Paris 3 Stars Restaurant

This week, and the next two, I am exploring the quintessence of French cuisine: the 3 star restaurant.
First stop: Le Meurice in Paris. Yannick Alléno presides over its Napoléon the Third refurbished golden décor. The cuisine is as beautiful as the space and manages to be both truthful to the ingredients, refined and seasonal. It is both based on tradition and original, making one pause with the pleasure of recognizing the dish and appreciate the twist it was given. The langoustines and lobsters were superbly cooked. The pairing of each, langoustines with the tiniest slice of turnip, avocado oil and preserved grapefruit, lobsters with a subtle marrow and meat gravy and green asparagus, was just right. A sweetbread simply sautéed in a crust of chestnut accompanied a truffle risotto of “fragula” a cereal from Sardinia. In homage to the season, the tiniest ribs of lamb were served with crisp potatoes flavored with lemon and basil. Yannick playfully added a molecular olive to the dish. The dessert, a caramel tart with flambé bananas and passion fruit sauce on the side stuck the exact slightly bitter balance to complement the Riesling Grand cru Rangen de Thann SGN 1998.
But what is in it for the home cook besides making a reservation next time you are in Paris? Yannick was kind enough to let me publish one of his recipes. And I put it to the test of my tiny home kitchen. The first challenge was the veal stock. At the market, I found a veal shank and asked the butcher to cut it in pieces I could use for an osso bucco and to give me the tail end of it for my stock. I sautéed some onion in butter and put it, and the veal piece in my slow cooker along with a cleaned leek, a peeled and grated carrot and salt. I “forgot” it for 6 hours, strained it and refrigerated it until the next day. The stock is by then a translucent jelly with a thin layer of fat easy to remove. The morels are a seasonal mushroom found in the wild: Michael Pollan goes hunting for them in the hills of California for his fourth foraging meal in The Omnivore’s Dilemna. If not washed thoroughly, they can be gritty. As to the yellow wine, it is from the region of Jura in France with a smoky robe and a distinctive rich taste that sets it apart from other white wines.
Although the recipe is time consuming, it takes two hours not counting the veal stock preparation, the sauce is so fragrant and tasty that my guests polished it off with a piece of bread! I can also imagine using it as a swirl in a butternut squash soup.

Morels in yellow wine with a stuffed romaine leave in a brown butter sauce
Adapted from Yannick Alléno

Ingredients
1-Yellow wine sauce:
1 tablespoon butter
2 carrots (200 g) cut in slender sticks about ½ inch (1 cm) long
1 cup (200 g) Paris mushrooms cut the same way
2 cups (500 ml) yellow wine
1½ cups heavy cream

2-Stuffed romaine:
1 romaine salad washed
5 cardoon leaves
3 slices bacon cut in small pieces
1 cup (250 ml) veal stock

3-Butter:
½ cup (100 g) veal stock (recipe follows)
1 tablespoon (15 g) butter

4-Morel:
32 morel mushrooms (200 g) five times immersed in fresh water and dried
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon (10 g) minced shallots
1 carrot peeled and minced
1 celery branch peeled and minced
1 cup (250 ml) yellow wine


Material:
14-quart saucepan
1 frying pan
1 peeler
1 paring knife and board
1 strainer



1-Set the 4-quart pan on the medium range of the gas. Add the butter, the carrots and the Paris mushrooms. After a couple of minutes, add the yellow wine and cook until there is no liquid left. Add the crème and cook for another 15 minutes. Strain. Add salt and pepper to taste.
2-Wash and dry the salad in a salad spinner. Reserve 4 medium leaves and shred the remainder in slender pieces.
Peel the cardoons. Blanch them in boiling water for one minute. Cut them in small pieces. Blanch the romaine leaves in the same manner and lay on a flat surface in preparation for stuffing.
Fry the bacon, add the cardoons and the shredded romaine. When it starts coloring, add the veal stock and cook for 10 minutes. Strain the juice and place the vegetables and bacon in the center of the romaine leaves. Fold over and keep warm in the oven set at 250 F (100 C).
3-Set the frying pan on the slow range of the gas. Add the butter. When it reached a warm brown color and starts smelling like nuts cooking, add the veal stock and reduce. Reserve and keep warm in the oven.
4-Set the frying pan on the low range of the gas. Fry the minced shallots in a little butter. After two minutes add the carrots and the celery and melt slowly until the vegetables are soft, about two minutes. Add the morels. Mushroom water will come out. Let it reduce. Add the yellow wine and simmer slowly for another couple of minutes.
Dispose in each plate a quarter of the morel mixture and a stuffed leave. Pour the brown butter sauce over the stuffed leave. Lay the yellow wine sauce as an arabesque on the empty surface of the plate.
Serves 4 as an appetizer.

