Loving Paris in June

And let the summer travel posts begin...

Last week I spent two days in Paris on my way to Israel (I tell myself that this is a way to get used to the time zone, but let's face it, really it's an excuse to produce a post like this!), and the beautiful pastries wet my appetite for my three weeks in Paris in August.

This was a visit that, more than the others I took this past April or in May 2008, reminded me of the significance of my student days in Paris. Perhaps it was the time I spent in the Marais this time, or the long hours I took walking the city, but whatever the reason, these two days brought to mind the girl I was 9 years ago, just at the cusp of developing into who I am now.

The semester I spent at the Sorbonne in 2001 was a formative point in my adult life; in particular, I was at an important place in developing my sense of aesthetics. I was constantly struck by design throughout Paris - in the art museums, in architecture, in advertisements, in clothing, in the juxtaposition of the new and the old in an historic but modern city. I gathered pictures from magazines and ads until I had a notebook stuffed with scraps of paper, and I even tried to draw a little bit. Living outside of the U.S. allowed me to let go of my perceptions of what art is, and simply listen to my personal experience of sensory expressions - which brings me to the food in this post again.

My aesthetic sensibilities are at their happiest, perhaps, with beautiful food. I know I rave constantly about Pierre Hermé, but really, he is an artist. His medium is of the highest quality - no one could beat the textural and flavorful perfection of his macarons - while he also executes a creativity in flavor combinations and presentation that takes the technical work to a level of sophistication that is so pleasing to me. The photo above is of his Ispahan croissant; Ispahan is his signature "fetish" collection flavor that combines raspberry, rose, and lychee, with some almond paste as well in the croissant. Brilliant, right?

I devoured this croissant, and then ate the crumbs from the bag. Amazing pastry, striking filling, lovely sweet glaze.




And OF COURSE I got some of his macarons, in flavors I hadn't tried yet (except for the caramel): clockwise from upper left, Mosaïc (pistachio, griottine cherry, and touch of cinnamon), Mogador (passion fruit and milk chocolate), Arabesque (apricot and pistachio), and Infiniment Caramel (salted butter caramel). I am always surprised by the touches of bitterness or sourness he allows to remain in his flavors; the passion fruit was certainly on the sour side for me, and the caramel actually has a bitter edge to the burned sugar flavor. Few pastry chefs would make that gusty choice in the States! I think Mosaïc was my favorite this time.




I ran into this place while walking around town, and while its Asian-inspired flavors were interesting, I just had to buy...



...one of these: a Chocoron, or Chocolate-Dipped Macaron. Oh yes.




Raspberry and chocolate isn't my absolute favorite combination, but I could not resist the colors of this amazing confection. Sadaharu Aoki's macarons in general had stiffer shells, which structure fit the chocolate dipping better than a soft Hermé would have done. It is truly difficult to look at this photo without being able to take a bite of one right now.



Berthillon's ice cream was a must-try, and I was glad I sat down to eat it at Ma Bourgogne at the Place des Vosges, even though it cost three times as much as getting a few scoops on Ile St. Louis. The honey nougat and the café dauphinois were fabulous with the gavottes that accompanied them.




And the final culinary highlight of the two days was this religieuse from Des Gâteaux et du Pain; I literally have wanted to try this for two years, and this time happened to be staying a few blocks away from the bakery. After this trip, I highly recommend staying in the 15th arrondissement for high quality pastry and baked good options.




Choux pastry (think cream puffs) filled with salted caramel pastry cream, coated in caramel icing, held together with caramel buttercream piping.




I don't usually talk like this, but...GET IN MY BELLY!




A bientôt, Paris!

Almond Croissant at Amandine

I have finally found a good almond croissant in LA...better in fact than many of the almond croissants I had in France! And let me tell you, I have had quite a few there - including one as big as a piece of pizza.

A croissant aux amandes is a day-old croissant, cut open and lined with almond paste, soaked in simple syrup, topped with sliced almonds, and baked all together. Sweet, almondy, and buttery.

Amandine, true to its name and reputation, had the winning pastry. It did not skimp on the almond paste, and was not too sweet, but oh so buttery and light. This croissant, accompanied by a huge café au lait, made me incredibly happy. Too happy to not share it with you. Mmmmmmm...

Almond Puff Loaf

At the request of my mother, I am posting this professional-looking, EASY pastry. It is a light, buttery, just sweet enough puff loaf, great for brunches, teas, desserts...and culinary experimentation. I've already got changes planned for the next time I make it, but here's the recipe from the last time I made it, which was a hit with the family. Since there are only a few ingredients, which you probably already have in your kitchen, I suggest you keep this recipe on reserve for unexpected guests!

