On our last night in Europe, we turned our Paris apartment into a gourmet restaurant and made a four-course meal for six people.
First course: Soupe à L’Oignon (French Onion Soup)
Caramelized onions swim in a twist on the traditional poule-au-pot soup, with swiss cheese on the bottom, and parmesan cheese and soaked bread on top.
Second course: Salade de Trinité (Trinity Salad)
Good things come in threes, and everything about this salad is good. Smoked salmon sits atop a bed of zucchini, corn, and onions, that can be enjoyed with three different yet harmonious sauces: teriyaki, garlic and mayo, and pineapple sauce with a kick.
Third course: Magret de Canard aux Pommes Rissolées (Duck Breast with Golden Potatoes)
Orange-infused duck breast with a sizzling crisp skin is bathed in a Bordeaux wine reduction with raisins and caramelized onions. On the side, golden potatoes in herbes de Provence.
Fourth course: Fraises au Chocolat et Truffes (Chocolate-covered strawberries and Truffles)
Orange-dark chocolate covered strawberries alongside raspberry-mint truffles dusted in cocoa.
The starters were enjoyed with a Gewurtzraminer from Isreal, while the main was accompanied by a rich red from Catalan, and dessert was served with a young Riesling. The entire meal was enjoyed with rays from the setting sun streaming in the large open windows of the salon of our Paris apartment with views of the Eiffel Tower.
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This past weekend, a good friend of mine hosted a brunch at her place and tried some new recipes on us. When we arrived, she had written her menu on a board!
The brunch consisted of muffins, breakfast squares, pancakes, bacon, and pastries, as well as orange juice (with or without champagne).
Everything was made with loving care and of course, from scratch.
These breakfast squares had a layer of homemade cranberry jam, topped with baked brown sugar and egg whites. The top layer was especially good, the brown sugar definitely came through.
The muffins were made from a pumpkin base, so they were a lot less sweet than the cranberry-brown sugar breakfast squares.
Homemade pancakes with blackberry compote (or maple syrup) and strips of bacon came out piping hot. The pancakes were light but held their form well.
To note in this picture:
- Someone will always stop at Tim Hortons before breakfast, because we. are. Canadian.
- Someone will always pull their Blackberry out and put it on the table, because we. are. business students.
- Homemade whipped cream. Also, I forgot to take a picture of the quince pastries but they were probably the most delicious of all (and probably took the most time to make because, let’s face it, homemade pastries are a bitch.)
- I was apparently the only one who deemed it appropriate to drink champagne at 10 in the morning, but with good food and good company, I had a lot to celebrate.
All in all, a huge success! I think my foodie circle is widening. Woohoo!
This past Sunday, my friend hosted a baking party for the two of us and we spent no less than 5.5 hours in the kitchen. We were quite the domestic goddesses decked out in brightly coloured aprons with caramel sauce in between our fingers and flour in our hair. For all our hard work, we managed to make three delicious desserts (as well as a small healthy lunch to balance all that sugar, butter, and cream):
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