Kitchen Conundrum

French Fridays: Salted Butter Caramel-Chocolate Mousse-David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen

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Salted Caramel Chocolate Mousse-3178Last week I was in London for a quick trip with the family.  We did as many of the touristy things as we could during the short, four days that we were there.  We needed more time for certain, but we enjoyed the time we had and it was a good “taste” of the city for the kids.  Of course, we also ate well during our stay; a fabulous lunch at Yotam Ottolenghi’s Soho restaurant, NOPI, and a delightful, vibrant brunch at Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich’s Honey & Co. were just two of the highlights. I tend to plan our sightseeing days around where we will be eating!

While my husband and son went to a museum, the girls and I had a grown up, afternoon tea party at Fortnum and Mason’s Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon. We had the full experience with scones, finger sandwiches, pastries and individual pots of tea.  It was such a sweet time to spend with just them. I hope it’s a fond memory they will have for a long time.

Now we are home, unpacked and the last of the laundry is finally done. The pictures have been uploaded and a photobook of our family trip is on the way.

Now all I need is a nap!  And some Salted Butter Caramel-Chocolate Mousse!

This week’s recipe from David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen is wonderfully simple to make and can be eaten as is or dressed up with whipped cream and berries. Your choice. It’s heavenly either way!

In his headnote, David says there isn’t much to say about this, and he is right. It’s salty, buttery, caramel(y) and oh, so chocolatey!  It hits all the right notes for a perfect dessert.  It’s best served in small pots because a few bites is all you need to satisfy even your biggest sweet tooth!

If you try this at home, be aware, it includes raw eggs, so if you or your guests are sensitive to that, keep it in mind.

This week’s recipe can be found on page 258. For details on recreating this and other recipes, check out the CookTheBookFridays site and see others who are also cooking the book-

You can also buy the book here:

MyParisKitchenDavidLebovitz-269x337

 

 

 

 

Follow the group on Twitter @ctbfridays

#cookthebookfridays #mypariskitchen

Visit the Facebook Page: Cook The Book Fridays

Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links to my Amazon Associate’s account. This means I receive compensation if you make a purchase using these links.

 

French Fridays: Croque Monsieur – David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen

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Croque Monsieur“A grilled ham and Swiss, please.” No, this not your typical, lowly, grilled ham and cheese sandwich. This sandwich becomes, oh, so much more, when Frenchified.

The Croque Monsieur is, by far, the most popular and most quintessential of Parisian bistro fare after the roast chicken and steak frites. The sandwich consists of thin slices of ham and gooey Gruyère nestled between hearty slices of country bread, and slathered with a creamy béchamel sauce. You can turn it into a Croque Madam by topping it with a sunny side up egg. Serve it with a side of leafy greens, and you have a quick meal-so French in its simplicity and sophistication.

In Paris, pain Poilâne is the bread of choice. With good reason. Their beautiful loaves provide a slightly crunchy yet chewy crust with the hint of sourdough and a tender middle. After a few days (if it lasts that long!) the crust grows firmer and the sourdough becomes tangier making it the best bread for flavorful tartines or breakfast toasts with jam and butter.

Poilâne’s main shop is on the rue du Cherche-Midi, in the heart of the 6th arrondissement, and is always one of the first places I visit when I am there. I can’t resist picking up a whole loaf and one (or three) of their divine, buttery, apple tartlets.

Poilâne

In NY, I am lucky enough to have several terrific bakeries to choose from when I am in need of a good bread. Two such bakeries are located on opposite ends of Manhattan. Orwashers (http://www.orwashers.com/) is on the upper east side and Pain D’Avignon is on the lower east side (http://www.paindavignon-nyc.com/). Despite these distances, separated only by a subway ride, I am lucky in that I can pick up bread from both bakeries at my favorite food market, Fairway on the upper west side.

I love the bread from Orwashers and many of their loaves come wine- and beer-infused, which is really interesting and fun to pair with different cheeses and meats. They do have many traditional bread recipes as well, and while they are also famous for their massive hand filled doughnuts, their black and white cookies are the best in the city. (IMHO) But you do have to make the trek up to their store to enjoy those!

If you find yourself on the lower east side, hidden away in the Essex St. Market, you can find the first retail outlet for Pain D’Avignon. Long before this shop opened, Pain d’Avignon had been supplying prestigious NYC eateries like Eleven Madison Park and Momofuku with bread from their wholesale bakery in Long Island City. Their sourdough breads and croissants are truly terrific.