Almond Puff Loaf (from the King Arthur Flour website):

First Layer:
1/2 C (1 stick) butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
if using unsalted butter, add 1/4 tsp. salt
1 C flour
1/4 C water

Second Layer:
1 C water
1/2 C (1 stick) butter
if using unsalted butter, add 1/4 tsp. salt
1 C flour
3 large eggs at room temperature (or warm in hot tap water for 10 minutes)
1 tsp. almond extract

Topping:
2/3 C jam or preserves (try apricot or raspberry)
1/2-2/3 C slivered or sliced toasted almonds

Icing:
1/2 C powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
~ 4 tsp. milk or water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

First layer: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the butter, flour, and salt, working the butter into the flour with a pastry blender or fork, your fingers, or a mixer. Mix until everything is crumbly, then stir in the water. The dough will become cohesive, though not smooth.

Divide the dough in half; if you're using a scale, each half will weigh about 4 5/8 ounces. Wet your hands, and shape each piece of this wet dough into a rough log. Grease a baking sheet or sheets that'll allow you to stretch and pat the logs into 11 x 3-inch rectangles on the sheet, leaving at least 4 inches between them, and 2 inches on each side. These will puff up in the oven.

Second layer: In a medium-sized saucepan, bring the water and butter to a boil. Stir until the butter melts, then add the flour and salt all at once. Stir the mixture with a spoon until it thickens, begins to steam, and leaves the sides of the pan; this will happen very quickly. Transfer the dough to a mixing bowl, or the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat it at medium speed for 30 seconds to 1 minute, just to cool it down a bit.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; beat until the dough loses its "slimy" look, and each egg is totally absorbed. This is very similar to pâte à choux (dough you would use for cream puffs and eclairs). Mix in the almond extract.

*see below for optional step to insert here.

Divide the batter in half. Spread half the batter over one of the dough strips on the pan, covering it completely. Repeat with the remaining batter and dough. With a spatula or your wet fingers, spread the batter until it completely covers the entire bottom layer of dough. Smooth it out as best you can.

Bake the pastry for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until it's a deep golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and transfer each pastry to a wire rack (a giant spatula works well here).

Topping: Spread each warm pastry with about 1/3 C of jam or preserves. Sprinkle the toasted almonds on top of the jam. By this time the puffed pastries will start to sink, as they are supposed to.

Icing: Stir together the sugar, vanilla, and enough milk or water to form a thick but "drizzlable" icing. Drizzle the icing atop the pastries. My icing was a bit too thin, so it formed pools on top of the pastry rather than nice neat lines. Cut into squares or strips to serve.

*Next time, I'm going to try adding a layer of almond paste, beaten with a bit of sugar to soften it up, between the layers of dough. I'm thinking it will make a fabulous almond pastry!

Cupcake Playdate

Three weeks of cooking nothing but s'mores + birthday in the office = time to get creative!

After traveling for so long, my cupboards were pretty bare, but my cooking fervor motivated me to scrounge up enough goodies to make 6 different flavors of cupcakes for this week's birthday party. I found a white cake mix on the shelf and decided to use that as a launching point for fun in the kitchen.

With the cake mix made according to the box instructions (I prefer Duncan Hines brand), I then divided the batter into 6 equal parts and began playing. I flavored the batters and spooned up 4 cupcakes of each flavor (one box mix makes 24 cupcakes). While they were baking I prepared a double batch of firm buttercream frosting, half of which I reserved as is, and half of which I made into chocolate buttercream by adding unsweetened cocoa powder to taste (I had planned that half of my flavors would take chocolate icing). These are very generously frosted. Once the cupcakes were cooled I customized the icing; some of them took straight chocolate or vanilla icing, but for others I added flavoring to the chocolate or vanilla base.

Hope you can use these ideas for your own kitchen playdate!

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

Batter: Mix in 6 frozen sweet cherries, chopped and defrosted with juice, and 1 or 2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

Decoration: Chocolate buttercream icing: Pipe with a large round tip in a spiral and then bury the tip in the middle and squeeze tube to form icing cherry. Top with red sprinkles and cherry stem (fished from jar of maraschino cherries!)

Almond Cupcakes

Batter: Mix in pure almond extract to taste and dish into cupcake pan; in small bowl in microwave heat 1 Tbsp. butter with 4 tsp. almond paste, then mix the butter and paste thoroughly and press 1/4 of mixture into the middle of each cupcake before baking.

Decoration: Vanilla buttercream icing: Mix in a splash of almond extract. Pipe with a medium star tip in a spiral around the top, weaving tip back and forth to create waves and building up with concentric spiral layers to create a dome. Top with sliced almonds (roasted if desired).

Chocolate Cupcakes

Batter: Mix in 2 or 3 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder to taste and dish into cupcake pan; press a square of chocolate into the middle of each cupcake prior to baking. Squares of Hershey's would work.

