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.

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.

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.

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!

Disappearing Tarte aux pommes, French crust redux

Using the tart crust recipe from my previous post, I made a very simple apple tart.  I call it the disappearing apple tart because not only are there never leftovers, but it disappears before I can get a piece!!!  I call that a baking success.

Ingredients
French tart crust
2 apples, I use 1 granny smith and 1 fuji (or any sweeter apple), peeled and sliced thinly
appx 1/4 apple sauce
cinnamon
sugar

Spread the apple sauce in the baked pie crust so there is a nice layer to nest the apples in.  Shake on some cinnamon (alternately, you can do cinnamon-sugar mixture on the top, but I prefer to hide it since I prefer to hide the darker color of the cinnamon.)  Spread the apples.  I like to do a pretty pattern (I circle the edge, then do an inner circle,) alternating slices of the two types.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Bake at 350F until the apples are tender but not burning.
Voila!

 

Blog Title

So while joking around about how many of my recipes involve hiding vegetables in meat, I came up with a possible alternate blog title:

Dr. Strangecook: Or how I learned to stop worrying and to love vegetables

Thoughts?

Date Night Dinner!

Tonight my husband and I are having a special evening out:  a show at the Fox and steak for dinner!

For the soup:
1 acorn squash
1 c chicken stock, optional
2T margarine, optional

Preheat oven to 375F.  Wash the skin of the acorn squash.  Pat dry.  Stab repeatedly with knife--this is very good for stress!!!  It also keeps it from exploding in the oven under the pressure of the steam from its flesh cooking.  Put on baking tray, to catch any leaking juices, and roast for 45 minutes or until tender.

Let cool.  It should be soft enough to pierce easily with a fork.

Cut in half.  Scrape out the seeds and innards, discard. 

Cut in four pieces and peel off the skin, discard.  Puree the flesh and add choice of liquid and spices to make a tasty soup to the desired consistency!

I added turmeric, a little coriander, a little ginger powder, and fresh ground black pepper. 

The puree can be frozen, and snuck into other veggie-less meals to pump up their healthiness.  Stealth veggies!!  You can also add brown sugar, orange juice, and milk or cream to make a sweeter soup, or blend in apple puree or parsnip puree to make a veggie side, sweet or savory respectively.

Steak

Ingredients
3 beef eye of round steaks
1/4 c sweet vermouth
1/4 c white vinegar (white wine or cider would have been better)
1/4 c olive oil
1 onion, diced
Salt and pepper

Salt and pepper both sides of the steak.

Marinade the meet in the vermouth, vinegar, oil and onion.

I never finished this post, because while the soup was delicious, simple and filling, the steaks were too greasy and underseasoned.  I should not have used olive oil, I should have used a more acidic marinade, and I should have kept the onions separate from the meat as they cooked at a different time and temperature.  Lesson learned.