L'Ourcine Restaurant in Paris

I ate at L’Ourcine in the 13th arrondissement with friend and wanted to share a few pictures. I read about L’Ourcine in “Hungry for Paris: The Ultimate Guide to the City’s 102 Best Restaurants” which I’m enjoying as an entertaining and insightful guide to eating in Paris.

I also found the restaurant and mention of its Chef, Sylvain Daniere, in a recent copy of food magazine Etoile that I just purchased. I ate at L’Ourcines with a friend and wanted to share a few pictures, the menu and a mini-review.

L’Ourcine met and exceeded my personal restaurant requirements for eating in Paris http://chezrd.blogspot.com/

Here’s my French and English interpretation of our meal:

Amuse bouche of Fennel mousse with baby croutons and a refreshing hint of heat from horseradish (I ate too fast to take a picture)

(Amuse bouche of mousse de fenouil avec des petits croûtons et un soupçon de raifort)

Beef tongue terrine with a mixed greens salad

(Terrine de langue de boeuf avec salade de Verts mélangée)

Calamari sauteed served with squid ink risotto and crispy fried garlic chips (I could have eaten a cup of these)

(Chiperons poêlé minute et risotto cremeux a l’encre de seiche et "chips" d’ail croustillantes (je pourrais avoir mangé une tasse)

Filet of black mullet with crispy skin over saffron potatoes and onions

(Mulet noir filet avec peau croustillante sur pommes de terre de safran et oignons)

Legs of rabbit in a fricassee stew style with oregano, whole cloves of garlic roasted in the skin (give me 10 more) and fresh French green beans

(Fricasse de cuisse de lapins relevé a la "origan" haricot verts fraise et les clous de girofle entiers d'ail rôti dans la peau (me donne encore 10, s'il vous plaît)

Quenelles of Guarana chocolate with a saffron creme anglais and crunchy orange tuiles.

(Quenelles de chocolat guarana avec crème anglais safranée et tuile croquant de l’orange)

Confit of fennel wrapped in crispy phyllo packets and a creamy white quenelle thing that I forgot because my taste buds were concentrating on the lovely fennel confit--Mary what was it?

(Confit de fenouil enveloppé dans paquets phyllo croustillants)

I should point out (especially since I'm a dietitian) that I didn't eat all this food. My friend Mary started with the beef tongue terrine, then rouget noire and finished with the fennel confit. She and I shared nibbles of our dishes with each other and decided we would return soon.

P.S. if your French is better than mine, please feel free to offer corrections!


Mini-Review:

Service: Warm, helpful and accommodating (readily exchanged a bottle of wine that was too young/acidic for our expectations)

Food: The pictures pretty much explain it all; I did add some sea salt to my squid risotto, but I’ve been cooking for French chef’s so my “French pinch” is affecting my taste buds--to read about a "French pinch" see blog http://chezrd.blogspot.com/search/label/Techniques%3A%20Using%20salt

Ambiance: Cozy setting with tile floors and intimate without being a crowded space

Price: Priced nicely at 32 euros for 3 item prix fixe—wine separate

Coordonnées : 92 rue Broca, 13th, 01 47 07 13 65 Metro: Les Gobelins or Glaciere, open for lunch and dinner and closed Sunday/Monday

For more info on Paris food writer Alexander Lobrano, see:
http://hungryforparis.squarespace.com/

Restaurants in Paris

Periodically I will comment on restaurants, boulangeries, patisseries and other food places that I have visited in Paris. However I don’t write restaurant reviews even though I’ll share my opinions about restaurants ad nauseum to friends, family and people that ask my opinion and equally to people who don’t ask my opinion.

It really is a challenge to find good food and particularly memorable food for a value in Paris. This is why I'm starting to make notes on this topic. Before spending time in Paris, I had a food myth that good eats are plentiful at the charming cafes, bistros and restaurants of Paris. I've learned through personal experiences and those of many friends, that a little research and some luck are best if you desire a good food experience.

Here are my personal Paris restaurant requirements for a repeat visit:

1) the servers notice your presence and then serve you and are even nice or mostly nice;
2) you don’t have to raise your voice to talk;
3) the menu does not focus on traditional French dishes, and
4) offers good values for Paris.

I also do have a preference for family-owned establishments and gastro-bistros or neo-bistros with seasonal local foods.

