Paris Post: Crème fraiche

I want to share a little bit of ‘what’s going on in the inside of Shelley’s head’ … and it relates to crème fraiche.  I have started researching recipes for my upcoming “Fabulous French Basics” video cooking class.

To begin, I have two French cookbooks purchased on previous trips. I also brought some Montreal-French magazines (old issues of Ricardo are pretty great).

In one French cookbook, nearly every single recipe has crème fraiche in it. Need a cream sauce? Making quiche? Cooking fish? It’s everywhere.

Now, this is a problem.

Because I do not want to design recipes that have unusual ingredients. Yes, I know we can find crème fraiche in North America, but it can sometimes be tricky, it’s expensive, and then what do you do with the leftover?

It’s not like my special jar of apricot jam that I can save safely in the fridge till I make apple pie again. 

Crème fraiche is fresh.  It’s gonna expire.

I went online to try to find a good substitute for c.f., and one that doesn’t involve ‘cooking’ anything with ‘buttermilk’ to ‘make your own’ that has to perch on the counter and ferment (ick!). 

Finally I found what looks like a pretty close substitute:  mix equal parts of sour cream with whipping cream, and let sit in the fridge overnight.

Now I want to test that concoction next to a tub of crème fraiche to make sure they do taste somewhat the same (yes, i know c.f. can be whipped and has all sorts of other ‘wonderful’ qualities, but we’re just making dinner here, not solving world peace, therefore so far as I’m concerned, if it TASTES the same, then it’s good enough to be a substitution).

This is another problem.

Couldn’t find sour cream in Paris, and no one knew what I was talking about when I asked.  Sour Cream?  You want your cream to be sour on purpose?

But when I think of how we eat sour cream, it’s not very French!  It’s kinda Tex-Mex.

And we’re so used to the lovely tex-mex influences in North America that it’s hard to imagine a grocery store, like the Monoprix on rue Grenelle in Paris, that does NOT have tacos, salsa, guacamole, and SOUR CREAM. 

André said, “well then maybe you’re going to create French recipes for North America using your Montreal-Canadian magazines.”

Gee, I coulda stayed home for that!

And all of my Canadian recipes call for … you guessed it … stuff I can’t get here:  cottage cheese, cream cheese, sour cream.

After days and days of researching ‘expat’ websites, to check out where other desperate souls (avid cooks or those just plain homesick), buy their creamy stuff, yes, I did find a speciality store that carries “international” food, including cheddar cheese! 

I bought some sour cream, I’m going to do the c.f. substitution test.

Phew, it’s complicated making new recipes over here   But we were richly rewarded with tonight’s dinner, quiche made with c.f.  Yes it’s sort of like sour cream, but lighter, and the texture of the quiche was not greasy at all like those made with cream. The quiche was unusually solid and kind of smooth, in fact.

Of course, I added potatoes to the quiche lorraine recipe, and some cheese, and some onions.  It was more like my White on White Quiche recipe from The Veggie Club with bacon and cheese…

Which is to say, it was yummy.

Tomorrow I’ll mix up a cocktail of mock-c.f. and we’ll see how it goes.  Never a dull moment on this side of the pond.

~ All best, Shelley

Paris Post: Banana bread with chocolate bar

Chocolate chips aren’t really French. Yes, I can buy them in specialty “foreigner’” stores here in Paris. But is that really necessary? Not when there’s SO MUCH Belgian chocolate around. The banana bread I baked today has chopped up milk chocolate bar in it. And it’s pretty darn yummy. Divided up the batter between my two small loaf pans; one loaf eaten already, the second hiding in the freezer where it will (hopefully) be safe for a few days.

  

I have been baking banana bread and donating them to the women’s shelter in Montreal for years (six years, actually). Since Christmas 2008, YOU have been helping me by sending banana bread money   From December to date, we’ve made an amazing 142 banana breads for the homeless shelter … all thanks to your donations

Now that I’m ‘away’, my mom and tiny baby sister (age 37) are baking up a storm to keep up with demand. For a donation of $2.75, we buy the ingredients, bake, and deliver one full-sized loaf that serves 10-12. Freshly baked loaves are happily being gobbled up by Phoenix House, a teen homeless shelter.

