PARIS… multicultural melting-pot!
As Victor Hugo used to say "Anything that exists anywhere on earth, there is also in Paris". Paris is a legendary city, abundant in culture. Mecca for writers, painters and fashion, and most of all…lovers. In Paris, every step you take, you get the sense of timelessness - through the places known from the literature, through buildings for centuries considered models of particular styles, as well as people who influenced the world history. The city is a multicultural melting-pot, the cradle of world's culture, as well as the scientific thought and creativity forever intertwined with freedom of thought and imagination.
No other country's culinary art is as directly connected with the national culture as it is in France. Love of good flavor is common here, and Frenchmen can discuss cuisine matters with expertise and passion. French dishes are full of herbal aromas, but these flavors are very sublime and do not overwhelm the flavors of the other ingredients. One of the French cuisine's best known delicacies are snails served in butter, with garlic and parsley. Cheeses, of which there are about 370 varieties, are a characteristic French national product. The best proof that Frenchmen are experts at cooking is the fact that the first cookbook was written here in the Middle Ages - it includes detailed recipes for variety of pates served in crispy pastry... It's easy to fall in love…with the French cuisine!
Puff pastry salmon
Baked with green olives and served with herbal sauce.
Ingredients (Serves 6 people):
- 6 salmon fillets (200 g each)
- salt and pepper
- 450 g puff pastry
- 2 tablespoons semolina
- 15 g butter
- juice of half lemon
- 1 tablespoon chopped olives, parsley and tarragon
- glazing: 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon milk
Herbal sauce:
- 40 g butter, quartered
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 200 ml vegetable bouillon
- 3 tablespoons white wine
- 1 tablespoon cream
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley and dill
- adjusted with salt and pepper
Preparation:
Place salmon on baking parchment, season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with lemon juice and refrigerate. Cut the puff pastry in two, one part larger than another. The smaller part should be formed in a rectangle a little bit larger than fillets. Put the cold pastry on a moist baking tray and prick the pastry with a fork. Bake in 220C degrees for 10 minutes, sprinkle semolina on top, place fillets, cover with butter, olives, parsley and tarragon. Cover the fillets with the remaining puff pastry, folding the edges. Add glazing on top of the pastry, bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 160C degrees and bake for 15 more minutes. Cover with aluminum film if the pastry gets too brown.
Sauce: Melt butter on a frying pan, add flour and stir for a minute, then add bouillon and wine. Bring to boil, keep stirring, reduce the heat and keep boiling for 5 minutes till the sauce gets thick. Add cream, herbs, salt and pepper. Serve with the fish.
Crème brûlée
Ingredients (Serves 5 people):
• 500 ml cream
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 5 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
Preparation:
Put the cream into a saucepan together with white sugar and vanilla seeds and bring to boil. Reduce the heat, put the dish aside and cool. Whisk the egg yolks in a separate bowl (do not beat), add warm cream with sugar using a spoon. Stir very gently until the custard mixture gets smooth, thick and shiny. Pour the mixture to custard cups using a fine sieve. Put into oven preheated to 100C degrees for 50 minutes. Cool the custard and refrigerate for at least 5 hours. Cover each portion with 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and caramelize it, so that sugar dissolves, gets brown and forms a caramelized top.
You can use a special torch to caramelize the sugar or put the dishes under a hot grill in the oven. Note! sugar may start burning even in 15 seconds and it gets bitter! After the dishes are cooled again put them in the fridge for an hour. Decorate with fruits and dust with powdered sugar.