I have been using two food guides on Paris. The first is “Hungry for Paris: The Ultimate Guide to the City’s 102 Best Restaurants” which I’m enjoying as an entertaining and insightful guide to eating in Paris. The author, Alexander Lobrano has lived in Paris since 1986 and according to the book reviews is Gourmet magazine’s European correspondent. An addition to many interesting personal stories of eating in Paris and the culture of eating in Paris, the book describes the evolution of Paris bistros and offers explanations for the declining quality of bistro foods, but offers hope for options--see link for more info: http://hungryforparis.squarespace.com/

The second food guide is the Chocolate and Zucchini guide by Clotilde Dusoulier. Her book includes restaurants, all types of food shops, cooking stores and outdoor markets plus some recipes. She is a reliable resource for food recommendations and her passion for food is contagious. See this link for more information: http://chocolateandzucchini.com/books/

I will start a list here of places I’ve enjoyed. Eventually I will post pictures and/or some additional information. I begin with my most recent meal at L’Ourcine. The next restaurant post will be about Passage 53.

Pigeon Deconstructed and Ferrous Fowl

Since pigeon shares some similarities to other small birds that are consumed, I wanted so show a few pictures of the prep involved. Here’s the bird, tiny heart and liver prior to deboning or carving it.

Here’s picture of the legs and claws. For a classic French presentation, cut off all but the longest claw, hold it as straight as possible and dip it into boiling water to clean it.

Stuff the leg with your farce (stuffing of choice) and while keeping it still straight wrap it in caul fat (see earlier post) or cooking plastic then cook it in boiling water. You then sauté the leg in a small amount of hot oil to brown the skin and serve it with the claw pointing to the sky.

Here is the dark red breast meat similar to quail in color. On the last pigeon I cooked, the breasts weighed 45 grams each or 90 grams total or just over 3 ounces. This is the quantity that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggests as a serving size for poultry, although they somehow they fail to include portion sizes for pigeon.

However, I believe it's more important to judge a proper serving size based on the quality of the meat in terms of saturated fat, omega-3 fats and other nutrients.

For example, since salmon is a high quality nutrient dense protein, I tend to recommend 5-6 ounces (I’m assuming of course, this portion is not battered, deep fried and served in a buerre blanc sauce).

I’m told by my chefs, that in France, 150 grams or 5.3 ounces of meat, fish or poultry is an appropriate sized serving for an entrée.

Nutritionally, pigeon is a very ferrous fowl with an iron content that exceeds beef. I checked this on the USDA nutrient database to make sure. Protein amounts are similar, but here's differences for 90 grams of the following:

Pigeon: Calories 138 / Iron 4mg / Total fat 7g / Saturated fat 2g
Chicken breast: Calories 100 / Iron .6mg / Total fat 1.2g / Saturated fat .3g
Chicken thigh: Calories 108 / Iron 1.0mg / Total fat 4 / Saturated fat 1g
Lean Beef: Calories 132 / Iron 1.4mg / Total fat 4.5 / Saturated fat 2g

So perhaps when I advise patients with iron deficiencies, we should discuss eating more pigeon or I could make it more appetizing by using the French pronounciation and suggest they eat more "roasted PeejeeOwn".

Special for the Day: "Roast Pigeon"

When was the last time you ate pigeon? Or cursed at one? Although cursing is more common, let me introduce you to tomorrow’s meal of pan-seared pigeon.

Tomorrow is my Atelier cooking test and pigeon is a main required ingredient. This ingredient does show up menus in French restaurants, yet when I go to buy one, I can’t find any at stores in my arrondissement (the 15th). However, I do find 8 different types of chicken, 2 types of quail, cocquerel (small male roosters) and pintade (guinea fowl).

Because pigeons hang out near my balcony herb garden, my husband suggested I open my balcony door and eventually a pigeon or two would fly in and “Voila” dinner. But instead I head to the charming Beauvau covered market near Place d’Aligre since I need pigeons raised for consumption. I find the bird and with friend’s help, we convince the butcher that “yes, I really want the entire bird”. The butcher really wanted to remove the guts and head for me and commented that it was more hygienic that way. I’m not sure what he thought I would do with the guts and head at home that would be unhygienic, but here’s a picture before I cleaned it.

In English-speaking countries, pigeon is found as Squab. Generally squab or pigeon are young (about 4 weeks) and have more of a red meat taste and texture. The breast meat is cooked like quail to be pink or rose looking and the rest of the meat is only enough for a quick nibble.

I’ll post a follow-up blog showing pictures of squab prep in the kitchen. Please let me know if you have fabulous ideas for stuffing such a tiny bird; I’ve been required to stuff the mini-legs before and cursed at more than just the pigeon.

