A Paris Sojourn: Last Cooking Day in Paris

I took this picture two nights ago but haven’t posted it yet so thought I’d start off with it today.

Same with this one.

I cleaned out the refrigerator this morning before we went down to breakfast. These are not even all the boxes of stuff we carried home from Le Cordon Bleu classes.

This swing is in the breakfast area at our hotel.

After breakfast at the hotel, we headed back to the metro for our French market tour and cooking class/Marche Maubert et lunch. Yay! A class for real food.

We met at the market where a few of us were selected to carry a tote for taking our purchases back to the school.

Chef will not buy from this butcher because the butcher doesn’t care about his meat.

He’s telling us about him now.

The market was a delight! We’ve been reading La Cuisine’s blog for the last few months getting ready for our trip and loved seeing the fresh market photos. You can see the pride the vendors have in their goods by the way they are displayed. We learned so much about the products from the chef. He was very well known among the vendors and always looking for what was fresh today.

Here we were getting a lesson on the different kinds of chicken. One of our choices for the main dish today was a butter and herb stuffed Cornish hen.

Tiny shrimps. You eat the whole thing, shell, head and all.

The way you know a sea urchin is fresh is by putting your finger in the center and if it grabs hold of it, it’s still alive and fresh.

Another of our choices for a main dish today was cod.

These are the first fruits of spring, purple artichokes.

He was so excited to find them.

Getting the rest of our produce picked out.

Our cheese today is Saint Nectaire. It was very tasty. I brought some home in my suitcase for Kim.

We purchased the baguettes here.

And now we’re headed back to the school to cook all we’ve picked out. Don’t I look quite the Parisian walking with my baguettes sticking out of my bag? 😁

Crossing the river.

When we got back, they had prepared tea and coffee for us while chef went to the kitchen to get everything washed and ready. These little puffs of dough were fantastic but dangerous. They were so light and airy, it felt like you could eat the whole bag and I wanted to.

We are called to the kitchen to cook our lunch.

First we are shown how to prepare the artichokes.

Then the bacon is diced.

Each of us has this setup.

Getting instructions on using the mandolin.

Flaming the peppercorn sauce for the duck.

Quite a show!

Stirring the sliced potatoes into the butter and cream sauce, because in Paris, everything has either butter and cream or butter and sugar (or all three).

Closeup of the sliced potatoes.

We found out the best lid for your pot is a parchment one. If you use the regular lid on the pot, all the water from the steam drips into the food. If you set the lid partially off the pot to allow the steam to vent, the water runs down onto your burner. So he makes a parchment paper lid.

We voted to have duck breast (Magret de Canard) as our main today.

The duck breasts have been trimmed, fat scored and seasoned with salt and pepper.

They go into a piping hot dry pan.

Opening the wine to let it breathe before lunch.

Our lunch table.

One side has been seared so it's time to add rosemary sprigs.

Once the duck has been seared on both sides and allowed to cook for a few minutes, the entire pan is wrapped in foil to continue cooking while we are finishing up the rest of the menu.

We started the meal off with Artichauts Barigoule (an artichoke stew). Delicious!

Our view of the river Seine from the table.

Scalloped potatoes (Gratin Dauphinois). No cheese. Never put cheese in scalloped potatoes. 🤷‍♀️

We also had Turnips Glacés (glazed turnips). When chef asked who didn’t like turnips, I said I didn’t really care for them. He said he would change my mind about them today. These were first fruits of spring turnips, very tender and mild. We’ll see.

The finished plate.

Dessert is Clafoutis aux Fruits. This is when it first came out of the oven.

After it cools a bit and sinks.

After our incredible lunch (still undecided about the turnips), we walked around Le Marais for the final time before hopping back on the metro to go to Arche de Triomphe.

You may remember from a couple of days ago that this is THE place to get creme puffs but it wasn’t open then. Well now it is!! So even though we had a huge lunch with dessert, we must try out the cream puffs to determine if there is truth to that statement.

Choices choices.

I decided on Café, filled with coffee pastry cream and topped with a chocolate disk and chocolate coffee bean. I’m pretty sure I would need to try a few more to make a proper judgment on if they are the best or not 🤣.

Thé arc. Wanted by Napoleon in 1806, the Arc de Triomphe was inaugurated in 1836 by French king, Louis-Philippe, who dedicated it to the armies of the Revolution and the Empire. It is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the étoile or "star" of the juncture formed by its twelve radiating avenues. The location of the arc and the plaza is shared between three arrondissements, 16th, 17th and 8th. The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.

We don’t want to walk up in the Arc until about 6:30 so we decided to sit at an outdoor cafe, have something to drink and just relax and people watch for awhile.

All the streets come together here to form the star.

While walking down the Champs Élysée I saw this boulangerie by the author of a cookbook I have and a bakery that Jo Anne and I went to several times in New York (now permanently closed in NY).

He makes the most amazing pastries and breads. We did not purchase a thing!

Time to go into the Arc. You first go down to then go up up up.

We stopped outside to watch them light the flame at the tomb of the unknown soldier, located under the Arche de Triomphe at Place Charles de Gaulle. Within this burial space are the remains of a fallen French solider from WWI (1914-1918). There was a big ceremony going on today, with a band and honor guard and lots of dignitaries. It was quite a scene, but we could not figure out what it was since we don’t understand French.

View of Champs Élysée from the top of the Arc.

Sun setting over the city. In the distance to the right, you can see the business district of Paris. They aren’t allowed to build skyscrapers in Paris, so the business district is far on the outskirts of the city.