Le Café de Paris

23 Friday Apr 2010

Posted by Bob and Robin in Classic Sauces, Food, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Wine and Food

I needed to get another opinion as to if my sauerkraut was ready to be packed. So, we went to Le Café de Paris and had Mathieu Choux sample some. He said it was good and it is ready to process. We talked a little about how I processed the kraut and he agreed on my procedure. I canned 12 pints today. And I am making a new batch of sourdough bread. Tonight’s dinner: Braised Pork Chops with Fresh Sauerkraut, Mashed Potatoes and Sourdough bread.
Besides, we needed to prepare ourselves for Dinner In Burgundy on 29 April. We’ll be there at 6:30. Will you?

So while we were there and the kraut testing went well, might as well stay for dinner. (That’s not to say that I didn’t get my dates mixed up and we were a week early for the Burgundy dinner!) So, let’s find a good wine. How about a 2007 Herdadeclo Esporāo Alanadra. It truly went very well with everything.

Robin had this awesome Soup Du Jour, Leek and Potato Soup as an opener.

While I had this delicious Maison Salade, House Salad with Oil and Balsamic Dressing.

Robin had Confit de Canard, Roasted Duck with Fingerling Potatoes in a Brown Sauce.

Not to be left out, I had the Poisson du Jour (Special of the Day), Red Snapper and Potato Cake in a Brown Butter Sauce with fresh Green Vegetable. Do you think the Brown Butter Sauce had anything to do with my choice?

And there’s always dessert. How about an eclair for each? OK. That sounds good. And a rich French roast coffee. Yup! That did it!

So that was a great dinner. But next week …. Dinner In Burgundy and we look forward to the Bœuf Bourguignon with Potato Puree, Spring Vegetables and Pan Sauce. We hope to see you there! Cheers!

Sourdough Breads

22 Thursday Apr 2010

Posted by Bob and Robin in Bread, Recipe By: Bob Young, Recipes, Side Dishes, Sourdough Bread

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I have had several requests over the past 3 or four weeks for the recipe(s) for the Sourdough Bread I make. The latest just today from my Niece Beth. I sent these recipes to her, so I’ll post them to the “others” too. The hardest part is the starter – making your own. Remember, most of the sourdough yeasts are wild yeasts. That’s what makes the San Francisco sourdough bread so unique – the strain of air born wild yeast. Anyway, here are my recipes. Enjoy! They are listed from the easiest to the more difficult.

This might be easier. Listing these from the easiest to the more difficult –
1. Rustic Sourdough Bread – Rustic Sourdough Bread

2. San Francisco Sourdough French Bread – San Francisco Sourdough French Bread

3. Boise Sourdough Bread – Boise Sourdough Bread

Or, if you go to our, Web Page and click on Recipes By Bob and Robin and then follow the link to “Breads …..”, you will find each one listed. If you have problems finding the recipe you want, just let me know. One Note: The SF Sourdough French Bread I usually make into loaves using a loaf pan. The basic recipe, though, is for baguettes. Also, I have added some different grains – whole wheat, flax, oat flour – in some of the recipes. If you don’t have these grains, don’t worry. Just make sure your flour content is the same. 5 c All-Purpose, can equal 3 c Whole Wheat, 1 c Flax and 1 c All Purpose. Have fun and let me know how the bread comes out. I am in the process of making more of the #3 right now. People love it!

Mother’s Day Dinner At "Seasons Bistro"

22 Thursday Apr 2010

Posted by Bob and Robin in Celebrations, Party Time, Restaurants, Seasons Bistro, Things To Do, Thought For The Day

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And just so You don’t forget, “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world!” Mother’s Day is coming up, Sunday May 9, and here is a wonderful way to celebrate!

