Eating with Ann Mah

     As a parody to Julia Child’s scholarly written work Mastering the art of French cooking, Ann Mah has written her own story of life in France, one of an American diplomat’s wife that makes me dream of what could have been for me, had my parents not died when they did and I’d achieved that dream of becoming a diplomat myself.  The dream of living in Paris, or even in France for that matter, is an elusive one for most of us, yet when one really wants it, anything that can get you closer to it is worth holding on to.

     Ann Mah’s story is that element (read her blog here).  Set in Paris, with some travels within France – the Auvergne, Burgundy, Provence, Alsace - that she mainly took to overcome a year of solitude when her husband was posted to Iraq during his then current assignment in Paris.  They had another 2 years after that in the City of Light, which they used productively to buy their own pièd-a-terre, while indulging in French food and culture.

     This is a very lovely memoir with a recipe typical of the region written about at the end of each chapter.  To me, the best one is that of aligot, which sadly I cannot make at home as the main ingredient, a cheese curd by the name of tome fraîche, is not found in the US; but one to go on my bucket list of things to try when visiting France.  The story of her visit to Aveyron is also the crown jewel of the book, providing a cozy, comforting end to a year of stories as an ex-pat foodie in France.

     Being an inveterate Francophile myself, and currently trending the way Parisians cook and live, I found her recipe for bavette aux échalotes a nice take on my entrecôte Vilette (see my recipe here).  The main difference is the cut of meat used.  Whereas for entrecôte one would use ribsteak, for the bavette one uses skirt; which is a thin, rather fibrous cut.  It makes for an incredibly tasty piece of meat.  You may accompany it with the ubiquitous frites (recipe also here), a fresh salad or even some warm legumes.  Of course when in France, serve it with aligot.  This recipe serves 2.

Bavette aux échalotes:

Ingredients:

• 1 skirt or hanger steak, about 12 oz. trimmed of fat and patted dry
• Salt and pepper
• 1 Tbsp. sunflower oil

Sauce:

• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 4 large minced shallots
• 1 ½ Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• Sprig of fresh thyme
• ½ cup beef stock

Preparation:

     Trim the steak of any excess fat and season it with salt and pepper.  Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  It must be sizzling hot.  Place the steak in the pan and cook for 2 minutes, until the underside is seared and browned.  Turn the steak over and cook the other side for about 50 seconds.  Bavette is thin cut, so it cooks quite fast.  The best way to eat this dish is medium-rare, so do not overcook!  Transfer the beef to a warm plate and cover loosely with foil in order to keep it warm.

     To make the sauce, heat 1 Tbsp. of the butter in the same skillet used for the steak.  Add the shallots and sauté over medium heat for 7 minutes.  Add the red wine vinegar, thyme and beef stock; bring to a boil.  Cover and cook until the shallots have softened and the liquid has almost disappeared.  Swirl in the remaining Tbsp. of butter and add any juices released from the meat.  Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning, adding a few drops of vinegar if needed.

     Slice the steak against the grain into thin strips.  Serve with the shallots spooned on top.

Le petit déjeneur parisienne

     So how do Parisians start their day?

     Simply and efficiently. Just a café au lait, or a straight espresso for some, taken at the counter of their favorite spot on their way to work, along with a croissant or a slice of baguette with creamy butter (made with true unpasteurized cream yes!) and very good preserves. In this succinct version of a breakfast, we have 3 elements worth contemplating. For starters, the coffee.

     Most of the coffee drank in France is from the very strong, robusta variety, which hails from Ethiopia. This is a truly strong roast. If you live outside of Paris (or even outside of France as is my case), you may experience this very effective pick me up with Lavazza’s Crema e Gusto espresso roast, which is made of a blend of 70% robusta beans.

   
     It is the ideal blend to be brewed in the typical French press cafetière.

The Bodum Chambord French press brews
2 to 3 cups of coffee.

