Continuing on the French Theme

My Larousse Gastronomique, a food encyclopedia that I refer to rarely, has instructions for making a tarte Tatin that start something like this: Heat a brick oven until the coals are red. It's an old edition, so I believe that suggestion is more an assumption about the era it was published in than an haughty French insinuation that your kitchen is less than complete if you don't have a brick oven. France in the 1950s was still very much like a 19th century country. Well outfitted homes would have had brick ovens.
You can make a perfect tarte Tatin in a gas oven in your apartment. The trick is to use a pâte brisée for the crust(OK, short crust to we Américains)and to make sure, no matter what, that you let the apples caramelize to a dark amber color, or even deeper. You will be tempted to remove them too soon. Do not do it. Also, apple pie recipes often suggest using Granny Smith or other tart apples, but I use Golden Delicious. They are sweet, caramelize well and keep their shape after long minutes of cooking.
Lastly, don't let the final step in the recipe intimidate you. The one where you take the hot tart and flip it onto a plate. First, bake the tarte in an ordinary glass pie dish. When it comes out, cover it with the plate, lift to chest level (using oven mitts) and quickly invert it. Let it rest while the apples unstick themselves. This can take a couple of minutes and can be hurried by jiggling the plate. Then, with your mitted hand on one side and the point of a knife on the other, gently lift the pie dish up from the platter. You can also make mini tartes in ramekins, as I have done in the picture.

Real French Gothic in NYC

This statue of Joan of Arc is on Riverside Drive at 93rd Street. It was dedicated in 1915 during WWI. The designer of its Gothic pedestal "incorporated stones from Rheims Cathedral and stones from the dungeon at the Tower of Rouen into the blind arches of the pedestal," according to the Riverside Park Fund, so it is an authentic example of French Gothic architecture in NY, unlike the example mentioned below at Riverside Church.

Healthy Stock to Keep you Warm

I was craving soup because it has been so cold in New York. I don't like the canned variety at all so decided to make some vegetable stock to use as a base for other soups. Rooting around the fridge, I found some carrots, parsley, celery and onion to use. To that I added some bay leaves and a little salt and here was the result. A nice clear broth that will work as a base for just about anything, like white beans, left over pasta, spinach and chicken garnished with Argentine Reggianito cheese. Or some leftover chicken cacciatore from a Nigella Lawson recipe with tomato, red pepper, beans and basil. My favorite, though, is and will be, chick peas, sausage and kale. Let me know if you need the recipe.

More Neighborhood Photos

Here are photos of the Riverside Church at 120th and Riverside Drive and the Union Theological Seminary. Riverside Church describes itself as being similar to Chartres, but beyond its buttresses and fairly purified French Gothic lines, I don't see the resemblance. Its single tower is probably twice the height of the taller of Chartre's two towers. At some point in its history, someone made the inexplicable decision to add a seven or eight story office building to the front of the tower at what must have been the main entrance, thereby destroying the building's symmetry and most of any inspiration its soaring edifice must have evinced. Around the corner from the church, the seminary is in a warmer English Gothic style which ads a kind of serenity to an area that is fairly quiet by Manhattan standards. The neighborhood, a regular Acropolis of the Enlightenment, is also home to the Jewish Theological Seminary, The Manhattan School of Music, Columbia University, Barnard and Teachers Colleges and the massive Cathedral of St. John the Divine.