Paris in the spring

The spring has started wet and cool here. Although the weather isn't spring-like, the produce in the markets screams spring. The main reason we come to Paris at this time of the year is to eat white asparagus. These beauties were displayed with a bulb of new garlic.

Fat tailed Lamb

I was very excited when Laurie from Hawk Hill Farm contacted me. She raises heritage breeds, which include Tunis sheep. They put fat on their tails and she had read of my search in Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes for fat-tailed lamb. Generously she sent me tails from lambs that were pastured and slaughtered at 6 months.

Dandelions with ham fat

No photo with this post because my husband and I wolfed down the dandelions before I could even think of grabbing the camera. We ate them with potatoes cooked in duck fat, and two blood sausages, homemade and bought. The homemade sausage still needs some work but it was way better than the one we purchased in the market. I don't like the Eastern European style of adding lots of kasha, my preference is blood, fat and a little a little spice, but more of that latter. The dandelions were delicious. Usually I make a salad, but recently I've just cut them up into manageable pieces and cooked the gently in fat with some salt and pepper and sliced garlic. The fat from my ham was perfect, no salt was necessary, they were rich with a bitter edge a good foil to the blood sausage and potatoes.