November was a whirl wind month.  I managed to cook along with my French Friday’s with Dorie friends but I didn’t manage to post anything.  I had a bit of vacation time around Thanksgiving and I’ve stocked up some posts.

In November I made the potato gratin (pp. 360 – 361) the roast chicken for les paresseux (pp 200 – 201) Marie Helene’s Apple Cake and I made a french apple tart using Dories pastry crust recipe.  I loved them all!

The potato gratin is so easy to make and the cheesy crust on the top is heavenly.  As usual I made way too much, but this time we ate it all!  I served it with a roast chicken, though not Dorie’s recipe, that I would tackle later.  I did make an addition to the dish inspired by something I recently saw in a magazine.  I had tons of mushrooms left over from another project so I sauteed them in butter, drained them and made a mushroom layer in the middle.  Divine!  It helped break up the potatoes and added a new flavor.

Marie Helen’s apple cake is actually dangerous, as my friend Mardi at Eat Live Travel Write pointed out.  Dangerous because it’s so easy to make and completely delicious!  The batter is light and airy, almost like a slump and the apples are sweet but not too.  A great dessert, breakfast or afternoon treat.  I didn’t photograph this because I ate it too quickly!

The Roast Chicken for les Paressuex is the easiest roast chicken I’ve ever made, which is pretty impressive since roast chicken is seriously easy to.  Dorie uses bread to rest the chicken during cooking which resulted in a really ugly but luscious treat that Tyler and I nearly fought over.  The juice from the chicken seeps into the bread but the dutch oven keeps it crisp.  We dubbed it “chicken bread.”  The skin on the chicken was crisp while the chicken itself was moist, adding the vegetables later in the roasting process created a great brown crust but they retained a toothsome texture to instead of being mushy.  I really love Around my French Table, but this recipe alone is worth the price of entry!

And lastly my French Apple Tart! This was a labor of love to be certain.  I relied on Dories short crust recipe for the tart, the same recipe I used for the base of Gerard’s Mustard Tart from last month’s challenge.  I broke out the mandolin, which always makes Bill nervous, and sliced about 5 gala apples.  I covered it with a cup of sugar and then dabbed about a half a stick of butter across the top.  Popped it into a 425 degree oven for about an hour and there it was, art on a plate.  I think I can do better presentation wise but that will come with practice.  To me, the tart was not only a visual reminder of France, but one bite and I was sitting in a cafe watching traffic.  All I lacked was a cafe creme.  The crust was crisp, the apples maintained a toothsome texture and it was just sweet enough to be dessert, but not so much I felt guilty.  Which is good because between making the crust, slicing and placing the apples and bake time this was a long process, how bad would it be to feel guilty about eating it after all that work.

Thank you Dorie for taking me back to France when a real trip is out of the question!

I am a soup girl.  I eat soup every day.  My middle name could easily be soup (but that would be weird wouldn’t it?)  So I was thrilled to see that this week’s recipe for French Friday’s with Dorie was ……  soup!  Spicy Vietnamese Chicken soup to be clear.

As a lover of soup, I don’t buy into the concept of using canned stock.  So on Monday I made my own stock using my new induction burner which I”ll write up later but I can sum up the review “LOVE IT!!!”  Then as always, life happened and I didn’t actually make the soup until last night.  I’m a little sad to report that this recipe is not for me.  I think if I’d left the coconut milk out and made something closer to a traditional Pho I would have loved it.  The spices are delightful.  I may have used too much fish sauce for my taste, but I really think the coconut milk killed it for me.  I didn’t hate it, I just didn’t love it the way I thought I would.   That said, I sent a bowl over to my friend who agreed to be my taste tester and she loved it.

Even though I am not in love with the soup itself, I am still in love with Dorie.  The recipe was very easy to follow, she gave ideas for variations.  I will say this every week (unless sweet potatoes make the mix then I won’t play)  but I love this book.  Just love it!

