When I grow up I wanna be a Princess...

Today I went to Versailles. For those of you who don't know, Versailles is a palace in France just outside of Paris where Marie-Antoinette and other French Kings and Queens lived.

My French grandparents son-in-law took Luigi and me. It was really beautiful inside and out. We toured the whole palace and then walked some of the garden. It was freezing out and since it's Winter the garden was mostly bare but still beautiful. I wanna go back in the Spring when everything is blooming and walk the garden again. Here's some of the pictures I took:

The front gate

The Palace

The door to my future palace

Luigi listening to his virtual tour guide!

Minor obsession

Precious petite ones learning about Versailles

Hall of mirrors.. my favorite

Love this.

His favorite place... Ladureé

Part of the gardens

 

 

The end.

Versailles was really nice and Luigi and I came home and made a Mexican dinner which was delicious. Amongst all the great things I saw and the nice day I had it just seemed really dreary. Just one of those days when you wake up and if your socks don't match you wanna cry? My socks rarely match anyway so that's a bad example for me.. but you get the point. I was just overall kind of sad. I think the fact that there is never sunshine here is starting to get to me. And I've been here almost a full month so it's setting in that this is home now. Which I love but at the same time I just really miss a lot of things from America. Maybe I just had too many days off from the kitchen... haha. Good thing I'll be back tomorrow making Duck Terraine!

I decided to change my "Quote du Jour" to food quotes that I find and like. Hope everyone's okay with that. If not.. too bad.

Of course I'm going to start off by quoting my favorite... Tony Bourdain: 

"I have long believed that good food, good eating is all about risk. Whether we’re talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters or working for organized crime ‘associates,’ food, for me, has always been an adventure." —–Anthony Bourdain

I couldn't agree more, Tony.

profiteroles & bone marrow = licking the bowl clean

I have two recipes I feel like I need to share with you that we recently learned at school. Profiteroles & Byron Potatoes. One look at the pictures and you'll see why.

Besides those delicious concoctions we've also covered french omelets, roasted a whole chicken, and grilled salmon. Outside of school I went to the oldest street in Paris, ate bone marrow, and watched 4 Disney movies. It's been a pretty great 2 days.

First the recipes: (sorry the measurements are a little weird.. my recipes are in metric so I tried to convert them for you!)

Profiteroles Glacées, Sauce Chocolat Créme Chantilly
(Serves 12)

Profiteroles are really just a fancy name for choux pastry stuffed with ice cream and covered in chocolate and whipped cream. Obviously you can buy the vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce but it won't be nearly as good so be adventurous and make everything from scratch. I promise it's worth it! Read and learn... 

Choux Pastry

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

7T butter

1 pinch sugar

4 3/4 oz flour

4 eggs

1 pinch vanilla

Vanilla ice cream

2 cups milk

1.5 oz whipping cream

5 egg yolks 

4 oz sugar

2 vanilla beans

Chocolate Sauce

5 2/3 oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa)

1 1/3 oz sugar

3.5 ml water
2/3 oz butter

coffee extract (optional)

Chantilly cream

6.5 ml whipping cream

1 oz sugar 

vanilla 

kirsch (optional)

Start by making the vanilla ice cream: Split the vanilla bean into 2 and scrap the beans into a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg yolk and sugar. This needs to be done vigorously because the sugar can burn the egg yolks if given enough time; this vigorous whisking turns the egg yolk and sugar light in color and is called 'blanching'. Next bring the milk and cream to a boil in a sauce pan. Add the vanilla beans to this mixture. 

Next, take the milk/cream mixture and add 1/3 of it to the egg/sugar mixture and then pour that all back into the rest of the milk/cream. We do this to make sure the hot milk/cream doesn't cook the eggs. This process is called tempering. Mix well. Strain through a chinois or a fine strainer.  Cool quickly in the freezer before churning. It is best to make this mixture and cool the day before so all your flavors develop but it's not necessary. Once cooled add the mix to an ice cream machine and churn! 

Now make the choux pastry: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Put the milk, water, butter, salt, and sugar in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Mixing only with a spoon, never a whisk. Once boiling remove from the heat and add the flour working the mixture into a paste. Put it back on the stove mixing with your spoon to dry out the excess moisture. (Only takes about a minute). Remove from the sauce pan and put it into a bowl. Mix in eggs a little a time making sure to not cook the egg. Once the dough has formed scrap it into a pastry bag and pipe it out onto a baking pan with parchment paper in little circles about 1.5 inches wide. Brush these little circles with egg wash (egg and a little water) to make it shiny. Put directly into the oven and they are ready when they turn a golden color. Lay them out on a cooling rack and cut in half to serve.

