Picard

If I were to choose things I’d like to transplant from France to the US, Picard would be high on the list.  Picard stores sell frozen foods – just frozen foods.  But, what frozen foods!  Everything from spices and sauces to veggies to fish to meats to desserts – any food one can imagine and many I had never thought of a “freezable.”  The food is available alone as a basic ingredient and also in a variety of prepared gourmet dishes.  The variety, taste and quality are amazing!  The normal assortment of frozen food items (think of a walk down Metropolitan Market’s frozen food aisle) can be found in any super marché here; Picard is just in a league by itself.  And, to top it off, Picard publishes books and monthly magazines with preparation tips and recipes.  (That’s where I found all my recipes for duck breast, for instance.)

So what did we buy on our first visit to Picard on this trip?  Gratin Dauphinois (a rich, creamy preparation of potatoes au gratin), lasagnes a la bolognaise, petits pois doux extra fin (young, sweet, tender green peas), aiguillettes de poulet au citron (filets of chicken breast

marinated with lemon – I first had these at Dominique’s; they are quick and easy to fix and delicious), paves de bœuf marinés à l’echalote (small, tender cuts of beef marinated in a shallot/wine sauce), steaks haches (the closest thing we have to these in the US is cubed steak, a poor comparison), beignets de crevette (shrimp tempura, ready for oven or micro), fleurettes de brocolis, and, of course, frites.  That should hold us over this long holiday weekend – isn’t France always celebrating one holiday or another?

 I can hear the comments now…”Don’t they ever think of ANYTHING other than food?”  Of course we do!  But, right now I think I’ll eat a caramel macaron.