Le Kung Fu En Francois

Although most of my time in France and Italy was spent taking advantage of:

a) a dude who cooked a crapola of food in advance;
b) familial provencal style dining; and
c) Italian hospitality in the form of food and wine,

I cannot resist a good outdoor market or the opportunity to throw together a little something myself. This is especially true when the secret to French food is butter and uh, butter, and the secret to Italian food is oh so delicious white carbs drenched in EVOO.

I had a serious case of tomato envy at the market in Nice. There is just no such thing as tomatos as good looking as these in the U.S.of.A.


The weather was sunny and a perfect 70 degrees. The sun was almost too bright if that is possible. In my half awake state, I managed to nab some fresh goat cheese which became part of the most satisfying salad I have had in ages.

Dawan had some leftover red pepper, zuchini, mesclun mix (which is sooo different looking and more spicy than the crap you get in the U.S.), and roasted chicken. I took the time to roast the red pepper over the gas flame (just throw it down directly on top of the flame until the skin is charred all over, let cool, then I like to use a spoon or dull knife to scrape the char off), stole some grilled zuchini he had been cooking up for his own brunch, shredded some leftover roasted chicken, sliced some fresh chevre, and tossed the mesclun mix with a basic lemon, EVOO, and dijon mustard dressing (whisk until emulsified). Some fresh cracked pepper finished the job and voila!