So my first surprise was my reaction to my soup.  My second surprise was my wine tonight.   A while ago the very nice people at Wine Chateau contacted me and asked if they sent me a bottle of wine would I be willing to review it.  Who in their right mind says no to such an offer?  Not me that’s for sure.  I told them I am primarily a red wine drinker and that I was looking forward to making a lamb dish.  Could they send me something that would pair nicely?  Imagine my surprise when this arrived:

PINK WINE!!!  Yes I know it’s not called “pink,”  I recognize that it is a rose.  It’s also not that awful white zinfandel that I believe is primarily consumed by college students and trailer parks (yes, I can indeed be opinionated!).  It’s a 2007 Wild Rock Vin Gris. It’s made from Pinot Noir grapes.  I know all this, but still I sat the bottle on the table and played a game of stare-down with the wine.  What a twerp I was.  I was thinking about this recipe and I sent an email to my friend Al at Wine Chateau an email with the basics of the recipe asking if he thought it would be a good pairing.  He said yes, and so … I bit the bullet thinking that I was going to have great food and have to struggle through a wine review.

I can’t tell you how wrong I was.  Yes it was pink, yes it had a screw top and yes, I was very timid about approaching it.  When someone sends you a product to review you want to write good things and all appearances made me think I wasn’t going to like it.   (By the way, if I hate something I just contact the person who asked me to review it and let them know but I can’t slam products online.  I think it’s wrong).  The wine is dry and light.  It has great Pinot Noir flavor but is crisp a when you drink it.

Buying wine online may seem like a gamble, but the folks at Wine Chateau have been friendly and responsive.  They shared their knowledge with me and didn’t even back off when the “wine expert” asked what temperature to serve the wine at.  While you can’t use an online purveyor for a last-minute purchase  you can get great service.  What’s less intimidating than sending an email asking for wine advice?  I would absolutely go to them again.  And …. the Wild Rock Vin Gris is on sale for under $7 per bottle.  Try them — I hope you have a great experience!

Next week …. Hachis Parmentier!

I know I’ve been on a Mexican food bender lately, but French food will always be my first love.  I’m so happy I make it a point to read my friend Mardi’s blog Eat. Live. Travel Write, because she introduced me to Dorie Greenspan and French Fridays with Dorie.  Each week a group of bloggers make the same recipe from Around My French Table and talk about it.  I love cooking challenges and I love reading how other people approach to recipes.  Unfortunately my book didn’t arrive until late Wednesday last week so I’m a bit behind on cooking and blogging.

The version of this recipe that most other people made (everybody I think) includes leeks and carrots which I didn’t have at home.  I did however have some beautiful Campari Tomatos.  One thing I really like about this cookbook is that each recipe comes with a story and typically an idea of how to vary it.  It’s a blogger’s dream.   Dorie explains that the recipe in her book is a riff on the more traditional tomato version so I decided to improvise instead of going to the store.   I’m so glad I did! The tart is so good even Bill, my tomato hating husband, loved it!

The recipe for the crust is nearly foolproof.  I actually made my dough on Thursday morning thinking I would be able to make the tart after work.  That didn’t happen.   In the instructions Dorie mentioned that it could be refrigerated for up to 5 days which is a great tip because you could make a batch of dough on Sunday and be able to make a fresh tart during the week by just rolling it out.  I was concerned that the dough would be too hard to work after being refrigerated for so long but with a little muscle it went very easily. (one note about rolling the dough, this is not the time to multi task, it warms and becomes sticky really fast)  It would be a great dough to have on hand!

This is my tart dough rolled out and ready to chill before blind baking it.

After blind baking I decided to improvise a little and put some Gruyere cheese in the tart (who doesn’t love cheese?)  I hope Dorie doesn’t mind!

Assembled and into the oven (That’s a cast Iron Pan and Pizza stone in the oven.  I leave them there all the time.)  I’m sorry that the photo is a little blurry.  I didn’t realize it was until it was too late (As in I was writing the post)

My tart pan is not the kind you can take the tart out of, nor is it the right size so my tart was a little thinner than perhaps it should have been, but it was devoured none the less.  I have since purchased a proper tart pan and intend to make a new version of this recipe with leeks and potatoes.  I think it will be delicious!  I can see putting many flavors in this tart the basic recipe is versatile.

You may have noticed Remy in my photo, he always cooks with me.  As Remy says, “Every Great Meal Starts with a First Ingredient”

Bon Appetite!

If you are coming to my house for dinner, I have one bit of advice; come hungry.  Especially right now as I’m playing with my MATOFC (Mastering the Art of French Cooking) trying to satisfy my yearning to go back to France when my financial reality does not include a ticket.

