Tout va bien! ™

Adventures in Food, Wine, Art & Travel

Weekends In a French Kitchen

Weekend In A French Kitchen: The Boulud Punt

Holy Mackerel, Batman, there is something fishy about this! And indeed there is.

The last fresh mackerel seen in the Coachella Valley probably had Alzheimer’s and got into the All-American Canal in a confused stupor from the Gulf of Mexico. While I love Daniel Boulud and his food, this week’s recipe for Boston Mackerel au Vin Blanc from the Café Boulud Cookbook proved too challenging and indifferent. When I announced the recipe to Sous Chef, he immediately responded, “Why are the French so fascinated with bait fish”?, thereby signifying his lack of enthusiasm for the dish.

Weekend in a French Kitchen
The essential culinary emergency kit – wine, burger, fries

With the nearest fresh mackerel at least 130 miles away, and the available canned variety not being suitable for the task, I consoled myself that I could salvage a modicum of pleasure with a chilled bottle of Coteaux du Languedoc, the white wine suggested by Daniel for the recipe. Alas I was deprived of even that small indulgence as there was no white wine from Languedoc to be found in my part of the desert. Just another example of the vicissitudes of being a Francophile in a very provincial tourist region.

Depressed, bothered, and bewildered, the Culinary Diva simply made the best of most trying circumstances. Here is the proof:

The Boulud Punt
When all else fails you can’t go wrong with a Chateau Haut Brion 1982, Habit Burger and Fries

 

WRITTEN BY

Christy Majors

Food enthusiast, wine aficionado, BBC Food fanatic, and cookbook bibliomaniac, who suffers from an incurable case of culinary wanderlust. Artist in progress. Creator of Tout va bien! (TM) where experiences in food, travel and wine are broken down for the home cook and traveler. Banker by day.
Google Plus

6 Comments

  1. Sous chef and I share the same sentiments about mackeral….former husband ate it out of a can. Its no wonder the relationshop stunk!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Verified by MonsterInsights