For this iteration of the Croque Monsieur, I am making one sandwich from each, a Pain D’Avignon Sourdough and an Orwashers pain de campagne. They both had different levels of sourdough flavor; the Pain D’Avignon was much more like a SF sourdough and lighter in color and texture while the Orwashers’ pain de campagne had more crumb and a grainier texture. Both are just right for making this amped up grilled cheese!

Croque Monsieur-3046

The béchamel for this recipe is made with a dash of cayenne pepper instead of the traditional nutmeg but you can also add a dash of nutmeg if you would like. Just be careful not to add too much salt as the ham is also salty.

A few years ago I received Panini press and it’s been sitting in my basement pantry for quite a while so I pulled it out, cleaned it off and used it for the first grilling of the sandwiches. In the recipe, David doesn’t just say to brush the slices with butter, he says to brush them without restraint with melted butter. And that’s exactly what I did!

Once the sandwiches were golden brown and toasted, I moved them to a cast iron skillet for final cheese melt under the broiler.

Croque Monsieur

The first bite, the crunch of the crust, the buttery toast, the oozing cheese and béchamel and the salty ham, it’s what grilled cheese dreams are made of. At least, French ones.

Croque Monsieur

This week’s recipe can be found on page 137. For details on recreating this and other recipes, check out the CookTheBookFridays site and see others who are also cooking the book-

You can also buy the book here:

MyParisKitchenDavidLebovitz-269x337

 

 

 

 

Follow the group on Twitter @ctbfridays

#cookthebookfridays #mypariskitchen

Visit the Facebook Page: Cook The Book Fridays

Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links to my Amazon Associate’s account. This means I receive compensation if you make a purchase using these links.

 

French Fridays: Artichoke Tapenade and Rosemary Oil – David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen

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Artichoke Tapenade

This week, for French Fridays, the cook the book recipe could not be any easier.  These are what I would normally call “non-recipes” because they are so simple and quick, you could make them last minute if unexpected guests arrive.  Just a quick whirl of the blender and a food processor and you will have a sophisticated appetizer to serve to anyone who comes through the door.

First, we made oil infused with rosemary which was used to drizzle over  the toasted bread and the finished artichoke tapenade.   The piney rosemary creates a lovely, fragrant oil that can be used in many ways; drizzled over pasta or vegetables or used to flavor meats and poultry. It can also be used as a base for salad dressings or marinades.  Infused oils are great to keep on hand to add that “je ne sais quoi” to many of your dishes.  Plus, they made terrific gifts, especially when in a pretty bottle tied with string.

I learned something new with this tapenade. Apparently, tapenade can not really be tapenade without the addition of capers. The very word for capers, comes from the Provençal word tapenas.  So here, when I made a black olive-lemon tapenade, it wasn’t actually tapenade but rather just a very tasty dip. The regular black olive tapenade I made in that post was correctly tapenade though. So  I got it half right!

And for this recipe, I definitely got it right! It was excellent. Not only did we enjoy it with a toasted baguette, but we slathered it on the grilled chicken we had for dinner as well. I think this one will be added to our list of standard “breads and spreads” platters that we enjoy all year around.

 

For details on recreating these recipes, check out the CookTheBookFridays site and see others who are also cooking the book-

You can also buy the book here:

MyParisKitchenDavidLebovitz-269x337
 

Follow the group on Twitter @ctbfridays

#cookthebookfridays #mypariskitchen

Visit the Facebook Page: Cook The Book Fridays

Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links to my Amazon Associate’s account. This means I receive compensation if you make a purchase using these links.

 

 

Here, I am having a little fun taking photos of the artichokes.
 

“The artichoke above all is the vegetable expression of civilized living, of the long view, of increasing delight by anticipation and crescendo. No wonder it was once regarded as an aphrodisiac. It had no place in the troll’s world of instant gratification. It makes no appeal to the meat-and-two-veg. mentality. One cannot attack an artichoke with knife and fork and scoff it in three mouthfuls. It is first for admiration, then each leaf has to be pulled away for eating and dipped in sauce. When the leaves have gone, there is still the fibrous tickley choke to be removed before the grey-green disc- the bonne bouche- can be enjoyed.”
 
– Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book

 Artichoke