Decoration: Chocolate buttercream icing: Pipe with medium star tip in a spiral around the top, building up with concentric spiral layers. Top with a broken piece of chocolate.

Pistachio Cupcakes

Batter: Mix in several teaspoons of finely chopped pistachios, 1/2 tsp. honey, and a drop of green food coloring.

Decoration: Vanilla buttercream frosting: Mix in 1 tsp. honey and then pipe onto cupcake with petal tip in a spiral on top, then create sweet pea petals in a circle in the middle and then in groups concentrically around the edge. Top with whole shelled pistachio.

Mocha Cupcakes

Batter: Combine 1 1/2 tsp. instant coffee with just enough boiling water to cover granules; stir until dissolved. Mix dissolved coffee and 1 or 2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder into batter.

Decoration: Chocolate buttercream icing: Prepare instant coffee as for batter and mix into icing. Pipe with petal tip in spiral on top, building up in center with layers of concentric spirals. Add coffee-bean-like form on top with petal tip wide end up.

Sprinkle Cupcakes

Batter: Mix in sprinkles as desired; solid thick sprinkles last better than non pareilles (pictured on top of this cupcake), which dissolve in the batter.

Decoration: Vanilla buttercream icing: Pipe with middle round tip in spirals on top, building up with layers of concentric spirals. Top with desired sprinkles.

Create your own cupcake playtime and let me know what flavors your kitchen produces!

Maman Je T'Aime: Almond Torte

Since I am in Paris and cannot be home on this Mother's Day - and La Fête des Mères is a big deal in France, after all! - I decided to compose a post to honor my mother.  I owe her completely for my love of food, and for my foundation in the kitchen arts.  She taught me to bake chocolate chip cookies long ago as my childhood speciality (which were the top sellers of my not-for-profit "Kid's Bakery"!) and gave me a solid education in cooking skills, from cutting up whole chickens to measuring flour properly.  She is trained in nutritional science, but always said that she really learned to cook from her mother, and not her university food classes; I can truly say that I also really learned to cook from my mother, and so the tradition continues.

While my mom is quite skilled in cooking, and successfully creates a wide range of foods that continually expands, her most remarkable use of the kitchen is for the purpose of hospitality. One day I hope to have a kitchen like hers: welcoming to all, generous to a fault, always abundant with fresh and tasty food.  I don't always tell her this, but I love the fact that I never know who will be in my home when I set foot in the door, and that I never have to hesitate to invite more people, no matter who they are.  Because of her, I see food as something to be shared and enjoyed with others.  When I've considered starting a bakery or catering business, I have always backed away from it because it removes the essence of what I enjoy about cooking: giving the food away.  And Mom continues to have patience for the smallest kitchen questions, which always seem to worry me for hours.

To celebrate my mother, I would like to share a recipe that she has made famous in our town - and it will only do her justice if the recipe is given out as generously as the tortes themselves. This almond torte recipe was given to her by a family friend, and ever since then it is a constant presence in our house.  Its simple sophistication works well as a gift and for special occasions, as it may be made ahead of time, stored at room temperature wrapped in plastic for weeks, frozen for longer, or mailed without incident.  As it sits, over time it becomes more chewy (a quality I value), and it fits perfectly in a gallon-size freezer bag.  It should be served sliced in very small wedges, as it is quite rich.

Mom's Almond Torte

1 1/2 C sugar

3/4 C melted butter

2 1/2 T almond paste*

2 eggs

1 tsp almond extract

1 1/2 C flour

pinch salt

1 tsp baking powder

handful of sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 10" iron skillet or pie plate with foil.  Beat together sugar, melted butter, and almond paste until well combined (if the almond paste starts out soft enough, it shouldn't still be in clumps after being beaten in).   Add eggs and almond extract. Then mix in flour, salt, and baking powder.

Pour into foil-lined pan, even out the batter with a rubber scraper, and sprinkle the top with a light layer of granulated sugar and sliced almonds, which should be pressed in individually so that they do not fall off after baking.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Once well browned on top and the edges are cracked all around, a chewier torte may be achieved by turning off oven, cracking open oven door, and leaving torte in the oven for another 10 minutes (Mom's discovery!  I've learned that mistakes can improve an item sometimes.).

Cool in pan.  Store with foil on the bottom until ready to serve.

So, Mom, I'm enjoying good food in Paris for you today.  Next year in Paris, Maman?  

*This is 1/3 of the Odensa 7-oz. almond paste tube; if you purchase this, you should squeeze the tube while in the store to make sure it gives to the touch - sometimes the paste can grow hard on the shelf, which is not ideal.  Almond paste can also be purchased in a can at Cost Plus World Market, and this can be a good deal.