Fall may have my heart when it comes to fashions, but food wise? I’m totally a summer girl. Who can say no to the bounty of fresh vegetables, fruits and fragrant herbs that hit their peak this time of year?

One of my absolute favorite dishes to make in the summer time is ratatouille. A traditional dish hailing from the Provence region of France (and pronounced rat-eh-too-ee…it took me forever to get it right), ratatouille is traditionally made by stewing together tomatoes, onions, peppers, eggplant, squash and herbs. There’s much debate about the ‘proper’ way to make it, and like many French dishes, it seems like the right way to make it is the way your grandmother did.

In any case, I had yet to make a batch this summer, and was dying to get back in to the kitchen after several weeks of vacationing and dining out. I had also had this image pinned on Pinterest for a while, and it inspired me to try my hand at a sort of baked ratatouille, made a bit more decadent (and very non-traditional) with a crusty, cheesy topping. All the same flavor, but it would look much prettier when it was finished! As I was making this, I remembered another French dish called confit byaldi, which is a variation on ratatouille and was also featured in the 2007 Pixar film by the same name. Mine is definitely not as fancy as that, but it was SO simple to put together and it tasted like summer. On a Wednesday night in August, who can ask for more?

Baked Ratatouille

Serving: The recipe below makes enough for one large round baking dish. I divided my vegetables up in to one medium oval dish, and another smaller one. Depending on whether you were serving this as a main course or as a side dish, the recipe can feed between 2 and 4 people.

• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• –pinch crushed red pepper flake
• 1 medium-large zucchini
• 1 medium-large yellow zucchini
• 1 orange heirloom tomato
• 4 medium vine tomatoes
• 1 small Japanese eggplant
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• –Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

Note about the vegetables: Be sure to purchase squash, eggplant and tomatoes that are roughly the same size in diameter. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but if you end up with a really skinny zucchini and a fat eggplant, you may have to do some trimming to get the dish to look as nice. When I made this dish, I used a regular bell shaped eggplant, and that made things more difficult, which is why I’m recommending the use of Japanese eggplant. They tend to be more cylindrical.

For garnish:

• –Asiago or your choice of cheese (I’d try Parmigiano Reggiano, or even goat cheese! But whatever you have around and will melt well.)
• –Fresh basil, julienned

Preheat your oven to 400°.

In a medium skillet, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Once hot, add in the onions and let cook for a minute until they just begin to soften. Add in half of the chopped garlic, the crushed red pepper flake, and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring occassionally, while you prepare the vegetables. Lower the heat if you notice the onions are browning too quickly.

While the onions cook, slice the ends off the squash and eggplant, as well as the stems off of the tomatoes. Then, slice each vegetable so that it is about 1/4″ thick. You can make this more thick or less thick — the most important thing is that you make your cuts consistent, so the vegetables will all cook evenly. If you make the cuts thinner, keep in mind they can cook faster; thicker, and they will take a bit longer (though the flavor can develop more).

Once the vegetables are prepped, add in the tomato paste to the pan with the onions. Stir to distribute and “melt,” until the paste has coated the onions and the mixture is fragrant. Transfer the onion mixture to the bottom of your baking dish, and drizzle with a tablespoon or so of olive oil.

Next, begin arranging your sliced vegetables in the dish, alternating by color. You can arrange these in whatever pattern you want; I like to stack them in an outer circle first, then fill the inside area with leftover pieces. Sprinkle the rest of the garlic over the top of the arranged vegetables, then season the whole thing with salt and pepper, and drizzle with a bit more olive oil.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes to an hour, or until the mixture is very bubbly and the vegetables look tender. Remove the dish from the oven, and turn your broiler on to high. Layer shaved or sliced cheese on top of the cooked vegetables, then bake underneath the broiler until the cheese gets bubbly and brown. Let the dish sit for a couple minutes, garnish with freshly chopped basil, and serve. This is delicious with grilled steaks, roasted chicken, and would also be awesome with pasta or cous cous!

Flipping through, one of the recipes that caught my eye was for mustard-roasted fish. I can admit it right here: fish is one of my least favorite things to cook, because I always end up breaking it or otherwise screwing it up. To me, there’s nothing worse than over-cooked fish, but because of that, I nearly always undercook it. This recipe was appealing because as the fish is baked, it’s a bit easier to ensure perfect cookery.

The premise of this dish is simple. You mix some stuff together, dump it over the fish, and bake. All in all, it will probably take you 20 minutes from the minute you open your refrigerator to the time the fish is ready.

