DORIE GREENSPAN

Rose Fever - Paris's Got It

It has to have been about 10 years ago that Pierre Herme created the Ispahan, a dessert composed of the now iconic trinity: rose, litchi and raspberry.  His first Ispahan was two rose-flavored macarons sandwiching a rose cream studded with fresh litchis and raspberries, the whole topped with a fresh red rose petal.  Since that time, not only has just about every pastry chef in Paris created something rose flavored, Pierre himself has created at least a dozen desserts, jams and pate-a-fruit (fruit jellies) using the combination. 

I find Pierre's fascination with the flavors remarkable and love how he never seems to tire of working with the threesome.  Quite the opposite, creating with this trio seems to energize him and this energy has brought us the newest family member: the above Gateau Saint-Honore, version Ispahan.

The Gateau Saint-Honore is a completely Parisian creation, having made its debut in 1846 in a pastry shop on the rue Saint Honore (how fitting that Saint-Honore is the patron saint of pastry chefs) owned by Chiboust, who gave his name to the cream filling, a pastry cream lightened with meringue and stabilized with a little gelatin.  The cake is a luscious but complicated affair.  From the bottom up, you've got: a puff pastry base; a ring of caramelized pate-a-choux (cream puff dough); a few caramel-crowned cream puffs (which are filled with either chiboust or whipped cream); a chiboust filling; whipped cream swirled like a prince's turban.  In Pierre's version, the cream is rose-flavored (of course), there are raspberries and litchis, and the caramel is a sexy, iridescent pink color.  And yes, it's fabulously delicious.

Pierre has taken to devoting weeks at a time to what he calls his "fetishes," and March was Fetish Ispahan, a fetish all of Paris seems to share.  So the last night I was in Paris, I went on a little Ispahan spree and bought six little treats to serve to friends after dinner.

The Gateau Saint-Honore is in the center and right above it you've got the Surprise, a crisp but fragile meringue confection wrapped up like a bon-bon for a good child.  Going clockwise, there's the Ispahan Cheesecake, the Ispahan Tart, with little squares of litchi gelee (sooooooo good) and the classic Ispahan. 

Talk about la vie en rose ...

So Many Nominees, Such Great Work

Last week the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) sent out their list of nominees for this year's cookbook awards and this morning, at the Beard House (see photo), the nominees for James Beard Awards for journalism, books, chefs and restaurants were announced. 

Since there are way too many nominees for me to list -- and since you can go to the sites and see them for yourself -- I'm just going to say CONGRATULATIONS to all the nominees and tell you who the nominees are in the book category for baking and dessert, since my guess is that's one of the categories that you, like I,  are really interested in. 

There were two books that were nominated by both the IACP and the James Beard Foundation:

• Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor, by Peter Reinhart; and
• Pure Dessert, by Alice Medrich

In addition, the IACP nominated:

• Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe's Best Artisan Bakers, by Daniel Leader and Lauren Chattman

And Beard nominated:

• A Baker's Odyssey by Greg Patent

Oh, I can't resist telling you just a little more.  Michael Laiskonis, pastry chef at Le Bernardin in New York, fascinating blogger and last year's James Beard Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year, was on hand to announce some of the chef nominees.  This year's nominees for Pastry Chef of the Year are:

• Gina DePalma of Babbo, NYC
• Pichet Ong of P*ONG, NYC
• Nicole Plue of Redd, Yountville, CA
• Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson of Tartine Bakery, San Francisco, CA
• Mindy Segal of HotChocolate in Chicago, IL

Well, as long as I've already done more than I said I would, I'm going to congratulate my bookwriting friends who were nominated (please, please, please, if I've forgotten any of you, I'm sorry in advance).  This is in no logical order, just the way they turn up on the sheets I've got:

• Jean Anderson for A Love Affair with Southern Cooking
• Jacques Pepin for Chez Jacques: Traditions and Rituals of a Cook
• James Peterson for Cooking
• Mark Bittman for How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, Quick & Easy Recipes from The New York Times AND his television series, The Best Recipes in the World
• Anne Willan for The Country Cooking of France
• Patricia Wells for Vegetable Harvest
• Molly O'Neill for American Food Writing: An Anthology with Classic Recipes
• Darra Goldstein for Baking Boot Camp: Five Days of Basic Training at the Culinary Institute of America
• Elizabeth Falkner for Demolition Desserts
• Laura Shapiro for Julia Child

Once again, CONGRATULATIONS!!!! 

Michelin Names Their Favorite Breadbakers in Paris

What you're looking at are some of the 143 traditional baguettes that were brought to the bakers' union on Ile Saint-Louis in Paris to be judged for this year's 'best baguette in Paris' award.  According to a French reporter writing for Via Michelin, 14 of the breads were disqualified for not meeting the standards for a baguette, which specify that the bread must be 70 cm long (27 1/2 inches), weigh between 250 and 300 grams (about 9 to 10 ounces) and contain additive-free wheat flour, water and salt. 

