Sunday, May 30, 2010

Our Week in Paris

B and I got home from Paris on Friday, and I’m still full. It was a solid week of food – much of it amazing, some of it interesting, and a couple of things that were just plain wrong. Where shall I begin?

I should start by saying that even though I lived on them when I was in Paris four years ago, I limited myself to only two jambon and fromage sandwiches (I have since been reminded that it is actually called a mixte sandwich). It’s so simple, but so good – ham, emmental cheese (which is known as Swiss cheese where we come from) on a buttered baguette. As much as I love this sandwich, I cannot bring myself to forego the mustard, pickles, and tomato when I’m home. Not sure why.

Here is a rundown of the things I learned about food in Paris:

Joel Rubichon is a culinary God. There is a reason why he was named Chef of the Century. B and I ate at L’Table and chose his 7 course tasting menu. Here are two words that can be used to describe his food – absolutely amazing. I won’t bore you with the details of every course, but I will say that everything was delicious, prepared perfectly, and presented flawlessly. I chose the quail (over the lamb) for my entrée and it was mouth-wateringly scrumptious (yeah, I said scrumptious). In fact, it was my favorite of everything I ate while in Paris. (B’s too, and he only had one bite of mine.) I was reminded of the first time I had quail, at Craft in New York last fall. I remember commenting that it was too salty, and being a bit disappointed in Tom Colicchio. After eating Joel Rubichon’s quail, I now understand why Chef Colicchio indicated that he was intimidated by Chef Rubichon on an episode of Top Chef Las Vegas last season.

France loves foams. I’ve never actually been served a dish with a foam before. I think the first time I even saw one was on Top Chef (season two, Marcel used them constantly, and he got mocked relentlessly for it). First of all, in my opinion, foams look gross. Seriously, like cat vomit on an otherwise beautiful plate. Now, close your eyes and take a taste. Every foam I was served was delicious and full of flavor. But still, they look gross. And I half expected Marcel and his mile high hair style to come out and present every dish with a foam on it to me, only to be followed by Ilan (the season two winner) who would bitch slap him for making another foam.

Le Jules Verne and the Eiffel Tower are pretty great. B took me to Le Jules Verne for lunch and dinner on my birthday. I was overwhelmed. For lunch, we chose the prix fixe menu over the tasting menu (choosing to reserve the latter for dinner). It included a starter, a main course, and a dessert. The portions were not huge, but they were served very slowly over the course of two hours. We had a one o’clock reservation, and didn’t get out of there until after three. I wasn’t even hungry by the time we returned for our eight o’clock dinner reservation. I have to admit, it was a little hard to get through dinner because I was so full. So forgive me for struggling to take more than a bite of the pigeon course. Yes, that’s right. Pigeon. I took a bite, because I wouldn’t be worth my wannabe foodie salt if I didn’t at least try it. I will admit, it wasn’t that bad. It actually tasted pretty good. But I could not get over the fact that I was eating a rat bird, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was one of the hundreds of pigeons that patrol the grounds of the Eiffel Tower. (I am literally shuddering as I recall this.)

They refer to starters as an entrée on their menus. That can be pretty confusing when you are used to ordering an entrée as your main course.

Steak is made to be eaten in America. I had steak twice, and it was pretty not good both times. Very fatty and difficult to find any lean bites. (I am not a person who can eat the fat. Yuck.) And they don’t get the concept of rare, despite the fact that tartare was featured on almost every menu I saw and it’s only a few minutes away from being rare. At one restaurant, they served the steak on a piece of slate. While it was an attractive presentation, every piece I cut was like nails on a chalkboard. Seriously. Who was the Einstein who came up with that idea?