The recipe is as follows:

(And I don’t mind posting it here, since it’s available online. It kind of annoys me that many of the recipes in this book are already available for free online, but I guess the photography in the book is fantastic, so whatever. Plus, I didn’t pay for the book. But if I had, I’d probably be REALLY annoyed and might even consider returning it).

Mustard-Roasted fish

• 4 (8-oz) fish fillets such as red snapper
• –Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 ounces crème fraîche
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 2 tablespoons drained capers

This is one of many instances in which I was so stoked we brought home lots and lots of cheap Maille mustard from France (thank you, Franprix!). Also, instead of shallot, I used a bit of red onion. The flavor wasn’t as nuanced, but it did the trick in a pinch.

After preheating my oven to 425°, I mixed together the crème fraîche, mustards, capers, minced red onion and some salt and pepper. I also threw some fresh thyme leaves in for good measure. Easy.

I only used two fillets, not four, but still made the full amount of sauce. I laid the fillets down in a baking dish, seasoned them with salt and pepper, then poured the sauce over, spreading with a spoon to ensure it coated all of the fish. This wasn’t something I should’ve worried too much about, as there was way too much sauce. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

You should just be ready for it.

Next, you just throw the whole thing into the oven and let it go for 10 or 15 minutes. Another warning though: the photo in the book shows a beautifully golden-browned fish, and I’m telling you right now, there’s no way to get that result  in 15 minutes without finishing the fish under your broiler (welcome to the world of food styling!). Without the browning, I thought the dish looked a little…anemic. So I pulled the fish from the oven, fired up the broiler, stuck it under there for two minutes or so, and ended up with this:

Yeah, the fish was sort of drowning in the sauce. Good thing it was so tasty — I saved the leftovers and plan to pour it over some steamed vegetables later this week.

The final verdict? This was extraordinarily easy to make, and pretty difficult to mess up. The book says that “it’s good enough to serve to the fanciest company.” Ehh…I don’t know about that. But for a Monday night, when you get home at 6:15, your boyfriend is starving, and you don’t want to spend too much time putting dinner together? It’s perfect.

I served it with snap peas sauteed with lemon zest, and a cherry tomato and avocado salad.

Nothing fancy. Just good weeknight eating.

[I also slyly mentioned that we would still need to return to visit the Loire Valley, Bordeaux, the Basque region near Biarritz, and that, under no circumstances, could we leave this planet having never tasted oysters from Belon. Joe's response: We can't spend every vacation for the next 4 years in France! Me: Whyyyyyy?)]

The only problem? For this trip, we only had 9 full days in La Belle France. If we did the bi-regional trip, stays would be somewhat short in both places, which sounded less fun. If there’s one thing we both hate on a vacation, it’s feeling rushed, and like we got no sense of what a place is all about. I’m lucky that like me, Joe prefers to kind of park it in one place and hang out when he travels, spending as much time as possible getting to know it and just being.

So with heavy hearts, we had to forgo Provence this time. Having never been to France, we both figured Paris would be a great place to start (and spend nearly a week and a half!). Still, I think we were bummed that we wouldn’t be playing boules and sipping on pastis in Aix, or stuffing our faces with bouillabaisse in Marseille.

Another time, another trip. But make no mistake — not having the south of France on our itinerary has certainly NOT kept me from dreaming about it! (Recipe after the jump)

With Provence in mind, I made another version of my Provençal Chicken this week. Simply put, this dish (and every iteration of it) is one of my absolute favorite weeknight meals, because it is so easy and so flavorful. Often, I think people hear the word “braise” and automatically assume they’re in for hours of cookery. With chicken legs, all you need is about an hour, and they’re perfectly tender.

I’m pretty sure that this recipe is similar to another I previously published, but that should tell you how much I love this dish. I’m cooking it all the time! Besides the fact that each time you make it, it tastes a little different. Perhaps it’s the day, the chicken, or even the San Francisco version of le mistral — that ever-present summer fog.

Early Summer Provençal Chicken

Serves 2, with leftovers

• 3 organic whole chicken legs (skin on and bone in)
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour, seasoned with 1 1/2 tsp of garlic powder, and 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper
• 1/8 cup canola oil
• 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil + 2 tbsp
• 1 medium yellow onion, julienne
• 1 carrot, peeled and medium diced
• 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp crushed red pepper flake
• 2 cups dry white wine (I used inexpensive sauvignon blanc)
• 4 small cluster tomatoes, cut into quarters or sixths (leave skin and seeds on)
• 1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup pitted olives, halved or roughly chopped (but not too small) (NOTE: do not used canned black ones — use brined mixed olives from an olive bar, such as those at Whole Foods)
• handful thyme
• –salt and pepper to season

Rinse the chicken legs with cool water, then pat completely dry. In a shallow mixing bowl or on a plate, combine the flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper, mixing together gently with a fork. Lay the chicken legs into the flour, and coat each side thoroughly (I did this one at a time to make sure each leg got coated well). Shake any excess flour off of the meat, then transfer the legs to a clean tray or plate.

