Tantalizing Truffles and Fabulous Foie Gras

There couldn't be a better way to get through one of the coldest winter's on record, then to spend a week feasting on foie gras and truffles with Chef Pierre Corre at the Auberge de la Truffle in the Dordogne.  Ten of us did just that in February.  Nini, our intrepid truffle pig, with her owner Daniel, found at lest 50 "black diamonds" which tantalized Chef Pierre and all of us beyond belief.

     

Our truffle cooking class and dinner included scallops with truffles, a "cappuccino" of celery root cream and truffles, and duck breast with foie gras, truffles and a sauce perigueux --- Almost sinful!

We each got a fattened duck for our duck cooking class and prepared a terrine of foie gras, confited duck legs, and rillettes, all of which we got to take home with us.

I already have dates for next winter, January 29 - February 4, 2016, so grab a spot and get ready to forage, feast and have great fun!

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.

Comme Chez Maman – Eating at “home” with the best of mothers!!

                    Comme Chez Maman - Eating at "home" with the best of french/belgian mothers!

    As you know from earlier bogs, we love our neighborhood in the top of the 17^th, Les Batignolles, which used to be outside of Paris proper, and still has the feel of a village filled with young families and artists, some of whom offer classes in their studios.  In fact, my husband Kent, a retired psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, started sculpting a year ago at Atelier Marie La Varande and has produced some amazing pieces. 

     And right here, just a little more than a year ago, chef Wim Van Gorp, a Belgian, opened Comme Chez Maman which immediately became our favorite local restaurant.  Wim left Belgium when he was 18 years old and cooked in the kitchens of some of the very best chefs in the world:  Lucas Carton in Paris, Eric Westermann in Strasbourg, Alain Ducasse in Monaco, Jacques Borie in Tokyo, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten in New York.  So as you can see, this delightful young man knows what he is doing!!!

     Wim wanted a restaurant where people felt at home eating delicious simple food like the best of mothers might prepare.  He does classic French food like oeufs mayonnaise (hard boiled eggs with a superb homemade mayonnaise) and poireaux vinaigrette (the tenderest of leeks with a vinaigrette sauce).  But, most of his classic dishes have a twist which adds flavor and excitement.  Instead of mussels and razor clams cooked in wine, Wim puts them in a hot oven until they open and roast just slightly, and then sprinkles them with parsley and shallots and black pepper. Amazing!

    

  His pot-au-feu has an Earl Grey tea bag in the broth  and he has created a pot-au-feu de la mer which has the best fish (salmon and sea bass), scallops, squid, mussels, plus carrots, fennel, potatoes, leeks and onions in a light cream sauce with fresh basil, parsley, dill, and cilantro added at the end.   I can’t tell you how many times I have had this dish and it is truly delicious.  I savor every bite!

 My husband Kent’s favorite dish is Wim’s rognons, (veal kidneys on a bed of pureed potatoes).  The rognons are tender and aromatic and the potatoes work perfectly with this dish.  

Comme Chez Maman has a very nice affordable wine list, with wines by the glass for as little as 3.50 euros at lunch. Yesterday we enjoyed a red, Chateau de Chamirey 2008 with a cream of asparagus soup and the coquillages-brule mains.  Kent was hungry for dessert and tried the Tarte citron/fruits rouge. It was different from any lemon tarte we had ever seen and quite wonderful.  The base was a large round shortbread cookie.  On top were three dollops of exceptional lemon custard on a bed of currents and raspberries.   

     I recommend that you go soon and often to Comme Chez Maman.  You will be in heaven.

Recipe

                                          Coquillages Brule-mains (Broiled Shellfish)

For 2 people

1/2 lb. mussels

1/2 lb. razor clams (or other local clams)  
2 shallots, minced

vegetable oil

Wash the shellfish and debeard. 

Rinse and dry the parsley, chop in large pieces

Put shellfish in a pan lined with oil

Cook for 4/5 minutes in a very hot oven set to broil until open

Sprinkle the parsley and shallots on top with some freshly ground pepper and Pimente d’Espelette,
    (could substitute hot paprika)

Serve immediately

A Super Sunday for Truffles and Pigs

I just returned to Paris after a spectacular week at the Auberge de la Truffe in the Dordogne (the Perigord) where 6 of us feasted on truffles, foie gras, walnuts and walnut oil, and delicious wines from Bergerac.