Link to info on Beauveau market and other markets in paris: http://www.v1.paris.fr/EN/Living/markets/markets.ASP

Photo by MHenriot photographer

Here’s me and Ferran Adrià after taping of a TV show on France Channel 3 show “ce soir ou jamais”. Looks like I’m dubbed in since he wasn’t sure which of my cooking buddies was taking the picture. Le Cordon Bleu Paris students in the Superior Cuisine program were invited to attend this show as part of the audience.

I was fortunate to be less than 10 feet from Chef Adrià and could see him intimately express his passion for food. The television taping can be found on http://ce-soir-ou-jamais.france3.fr/index-fr.php?page=emission&date=2009-04-07. My happy face (half of it) appears most often during the taping of the chef’s section (internet link expires in 2 weeks.)

Chef Adrià’s main restaurant, El Bulli, is only open 6 months each year with the 2009 season running June through December. Reservations for the entire 2009 schedule were taken in 2008 on October 14, 15 and 16th.

While the TV station served us champagne and sweet canapés, my only disappointment for the evening was that Chef Adrià was simply interviewed; I really could have gone for some of his frozen foie gras powder.

Brief Comments on Chef Adrià and his restaurant El Bulli:

· “he's been featured on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of our times.” http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/fast-times-with-ferran-adria

· World’s best restaurant 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008 (Restaurant Magazine) (http://www.elbulli.com/menu.php?lang=en)

· Over 800,000 people call or email for a table each season. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/futureoffood/story/0,,1969713,00.html#article_continue

Pamplemousse and Poisson en Papillote: Part 2

Here’s the second recipe for the “Grapefruit and Cod en Papillote” post. After a French chef gifted me with a free bottle of grapefruit gastrique, I created a couple recipes with a grapefruit theme.

Cooking en Papillote typically uses baking or parchment paper to envelop fish or other meats, vegetables and spices for cooking. The fish cooks evenly in a moist environment and the paper package seals in juices and aromatic scents. The steamy environment causes the package to puff up and when you open it up, the warm aromatic scents escape and surround you.

Food History: Supposedly, the papillote cooking method was developed to honor a Brazilian balloonist at a banquet. I also found an early reference to cooking rougets (barbet-rougets or mullet) in papillotes from Brillat-Savarin from the Physiology of Taste (1825). So, clearly this is a classic cooking technique.

Food Geek Moment: Foil can be used as a replacement, but if you include a lot of acidic ingredients and spices in the packet, there is some potential for the development of harmless aluminum salts which may slightly affect flavors and for aluminum oxidation which may form small pinholes in the aluminum.

Grapefruit and Cod in Papillote
Serves 4
Fish: 5 ounce filets of cod, skin removed
Salt and pepper

Vegetables/fruit:
1 Pink grapefruit, cut in wedges plus the juice
1 small zucchini, julienned with skin
20 snow peas, blanched quickly (optional to blanch) and julienned
4 small heirloom tomatoes or 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 medium size white or low starch potatoes like Yukon golds, sliced thin

Seasonings/Spices/Herbs (these are estimates):
1 tablespoon of minced parsley
1 tablespoon of fresh ginger chopped or zested
1 teaspoon each of mild chili powder and sweet curry powder
1 tablespoon of olive oil

1. Lay out enough parchment paper to fully wrap the ingredients and still allow for the paper to puff some.
2. Add a thin layer of the potatoes in the center of the paper, top with fish filet seasoned lightly with salt and ground pepper.
3. Mix the zucchini, peas, tomatoes together in a bowl, add olive oil and mix with the spices and zest, arrange on the filet.
4. Top with grapefruit wedges and parsley and drizzle grapefruit juice and teaspoon of olive oil over ingredients.
5. Cook for 15-20 minutes at 375F or 190C

Two Papillote Wrapping Options: Rectangle and a half-heart. For the rectangle, make sure to overlap the sides, then fold the length ends together to form a triangle like wrapping a box and tie with cooking twine. For the heart cut a large heart shape and place ingredients on only one side of the heart. Fold over and crimp the edges together. If the parchment paper is a very thin variety, double up the paper when preparing your shape.