If you’re interested in sponsoring a banana bread for August, you can click on the button below; $2.75 per loaf (Canadian) is about $2.50 USD.

And if you’d like the recipe to make your own — to eat or to donate — you can find my family recipe here.

All best, Shelley

Paris Post: Yogurt Apple Cake

Yogurt cake in France is pretty easy to make because you use the empty yogurt container to measure the ingredients. The recipe is even printed on the baking powder package … I guess everyone makes a version of this, even super easy for kids to do!

Ingredients for yogurt cake: flour, sugar, butter, plain yogurt, apples, 3 eggs, baking powder

once I peeled two apples, I decided to add a third. The original recipe called for three; I used one granny smith, one delicious, and one gala for a mix of textures and flavours

sliced apples, put them on to cook with butter and a bit of sugar

once I’ve added the yogurt to the bowl, I use the empty container to measure the sugar

the baking soda comes in premeasured packages (a couple of teaspoons per package I think); and the eggs here aren’t ‘clean’, sometimes they have features stuck to them, but they are stamped with the ‘date laid’ on them in red

cooked apples are in the disk; whisking up the batter by hand

pour the batter on top of the apples and stick in the oven for 45 minutes or so

quite moist and yummy; could even make this with vanilla yogurt and maybe a few raisins…

This recipe wins the prize, and will be part of the upcoming Fabulous French Basics cooking class, coming at the end of September.

All best, Shelley

Paris Post: More Pictures

I know, I’ve received several emails asking for more pictures… As of today, we’ve been here three weeks.  Hard to believe it’s been that long already (unless you check our visa bill, then it’s abundantly obvious).

We sat for 2 hrs waiting to see the July 14th fireworks, and they did not disappoint!

 

some apartment pictures: kitchen

 

kitchen continued – notice I brought my spices with me, and my box grater… yes, that’s the clothes washer under the stove top, and on the left of that is a dish washer we don’t use…

 

bedroom with queen sized bed, and mirrored shelving/closet unit

 

the work corner, with the right-hand portion of the desk rescued from someone’s garbage, propped up with a shelving unit that was originally in the closet… honestly, André can rig up solutions for everything…

 

we moved the dining room table into the living room so we can eat right in front of the big windows

 

this was day #2, we’re drinking the rosé the landlord bought us as a housewarming gift … we eat all meals here with the doors open if possible … now you know why they’re called “french” doors – no windows, just floor-to-ceiling windows that open

 

dinner is salad with warm grant’s chicken on top

 

   and we brought some of my canvases from montreal with us to brighten up the living room; we didn’t bring any of andré’s because he’s generating them at a rate of 2 per month …

 

here’s one he’s done already since we’ve been here …

this is an example of his 3-colour pop art (and this one’s for sale already, too)

 

up late, a bit of wine consumed, thought I’d try dancing in the hallway…

 

OK, that’s it for now.

Coming up, french apple yogurt cake and a dessert with coconut and strawberry/rhubarb … and today I bought some ginger syrup, so now I’m going to have to create a recipe to use that

Later,
Shelley

Paris Post: Pictures from Monday July 13th

To maintain normal working hours that match up with North America, I’ve been working 6 pm to midnight local time, which works out to noon to 6 pm Eastern (9 am to 3 pm Pacific).  This means that I’m at my desk when most of Canada/US is around and emailing/calling me. 

So, since I’m starting work each day at 6 pm, that means I have the entire whole day off to walk around town, explore, shop, buy groceries, test recipes, get lost, find a metro to get home, buy more wine, and take pictures.

Here are some pictures from Monday, July 13th. 

We met André’s cousin, Annie for lunch; she’s lived here for 10 years already!  Notice the fantastic T-shirt A. is modelling

 The view from Annie’s office

A short walk from Annie’s office, is Jardin des Tuileries, where they have an amusement park set up for 2 months (anyone with kids should plan to visit during this time, entry is free, you just pay a bit per ride).

 

The back of A.’s shirt

 It’s hard not to like these gardens, very relaxing.
People on their lunch breaks.