To make the chocolate sauce just add the chocolate to a bowl and melt over a double boiler (Pot with simmering water and a bowl over top that has the chocolate in it). Once melted add your butter to the warm chocolate to give shine, sugar to sweeten, water for volume, and coffee extract for flavor. Voila! 

Lastly, make the Chantilly cream. Whisk the cream until it forms stiff peaks or add to a mixer to do the work for you. (We don't have the luxury in school). Add the vanilla, powdered sugar and incorporate. The ending result should look like a whipped cream. Put into a piping bag to serve or you can just dollop it on the plate with a spoon.

To plate the dessert: Take the bottom half of one of your choux pastry and top it with the vanilla ice cream, put the lid of the choux pastry on top and spoon over the chocolate sauce. Pipe or dollop your whipped cream and sprinkle the whole thing with powered sugar. Enjoy! Licking your plate or bowl clean is acceptable.

Pommes Byron

(Byron Potatoes, Serves 4)

These potatoes are delicious and easy. Lucky for you! They are basically mashed potatoes topped with a cream sauce and cheese then baked. What more could you ask for?

The middle circle is the finished Byron Potato.

Mashed Potatoes

4 large potatoes, peeled and chopped

1.5 oz butter

salt, nutmeg

2 egg yolks

Cream Sauce 

1/4 cup cream

1/2 cup milk

1 oz beurre manié (equal parts water & flour mixed to make a dry paste)

pinch of salt

1 handful Gruyere cheese

Preheat the oven to 350F. Start by adding the peeled and chopped potatoes to a pot and adding cold water. Bring this water to a boil and add salt. Cook the potatoes until tender but not falling apart. Strain well. While hot add the butter, pinch of salt and nutmeg. Run the potatoes through a ricer. If you do not have a ricer just make sure to mix the potatoes very well so there are no lumps and they become velvety smooth. Add the egg yolks and incorporate. 

Put this mixture into a piping bag and pipe out circles about 2 inches thick onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. If you do not have a piping bag just spoon the potatoes onto the baking sheet. Take the back of a spoon or ladle and get it slightly wet. Press it on top of the potato circles to make a well for the sauce.

Now make the cream sauce. Bring the cream, milk and salt to a boil and add the beurre manié, a small amount at a time to thicken the cream mixture. Top the potatoes with the sauce. Top the sauce with cheese. Bake until cheese has melted and slightly browned. YUM!

Like I said, we also made salmon & roasted chicken. Here's some pictures of those. If you want the recipes just let me know! 

Saumon Grillé, Beurre Émulsionné á la Ciboulette

Poulet Roti et son Jus

Rue Mouffetard

I visited one of the oldest streets in Paris yesterday, Rue Mouffetard. It is situated in the 5th arrondissement and it dates back to the 1st century. It's mostly a pedestrian avenue filled with shops, cafés, and restaurants and it has a market at one end. The street was beautiful and I took a lot of pictures of food but unfortunately my camera died and I couldn't take pictures of the street itself. 

le fromage

marchand de vin

poissonnerie

 Moelle Osseuse

"But when you [...] get to chew on the bone it is something primordial. It takes us back to our ancient wild past as humans. It is a pure basic human pleasure and the basis of the truism 'the closer to the bone, the sweeter is the meat'." - Jennifer McClaglan, author of "Bones: Recipes, History, and Lore"

My favorite thing I did this week in Paris was try bone marrow. Ali, Elana, and I went out to dinner with Ali's new french love interest Damien for dinner. (Yes, I'm jealous she already has a french love interest). We were suppose to meet at 7:30, which turned to 8 which ended up being 9 because Damien was working. But, the waiting was well worth it. We went to this precious little restaurant by the Louvre. I wish I could remember the name. We had a glass of red wine at the bar while waiting for Damien and looked over the menu. We saw the bone marrow being presented to a table close by and it looked/smelled amazing. Ali and Elana had tried it before and it's one of Ali's favorite things so I ordered it. It was incredible. I've never tasted anything like it. You can eat it spoonful by spoonful or spread it on bread. It's good sprinkled with a little sea salt. I'm sure it freaks some of you out and honestly I was a little nervous but I promise you the first bite will win you over! 

 

Qustion du Jour

"Can you substitute Lamb for Ham in an omelet?"  

