Le Grand Cafe' Capucines

Our last meal in Paris was perhaps the most fun. It is very close to the Intercontinental Grand hotel where we stayed and very near the Paris opera house. The Grand Cafe' is at 4 Boulevard des Capucines right in the middle of the theater district. Sometimes it is the waiter makes all the difference in what becomes a memorable meal. The food was good too, but Maurice was (I am assigning him that name since we never got his real name) so entertaining and personable that he overshadowed the food itself. Maurice served our champagne and spilled a little on the table. He looked at me and said that I needed to put my finger in the bubbly and put it behind each ear like perfume. He said it would bring amazing good luck. He continued to entertain us like that for the entire time. As you can see we became real "buds" by the end of the meal. I will share the recipe for my veal chop, which was out of this world, but Buzz and I will always remember Maurice the most.

Veal Chop

Ingredients

2 veal chops
Olive oil spray
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 small shallot, minced
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup beef stock
1/4 cup grape tomatoes, sliced into 2 pieces
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Spray griddle pan with olive oil spray.
Heat over medium-high heat until pan is hot, but not smoking.
Sauté veal chops for about 90 seconds per side (to get those nice grill lines on both sides).
Place chops in an ovenproof dish and bake at 350° for about 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and let rest for about 5 minutes.
While chops are baking and resting, sauté shallot in the olive oil until golden.
Add mushrooms and sauté until they are brown.
Add wine, beef stock, and tomatoes to pan.
Boil down sauce until it has reduced by half.
Remove from heat and finish with 1 Tablespoon Smart Balance.
Pour over chops and serve.
Serves 2



 



Le Grand Vefour in Paris, a Dining Experience to Remember

When Buzz and I travel, we research the top restaurants in the city and make a reservation at the one we deem best by menu, ambience and on line ratings. Paris had more to choose from than any other city we have been to. We chose  Le Grand Vefour and we had an unforgettable meal. The restaurant was started in 1787 and the gold and blue decor is breathtaking. It has been a rendezvous location for political, literary and artistic society for over 200 years. I sat in a seat once occupied by Empress Josephine
no less. The appetizer was Ravioli de foie gras crème foisonne truffee. Your basic ravioli stuffed with truffles and finished with foie gras cream. It only gets more complicated when we got to the entrees. I have decided to share the fillet of lamb in the  garlic crust. It was served with green and yellow zucchini.

Ingredients:
4 lamb fillets about 2 inches thick
4 cloves of garlic mashed
2 Tablespoons of whole grain mustard
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons chopped rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Salt and pepper fillets of lamb, aside
Mix mustard and crushed garlic to form a paste
Brush mustard mixture on both sides of each fillet
Combine Panko, olive oil, and rosemary in a small flat bowl
Roll each fillet in Panko mixture to coat well on both sides
Roast fillets on oiled sheet pan  in 425 degree oven for 12 minutes, turning once
Serve

 

 

Chez Paul Veal Stew

Veal stew is a classic French dish. I tried it our first night in Paris at a small bistro on the Place Dauphine. We arrived early( 6:45 for a 7PM reservation) and had to wait for the staff to finish their dinner and begin serving. Apparently they never heard of the early bird special so popular for seniors in the US. The dish was delicious. In your kitchen, you could use your crock pot. I favor slow cooking in a 325 degree oven. The smell in the kitchen is divine.

Ingredients:
3 pounds veal meat cut in 1 inch cubes
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion minced
2 cups dry white wine
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups tomato puree
2 cloves mashed garlic
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 pound of button mushrooms

Preparation:
Dry the veal in paper towels.
Heat the oil in a casserole dish
Brown the veal pieces in the heated oil
remove veal from casserole and set aside
Turn down the heat and then saute onions in the dish
Add the veal back to the dish, salt and pepper the meat and onions
Add the flour to the meat and onion mixture and brown the mixture for 2 minutes
Add the wine and stir, being sure to scrape up all the luscious juices in the casserole
Add tomato puree, thyme and mashed garlic
Bring the stew to a simmer, cover and place in 325 degree oven
Simmer in oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until meat is easily pierced by a fork
Add the mushrooms, bring to a simmer, and return to oven for another 15 minutes
Remove from oven and serve

High Tea at the Savoy in London

Before I go on with recipes from our trip to Paris, I would like to write about our High Tea at the Savoy hotel in London. I have become a real fan of afternoon tea both at home and in local tea shops or venues. So I was naturally anxious to try this experience in the place afternoon tea was invented. First you must understand how seriously the British take their tea time. We were almost unable to get a reservation for High Tea at the Savoy. The Atrium was packed every single day from 2:30 to 5:30PM. The first thing I noticed is champagne was used to whet the appetite before tea was served. I like this custom . After champagne you pick the kind of tea you want. I particularly like the Buckingham Palace black tea but you can choose from black teas to herb teas or green teas. After your pot of tea is delivered, scones with clotted cream(see my recipe for scones in a previous post). These were marvelous. They were warm and buttery without the addition of any condiment. Next comes tea sandwiches. These were not so good. The bread was like  a white Wonder Bread with the crust removed. They were filled pimento, cucumber, egg salad or chicken salad. They were cold and tasteless for the most part. Next came a wealth of different pastries with chocolate éclair being my favorite. Believe it or not, we were then offered two different types of cake. By this time we were already on a sugar high. All in all I was somewhat disappointed. If you live in the DC area, the best afternoon tea I have found is the one offered from 2 to 4 PM each Thursday at the Black Market Bistro in Garret Park .For a terrific atmosphere try the Tea on the Tiber in Ellicott City.

