Restaurant Atao - A bit of Brittany in Paris

We’re finally back in Paris after almost six months in the States and Italy and I am ready to dive back into the restaurant scene to share my discoveries with you!

Last night my husband Kent and I tried a neighborhood restaurant in Batignolles that changed hands over the summer. Formerly a simple but good seafood restaurant offering oysters, mussels, etc, Atao, which means eternity in Breton, was opened by Laurence Maheo, an oysterman from the Golfe du Morbihan off the south coast of Brittany. All of the fish and seafood come daily from Brittany and the oysters are cultivated by Laurence and his family.

The dining room is blue and white, like the sea and the sand in Brittany. All 20 seats were taken which is always a good sign. We did not try the oysters this time but started instead with a creamy oyster soup and a dish of girolles with an oyster emulsion. The oyster soup was very flavorful but had only 2 little oysters floating around

in it, a far cry from the delicious oyster stews we Americans are used to. The girolles with a splash of oyster flavor were however quite delicious..

For our main courses we both had fish, which was fresh as could be and perfectly cooked. Kent selected Filets de Maquereau Laqué, 2 generous filets of mackeral lacquered with a soy sauce glaze and served on a bed of spinach with mashed potatoes and an array of root vegetables, grown by Michelin 3-star chef Alain Passard.

The white beets, yellow carrots, and turnips were crunchy and bursting with flavor, a nice contrast to the moist, succulent fish. My Filet of Daurade (sea bream) came with the same wonderful vegetables and an emulsion of basel.

We drank a bottle of Cheverny Blanc 2010, Villemade and were perfectly satisfied, so we skipped the house made crèpes offered for dessert.

We however made up for that today at lunch when we feasted on a Kouign Amann, a super rich Breton butter cake a friend brought from San Malo. One of my favorite chefs in Brittany, Patrick Jeffroy makes a superb Kouign Amann and I have his recipe which I am giving you below. If you can’t get to Brittany, this cake is well worth the effort.

Kouign Amann

(Breton Butter Cake)

Patrick Jeffroy (Restaurant Patrick Jeffroy)

(Serves 8)

Ingredients:

2 c. flour

1-1/4 c. sugar

2 7-g packets of dry active yeast

11 T. butter (keep one stick in refrigerator (8 T.) until called for.

1 t. salt

Preparation:

· In large bowl dissolve yeast in 1/3 cup lukewarm water.

· Set aside until yeast begins to activate and foam, in about 10 minutes

· Add salt and 1 cup flour.

· Stir with a wooden spoon

· Add 1/3 cup of water

· Blend well.

· Add remaining 1 cup of flour.

· Add another 2/3 cups of water.

· Stir until dough forms into a ball.

· Transfer to a lightly floured work surface.

· Knead with heels of your palms until smooth and elastic

· Coat the inside of a large bowl with butter.

· Place dough in bowl, cover with damp cloth or plastic wrap.

· Set aside to rise until doubled in bulk, about an hour.

· Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

· Grease a 9-inch pie pan with butter.

· Dust it with flour.

· On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to form a large 12x18 rectangle, with shortest side closest to you.

· Cut the chilled stick of butter into 12 pats.

· Place the pats around the center portion of the dough.

· Sprinkle with ¾ cup of sugar.

· Fold short sides toward center over butter and sugar, moving quickly

· Sprinkle dough with sugar.

· Roll over the seems to form a seam.

· Turn dough around so shorter side is closest to you.

· Fold into thirds, as if a letter going in an envelope.

· Place dough in refrigerator to rest 15 minutes.

· Sprinkle sugar over work surface.

· Roll out dough into a large rectangle, dusting as you go with ¼ cup of sugar.

· Folding in thirds again, place in fefrigerator to rest.

· Sugar work station lightly again.

· Roll out dough into a square, slightly larger than the pie pan, dusting as you go with remaining ¼ cup of sugar.

· Press dough gently into pie pan.

· Melt and drizzle remaining 3 tablespoons butter over dough.

· Sprinkle with sugar, baking 35-40 minutes until golden.

· While still hot, remove from pan and serve warm.

Lunch at the Mirazur in Menton

We arrived a few days ago at our little Italian hideaway in the perched village of Fanghetto built more than 1000 years ago. After two days of traveling from Paris, it is always a relief (given autoroute driving) and a thrill to arrive. The  weather has been perfect, sunny with cool dry breezes and wildflowers are everywhere. There are still snow-capped mountains in the distance making this paradise even more perfect.