    This particular way of starting the day reminds me very much of the confiterías in Buenos Aires – which for a very good reason is called “the Paris of South America” – serving “le petit noir” (as it is known in Paris) or a “café con leche”, along with a “medialuna” (our croissant), a great antidote against the cold mornings of the porteños.

This more relaxed version of the Paris breakfast, along with
a glass of grapefruit juice, is more of the weekends

    Croissants and baguettes in Paris are one of the quintessential trademarks of the city.  Paris has this culture du pain, and hundreds of different ones are made in its local boulangeries.  I have found some very good croissants in Orlando at a place called Croissant Gourmet, in Winter Park.  Their croissants are double the size of the ones from Paris or Buenos Aires, and the best ones are the almond croissants.  Truly scrumptious and fulfilling, they leave one with no need for sustenance until dinner.  For plain, scrumptiously fluffy croissants, Rosa at the Windermere Farmers Market has the best ones I’ve managed to find so far.  You can get her croissants, excellent sourdough boules, baguettes with kalamata olives et al, every Friday from 9:00 to 14:00 hrs.

Rosa’s baguette with kalamata olives is the perfect 

complement to home-marinated chèvre.

Best almond croissants in Orlando

     My other local good place for French patisseries and breads is My French Café, where plain croissants are a bit more normal in size, yet are crispy golden brown on the outside and fluffy on the inside.  I love these with some salted butter and very good preserves, either from Bonne Mamman, Hédiard or some extra special Confiture à la Ancienne.  I managed to find one online cooked in cauldron from The Frenchy Bee

     The baguette is the Parisian bread par excellence, and people generally buy 1 every day, sometimes queuing in front of their favorite boulangerie for the prized loaf.  A very good baguette should be crispy and golden on the outside, with an interior that is cream in colour and soft.  French bread tastes good because it is fresh, made every day, and contains no preservatives.  I am always appalled by how long a loaf of bread lasts here in the USA, making for less than tolerable flavor and a true abortion of the good principles of bread-making.  In France, it is illegal to use preservatives in the bread or dairy (or anything for that matter); hence products last less, but had incredible flavor and natural properties.

     One the best boulangeries in Paris are those of Jean-Luc Poujauran (which now caters exclusively to high end restaurants), and that of the Poilâne family.  The latter now ships breads directly to the United States.  If one is willing to pay, Poilâne will send some very expensive, although very fresh bread right to your door by next day air.

     After a fulfilling, yet not so heavy, breakfast, Parisians grab their écharpes, fasten their trench coats, and head on to work.  No snacking till lunch time.

Bonjour Paris gastronome

     The gastronomy of France has always delighted and intrigued me at the same time.  For a country that is as vast as it is interesting in this way, I thought about embarking on a deep study of each of its regions, as the only possible way to get immersed in the spirit of the true French cuisine, wine industry and hospitality in general. (It’s a hard job, but somebody’s gotta do it!).

     The French are a passionate people.  They feel strongly about almost everything, from politics to fashion, and food is no exception.  One can be invited to dinner at someone’s house and the topic of conversation, during the whole soireé, would be the food eaten that evening.  Is the wine appropriate for the cheeses served?  What about the bread and how it paired with the entreé?  Should the dessert have been lighter or heavier?  These are all questions that the true gourmets – and gourmands too, why not? – ask themselves all the time, and to which they all enjoy providing different, and more refined answers every time they’re pondered.

     The best place to start a tour of gastronomic France seems to me none other than its capital itself and the region immediately surrounding it.  Paris, the City of Light, of lovers, passions, luxury, splendid architecture, the city I aspire to move to one day, is the first focal point for my gourmet adventure.

     Paris is an ancient city.  In it one can find the marks of all the different times the city has lived through, ever since it was first conquered by the Romans in 52 BC.  When the Parisii (the first inhabitants of Paris) lived in it the city was called Lutetia. 