As you'll see when you read the article, the judges are as passionate about bread as the bakers (in some cases, far more passionate) and it's a good thing they take their jobs so seriously because the winner of the Meilleur Baguette de Paris is charged with supplying the daily loaf for the President of France (and, we assume, his gorgeous new wife, Carla Bruni). 

This year's winner, 28-year-old Anis Bouabsa, has a bakery in Montmartre and said he would need to hire someone to make the morning deliveries to Elysee Palace, proving that being honored can be both flattering and expensive.  Not surprisingly, Bouabsa is included in the list of Paris's Ten Best Bread Bakeries that Via Michelin just published.

I'm going to check out all the bakeries when I've got some time - and the energy to bicycle all over Paris, since not even one of the ten best is in my neighborhood.  In fact, there isn't even one in my whole arrondissement.  Zut!

Tuesdays with Dorie

Whoever wouldda thunk?  Certainly not me, but there's a new group on the web called Tuesdays with Dorie, and they're baking a recipe a week from Baking From My Home to Yours.  It's really terrific and I'm touched, flattered and frankly amazed.

The group was started a month or two ago by Laurie of Quirky Cupcake with the idea that every week avid bakers would have the chance to bake together and share their triumphs and frustrations.  Laurie began the group with three other bakers and now there are more than 80 bloggers, and several non-bloggers, too, baking every week and, as the group's name suggests, posting their results on Tuesdays.    It's so, so, so exciting.

This week's recipe was an ambitious one: Brioche Raisin Snails (page 56), chosen by Culinary Concoctions by Peabody.  Yes, the group's recipe is chosen by a different Tuesdays-with-Dorie member each week and, because they're bakers and therefore an orderly lot, there's a method by which members are tapped to be the chooser. 

I've visited a bunch of the blogs to see this week's results and they're wonderful!  I can't tell you how thrilling it is for me to see so many people making such great stuff.  And the snails recipe, with its buttery yeast dough, pastry cream, rum-flamed raisins and need for patience - there's no rushing a yeast dough - was a real challenge.  Next week's recipe is the Caramel-Topped Flan (both simple and delicious), pictured here.

If this sounds like fun to you, go to Tuesdays with Dorie and sign on.  All are welcome (bloggers and non-bloggers), no matter your baking skills - there are plenty of beginners in the group, which is another reason I think it's so good. 

Many thanks to Laurie for thinking up this great idea, developing the website and encouraging everyone to bake, bake, bake!

Baking with Dorie: Corniest Corn Muffins

Click over to this week's Baking with Dorie recipe on Serious Eats - it's for one of my favorite recipes in Baking From My Home to Yours:  Corniest Corn Muffins.  I love these muffins and serve them at breakfast and brunch and also with stewy dishes at dinner.  But I never thought to serve them the way a commentor at Serious Eats suggested: toasted, covered with milk and honey and eaten like cereal!  Enjoy!

As with all photos from Baking, this one was taken by Alan Richardson.

Bacon, More and More

Since we've been talking bacon, I want to send you over to my friend David Lebovitz's blog (you're probably there everyday anyway) to see this

It's David's Candied Bacon Ice Cream! Even his butcher liked it.

And, because so many of you mentioned Mo's Bacon Bar

Here's the link to it at Vosges Haut-Chocolate.

Now I'm off to cook some bacon for a savory cheese loaf.

Cookies in Unexpected Places

I know some of you think I travel around the world taking pictures of cute guys, but really, really, I only take their pictures if there's a reason, usually a food-related reason, and, as you can see, this guy's holding a tin of cookies.  But here's what's so terrific about him and his cookies:  he's an election monitor (today Parisians are voting for arrondissement mayors) and he gives ccookies to all the little kids who get dragged to the voting booths with their parents. 

And while the cookies weren't supplied by the French government, the ballot boxes were

Doesn't the box look like it was designed by Philippe Starck?  Actually, for all know, it might have been.  Before the ballots are dropped into the box, they're tucked into blue envelopes with "Republique de France" inscribed on the back.  Very classy.

While I was there - I was just keeping a friend company while she voted (and isn't it great that you can vote on Sunday, when you might actually have time to get to the voting place) - one of the candidates came in.  You could tell immediately that he was a candidate: he didn't kiss babies, but his scraf was wrapped around the collar of his coat in a just-so fashion and, while everyone else was dressed casually, having come from the outdoor market across the street, he was in a sport jacket and his shoes were freshly polished.  Only I, an American, was surprised to see that a candidate could campaign two centimeters from a voting booth.

What wasn't a surprise was this sign

urging the assembled voters to toss campaign bulletins and all other paper into the hard-to-miss big brown bags, so that everything could be recycled.  The bags were great - they were the super-tall paper bags normally used to transport baguettes from bakeries to cafes.

