Banette

To get to the Metro from our apartment, we passed this boulangerie, so it quickly became our stop to grab some breakfast on the way to see the sights.


Banette is actually situated right in front of a Metro stop (Cardinal Lemoine), so it was often quite busy when we stopped in. We noticed that the busier a boulangerie, the better the goods.


The baguettes here are very long and narrow. I often had to break the baguette into three pieces to get it to a manageable size where I wasn't jousting people as I walked down the street. The baguettes have a delicate and thin crust that easily tears to reveal soft and fluffy innards. Compared to the baguettes from Eric Kayser though, this baguette was just air.


Alongside the baguettes, croissants are a staple found at boulangeries. When my eye caught an almond croissant at Banette, I made an executive decision to forgo the plain croissant I was going to get and instead try their croissant aux amandes. The first thing I noted about this croissant is its shape. Plain croissants have beautiful lines as they spiral inward, but this croissant was lumpy and had no defining lines. I might not have known it was a croissant except for the small sign in the pastry case. But do not be deceived by its exterior, as a treasure lies within! As I was handed my almond croissant, the second thing I noticed was the weight. This was a hefty croissant, heavy from the almond filling. The almond croissant was very moist and instead of the airy layers of dough found in plain croissants, this croissant was filled with a sweet almond paste whose nutty flavor went well with the buttery dough. It was a luscious treat that we tried to savor, but as all good eats, it was quickly devoured.


In the deli case, I saw a variety of meat sandwiches, so I asked the woman helping me whether she had any vegetarian sandwiches available. She offered to make me a sandwiche de crudites, to which I happily agreed. Before our trip, I was afraid that I would have trouble requesting vegetarian meals, but the woman helping me was very accommodating and I waited as she went in the back to make me a vegetarian sandwich. The sandwich that I later unwrapped had lettuce, tomatoes, and boiled eggs, which aren't necessarily vegetarian-friendly, but luckily I subscribe to a very liberal vegetarian diet and eat eggs in addition to dairy and fish. The creamy egg yolks acted as a condiment to flavor and moisten the sandwich. Although with its total of four ingredients this was a minimalist sandwich, it was made with flavorful vegetables and freshly baked bread, making for a great sandwich.


On a visit the next day, I again requested a vegetarian sandwich and was given a camembert sandwich. Like the crudite sandwich of the previous day, this sandwich had few ingredients, this time only slices of soft camembert and a baguette. The plain baguette was the perfect vehicle upon which to enjoy the creamy and slightly salty camembert.


It's good fortune that the first macaron to grace my tastebuds was one that I enjoyed as we walked through the Tuileries Garden towards the Louvre. The French macaron is not to be confused with the coconut macaroon that is very familiar in the United States, as this macaron consists of ganache encased between two meringue cookies. The fragile exterior of the meringue cookies gave way to a vibrant green interior that was moist and very sweet. Accompanied by the thin layer of pistachio ganache, this macaron was pretty tooth-achingly sweet. It had a nutty flavor that was only background to the heavy amount of sugar.

Banette
46 Rue Cardinal Lemoine
75005
Paris, France

Eric Kayser

Listed as having "The Best Croissants" in Jeffrey Steingartens It Must've Been Something I ate and noted in David Lebovitz's "10 Insanely Delicious Things You Shouldn't Miss in Paris" for its pain aux cereales, visiting Eric Kayser had priority on our list of things to do while in Paris.


After a brief visit to Le Pantheon, we went in search of Kayser, which turned out to be located very close to the apartment we were renting. Although the store looks empty in the above photo, it was full as I waited patiently in line, allowing me the opportunity to gaze at the plethora of breads, pastries, and chocolates around me. The chocolate rooster looked tantalizing, but I was here for the bread.


Taking a cue from the woman ahead of me in line, I asked for "une baguette" and was handed a long, beautifully golden baguette. This being my first true French baguette, I was surprised that when I tore a piece off of the tip, the crust was thick instead of thin and crisp and the interior of the baguette was dense with a substantial chew. Although I ate this baguette plain, the firm dough could stand up to a heavy-handed slathering of butter or soft cheese, unlike the soft and fluffy baguettes used in banh-mi that collapse with each bite. The taste and the artistically cut lines in this baguette set a high standard as my first baguette during our stay in Paris.


I also ordered a pain aux cereales per David Lebovitz's recommendation that "this is perhaps the best bread in the world". This was a hefty and slightly dense loaf, studded with crunchy sesame and sunflower seeds. I thoroughly enjoyed the addition of the seeds because they seemed to pop in my mouth as I chewed and they added a toasted aroma and flavor. Just as the baguette above, this loaf was not delicate; with each piece I tore off, whether with my hands or my teeth, I could feel the dough pulling back against my need to ingest more bread.