Greetings!
Join us
Sunday, May 9th
Mother’s Day Brunch Buffet

1117 E Winding Creek Dr. – Eagle, Idaho 83616
939-6680

The Buffet –

Stuffed French Toast

Apple-Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Soft Scrambled Eggs

Bacon, Sausage, Fruit

Caramel Apple or Berry filled Crepes

Smoked Salmon with mini Bagels

Cake Truffles and Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Swedish Poached Ham with Dijon Mustard and Breadcrumbs
with
Scalloped Potatoes
Chilled Asparagus Salad with grated Egg and Vinaigrette
Artisan Bread

Mimosas
$25.99 per person
$9.99 – Kids 9 and under
10-am-2pm – reservations requested

Blaze and Kelly will be on the Patio

Sincerely,

Rachel Hurn
Seasons Bistro, Wine Bar & Catering
939-6680

Mother’s Day Salad

Ingredients:
2 Tbl. raspberry vinegar
2 1/2 Tbl.raspberry jam
1/3 cup vegetable oil
8 cups spinach, rinsed and torn into bite size pieces
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
8 strawberries, quartered
2 kiwis, peeled and sliced

Directions:
1. Mix together raspberry vinegar, raspberry jam, and vegetable oil in a small container.
2. Combine spinach, nuts, strawberries, and kiwi in a salad bowl. Toss with raspberry dressing.
You may add chicken, toasted pecans or chevre if you would like. ENJOY! You deserve it!

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Enjoy this outing. It certainly looks delightful. And thanks for the recipe, Rachael. Cheers!

"Seasons" Schedule

22 Thursday Apr 2010

Posted by Bob and Robin in Food, Salad, Salmon, Seasons Bistro, Things To Do, Wine and Food

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It looks like the Seasons Bistro and Rachael are planning some wonderful events. Look at these.

Event Schedule

Thursday, April 22nd, 6:30PM

The Menu

Mallory Asparagus Soup

Tomato Basil Soup

Greek Feta Shrimp

Garden Vegetable Salad Sausage Rigatoni

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Friday, April 23rd Single Car Garage Band 6:30PM

Saturday, April 24th Chicken Dinner Road Band 6:30PM

Monday, April 26th

Northwest Winemakers Dinner

Pacific Rim Winery
Walla Walla Vintners
Vanduzer Winery

Dinner Menu

Wild Salmon
Tomato Basil Soup
Morel Risotto
Chevre Salad with Baby greens
Poulichette
Five Chocolate Chocolate Cake with Huckleberry Filling

$40.00 per person

These look like some outstanding events, especially the Northwest Winemakers Dinner. It might be wise to call for reservations for this dinner, (208)939-6680! Cheers!

Artichoke and Potato Salad

19 Monday Apr 2010

Posted by Bob and Robin in Food, Recipe By: Robin Young, Salad, Things To Do

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Here is a recipe that Robin found and then we have altered it, somewhat. It is really a good variation on the standard potato salad. Give it a try. Cheers!

Artichoke and Potato Salad

Servings: 8

Ingredients:
1 lbs New Red Potatoes
¾ c Artichoke hearts in oil and course chopped
¼ c Ham, diced
3 cloves Garlic, crushed
½ c Sunflower sprouts
¼ c Pine nuts, dry roasted
dash Cayenne pepper
1 T Tarragon leaves, crushed
3 T Stone Ground Mustard, Plochman’s
¼ c Oil from artichokes
¼ c White Wine vinegar
3 T Sun Dried Tomatoes in oil, diced

Directions:
Cook the whole potatoes until just done, you don’t want them soft. Cool.

Place the ham, artichoke hearts, cayenne, pine nuts, sunflower sprouts and tarragon in a bowl. Gently mix. Quarter cut the potatoes and place in the bowl. Gently mix.

Place the artichoke oil, garlic from the potatoes, mustard, sun dried tomatoes and white wine vinegar in a bowl. Using a submersible blender, emulsify. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Pour the dressing over the bowl of potatoes and toss gently.

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That’s it! It is really that easy to do. I also would dice maybe 2 hard cooked eggs and put them in with this. Have fun.