When we left, I looked back and saw the name of the room we'd been in

In fact, the Salle Racine was right next to the Salle Moliere and down the hall from the Salle Lully.

Please, let me say it again: "Ah, the French."

Baking with Dorie: Banana Cake Big and Small

Here's this week's Baking with Dorie recipe on Serious Eats: It's my friend Ellen Einstein's classic banana cake, cut in half and baked in muffin tins.  Normally made as a sturdy Bundt cake, the recipe calls for four ripe bananas, but since I had only two and it was the day I was leaving for Paris, I just cut the recipe in half and went for a dozen minis.  (When you click over, you'll find instructions for converting the minis back to full-size.)

I also went for some chocolate - I chopped up some dark chocolate (although milk chocolate would be just as good, if not better - milk chocolate and bananas are naturals together) and folded it into the batter at the last minute. 

When I baked these, they rose and worked themselves over the top of the muffin cups and onto the tin, which I thought was great because that way, one part of the cake, the over-the-top part, was just a little crispy around the edges.  I was using a nonstick pan, so it wasn't a problem to unmold the wide tops, but if your pan is "normal," you should butter or spray the area around the muffin cups.

I'm in Paris now and just went banana shopping.  Who knows, by the time I've got to pack and leave, I might be making banana cakelets here, too.

A word about Ellen Einstein:  I met Ellen ten years ago when I was on a book tour (which book? I can't remember) and doing a television show in Nashville and Ellen was the talented food stylist.  We kept in touch after that and have seen one another many times in New York and Paris.  Then, a few years ago, Ellen and her husband, Dan, opened Sweet Sixteenth, the kind of bakery/cafe everyone wants in their neighborhood.  If you're in the neighborhood, GO!  My husband travels to Nashville often and always makes Sweet Sixteenth his first stop - lucky guy.

Eggs Sunny-side Up

Wouldn't these be fun to have on Easter morning?  They're from chocolatier Patrick Roger, whose shop window on the Boulevard Saint Germain is definitely ogle-worthy.

Yet Another Reason to Love Paris: My Friend Helene

If you're a Paris regular (or if you've read my blog for a while), you may already know Helene Samuel because she's the bright mind behind Delicabar, the restaurant in Le Bon Marche department store, and Cafe Pleyel, the very chic spot (with the great hamburger) in the newly renovated Salle Pleyel concert hall.  What you might not know about Helene is that she's generally cool, meaning hip, but also meaning level-headed - even when she's emailing or texting.  In other words, she seldom uses exclamation points and never sends her messages with any of those high-priority symbols.

Knowing this, you can be sure that the instant I saw her name, a red flag and the subject line:  IMPORTANT NOTICE, I opened the message immediately.   I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this:

"When you arrive, do not buy cheese - I've got some for you."

I love everything about this email.  I love that Helene knew that as soon as I hit town I'd head for the cheese shop.  I love that she didn't want me to have too much cheese, a situation worse than having too little, since nothing as precious as cheese should ever be wasted.  And, of course, I love that she had shopped for me.

When I saw Helene last night, here's what she handed me

This is cheese from our favorite cheese vendor at the Sunday market, the organic one, on the Boulevard Raspail.  The cheesemaker is Philippe Gregoire and his cheeses, labeled Elevage du Corbier, are made with milk from the goats, sheep and cows that graze on his farmland in Burgundy. 

There is never a Sunday when I am in town that I don't visit Philippe Gregoire and come away with exactly these three cheeses: the large round is a fresh, soft cow's milk cheese, and the two smaller rounds are actually the same goat cheese, but one is older (and therefore firmer and fuller flavored) than the other.  To round out the package, Helene included another of my favorites,  Philippe Gregoire's yaourt brebis, sheep's milk yogurt, which is rich, thick and tangy and good with everything from raw vegetables to apples and pears.

And, as if this goody bag wasn't enough, it held another surprise: cookies from a new pastry shop

  The shop, named for its chef, is Carl Marletti, and it's on the rue Censier near the rue Mouffetard, the city's legendary market street.  I haven't been there - I can't even raise a reference to it on google - but I'll track it down just for these cookies.  The edges of the cookies taste and melt in your mouth as though they are made of butter, and only butter.  They're incredibly fragile, but also crisp.  Then there's the center of the cookies - a translucent caramel with nuts.  I've never seen cookies like these, neither here nor in the States (if these look familiar to anyone, please, please, tell me!), but I'd be happy to see them everywhere.

I'll be going to Marletti, for sure, and I'll bring back an address and pictures.  Also on my must-see list is Philippe Conticini's new patisserie on the rue du Marche Sainte Catherine.  More about that, too.  In the meantime, thanks to Helene, I've got some delicious munching to do.