View from our Terrace

We are just fifteen minutes from the sea in Ventimiglia which has an unbelievable covered food market with remarkably reasonable prices. We stocked up on all the spring delicacies - artichokes, new peas, fava beans, many different salad greens and the first strawberries and tomatoes from Sicily. We put our feet up and enjoyed meals on our terrace for the first couple of days.

Then yesterday, we and two friends, drove thirty minutes into France and treated ourselves to lunch at Mirazur, a restaurant with one star in the Michelin Guide, which is on a hillside just outside of Menton with panoramic views of the city which is known as “ The Pearl of the Cote d’Azur”.

Menton

I have known the chef, Mauro Colagreco, since he first opened Mirazur in 2006. He is originally from Argentina but spent more than 10 years working in two Michelin three star restaurants, Le Cote d’Or with Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu and L’Arpege with Alain Passard in Paris. Mauro grows many of his own vegetables, including little known varieties from Argentina, in a garden on top of the hillside. His food is fresh and stunningly beautiful.

Lunch is a bargain if you stay with the menu du dejeuner, available weekdays only. For 33 euros, you will have a feast. We ordered a provencal rose, Rimaureq 2010 cru classe which we had as an aperitif and continued drinking throughout lunch as it was crisp, with just the right amount of fruit and it complemented everything we ate nicely. Mauro serves tapas and then an amuse bouche to double your pleasure. The tapas were black rice chips with a vegetable tartar and polenta chips with a goat cheese cream, studded with cucumbers. The amuse bouche which followed was a delicate dollop of cream of cabbage soup with a mustard cream quenelle and a sliver of radish to add a little punch. 

For our first course we were served a carpaccio of gascon, a local white fish with a citrus vinaigrette and tiny edible flowers. We had a choice of fish or fowl for our main course. Three of us enjoyed the mackeral with a quenelle of manderine orange cream sprinkeled with Angelique flowers.

My husband Kent devoured every bite of his farm raised chicken, served with white asparagus, a cream of green asparagus, radishes and bits of caramelized juice from the chicken as it cooked.

So far every bite was as heavenly as the setting. Dessert however was a disappointment. It was an assortment of pastel colored sorbets and creams, including a saffron cream and an orange sorbet with orange flower bread. The colors on the plate matched the colors of the Menton buildings in the distance which was lovely to look at but the dish lacked flavor sadly.

At the end of the meal, we were served a complimentary glass of homemade limoncello and then we left for a nap on the nearby beach to dream of a meal which, despite the dessert, was a true feast for all our senses.

As many of you know, my business, Les Liaisons Delicieuses, (www.cookfrance.com) has been running culinary vacations for 17 years all over France, Italy, Morocco and Vietnam. I have an exciting new trip to both the French and Italian Rivieras, September 25- October 1, 2011. Mirazur and Mauro are highlights of this trip which still has a few spaces available. Email me at patricia.ravenscroft@gmail.com for details.

Recipe Fricasse d'Artichauts facon Barigoule

Serves 8

12 artichokes

4 cups sliced mushrooms

1/2 pound lean salt pork

1/2 pound sliced raw ham

Chopped tomatoes

Garlic

Onion

Parsley

Olive oil

Lemons

The lactarius mushroom “barigoule” in provencal, was simply sprinkled with olive oil and fried on charcoal.

Even though the recipe has changed, the name barigoule has remained.

Prepare the artichokes by cutting off the bottom tail and taking off the small leaves and the top of the upper leaves. Boil for 5-8 minutes. Drain and reserve.

Stuffing preparation:

Wash and thinly slice the mushrooms. Cut the lean salt pork into small pieces. Chop the raw ham. Mix with garlic, onion and parsley. Stuff the artichokes with the mushroom and ham mixture. In a deep saucepan, sauté the onion and chopped tomatoes in olive oil. When the mixture is cooked through, add the stuffed artichokes. Put in the oven uncovered for 10-15 minutes and sprinkle from time to time with dry white wine. Bring to a boil, cover and lower the temperature to cook slowly for 45-60 minutes.

