We've got a decent kitchen, now what?

Gites, being self-catering lodgings, have something passing for a kitchen. Many (too many) are pretty basic, maybe a couple of burners, a microwave and a coffee maker. Perhaps the owners figure you'll be eating out most of the time anyway. The kitchen in our gite, however, is pretty good, and not by accident.

When we were renovating we had in mind that one day when the kids were off to university we might just dodder on over to the gite, install ourselves there and let the house instead. So, rather than go for the cheapest thing we could slap in, we built a kitchen we wouldn't mind using ourselves. And we have used it, last November turning out a full American Thanksgiving feast for ten. It's not perfect, but quite useable. We've even received compliments from some guests (and one or two of them seemed to know their way around kitchens).

"Alright," you say, "we've rented a gite with a decent kitchen, now what? France is supposed to have all this wonderful food, how do we get off the beaten track to the supermarket to find it? What is it? How do we prepare/cook/serve it?"

You actually can buy all of your fresh food at your local bakery and butcher and one or more of the weekly outdoor markets in the nearby towns. Many French people still do. For example, convenient to us are an excellent boulangerie and boucherie in the nearby village. The boulangerie, of course, has fresh bread, croissants and pastries every morning; the boucherie has very fresh meats from animals raised locally in the Lauragais region (not to mention some outstanding cured meats). There are outdoor markets Monday mornings in Castelnaudary; Friday mornings in Villefranche de Lauragais; and, Saturday mornings in Revel. Shop for fresh foods -- and excellent olives! -- these places and there's not much you'll still need from the supermarket.

As for new things to try, if just browsing the outdoor markets is not enough, you can find some interesting suggestions about regional French foods and recipes at Chez Loulou.

The local French newspaper also publishes recipes. From time to time when She Who Must Be Obeyed (apologies her and to John Mortimer) is busy with a work project she decrees that He Who Must Wash The Dishes must also cook the supper. Realizing he is not a natural born chef (among other things) she sometimes puts one of those recipes from the newspaper under his nose with instructions to translate it, shop for it, and follow it. He has managed some surprisingly edible results!

If he can do it, so can you. If you want to make use of more than just the microwave and coffee maker, let us know and we'll share with you the recipes he's had success with.