As I've said before, I often have to drag myself to the farmer's market, or marché, in my neighborhood when it happens twice a week. When I'm comfortably sitting at home, it seems like just another chore to have to take my chariot and fill it up with fruits, vegetables, flowers, cheese, meat or fish or apple cider, all fresher and cheaper than at the supermarket.
But it's hard to stay morose in that lively atmosphere. There's always something new and in season. One week it's pussy willows, another peonies, another strawberries or elvers or topinambours (that's Jerusalem artichokes to us).
This time I paused at a stand full of racines, or root vegetables. Recently I had eaten at a restaurant whose chef had taken a bunch of racines, sliced them up finely, roasted them, sautéed them, then drizzled them with sesame oil. Mmmms! Delicious. I took a little basket and began to try to pick out a few good-looking racines. The vendor came over to help me. "You're not used to this, I can see!" he said. I explained. He turned out to be an evangelist of roots. He threw back the ones I'd picked and put in smaller, more colorful ones. "Have you ever tried parsley root?" he said, and gave me two for free to try. Those are the little thin ones, with the parsley still attached, on the top of the plate. I ended up with dark purple and yellow and orange carrots, a topinambour, a couple of parsnips, and a turnip or two. There were also several kinds of beets, but I dislike beets so I put them back.
Then he asked me if I knew what kale was. "It's not a French légume," he said. "I bought a little bit, and no one ever bought it. Then an American woman came and bought all of it, and since then, I can't even keep it in stock." He waved at an empty place on the stand.
"It's supposed to be very good for you," I said.
He laughed. "Americans always tell you things are good for you!" he said. "They don't talk about the taste!"
It is true – I never ate kale growing up in France. I have been in the US for decades and started buying kale last year. I did not know how to cook it, so I cooked it my way. I fried des petits lardons, with some shallot and took off some of the fat and added some olive oil. Then I added the kale cut in pieces and covered it, adding 2 Tbs of white wine and 2 Tbs of chicken stock, 2 tsp of Italian Balsamic vinegar and some black pepper. I just let it cook 5 minutes. My husband said it tasted a lot better than the way his mom used to cook it. I think she just boiled it. I served it with fresh grilled salmon and it went well together. How did you cook your root veggies?
Posted by: vagabonde | 28 March 2013 at 04:09
Vagabonde-- so kale really is a new thing in France! I looked it up and the dico says it's "chou frisé" which I have never heard anywhere, have you?
After I took this picture, I peeled the roots, then sliced them very fine in a food processor. Then I mixed them with olive oil and a bit of salt and roasted them for half an hour in a 200º C oven. Half an hour was too long-- it would have been fine to do 20 minutes, and I should have turned them once or twice.
After that I sautéed them very briefly with olive oil, and then drizzled a couple of teaspoons of sesame oil over them. They were delicious!
Posted by: Sedulia | 28 March 2013 at 19:37
I spent an entertaining few minutes trying to explain kale to my friends in France a couple of years ago. It seems I'll now be able to take them to the market and wave a bunch at them!
Posted by: chrissoup | 07 April 2013 at 17:09
I just found an article about "the Kale Crusader." This must be the woman my market guy was talking about!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/dining/in-paris-the-kale-crusader.html?_r=0
Posted by: Sedulia | 26 September 2013 at 14:11
Kale is eaten in Alsace.
Posted by: Dovid | 28 July 2014 at 03:05