Recently we had friends over for dinner and the 5 of us dined on French Onion Soup, Spinach and Mushroom Turnover, Baked Chicken with Lentil and Chocolate Pots de Creme.  Our meal spanned two hours and three bottles of wine.  I had cooked all day to prepare the meal and enjoyed lingering over it as I would have in Paris.  Treating each course as an event and eating in moderation so we could try the next taste.

I’ve been quite obsessed with Julia Childs .  Believe me there is a monster post or series coming on this topic but as a teaser;  I believe I know why she didn’t warm up to Julie Powell and neither should we!  My obsession includes reading four books and watching somewhere in the  neighborhood of 12 hours of “The French Chef”  Mostly I’m watching to see Julia in action, but one meal struck me, “Spinach Twins” in which Julia collaborates with Simca and they produce a beautiful Spinach and Mushroom turnover.  I had to make that dish and I was thrilled at how beautiful and tasty it turned out.  Julia made her own pastry dough, I cut myself some slack and used Pepperidge Farms dough from the freezer otherwise I did everything as Julia did.

As with much French cooking, the dish is deceptively simple.  I say deceptively because you could indeed slap this together quickly, but the beauty of French food is preparing each element separately then composing the dish so that instead of one blended flavor (think spaghetti sauce) you get a complete bite with delightful layers of flavor where each component is recognizable and delicious on its own and the combination is a gastronomic delight.

The base of the dish is blanched and chopped Spinach.  Plunge fresh spinach into boiling water for about 2 minutes then immediately shock it in cold water.  This preserves the spinach flavor, and color (we all remember that black oozing mess they called spinach in the school cafeteria, you didn’t like it then, you won’t like it now.  Squeeze out all the water and then chop up the spinach.  Place it in a pot and set aside.  I used one large salad bag and had a little too much use about 2/3 bag if you are concerned about waste, but spinach is cheap and I’d rather have too much than too little.

Quarter and saute 8 oz of mushrooms, set aside.  Dice 1/2 cup of ham and saute it, set aside.

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan dice one onion and sweat it over low heat with about 1/4 cup butter.  Put half the onion in with spinach.

Now comes the Sauce Bouilee.

add 1/2 cup flour to the onion and cook the roux.  Whisk in 1 2/3 cup hot milk.  This sauce is going to be THICK, like paste.  It’s not really a sauce, but a filling.  you want it this thick.  Take the pan off the heat and beat in an egg.  salt and pepper to taste, add a wisp of nutmeg if you like.

put about half that sauce in with the spinach.

Now you are ready to assemble the pastry.

Unroll the dough and coat the inside with an egg wash (1 egg, 1 Tbsp water)

Place roughly half the spinach mixture on one half the pastry sheet

layer in mushrooms and ham

top with a final layer of spinach

Fold the pastry top over, seal the edges, brush with egg wash and bake in a 350 degree oven.

If you have 45 minutes, watch the video.  Julia is just lovely.

]]> http://www.whineaux.com/2010/03/11/spinach-twins-a-la-julia-spinach-and-mushroom-turnover/feed/ 1 http://www.whineaux.com/2009/11/17/le-chat-qui-peche-restaurant/ http://www.whineaux.com/2009/11/17/le-chat-qui-peche-restaurant/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:32:44 +0000 dawn http://www.whineaux.com/?p=295 When I go to a foreign city, especially Paris or Rome — I walk around with a map in hand and a vague idea of where I am.  I think it’s the best way to experience the city.  Today — I did that in the Latin Quarter in Paris.  My primary destination was the Conciergierie (Revolutionary Prison) on the Ile de la cite.  I had to hurry to get to the museum but luckily it was nearly empty and I was able to see everything quickly.  Then I headed over to the left bank for a snack.  While looking at my guidebook I discovered there were lots of pedestrian streets near me.  So I embarked on a journey.

I was amazed to discover several Fondue and Raclette Restaurants as well as a thriving Greek district.  Last time I was in Paris I was one street away from this wonderland and missed it.  That’s how it goes when you travel.

I stopped in one cafe and had a Kir Royale (I’ll have one every day in Paris – they make me happy) walked around and explored St. Severin which is an amazing cathedral.  I also walked to  St. Julien le Pauvre and then I was back to dinner.  Here’s the nice thing — both of these sites were within minutes of each other by foot.

After perusing countless restaurants, I settled on Le chat qui peche (named after a mid-evil alley it is near)  the restaurant promised classic French food and Raclette.  The waiter was cheerful and kind. The decor classic French – perhaps a tad overdone, but lovely and it suited me very well.

