Still Dreaming About Brittany

Jean Yves and Nicole Jaquin who own and run La Ville Blanch in Lannion, have been dear friends for many years and Jean Yves cooking is more and more divine.  He began his professional life as a butcher and is a mater of gastronomic delicacies from the land and the sea.

We recently tasted his warm oysters on a flan of foie gras with buckwheat galettes and his beef cheeks on a puree of butternut squash both of which were really sensational.

  

For dessert, we had a cold mint and chocolate mousse which was just what our palettes craved.

I have done many cooking classes with Jean Yves and below is one of his simple recipes for French Clams.

Palourdes à l’ail et à l’orange 

1 3/4 lb littleneck or cherry-stone clams, scrubbed

1 cup    dry white wine

4 cloves  garlic, crushed

zest from 1 orange, finely minced

3 1/2 oz butter, diced

1. Place the clams, wine, garlic, and orange zest in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.
2. Add the butter
3. Serve in soup plates 

Yields 4 servings

Another Wonderful Thanksgiving Week in France, November 2014

     As you may remember, last year we celebrated Thanksgiving in France three times which was extraordinary.  This year merely twice, on the Saturdays before and after, but both celebrations were festive and delicious.
   
    Back in Picardie for the 8th year with our dear friends the Blancs, we had the largest turkey ever.  It weighed more than 20 pounds and barely fit in the oven.  As usual we began our meal with oysters

and finished with the most delicious "french" dessert, a vacherin (meringue cake) filled with homemade cassis/raspberry sorbet and topped with whipped cream.  So for us, our Franco-American Thanksgiving lives on.

 

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we joined American journalist friends, Joanne and Gerry Dryansky, at their Paris apartment for a traditional meal with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes and apple pie.  But, there were a few Eastern European touches with champagne.  We enjoyed Joanne's handmade piroshki (small pastries with meat) and incredibly flavorful chopped liver with black radish slices.

    So as you can see, Paris is truly a mecca for International celebrations.

Beloved Brittany

20  years ago, in May of 1994, I met Chef Patrick Jeffroy at his Michelin, one-star restaurant in Plounérin, and fell in love at first bite!  I talked him into letting me spend a week with him in his kitchen and felt like I had died and gone to heaven.  I was Patrick’s shadow in the kitchen, the markets, the sea (collecting shellfish), and in his garden.  Bliss!

Several months later, we moved back to Washington, DC, and I returned to Paris 3 weeks later to run my first culinary trip with Patrick, a test trip for my new business, LLD, then called Cook France in English.  It was another one of the most memorable weeks of my life with incredibly delicious fresh food and endless behind-the-scenes experiences with Patrick.

I went on to run 2 more trips with Patrick in Carantec at his new Michelin, 2 star Restaurant Patrick Jeffroy.  And, Kent and I spent our 25th wedding anniversary there.

  



I had not been back in 4 years until last week.  We were both blown away by the view and the food which was truly some of the best I have ever eaten.  We had the menu “Cormoran” (99 euros) that first night, which included 3 amuse-bouches, including one of the first coquille St. Jacques (scallops) of the season, with cêpes,

followed by a sublime lobster and foie gras dish, which I am still dreaming about.  The lobster was followed by Patrick’s wild pigeon with perfectly cooked potatoes and root vegetables and wild mushrooms.

  Then we had his Roquefort cheese terrine (see Facebook for recipe) and finally a scrumptious dessert of a chocolate cream with a figue confit and a raspberry, cassis sorbet.





We watched the sunrise and then had a smaller feast for lunch including a squid dish with a heavenly shellfish/mushroom cream sauce.

When I asked Patrick 20 years ago to spend a week in his kitchen, I said I had heard that he was one of the best chefs in France.  It is more and more TRUE.  Take yourself to Carantec if you possibly can.