Just a little cheese!

Crottin.... (french goat's cheese).  I just like the picture. And love the cheese.

La Cocina Pop-Up

Here's just a few snaps from a very spontaneous night in La Cocina last night.  Brainchild of former colleagues, big foodies & friends of mine - Alfredo & Liam -  La Cocina did two nights in the bowling club in Grosvenor Sq this weekend. And boy did they and their team do a great job! 

Parmesan Bowling Balls & Curried Cauliflower Fritura 

With a Spanish focussed no-choice-4-course-plus-petit-fours menu, I took particular pleasure in the curried cauliflower fritura in the Aperitivos. My ingredient of the year 'Samphire' made a starring appearance alongside organic Clare Island salmon en papillote.  However, the highlight for the night was the slow cooked beef cheeks (carrilleras) which melted in the mouth with braised leeks on the side. More please! 

Carrilleras by candlelight

Liam talking us through the Carne

I am definitely not doing justice to all the extra little touches that made the food and the night so fantastic.  I will be keeping an eye on La Cocina's facebook page though in the hope it pop's up again!

Hazelnut pralines & pastry crisps

Designs by Fran Tyrell - http://www.frantyrrelldesigns.com/

Parisian treats

I just like these photos! Both are from a busy little boulangerie opposite the Sainte-Maire des Batignolles church, about 5 minutes walk from Place de Clichy.  I am not usually a (French) macaroon fan but these were top notch. The chocolate and almond twist was so fresh and yum.  Happily would have worked my way along the pastry shelf!

French macaroons...never quite sure what the colours represent!

It's been 2 months since my last confession....

Just to get the ball back rolling after a time away.......I loved the way this local grocer near Place de Clichy, Paris just throws the laws of fruit & veg. merchandising out the window.
Why should fruit have to sit with fruit, the whole fruit and nothing but the fruit!?!?

Grocer Display in Paris

Presents from Provence

The parents are not long back from a couple of weeks in Provence (They are working on their guest blog contribution!).  Having covered around 4000km up and down the length of France, their holiday tax for myself and Claire included a beautiful selection of local saucisson.  The variety of flavours is truly amazing, with our little collection made up of a saucisson with figs, one with olives, one with lavender and one rolled in Provençal herbs.  Its this last one which played a central part of my pre-dinner snack tonight and it gets a big thumbs up from me.  The quality of texture and flavour is really fantastic.  More please!

Rungis Market

As much as the front-of-house, customer facing life engages and energises me, there is a whole world behind the scenes that offers a foodie so much to appreciate and to be in awe of.  Early enough in my fulltime food career I took the opportunity of a week in France to detour one morning to Rungis Market on the outskirts of Paris.  Rungis is one of the central hubs for food distribution in Europe and  is really more of a town than a market.  When we arrived at 6.30 a.m. for a tour of the cheese sheds,  the lanes...highways... were jammed with artic lorries driving like maniacs from lott to lott collecting pallets of produce.

Goat's cheese set and ready to leave the country!

You really need your wits about you as most of the workers have been up since very early morning.  This became all the more obvious when we went to the Cafe in the centre of the 'town'.  I dared to ask for a cappuccino.....and nearly got laughed out of the place.  A quick scan of the bar explained why.... brandy and espresso was the drink of the moment...not a nice milky coffee.  Sure what else would you be doing at 7 in the morning?  Graciously however the barman did mock up a couple of frothy cappuccinos.

Provencal Sweetness; Understanding Regionality

It was on a trip to Provence that I started to really appreciate regionality of food and drink on the continent.  This is a topic which I think I will be coming back to time and again.  For example, Provence has its Chateau-neuf, Gingondas and Bandol wines with distinctive features influenced by the infamous mistral winds and gravelly soils.  What particularly caught my eye (no surprise) however, was the proliferation of sweet and chocolate shops.  On a visit to Aix-en-Provence we found not just amazing olives but also chocolate olives.  No no, don't worry, there was no olive in the chocolate.  The prolific La Cure Gourmande provide some of the best examples and their merchandising is very impressive.  Neighbouring shops sold Calisson by the truckload - little oblong sweets based on almond and candied fruit pastes.  You will find these sweets elsewhere in France, but their origin and traditions are very much focussed in Provence. 

Baskets of olives!

Burgundy 2007, a great vintage!

This is one of my favourite pictures in my collection. I had the opportunity to continue my love affair with France and its food in early '07 with a trip to visit my good friend Donal.  He chose to do an MBA for a year and we chose to join him for the best part of one of the weeks. We ate and drank our way through southern Ile-de-france and northern Burgundy - much fun!

The town of Chablis ended up as the target for one of our day trips.  Fortunately we got side tracked by a much smaller pretty town just over the hill.  Chablis may always remain famed for its wine, but town of great beauty and interest it is not!  However, can I remember the name of that little town over the hill? Not a chance but when I find it, I'll post it.

The little old lady at the very back of the above picture hosted an impromptu wine tasting of her product.  The whites - all Aligote - were just perfect for the heat of our late April tour.  The 6 or 7 bottles we bought did not last very long.

Tips

- The reds we tried from the area.......were not recommendable.

- Although not from Chablis proper, the wines matched anything I have tried since from the area.

This is the church in 'the-little-town-over-the-hill'