Veal stock (Easy, Preparation time: 5 minutes, Cooking time: 6 hours largely unattended, cheap)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
1 onion peeled and minced
1 carrot grated and roughly sliced
1 leek green parts removed partially and washed
½ teaspoon salt
The end of a veal shank bone and all

Material:
Frying pan
Slow cooker
Strainer
Storage containers

Place the frying pan on the low settings of the gas. Melt the butter. Add the onions and cook for about 3 minutes without letting them color.
Place the cooked onions, the carrot, leek, veal shank and salt in the inset of the slow cooker. Recover with just enough water to submerge everything. Set the dial on high for 6 hours.
Strain into a container and store in the refrigerator for up to three days, or freeze for three months after having removed the top layer of fat.
About 3 cups.

Paris markets

There is a popular song by Gilbert Bécaud about the markets of Provence and no mention of the Parisian ones although there are about ninety today and are a terrific source for any cook*. They have been around since the fifth century AD: the oldest one was in the Île de la Cité and has since given room to the permanent flower market. It is well worth seeing on the way to the Sainte Chapelle, a glass window jewel tucked inside the Palais de Justice.
For more substantial nourishment, you can shop for an entire meal and sometimes even consume one without leaving the street where they take place. Some of them are so large you may even compare prices and quality. It is the occasion to pick what looks best on a given day and let your imagination do the rest. To go back in time even further you can rent a bike from the city of Paris. It comes equipped with a front basket, which begs for a fresh baguette and any other purchases.
I fell in arrest in front of a fishmonger’s stall. Atlantic whole fish have the run of the place because of the proximity of the ocean: the small soles good for one person and the bars for 3 caught my attention. I selected the biggest bar at 750 g (1 lbs and ½ ) and asked it to be cleaned but not scaled. Because of the reduced format of its head it can serve three. In the States where Atlantic bars may not be available, a large red snapper (over 2 lbs) or two smaller one may be needed to serve the same amount, as snapper heads are larger. Because in Paris, my apartment is tiny and I need to keep cooking odors to a minimum, I opted for the Portuguese salt crust method. The salt forms a crust in cooking and sticks to the skin of the fish. It contains and enhances all perfume inside, hence the dill branches in the cavity.
At the vegetable counter white asparagus, fresh peas, bean pods, and gariguettes, the oblong fruit of Provence, with the taste of wild strawberries in a large size formed an irresistible complement. My dinner requires 20 minutes cooking, 10 minutes preparation time, is reasonably expensive and comes smell free.

Baked whole fish in salt crust

Ingredients:
2 lbs (1 kg) coarse salt
1 lbs ½ Atlantic bar or 2 lbs red snapper
2 stems dill

Material:
1 baking sheet
1 sharp knife
1 spatula

Preheat the oven at 420 F (250 C).
Insert the dill branches into the fish cavity.
Place 1/3 of the salt in a diagonal on the baking sheet in a width sufficient to accommodate the fish. Add a little water before laying the fish over the salt. Cover the fish with the remaining salt. Add a little water, as if you were molding a sand fish on a beach.
Bake in the oven for twenty minutes if using a bar, for 30 minutes if cooking a red snapper. The crust will turn gold.
Remove from the oven. Prepare the three serving plates close by. With the handle of the knife, break the crust. Using the knife and spatula remove the salt crust along with the skin of the fish and discard. Cut the fish in filets and place on each plate. Propose olive oil and lemon quarters on the side.

