but, as we turn the corner into Spring, I just adore the late light lending its golden touch to all the new growth waking up from Winter. Even if you dared me, I couldn’t stop my smile when I see the first blossoms of the season.. This shot is taken down next to our dam at home, just lovely!
We arrived in Paris about 6.30 p.m. in the evening from Tokyo.
We demurred a great deal on how to get to the hotel and tired as we were we decided on a taxi. A perfectly nice 2 star hotel in the best of districts and just around the corner from Mulot’s Patisserie, which is absolutely deadly!
We had quite a handful of recommendations for dinner but sometimes you’re just too tired and as Hotel Clement is just off Rue de Seine and within stumbling distance of the hotel we had 20 small restaurants to choose from. So many Italian restaurants, which were hardly what we wanted in Paris. Lesson One: Take the trouble to find out where to eat even when you’re bone tired. Staying just 4 nights doesn’t allow for such mistakes!
Wednesday morning we woke quite early and headed immediately around to Mulot’s Patisserie only to find Wednesday was their day closed!
Our second choice was a typical corner bar with single rows of cane chairs facing the square of St. Sulpice. Worth it for the atmosphere with the antique fair on in the market place in front of St. Sulpice and tremendous activity.
On Friday we met up with our friend Benedict at the market near his home near the Eiffel tower, just across the river near Radio France. The market is at Rue Gros Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Benedict introduced us to Joel Thiebaut who supplies many of the good restaurants of Paris. His farm is 30 kilometres from Paris on the river and he has a great relationship with his chefs who often bring back seeds when in other countries.
The difference with his stall (which was the biggest of the market) was that everything he was selling he had grown and picked the night before. The freshness was palpable whereas all the other vegetable stores had boxes of veggies from all over Europe, which of course gave a greater choice, but there was no comparing the quality…you can imagine how well we got along! Would love to visit at the end of summer when Joel has 100 different varieties of tomatoes from his own garden!
Cote du Rhome 2005 Poigree de Raisins (translates as a handful of raisins) actually Shiraz…a good wine – very fruity and quite light
Boudin.. A bar of cold black sausage with no skin served simply with a pot of hot potato cream
Beautifully braised leeks in vinaigrette
Pain au Chocolat…. An amazing pastry with bitter chocolate.
I’ve just made myself hungry again! Good thing there will be more from Paris next newsletter..
A Taste of Slow - 2006 is here! It runs from 28 August - 10 September in Melbourne and this year I’ll simply be giving some encouragement with Stephanie's Kitchen Garden and Salad Bar. As part of a fantastic foundation, children participating in Stephanie’s Kitchen Garden learn new skills both in the kitchen and the garden, experience new flavours and build a strong connection to the land. For their part in the Taste of Slow programme, the children will harvest the spring market garden they have grown especially for this event. With a little help from Stephanie they will be making delicious salads and showing off their culinary skills! It’s going to be a great couple of days.. I hope you’ll pop in and say hi if you’re able to .
Not sure what to have for dinner? Watch Maggie cooking up a bounty of inspiration on the big screen while you shop! What a perfect combination.. Maggie's delicious food and gourmet television.
If you find yourself in Burnside please make sure to drop in to Barossa Farm Produce and have your shopping list prompted by Maggie's recipes as they appear in crystal clear high definition on the new instore BeoVision 7 flatscreen LCD television from Bang & Olufsen.
And if you want the complete 'Maggie' cooking experience then you'll need some beautiful music.. Just mention our Food Club Newsletter at Bang & Olufsen David Jones Adelaide and as one of the first 30 food club members to do so, you'll receive a gift boxed CD with 10 classical tracks conducted by Claudio Abbado (recorded on Bang & Olufsen equipment, of course.)Looks good, sounds good, tastes good!
My Poorman’s orange tree is just laden and looking so beautiful I had to share this photo..
'Poorman Orange' is the rind of choice for those who make their own marmalade jam. It was reported to have been brought to Australia from Shanghai in China in 1820 and specimens sent to New Zealand in 1855, where it gained some notoriety. This is the 'Sunfruit' that is exported to England for their marmalade craving.
And while it’s been made quite clear how much I adore a good marmalade, this is a member of the citrus family I also like to candy. Absolutely delicious! Try it with any thick skinned citrus but I wondered if I mightn’t be the only one looking for alternative recipes for a bumper crop of Poor Man Oranges weighing down the boughs of backyard trees?
Cut oranges in half cross wise and using a hand juicer squeeze the juice for breakfast. Cut each half into 6 wedges - without cutting out any of the residual flesh. Place wedges into a heavy bottomed pot. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Remove from heat, drain and immediately and place wedges back in pan and cover again with cold water, then bring to the boil again. Remove from heat, then strain and weigh the fruit. As a continuous process, using the same weight of sugar as fruit place fruit and sugar back into the same pot with no added liquid. Using a simmer pad or very controlled low heat, stir till sugar dissolves and allow to cook slowly for approximately an hour stirring occasionally. In this time most of the dissolved sugar has been incorporated into the grapefruit and there is virtually just a little stickiness in the bottom of the pan. Remove from pan and place on a cake rack over a plate and allow to drain overnight or a few hours at least. Try slicing them and toss in a little castor sugar to serve as sweetmeats or include in a bread and butter pudding.
A reward for your patience! Maggie’s new season Extra Virgin Olive Oil and famous Verjuice will now be available at Woolworth’s supermarkets.. Two essentials Maggie could never do without.. and neither should you! Grab yourself a taste of the Barossa, it’s now so much closer than you thought..
Until next month,
Congratulations to Richard Gunner whose
Coorong Angus Dry Aged Beef won the only gold medal in the branded beef competition at the Sydney Fine Food show.
A longtime favourite of Maggie’s, Richard’s beef is no longer a well kept secret it seems!
Of course we all know Maggie’s favourite French taste is pate.. and the good news is there’s another delicious flavour from Maggie’s famous range on its way! You’ll fall in love with Maggie Beer pate all over again..
We would like to congratulate our Riesling winemaker, Ben Radford on being selected in James Halliday’s top 10 this week..
Fancy a cool glass of Ben's famous white to see in the change of season?
Celebrate Spring with Beer Bros 05 Riesling.. available now
Cheers indeed Ben!