     The Parisii were Gallic people who lived in the area known today as the Ile de la Cité.  They were hunters and used the Seine river for trade and exchange.  After the Roman Empire conquered the land, Lutetia’s outlook was forged as a true Roman city with public baths and a forum.  Christianity took over the land when king Clovis, the first of the Merovingian kings, converted to the religion.  Thus the pagan ways of the Parisii were eliminated.  I first came accross Lutetia’s name in a fragance immortalized by parfumier Houbigant that came out in the 80’s - Lutèce.  Its advert at the time read “the perfume for days of gold and sapphire nights”.  I find there is no better way to exemplify the essence of Paris.

The paradox of Paris:

     For all that it is consumed in it and all that the city turns out gastronomically speaking, Paris produces nothing (Restaurants of Paris, Knopf guides, 1994, 52).  The city however, receives produce and ingredients from all over the world, which are then sold in hundreds of markets throughout.  Rungis, the biggest market in the world and precursor to the old Les Halles, is the major wholesale supplier for Paris’ many restaurants and individual sellers.  One can only buy at Rungis with a special business license, but anyone can go and watch.  Later one can stop at one of its many excellent restaurants for a truly gourmet repàs.

Take your pick of premium cuts of meat at Rungis.
Photo © David Leibovitz

Abundance of produce at Rungis Market

  Just like Rachel Khoo says in the introduction to her series “The Little Paris Kitchen”, the world generally finds French cuisine as difficult and fussy to prepare, something to be considered only for special occasions.  Yet Parisians eat very simple, uncomplicated food day in and day out.  Long are the days of the 20 course meals in places like Le Procope or L’Tour d’Argent of yesteryear.

     As I immerse myself in the local discovery of the gastronomic Parisian culture, I intend to live like a Parisian where I currently reside in Orlando.  If nothing else, just to use it as a preparation for my first visit to Paris in the near future.  Join me in my next post to see how a Parisian would start her day.

Cooking with chocolate... and Lady Arianna

     Chocolate is my perdition.  If I could eat some every day, I would.  Sadly, I have come to realize that after turning 40, it adds to my waistline tremendously if I have it for a few days in a row.  However, I do try and have some every week.  These days there are tons of mysteries – my other favourite genre after food writing – that are set in the gastronomic field and include recipes.  My latest discovery are the Regency mysteries starring Lady Arianna Hadley and Lord Alessandro Saybrook, penned by Andrea Penrose (which I briefly mentioned here)

     I came upon these series browsing at my local Barnes & Noble, and after reading the blurb of the books, I instantly came to like them.  The first installment, entitled Sweet Revenge, introduces the reader to both characters as the golden couple of future adventures to come.  Arianna, disguised as a Chef inside the kitchen of a prominent society lady, is seeking revenge from the injustices done to her father, the late Lord Hadley, who was forced into exile after a dubious gambling scheme in England.  Her plans appear thwarted, to say the least, when the Prince Regent of England succumbs during dinner after tasting one of Arianna’s chocolate creations.

     It is here when war hero Lord Alessandro De Quincy, the Earl of Saybrook is called to investigate under a special service to the Crown.  The pair run into quite a scheme, similar to what is known as the South Sea Bubble, which was, quite literally, the first big financial meltdown of the world.

     There are several books and online resources about the South Sea Bubble so I will not go into detail here.  A website I found quite informative is http://www.thebubblebubble.com/south-sea-bubble by economic analyst Jesse Colombo.  Suffice it to say that the scheme came into being after the war of Spanish Succession, where Britain was granted exclusive trading rights with the Spanish colonies in America and the West Indies.  The South Sea Company was created to assume Britain’s war debt, and almost everybody in the country bought stock into it, on the premise of outstanding returns based on the (expected?) existence of innumerable amounts of gold and silver in the colonies.

A stock certificate from the South Sea Company

     Of course, such existences were grossly overrepresented, and when the British government just could not hold their finances together any longer, the bubble popped and stock prices plummeted out of control.  The South Sea Bubble holds great historical significance as a case study into the movement of the financial markets and the principle of greed.  Andrea Penrose’s novel, although a cozy mystery, is also a scientific book with thorough research of the subject.