La Rive Droite - A Star in Alencon

Just a few weeks ago I was in sunny Marrakech, which Kent and I discovered for the first time when we attended Charles-Henry and Segolene’s wedding there in February of 1998. And, just last Sunday for Easter, we had the pleasure of having lunch at their new restaurant, La Rive Droite, in Alencon. The connection  between Marrakech and La Rive Droite was striking - the brilliant blue skies, delicious food, and the décor as well, as their bar is decorated with many treasures and colors from Morocco.

Charles-Henry, Segolene and their three young sons are like family and it is always a pleasure to participate in their enterprises and adventures. Their Chateau Hotel, the Chateau de Saint Paterne has been the scene of many wonderful Les Liaisons Delicieuse’s culinary adventures. I have slept in every one of their exquisite guest rooms, including one with a remarkable painted ceiling where King Henry IV spent time with one of his mistresses! Because of Charles-Henry, I began running culinary tours with him beginning in Morocco in 2001 and in Vietnam in 2006.

But on to their newest enterprise, La Rive Droite. They bought the old lace museum on the Sarthe river in the old part of town several years ago.

La Rive Droite situated on the Sarthe River

It had been abandoned and needed a complete rehabilitation which they did with their usual flair. There are four different dining areas on the main floor each decorated differently and very beautifully. My favorites are the library which is very cozy in the wintertime filled with books and treasured photographs, and the Moroccan room.

La Rive Droite's moroccan room

In the spring sunshine however, the terrace is where you want to be. Four of us enjoyed our Easter lunch on a day as warm and sunny as Marrakech which was really delightful.

For years at the Chateau de Saint Paterne, Charles-Henry was the cook for the dinners served to guests in their dining room. But, with the opening of La Rive Droite right before Christmas, he hired a chef and graduated to manager of both kitchens he told me gleefully!

All four of us began our lunch with a Tourte de carottes en robe de chou which is one of Charles-Henry’s signature dishes, although this time prepared by chef Laurent. The carrots which are still crunchy are wrapped in savoy cabbage leaves and dressed with a sauce of crème fraiche and chives.

Tourte de carottes en robe de chou

The textures and flavors worked amazingly well together. We enjoyed a very pleasant Domaine Deshenry Cotes de Thongue 2010 white wine with our starters.

Two of us continued with the souris d’agneau which had been cooked with a little raspberry vinegar. The lamb fell easily off the bone and was incredibly succulent. The touch of raspberry was perfect. The second main course we ordered was magret de canard au miel. The duck was pink, tender and very tasty, complimented by a sweet and sour sauce of honey and balsamic vinegar. Both dishes were served with a medley of spring vegetables.

Souris d'agneau

Our wine for this course was a Domaine Cavalier du Val de Montferrand 2011 which was full bodied with a slight taste of berries.

We shared two desserts, a rich delicious Tarte Tatin and handmade ice cream with a touch of calvados, and a fondant au chocolat which was properly warm and runny with hints of caramel and butter.

Tarte tartin

Both desserts were wonderful. We left for a walk along the river completely satisfied. You should really consider a weekend at St. Paterne with a lunch at La Rive Droite but it is possible to take the train for the day and have a marvelous lunch and be back in Paris for dinner.

This week's recipe is for our starter:

Tourte de Carottes en Robe de Chou (Carrot Tart Baked in Cabbage Leaves)
Recipe from Charles-Henri de Valbray, Château-Hotel Saint-Paterne
Serves 8

Ingredients for the Tart

8 large leaves of Savoy cabbage

6 large carrots
¼ head cabbage
1 turnip, if desired
3 onions,
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch parsley
4 leeks, white only
1 ½ sticks of butter
5 eggs
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper
Toasted pine nuts
 
Ingredients for the Sauce
1 cup cream
3 tsp minced chives
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp butter

Wash the cabbage leaves and blanch for 3 minutes in boiling salted water. 