I first ordered wine (This is a half bottle and that’s how they do it, no by the glass.)  The wine was friendly, fruity but dry.  A nice accompaniment to my inappropriate insistence on having red wine with Raclette.

The first course was Pate Campagne which I adore.  MMM Meat Butter.  How could life get any better?  (see the pat of butter by the conrichons?

Next came the Raclette I had the mixed meats.  As you can see this portion is more for sharing.  I also found the pat of butter on the meat amusing — cheese AND butter AND sausage — decadent!

I was too full for dessert, but I had a wonderful meal.  I would highly encourage you to find this restaurant if you are in Paris.  It is in a bit of a tourist district, near Notre Dame but it was such a fun area and the people were very welcoming.

Le chat qui Peche
10 Rue de la Huchette
75005 Paris
Tel: 01.43.54.98.89

Cheers!

About two years ago I was in the Le Creuset outlet with my family looking at this exact Swissmar Raclette with the granite top and seriously pondering purchasing it.  I remember it being priced at close to $200 and it was right after Christmas so even though I wanted it, I was hemming and hawing.  As I danced around in front of the delightful device well healed hooligans in their smug cashmere sweaters bombarded the store told me how much fun it would be how much they loved their unit and then bought the last one in the store.  THE NERVE!  I was a bit heartbroken.

While I never forgot that moment (obviously I’m the kind of person that lets things go easily), I didn’t go on a mission to get a Raclette.  That is until I saw a post from Salty Seattle about her Raclette Party.  My obsession went into overdrive and I had to buy one.  After much research and price comparison I bought the Swissmar KF-77045 – it’s the granite top with the red base. Overstock.com had great prices.

When it arrived, I was ill-prepared to “play’ with my new toy (read: I had a poorly stocked pantry); but I couldn’t contain my excitement.  At 4:00 in the afternoon when the UPS man dropped off my prize I stopped everything and boiled potatoes and melted cheddar cheese over them in the trays.  Bill and Tyler were in love,  there was something about watching the cheese slowly melt, then bubble and then crisp up that was memorizing.  We each cleaned our plates and looked about for more, but sadly for now, this gooey snack would have to do.

Then, on a trip to the market, I found Raclette cheese, little smokies, dried red wine sausage, lamb chops and a thin sirloin (Tyler is not a huge fan of lamb, but that’s another post in which I attempt to convert him).  We stopped by our French pastry shop and picked up a loaf of just out of the oven bread and a couple of pastry treats that didn’t last long enough to photograph.

With much officiousness, I cleared the table, put the grill in the center and fired it up (you know I had no idea what I was doing right?  But someone had to be in charge).  With the granite top they recommend at least 15 minutes for it to heat up (or you can heat it in your oven, but because that method sounds like an amazing way to get a trip to the burn ward;  I just put it on the appliance, turned it on and kept my distance.)

I had marinated four of the cutest lamb chops and one small sirloin in olive oil and a paste of fresh parsley, fresh oregano, basil and roasted garlic.  I boiled some baby potatoes, and set up my fondu tray with smokies, cornichons, bread, and potatoes.

We started with the bigger pieces of meat on the top.  There was MUCH less smoke than I anticipated which is a good thing.

Bill and I sipped wine while we tried to keep Tyler from burning himself on the grill.  For some reason he only wanted the pieces farthest away from him!

We each cooked our cheese to our liking — Tyler couldn’t wait, he wanted his as soon as it was melted.  Somehow we talked him out of taking it straight from the pan and into his mouth, thereby preventing what would have been a very painful burn!  I cooked mine until it was bubbled, brown and crisp.  Almost like a chip and Bill had his somewhere in between.

We had a lot of fun having dinner this way and can’t wait to do it again.  I’m sure that we’ll use it at least once during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

What did we drink?  I was conflicted, we had red meat that would be lovely with red wine, but that cheese was meant to be eaten with a dry riesling.  However if you read anything I write you know red wine reigns supreme at our house — so.  Seven Artisans Meritage joined our little party.

Next time, I would put down a table cloth that I don’t mind getting some splatters on to protect the table.  I was surprised at how easy it was to clean the granite cooktop.  It was very browned when we were done.  We let it cool and I thought I was going to need to soak it overnight to clean it, the food and browning easily slid off.  Very easy to use.

