Le Bac À Glaces 🍨 with Shannon

Original watercolor 6” x 8”

 Ice cream 🍨 is always a good 👍 idea

Even though I’m not supposed to have  much sugar=hives.

I ❤️ Charlotte Puckette et Coco Jobard

A valentine to Charlotte Puckette and Coco Jobard!

On Thursday morning Charlotte lets me tag along to Little India in the 10th. They are celebrating Valentines with pizazz.

Bangles of mad colors

Match the exotic greens at Cash and Carry 11-15 rue Cail 75010

A small store front reveals a huge emporium of endless goodies.

Always on the lookout for new cooking tools, Charlotte tests a spice grinder. I'm feeling lost, like I've fallen down the rabbit hole upside down.

Still I manage to walk out with a haul of 2 pounds of Australian almonds, 1 pound of preserved ginger from Thailand, star aniseed (which Charlotte says is good to throw in Chicken bone broth - her recipe is up here), turmeric powder. 

I see a man hacking open fresh coconuts for two Indian women and rush off to fetch one. I misread the price thinking each is 3,80. The two woman come over to tell me the coconuts are just 1,50 for THREE. Still I only get one hacked in half. How will I ever get through one coconut in a week?

By now we're starving and traipse down the opposite end of rue Cail to Krishna Bhavan, given the seal of approval by Patricia Wells.

Why does one always order more than you can possible eat in Indian restaurants? 

By the time we leave every seat is taken and others are waiting in line.

The same afternoon I'm off to 37, rue des Martyrs to meet Coco at the new boutique, Mesdemoiselles Madeleines

Just madeleines. Minis, classic all with French girls names.

Flavored and

Wearing little hats full of crème.

In 4 flavors - framboise, citron, chocolat, caramel au beurre sale.

We dissect a caramel madeleine.

And swoon. Steve is the owner of this new shop.

Afterwards Coco takes Bear for a coffee.

Bear falls instantly in love with a rue des Martyrs polar bear.

Happy Valentines Charlotte, Coco and all PBers!

♥ ♥ ♥

Rennes day trip with Chef Charlotte Puckette

I've been longing to go to Brittany since I landed in France.

When Charlotte Puckette  asked if I'd like to join on a day-trip to the marché des Lices in Rennes I jumped. She's researching butter for her French ingredients cookbook.

We were both researching sunshine and Rennes a 2-hour train ride from Paris, has plenty of it.

Marché des Lices is huge - 2 big buildings surrounded by outdoor venders.

You'll find the butter inside. I didn't know most Parisian patissieres prefer beurre de Charante though Brittany is famous for its butter. 

The Charante's Ile de Ré has salt too like Brittany's Fleur de sel de Guerande. Honestly when you're food shopping in France don't leave home without an Atlas de la France Gourmande or else forgetaboutit.

I was ready to dive into this vat of créme fraiche since I've just discovered the stuff. But Charlotte said no. *The label on the vat indicated 'industrial' not 'artisanal' (made in a place with less than 50 workers) so a big NO.

Instead Charlotte bought crème fraiche from a no-name vat. We both bought his hand-made salted butter. I just noticed a tag on it says '19 12'. Does this mean I have only 10 days to polish this off?

Mont d'Or is the cheese French people eat especially at Christmas. You just dip a spoon into it.

Note crystalized salt on the outside of this perfectly aged Gouda. Keep an eye out for that. Every minute was a lesson with Chef C.

Did this vender tell his assistant,

'Wear your best Pieter Bruegel outfit for the marché!"

They could have stepped out of this painting 🖼️ 

Fromager Beillevaire was at the marché

I bought this 'p'tit plateau' of 4 cheeses plus their barratte butter. I am loaded with butter 🧈 

Outdoors fresh and kicking seafood looked amazing.

Yet no one was selling it ready-to-eat on the spot. I could have downed these Coquilles St.-Jacques (scallops).

An oyster seller from Cancale displayed a few plates of oysters.

They were probably just decoration.

The vender was happy to open a half dozen for me for a mere 6 € or was it 3€?

He used this handy tool to grip them.

