The journalist and children’s author recommend a special Israeli tahini, a Venetian food book and suggest a way of avoiding mandoline finger hazard
INGREDIENTS
Black sesame tahini »
“I brought three jars of amazing tahini back from Israel. It’s made with Ethiopian black sesame and ground with a huge stone. The tahini is chewy. I put it on everything last summer.” – Marie-Odile
Cauliflower
“That’s another thing we learned in Israel: they slow-cook small cauliflowers in the oven with the leaves. We had it with a sauce made with tahini and a bit of lemon – it was great.” – Marie-Odile
Lardo di colonnata
“I made my own lardo di colonnata. Last winter I was invited to the south of France to a pig killing. It was a party of 12 people. They had bought this pig together and they had it slaughtered. So the whole weekend was making the sausages and the pate and the blood sausage. We also did caillettes, a kind of pâté with chard. It was really interesting to see the process.” – Marie-Odile
Bottarga
A Mediterranean delicacy of salted, cured fish roe, typically from grey mullet or tuna. Marie-Odile picked some up in Sicily.
Verbena
“At the moment, I use a lot of verbena. I use it to make tea, not for cooking, although I do love it in desserts.” – Marie-Odile
OBJECTS
Mandoline »
“I bought my mandoline in Kappabashi in Tokyo 20 years ago. I’ve never changed it. It’s not very beautiful but it works very well. You use a lot more vegetables when you have a mandoline – I don’t really like beetroot but I like it as carpaccio.” – Marie-Odile
Butcher’s glove »
“This should be sold with a mandoline. You’re not afraid of losing a finger. It’s incredibly resistant. It’s for butchers, but now I use it with my mandoline or even my microplane. Usually you’re grating your fingers.” – Marie-Odile
Microplane »
“I use it all the time.” – Marie-Odile
Lab coat
“I buy lab coats for my children to go to chemistry class but they never use them so I do instead. It’s better than an apron.” – Marie-Odile
Plates
Hervé opens a cabinet in the dining room and shows us their collection of plates and bowls that they’ve picked up on their travels – in Israel, Morocco, Spain, Japan. Some were bought at flea markets in Normandy. One set that catches our eye were converted from Chinese roof tiles.
BOOKS
Venice: Cult Recipes, Laura Zavan »
A book about Venetian food that also serves as a guide around the city. “This is my favourite book of the moment.” – Marie-Odile
Régal de Printemps: Petit manuel de cuisine saisonnière, Danièle Gerkens »
“I was editor of this collection for Régal magazine.” – Marie-Odile
Pot-au-feu & Cie, Keda Black »
“This is by my friend Keda Black, who I met through Le Fooding. Her pot-aux-roses is one of my favourite recipes. She adapted it from a signature dish by chef Christophe Beaufront of L’Avant Gout – it’s pork shoulder, ribs, etc, cooked in a broth with cinnamon, star anise, clove, saffron and most importantly a sweet wine such as muscat. It has an Asian touch, it’s absolutely lovely and I cook it quite often.” – Marie-Odile
Have You Ever Tried?, Marie-Odile Briet and Herve Tullet »
“We did two little cookbooks together some years ago with me writing and Hervé illustrating. This was the first. It was a mix of invented recipes, recipes stolen from professional cooks with their consent, or from friends and family, recipes re-invented from travel memories. The common point was the combination of two ingredients, quite unusual at the time.” – Marie-Odile