Asparagus Soup with Lemon-Herb Crème Fraîche

19 Monday Apr 2010

Posted by Bob and Robin in Celebrations, Classics, Soup, Things To Do, Vegetables

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On 13 April we went to the Buzz for a wine dinner. Debbie made this awesome asparagus soup. I just had to post the recipe here. If you like asparagus, then you really have to try this. It is awesome and comparatively easy to do. If you want the original recipe, Click Here

Asparagus Soup with Lemon-Herb Crème Fraîche

Ingredients:
½ c Crème Fraîche
1 T Parsley, chopped
2 t Chives, chopped
1 t Tarragon, chopped
1 t Lemon Zest, finely grated
1 t Lemon juice, fresh
Sea Salt and fresh ground Pepper
2 lbs medium Asparagus, tough ends discarded, tips reserved and stalks coarsely chopped
2 T Butter, unsalted
1 med Onion, finely chopped
1 qt Chicken stock
2 c Water

Directions:
In a bowl, blend the crème fraîche with the parsley, chives, tarragon and the lemon zest and juice. Season with salt and pepper, then cover and refrigerate. In a small saucepan of boiling salted water, cook the asparagus tips until tender; drain and transfer to a plate.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onion and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, 4 minutes. Add the stock and water and bring to a boil. Add the chopped asparagus and season with 1½ teaspoons of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Boil over moderately high heat until the asparagus are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender and pour it into a clean saucepan. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the asparagus tips and bring to a simmer over moderate heat. Ladle the soup into warmed shallow bowls. Top with large dollops of the lemon-herb crème fraîche and serve.

Global Gardens, CSA

19 Monday Apr 2010

Posted by Bob and Robin in Food, Things To Do

≈ 1 Comment

Well, I certainly don’t have enough room for a garden here. And the Saturday Market really is a good place to purchase some fresh vegetables in season, but here is another place. It also helps refugees to our state to get started producing a product. The Global Gardens CSA is an awesome way for each and everyone of us to get fresh produce. From their web page,

What is a CSA?

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It’s like a subscription program to our farm. You pay one price for the whole season, and each week from June through September you get a delicious bag of whatever produce is available from the farm.

We have our CSA pickup on Tuesday nights starting at 5:30 pm, at Edwards Greenhouse, off of Hill Road in Boise. They have a small farmers market there with live music every week. It’s a great place to pick up your veggies and get to know your farmers.

Also, by joining Global Gardens CSA, you are directly supporting a refugee family, and/or a refugee community organization that supports refugees by providing various services including educational and cultural opportunities. You are enabling refugees to develop entrepreneurial skills that are transferable to many jobs, to improve their English, and to spend quality time with their families and communities while growing and eating nutritious local produce. What a good choice! Cheers!

Please do check out their web page for a listing of the vegies you will receive and the costs involved – payable over time, if you wish. We do. We share our weekly supply with our daughter and her family. But for $20 a week for the local vegies, I think it is worth thinking about. Contact Katie Painter either by email or by phone, (208) 336-4222 or stop by their office at 1607 W Jefferson Street, Boise.

Torteau de Chèvre

18 Sunday Apr 2010

Posted by Bob and Robin in Classics, Recipe By: Robin Young

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Tourteau de Chèvre

by Kate Hill
Preheat oven to 380ºC or 530ºF. Yes. HOT! Very HOT!

For the pastry I used a simple butter short crust.

100 gr (3½ oz) butter- unsalted
200 gr (7 oz) flour- all purpose unbleached
Salt- pinch
1 egg
Water- as needed

Cut butter into flour and salt with fingertips. Add egg and water. Gather pastry crust into ball. Divide into three. Roll out each third, place into deep rounded molds. Trim. Prick.

Batter:
250 gr (9 oz) fresh goats cheese (after draining)
175 gr (6¼ oz) white sugar (125gr for yolks- 50gr for whites)
50 ml milk (about a tablespoon)
6 eggs, separated
60 gr (2⅛ oz) flour
Splash of vanilla/rum/Armagnac

Directions:
Pass goat cheese through a food mill or ricer.

Beat in 125 gr (4.4 oz) sugar, milk and flour. (I used a whisk.)

Whisk egg whites with 50 gr (1¾ oz) sugar until stiff peaks. (we use a copper bowl and hand whisk in the Gascon Kitchen.)

Fold in a large spoonful of whites into the cheese/yolk mixture. Stir well.

Fold remaining whites into cheese/yolk batter. Pour into unbaked pastry shells.
Place into HOT oven (280ºC/530ºF) for 10 minutes. The tops will puff up round and start to brown and blacken immediately. Don’t panic!

