Eggs and Cheese

Eggs:

A few people have asked me about the colors of eggs, which I mentioned in one of my posts.  Here is a picture of the daily offerings from my girls:

The green/blue eggs come from the Araucana, which is a really unusual chicken that developed in Chile in the 1900s from an ancient breed kept by natives called the Mapuche.  The Araucana was made famous in the US by Martha Stewart who keeps a large flock at one of her homes (not sure which).  She loves the eggs so much that she has a line of house paint colors named after the Auaucana.  The other neat thing about this chicken (aside from Martha’s sponsorship!) is that when the chicken is bred to another breed, the resulting offspring will lay a pink, green or yellow egg.  Sometimes breeders will call these birds “Easter Eggers.”  This type of breeding also led to the Ameraucana in the 70s. 

Cheese:

I also embarked on a new recipe for cheese.  My friend Chef Didier Durand, who owns Cyrano’s Bistro on Wells Street in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, comes to my local farmers market in Michigan City on Saturdays.  Not only does he bring amazing French bread, but he also brings his cheeses.  He’s great at revamping the ordinary brie or chevre with his own recipes.  My favorite recipe of his is the herbed goat cheese rounds in olive oil.  He makes three different rounds: chives, paprika, cracked black pepper.  Then he packs them in olive oil and olives.  They are amazing, especially on his French bread.   Since imitation is the finest form of flattery, and having (quite a lot) of chevre of my own, I decided to take a stab at Didier’s amazing recipe.  And it looks and tastes pretty much like his:

If you’re ever in Chicago head over to Cyrano’s Bistrot.  You will love it…and Didier.  His web site is www.cyranosbistrot.com.  The site is fun–and yes, that is Edith Piaf singing in the background.