The Little Paris Kitchen (23 page)

Place the tortilla in the pan and cook for about a minute until golden on each side. Repeat the process to make 6 tortillas in total, then wrap the tortillas in aluminum foil and keep them warm in the oven until you are ready to serve.

Put 1 tablespoon of the olive oil into a large pan and set on a medium heat. Add the shredded meat and cook for several minutes until hot and slightly caramelized. Meanwhile, put the carrots and cabbage in a bowl and toss togther with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil.

TO SERVE:
Spread 1 teaspoon of cream sauce over each tortilla. Add some meat and vegetables, and top with green sauce. Alternatively, set bowls of each ingredient and the tortillas on the table for everyone to help themselves.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Resting time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Juicy steak with crisp fries—a match made in heaven. There are different cuts—
entrecôte
(rib eye),
filet
(fillet),
bavette
(skirt),
rumsteack
(rump),
faux-filet
(sirloin)—but the method stays the same (first sear and then finish in the oven) unless the meat is less than
⅜
inch thick or is to be served rare. So there's not much to it, apart from letting the steak rest after cooking—this will make a world of difference.

SERVES 2 AS A MAIN COURSE

For the fries:
3½ tbsp ground almonds • 2 tbsp sunflower oil • salt and pepper • 1 sweet potato, cut into thin strips • 1 parsnip, cut into thin strips • 1 large carrot, cut into thin strips

• 1 rib-eye steak (about 1 lb) • salt and pepper •
Sauce tartare
(
page 273
), optional

TO MAKE THE FRIES:
Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a large bowl, mix together the ground almonds, oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and some pepper. Toss the vegetables in the mix and then spread them out in a single layer over a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until crisp, shaking the sheet halfway through.

Season the steak with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat a nonstick frying pan on a high heat. When it is so hot you can't hold your hand over it, sear the steak in the pan for 2 minutes on each side. Depending how you want it done,
*
put the steak in the oven with the fries for 5–10 minutes. Once the steak is cooked, wrap in foil and leave to rest on a warm plate for 10 minutes.

Unwrap the steak and cut in half. Serve straightaway with the fries, and with
Sauce tartare
.

*
There are roughly four degrees of “doneness.” To test whether it is done to your liking, press your finger on the steak and gauge how it feels (see below), or you can use a meat thermometer
.

Rare—
bleu
:
pinch your thumb and index finger together. Feel the fleshy part of your palm below the thumb and this should have the firmness of a rare steak. Sear only—there is no need to finish cooking in the oven. Color: very red. Meat temperature: 125–130°F
.

Medium-rare—
à point
:
as for rare, but with your thumb and middle finger together. Sear, then finish cooking in the oven. Color: red in the center. Meat temperature 130–140°F
.

Medium—
cuit
:
as for rare, but with your ring finger and thumb together. Sear, then finish cooking in the oven. Color: pink in the center. Meat temperature 140–151°F
.

Well-done—
bien cuit
:
as for rare, but with your little finger and thumb together. Sear, then finish cooking in the oven. Color: gray-brown throughout. Meat temperature 153–160°F
.

Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 30 minutes

When I was invited to a dinner hosted by Chef Jean-François Piège, he described how his previous elaborate style of cooking at the Hôtel de Crillon had evolved into something a lot more simple and homely at his current restaurant in the Hôtel Thoumieux. He told an amusing story of how his wife wanted
duck à l'orange
for Sunday supper and all he could find at his local corner shop was Orangina, so he used it to make a sauce for the duck. I'm not sure exactly how he made his
canard à l'Orangina
, but here's my version. A simple watercress or wild arugula salad works well with this dish.

SERVES 4 AS A MAIN

For the marinade:
finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange • 1 tbsp olive oil • ½ tsp ground cumin • 1 tsp salt

• 4 duck legs • 7 tbsp orange soda • 2 tbsp Cointreau • a pinch of salt • 1 tsp red wine vinegar • 4 oranges, cut into segments

TO MAKE THE MARINADE:
Mix together the orange zest and juice with the olive oil, cumin, and salt.

