Archive for the French Category

One of my favorite dining experiences in Paris was at L’Atelier off the Rue de Bac. Master chef Robuchon has a small empire now using his name, all around a concept of being able to watch your dinner being prepared, in a type of “workshop”, at the counter. I like the concept, and the ability to find consistent fine dining from among a collection of cities is welcome for the avid traveler.

I recently visited L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in New York City, located inside the Four Seasons Hotel.

Amuse of parmesan foam, port reduction, and foie gras mousse:

There are basically three menu choices; you can choose small courses which are similar (or the same, in some cases) as those in the tasting menu. There are also larger full plate-sized entrées as well. We chose to choose from among the à la carte offerings, and one in particular that evening was also part of the tasting menu: Le caviar par Joël Robuchon.

This is presented in a caviar tin; below the layer of caviar is a gelée of lobster and below that, crab. Everything was delicious, but I would have wished for more caviar and less crab.

Many dishes have one of two “fats” in them: butter or foie gras. So was the case with the simple salad of haricot verts, cold foie gras played a delicious role in this light and delicious salad.

The best dish of the evening was likely this one, of foie gras hamburger sliders, with the most delicious fries. This was an absolute favorite dish, I must say, likely of all of 2011. Rich, juicy, and more flavor than you could imagine.

Dessert was on the light side, thankfully, a passion fruit soufflé, with a canelle of ice cream. Delicious!

My dining companion chose seafood offerings, all reported as delicious, and quite enjoyed the white chocolate/raspberry sphere dessert:

We knew what was going to happen. In Paris, it was dark chocolate, and the sphere melted before our eyes as hot chocolate sauce was poured over the top. But the pre-melt is more beautiful than the aftermath.

I really like the trend in counter-dining (although traditional seating is available) and doing so at the high-end. It’s great for smaller parties of 2 when you want your emphasis to be on a culinary adventure. It was like a small enclave of Paris in New York.

Highly recommended.

Since my parents have been visiting, I handed my mom Keller’s Bouchon cookbook and asked her “to pick something for dinner.” When I returned, she picked two classics.

To those I added a third “course,” a little recipe of my own invention. My dad bought white asparagus at the supermarket. He does not eat any asparagus. So, I had to come up with a way to cook it (not my favorite, as it snaps easily and requires peeling). So first, we had this salad.

On top of herbed greens, I placed cooked, and “pickled” white asparagus. After cooking in salted water, I let them rest (without an ice bath) in a lemony vinegar. It soaks it up, making a quick pickle of the vegetable.

The greens were tossed with a dijon-based dressing made with some bacon fat. Bacon lardons covered everything, along with some sautéed mushrooms. Topped with chives.

The onion soup by Keller takes a long time; you cook down your onions until they are very dark brown, like weak coffee.

I went all out and made the mornay sauce and used the fried egg on top to make a croque madame.

Inside I amped the fat level by using Saint André cheese instead of plain swiss.

It wasn’t too long ago that I added Bouchon to my cookbook collection - named after Thomas Keller’s interpretation of a French bistro. The original is in Yountville, down the street from the French Laundry (in one direction) and Ad Hoc (in the other).

The recipes are simpler than those in The French Laundry, and tonight I made

• Butternut Squash Soup and
• Frisée aux Lardons Salad with Egg

Nothing extraordinary, except the little extra touches that make Keller’s recipes sublime.

Vinegary shallots made the salad great; the brown butter swirled into the soup was the right touch, along with the scent and aroma of sage leaves and fresh nutmeg-spiced crème fraïche in the center of the soup.

With the gift of time, I recently traveled to Charlottesville to try le comptoir Zinc. They emphasize local ingredients, and I love how “locavore” or “localvore” cuisine is showing up more and more. I wouldn’t call this a strictly “French” restaurant, but it has that as their foundation, in a very fresh and light way.

We tried the mussels in a simple preparation with a wine and Pernod-based broth. Traditional. Delicious.

The heirloom tomato and feta salad was delicious and light; the only thing I didn’t care for were the hand-placed herbs on top.

My partner in most things wasn’t happy about having to open the fish and “fish around” for the meat amid bones in this whole fish preparation. Yet, by the end, he was very happy. Delicious, moist, and flesh that was easily acquired.

I went for the chicken with Parisian-style gnocchi (the kind you squeeze out of a bag into boiling water). If they can’t do chicken right, then… forgetabbouit.

It was delicious. Yum! Good skin, good flavor, and again, nice light cuisine. I love my chicken at home with butter. This lacked the fat but still managed to satisfy. (Not that I will be giving up my Thomas Keller version with butter.)

Since we drove all the way to C’Ville, we had dessert. Profiteroles and a panna cotta.

Having tried both, the panna cotta was the better dessert. The choux-paste shells tasted… maybe a tad stale. The panna cotta was light and giggly, the way it ought to be, with accents of fruit, including an orange foamy sauce.

The restaurant is in a converted service garage. I liked it. I’d be back soon if I lived in C’Ville. Since I don’t, I hope I find myself there again soon.

Filet of Beef with Mushrooms

Cooking a steak is a simple meal preparation, and in this case, I matched it with French green beans and mushrooms. The star ingredient is a sauce, which helped glaze the mushrooms and in a further reduction, mounted with butter, the steak.

Ingredients

• shallots
• garlic
• herb (terragon)
• peppercorns/salt
• cabernet wine
• beef stock
• EVOO, butter
• 2 mushrooms (crimini, porcini)

The sauce starts with 40/60 beef stock and red wine. Reduce! When it’s mid-way through, we add some aromatics, like black peppercorn, some of the rehydrated porcini mushrooms (I only found the dried variety), a garlic clove, mashed, and an herb of choice. Strain this when you reach the desired consistency. From the picture, you can see the almost-stickyness of this sauce, which had been mixed with a little butter at the end.

The green beans get parboiled in salted water before cooking at the end in butter, shallots, and garlic. I added some aged balsamic sea salt. The mushrooms get sautéed with the same shallots and garlic, but are cooked until they burnish with color, and then I added a lighter-mixture of the reduction sauce. I reduced it with the mushrooms until it was sticky, and seasoned the ‘shrooms with pepper and salt.

It was a delicious preparation, without having to buy/make a demi-glace or do much except start the cooking process with making a reduction.