We had adventures and wonderful food every day. But, the highlight of the week was on Sunday when the entire day was devoted to truffles. After breakfast we drove on small country roads to the village of Mareuil, just north of the charming town of Brantome (known as the ‘Venice of the Dordogne’), encircled all round by the Dronne River and linked to the outside world by five bridges. We met Daniel, our truffle hunter, outside the 15^th century Chateau de Mareuil in his white truck. He was very well dressed for a farmer, in a loden green jacket with matching hat and sturdy brown boots.  He sported satchels fore and aft. We soon discovered that the front leather satchel hid handfuls of delicious roasted corn, the secret to a pig’s heart, perfect for distracting him from the pungent truffles once he found them. Every time he found a truffle, Daniel would quickly drop a handful of the corn two feet away, moving the 350 lb. pig aside allowing him to dig quickly for his ‘black gold’.

We followed Daniel to a beautiful manor house perched on a hill where he had arranged for us to hunt that morning. We gathered around the truck and his prize 6-year-old pig waddled down the ramp backwards, so huge she looked straight out of the Macy’s Day Parade.

I asked her name and when Daniel told me it was Nini, I burst out laughing. Nini is the name my grandson Ronan calls me! I had never met another Nini so this was certainly an auspicious beginning. With Daniel gently tweaking her ear with his little switch, and coaxing her along, Nini went to work , eager to get her roasted corn, finding a truffle right away, using her impressive snout to sniff them out, root around, and expose them just a few inches below the gravely soil. Daniel immediately threw some corn to the side as she was about to devour the truffle, using his truffle tool to dig a little further, unearthing the first truffle, deftly dropping it in his aft satchel. It was enormous, nearly the size of a baseball! From then on Nini worked non-stop for an hour, discovering a truffle or two every five minutes.

We were astounded. Once or twice Daniel caught her faking a truffle find to get extra corn. He chastised her, tweaking her ear lovingly. After only one hour she had found nearly 3-1/2 pounds of these black diamonds worth over $2000. AMAZING! Daniel said it was one of the best years for truffles in a long time and that Nini was the best of his three pigs. He brought her especially for me because on my previous trip it was a bad year and we didn’t find a single truffle. Daniel put Nini back in the little truck, dropping corn far inside and tweakng her ear and curly-cue tail lightly with his switch. With a gleam in his eye, Daniel unfastened his bulging back satchel, pouring out a small mountain of black diamonds. Though the proceeds at market from his stash would be shared with the master of the manor house, we proudly took our positions behind the truffle pile for our group picture, Daniel beaming proudly.

When we asked how you teach a 350 pound pig to hunt for truffles, Daniel smiled knowingly. “In the old days we used to put truffle juice on mother pig’s teats and they hunted for that taste ever after. Now we use more modern behavioral modification techniques on juvenile pigs pairing truffle juice and roast corn.”

After lunch at a nearby restaurant, we returned to the Auberge de la Truffe for a truffle cooking class with Chef Pierre Corre.

The aroma was intoxicating! We began by making truffle butter, to be served on toast points as appetizers with our aperitifs. Next came a wonderful cream of celery root soup redolent with truffles, served with dollops of whipped cream and generous truffle shavings, made to mimic a cappuccino.

Our next course paired truffled omelettes with truffled scrambled eggs . In Perigord they say truffles with eggs are a marriage made in heaven, but locals argue about which style is better. Pierre says it’s a matter of personal taste, but the unique way he makes each adds to the mystique. The previous Sunday, drawing people from all over, he personally made 56 omelettes, beating out scrambled eggs. Our eggs were served with a lovely red wine from Péchment, Chateau Roc Saint-Albert, 2008.

We moved on to searing our magret de Canard (fattened duck breast), first scoring the fat side placed down. The Magret a la Royale (duck breast with foie gras and truffles) was served perfectly pink and topped with lightly sautéed pieces of foie gras and truffles and napped with a sauce Périgordine (reduced duck stock, port or Madeira, and truffles).

One member of our group moaned with pleasure, saying this dish was the best thing she had ever tasted!! We enjoyed Chateau de Parisseau-Madame Jane 2009, paired perfectly.

Finally, we put together our dessert, Ile Flottante å laTruffle (truffle-flavored floating island—recipe to follow). We whipped egg whites until stiff, then folding in the truffles and sugar. Finally, with large spoons we formed fluffy quenelle islands. We also made a truffle-flavored crème Anglais which we spooned into individual dessert bowls, forming a delicious sea on which we then floated our truffle islands.

Pierre shaved in a few more truffle slices on top for good measure, following May West’s famous comment, “Too much of a good thing is not enough!”

And Voilå, our incredible truffle feast was ready. We took off our Les Liaisons Delicieuses aprons, and sailed out into the dining room to eat our creations. That night we all dreamed about truffles, as pigs named Nini jumped over our moons.

