Sunday, March 28, 2010

Le Grand Prix de la baguette 2010

Since Passover is quickly approaching (it starts Monday at sundown!)  The husband and I decided to end on a positive note-with Paris' best baguette, the winner of "le Grand Prix de la baguette" 2010.  We took the train 20 minutes early Sunday morning to Le Grenier à Pain near Métro Abesses (near Montmartre) which happens to be the stop deepest underground in the Paris transport system.  Many stairs later and a few blocks walk past throngs of people selling laurel/palm for Palm Sunday, we reached the promissed land, also known as 38, rue des Abesses in the 18e.  We bought two of boulanger Djibril Bodian's delicious baguettes, only 1.5 of which made it home ;)  We couldn't let a warm baguette go to waste, now could we?


Crunchy on the outside, doughy on the inside, excellent texture, a faint taste of nutty yeastiness, these are by far the best baguettes I have tasted so far.

We tried it with nutella, fresh goat cheese (the mild, sweet kind, not the aged, sharp kind, more akin to fromage frais), and raspberry jam.  Winner.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Adventures in Cheeses!

So, with Passover approaching, I went to the local market (right outside my door) to buy a cheese that would be spreadable-matza friendly but not boring and not too strong for the husband's sake.  The fromagier recommended "Le Cabri d'Antan" a pasteurized goat cheese from the Poitou region.  Light, like fromage frais, but with the mild tang of fresh goat cheese, delicious.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Gotta catch 'em all!

Every year on March 20, world-renowned pastry chefs celebrate the jour du macaron.  A macaron is a delightful cakey cookie related more closely to the meringue, and though linguistically similar, not-to-be-confused with Passover staple, the macaroon.

On this day, all over the world, at select shops, macarons are given away for free!
This year, my husband and I made the tour of four of the six Pierre Herme Paris shops, discovering too-late that there was a special gift involved in going to all 6 (a free box of 35 macarons!).  Nevertheless, our careful strategy (and the purchase of 1 macaron) allowed us to taste all 25 flavors being offered that day.
Here is a photo of (almost) all of them.  Three were eaten en-route home.

The flavors are:
Arabesque (apricot and pistachio)
Cafe (coffee)
Chocolat au lau & the Earl Grey (milk chocolate and Earl Grey tea)
Chocolat & foie gras
Chuao (chocolat and black currant)
Citron (lemon)
Coing & Rose (quince and rose)
Eden (peach, apricot and saffron)
Fragola (strawberry and balsamic vinegar)
Huile d'olive & vanille (olive oil and vanilla)
Imagine (Matcha green tea, crunchy black sesame)
Infiniment Vanille (Tahitian vanilla, Madagascan vanilla, Mexican vanilla)
Infiniment caramel (salted-butter caramel)
Ispahan (rose, litchi, raspberry)
Jasmin (jasmin flower and jasmin tea)
Magnifique (strawberry and wasabi)
Marron & the vert Matcha (chestnut and Matcha green tea)
Medelice (lemon, hazelnut praline)
Mosaic (pistachio and wild cherry)
Mutine (milk chocolat and coconut)
Mogador (milk chocolate and passionfruit)
Pistache (pistachio)
Rose (rose and rose petals)
Truffe blanche & noisette (white truffle, grilled Piemont hazelnut sprinkles)

They lasted all week and they were delicious.


Thursday, March 18, 2010

Return of the Blog!

Since November, I have not stopped cooking, but mostly forgot to take pictures.

I also moved to Paris.

For the past month, I have been cooking on two finicky electric burners with moderate success.  This weekend I will be buying a small toaster oven.  Expect updated blog entries soon as I explore French produce and experiment on a tight budget!