February Funk

So I've been in a bit of a funk lately. I'm not sure if it's the winter blues, all my crazy travel catching up to me, the disatisfactoin with my job, or what.

This week my classes have been so blasé. I know that not every class can be amazing, but I'm feeling like, hey, I'm only here for another few months, what awesome things about America can I bring into these kids lives? Music usually works pretty well, so I devised, in honor of Black History Month, (ok and maybe a little bit  the recent passing of Whitney Houston) a lesson featuring black American musicians that traces some of the different music genres (jazz, Motown, Stax, funk, rap, etc) throughout America's history with Civil Rights and segregation. Sounds good right?

As Gisèle would say, it's kind of like making mayonnaise (you know that can only be a French idiom because who in America makes their own mayonaise??): you can add the eggs, the mustard, and the oil, but sometimes it just doesn't take.

That was kind of how it went. We trudged through Louis Armstrong, Martha and the Vandellas, Otis Redding, thank god they perked up just a teeny bit for James Brown, then back to sleep for Etta James and even Whitney Houston. I was pretty bummed, but hey, at least I got to listen to Otis Redding for an hour of class, right?

So if singing funk wasn't going to get me out of my funk I moved on to the next logical thing:  food. What better pick-me-up than cooking something delicioso?

Now that I have only 2 months left here, I've started a list of things-I-must-do-before-I-leave and, like any self-respecting, die-hard foodie/gourmand a list of things I must learn to cook, I mean really nail down, before I leave. Included are: quiche, crêpes, madeleines, and savory cake.

Hold the phone. Savory cake? I know it sounds strange, but the French have this thing about savory baked goods, and I have to say, I think they're on to something. It's essentially like a loaf-cake that you can add whatever you want to; Olives, sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, gruyere cheese, sausage, lardons, the list is quite extensive.

Yesterday was my roommate from last year, Gaby's, birthday so I decided to try my hand at this Frenchie party dish. I went with black olive, semi-dried tomatoes marinated in olive oil and garlic that I found at the market, and grated emmental cheese. Here is the recipe, it served about 12 slices, I appologise in advance for the metric and less than precise baking instructions (remember I'm working with a gas oven whose regulation consists of a dial numbered 1-10):

Cake Salé:

250g flour (I used ½ whole wheat, ½ white)

5 cl oil (I used olive but you can use vegetable)

20cl milk (again, here you can use juice from the olives, dry white wine or a mixture of both) 

4 eggs

About 100g grated emmental cheese, 100g tomatoes, 100g pitted black olives sliced in two

Zest from about a quarter of a lemon

11g of baking soda

Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to about 200°C

2. Sift the flour into a bowl and break the eggs in the middle, incoprotaing the flour little by little 

3. Add the oil and 20cl of milk (or olive juice, or wine) 

4. Mix in your ingredients, add salt and pepper, zest, and finally your baking soda. 

5. Pour into your greased  pan

6. Tip: it looks pretty if you sprinkle some extra cheese and a few olives on top to brown-up in the oven. 

7. Bake for about 40-45 minutes until a knife inserted comes out clean

And voilà.