In a large dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot, heat the canola oil and 1/8 cup of the olive oil until very hot, but not smoking. Lay the chicken pieces, skin side down, into the pot and brown — about 5 minutes. Flip the pieces over and brown the second side. Remove the chicken to the plate, and set aside.

Lower the heat on your pot if necessary — by now, the dutch oven should be retaining a lot of heat on its own. Add in the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil, along with the onions, carrots and garlic. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Allow this to cook for several minutes, until the onions are just beginning to brown and leave fond on the bottom of the pot (along with bits from the chicken). Stir in the tomato paste; the heat from the pot should help distribute it evenly amongst the vegetables. Toss in the chili flakes as well. Cook for another minute, so that the paste caramelizes slightly.

Pour in the white wine, scraping the bottom of the pan to lift the fond off. Once the wine begins to simmer, toss in the tomatoes. Cook this for 5 minutes, so that the alcohol has a chance to burn off. Sprinkle the sauce with the sugar, throw in the olives, season with salt and pepper to taste, and stir. Taste it. It should taste pretty good, but like it needs time to meld. That’s a good thing.

Nestle the chicken in the mixture, so that it is about 65% submerged. Cover the pot half way, and let this cook for at least an hour. While this is happening, you can be like me and Joe, and enjoy a glass of wine and some cheese and crackers, and catch up on your day.

When the chicken is ready, place a leg on a plate, then top it with a bit of the sauce. This would be fantastic with polenta! We served ours with roasted asparagus, topped with goat cheese. Leftovers are great too — you can mix any of the leftover sauce with pasta. Just be sure to top it with plenty of cheese.

{Image Credits: Lavender in Gordes-AllPosters//Driveway-CN Traveller//Farmhouse-T&L//Cote d’Azure-CN Traveller//Marseille-Lonely Planet//Provençal Chevre-National Geographic}

What I thought would be a straightforward and tasty chicken dish turned into something pretty special. I don’t know how that happened, and can only theorize that when good ingredients get a little love, a lot of goodness will end up on your plate.

Before you get too excited, I have to admit right here: I was a really bad blogger and didn’t take ANY photos of this recipe. I planned on it being one of those times where it was just me and the food in the kitchen. And I honestly didn’t know I would like this concoction as much as I did.

What I loved about this recipe was how well it bridged the last bits of the San Francisco Indian summer with the first whispers of fall — or in the case of yesterday, the first torrential DOWNPOUR of fall (thank you, Japanese typhoon).

To start, affordable (and flavorful) chicken thighs and legs were browned, then simmered in a yum-tastic sauce made from fresh early girl tomatoes, red wine, herbs, peppers and olives. With the bone-in meat taking an hour long soak in the liquid, the dish gets a healthy dose of collagen (which gelatinzes later), so the sauce has a rich mouthfeel. It’s all very Provençal — if you can’t tell that I totally have France on my mind these days, you need to get with it.

In that vein, I decided to name the recipe Poulet Provençal. I recommend you make it ASAP. But don’t make the same mistake I did — be sure to have a loaf of country bread on hand to soak up this sauce. It’s pretty incredible. I had to make do with drinking the sauce out of the bowl. Such a fat kid.

Poulet Provençal

• 4 organic chicken legs; thigh separated from drumstick
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 large or 1 medium yellow onion, julienned
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 350 mL dry red wine (I used some leftover nero d’avola I had on hand, but you might feel more official using an actual wine from Southern France — mayhaps a nice Chateauneuf? That would be lovely here, I think. Any spicy, medium to medium-full bodied wine will do nicely.)
• 10-15 small early girl tomatoes (approximately golf ball sized), stems removed and quartered
• 3 small dried red chiles, or 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (may add more if you wish)
• 1 large red bell pepper, sliced thinly into ~1/4″ x 2-3″ pieces
• 1/2 small bunch of thyme
• 2 big sprigs of rosemary
• 3/4 cup pitted and drained kalamata olives
• – kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (FGBP)

Garnish

• 1 sprig rosemary, leaves stripped and minced
• 3/4 c parsley (loosely packed), chopped
• zest of 1 lemon

Season the chicken liberally with salt and FGBP. In a large, deep skillet or saute pan, heat the olive oil and butter over medium high heat until completely melted and hot. Using tongs, add the chicken to the skillet and cook until brown on the first side, about 4-5 minutes. Turn, and brown the second side, an additional 3-5 minutes.  Remove the chicken to a clean plate or bowl, and set aside.