     The other part of the book that is of much interest to me is the chocolate trivia and recipes that precede each chapter.  You see, Alessandro De Quincy had a Spanish grandmother, not only that, but one who loved chocolate so much she kept a diary about it, full of recipes and history.  Since the Prince Regent appeared to have been poisoned by chocolate, Lord Saybrook is the only one that has true knowledge of the new product, hence to making him the ideal candidate to investigate the crime.

     Of the 25 recipes offered, so far I have selected 2 which have left me very fauvorably  impressed.  The first one is a cake, very rich, and goes fantastic with a strong demi-tasse accompanied by a liqueur.  It uses spelt flour, a grain from antiquity.  It is this ingredient that gives it a unique rusticity.

Chocolate Espresso Spelt Cake

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup unsalted butter, European style, softened, plus additional for the pan
• ¾ cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder, plus additional for dusting pan and cake
• 1 cup boiling hot water
• 1 ½ Tbsp. instant espresso powder
• 1 ½ tsp. Mexican vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 14 Medjool dates, pitted and coarsely chopped
• 2 cups spelt flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp salt
• 1 cup packed Moscovado sugar
• 2 large eggs

Preparation:

     Stir together boiling hot water, espresso powder, vanilla and baking soda in a bowl, then add dates, mashing lightly with a fork.  Soak until liquid cools to room temperature – about 10 minutes.

     Put oven rack in the middle position and preheat oven to 350F.  Butter a 9” springform pan, then lightly dust with cocoa powder, knocking out the excess.

The batter before going into the oven

     Whisk together spelt flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in another bowl.  Beat together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy.  Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until just combined.  Beat in the date mixture (batter will look curdled), then reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, a bit at a time, mixing until just combined.

     Spoon batter into the springform pan, smoothing top, and bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes.  Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then remove side of pan and cool it on rack.  When almost cool, sprinkle with cocoa powder.  Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream.

     The second recipe is for a delicious mousse with an Asian twist.  It is as simple as it is dense.

Mocha Mousse with Sichuan Peppercorns

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• ¼ tsp Sichuan peppercorns
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 ½ tsp ground coffee beans
• 4 oz 70% cacao bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 3 large egg whites
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• Whipped cream for garnish

Preparation:

     Grind the peppercorns with mortar and pestle.  Bring cream, coffee and pepper to a simmer in a small saucepan.  Remove from heat and let steep, covered, for 30 minutes.  Strain liquid through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing on solids.

     Melt the chocolate in a large bowl.  Stir in the cream.  Let cool slightly.

     Beat the egg whites with the sugar using an electric mixer until they just hold off stiff peaks.  Fold into the chocolate mixture gently but thoroughly.  Spoon the mousse into pots or glasses and chill at least 3 hours.  Serve with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.

Apicius - the great ancient gourmet

     When it came to entertaining, nobody did it like the Romans.  The books of Apicius are the oldest ones we know regarding the history of recipes and cooking techniques.  They date from as far back as the time of Christ, and provide valuable insights as to how cooking and gastronomy started.

     Scholars are at odds as to whether Apicius was one or several persons, and as to whether the book that we know as De Re-coquinaria was written all at once or it is actually a compilation, put together over several years.  The romantic side of the story attributes the collection of ten books to a Marcus Gavius Apicius, a notable gourmet that lived in Rome during the reign of Tiberius.  This Apicius used to dine on fresh crayfish, and a famous anecdote claims he took sail towards the coast of Africa on a whim, in search for the coveted crustaceans when they were not available in Rome.

     The notable Roman entertained almost constantly and, although possessor of great wealth, upon noticing one day that his fortune would more than likely not allow him the pleasures of such dining extravagances until his final days, he decided to commit suicide by overeating.  I’d say that for any gourmet, this is the ONLY way to go.

     There are several translations of the books of Apicius.  The one I read is the first one ever translated into English by scholar Joseph Dommers Vehling.  Although the recipes are vague and not a single one of them gives any clue on measurements, learning about the ways the Romans prepared their food has been an enlightening experience.