Plunge in cold water, remove and dry between paper towels or tea towels.
Remove large ribs.
Wash cabbage, leeks and peel turnip and carrots.  Grate cabbage, turnip, and carrots; slice leeks finely.  Chop onion, garlic and parsley.
Melt 7 tbsp butter in a large saucepan, add grated cabbage, leeks, and onions and sauté gently 5 minutes.  Add carrots, garlic and parsley.
Cook vegetables together for 15 minutes over low heat, stirring from time to time.  Add the cayenne, salt and pepper.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Beat eggs and fold into vegetable mixture, mixing well.
Butter a deep straight-sided pie or cake pan or earthenware casserole with half the remaining butter.  Line the pan with the cabbage leaves, keeping one leaf aside.  Let the leaves extend over the edges of the pan.
Pour the vegetable and egg mixture into the pan.  Fold the leaves over the mixture and top with the remaining leaf.  Dot with remaining butter.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30-40 minutes at 350F.
While tart is baking, prepare the sauce.  Melt butter in cream over low heat.  Add chives, salt and pepper, mix well, and pour in a sauce boat.
Unmold tart on a large round serving place, sprinkle with pine nuts, and serve with sauce.

Restaurant Le Dauphin - 75011, Paris

We were very eager for our lunch today at Le Dauphin after meeting chef Franck and his team at Le Verre Vole. And, their food more than lived up to our very high expectations!

The menu at lunch is simple, an entrée/plat or plat/dessert for 23 euros or an entrée/plat/dessert for 27 euros. There are only two choices in each category and we sampled both first and main courses and loved every bite.

My foie de volaille avec salsifis (chicken livers with salsify; photo below) was rich, warm and tremendously satisfying.  The chicken livers were perfectly cooked and the salsify was served both sautéed and as chips, adding flavor and a nice crunchy texture.  Thinly sliced mushrooms were also served two ways, raw and marinated in a vinaigrette.  All of this was sprinkled with fresh tarragon and chervil, and the result was divine. 




The macquereau and betterave (mackerel and beet; photo below) first course was also a delightful mixture of flavors and textures.  Very succulent fish with crispy skin and red and yellow beets, which were served two ways, roasted and pickled, was a real treat. A small amount of a soy foam added just the right amount of salt.  Yummy!

When our main courses arrived we were blown away by the beauty of the food.  Both the bar (sea bass; photo below) and the veau (veal) were served with the most colorful and flavorful carrots I have ever tasted, again prepared two ways, cooked and marinated.  Another burst of flavor and color was the pumpkin puree, which was a nice complement to the carrots.  This kitchen truly has a way with vegetables, which take center stage here and are not offered as decoration only, although they are beautiful.

We enjoyed a fruity Cotes du Rhone, La Sagesse 2009, Domaine Gramernon with just a hint of spice which went perfectly with our meal.  I’ll be back again soon, as Le Dauphin is truly another little gem. 

Restaurant Le Verre Vole - 75010, Paris

You know that you are eating at a very good place when you see chefs on their day off eating beside you!

Le Dauphin staff enjoying their day off

Such was the case last Sunday, when we had lunch at Le Verre Vole, a fabulous little wine shop and bistrot near the Canal Saint Martin. Franck (chef), Sebastian (sommelier) and Aaron from the new restaurant Le Dauphin were at the next table tasting several different bottles of wine, which they shared with us! And, they tried nearly every first course on the menu critiquing positively as they tasted each delectable morsel.

The walls in the shop are shelves filled with an amazing selection of vins natures, which you can select to accompany your meal for a corkage charge of 7 euros. We learned that for these wines, the process is natural from start to finish with no preservatives or additives ever. Whereas organic wines are grown without pesticides but are not controlled at all during the vinification process. We selected a red Minervois 2008, Les Bois des Merveilles, Domaine Jean Baptiste Senat, and at 18 euros plus the corkage, it was perfect. It had a very deep, dense red color and was rich and velvety with hints of wood and spice.

A fantastic selection of wines line the walls

For the first course, two of us enjoyed the first green asparagus of the season in France from the Vauclause in Provence.

Premieres Asperges Vertes

They were lightly cooked, still a bit crunchy and bursting with flavor. An herb vinaigrette and an egg yolk on top added to our pleasure. My husband Kent dared to have a Cheval Tartare aux Champignons (which for those of you who don’t know, is horse!) 

Cheval Tartare

The sizable, tender chunks of meat were mixed with cornichons and herbs and topped with thinly sliced raw mushrooms, all of which worked perfectly together and it was surprisingly delicious. Our fourth dish was Saint Jacques Poelees aux Agrumes.

Saint Jacques

The scallops were sautéed with citrus and served with caramelized endives. This dish was fresh, light and the acidity of the blood oranges was a superb complement.

We moved on to two different main courses. Two of us had the Lotte de l’Ile de Yeu (monkfish) served with sauteed cabbage and citrus butter.