Kayser's croissant was unlike any other croissant that I've eaten. Instead of the soggy, flat concoctions I have previously eaten, this croissant had height and a crackly shell. The inside was soft and incredibly buttery, solely from the layers and layers of butter folded into the dough. Compared to the many other croissants that I ate while in Paris and definitely among all the croissants I have ever eaten in my life, I would agree with Steingartens' appraisal as Kayser's croissants being one of the "Best Croissants."


Because we were staying at an apartment very close to Kayser, we stopped there on a second night to grab a another baguette and some madaleines. After another long day of walking through the city in the cold and rain, it was comforting to collapse in our rental apartment and munch on the hearty baguettes from Kayser.


The madeleines were soft and buttery with a slight lemon flavor. They were very delicate, with a crumb similar to pound cake. A great accompaniment to tea or, as I ate them, eaten plain as a light dessert.

Kayser
8 Rue Monge
75005
Paris, France

The Beginning - Day 1

While in Paris, we bought a large bottle of water each day at various supermarkets to replenish us on our daily excursions. Of course, we never walked out of the supermarket without buying other goods. The Girl Who Ate Everything posted a picture of the yogurt she ate while studying abroad in Paris, so when I saw the same cute yogurt in the supermarket, I couldn't resist buying them.


The yogurt that I ate in Paris was deliciously creamy and thick, so we often walked out of the grocery store with yogurt in addition to our bottle of water. Except for the hazelnut-flavored yogurt on the bottom right, I usually bought plain yogurt.


A lot of the yogurts that I bought came in ceramic or glass jars instead of the plastic that I buy in the US. So when I had finished all my yogurts, I couldn't bear to throw out these cute little pots in which La Fermiere packages a line of their yogurts. I actually had a little run-in with the security at Charles de Gaulle airport because I was afraid of packing the fragile pots in my checked-in luggage, so I had them wrapped in newspaper in my carry-on backpack. Instead of sensing danger, I think the security detail was just curious about the four newspaper-wrapped bundles in my backpack and when I unveiled one, I'm sure he thought it was strange that I was flying halfway across the world with the little jars in which their common, everyday yaourt comes.


Herbs! That was my plan for these cute yogurt pots. For a while, I have heard about the success of the AeroGarden, touted as a "NASA-tested" kitchen appliance that allows you to grow herbs and produce year-round. Unfortunately, while it is supposed to be a space-saving alternative to having a garden, I still don't have any space for it in our tiny apartment. So I figured that the next best solution would be to grow a small amount of herbs in the little yogurt pots. Shopping at Target yesterday, I spotted these small (approximately 1.5 inches tall) ceramic pots which come with a package of seeds and a soil pellet. Since I don't need and don't have space to grow all the seeds that come in a regular-size packet of seeds, I thought these would be perfect.


Each Buzzy Seeds pot receives five seeds and when the plants grow to 3 inches tall, I need to transfer them to my ceramic yogurt pots. Clockwise from the rear left, I have started strawberries, tomatoes, chives, and basil. The Buzzy Seeds herb selection at Target was not very vast, so the tomatoes and strawberries were chosen as an after-thought. I believe the strawberries and tomatoes will have to be transferred to much larger pots than the yogurt pots can hold.

So this blog was started as a food blog and is now partially a gardening blog! I have not had much success in the past with growing plants, but these herbs will be very useful, so we'll see...

Chez Hannah

This post initiates a series of Paris posts, where we spent a week for Spring Break. Before our trip, I did a lot of research into places to eat in Paris, including a list of the best croissants and baguettes from Jeff Steingarten's It Must've Been Something I Ate, The Girl Who Ate Everything's "A Very Incomplete Guide to Paris", and David Lebovitz's "10 Insanely Delicious Things You Shouldn't Miss in Paris". Unfortunately, since Devin and I were constantly running around to see the next thing, we did a terrible job of checking out the extensive list of places to eat that I had compiled. Overall though, of the things we had time to eat, they were expectedly delicious.


Robyn, The Girl Who Ate Everything, reviewed Chez Hannah during her Spring Break last year and this ended up being our first meal in Paris. Chez Hannah is located on a pedestrian-only street in Paris' Jewish District. While they have an interior dining room, they also have a to-go window to expedite the many customers flocking to satisfy their pita sandwich needs. The to-go window serves as the assembly line for both dine-in and to-go orders, so we were able to watch our order being made right in front of us.


