Paris…our arrival

Eiffel Tower as seen from Trocadero Plaza

Us first night in Paris...a bit tired from the flight

Moving from the hotel to our new temp. home on Rue de la Tour

Our apartment, middle building top floor (french 2nd floor walk up)

Our neighborhood Tabac (originally a place to buy tabacco but also a bar and restaurant)

The closest cross street, Avenue Paul Doumer

Cider Braised Sausages with Sage

I am moving from Hanoi, Vietnam to Paris in 8 days and OMG am I excited!!!  That being said, I am trying to clean out my cupboard and eliminate some of the dry goods I have on hand before the movers get here to pack. This recipe caught my eye because it looked fairly simple plus I had an onion and polenta that need to be used. I am also sure that although cider may be better, I can defiantly find apple juice and  sausage here. There are many kinds of sausages available here; however, being that I cannot read Vietnamese I am going to use  klobasa sausage because it is familiar to me. This is going to change the way I prepare the sausage for this recipe by adding another step but I am willing and able. My extra step is outlined below but the recipe below was posted by Blake Royer on Serious Eats.com with my other additions/substitutions in italic.
ADDED STEP: Klobasa which has some course fat pieces in it vs. regular sausage which I want to melt rather than get hard so in a small pot I braised the links in 1 can of beef broth, 1/2 C apple juice, 2 T dried diced onion, 1 tsp ground sage. Low heat, cook covered for about 30 min. Then continue to cook uncovered until liquid is almost gone (save the remaining liquid to add to the water or chicken broth for the polenta).  This successfully melted the pieces of fat within the links making a tender (you can cut with a spoon) sausage.
Ingredients
serves makes 4 servings, active time 20 minutes, total time 45 minutes (it took me longer but then I did add an extra step)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium yellow onions, cut into 1-inch wedges (I sliced in thinner rings)
• 1.5 pounds mild sausages, pork or turkey or chicken (Klobasa)
• 10 fresh sage leaves (2 tsp. dried sage,1 tsp. dried thyme, 1/2 tsp. dried Rosemary)
• 2 cups apple cider (1 1/2 apple juice)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup polenta
• 5 cups water (plus remaining beef broth liquid used to braise sausage in my added step)
• 1 can chicken broth
• 1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar

Procedures

• In a large (12-inch) skillet large enough to hold the sausages comfortably, heat olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add sausages and cook, turning once, until they are a deep golden brown. Halfway through cooking, add onions to pan and toss to coat them in the oil.
• Add cider, sage leaves, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer quite rapidly until cider reduces into a glaze and coats the back of a spoon, about 30 minutes.

• In the meantime, bring water to boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Whisk in polenta in a slow stream, season with salt and pepper, and return to a boil. Turn heat to low and cook until water is absorbed and polenta is very soft. I added remaining braising liquid from my added step to the 5 cups of water for polenta, also added 1 can chicken broth as I was stirring polenta to thin it down when it got too thick. Recipe doesn’t mention but constantly stir polenta for about 30 min. to prevent sticking on bottom!

• Stir in cheddar and season to taste.
• Divide polenta among bowls and top with sausages and onion. Spoon the pan liquid on top of the sausages and serve immediately.

Enjoy…we sure did! ツ

My Wild Rice and White Bean Salad

Planning home cooked meals here in Hanoi, Vietnam can be challenging. I have leftover wild rice from last night and am thinking of making a wild rice salad. I go to the gym in Tay Ho  which is an area with a high population of ex-patriots and many of the stores (grocery and otherwise) cater to this clientele . So today I am looking for lemons/limes, green onion, cucumber, carrots & lettuce. The availability of thing in Hanoi is kind of hit or miss, either everyone has it and is selling it at every stall and shop  or you cannot find something and have to substitute. So I am playing it kind of fast and loose on this recipe. I could not find lemons or carrots at the 1st grocery store I went to in Tay Ho and when I tried to stop at another shop in a cab with my purchases thus far, the police were on the street so the cab could not wait for me to shop. I decided to just head back home vs. loosing the cab since it was getting close to rush hour (which is a mess as normal car traffic stays at a steady 30-40 mph and rush hour brings this down to 25 mph).  I ended up finding a woman selling limes as I was walking down my street from where the cab dropped me off…yea! Then I tried to do without the carrots but ended up going back out and picking some up at the last minute as I really wanted the pop of orange and sweetness of the carrots to counteract the vinegar in the salad. So here is my recipe for Wild Rice and White Bean Salad…off the cuff! I have already sampled several bites and it is yummy! Let’s see if Stephane my other half likes it too…

Salad Ingredients:
3 cups leftover wild rice pilaf (or wild rice cooked in chicken or vegetable stock)
1 can butter beans (or any other white bean you have on hand), drained and rinsed
2 small cucumbers (or 1 large), peeled, sliced and quartered
1 good size carrot, shredded (would probably be nice julienned)
2 spring onion sliced thin (include green part)
Dressing:
Zest and juice of 1 lime
3 T white wine vinegar
3 T olive oil
1T dried tarragon (fresh would be great if you have it!)
1T dried parsley (again fresh if you have it)
1/2 tsp. whole grain mustard
1/4 tsp. mustard powder
1 shallot, diced
2 cloves garlic (smashed through salt)
1/2 tsp. sea salt (more or less to taste)
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Make dressing first so that the herbs sit in vinegar as long as possible. Combine all dressing ingredients in a small bottle, I used a recycled jelly bottle and shake. While this is sitting prep your salad ingredients and combine in bowl. Toss salad stuff add dressing and toss again. Let sit in refrigerator for 1-2 hours and you are good to go. Enjoy!