Rub the marinade over the duck legs and leave to marinate for a minimum of an hour (or in the fridge overnight).

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Put the duck legs with the marinade into a roasting pan and cook for 1 hour or until tender. Halfway through cooking, baste the duck with some of the pan juices.

Fifteen minutes before serving, pour the orange soda and Cointreau into a large frying pan, place on a high heat, and simmer until reduced by half. Stir in the salt and vinegar before adding the orange segments. Simmer for another 5 minutes.

Serve the duck legs hot, with the orange segments and sauce.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Resting time: 1 hour
–
overnight
Cooking time: 1 hour

There's a bit of a color theme going on with this dish—red raspberries and endives with pink from the duck—but that's not the reason why I put these ingredients together. The tartness of the raspberries and the bitterness of the endives are divine with the gamey taste of the duck. Serve with some crusty bread to mop up the juices, or with diced boiled potatoes that have been panfried in some of the duck fat.

SERVES 4 AS A MAIN COURSE

• 2 large duck breasts
(magrets)
, skin on • salt and pepper • 4 small red Belgian endives or radicchio • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil • 4 tbsp raspberry vinegar • 1-pt basket of raspberries

Trim some of the fat off the duck breasts and score the skin. Rub salt and pepper on both sides of the breasts.

Place a large frying pan over a high heat. When the pan is so hot that you can't hold your hand over it, place the duck breasts, skin-side down, in the pan and turn the heat down to medium-high. Fry the breasts for 4–5 minutes on each side or until golden brown and cooked to your liking (see
Steak et frites
,
page 205
). You may want to drain off some of the fat while cooking, but don't throw it away—duck fat is excellent for roasting potatoes. Once the duck is cooked to your liking, remove the breasts from the pan, wrap them in aluminum foil, and leave to rest on a warm plate for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, wash and dry the salad leaves. If they are big, cut them into smaller pieces. Put the leaves into a large bowl and sprinkle with the olive oil, vinegar, and seasoning to taste. Toss well, then scatter over four plates with the raspberries.

Carve the duck into very thin slices and divide between the plates to serve.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Resting time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 8
–
10 minutes

I've met quite a few foreigners who moved to Paris because they fell madly in love with a Frenchie. But it wasn't a charming Frenchman sweeping me off my feet that made me pack my bags and cross the channel.

While window-shopping on a school trip to Paris, I fell under the spell of French cakes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Sugar-coated, they glistened in the windows of the
pâtisseries
with the sweet promise of delighting my taste buds. I was quite literally licking the windows, as in the French idiom for window-shopping:
faire du lèche-vitrine
.

Not content with eating them, I wanted to know the secrets of making them. So I enrolled in a
pâtisserie
course at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris. Before I was even let anywhere close to the kitchen, I was drilled to say
“Oui, chef.”
Several hundred eggs and tons of sugar, flour, and butter later, I had learned how to whip up some of the sweet culinary delights I had seen in the
pâtisserie
windows.

One thing I learned quickly was that these recipes have to be followed to a T, unlike cooking, where you can follow your own taste.
Pâtisserie
is a science. Too much of a certain ingredient can cause total chaos with the end result. The ingredients used in French
pâtisserie
aren't that many: butter, sugar, eggs, and flour usually suffice to create something that will tantalize everyone's taste buds.

French
pâtisserie
is founded on key recipes and techniques. Certain recipes like
crème pâtissière
or short-crust pastry are considered building blocks. Once you've mastered a few, you can easily adapt them to make a broad range of other desserts.

This chapter covers a wide array of French desserts: some are simple and others a little more complicated. The more complex desserts are broken down into several shorter recipes (which in some cases can be used on their own). Don't be put off by the length. Take your time to read through the recipe, set up your equipment, and measure your ingredients before you start making the dessert—just a few tips I learned at culinary school. With a little practice, you'll be able to use some of the key recipes to make your own French-inspired creations.

This has to be one of the best ideas to appear on bistro and restaurant menus. I've always had a hard time making up my mind what to order for dessert, but with
Café Gourmand
you get three mini versions instead of having to choose just one. It's the perfect solution for my indecisive self.