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| Slices Spread with Butter and Chutney |
I bought a bread loaf from the French bakery - La Petite France - in West Hartford on a rare afternoon shopping expedition in Barnes and Noble. I got off closer to the French bakery and bought two pear tarts and a loaf of French bread. I have until tomorrow to finish it and my husband finds it a bit too tough to chew so it's going to be a solo effort.
Only it stops being an effort the minute I butter a slice and bite into it. I can taste a medley of grain flavours - it is made from different grains including rye - and it reminds me of moist Bombay mornings with a cup of tea and a slice of brun pav which is a rough, multigrain bun of a bread - not sweet, and not soft either - my father's favourite. He could eat it every morning without the pat of butter and wash it all down at the end with a cup of strong tea. I spent most of my life at home dedicating breakfast to the softer, refined sliced bread. It's almost always adulthood when you appreciate the things you had easy access to when you were younger. And I'm glad I got this baguette home and breakfast is now much more exciting while still being nourishing.
I'm on a baguette binge for today so I hope the loaf doesn't last until tomorrow. I'm thinking of all the ways I can eat this baguette - maybe toast it and spread a mixture of roasted peppers and tomatoes on it for lunch or cut into bits which I could pan fry and stir into a soup, or even boil an egg and make a baguette sandwich.
How would you like to eat a baguette? I'm thinking of doing a live blog and putting up a numbered list here. Let me know your favourite way(s) to eat this bread and I'll add it to my list.
1. For breakfast - sliced and topped with a little butter or a spoonful of green coriander coconut chutney.
2. For lunch - dipped in a potato soup to soak and eat as breadsticks.
3. For dinner - slices topped with some chutney and then topped with sliced tomato, (boiled) potato and onion.
4. Can one make dessert out of a baguette? For example, bread pudding? I wonder....
5. Angry Asian's way - toast topped with soy margarine and pickled beets (sounds so yum) but her favourite way is to have the centre scooped out and paired with sweetened milk (read comments for the whole story).
Let me know! I'm also going to look for suggestions on food and recipe blogs and will let y'all know.