Eaten icy and deliciously fresh in the cold air - no oysters ever tasted better.

☺️ 

Their fresh moules samples were tasty too.

The Bouchot mussels come from nearby Mont St. Michel - they're small and sweet.

We were lucky to find the only seafood place near the marché - a moulerie, L'Abri du Marché.

When I spotted the waiter carrying the 'formule' of the day (8.80€) my decision was made. Charlotte had them with creme. I tasted my first Breton cider from Loic Raison. I'm hooked.

Perfection.

I ordered a crepe since that's what you  eat in Brittany.

It was lacy as any Breton's lacy cap. I was full of moules and happy as a clam. Where are you going next Charlotte? I'm in. Now I'll go butter 🧈 my toast with 3 kinds of butter.

Cooking in Paris with Charlotte Puckette

On Sunday I got to sit in on professional chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette's cooking class in her lovely townhouse in the 7th. First Richard escorted us through  the Grenelle marché to pick up a few essential ingredients.

Charlotte is all about essential ingredients particularly French ingredients. She spent two years at le Cordon Bleu training and working and then went on to cater soirées at many embassies and still does Fashion Week twice a year.

Naturally being the secret spy I am I poked around and took pictures of all the stuff on the shelves.

Hmmm...Pugot Olive oil. I remember seeing this at the Omnivore Food Festival. Balsamic from supermarché Franprix!? Not what I expected to see. More than in any other cooking class the Ritz, Lenotre etc. I learned from Charlotte details on the differences between French and American products. For instance the best US butters have 80% fat while French butter has 82%. That's 2% more water in US high-end butters and it can change dramatically how things taste. Charlotte has been researching basic French ingredients since she got here some 20+ years ago. She knows things most French chefs haven't bothered to find out. They don't need to. They grew up with excellent products. I get completely confused at the supermarché, clueless how to choose between butters, creams. Now I get it!

We made dessert first, a chocolate fondant gateau.

And you don't have to spend a fortune using fancy Valrhona to get a glorious cake thanks to Charlotte's tests of various chocolate brands.

Miam Miam

We made Roquefort soufflés next.

Lots of helpful secrets to getting the souffles to rise up nicely.

Charlotte's Paris kitchen is sheer heaven in any country.

How to crack and separate eggs using just your hands. I practiced Audrey's method from 'Sabrina'. "1-2-3 Crack!"

Shredding Brussels sprouts to go with toasted hazelnuts and pomegranate.

Cranberries and raspberries cooking over a simple caramel sauce Charlotte whipped together with no thermometers or stress

Voila! This is called a 'gastrique'

To go with and contrast the roasted duck breast (magret). Duck is everywhere in France and well worth getting the hang of. The best roasting ducks are raised for foie gras. Ducks shot as game - are too skinny. The breasts were pan-seared first in case you were wondering before going into the oven. Everything; duck, potatoes, soufflés and cake cooked happily together in a 350 oven.

Charlotte shows us how to cut against the grain.

Duck and other game must be eaten rare or it becomes tough. Who knew?

Did we have our mache salade and soufflés before or after the duck? Qui sait, but it all tasted perfect.

The wine was a cote de Rhone white.

This was my first taste of créme fraiche

Like sour cream but much better and goes divinely with the deep chocolate fondant. Ideally chocolate cake tastes better the next day - the flavors intensify. But no one was waiting to find out.

I found Charlotte's creme fraiche selling at Franprix for a song. Yay.

Plus she mentioned that the Leader-Price (a low-end brand) olive oil is surprisingly excellent.

I'm subletting from a cookbook author and she has the same brand on her kitchen shelf.

"Names, Sweetie Darling, names, names, names!"

It makes such a difference when you know what to buy in Paris and why. Usually I get baffled and leave the store with zero.  Now I Know thanks to Charlotte Puckette. Big Merci Charlotte!

Do check out Charlotte's stories on French butter and chickens. A real eye-opener.

And consider taking her French cooking class while visiting.

Yesterday Bear went to the Loire vallée to learn how to cook wild boar. 

More on that to come.