Paris Cooking
17 Apr
What does one do when they visit Paris and have the opportunity to stay for two weeks in an apartment with full kitchen? Well they cook of course (apart from trying every beer and wine they can get their hands on).
The supermarkets here have a great deal more variety than the ones in Portugal. That is apart from yoghurt and cured sausages (salsicha and chouriso), Portugal wins hands down here with hundreds of each in even the smallest of supermarkets. Still nothing like the variety in the big Australian supermarkets but a definite improvement. Most recipes will be reproducible without needing to go to specialty stores.
This post is a collection of the recipes tried and some notes. Nothing fancy and all should hopefully use ingredients available back home in Australia.
Onion Soup
One of the staples of French cuisine. We used this recipe here:
We didn’t quite caramelise the onions properly, also having a non stick pan means you don’t get that burnt glaze that goes so well in adding flavour to dishes. The stock instructions weren’t followed either but apart from it went down really well with our second baguette of the day.
Mustard Chicken
As the recipe states, mustard is often passed over by inexperienced cooks as they believe the flavour will be too intense. It’s quite the opposite. Cooked mustard mellows fantastically. I personally have covered steak with enough hot english mustard to kill an army then BBQed it with the resulting product being fantastic.
Cream of Spinach Soup
Another recipe from the same site but we have run out now so shall be looking further afield. This one was particularly yummy as Camilla can testify to.
Coq au Vin
When many people think French they think Coq au vin. Traditionally cooked with an older rooster for many hours we opted for chicken thighs and followed this Coq au vin recipe more or less. Very delicious but as with the creamy Parisian curry we had for lunch the other day it makes you want to go to sleep within five minutes of eating.
