PB Boulangerie

Our classic summer salad- tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil/oregano (depending on who is making it), salt and pepper.  Simple summer goodness. And my secret ingredient... ground allspice- a little bit. You do not taste it but it enhances the flavors of the tomatoes.

I read about this bakery from Dawn over at Vanilla Sugar blog.  I had to stop there.  Two native Parisians who came to America and started this French Bakery, PB Boulangerie.

Amazing bread.  We bought the Pain aux Olives, we left, tried a bit of it in the parking lot and loved it.  My husband, who was wondering why we were making this a stop on our outing, insisted we stop back later and get another loaf.  Ha!  See, if a foodie suggested somewhere, I take it seriously.  I was thinking the  whole time, we probably are not going to stop back, he'll forget or whatever.  Oh no, we drove right to it after we had gone to Race Point in Province town.  He thought it would be awesome to have some nice bread to go with some tomato salad and olive oil.  He went into the bakery and came out with that huge loaf.  That was our breakfast in the mornings, tomato salad and or toast with peach amaretto jam that I brought with me.  Heaven!

Here are some images from the bakery.  Now, you know I will be trying to recreate some of that amazing bread here in my kitchen. I will do my best.

 

 

 Here are some images up at Nausset and then at Race Point in Province town.

 

Clearly I am duck footed.

Cranberry Mousse

The next thing I did with some of those amazing cranberries- is make some cranberry sauce.  Which was later translated into cranberry mousse. 

White chocolate is usually added to this but I did not have any and really just wanted to make the mousse without running out to the store.  I made it with just the whipped cream.  Me and my daughter were none the wiser.  Smooth and delicious.  Not too sweet.  Love it.

Cranberry Mousse
This is the recipe I was going to use but then omitted the white chocolate.

Cranberry sauce
2 cup sugar
3 cups cranberries
1/2 cup water
juice of one lemon

Combine all in a saucepan and cook until cranberries have "popped" and are soft.  Puree in a blender.  Chill.

1 cup cranberry puree, chilled
1 cup heavy cream, whipped until peaks form.

Fold the puree into the heavy cream, gently.  Spoon into containers and chill. Serve cold.  Will stay "set" for a day or two.  Cranberries have natural pectin which will keep them set.

Lobster Bisque

My husband and I celebrated our anniversary in Cape Cod this past weekend.  We had a nice long weekend. Just the two of us.  Which was actually quite strange.  I found my self seeing things or experiencing things, thinking, oh, the kids would love this.  But then I had to remind myself to stay in the here and now. Enjoy my time with my husband where one long sentence could come out, uninterrupted. Where a trip could go by without the words, "stop touching me".  A gem of a moment to be sure but nevertheless I missed them immensely and by the fourth day I had tears in my eyes, missing them. 

Our gracious hosts who we rented from bought us a bottle of champagne.  They were the greatest!

One of the things we got to enjoy on the Cape was lobster.  Wow.  I have not had lobster since I was a single girl going with my cousin and Aunt up the East Coast to Nova Scotia. Boy, was I excited.  However I did not relish the nasty part of killing the poor things.  I did not have the nerve to do it.  I may the next time but this time it was up to my husband.  And honestly, I would have to freeze the lobsters to sedate them the next time.  Awwww.  But I used every morsel of the lobster to honor that little crustacean.  Thank you lobster, you were delicious.

First we ate our seriously huge lobsters. Then I boiled those carcasses and because we were away I had nothing to put in the broth but the carcasses.  No matter, I finished it when we got home.

It came out so good.  I had to write it down for next time. Hopefully soon.

LOBSTER BISQUE

Lobster Broth:

2 carcasses that you boiled the lobster in. Add the carcasses and simmer gently for one and half hours. Have enough water in the pot to cover the lobster.  It should already be enough from when you submerged the lobster.

Lobster Bisque:

4 celery stocks
3 carrots
2 red onions
1/4 cup parsley
4 sprigs thyme
2 large bay leaves
2 cups stewed tomatoes
2 tablespoons dry rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
a nice pinch of saffron
3 quarts lobster broth
1/2 cup butter, divided 1/4 cup
1/3 cup flour
generous dose of freshly ground black pepper
heavy cream*

In a large stock pot sauté carrots, onion, celery in 1/4 cup butter until tender and slightly golden. Add in lobster broth,  parsley, thyme, bay leaf, rice, tomatoes wine and saffron. If you are like me and forget to remove the bay leaf before blending, place it and the thyme in a cheesecloth and tie with twine.  Simmer this gently for about forty minutes. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.  Remove the herbs.  Blend the soup in batches.  Becareful if you are doing it when it is hot.  I use a towel over the blender, start off slow and then turn it up higher.  Set aside.

In that same stock pot (yes, you should probably clean it first).  Melt 1/4 cup butter and add the flour.  Stir frequently, let it brown.  Once it is golden brown, whisk in the soup you made.  Whisking until it is fully incorporated.  Before serving add in some heavy cream if desired.  It is not needed but hey it can only make it better.

*My husband can not have cream so I just added a tablespoon of heavy cream to the bowls when serving.  

Some amazing beauty for you to enjoy... I just love the Cape!

This guy was hysterical.  He flew over top of us several times and was answering questions for me and some other people that were standing under him.