I ordered the Vegetarian Falafel Special. A component unique to this falafel pita was the fried eggplant. Because eggplant are very absorbent, oil dripped down my chin when I bit into the slices, but the eggplant had been fried long enough to gain a sweet carmelization and the skin was slightly crisp while the interior was mashed-potato soft. It was a succulent addition to one of my favorite dishes. The pita pocket wasn't the thin-walled and fragile bread found in grocery stores, but was hearty and thick enough to withstand the generous helping of hummus, falafel, fried eggplant, cucumber salad, tzatziki sauce, red and green cabbage, and Harissa. The falafel had a crisp exterior and a steaming, fluffy interior that paired well with all the crunchy vegetables and the cool tzatziki.


Devin had the shwarma. While gyros is usually made with pork, shwarma is made with lamb, goat, or chicken. In this case, the shwarma was made with chicken and also had fried eggplant.

Chez Hannah
54 rue des Rosiers
75004
Paris, France

Meyer Lemon Gnocchi and Roasted Garlic-Parmigiano Broccoli

With the Sur La Table gift card that my brother gave me for my birthday, I also received a year's subscription to Food & Wine magazine. I have had too few encounters with gnocchi, but after having the Gnocchi in Gorgonzola sauce from Villa Roma, I couldn't stop thinking of the pillowy, baby-skull soft (as the The Girl Who Ate Everything would say) gnocchi and it just so happened that the March 2008 issue of Food & Wine had Meyer Lemon Gnocchi on its cover.


The Meyer Lemon Gnocchi from the March 2008 issue of Food & Wine was a very labor-intensive recipe. I don't have a potato ricer, so I used a trick from Smitten Kitchen and used a cheese grater to get a fine mash of potatoes. I spent a long time in the kitchen and it was worth it. The sauce was very rich, as it calls for a stick of butter, so taking into consideration the labor and the calories, this is a recipe to be made and eaten in moderation.


This is Roasted Garlic-Parmigiano Broccoli from the November 2007 issue of Food & Wine. Wow, broccoli is probably my favorite vegetable and I didn't think it could be heightened any more than the countless number of ways I have already eaten it, but slathering it in garlic, Parmesan cheese, and butter and then roasting it is absolutely outstanding and pretty quick.


Unfortunately, as I was busy attending to the broccoli and gnocchi, I let the lemon sauce boil and you can see that it separated. Also, the gnocchi were not as tender as Villa Roma's, but I am definitely making progress from my first miserable attempt at making gnocchi. I'm telling you, I really fail at making doughs and I admit that I overworked the gnocchi dough. Gnocchi, one day I will conquer you...

Pizza Margherita

I am behind in posts because I was in France last week, so the next posts will be from several weeks ago and France posts will follow afterwards.

Much to my dismay, Devin doesn't often enjoy Italian dishes because he doesn't like most tomato-based sauces. When I came upon this sauce-less Pizza Margherita recipe in my Betty Crocker Entertaining Basics cookbook, I knew it would be perfect for Devin.


As I mentioned in an earlier post, I absolutely fail at doughs, so I cheated on this recipe and used a premade pizza dough bought from the grocery store. Although the recipe didn't call for any garlic, I crushed two garlic cloves and spread them over the pizza dough so the final product tasted like garlic bread pizza. On top of the dough and crushed garlic, I layered mozzarella cheese, sliced roma tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil, additional mozzarella cheese, and a drizzle of olive oil.


As much as I love, absolutely love, my carbs, I also enjoy a good thin-crust pizza. This was a fantastic pizza that was just as easy as frozen pizza and much faster than delivery.


And of course, being the dipper that I am, I always use this sushi plate to eat pizza because it has a perfect reservoir for holding olive oil and balsamic vinegar so that I can dip the crust.

Quiche

Men do eat quiche! At least, I know for a fact that Devin eats quiche.


As I started to prepare this quiche, Devin informed me that he doesn't like quiche. This is because his only prior experience with quiche has been an airline meal.


Well, the quiche that I made for dinner turned out to be as much a success as the Five Layer Tortilla Pie, because I was able to reverse Devin's prior negative opinion of quiche. I used a quiche recipe which called for eggs and half and half. I used egg substitute to make the recipe heart healthy and added one cup of swiss cheese, half a red onion, sliced mushrooms, one red pepper, and two crushed cloves of garlic. To top the quiche, I used cheddar-flavored Veggie Shreds.

Devin loved the non-airline quiche so much that I decided to make another one for dinner a couple of nights later. Another reason for making a second quiche was because I used pre-made pie crust (acknowledging my failure at making dough), which came with two pre-made crusts.


I used the same basic quiche base, using egg substitute, half and half, one cup of baby swiss cheese, sliced mushrooms, one red pepper, half a red onion, two crushed cloves of garlic, and this time adding broccoli.


For both quiches, I first sauteed the vegetables in a little bit of olive oil so they wouldn't be raw in the quiches. I love making quiche because it is so easy, delicious, and you can just throw in whatever you have on hand, so give quiche a chance!