Nutrition for each cod en papillote:
Calories: 207
Carbohydrates: 27 grams
Protein: 10 grams
Fiber: 5 grams
Sodium: 38 milligrams naturally occurring without additional added salt
Cholesterol: 53 grams

Food photos by M. Henriot photographer

Pamplemousse and Poisson en Papillote: Part 1

Dinner was at Chez Michele this weekend and I was craving cod (Cabillaud) and grapefruits. Cod because the market offerings were plump and sea-scented and grapefruits because of a compliment to a chef. Chef Gilles Poyac, Chef de Cuisine for the French Senate and winner of the Best Craftsman of France 2000, prepared a wonderful contemporary meal at Le Cordon Bleu where he used a grapefruit vinegar reduction (a gastrique). After his presentation, I told him in French how much I enjoyed the food and the grapefruit gastrique and he gave me a bottle as a gift (maybe I actually told him I enjoyed him?), after all my French does often go quite wrong. Anyway, I promised him I would use the gastrique during the weekend dinner party.

I created 2 of the 5 course dishes to include grapefruits. The grapefruits at the market were a plump, glowing bunch with a familiar look; yes, the label was Le Floride. So I purchased a couple of these exotic imported fruits and cut away the rind and then sliced some wedges. Half of the wedges were sautéed in a Spanish olive oil (fruity) and the other half were for the fish.

The Salad:
Salad greens or a loose leaf head lettuce (I used a French variety Batavia)
Grapefruit slices caramelized in hot olive oil for 1-2 minutes
Walnuts toasted or spiced (see my recipe below)
Reggiano parmesan sliced thin.

Vinaigrette Recipe:
Grapefruit gastrique, Olive oil (I used Spanish), fine minced shallots, sea salt, ground pepper

Grapefruit Gastrique: gastriques are basically vinegar, fruit or fruit juice and sugar if necessary (depends on the sugar level of the fruit and the acidity of the vinegar). I’ve not made a gastrique with grapefruit but here’s what I did with oranges recently:

Juice of 2 large oranges and equal amount of red-wine vinegar plus 2 Tablespoons of sugar.

Toasted Spicy Walnuts:
I coated my nuts with powdered cinnamon and chili plus some sea salt and a tiny bit of fresh ground pepper, then toasted them in a skillet for a few minutes, added some honey (just a fast drizzle over all the nuts), continued heating for a few minutes, added a hint of water and stirred to make sure nuts were evenly seasoned, baked at 100C or 212F until less sticky and then I let them air dry.

The Cod in Papillote is covered in the next blog posting. Picture compliments of M.Henriot photographer.

Cooking John Dory, St. Pierre and/or Zeus Faber

Here’s a picture of John Dory (St. Pierre) to follow up with the blog on using a spice rub on this fish. Some sources state the name John Dory is an English twist on the French “jaune dore” (golden yellow) tint representative of the fish.

He’s quite a dramatic fellow with 10 long dorsal fin spines that can spear and rip skin of careless fingers. He also has 4 spines on the anal fin and microscopic, sharp scales that run around the body. For tips on filleting Zeus Faber (geek speak), here’s a useful video. http://www.filleting-fish.com/john-dory.

Cooking: The flesh is a creamy-white firm-textured flesh that holds up well in cooking and complements Mediterranean flavors and spicy sauces. There is wide range of opinions on best substitutes for John Dory, but most common recommendations are dover sole, seabass, turbot and halibut and perhaps cod.

Cost and Yield:
Because of its large head (about half of its weight), this is a low yield fish of about 30. Maximum weight is around 3 kilograms (about 6.5 pounds). The price at one Paris market was 40€ per kilogram or $53 U.S for 2 pounds. A British fish distribution site had it similarly priced at 37£/kg.

Fishing: Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, New Zealand, Australia and Japan

History (Biblical): This fish has a dark spot on its side. Several sources report the name St. Pierre as a biblical attribute. St. Peter’s thumb imprint “stuck” on the fish when he removed a coin from the fish’s which was then used to pay the temple tax collectors (Matthew xvii, 24-27). No explanation is referenced as to why the fish would have money in its mouth.

History (Biological): The dark spot evolved to look like a large eye that is flashed to intimidate prey.

Nutrition for John Dory/St. Pierre: Here’s nutrition info I could locate on John Dory, 2 substitutes and chicken breast to compare to a non-fish protein for a 5 ounce or 142g serving (a common portion size).

Sources:
http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/products/fish/john-dory/-dory/
http://www.fishworks.co.uk/N1esw7EX.php?t=cook_fish&r=john_dory&season=9

http://fpcs.fish.govt.nz/science/documents/plenary/JDO_07.pdf