Mushroom Sauce (Sauce aux Champignons)

Yesterday's lunch

They like to show documentaries and investigations on French TV and we are fond of watching them. Though you usually feel bad after that since they rarely expose happy events in these programmes. The last one was about how Turks working in factories that sand-wash jeans contract deadly respiratory diseases.

Apparently the EU has banned the kind of sandwashing techniques that could kill, but of course Turkey hasn't. And to know that the jeans I am wearing could have killed those making them - I feel horrible. In another documentary piece I read that "jeans, and in specific cotton, is one of the most pollutant pieces of clothing that any one person can own. Unfortunately it takes 2/3 of a pound of pesticides to make one pair of jeans, and 1/3 of a pound to make a single T-shirt...That sort of ratio is unheard of in any other crop. While conventional cotton accounts for 2% of global agriculture it requires 10% of global pesticide use." (-JeansFX.com)

People working in garment factories are also exposed to cancerous dyes and other irritating chemicals besides the usual backaches, fractured finger bones etc. Plus they are usually paid really low wages. This is starting to take the joy out of my shopping.

We are advised not to wash our jeans too often (ahem - I don't) and wherever possible demand our suppliers to communicate and provide guarantees that they do not use child labour, do pay correct wages, do not use harmful sand-washing techniques or cancerous dyes etc. Almost impossible.

Actually I have been buying my clothes mainly from brands like Polo Ralph Lauren, Esprit, Armani, Burberry, Mexx, Guess and sometimes Gap (they produce in Cambodia - attention) - so a priori they have better ethics when it comes to production. I also try to buy clothes made in Europe even though they tend to be more expensive, but it still doesn't mean that the material wouldn't be produced in countries where they have laxer standards and pay low wages.

The best probably would be to revamp the way I consume, from only eating produce in season (and therefore buying from the area I live in) to buying fewer toys for the children (or buy more toys made of wood and other recyclable material) to watching what I buy when it comes to clothes and shoes. I enjoy the idea that when I spend, I help stimulate the economy, feed families etc - but kill and pollute, no thanks.

Soy, Sherry, Sage and Sesame Oil Roast Chicken with its grilled vegetables

On a lighter note, I made a Soy, Sherry, Sage and Sesame oil Roast Chicken yesterday for lunch and served it with Grilled Vegetables and a basic Mushroom Sauce. Thought I'll throw away the piece of paper I have scribbled the recipe on and keep it in my blog - though I really will have to get down to saving my posts or should blogger disappear one day so will my blog.

Sauce aux Champignons

Mushroom Sauce (proportions are mine and estimated) :

60g Butter

60g Flour

1 Onion (diced)

200g Champignons de Paris (sliced)

60ml White Wine

200ml Chicken stock

1 Bay leaf

Salt and Pepper to taste

100ml Crème frâiche

Roasting Juices from the roast chicken

Make a roux brun to start : melt the butter in a pot, brown the onions, remove the pot from the fire and add in the flour in one shot. Stir till the mixture thickens. Return the pot to the fire.

Add in the mushrooms, the wine, bay leaf and stir well. Pour in the hot chicken stock and simmer for 20 minutes or more.

Add salt and pepper to taste, the cream and finally the roasting juices.

One can also use a mix of different mushrooms. I have blogged about my Chicken with Chanterelles and it's quite similar, for example.