Tonight's Dinner

A casual dinner with the girls tonight: Alice visiting from London, Virginie from Geneva and the wife. A lovely time had by all.

• bresaola bombs
• leek vinaigrette David
• carrottes rappees and mimolette cubes
• cured cucumbers, yoghurt & dill
• tarragon & cornichon celeri remoulade, smoked salmon
• parmesan polenta & foie gras d'oie
• Virginie's Mandarin Oriental cheese cake

Paris Observations

A few places that pleased this last trip.

• Camelia (1st): Guy Martin's bistro at the Mandarin, absolutely perfect for a summer day as there is a quiet terrace in the courtyard of the hotel. Highlights were an open ravioli with dressed turtle meat, a squid ink orzo with a lemongrass and ginger emulsion and braised summer greens.
• Les Boquinistes (6th): a Guy Savoy bistrot on the Quai des Grands Augustins, a good standby and bargain if in the neighborhood and craving a table with a view. Our meal wasn't extraordinary but very good quality. Best dish was an amuse bouche of cold pea soup and whipped almond cream.
• Brasserie Thoumieux (7th): a pleasant surprise; what used to be a tired old brasserie and hotel is now the bistrot of Jean-Francoise Piege's (ex-Crillion and Ducasse) more elaborate two star restaurant upstairs. Thoumieux focuses on comfort food, including a unique calamari carbonara which I will reproduce soon, essentially a spaghetti carbonara replacing the pasta with long slices of squid. Michelle had an Asian-inspired broth with cod, cilantro and tiny cubes of foie gras. Unexpected and fun. The dessert of banana, vacherin glace and lime foam was also fresh and fun.

Pea & Almond Cream Veloute

Had this at Les Bouquinistes in Paris, one of Guy Savoy's bistrots. A rather unremarkable meal overall but this little amuse bouche was impressive. This is roughly what I made out the chef to make in his tiny and noisy kitchen.

fresh or frozen peas
chicken broth
white onion
maldon sea salt
ground pepper
single cream
almond essence

1. make a pea veloute using all above ingredients except whipping cream and almond essence. Pass through a sieve a couple times so that it is nice and smooth, refrigerate.
2. make whipped cream using the latter two ingredients, refrigerate
3. fill a tea cup with pea veloute, then add a nice dollop of the almond cream and serve