Dining Experience – Ladurée Bonaparte, Paris

Ladurée Bonaparte

21 rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris

T 01 44 07 64 87

http://www.laduree.fr/v1/public_en/maisons/bonaparte_accueil.htm

I went to Paris last summer for a few days and convinced my husband to splurge a little and have breakfast at Ladurée. We went to Ladurée in Saint Germain, it was quite close to our hotel and the neighborhood is delightful, lovely shops and bistros.

You can see the entire menu from the Ladurée website. The tea room has a beautiful decoration, with Chinese motifs, beautiful wallpaper and furniture – as you would expect in a Ladurée tea room.

We ordered the Bonaparte Breakfast (EUR 27.00) which included a basket of mini viennoiseries and traditional bread with butter and jam, orange or grapefuit juice, coffee, tea or hot chocolate and a boiled egg and fresh fruit salad. It is a great brunch to start a day in Paris, specially when so much walking is involved.

The viennoiseries were perfect, one of the best pain au chocolat ever (although not as good as the Pâtisserie des Reves though – I will make a post on that soon), everything done to perfection. The only exception was the service, not as good as you would expect. It was lovely to sit there and see Parisian ladies having their breakfast together.

I highly recommend it, even if it is just to have a cup of coffee and a macaroon. You cannot go wrong with a Ladurée macaroon.

Lovely Experience – Dream Buy

I love baking and usually you need a good beater to prepare cakes, meringue, dough, etc. I usually to it all by hand as I have not bought a beater when we moved to our flat. Sometimes I think they are so difficult to use, clean, that I prefer to do the beating by hand, which of course is much more tiring and the result is not as good as with an electric beater. Anyhow, if I could afford one, I would have this one:

It would be part of my kitchen décor and would certainly not be shoved away in some odd cupboard. It is just beautiful!

*In case you are interested, you can find it at John Lewis, Debenhams, Amazon, House of Fraser, Wheesh (always the best prices for appliances) and many others.

Lovely Experience – Grilled Salmon, Warm Potato Salad and Asparagus

Today was a productive day in the kitchen. Sometimes I feel like eating junk food and not cooking so I don’t have do go in the kitchen at all. Which can sometimes really happen and I don’t even know what we have in the fridge. I am very lucky to have a husband who cooks and makes me tea and doesn’t mind when I have those days, maybe because he is quite happy to eat junk food!

We are both in a sabbatical, doing our Masters Degree which means we have lots of time to cook, if we feel like it. So, today I decided to make us a nice lunch. We had frozen salmon, fresh asparagus and organic potatoes from our Abel and Cole box. Here is what I’ve done. Serves 2.

Start with the warm potato salad, as potatoes take longer to cook than the other ingredients:

3-4 medium to small size potatoes, washed

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons of horseradish

1 tablespoon of mayonnaise

Parboil the potatoes until tender. Drain and wait until it cools down a bit. Season with salt and pepper. In a bowl, mix the horseradish and mayonnaise together, then add to the potatoes and stir gently (be careful not to break the potatoes).

For the grilled salmon:

2 fillets of salmon

Butter

Freshly ground salt and pepper

Fines herbes

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Once the potatoes are cooked, heat up a non-stick frying pan, add some butter (approximately half tablespoon) and let it melt. When the butter is bubbling (hot) place the fillets and season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper and the fines herbes. Leave the fillets for about 4 minutes each side and keep en eye on them to see how they are doing. You'll get an idea of how they're cooking as you'll see the salmon change color. I did the salmon still frozen so it took a little longer to cook than it would if it was fresh. The fact that the salmon was frozen did not change the texture or the taste, it was still great. When the salmon fillets were nearly cooked, I added the lemon juice on top of the fillets.

Asparagus:

6 asparagus

Butter or olive oil

Salt and pepper

Half a lemon (zest and juice)

Trim off and discard the woody ends of the asparagus, quickly rinse the tips, and add the butter or olive oil on a non-stick pan. After the butter is melted, lay the asparagus and keep gently turning them until cooked. Add the lemon zest and juice.

Bon appétit!

Lovely Experience – Spicy Fruit Salad

The weather is getting better in London and today was sunny, dry and lovely. I went out for a walk/jog and when I came back home later in the day I felt like having something fresh. In this week’s Abel and Cole fruit and veg box there were blood oranges and I also got some regular oranges and seedless grapes… So, here it goes:

1 orange

1 blood orange

10 grapes

1 small piece of fresh ginger grated (around 1 inch would do)

Peel and chop the oranges into chunks (bite size), chop the grapes in halves and grate the ginger. Mix all the ingredients together and enjoy! If you prefer something less spicy, you can use thinly chopped stem ginger instead. 


I have a suggested soundtrack for this recipe (I always like to listen to music when I cook): Noah and the Whale, 5 Years Time.

Dining Experience – Paul’s

82A Holland Park Avenue


London

W11 3RB

T 0207 727 3797

http://www.paul-uk.com/content/whats-news.php

This is a patisserie which you can find virtually everywhere in London (check the website for the addresses) and I particularly like the one close to home. It is a lovely place to go and have breakfast or tea in the afternoon. They have the very best viennoiserie in London. I don’t think I have enough words to explain. Usually they are small with 4-5 tables, which is quite cozy. It is difficult to choose between croissants, pain au chocolat, escargot raisin… Just lovely!

Lovely Experience - Apple & Blueberry Crumble

I usually cook without measures and many of my recipes are a mixture of many recipes, ideas and tips (from my Mum, Grandma and Sister mainly). But I have been trying to think when I cook so I am able to share here.

For the filling:

3 Bramley apples (any other apple should do)

1 box of blueberries

4 tablespoons of sherry

3 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of mixed spices

1 teaspoon of ground ginger

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Peel and core the apples. Cut the apples into chunks (not too small, otherwise it will melt completely when baked) and place the apples, blueberries and all the ingredients in a pirex (which goes in the oven), mix them together and bake it in an oven at 200°C. About 30 minutes should do. The apples will be tender and golden.

For the crumble:

You can be quite creative here and mix your preferred nuts, oats or just plain flour, sugar and butter.

15g rolled oats

25g wholemeal flour

20g sugar (I prefer brown sugar, but any sugar will do)

35g margarine or butter (I prefer butter)

Place the flour and oats in a bowl and mix well. Cut the margarine or butter in to small cubes and add this to the oats and flour. Mix with your fingertips until it resembles an even crumb texture. Add the sugar and mix through. Also, if you like, you can add some cinnamon.

Cover the roasted fruits with the crumble and bake it in the oven at 200°C for 20 minutes. 

Hello Again!

So, I haven’t been very dedicated to the blog lately, a lot of things changed in my life recently and I didn’t feel like writing or sharing. Now that I am settled and life is back on track again, I felt like sharing my little gourmet experiences and recipes I have been trying. As I have had much more time to cook lately, I have tried many other recipes. I hope you’ll enjoy them! xxx