Don't Eat The Pigeons Near Trafalgar Square

From time to time I do evaluations of foodie trips I have taken or food related events I have attended. This time I am actually going to review and compare my recent dining experience in two very different cities; London and Paris. This is a trip my husband and I have been planning for quite sometime. I planned the trip around dining at a family run place, a mid level establishment and a gourmet restaurant considered one of the top ten restaurants in the city. To no ones surprise, I am sure, Paris wins hands down. Now to the quirky title of this particular blog. Since I am not a seafood eater, when my husband and I dine out, I usually eat a chicken dish. To my dismay, at both a pub and a top 10 restaurant in London, the closest I could come was pigeon. In both cases, it was served rare. It was awful. At the gourmet top ten restaurant ,it literally made me sick. Five Fields in Chelsea was where I had my second pigeon, and although the service was impeccable and the salad and desert was fine, I could not recommend spending $400 for the experience. The pub pigeon was actually some what better than the gourmet place. Of, course, our Hotel being right off of Trafalgar Square, we both joked about how few pigeons there were and whether the remaining ones were to be some ones dinner that night. In the next few blogs, I will talk about some of our other dining experiences.

Tea and Scones, Isn't it Loverly ?

My latest passion is tea and scones at local(and not so local) tea rooms. My friend Phyllis introduced me to Tea on the Tiber in Ellicott City and I have savored the Thursday afternoon tea at Black Market Bistro with my sister in law, Karen a couple of weeks ago. She is taking me to a great tea room at the Omni William Penn in Pittsburgh at the end of the month. I am practicing for the formal tea at the Savoy Hotel in London in the fall. I have gotten my tea from the Republic of Tea for the last decade, so I feel educated from that viewpoint. But I asked myself could I make scones to go with my tea at home?

Here is the recipe I found that made it simple:

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour                                  
1/3 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
8 tablespoons butter frozen
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large egg

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
In a medium bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder and soda
Grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture on the large wholes of a box grater
using your hands to work the butter into the mixture until it resembles a coarse meal
In a small bowl, mix sour cream and egg until smooth
using a fork mix the egg and sour cream mixture into the flour/butter mixture
Mix the dough until it comes together into a ball(do not add additional liquid)
Place ball of dough onto a floured surface and form it into a circle about 8 inches in diameter
Cut dough into eight triangles (high school geometry comes into play here )Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper about 2 inches apart
Bake until golden brown about 15 minutes

You can dress these up by adding in lemon zest, raisins, dates or other dried fruits to the batter before the egg and sour cream

Chicken Breasts Dijonaise

Sometimes, I find a recipe that is so easy and so yummy, I have to share. Normally Dijon mustard and bacon are not associated with chicken dishes. This recipe does just that and is terrific!

Ingredients:

3 slices of fully cooked bacon, microwaved for 30 seconds and set aside
3 tablespoons olive oil separated
4 boneless chicken breasts, trimmed and pounded to a 1/4 inch thickness
3 shallots, chopped
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup chicken stock
1tablespoon brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in oven safe pan until hot but not smoking
Saute previously trimmed chicken breasts for 1 minute each side until brown
Place chicken in oven and set timer for 15 minutes
While the chicken is baking, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in skillet
When oil is hot, add shallots, and cook for 1 minute. Then add mustard and vinegar
Add stock and brown sugar an cook for 3 minutes, add salt and pepper to taste
Remove chicken from oven when timer is expired, place on platter
Pour sauce over chicken and crumble the bacon and spread over the chicken and sauce
Serve

Let it Snow-Soup's on

As with millions of others on the east coast, my husband and I were snowed in for 5 days. What goes better with snow than soup and homemade bread? I have posted several of my favorites over the years, but I decided to go back to my 1965 edition of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child to resurrect my favorite French Onion Soup. With several simple changes, it became a great lunch served with my husband's simple but delicious Honey Wheat bread. The recipes for both follow.

Ingredients:

5 cups of thinly sliced yellow onions
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar(this makes the onions brown nicely)
3 tablespoons of flour
2 quarts boiling beef stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
                                              

Preparation:

Cook the onions in the butter and oil in your large saucepan for 15 minutes until onions are soft.
Stir in the salt and sugar and cook for about 30 minutes more or until onions are a golden brown in color
Sprinkle in flour and stir over heat for 3 minutes
While onions are cooking, bring your beef stock to a boil in another saucepan
Add the boiling liquid to the onions ,add the wine, and simmer for about another hour.
Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
Ladle soup into bowls and top with cheese. Enjoy.

I have left out the cognac,bread slices and beef drippings to coincide with more modern nutritional guidelines.

A Spectacular New Years Eve

This year Buzz and I did something different for New Year's Eve. We cooked at home. Both of us are tired of spending $100's of dollars for mediocre food. So we cooked for ourselves. The results are below.

French Brioche

Boeuf Bourguignon from Julia Child

Honig Stagecoach 2001



I love my new(to me)Kitchen Aid

Our Menu

Boeuf Bourguignon with buttered noodles
Romaine salad with dates and gorgonzola
French Brioche
Home made peppermint ice cream
Honig Stagecoach cabernet 2001


 

Peppermint ice cream