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What's on your plate today?

I got .... creative. Bacon-wrapped salmon filet on top of roasted asparagus.

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~Boar
 
Very pic heavy posts from my exploits in Paris a week ago. I got some good foodie notches on my belt.

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Picnicking was the thing. This was from our first day and this was quite an epic picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower. Quite a lot of cheese, meats, pastries, and baguettes were consumed during this trip. During this evening alone between five of us we went through 7 bottles of wine. As if that wasn't enough, we stopped at a pub for a couple rounds after before crashing for the night.

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The next night we had dinner at Chez Denise. We all ordered different meals and shared. There was brains, tripes in calvados (my pick), cote de boeuf, steak tartar, kidneys, etc. My favorite of the dishes was the tripes, followed by the cote de boeuf, steak tartar, brains, and kidneys. We finished with the rhum baba (rum soaked cake) which was unbelievable.
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You seriously can't go a block without seeing a cheese shop, charcuterie, boulanger, patisserie, etc.

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I have a sick and demented streak of finding Mexican food in nations that have no business serving Mexican food. This gigantic burrito looking thing was called a "taco", and you could mix and match ingredients. While trying to rush my way through the ordering process with the not-very-fluent in English worker there, I got mine filled with chicken, egg, and some sort of cheesy white sauce. It wasn't terrible.

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Apricot flan. This was part of my breakfast which I ate while sitting by myself at a park a couple blocks away from our hotel. Suffice it to say that the pastries in France were as numerous as they were mouth watering delicious.
 
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Another day, another picnic. This time in the gardens of Versailles. In the background, small potatoes cooked in the drippings of rotisserie chickens. On the left, some sort of pate. I forgot what kind. On the right, slices of andouillette. My first time trying andouillette, and for those that don't know, it's made with the intestines and rectum of pigs (if I remember correctly). Yes, it does kinda taste like ass. No, it's really not that bad, either. Different strokes for different blokes, as I say.

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It wouldn't be a trip to France without the foie gras.

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Some pho with raw beef for a change of pace. We also had some Chinese style dumplings (curiously referred to as raviolis) from another place that were excellent.

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Dinner at Au Pied De Cochon including boudin noir, escargot, French onion soup, and a sampler of pork goodies including the snout, foot, leg, and tail. All the food was delicious.
 
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Lunch at Les Tantes Jeanne in Montemart. This place was as fancy as we got during our trip. I got the prix fix menu and this was one of the 2 starters. This was steak tartar however the white streaks you see are not fat, but cheese.

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This was the second main dish of the menu. The slab of beef below was a fresh French cut. The one on top was aged 70 days. Both were unbelievable.

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Dinner at another restaurant during our last night. This was boudin noir paired with a baked apple. While it seemed like an unlikely combo, it was unbelievable how well the sausage and the apple complemented each other perfectly.

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Lunch before heading to the airport to head back home. Croque Madame, which is basically a grilled cheese with ham in the middle and an egg on top.

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Last pic. Perhaps as French as it gets.
 
I can see how cooked blood sausage would go with the baked apple. Not sure if uncooked (or unheated) would do as well though.
 
I've been fiddling around with my Tom Kha Gai recipe & I think I've finally got it perfected---the broth is two stalks of lemongrass, 6 thin slices of ginger root, and a tablespoon each of toasted sesame oil, Vietnamese fish sauce, sambal oelek, lime juice and Thai red curry paste simmered in a can of coconut milk and an equal amount of chicken bone broth for awhile.

After it's good and steeped (about 15 minutes at a low boil) you strain everything out and add a can of straw mushrooms, a sliced chicken breast, and about half a cup of fresh basil, rolled up and chopped thin on the bias. I'd been using fresh chicken breast, thinly sliced and seared, but it was coming out a little dry and tough. Tonight I decided to use the breast meat from a lemon pepper seasoned rotisserie chicken and ZOMG, it was absolutely amazing.

~Boar
 
Not A Nice Person said:
I've been fiddling around with my Tom Kha Gai recipe & I think I've finally got it perfected---the broth is two stalks of lemongrass, 6 thin slices of ginger root, and a tablespoon each of toasted sesame oil, Vietnamese fish sauce, sambal oelek, lime juice and Thai red curry paste simmered in a can of coconut milk and an equal amount of chicken bone broth for awhile.

After it's good and steeped (about 15 minutes at a low boil) you strain everything out and add a can of straw mushrooms, a sliced chicken breast, and about half a cup of fresh basil, rolled up and chopped thin on the bias. I'd been using fresh chicken breast, thinly sliced and seared, but it was coming out a little dry and tough. Tonight I decided to use the breast meat from a lemon pepper seasoned rotisserie chicken and ZOMG, it was absolutely amazing.

~Boar
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So the rotisserie chicken was already cooked?
 
Not A Nice Person said:
Yep. Better AND easier!

~Boar
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I don't make this a lot but I've used thin sliced (1/4" of whatever chicken I have around) for about 6-8 min (depending on your idea of simmering) in a barely simmering pot. I've never cooked it ahead. How long did you keep it in the pot?
 
AVB said:
I don't make this a lot but I've used thin sliced (1/4" of whatever chicken I have around) for about 6-8 min (depending on your idea of simmering) in a barely simmering pot. I've never cooked it ahead. How long did you keep it in the pot?
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It varies. The recipe I had said to lightly sear the chicken first, then simmer it in the strained broth until done, about 10-15 minutes. I wasn't happy with how it was coming out, though. The rotisserie chicken I simmered at a low boil for about the same, to get all the flavors melded.

~Boar
 
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