Au Revoir!

First and foremost before anyone thinks I have developed mad food photography skills, this picture is lifted — or borrowed from Williams Sonoma.  I feel fine about this because it links back to their Steak au Poivre Sauce.

Williams Sonoma has been offering free cooking classes every Sunday.  I went to a couple of them fully expecting to have them use these classes as an opportunity to sell their wares.  That was fine by me because I also went with the intention of picking up some stainless steel saute pans I’ve been coveting and they give you a discount for attending the class.  I did not however expect to buy any finished sauces or seasonings.  If you read my blog, you know I am passionately against sauce in a jar ….  I guess the old adage never say never applies here …

Tyler, Bill’s 17 year old is an avid fan of steak; all things beef really.  Tyler wanted to take the class so I thought I’d tag along and get my pans (you get a 10% discount on anything related to the class).  I chatted with the store manager while Tyler took notes.  I’m an accomplished cook! I didn’t think I had much to learn on a class that relied on sauce in a jar.  I did learn something; I learned that I had to get a jar of that sauce!

We all have our nights when we don’t want to cook — this is the perfect answer.  Rub this sauce (it’s really more of a marinade) on your steaks (we used NY Strips) and let them rest for at least a half hour.  Then either grill them outside or cook them on a smoking hot grill pan (it’s still so hot in Florida I went for the grill pan — but the smoke was more than I had anticipated so consider yourself warned).  I  pre-heated a cast iron grill pan (8 on my electric range) and cooked 3/4 inch thick NY strips about 6 minutes per side for a perfect medium rare.
Since I was cheating with the steaks, I made cream of mushroom soup from scratch.  This was incredibly worth it, but time consuming.  Over the weekend Bill took me to see Julie & Julia (I know, I don’ t like to rush into things).  I cried the entire movie — why I don’t know; but it made me cry!  The good news is that the tears lead to inspiration and I decided to tackle one of her recipes, Cream of mushroom soup.  Below is my version.  I’d never argue with Julia (or Julie) but the great thing about cooking in your kitchen is you adapt to your own tastes and based simply on the recipe this soup was not achieving it’s flavor potential.

Cream of Mushroom Soup (Click here for printable recipe)

6 Tbs butter separated
1/2 onion diced  (you are going to strain this out later so no points for neatness)
3 Tbs flour
About 1 1/2 quarts chicken stock (preferably homemade, but store bought will work, be careful with salt)
2 pounds mushrooms stemmed, caps sliced thin (I used cremini  and a few oyster but pick your favorite, keep stems separate from caps)
1/4 cup Marsala wine
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup cream
salt and pepper to taste

Over medium low heat cook onions in 3 Tbs butter until soft (less than 10 minutes).  Meanwhile bring stock to boil.  After onions are softened, stir in flour and cook for 3 – 4 minutes.  Off heat whisk boiling stock into onions, add mushroom stems and cook on a low simmer for about 20 minutes.

In a separate pan, heat remaining 3 Tbs butter over medium heat until it foams and then the foam subsides.  Add sliced mushroom caps and Marsala wine (this is my addition)  and season the mushrooms.  Put a lid on the pan and cook until soft, about 8 – 10 minutes.

Strain soup-base of stock, onion and mushroom caps. pressing to get all the juices.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the egg yolks and cream.  Slowly, by spoonfuls, whisk in hot soup base.  Don’t do this too fast or  your eggs will scramble instead of thickening the soup.  Once you have about half the mixture you should be fine to return it all to the saucepan.  Then add the mushroom caps and any liquids released by cooking to the soup base.  Return to medium low heat and cook for a few minutes to thicken.  Do not let it come to a simmer, you could still get scrambled eggs and to go through that at this point would be heartbreaking.

So, what did we drink with it you ask? The Sly Dog Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon that Bill and I love!  The picture below is a link to their website.

One other thought I want to leave you with!  I recently discovered the art of “White”  Really cool, funky art with attitude.  The image below will take you to his site.

Beef Daube

There are as many recipes for Boeuf Daube as there are for meatloaf.  This is comfort food at it’s best.  All the flavors meld together the meat melts in your mouth and the noodles absorb the sauce.   I looked at several French Cookbooks and took elements from many of them to create my version of Boeuf Daube.  I have to admit, I was originally inspired by the recipe in the Editor’s Letter from this month’s Cooking Light.  For the record — I promptly added bacon thereby eliminating any claims to “light” eating but making my taste buds EXTREMELY happy!  There were almost zero leftovers from this meal; which is a huge statement to how much it was enjoyed as I typically cook as if the entire neighborhood may stop by at any second.