Spring vegetables (Simultaneous preparation)

Ingredients:
1 lbs (500 g) asparagus
2 lbs (1 kg) peas
1 lb (500 g) fava beans
½ lb (250 g) cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
Bouquet of chives

Material:
1 4-quart pan
1 slotted spoon
1 peeler
1 colander
Scissors

As you preheat the oven, fill the pan with water and bring to a boil.
Remove the peas and fava beans from the pods and discard the pods. Peel the asparagus and cut off the hardest part of the stem.
Place the fava beans and tomatoes into the boiling water. When the boiling resumes, remove fava beans and tomatoes from the pan with the slotted spoon, and replace with the asparagus. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until tender. Strain.
Peel the skin of the tomatoes and the fava beans.
Reheat all the vegetables together with a tablespoon of oil and a teaspoon of salt in the same pan.
Snip the chives with the scissors and serve directly on the plate along with the fish.

Gariguettes or any local strawberries (No preparation)

Ingredients:
1 lbs (500 g) strawberries
1 cup (250 g) crème fraîche
¼ cup (60 g) sugar

Wash the strawberries and serve in a salad bowl.
Pass the crème fraîche and the sugar around for dipping each strawberry first in cream and then in sugar before eating.

*To obtain a schedule of all Parisian markets open air or covered by postal zips type marchés Paris in the Google bar.

Moroccan Pies

A trip to Morocco in April is a jump into summer and a feast for all senses. The gardens are full of peas and beans. Apple blossoms follow almond flowers. All the perfumes of Arabia surround our senses and the gardens. Verbena, rosemary, lavender, orange blossoms, roses, cinnamon, cumin, saffron and curcuma are everywhere. They suffuse the Argane oil used for massage after the steam bath and awaken our meals. Spices decorate the markets and color clothes and food. A stop at an apothecary allows your nose to identify the essence of the country. It is its delicacy and sweetness, which seduces the palate.
From Marrakech the magnificent and winded road to Skoura goes 2600 meters high over the Atlas, and passes contrasting vistas of mossy quiet plateaus, high snowy mountains, arid precipices and torrents. Nested in an oasis of palm trees, Dar Alham, the house of dreams is where under the guidance of its chef, Mohamed El Mantouh, I finally learned to prepare pastillas, the thin ubiquitous crust used for savory and sweet rolls as well as for the sweet and sour pigeon pie which is the obligatory start to a repast fit for a sultan or a marriage. Although Moroccan cuisine is as diverse as its regions, pastilla is a microcosm: with each bite, a little piece of the country full of orange blossom, cinnamon, sugar, almond and herbs becomes a part of you. Today, instead of preparing the crust from scratch, one uses supermarket bricks or Greek phyllo sheets. The recipe provided serves 6. Along with a simple green salad it is sweet enough to be both main course and dessert. Replacing the pigeons by a chicken will ease the shopping. It is indispensable to serve mint tea along.

Pigeon pastilla (Medium difficulty, Preparation time: 2 hours, Can be prepared ahead, May use leftovers, Relatively expensive)

Ingredients:

For the crust
3 bricks about 9 inches in diameter (24 cm)
1 egg beaten for basting

For the meat garnish:
8 young pigeons emptied and cleaned, or alternately 1 large chicken
3 tablespoons fresh olive oil
1 clove garlic minced
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1cup (250 ml) chicken stock
1 large red onion minced

For the scrambled eggs:
4 eggs beaten
Pinch of salt

For the almond:
½ cup (80g) almond
¼ cup (40g) crystallized sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon plus extra for dusting

For the onion:
1 red onion
1tablespoon olive oil
1tablespoon sugar

For the herbs:
3 tablespoons minced parsley
3 tablespoons minced coriander

Material:
Food processor
Pressure cooker
Strainer
Basting brush
Pastry sheet covered with parchment paper