Carefully drain most of the fat from the skillet and return to the stove (you can drain it into a separate bowl, or right into your trash can). DO NOT scrape out any of the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Lower heat to medium. Add in the onion, garlic clove and celery. Season with salt, and saute until the vegetables are softened and the onion is beginning to brown. By now, there should be plenty of fond (or browned goodness) on the bottom of the pan.

Deglaze the pan with the red wine, scrapping up the goodies and stirring them into the liquid. Simmer for 2 minutes, so that the alcohol can burn off. Add in the quartered tomatoes, chilies and red peppers and season. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the peppers and tomatoes are just beginning to soften. Season the entire mixture again with salt and FGBP.

Place the chicken pieces on top of the mixture, burrowing them down into the sauce just a little. Be sure to pour in any accumulated juices from the chicken plate. Tie the rosemary and thyme together with a bit of butcher’s twine, and nestle the herbs into the skillet so that they are mostly submerged in the liquid. Sprinkle the kalamata olives amongst the skillet. Simmer for 20 minutes uncovered, 20 minutes covered, then an additional 10-15 uncovered, based on how the sauce is developing — if it’s looking a little thin, just cook it uncovered more, so that the additional water can evaporate out. If you’re using legs from an older bird, you may need to cook for a longer amount of time, too.

In a small bowl, mix together the minced rosemary, chopped parsley and lemon zest for the garnish. Serve the meat in very shallow bowls with spoonfuls of the sauce ladled around. Sprinkle a bit of the garnish on top, and serve with lots of crusty bread.

This sandwich — one of my all time favorites to make at home — fits the bill perfectly.  It’s super simple to put together, and also gets bonus points for feeling totally indulgent.  Even better: it’s delicious with rosé, my go-to wine when the apartment is sweltering from the afternoon sun.

What is this magical food?  Herbed goat cheese sandwiches with lemon and arugula, of course!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Check it out:  recipe and more fotos after the jump.

So what’s in this crazy concoction?  Well, I start with thin slices of toasted walnut levain from Acme, then slather on a homemade mixture of fresh chevre, herbs and seasonings.  The sandwich is finished with thin shavings of lemon and fresh arugula leaves (you might notice a little slice of tomato in the photo above — that gosh darned gentleman friend of mine INSISTED on having tomato on his today, but I make my sandwiches without them.  I think the lemon adds plenty of acidity).

The flavor of these babies manages to be both explosive and delicate; the zesty, bright lemon cuts through any creamy, unctuous cheese lingering on the palate.  Today, I paired the sandwiches with a red butter lettuce salad featuring capers, some leftover roasted asparagus, heirloom tomatoes and super sweet young purple onions, tossed with a dijon moscatel vinaigrette.  Fabulous.  It’s Provence-inspired noshing at its finest.  And it gives us an excuse to bust out the Tavels and Bandols.

Herbed Goat Cheese and Lemon Sandwiches with Arugula

Preheat the oven to 350° F (if you have a large enough toaster or toaster oven, you can toast your bread in that and skip this step).

In a small bowl, mix the goat cheese with the herbs, salt and pepper, garlic and red pepper flake.  Using a spoon, blend the mixture until the herbs are evenly distributed throughout the cheese.  This mixture can be made ahead of time — in fact, the cheese will taste better after sitting for a few hours, or overnight.

Thinly slice pieces of the levain (two slices per sandwich), and toast in the oven until they are just crisped, but not crunchy.

While the bread crisps, prepare the lemon slices.  Cut off one end of the lemon, so the inner flesh is exposed.  Using a mandoline set to .5mm setting, slice the lemons into paper thin rounds.  You’ll need to shave just under half of the lemon.

Once the bread has toasted, smear on a bit of the goat cheese.  Sprinkle on a few of the lemon slices, then garnish with the arugula.  Spread a bit more cheese on the other piece of bread, top off the sandwich with it, and serve.  These sandwiches are especially good with a simple salad and a glass of wine.

lemon shavings (yes, you eat the rind and pith!)

remnants of herbed goat cheese

mise en place for lemon shavings