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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I love holding dinner parties because it means I get to try new recipes and perfect old recipes. It also means I can justifiably cook enough to feed a small army.
This past weekend, I held a dinner party featuring some traditional Chinese dishes, such as:
- hand-made pot stickers (pork and green onion dumplings)
- duck (in my case, chicken) stewed in beer
- Kung Pao chicken
- fried eggs and tomato
Dumplings (jiao zi) originate from the northern regions of China where rice is less common. Although they are considered an appetizer or “dim sum” in North America, they are actually a lone entree in China, especially during family gatherings, where everyone can help make the jiao zi before they are steamed. Savoury fillings usually consist of ground pork with some sort of vegetable, such as Chinese cabbage and chives. Mushrooms and other fungi family ingredients are sometimes included to enhance the savoury flavour. Dumplings are typically steamed, but a pot sticker is fried “on the bottom” and steamed “on top.”
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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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