One of my pet peeves with cooking channels is they never admit when things go wrong.  Well, when Whineaux’s play with fire, sometimes the results are amusing.  There’s a video at the end of the post with my out-take.  It’s rated “R” for explosions and language.  Grab a glass of wine and laugh at the girl trying to get on The Darwin Awards List.

Whineaux’s Boeuf Daube (Click for printable version)

2T vegetable oil (you can use olive oil but it has a low smoke point and strong flavor)
1 Diced onion
12 cloves crushed garlic
4 slices bacon (slicked thin)
1 (2 pound) roast cut into 1 – 2 inch cubes.
1/2 cup cognac or brandy
1 cup carrots (cut them into big chunks or they will fall apart, roughly 3 – 4 carrots)
2 T tomato paste
1 package sliced cremini mushrooms
1 14 1/2 oz can diced tomoatoes
1 Cup red wine (I used Merlot)
bouquet garni – (1 sprig rosemary, 3 sprigs flat leaf parsely, 1 bay leaf, 2 tsp marjoram wrapped in cheesecloth so they can easily be removed)

Preheat Oven to 300 degrees

In a large Dutch Oven over medium heat, saute the bacon until crispy, remove and set aside

Lower heat to medium low, add vegetable oil as needed and slowly saute the onion and garlic until soft, but not browned remove from pan with slotted spoon and set aside.

Increase heat to medium high.  Working in batches, brown the beef on all sides (about 5 minutes each)

Off the heat (especially if you are using a gas stove) add brandy or cognac to deglaze pan.  Scrape up any frond from the bottom  of the pan.  Use a long lighter to burn off the alcohol (make sure your hair is pulled up and your face is not directly over the pot, please see video for what not to do)  Add remaining ingredients, stir, put a lid on the pot and put it in the oven for 2 1/2 hours.

Traditionally this is served with mashed potatoes or egg noodles, rice or cous cous would also be tasty.

And now for the outtake:

Disclaimer:  No actual Whineauxs were injured during the making of this dish.

Ahh, fall is in the air and the hearty soups that go with it are back on the menu!  (you’d think I’m writing from Vermont, not Florida where it was 93 degrees yesterday!)

In our case, we have to lower the air conditioner to experience fall.  True, we miss out on the turning of the leaves and the crisp morning air;  but we don’t get the colds and runny noses that come with fall either.  And, our downtown throws a superb Oktoberfest during which copper-toned paper leaves fall from the sky and we enjoy beer and sausages wearing t-shirts and shorts.

I’ve been trying to get back to the Paris Bistro Cookbook project but frankly I’m stumped on the next Bistro because it’s going to be a challenge and I’m chicken!  So instead I made the most humble and wonderful of french soups.  I based my recipe on the one found in Julia Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  This is the first recipe from the book I’ve cooked.  This soup is deceptivley simple.  It would seem with 5 ingredients counting water it would be hard to destroy.

I had 3/4 lb of Leeks once they were cleaned, which is slightly less than the book recommends. To compensate I reduced the amount of water and potatoes.  I also reduced the salt — but not enough.

As written, the recipe yielded a very watery soup with little flavor other than salt.  Luckily I had some mashed potato leftovers in the refrigerator and I was able to use them to thicken the soup — even with the addition of the mashed potatoes there was too much salt.  So I’ve adjusted the water and salt below.

Potato and Leek Soup (click here for printable recipe)
6 cups of water
1 pound diced potato
1 pound sliced leek (pale green and white only)
2 sprigs thyme
fresh ground black pepper (or you could use white pepper if you don’t want to see the flakes)
1T salt
2 pats butter or dash of cream

Place vegetables thyme, salt and pepper in water in a 4 quart saucepan and simmer for 50 minutes or until tender.  Use an immersion blender or food mill to puree soup.  Taste for seasoning, you may wish to add more salt.  Stir in butter or cream to finish the soup.  Serve with fresh chives as garnish.

The soup was so good and so filling my 17 year old step son thought it was dinner, he was surprised when I put another course on the table!

