
Di (Designers Block)

Candy Yum Yum said...

How exciting! Congrats!