    Take, for instance, the way used to slaughter animals.  In one of the recipes for chicken, the slaughtering is described as raptum.  This has to be the cruelest way of killing an animal, which means none other than pulling it to pieces while it is still alive.  Romans believed that suffering increased the quality of taste in the meat.  Nowadays, of course – and thank God - we know the opposite to be true, as suffering only adds stress and makes the meat harder.  One can only imagine the bestiality that took place in Ancient Rome, not just for entertainment purposes but over day to day living. 

     In general, Romans seemed to believe suffering, on all levels, added a new dimension to life, which somehow made it worth living.  Hence the brutality present in all aspects of their lives, from killing slaves and throwing the bodies into fish ponds in order to fatten the mullets and eels living in them, to the invention of methods like crucifixion as punishment for crimes.

     But going back to the cooking, we see that spices like cumin and black pepper were omnipresent.  Also mulled wine and broth, which were used for sauces and rouxes.  A combination of ingredients that intrigued me was one of fennel, dry mint and vinegar, so I decided to try it in a salad. 

     I made it quite simply, and no recipe is required.  Just slice some fennel in thin strips, sprinkle about a tablespoon of dried mint over it, then season with red wine vinegar.  It’s refreshing and proves to be a nice digestive for something heavy as a lamb roast, with which I served it.  I also topped it with a dollop of crème fraîche seasoned with ras-el-hanout, a special Moroccan spice mix, which added yet another dimension and paired magnificently with the Moroccan-style lamb.

Murder, murder and more murder...

     I have a huge library.  It is intrinsic to me.  Whenever I’ve been, in all the places I have lived, books are the first thing that I start accumulating, even before clothes, or food!  Culinary mysteries are one of my favorite genres.  Since I am in a culinary state of mind lately, I selected as this week’s read Appetite for Murder by Francophile Cecille Lamalle (http://www.amazon.com/Appetite-Murder-Culinary-Mystery-Mysteries/dp/0446607622/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1336794783&sr=8-3). 

Ms. Lamalle is a cook, food editor and recipe developer, and her familiarity with the food industry is palpable almost from the beginning of the story.  Set in Van Buren county, in the outskirts of Albany, in New York state, Appetite for Murder is an interesting compendium of culinary secrets, ephemera, even recipes, of the first kind; all wrapped up in a nice, juicy mystery.

     The first thing I noticed about the story is the abundance of characters.  So much so, that half way through the book, I had to start over because I no longer knew who was who and what their part in the story was.  There is, of course, our Frenchman Chef and amateur sleuth Charles “Charly” Poisson.  Original from the Jura mountains in France - the land of les vins jeune - he now owns “La Fermette” (or "The Farmhouse"), an upscale restaurant that, although labeled first class by everyone in the story, as well as the review that precedes it, I find quite ordinary in its menu choices.  Apple and pecan pies for dessert, sandwiches à la Americaine (not the nice French baguettes made with succulent country paté and fresh vegetables), hamburgers and just simple Gravlax in a French restaurant??  I would not consider “La Fermette” as a high end dining establishment for one minute, especially if one thinks of the original "La Fermette Marbeuf" in Paris, a restaurant that appears to be the model for Ms. Poisson's.

The original La Fermette Marbeuf.  Who wouldn't want to dine here?

     Ms. Poisson serves this menu following the suggestion of his favourite customer, an interesting character belonging to the mob by the name of Walter Maxwell, in order to make a living.  Sad, I must say, especially because no respectable Frenchman would sacrifice the quintessential food qualities and rituals of France to merely fit in anywhere, especially among banal gangsters in America.  Nonetheless, Ms. Poisson runs a highly profitable business. 

