Cooking School in Paris

Today was the day for Promenades Gourmandes cooking class with Chef Paule Caillat. Born in Paris, but college-educated in the United States, Chef Paule is truly bilingual. Some 20 years ago, after a sucessful career in the fashion design industry, she made the decision to give French cooking lessons to English-speakers in France. At the time she assumed these would be ex-pats now living in France. But to her surprise, a short time later, many tourists from all over the world began signing up for her class, and today she has one of the most successful cooking classes in Paris.
We began the morning at le Boucherie du Marais close by on rue Bretagne, where we chose duck breast steaks for our lunch today.

That's also where I first met Michael and his son Patrick from Australia. Apparently Michael is quite the gourmet cook and Patrick a cook in training per his Dad. Michael relayed to me that their highest priority in searching for an apartment in Paris for the week was a workable gourmet kitchen.

After carefully choosing our duck steaks, we were off to the flower market at Le Marche des Enfants Rouges -- the oldest market in Paris which I visited earlier in my trip. After choosing flowers for the table, and a variety of cheeses for a cheese-tasting later that morning, we were off to the produce store.

Chef Paule's favorite produce store on rue Bretagne where we picked out raspberries and strawberries to adorn the almond-creme tarte. By this time our mouths were watering just thinking about the menu.

After a busy morning of shopping, we finally arrived at Chef Paule's home where we began our preparations for our luncheon. Here Chef Paule and I are chopping vegetables for the Tajine de Legumes -- a Moroccan style dish with vegetables of the season and Moroccan spices.

TAJINE DE LEGUMES

The remainder of the menu included Petit Souffles Suisses with Bechamel sauce, Browned Duck Breasts with Sauce Bordelaise, and a Tarte aux Fraises Creme d’Armandes for dessert. Chef Paule's husband and a good friend of her's joined us for lunch and we all had a marvelous time talking about France, Australia, Tasmania, and the US.

TARTE AUX FRAISES CREME D'ARMANDES

JACQUES GENIN -- FONDEUR EN CHOCOLAT
When I was leaving Chef Paule's home today, she gave me the address of this Chocolatier, saying it was nearby and one of the best in Paris. So I wandered by on the way home, found that it was right around the corner from me (glad I did not know this sooner), and bought a bit of chocolate for a gift. I was also delighted to find out that they, too, offer the buyer a piece of chocolate to sample.

PAIN de SUCRE
Since Chef Paule also thought to impart her opinion on the very best pâtisserie in Paris, I felt it was my duty to drop by there as well and choose at least one tiny pastry to take home for my dinner. It was definitely difficult to choose, but a nice ending to my favorite "foodie" day in Paris.

Au Revoir