 

me in front of a huge lavender field

Coming up, pictures from Tuesday the 14th (Bastille Day) including great Eiffel Tower fireworks shots

All best
Shelley

Paris Post: Baking Banana Bread

On Sunday, after my long run and breakfast of baguette with ham and cheese [and if you’re not following me on FaceBook, you should be! http://www.facebook.com/oneroastvegetable] … OK, after my run and breakfast, I decided to give baking in France a try.

If you’ve been a subscriber of mine for a while, it won’t surprise you that I made Banana Bread as my first baking attempt.

Mixing bowl and whisk, measuring spoons, tiny bag of baking soda brought from home, flour, sugar, eggs, 3 dead bananas, 1/4 cup butter, and two baby loaf pans brought from home

I will eventually get an electric mixer here, but for now I’m trying to make do with what’s in the apartment, supplemented with what I brought from home. If you’ve been taking my Back to Basics Cooking Class, you’ll recognize the measuring spoons and the pink rubber spatula, and below you’ll see I brought some of my dishes with me. 

creaming the butter and sugar with the whisk 

 

OH, I forgot to tell you!  On my third day here, I did my Quick Start Lesson #3 egg test from the Back to Basics Class to check the oven temperature in the new apartment.  I’m pleased to say it’s exactly correct.  It’s in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit, but I was so relieved that the temperature was correct. Glad for the egg test!

 

mashed up banana 

 

Not having all of my usual stuff with me means I have to use my brain a bit more than usual!  For example, how to mash bananas without an electric mixer, without a potato masher, and the bananas weren’t completely smooshy…

So I used a mortar-and-pestle arrangement, with the pointy end of the whisk, and I bashed the bananas one by one in a small bowl.  That seemed to work!

batter ready to go into the oven

 

I didn’t bring any baking dishes with me (too heavy) except for the two little metal loaf pans. The batter evenly divides into them, and I just reduce the cooking time slightly.

 

baked, fresh out of the oven, tastes JUST like home  

 

I’m finding that people in France don’t do much home baking (the bakeries are too lovely and relatively inexpensive), so in the stores I can’t find things I’m used to … like no muffin tins or full sized loaf/bread pan.  Instead, I’ll have to improvise with what’s available, and what I brought with me, and write about my adventures as I go along

If you’d like the recipe for this banana bread, I’ve posted it here. And yes, even with me away in Paris, my mom and sister are still baking banana breads to send to the Teen Homeless Shelter in Halifax.  You can sponsor a banana bread for the homeless by going here.

All best,
Shelley

Bonjour from Paris

Yes, it’s true.  Last week while everyone in Canada was celebrating Canada Day, and everyone in the US was setting off fireworks, I was on an airplane … speeding across the lake to another continent. 

And now we’re here

tower in the background, metro in the foreground

We’ve come to Paris before. One of the joys in being married to a non-English speaking husband is that we get to vacation in cool French-speaking places … yes, my French is quite good, I’m about 85% fluent. Which means I can make myself understood, and I can usually understand.  But when I can’t, André is standing there and can fill in the blanks.

Last year and the year before we spent the month of September in Paris – I was working the same as when I was in Montreal, just time-shifted slightly.

This year, we’re starting earlier (July) and staying longer (not sure how long… a long time, I hope!).  So while everyone in North America is still sleeping, I’ll be out running, visiting the museums, and gathering great food ideas to share.

We left last Thursday, but I was right back to work on Monday. We’ve even got the kitchen already set up for filming Just need to test some great, easy French recipes for you …

I’ll post pictures regularly to this blog, but I will NOT spam you with email you every time there’s a new picture … instead, you should bookmark this page and check back often (or sign up for the RSS feed on the right).

OK. Here are a few pictures to get started!

Our apartment is in this building, facing a quiet courtyard 
with no street noise! 

just never get tired of taking this picture on Day #1 when we arrive

 
kitchen counters full of un-packed stuff, but must stop and pour some wine (this is also day #1)


this is our neighbourhood

and wowie, everything is on sale here

I’ll send more news soon.

All best,
Shelley