 Until next time.. Bonjour mon petit choux!

The Little Mermaid Sequal: Bisque du Crabe a la Cordon Bleu

Bonjour mes amis!

It's been a couple days since last time I "blogged". In that time I've learned about and made crab bisque and consommé, and went to Les Halles with Brian. I also forgot to write about my french family birthday party so I'll fill you in on that too.

French Family Birthday Lunch...

Last Sunday my french grandparents had a birthday lunch at our apartment for their grandson who turned 13. I may or may not have returned home that same morning from being out late at night and wearing the same clothes I went out in... oops. The party was really great though! There were 10 of us there, the entire french family. Luigi made little cheese bread sticks and we had champagne (which was difficult for me to get down after the night before). We had a nice lunch with salad, green beans, endive, and what I think was veal? They had a grown ups table and a kid table which I thought was hilarious.. and of course I sat at the kids. The french children spoke pretty good English so we had some conversations. Luigi also made a giant macaroon for the boy's birthday cake and it was delicious. Afterward I was exhausted and spent the rest of the night in my bed... facebooking.

Kid Table

Lunch

Parent Table

Luigi's Macaroon Cake

Grandparents with the birthday boy (Such a French picture) 

The Little Mermaid, Part II

Monday we made Crab Bisque at school.
Watch the video and you'll see exactly what it was like at Le Cordon Bleu that day.

To make the crab bisque we had to take the baby crabs that were still alive and chop them in half with our chef knife. Needless to say they were all sprinting away from our cutting boards like Sebastian which made it semi-difficult to achieve this. Most of the girls in my group had small freak outs but I actually really loved this part.. I know, I'm heartless. I didn't really love the bisque when Chef made it in the demo because it had a brownish color and it tasted gritty but mine actually turned out pretty decent and I brought it home to my french family. The people in the metro hated me.

Chef was having fun with my camera and kept repositioning my hat and posing me for the picture. The Chef's think they're really funny.

 

Clear Consommé on a Cloudy Day 

We never see the sun here in Paris. I've been here 19 days and have only seen it once. It makes me kinda sad but making this consommé made me really happy. A consommé is when you take a stock and clarify it using lean meat, mirapoix, tomatoes and egg yolks to turn the stock from cloudy to crystal clear. The meat, vegetables, and egg yolk coagulate on top of the stock forming a "raft" which is really just where all the solids come together and sit on top of the liquid. When you bring the stock from a boil down to a simmer a small hole forms in the raft and the stock is circulated through this and eventually becomes completely clear. Then you gently strain it through a chinois so you are left with a very rich tasting clear liquid that can be used to make things such as French Onion Soup or a broth soup with vegetables like in the picture. It's really an amazing process and I love watching it happen.

Chef making his consommé. It's the pot on the right.

The cocktail glasses in the top of the picture are the consommé at two different stages. The one of the right is about 5 minutes into clarifying and the one on the left is when the consommé is complete. Isn't the difference amazing?

I love this picture. Yes this boy had a red curly rat tail and yes he is eying the girl next to him in class and I captured it.

French Onion Soup made from the Consommé

Soupe de Poisson Facon Marseilleaise

Sometimes the days at school run very long and I fall asleep mid-note taking...

Les Halles

Les Halles is an area of Paris named for the central market that used to exist there. Merchants from all over France would come to sell their food. It's very historic to the food world and was magical to see. 

The individual stalls where merchants sold their food.

This isn't a great picture but standing there I could almost imagine and feel what it used to be like.

 Besides the market, the area of Les Halles has amazing kitchen appliance stores, specialty food stores, and bargain shopping (at least during the sales right now). It's one of my favorite areas in Paris. Although I've been told I say that about every area I go to...

Cute new shoes for 40% off!

A skirt I bought at a vintage store.

La Bovida

Dehillerin

Dehillerin

In demonstration class we can ask questions if we don't understand what the Chef is doing. This usually is a helpful tool for students but in the case of my class... the questions just get ridiculous. Each class period we have at least 5 dumb questions asked and they can be pretty funny so I'm dedicating a section of my blog to them to share with you. We're gonna call it "Question du Jour".. kinda like soup du jour. I know, I'm hilarious and witty. Enjoy!

Question du Jour

"Chef, at what temperature should the stove be on when you boil water?" 

Alright, that's all for today. I'll be back soon with more pictures to make you drool and more idiotic questions. 

Au Revoir, mon petit choux! 

(Goodbye, my little cabbages!)