Lotte de l'Ile de Yeu

The lotte was cooked through but still moist and the caramelized cabbage and julienned orange and lemon peel made the dish a standout! The second main course was a Saucisse au Couteau d’Auvergne.

Saucisse

This beautiful sausage from the center of France was tender and brimming with flavor. It was served with mashed potatoes and a nicely dressed green salad.

After all this most delicious food, we were quite full but we shared two desserts.  A Crème Brulee au Zestes de Kumquat.

Creme Brulee

It was creamy with just a hint of kumquat and melted in our mouths.  In one word, yum!  The Gateau Breton St Pierre was a buttery slice of pastry on a bed of apples, topped with whipped cream and sprinkled with orange zest and specks of vanilla beans. 

Gateau Breton

All of this marvelous food is created in a tiny open kitchen by a team of 3 chefs who rotate, since the restaurant is open 7 days a week for both lunch and dinner. 

The Sunday team with chef Ryotaro

We were completely satisfied and enjoyed the company of our chef neighbors enormously.  A must address!

Le Verre Vole, 67 rue de Lancry, 75010 Paris.  Tel 01 48 03 17 34.

Restaurant Ripaille - Batignoles, 75017 Paris

Well today is the day!  I am dropping my whisk and hitting the keyboard to begin sharing with you my culinary discoveries in Paris (and other places where my travels will take me), where I have lived between October and May every year since 2007.  We live in a wonderful old French neighborhood, Le Village des Batignolles, at the foot of Montmartre.  The streets are filled with ateliers (artist studios) as many artists from the Impressionists on have relocated here.  A lively mix of restaurants, traiteurs (cheese, wine, ready-made meals, chocolate) and boutiques are around every corner, and I am going to focus today on a restaurant I discovered within a week of moving here, and continue to frequent with great pleasure. 

I always pay attention to crowded dining rooms, as I believe it is a very good indication of delicious things to come.  Such is the case with Restaurant Ripaille, a small simple bistrot, which is on my way to the metro so I pass by it every day.  And every day, at lunch and dinner, the dining room is packed with people who are clearly enjoying the food and wine.  The owner, Philippe Favre, warmly welcomes all the diners, most of whom he knows by name, as the restaurant has a great many regulars.  The dining room is intimate and cosy, and Philippe, who is also one of two servers and the sommelier, moves between the tables and guests with ease and grace.  Philippe is a sommelier by training, having worked at Chez Laurent and Chez G Faucher in Paris before opening Ripaille in 2005.  Chef Brendan Labarre is from Brittany (and Philippe from Normandy), so fish takes center stage at Ripaille.

Owner of Restaurant Ripaille, Philippe Favre 

At lunch today, both my husband and I ordered the formule dejeuner, which is an excellent value at 15 Euros for two courses and 20 Euros for three.  I had the Pate de Foie de Lapin with a salad, which was delightfully warm and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.  Kent had the Risotto de Anchoiade, which was perfectly cooked, creamy and had just the right amount of anchovy.

Pate de Foie de Lapin

Risotto de Anchoiade

I moved onto a Blanc de Poulet, Epinards avec Sauce Supreme, with a generous amount of spinach covered with the rich, creamy sauce supreme, while Kent had a Bavette de Flanchet (flank steak) with the most delectable Pommes Mitrailles we have ever eaten.  These tiny little potatoes come from the island of Noirmoutier, off the southern coast of Brittany, and they were delicious – I talked Kent into more than a few bites!  Neither of us felt like sweets, so we shared a Carpaccio de Elivaz, Tomates Confits, et Jambon d’Auverne.  The Comte-like cheese was sliced thinly and served with thin slices of delicious ham sprinkled with a little sherry vinegar and dots of sundried tomatoes.  It was really very tasty.  We each had a glass of Philippe’s red selection of the day, Domaine de L’Aigle, Pinot Noir, 2009 from Languedoc, which went perfectly with both the beef and the chicken.  We left completely satisfied and felt that we had been wonderfully taken care of by Philippe and his team.

Blanc de Poulet, Epinards avec Sauce Supreme

Bavette de Flanchet

Carpaccio de Elivaz, Tomates Confit et Jambon d'Auvergne

Ripaille, our little gem, is located at 69 Rue des Dames, 75017 Paris; tel 01 45 22 03 03.