If you make the soup and it comes out too watery for you, instant mashed potatoes would work to thicken it.  You could also puree some canned white beans such a cannelloni which would add  a tasty new dimension.

A nice viognier or sauvignon blanc would be the perfect accompaniment to this meal.  Having a merlot while preparing it helped enhance the flavors as well!

Cheers!

As a reminder, I’m cooking my way through Linda Dannenberg’s Paris Bistro Cooking, other posts are listed under the category “Paris Bistro Dining Quest.” One of the things that draws me to Paris Bistros is their history.  In the United States the failure rate of new restaurants is stunning — I’ve read everything from 60 – 90% of new restaurants closing their doors within the first year.  And it seems like the restaurants that don’t fail are the large personality free chains.  Finding  a restaurant with a family history is a gem.

The recipes I chose for this foray are from Chardenoux in the 11th arrondissement near the Bastille.  This is a beautiful area for walking with lots of charming shops and bistros, it’s also a haven for tourist traps so beware.  Cyril Lignac wrote a review of Chardenoux that includes some beautiful photos.

The bistro opened in the early 1900s and was owned by a family of the same name.  The restaurant is known for it’s stunning decor, etched glass, decorative wood molding.  In 1986 Marc Souvrain became the restaurant’s third owner; his take on food is a blend of the traditional with contemporary.  Judging by the reviews I’ve read he’s done it right.

For our menu I chose the Gigot a la Creme d’ Ail (lamb in a garlic cream sauce), Potato gratin and a decidedly not french chocolate pound cake.  I’m beginning to question Dannenberg’s ability to translate recipes and after I complete this book, I’m going to get a book from another author to see if my instincts are confirmed.  Her  cream sauce recipe called for 6 heads of garlic.  6 cloves would not have been enough, but 6 heads would have killed us (I used 1 1/2 heads).  Also because it was just Bill and I I opted for a small rack of lamb instead of a 3 pound leg.  Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly.

I got a late start in the kitchen (7:30) which meant we didn’t eat until 10:00 p.m.  That was my fault, if you were doing this menu for guests you could make the garlic sauce a day ahead, assemble the potato gratin and marinate the lamb so that on the day of the party you just have to bake the lamb and potato and heat the sauce.

Garlic Cream Sauce (excerpted from Paris Bistro Cooking, p.39)

2 heads of garlic
2 cups milk
1 bay leaf
salt and fresh ground pepper
2 cups heavy cream

Separate the garlic cloves, but do not peel them.  Blanch them for 2 minutes in boiling salted water.  Drain and add to milk with bay leaf.  Cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes.  Strain into another pan, squeeze the garlic cloves into the sauce, whisk in cream and cook over medium heat until reduced by one third.  Taste for seasoning and keep warm.

Lamb (recipe as written I used a small rack of lamb instead of a leg and it worked well)

3 pounds boned leg of lamb, fat trimmed
3 garlic cloves slivered
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
Fresh ground pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

Make slits all over the leg of lamb, toss garlic slivers with the dried herbs and insert in slits.  Rub the meat with olive oil and salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes.  (medium rare is 145 degrees, medium is 160 degrees)   Serve with garlic cream sauce.

* because I used a smaller rack of lamb I didn’t make slits I made a paste out of the herbs (I used fresh) and garlic salt and pepper and then rubbed the lamb and let it marinade for about 30 minutes.

Potato Gratin (excerpted from Paris Bistro Cooking, p.37)
1 1/2 pounds peeled potatoes sliced thin
salt and freshly ground pepper
nutmeg
2 cups scalded milk
1 large egg
1/2 clove garlic
3 Tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Prepare an 8×8 baking dish by rubbing it with the garlic clove and 1/2 of the butter.

Toss potatoes with salt and pepper (I omitted the nutmeg).

In a separate bowl slowly whisk the scalded milk into the egg.

Layer 1/2 of the potatoes in the dish top with 1/2 cheese, add second layer of potatoes top with milk and remaining cheese.  dot with remaining butter and bake for 45 minutes.

We had a 2006 Turnbull Merlot with dinner.  I love this wine, it’s  a bold Merlot with the familiar elements of fruit, but also has a smokey flavor to it.

I mentioned a chocolate pound cake.  This recipe was awful.  My only compliment was that it was moist.  There was no taste of chocolate because the recipe had way too much sugar.  It was like a cotton candy cake.  Here’s a link to the recipe – I don’t recommend it.