Day trips to London can result in some interesting food experiences too. I read the first page of an article that was featured in the Best Food Writing of 2009 (“The Cranky Connoisseur,” by Timothy Taylor) that referred to a restaurant called St. John Bar and Restaurant in London. St. John was ranked 16th on the San Pellegrino’s 2008 list of the 50 best restaurants, and as I learned from Mr. Taylor, was named by Anthony Bourdain as the place at which he’d rather eat than anywhere else on earth. This was all I needed to know before making a lunch reservation. St. John represents nose to tail eating, meaning they utilize as much of the animal as possible, and feature a lot of dishes with offal (things like tongue and tripe). I played it safe for my first course and got the cauliflower, leeks and broad beans with a lemony-parsley dressing (yummy), but took an adventurous step forward with my second course – chitterlings. What are chitterlings? Pig’s intestines. These ones happened to be sautéed in duck fat and served with turnips. The pieces of chitterlings that were crispy tasted an awful lot like bacon. Nothing wrong with that. The other pieces were a little too chewy and texturely felt more like chewy bacon. (For the record, I prefer my bacon very crispy.) B was much more adventurous than I was. For his first course, he got the roasted bone marrow and parsley salad (taste wise, I thought it was good; but the texture was a little too fatty for me). He liked it more than I did. I was satisfied with the one taste, but B cleaned his plate. For his second course, he got the ox heart and beets. The ox heart was very tough, but tasty. Sadly, they tasted a little like Steak-Ums. But they were good. We opted to skip dessert. I can’t imagine what that would have looked like.

Even in France, I need Italian food. Pasta and pizza are my go to dishes when international food gets old to me. By Wednesday night, I just needed some comfort food. I couldn’t even think of anything else braised in butter, or sautéed in duck fat. So we pulled out the trusty iPhone and found Pastapapa. B ordered a pizza and I ordered some pasta with Bolognese sauce. The pasta was fresh and the sauce was delicious – just the right amount to stick to the grooves of the pasta. B’s pizza was great too – calabrese salami with peppers and olives. We figured out (alright, B figured out) that they seasoned both the bottom and top of the crust with salt and pepper, and a touch of extra flavor with every taste. After the quail, this was our second favorite meal in Paris. (We are considering food only as we conclude this… you really can’t compete with the ambience of the second level of the Eiffel Tower for overall dining experience.)

And there you have it – the highlights of the 20+ meals we ate during our week in Paris. It was an amazing week – the food, the experiences, the sights, and most of all the company. It was the best birthday present ever. Not only did I get to spend a week in what I think is the most beautiful city in the world, I got to spend it with an amazing guy who gave this wannabe foodie a lot to write about. And a lot to remember for the rest of her life.

Au revoir!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Haute Cuisine

In less than 24 hours, B and I will be in Paris. As excited as I am to be in the City of Lights, Love and apparently millions of dollars worth of stolen artwork (according to the news I heard this morning), I am really looking forward to the food. And the wine.

I am not sure I’ll be able to update the blog from France, but I wanted to share some highlights of what you can expect to read about when I return:

  • Dinner at Le Jules Verne at the Eiffel Tower
  • Jambon et frommage sandwiches (simple, but oh so good)
  • Crepes, croissaints and café au lait
  • Lots of bread, wine and cheese
  • My very first royale with cheese – on my first trip to Paris, I went to McDonald’s specifically to order a royale with cheese and they were all out. Seriously
Enjoy good food while I’m gone, and I look forward to telling you about everything I ate when I get back.

Au revoir (and bon appétit)!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Skillet Roasted Chicken

As my loyal readers know, I am a devoted fan of America’s Test Kitchen. The PBS show is a TiVo staple, their family cookbook is my go to cookbook, and I have several seasons worth of DVDs in my entertainment center. And while I have been tempted, I have so far resisted the urge to buy a Nintendo DS just to get their “Let’s Get Cooking” game.

Despite the fact that the fine people at America’s Test Kitchen gave me the absolute worst recipe for New England Clam Chowder I have ever encountered, I still find myself very drawn to their recipes and cooking tips. (See the October 2009 “Disaster” post.)

On a recent episode of ATK, Skillet Sensations, Chris and the gang featured a skillet roasted chicken. B is a huge fan of chicken (he makes Wade Boggs look like a vegetarian, and that’s the ONLY Wade Boggs comparison we will be making, thank you very much. B is good people). I knew this recipe would be something he’d like to try.

And sure enough, I was right! I came home late one night last week after going to a Red Sox game with Sofia to find B asleep on the couch watching Lifetime. Much to my relief, he had actually fallen asleep while watching the chicken episode of America’s Test Kitchen, and TiVo had switched back to live TV after sitting idle for too long. (I am a frequent watcher of Grey’s Anatomy re-runs on Lifetime. B is in the clear.)

Before he fell asleep, he did see the chicken segment and suggested we give it a try. And so we did.