Set the pressure cooker on the high setting of the gas. Add the oil, the onion and sauté the pigeons. After 10 minutes, add pepper, garlic, salt, ginger and cinnamon. Finally pour the chicken broth. Close the pressure cooker and cook for 30 minutes. Check that the meat tears away easily from the bones. Strain the pigeons and pour the broth back into the bottom of the pressure cooker. Bring the pigeons to room temperature.
Scramble the beaten eggs in the pigeon perfumed chicken broth over low gas.
Toast the almond, grind them coarsely and mix with the cinnamon and sugar.
Stir-fry the onion in the oil with the sugar and cinnamon.
Detach the meat from the pigeon bones.
Preheat the oven to 180 C (360 F).
To assemble the pastilla, place two layers of brick on a piece of parchment paper. Center the chicken or pigeon meat on the brick surface, leaving a margin of 3 inches (10 cm) all around. Layer on top successively the onions paste, a few drops of orange blossom water, the almond mixture, the scrambled eggs and finally the herbs. Apply a thin layer of raw mixed egg with a brush on the margin of the brick. Cover with the remaining brick and wrap the borders over, forming a tight package. Turn over on the pastry sheet and paint the whole top of the pastilla with the remaining egg. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes until the crust is golden.
Set on a serving plate and sprinkle with cinnamon and powdered sugar.


Mint tea (Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 15 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon green tea leaves per person
2 mint stems per person
1 coffee spoon crystallized sugar per person

Material:
1 fireproof teapot

Place the tea in the teapot. Add 1 tablespoon of hot water per spoonful of tea. Stir the pot energetically. Throw the water out, but not the tea. Repeat twice. Add the mint. Fill up the teapot with warm water. Add the sugar. Bring to a boil. Serve from high up in a glass. Pour the content of the glass back into the teapot. Repeat twice, before serving everybody.

Strange and beautiful veggies

Photo courtesy of Steve Miller*

Curiosity may well have killed the cat but it certainly enriched our meals and scientific knowledge. Without adventurous bodies to explore far away continents and bring back strange fruit and plants to acclimate to our latitudes, our plates would be so much duller. Some countries would have an identity crisis: imagine Italy without the tomato or France without potato, both imported from America. All the adventurers who first tasted an unknown vegetable or fruit and then brought it to botanical gardens deserve all our gratitude. Thanks to them Europeans eat Arabic artichokes (Cynara cardunculus) and Canadian sunchokes, also called Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberus) and Americans and Chinese consume French crosnes (Stachys affinis). Although these plants belong to widely different genii, their edible parts, the flower in the case of the artichoke, the roots for the crosne and the sunchoke, share a somewhat similar flavor. The latter two look like homunculus and may intimidate the novice cook at first. Their delicate nutty taste and the variety of their textures -from very crunchy for the crosne to tender for the sunchoke- should recommend them. They are very easy to prepare: the crosnes need only be sprinkled with coarse salt and rubbed in a paper towel before a quick rinse in cold water. The sunchokes are to be boiled until tender before their skin can easily be removed. Until I became familiar with the Rialto market in Venice, I either ate artichokes raw when they were small, or at room temperature after they had been boiled for twenty minutes. The sight of merchants peeling away their petals and uncovering their heart taught me what the small flying saucers reposing in water basins between the radicchio and the bunches of aragula were. One subsequent favorite dish was open lasagna garnished with thin slices of sautéed artichokes, Parmesan and olive oil. Because the lasagna for sale at the supermarket is too thick and that making it from scratch is time consuming I substitute crêpe. All recipes serve 4.

Sunchoke purée and sautéed scallops (Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes, Reasonable)

Ingredients:
1 lbs (500 g) sunchokes
2 tablespoons (28 g) butter
¼ cup (60 ml) crème fraîche or heavy cream
½ lbs (250 g) scallops
Salt and pepper to taste

Material:
1 saucepan
Calendar
Food processor
1 frying pan

Set a pot of water on the high range of the gas. When the water is boiling add the sunchokes. After 20 minutes, or when a knife pierce easily the soften sunchoke, drain the water. Peel the sunchokes. Set them back in the pot and add the cream. When it boils again, put everything in the bowl of the food processor fitted with the sharp blade and pulse until thoroughly blended. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Set the frying pan on the medium range of the gas. Add the butter, and, when it is melted stir-fry the scallops for two minutes on each side. The scallops should be golden on the outside.
Serve the scallops on top of the purée as an appetizer.

