Monday, November 8, 2010

late autumn lunch in Provence


Seven-minute eggs (a trick I just learned from fellow oeuf-buff Joe Gerhard in New Haven) on a bed of lettuce, mâche, parsley, wild dandelion greens (gathered by the spring below the village as the first snowflakes fell) and endives; dressed with a shallot-and-tapenade vinaigrette (olive oil and incomparable tapenade from my olives guy Chico in the Castellane market, of course); with jambon de sanglier (cured wild boar ham--my favorite new thing, better than bacon or regular ham) and semi-aged goat cheese from Taloire, the next village over, given to me by the shepherdess who made it in exchange for a tin whistle I brought her from the States. All served up in a stoneware bowl that's my early Christmas present from Papa Joe.

5 comments:

  1. Wild boar makes me think of Asterix and Obelix. It does look good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ahem. you can't post about a fabulous new way to do eggs and NOT share! instructions expected. glad to see something happening on this blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's all in the name. 7-minute eggs. That's all I knew after Joe made 'em for me; I was chatting with his lovely lady and wasn't watching closely. But if you insist: put eggs in boiling water and leave them there for seven minutes. Then run cold water over them until they're cool enough to handle and peel, and set them on top of whatever you like (Joe served them over a bed of arugula pesto he'd just chopped up...) and slice them open so they run.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Now, where to find cured wild-boar ham in New Haven? Hmmm.

    Yep, bring the water to a boil, put the eggs in, and reduce it to a gentle simmer. Time for 7 minutes exactly. Immerse for 15 seconds or so in cold water, peel. This presumes the eggs are cold—right out of the fridge.

    ReplyDelete
  5. perfect. thanks all. I just wanted to make sure!

    ReplyDelete