The recipe called for butchering a whole chicken by breaking it down into 8 pieces (2 legs, 2 thighs, and two breasts cut in half). I suggested that we buy a pre-butchered chicken since I don’t have a boning knife or poultry shears (and quite frankly, didn’t want to do the work). B thought there was no fun in that, and pointed out that it was a good reason to purchase a boning knife and poultry shears.

Well, unfortunately for B, he did not accompany me to the grocery store. Since it was just the two of us, I bought a package of bone-in split chicken breasts. Good enough.

The purpose of the skillet roasting is to get really browned, crispy skin while maintaining the juiciness of the meat. The ATK point of view is that oven roasting makes it difficult to get really crisp skin without drying out the meat. Their method calls for browning the skin in the skillet first, then kind of steaming/braising the chicken with chicken broth until the meat is almost fully cooked. Then, you reserve the broth and pan juices while you re-crisp the skin (since the steaming process zaps it of all its crispety goodness). You use the reserved liquid to make a pan gravy with shallots, fresh parsley and fresh chives.

The result? The skin looked deliciously crispy, but its appearance was deceiving – probably better than standard roast chicken, but not as good as promised. The meat, however, was perfectly cooked – very moist and flavorful. And the pan sauce was delicious. It will be my go-to gravy for future chickens (and maybe turkeys). I can envision a lot of tasty variations (like mushrooms, yum).

And it didn’t take too long to make. Not quite a 30 minute meal, but definitely under an hour. We made it on a weeknight, after work, so if you want mid-week roast chicken, this is definitely worth a shot.

The Wannabe Foodie legal team has advised me to not publish the exact recipe, but you can find it at www.americastestkitchen.com. You need to become a member in order to access the recipes, but membership is free, and you will not only get access to all the recipes from the TV show, but information on their equipment and taste testing too. It’s worth it.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Sibling Rivalry

No, this has nothing to do with Lindsay or Dave.


B and I went to Sibling Rivalry in the South End last night for dinner. For those of you who have not heard of it, it’s a restaurant owned and operated by two chefs who happen to be brothers – Chef Bob and Chef Dave. The menu is comprised of ingredients, and each chef/brother prepares a dish – be it an appetizer or an entrée – that showcases that ingredient. I had heard about this place before, and in my head I thought it was an Iron Chef-type concept. If you ordered the beef, you would get two different preparations of the beef and get a taste of each chef’s style.

Well, I was wrong. You basically order an appetizer and an entrée, and you only get one preparation of each ingredient (unless, of course, you order both versions). So, if you don’t order a whole bunch of food, or if you to stick to one ingredient (since each chef doesn’t necessarily choose to prepare the same course for each ingredient), you don’t get a sense of how the two styles differ.

Once I got myself straightened out (the prix fixe menu threw me through a huge loop – it was very confusing, especially when I didn’t fully get the concept at first), B and I decided to pick the same two ingredients and to each stick to one chef. I got Chef Dave, and B got Chef Bob. We ordered as follows:

• Green spring onions (tuna tartare appetizer from C for me, and halibut entrée for B)

• Beef (bone in ribeye steak entrée for me, and steak tartare appetizer for B)

We couldn’t compare them head to head, but we still decided to rate each course and make one chef the winner.

So for the appetizers, we had to decide which preparation of raw protein was the best. Both were good, and I tend to really like both tuna and steak tartare but will always prefer steak over tuna. B thought the tuna was best, but given my preference, I couldn’t bring myself to agree. I did think that both seemed a little too “room temperature” for my comfort level. I tend to like my raw protein cold. I like the comfort of knowing that it was stored at the proper temperature before being served to me. I’m just saying.

It was easy to identify the key ingredient in the steak tartare (beef, duh) and the preparation certainly brought out the flavor of the beef. But the tuna tartare was supposed to highlight green spring onions. I couldn’t identify any spring onions on that plate. Unless green spring onion is code for chives and not scallions. There were some visible chives in the dish, but I couldn’t taste them.

Victory went to chef Dave, because B liked the tuna better and I didn’t think I could provide an objective vote.

Next up: the entrée, and spring onion vs. beef once again. I ordered my ribeye medium rare, instead of rare, because B and I were going to share it. The steak did a pretty good job of focusing on the beef, and it was served with potatoes that were roasted in duck fat. Oh, yeah, they were quite good. Interestingly enough, there were some spring onions on the plate. Were we confused or were the chefs confused about which dishes were supposed to feature the spring onions?