Then turn oven down to 220ºC or 425ºF for 40 minutes. remove from oven and let cool.
I used 3 small cassoulet bowls holding about 300ml/12oz each. this is what they look like baking. The forward one we slid in 4 minutes after the first two, and it was indeed underdone. but delicious.

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Tourteau Fromagé.

The Tourteau Fromagé is a specialty cake of Poitou-Charente region of Southwest France. Found usually in cheese shops, I developed a weakness for the finely textured, barely sweet cake. Like an Angel Food Cake married to a N.Y. Cheesecake. After just one bite Sabina also fell for the sweet trap and we decided to test the recipe with some of the fresh goat cheese from Phillipe.

Local is as local does. And here in Gascony, you can tell that even our flour, that I buy in one kilo sacks at Pierre’s Boulangerie is a local product. Wearing the Musketeers habit, this is the classic ‘type 55′ all purpose flour used for most baking.

EXTREME WARNING: The extraordinary eggs from my hens account for the extreme yellow color of the interior of the cake just as the extra-high temperature of the oven produces the traditional blackened crust. The contrast of soft tender cake and charcoaled top crust is part of the tourteaux charm. We produced three cakes from the following recipe that we made in small very deep mini-cassoles each holding about 12fl oz or 300ml. So inspired by the courage of the Cadets of Gascony- all for one and one tourteau for all!

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Here is a link to the original Recipe and Article. Do enjoy it.

Boise City Market Opens

17 Saturday Apr 2010

Posted by Bob and Robin in Buy Idaho, Things To Do

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Just love this time of year! Everything starts to bloom. The grass. The trees. The flowers. Garden lettuce and spinach. The Boise Saturday Market. 17 April was the first day and a great crowd was on hand to celebrate! And I noticed at least 3 wineries were represented: 3-Horse Ranch, Holesinsky and Wood River Cellars were what I saw. But there probably were others at the south end. I did not make it that far today. Next week?

At 1018 MDT we are being watched! The Boise Peregrine Falcon Mom!

The sign says it all!

An overview!

Lemons? Told you we are in the Banana Belt!

Splash of Color

Part of the expanded Market!

And there is always “The Food”!

So there you have Opening Day 2010! Cheers!

Le Café de Paris "Bon Anniversaire"

16 Friday Apr 2010

Posted by Bob and Robin in Food, Photos By: Bob Young, Restaurants, What's For Dinner?

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Such an adventure! Another great epicurian adventure! On 15 April, Robin and I went to the Le Café de Paris Anniversary dinner! Look at the menu (Left Click the graphic to view full screen) If you missed this one, come join us on 22 April at 6:30pm for another awesome Wine Dinner. You will have to make reservations. Look at the dinner photos.

The music was really good as usual.

The Poiters sparkling wine was a great opener. Made from Folle Blanche and Sauvignon Blanc. Refreshing.

The 2008 Poligny Montrachet was superb with the dinner – all phases of the dinner!

To open the dinner, a wonderful Canard de Rillette (Duck Rillette) with a Red Pepper Gastrique. Made from 100% shredded duck meat and cooked in duck fat and wrapped in puff pastry. This was delicious!

The Salade de Haricots Verts (Green Bean Salad) with Roasted Hazelnuts, Roasted Tomatoes, Fresh Basil and Crème Fraîche. Now this was delicious!! (Sorry the photo is not as good!) The beans were so crisp, yet tender. And the Crème Fraîche just hit the spot with the basil.

Coq au Vin (Red Wine Chicken), Free Range Chicken with Fresh Pasta and Grilled Croutons. I don’t know that I have ever had a “bad” Coq au Vin. This was no exception. It was delicious and if I were to have a special catered meal, this would probably be on the menu. It’s just that good!!

You just think I’m done! Look at the Saumon Pave with Roasted Mushroom Consommé, Moral Mushrooms and Saffron Potatoes. Everything in this dish was a dream. I can’t say anything else.

One of the great things about Le Café de Paris are the pastries and the breads. This Des Quatre-Quarts – Berry and Chocolate Salad, Fresh Mint and Whipped Cream dessert was the ultimate. The warm sponge cake with the mint, blueberries and chocolate was an epicurian delight!

I wish I could cook like this. (The tears are rolling down my chubby, little cheeks.) Cheers! Don’t miss the next one.