     Narrative-wise, this is one is a confusing, albeit rather entertaining, book.  There are several different events taking place at the same time.  The first body is found by Charly himself, one day in early October, while on a hunt for oyster mushrooms, which he would later use in a most excellent soup (and one which I intend to try this coming Autumn).  He finds the body of a very well-dressed woman, wearing an expensive Hermès scarf, buried in the rich humus of his land.  But this is not the only case currently on the curricula of the small Van Buren County Police.  Someone has been burning the barns of the local farmers, one by one, for the past several months, and the Police still do not have a clue on who the arsonist is.  Then one of Charly’s customers, a rich lady by the name of Honoria Wells, gets attacked – twice, once by her money-hungry boyfriend and later by… someone who shoots her while lounging in her living room.  This same sniper targets our French Chef as well – twice, but he miraculously escapes.

View of the bar area, which presumably was the inspiration for Charly Poisson's restaurant.

     In the meantime, a mischievous child is murdered, the barn burnings continue, and a cleaning lady disappears.  Is it all connected? Ostensibly so.  And the interesting part is, that unlike in most mysteries, the reader is shown the culprit from the moment the crimes are committed.  The reason one is compelled to continue reading is for the pure pleasure of seeing the characters come to their own realizations about the events in the story and, mostly, for the delightful leçons de la cuisine imparted by Charly throughout.  His favoritism for Bach flower remedies, his chewing of garlic for a strong heart and other eccentricities our Chef has make this an engaging book.

     I decided to test the recipe for Salmon Rillettes, which I came to find was sloppily written.  Properly made though, it makes for a very nice appetizer.  I chose to serve it in my Emile Henry terrine, which I found at a discount in Williams-Sonoma, and considerably added to its presentation glamour.  For 4 to 6 servings gather:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound skinned salmon fillets, very finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp. vodka
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. dill, chopped
• Pinch of brown sugar
• Sea salt to taste
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• Dash or two of Tabasco sauce

Preparation:

     Steamed the salmon fillets for 8 minutes, turning them once at half time.  Then chop them and combine with remaining ingredients, tossing gently with 2 forks.  Press into a terrine dish and let the flavours marry in the refrigerator 5 to 6 hours, or preferably overnight.  Serve with rounds of toasted baguette and butter.  A crisp Chablis accompanies this appetizer very well.

     Now if I could only be the consultant for that menu…

Macaroons from Pavillon Ledoyen

     The word macaroon means different things to different nationalities.  Whilst in America we could care less as to whether it is macaroni and cheese or cheese and macaroni, Europeans take the matter of food very seriously.  Case in point, the macaroon.

     There is the Italian variety and the French one, the latter one being the one of interest for this post.  French macaroons are less dense and a lot more airy than Italian ones.  They’re basically made of meringue and have a creamy filling in-between, which can be anything from a fruit jam to a creamy mousse (ganache).  They are served at the end of a meal as petit fours secs, as accompaniment to coffee.

    The Parisian bakery Ladureé is credited with the creation of the French macaroon.  As such, they should be on your MUST VISIT list when in Paris.  In the meantime, we can have these delicacies directly sent to our door via Pavillon Ledoyen, a purveyor of all things gourmet, also located in Paris.

     Pavillion Ledoyen opened in 1791 as a restaurant.  It passed through a number of owners, even overcoming a fire in 1848.  Eventually, the brand grew to what it is today, shipping French delicacies all over the world for those who do not have the good fortune of living in Paris.

     I was lucky enough to receive a box of their classic collection, which included both fruity and creamy flavoured macaroons in all the colours of the rainbow.  Presentation is important for the brand, as the red box in which the macaroons arrived demonstrates.  It makes them an ideal hostess gift (one that will make you look totally “non-desperate”). We tasted them with a nice espresso, freshly ground and brewed.  Our favorites were the coffee, chocolate and citrus flavours, closely followed by the blueberry and pistachio.  The strawberry one was the least favorite as the jam seemed too stiff; however all flavours had the dreamy, airy texture a proper French macaroon should have, and they melted in our mouth in a couple of bites, as will you.  

     Enjoy your happy coffee moment!