Скачать или смотреть A taste of France without venturing too far

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By David Tanis, The New York TimesTime moves along, and suddenly its fall. The weather is fine, and trees are sporting multicolored leaves. A different kind of hunger sets in, and youre longing for the food of autumn deeper, more robust fare. For me, composing a three-course menu is always fun. You want a balance of flavors and textures and a certain progression. Start the meal with something light and bright, go for deeper notes in the main course, and end with something sweet, but not too sweet. Inspiration can come from anywhere: a gander at the produce in the market, advice from a cookbook or two, a sudden craving. Sometimes I start with dessert and work backward. Or begin in the middle and then decide on the other courses. This menu began with a memory. I recalled a salad Id had at a restaurant in Normandy, in northern France. That probably sounds grandiose, but I was living and working in Paris at the time, just getting out of town for the weekend to visit friends. We stopped for lunch at an unassuming little bistro, where there were only a few choices on the menu: salad or pt to begin, duck confit or steak for the main (both with fried potatoes), and Camembert or an apple tart to finish. The place wasnt at all fancy this was basic, simple French fare. But the salad called out to me, mostly because it seemed an unusual combination: beets and tomatoes. Both were dressed with a zippy vinaigrette, and they sat side by side on the plate, unadorned. Fifteen years later, that salad became my starting point for this meal. Taking a bistro cue, I chose duck for the main course, but instead of a leg, I went with a pan-roasted breast, served with a mixture of wild and cultivated mushrooms. Dessert would be a classic French lemon tart with a touch of lime. This menu is developed with six in mind, but it could be scaled down to serve four. And honestly, we made it for our household of two and enjoyed the leftovers for a