Ile Flottante a la Truffle

(Truffle-Flavored Floating Island)

(serves 8)

1 quart truffle-flavored crème anglais

12 egg whites

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 ounces minced truffles

1. Whisk the egg whites until stiff (forming peaks).

2. Combine with the sugar, and the minced truffles to taste.

3. Using two spoons, form the mixture into quenelle shapes

4. And cook by steaming in 2% milk briefly (1/2 minute on each side, flipping them with spoon—don’t let the milk boil.

5. Serve in bowls of crème Anglais with a bit of truffle grated over the top.

Truffle-flavored Crème Anglaise (an incredibly easy way to make it)

1. Beat 6 egg yolks and 100 grams sugar together with a mixer until lifting a spoonful ‘makes a ribbon’ below the spoon. In France that’s called ‘blanchir’

2. Heat 2 cups of 2% milk bringing just to a boil.

3. Pour heated milk into egg-sugar mixture and stir until mixed.

4. Then pour this mixture into another metal bowl in ice water, stirring until it thickens slightly. Et Voilå, quick crème Anglais!

5. Put a handful of minced truffles into the crème anglaise

A Riveting Return to Rive Droite!

It was a real pleasure to return last week to Rive Droite, the restaurant of my dear friends, Charles-Henry and Ségolene de Valbray in Alençon. Not only was I to meet their new chef, Christophe Renou, but he was going to give my group of friends a cooking class in the restaurant kitchen for the first time. Christophe worked as head chef in London at Gordon Ramsey’s Michelin 3-star restaurant, L'Aubergine and with Gilles Goujon, another 3-star chef, at L’Auberge du Vieux Puits before coming home this past summer to his native Normandy to take over the kitchen at Rive Droite. As you can imagine, Charles-Henry and Ségolene are thrilled to have him.

We were invited into the kitchen for coffee.  Then Christophe gave us each an apron and a work station with a cutting board and sharp knives. This class was definitely hands-on. The first dish we were to tackle was a Roquefort Cheese Soufflé, one of his signature dishes in London. The recipe is really quite simple, but amazing. These individual little soufflés can be made up any time, cooked and kept in the refrigerator for up to a week. When the guests appear and the time arrives for the first course, all you have to do is pop them back in the oven on a cookie sheet and poof, they rise and are ready!!  They are delicious and hold their shape.

Then we moved on to the main course, a Confit of Lamb Shoulder with Pommes Boulangere (baker’s potatoes). We all got busy chopping onions and carrots and slicing potatoes. We helped roast the lamb in very hot pans until caramelized and then everything went into a large roasting pan to cook for 3 hours. As we relaxed, Christophe told us a story about about Pommes Boulangere.

They were a traditional specialty for Sundays because housewives would put the dish together before church, dropping it off at the baker’s on the way. He was finished making his bread and croissants, but his oven was still pipping hot, so he would slip everyone’s potato dish into his oven while the family was in church, ready to be picked up after service. Hence, Pommes Boulangere!

We ended our class by cooking Christophe’s Chocolate Fondant, an individual chocolate cake with a runny center. This was served with homemade mint sorbet.

When our work was done, we took off our aprons and sat down in the beautiful dining room overlooking the river for our feast. Christophe had actually cooked our lamb confit the day before because of the long cooking time. Every dish was remarkably delicious and we had the translated adapted recipes to recreate them for our friends and family at home. It helped to have an eager young english-speaking chef who loved to do his homework for the class.

Roquefort Cheese Soufflé

For 8 people

Butter: 40 gr

Flour: 40 gr

Milk: 260 gr

Roquefort cheese: 160 gr

Egg yolks: 4

Egg whites: 5 

Salt and pepper

Butter and flour dust 8 molds and put in fridge

Put the butter in the pan and let it melt but not burn

Add the flour to make a roux, stir well

Add the milk to it, and boil three minutes

Then add the Roquefort, stir it in and it cool down

Add the yolks, mix, and set aside

Whisk 150gr of egg whites with a pinch of salt and sugar

Add the two mixes together slowly and fold them gently

Take the 8 molds and fill them with the mix

Cook in a bain-marie (gas mark 7/180 degrees C) for 20 minutes

Take them out of the oven in the bain-marie and let cool in it

Remove from bain-marie and refrigerate up to one week

When ready to serve, put them back in the oven, heat for 5-10 minutes at 180 degrees C. until they puff up

Can be served with a green salad, sprinkled with a few walnuts, and drizzled with walnut vinaigrette

Enjoy