Regional Cuisine - Brittany

Located in the very north west of France, Brittany has more than 1000 km of coastline. Not surprisingly, its cuisine is hence based mainly on fresh and high quality seafood. 

We cooked and enjoyed tasting the following dishes:

• Sardine tarts with eggplant and tomato sauce
• Langoustine carpaccio with avruga (herring roe)
• Seabass and Kig Ha Farz (a buckwheat pudding with meat boiled and then fried until bread crumbly - a Brittany speciality)
• Blue bobster ragout (stew) with spring vegetables
• Layered crepes in orange and egg custard sauce with salted butter ice-cream

Thank you, Brittany! It was a delicious tasting menu :) 

Pick of Flavours: Sardine tarts - super tasty

Click here to discover more about Brittany.

Happy reading,

Maison Emil Paris :)

Sardines tart

Olive tart as base

Pan fried eggplant

Langoustine carpaccio with oyster leaf

Carpaccio with avruga sauce

Herbs for the carpaccio

Seabass with Kig Ha Farz

Kig Ha Farz - buckwheat pudding with meat cooked and then fried until bread crumbly

Blue lobster about with pasta

Lobster without bisque

Blue lobsters from Brittany - known for its colour, coral and meat

Boiled lobsters

Lobster bisque - lobster shells and stock reduced with cream

Lobster fried in butter - yum :)

Crepe and salted butter caramel ice cream

Holy chicken :)

It's been a busy week in Ferrandi's kitchen. We cooked dinner for restaurant on Thursday night and Friday morning we cooked local dishes from the Rhone-Alpes region (or Lyonnaise Cuisine). It's no kidding when they say that our Cuisine Program is intensive.

I got to work with a breed of chicken that probably the whole France is proud of - its "Poularde de Bress". With its red crown, white feathers and blue feet, this chicken makes up the tree colours of the French flag and is the national mascot :) 

Apart from its blue feet and white feathers, why is it considered a culinary treat? These birds are fed with cereal from Bresse area and given milk at the end of their life resulting in juicy and tender meat. The skin is tasty as well. A premium chicken at a premium price. 

The below dish is called Poularde de Bresse Demi Deuil (=half mourning), poached in chicken stock and served with a Vin Jaune sauce. Vin Jaune (literally yellow/golden wine) is a special white wine from Jura region. Click here for more info about Vin Jaune. In the original recipe from Paul Bocuse, truffle is stuffed under the chicken skin and the chicken is poached in a porc bladder ("en vessie" - a cooking method to keep the meat moist). Watch Paul Bocuse's dish in video here.

Poularde de Bresse Demi Deuil

Red crown, white feather and blue feet

Produce with high quality assurance labelling

Regional Cuisine - Lyon & Rhone-Alpes

Lyon, capital of Rhone-Alpes region, is today known for its gastronomy. One of the reasons is that two of the finest wine growing regions are located nearby. Lyon is home to many finest chefs in France, such as Paul Bocuse, and many traditional dishes such as Bresse poultry, charcuterie, andouillette, and many other local specialities. But textile and silk trading was Lyon's main industry in early 19 century :) 

We got to cook and enjoyed tasting the following dishes:

• Cervelle de canut (literally mean "silk worker's brain") - a cheese spread 
• Cervelas pistache brioche in wine sauce
• Gateau de foie de volaille (custard tart made of chicken liver) in crayfish bisque
• Poulard de Bresse poached in stock with morel sauce and spring vegetables
• Tiramisu with red fruit and ice cream

See my article about chicken de Bresse here.

Pick of flavour: Cervelle de canut - very fresh cream cheese spread

Happy reading,

Maison Emil Paris :)

Cheese spread made of fromage blanc and many herbs

Brioche with cervelat sausage in wine sauce

Cervelat sausage with pistache

Chicken liver custard in crayfish

Poularde de Bresse Demi Deuil

Silky smooth skin - a sign of quality

Red fruit tiramisu

Regional Cuisine - Perigord

Perigord cuisine is rich because Perigord is a region known for its duck and goose products, such as duck fat, foie gras (fatty duck liver), confit de canard (legs cooked in duck fat). It's also the centre of French truffle :)

Our regional menu consists of the following dishes:
Rillette (duck meat cooked in duck fat at low temperature overnight)
Garbure (a winter soup involving duck stock, duck meat, porc sausage)
Cod marinated in soya and brandade

Duck breast

Chocolate mousse cake and sheep yogurt icecream

Nutty macaroons a la Maison Emil

Was chatting with my friend Laurence, who mentioned about how much she loved the Italian amoretti morbidi (soft and chewy almond biscuits). I love them too, but I prefer them a bit coarse. And since I also like hazelnut, I add both hazelnut and almond powder in my mixture. I cannot call these Amoretti morbidi as I did not add any Amoretto liquor :)

Nutty macaroons a la Maison Emil

Never understood the buzz around the French macarons (which is different from these macaroons). Sure the French macarons are pretty, colourful, and tasty with various types of filling, but they are way too sweet. These nutty macaroons a la Maison are crispy outside and soft inside, and gluten free too. Perfect for my high tea guests :)

Crispy outside and soft inside and gluten free

Ingredients (15 big macaroons)

- 3 egg whites -> slightly whisked until foamy

- 100 g ground hazelnut (with skin)

- 100 g ground almond (no skin)

- 100 g icing sugar - sifted (150-175g if you prefer sweeter macaroons)

- Additional icing sugar (25g) for rolling

- 1/2 teaspoon chocolate powder - gives a nice smell, but does not take away the nutty flavour. Alternatively, you can add 1 tablespoon of Amoretto liquor

- A pinch of salt

- A pinch if dry vanilla seed in powder (optional)

Tools:

Baking tray, parchment paper, whisk, tea spoons, plastic film

Method

1. Add all dry ingredients to the egg white mixture. Combine quickly. Do not overmix. 

For chewy macaroons, cover with a plastic film and let rest in the fridge overnight. 

For quick version, let the mixture (covered with film) rest 15-20 minutes in the fridge.

Natural and quick version to form macaroon balls (sticky mixture, so work fast)

2. Take one full teaspoon of mixture and drop it on a plate of icing sugar with the other teaspoon, roll quickly to cover it with icing sugar and transfer it on a baking tray.

Of course you can make pretty and snobbish macaroons with a piping bag, but the mixture is sticky, so I recommend using two teaspoons :) This method gives a more organic and artisanal look - haha :)

3. Let the mixture sit and dry in room temperature for 30 min.

4. Turn on the oven, 200 degrees Celcius.

5. Bake the macaroons for 7 mins. (I use fan in my oven, but oven performance varies, so pay attention). 

Don't overbake else the inside will dry. These are not the crispy and dry Amoretti biscuits, but a soft version :)

6. Let these cool on a grill.

Happy baking,

Maison Emil Paris :)

Egg whites, icing sugar, chocolate powder, hazelnut and almond powder

Mix quickly

Macaroons ready for resting 30 min

Happy tasting :)