Kitchen Culinaire

A walk in Les Tuileries right before it starts to rain

After a much needed good night of sleep we are up at the reasonable hour of 9:30 am to drink our coffee, enjoy our breakfast and plan our day. Lisa is back in Rotterdam so it is back to me and Mom. We decided to take it easy today with very little planned save for a walk to the Parisian food mecca La Grande Epicerie with a stop along the way for a little lunch.

This is one of the very best things about having lots of time in this city, you don’t need to rush from landmark to landmark checking things off your “must see” list. However, we do need to have some plan in place as both my Mom and I are known for our ability to spend a whole day puttering about in our pyjamas and you certainly don’t fly all of this way to do that. At least not everyday…

So today we walked, we ate, we shopped.

Lunch was in a little restaurant located near Au Bon Marché that played country music on the sound system but served a very satisfying prix fixe menu that was cooked by the owner and served by his wife while their kids hung out doing homework a few tables down from us. Our lunch consisted of country paté with a pleasingly vinegary green salad and a grilled white fish with a meltingly soft tian of eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and a hit of basil pesto. Perfect food to fuel some shopping.

We headed over to La Grande Epicerie and spent an hour or so looking at the chocolates and cakes, mustards and meats, teas and spices. One of the main reasons we walked all the way down was to check out the many varieties of butter. Last year we became quite fixated on tying to determine where you could get the best baguette in the city and we really took our research seriously. With all of those baguettes lying around we needed some butter (and paté and cheese and jam etc) to go with them and so our love affair with French butter began. There are many, many different brands and unlike most of the butter at home the taste varies greatly between them. I will go into our quest to find the best butter in a future post but just let me tell you that we picked up two new brands (Echiré and Bordier) today at Le Grande Epicerie. These join the two brands (Président and Beillevaire) we currently have in the fridge already. That is 4 different demi-sel butters and we have only been here 5 days… Uh oh.

After paying for our treats my Mom decided that it was time for her to take the metro home and so off she went with the grocery bags in tow, leaving me free to spend a couple of hours exploring the city. I walked back along rue de Bac and strolled along St. Germain de Pre. I was hoping to find a few stores that I remembered from last year but my lousy sense of direction got in the way. No matter, I made my way over to the Louvre and walked through Les Tuileries just as it began to rain. I love the alleés in Paris and some of my favourite walkways lined with trees are here in this park that runs between the Louvre and the Place de Concorde. Despite the light rain there were couples making out on benches, old people walking holding hands, families playing on the grass (on the grass!), kids on the carousal.

There is more rain in the forecast for tomorrow but just like the Parisians we don’t plan on letting it slow us down. I’m off first thing in the morning to the Raspail market which is an organic food market that I really enjoyed last year. In the early afternoon we will head up to check out the Marché aux Puces St-Ouen flea market which a friend highly recommended. On that note, thanks to all of you who sent out recommendations of things to do and see. Anyone else with an idea or two please send me a comment!

A day at Le Cordon Bleu

Today was a day that was all about food.

I was up at 6:30 am, fighting my jet lag, to be out the door and on the Metro by 7 am for a market tour, lunch and cooking class at Le Cordon Bleu.

A few weeks ago I was thinking about some things that I would really like to do in Paris that I have never done before and a class at this world famous cooking school was very near the top of the list. By the time I got around to booking a date many of the classes we already full up but luckily there were still two spaces for a market tour/lunch/cooking class. I scooped up the two spots and after my Mom politely declined I invited my sister to be my date.

We made our way over to the school by 8 am to check in and fill in some paper work before meeting the rest of our group over coffee and juice. By 8:30 we were on our way to the Marché St. Charles with our chef instructor and a translator. This market is in the 15th Arrondissment and is open on Tuesdays and Fridays from 7 am until 2:30. There were a number of vendors selling shawls, hats and housewares but the majority of the stalls were piled high with a wondrous array of colourful produce, patés, sausages, fresh seafood, cheeses from around France and baked goods. Here are a few of the delicious sights we saw…

After touring the market we headed back to the school to enjoy a lunch that consisted of the many delicious foods that we had just seen on our travels. We sampled a selection of breads and cheeses that ranged from Roquefort, to Reblochon to a tangy Chèvre. There were platters piled high with saucisson sec, ham de Bayonne, rilette and blood sausages. There were olives, cornichons, pickled garlic, bowls of small grey shrimp and a huge green salad. For dessert there were slices of the most perfectly ripe melon and cherries and strawberries and cream filled meringues. By the time we finished our last sips of wine there was just enough time to gather our things and head down to one of the teaching classrooms to settle in for the three hour cooking demonstration.

I went to cooking school well over ten years ago but sitting there in the classroom watching our instructor in his chef’s whites and toque brought back some memories. Chef Patrick Terrien, with the help of his translator, easily won us over with his obvious passion for cooking and teaching.

Today’s menu consisted of:

Asperges Blanches, Sauce Mousseline Au Caviar
White Asparagus, Mousseline Sauce with Caviar

Morue Fraîche Dorée au Sautoir, Pommes Rattes Truffées Écrasées à la Fourchette
Golden Pan Fried Cod, Fork Crushed Fingerling Potato Purée with Truffle

Tarte à la Rhubarbe aux Pistaches et Rhubarbe Coulis
Rhubarb Tart with Pistachios and Rhubarb Coulis

By 4 pm Lisa and I were on the metro heading home and talking about our amazing day. It was wonderful to explore a new market and learn some new cooking techniques, see some new ingredients that we just don’t have back home (wild asparagus!) and meet some new people.  I can’t wait to get into the kitchen a cook the dishes that we learned today, putting my own spin on these classics.

After my poor sister’s rather horrific bout of food poisoning yesterday (we figure she picked it up by eating a bad chicken sandwich on the train from Amsterdam) she was back to her old self today so the three of us set out for a day of exploring around the city.

It was a day filled with lots of walking, many laughs, soaking in the beauty of the city, seeing some great graffiti, finding a few treasures, getting lost (more than once) and enjoying a café crème while watching the Parisians parade by. It was rather cold and windy but only rained for about five minutes before the dark clouds passed and the sun strained to break through.

Dinner tonight was at a tiny bistro that my Mom had picked out for us to try within walking distance from the flat. It was the perfect combination of a charming space, sweet and patient service and delicious, unpretentious food. We happily strolled home discussing the highlights of the day and looking forward to a cup of tea before bed.

Lisa will be heading back to work in Rotterdam tomorrow but before her 7 pm train we have plans to go on a Cordon Bleu market tour for much of the day and then have a farewell dinner. Spending this time with my two favourite ladies in one of my very favourite cities has been a gift.