Les grandes vacances
August is here, the sun’s out, and we’re taking it easy, some easier than others. Plus a recipe for an easy, cheesy courgette and spinach lasagne
As the towns and cities empty for the summer holidays, our village is filling up. Today was market day, and the pavements were full of visitors in their flip flops and bright new T-shirts, babies in new hats, older children temporarily delighted with cheap plastic toys from the stalls. The man selling hammam towels is doing a brisk business, and the man selling bathing suits is giving a couple of ladies an impromptu seminar on the art of the tankini.
It’s hard not to catch their enthusiasm, their happiness.
The received wisdom about France is that everyone takes the whole of August off, which is both true and not. While our village ramps up its activities, many businesses embrace the most celebrated French achievements: generous paid time off. While our restaurants and cafés are slinging moules frites, coffees, and glasses of breakfast rosé with admirable speed and remarkable grace, around some of the other businesses in the town, the literal or figurative fermé pour les congés annuels (closed for annual holidays) signs have gone up.
The way I dealt with it was by shrugging off my sense of London urgency, hard-won over thirty years, and just expecting less. And you know what? It felt very good.
This struck me most violently in our first summer here when we were working very hard on the house. It was impossible to get quotations for work, order materials, or have tradespeople respond to emails. The way I dealt with it was by shrugging off my sense of London urgency, hard-won over thirty years, and just expecting less. And you know what? It felt very good. It was relaxing. I traded frustration for surprise and delight that “oh good “ the delicatessen/hardware shop/notaire’s office was actually open. Not being able to do anything, to achieve anything, permitted me to lean into summer indolence. I slept late, read all day, cooked, made planting lists for the garden, had impromptu lunches and lazy dinners with friends. What could have been a stressful time became that most exquisite of things, my summer of pottering. It was possibly the Frenchest thing I’ve ever done.
Even if people don’t take the month off, they work less hard. They leave on time, don’t kill themselves by taking on extra tasks, and manage expectations like it’s an Olympic sport.
For the next couple of weeks, I am going to be here – I would miss you and your cheerful messages and comments too much – but my posts might be shorter, if that’s all right with you. I’ll still share recipes and market pictures for the whole of August, but they might be simpler.
I hope you’re carving out some pottering time for yourself this summer, whether you’re going away on holiday or not. You know what expecting less looks like for you. Embrace it.
Bonnes vacances!
Lasagne à la courgette et épinards
Courgette and spinach lasagne
This is a wonderful dish for a summer lunch – it makes good use of courgette bounty, is a gorgeous green from the spinach, and is deliciously cheesy. And you can make it well ahead, too. Just put it in the oven when your guests ring the doorbell, and by the time you’ve made a few drinks, shared a few olives, exchanged a scandalous story or two, it’ll be ready to put on the table.
Serves 4-6, depending on how hungry you are
3 tbsp olive oil, plus a little more for oiling the dish
2 medium onions, about 230g each, halved and thinly sliced
2 bay leaves
About 1kg fresh spinach, or 500g frozen spinach – I like to use large-leaf spinach if possible
6 garlic cloves, halved, any green germ removed, thinly sliced
350g mascarpone
180ml double cream or crème fraîche
2 eggs, lightly beaten
The finely grated zest of a large, unwaxed lemon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, plus a little more for the top
½ tsp dried mint
100g Parmesan cheese, grated
100g Comté cheese, or other hard cheese, grated
6-9 lasagne sheets, depending on the size of your dish – I use dried lasagne sheets that don’t need precooking, they simply cook in the sauce
3-4 medium courgettes, about 200g each, ends trimmed and cut lengthways into 4-5mm slices
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Warm the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the onions, bay leaves and a good pinch of salt and fry gently, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and translucent, at least 15 minutes.
While the onions are cooking, prepare the spinach. If you are using fresh spinach, remove the tough stems and shred roughly. You can cook it directly in with the onions, but I prefer to blanch it and squeeze out the water as I think it cooks better this way – you don’t have to sauté it for a while to drive off the liquid. To blanch the leaves, bring a pan of water to the boil, add salt then the spinach. Put a lid on the pan and boil for a minute. Drain the spinach in a colander, then press out as much liquid as possible with the back of a wooden spoon. Press out more water with a clean tea towel or kitchen paper. If you’re using frozen spinach, cook it according to the instructions on the packet and then squeeze out as much water as possible.