Now onto B’s halibut. It was served on a bed of risotto. B thought both the halibut and risotto were overcooked. I thought they were fine. We long ago established that he has a way more educated palate than I do. While he can taste more things than I, I guess I get the pleasure of not knowing when things are overcooked. (Therefore B is far more likely to be disappointed with something than I am. I suppose that’s a decent trade off for the lack of a palate.)

As with the tuna tartare, we couldn’t really find the green onions in this dish. I thought about giving B the ones that came with my steak, but that would have been cheating.

I didn’t particularly like my steak. It was a very fatty cut of meat, and it isn’t one that I would typically order. As with the first course, B preferred Chef Dave’s dish over Chef Bob’s. I definitely liked Chef Bob’s better.

I guess Chef Dave wins by default. Although, the true winner was whoever prepared that lemon vanilla crème brulee. I’m becoming a huge custard fan, and definitely have to start experimenting with making my own. With my birthday coming up, I think I may ask for a crème brulee torch. If I get it, I should probably start lining up a new place to live since it’s more than possible that I will burn down my kitchen with the tiny torch. (Let’s not forget what happened when I got my new knives. But let the record show I’ve been knife accident free since then. Knock on wood.)

* * *

B and I were supposed to make a skillet roasted chicken for Sunday dinner tonight, but the day got away from us and we ran out of time. We’re hoping to make it tomorrow night after work, so look for a mid-week update. The method – and recipe – was featured on a recent episode of America’s Test Kitchen.

The countdown has officially begun for our trip to Paris. Less than two weeks until we leave, and 15 days to my birthday! We have plans to eat at Le Jules Verne in the Eiffel Tower (my birthday dinner), and I’m definitely going to make sure we get to one of Joel Rubichon’s restaurants. We’re taking a day trip to London, and have reservations at St. John’s. I can’t tell you much about the place, but I read recently that Anthony Bourdain said it was the restaurant he most wanted to be eating in. I can’t wait!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

A Taste for Vinegar

There are lots of flavors I like and appreciate. Many that I actually love. But I never really thought about how much I love vinegar until B pointed it out to me. I think I was eating salt and vinegar flavored potato chips when he said “boy, you really love vinegar, don’t you?”

To be entirely honest, I had never thought about it. In fact, I never even realized it. I really do love vinegar.

• My favorite flavor of potato chips? Salt & vinegar.

• My favorite topping on one of my most favorite foods, French fries? Malt vinegar.

• My favorite condiment? Mustard (made from vinegar).

• My favorite salad dressing? Vinegar based Italian.

• My favorite kind of cookout side dish? Classic cole slaw.

• My favorite cocktail? Dirty vodka martini.

If you open up my refrigerator right now, you will find pickles, olives and pepperoncini (Italian style vinegar cured hot peppers – I eat them by the bowlful, literally). If you open up my cabinet you will find white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, malt vinegar, balsamic vinegar, white wine vinegar and red wine vinegar (and a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips). A quick search of the internet enlightened me to the existence of beer, honey and coconut vinegar. Where can I get my hands on those?

Now I'm going to start saying things like "it's good, but it could use a little acid" when I taste foods.
On my kitchen counter right now is a jar of vinegar with garlic, rosemary and thyme. Yes, I am experimenting with homemade flavored vinegar. Happy holidays everyone. (Truth be told, I think the herb infused olive oil is going to turn out better than the vinegar, but we’ll see. This is why I start my experimenting in the spring.)

So, while there is nothing shameful about a love of vinegar, it is a new realization for me. And clearly, I had absolutely nothing else to write about.

Time to break into that bag of chips...

The Wannabe Foodie Cat

Last fall, the wannabe foodie cat, Daisy, was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome and prescribed an organic diet of duck and green peas.  Fortunately, Daisy does not have to depend on my cooking for this diet - it's available in cat food format.  Yesterday, Daisy visited her veterinarian for a check up and for the first time ever didn't try to attack the veterinary staff.  Of course, this very well may be due to the makeshift muzzle used to keep her bite out of reach.  And yes, that is an organic yogurt container.  Nothing but the best for the wannabe foodie cat.  (And no, those aren't her bite marks on the plastic.)