Sautéed Crosnes with aragula and cremini mushrooms (Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 20 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
½ lbs (250 g) crosnes
½ lbs (250 g) cremini mushrooms
1 bunch aragula
¼ cup (60 ml) goose or duck fat
Salt and pepper to taste

Material:
Paper towel
1teaspoon coarse salt
1 colander
1 wok or frying pan

Sprinkle the salt on top of the paper towel. Place the crosnes inside and rub gently through the towel. Place the crosnes in the colander and discard the towel. Rinse the crosne in cold water. Cut off the tiny roots. Clean the mushroom in cold water. Slice off the bottom and cut in small pieces
Place the fat in the wok on top of the medium range of the gas stove. When the fat is melted and start smoking add the mushrooms and cook for 10 minutes. Add the crosnes and cook for another five minutes. Add the aragula for another two minutes. Correct the seasoning and serve as a side dish to the crêpes.

Artichokes Crêpe (Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
4 artichoke hearts
1cup (250ml) béchamel (recipe follows)
¼ cup (60 g) Parmesan cheese sliced or grated
1cup savory crêpe (recipe follows)
1 tablespoon (14 g) butter

Material:
1 saucepan
1 non-stick pan
1 spatula

Set a large saucepan of water on the high range of the gas. When the water boils, add the artichokes and cook for twenty minutes, or until the leaves can easily be detached. Refresh the artichokes in cold water until they can easily be handled. Peel all the petals and nibble on them if you so desire. Remove the straw from the heart with a spoon.
Warm up the béchamel and add the cheese.
Set the non-stick pan on the high range of the gas. Melt a small piece of the butter and pour enough of the batter to cover the pan. Detach the side of the crêpe and, using the spatula turn it over after two minutes. Place the artichoke heart in the middle of the crêpe, pour ¼ of the béchamel on top. Fold the crêpe side to obtain an envelope. Repeat four times.

Béchamel for 1 cup (Easy, Preparation time: 5 minutes)

Ingredients:
1/3 cup (80 g) flour
2 tablespoons (28 g) butter
1cup (250 ml) milk
Nutmeg freshly grated
Salt and pepper to taste

Material:
Saucepan
Wooden spoon
Strainer
Blender
Rubber spoon

Put the butter to melt in the saucepan on the low settings of the gas. Strain the flour over the saucepan, stirring butter and flour together. Add the milk and bring to a boil. Do not worry about the lumps. Pour the lumpy mixture in the blender and run progressively to high. You will obtain a smooth béchamel in minutes. Remove from the blender with the rubber spoon.

Sweet and savory crêpe batter (Easy, Preparation time: 5 minutes)

Ingredients:

Savory for 1 cup:
¼ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup whole wheat flour
1 large egg
1/8 teaspoon salt
¾ cup milk
3 tablespoons butter

Sweet for 1 cup:
½ cup all purpose flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
¾ cup milk
3 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Material:
Blender or Food processor.

Place all ingredients for each type of batter into the blender and mix until perfectly homogeneous.
Each recipe will serve 4.

Orange sugar crêpe (Easy, Preparation and cooking time: 5 minutes, Cheap)

Ingredients:
1 cup (250 ml) batter
2 tablespoons (28 g) butter
2 tablespoons (28 g) of sugar
2 juicy oranges

Material:
1 non-stick frying pan
1 juicer

Juice the oranges. You should get 1 cup juice.
Set the non-stick pan on the high range of the gas. Melt a small piece of the butter and pour enough of the batter to cover the pan. Detach the side of the crêpe and, using the spatula turn it over after two minutes. Place on a plate. Sprinkle with sugar. Wet the sugar with just enough orange juice and form a roll with the crêpe. Repeat three more times

*http://www.healthoftheplanet.com
http://newarttv.com/index.php?id=317