Add the garlic to the pan with the onions, stir for a minute, then stir in the spinach until everything is well combined. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool a little while you prepare the rest.
Heat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 6. Lightly grease an ovenproof dish with olive oil. I use one that is 24x24x8cm.
Next, make the sauce. In a bowl, whisk together the mascarpone, cream or crème fraîche, eggs, lemon zest, nutmeg and mint. Season very well with salt and pepper. Ladle a third of the mixture into a separate bowl – about 300g, you will need this for the top.
Stir half of the Parmesan and half of the Comté into the large bowl of mascarpone cream then stir in the onion and spinach.
Spread a third of the cheesy spinach sauce onto the bottom of the dish. Lay on 2-3 lasagne sheets over the top, and then add a layer of courgettes, making sure you place them closely together. Repeat twice more, finishing with a layer of courgettes.
Pour over the reserved mascarpone cream, sprinkle over the rest of the cheese and grate a little nutmeg over the top. Place the dish on an oven sheet to catch any drips. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the top is golden and bubbling. Cool for 5-10 minutes before serving – like so many things, it’s better warm than piping hot.
Printable Recipe
Lasagne À La Courgette Et Épinards
132KB ∙ PDF file
A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING
If you’re new here (welcome, and thank you), let me explain this feature. Each week, I pull together a simple menu based around a central recipe. I noticed many of my French friends entertain without losing their minds because a lot of meals are assemblies, where good shopping is just as important as good cooking.
A typical meal might begin with some olives and charcuterie, bought pâté or a little tomato salad and definitely here, on the banks of the Étang de Thau, a platter of oysters. For the main course there might be a roast chicken or whole fish, a casserole, something substantial accompanied by simple boiled potatoes or rice, and a vegetable or two (never crowd the plate with too many competing flavours). There’s almost always a green salad and cheese, and sometimes a pudding which is invariably bought from the local patisserie rather than being home made.
Each week, I share with you a single recipe around which you can build a simple three course meal. The idea is it will allow you to spend time with your family and guests, not languish like Cinderella in the kitchen. I also give you a work plan and advice on how to get ahead. I really, really want you to enjoy yourself, always.
MENU
Charcuterie and olives
Tomato salad
Courgette and spinach lasagne
Green salad
Peaches with vanilla fromage blanc
PLAN OF ACTION
You can assemble the whole lasagne up to six hours ahead. When it is cool, cover it and refrigerate it until you’re ready to cook it – if you’re cooking it from chilled, add five minutes or so to the cooking time.
Wash the lettuce for the green salad up to a day ahead, dry it well and keep it in a Ziplock-type bag or container in the fridge with a sheet of kitchen paper. You can also make the vinaigrette if you want and keep it in a jar in the fridge. When you’re about to sit down, pour a puddle of the vinaigrette in the bottom of your salad bowl and tip the leaves over the top. Cover it with a tea towel, then toss it well just before serving.
Wash the peaches, segment them and place them in a bowl with a little orange zest and juice. In a bowl, whisk together some fromage blanc with a little sugar and vanilla. Refrigerate until you’re ready to eat them and serve a little of the fromage blanc with the peaches.
An hour or so before you want to eat, set the table, chill the white wine and/or beer if you’re drinking that, and open the red to breathe. In summer, I like a light red, lightly chilled, more than something full-bodied. Make sure you have water and water glasses on the table.
Cut or tear the baguette into pieces and put it in a bread basket covered with a napkin.
Slice the tomatoes and lay them on a plate. Trickle over some olive oil, sprinkle on a little red wine vinegar, and season with flaky sea salt. Add some capers and anchovies if you want, and finish with some basil or tarragon leaves.
Put the olives into bowls – remember to have a separate little bowl for the olive stones. Arrange some charcuterie on a board and cover with a clean tea towel until you’re ready to serve it.
As summer slips away from us, what are your strongest memories? Share with us in the comments section below
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That looks like one delicious lasagne! I do a spinach one but have not tried other vegetables.
I love Debora’s writing - always informative, interesting and passionate. And often very funny.