Paris in July - Learning to cook French Desserts - Guest Post

My friend Megan is an inspirational lady, with an amazing life story. One of her most admirable characteristics, despite being terribly generous, is her willingness to learn new things. She's designed and rebuilt her home, she's learnt chinese, studied law, she's an artist, as well as a senior executive in the public sector. She's been an outside observer of Paris in July for many years, (although she doesn't blog) but she's sat next to me on the train for years when I've been hosting.... Anyway, this year I've convinced her to share some thoughts as a guest blogger! 

Thank you Megan. 

This is not Megan or I, but someone who looks happy to be learning new skills...

Learning to cook French desserts

Over a quarter of a century ago I had the privilege of being taught to cook several desserts by a classically trained French chef.  Even now, I can see myself standing at the stove beside him as he helped me engage with food in a way I have never encountered. 

Like most cooks, I’d become accustomed to the different smells of food, but this was an altogether more sensual experience. I had to use my sense of hearing, sight and touch to actually produce desserts using his recipes.  This whole-of-body experience was epitomised in his recipe book – there was no method, only a list of ingredients.  Crème anglaise, as it cooks goes from a swishing sound to a whooshing one and the movement of the wooden spoon makes deep crevices rather than surface lines. It’s only then you need to start checking if it is thick enough by drawing a line across the wooden spoon.  A sabayon needs to be whisked until your pointer finger can no longer stand to be in the water bath that the mixture is sitting in. 

During that time a diner wrote to a food magazine requesting the recipe to a wonderful chocolate mousse cake we had on the menu.  As an untrained cook, I was pretty chuffed that someone had asked, but we could never provide the recipe as there was no way we could be certain that the diner could make it at home.  For this recipe my sight was the key measuring tool – Denis’ method required me to whisk the egg yolks and sugar until they came up to a dent on the side of a decades old mixing bowl.  On the off chance that one of the readers of this blog is that dis-satisfied diner, here is the recipe.  Oh, and its not a mousse cake any real sense of the word, it’s a flourless chocolate cake that is light (and gluten free) and has a moussey soft centre

This is not Megans image of her recipe, but one I've borrowed from Pardonyourfrench.com

Chocolate Mousse Cake

360g bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small bits

½ tsp vanilla

1 Tbsp brandy

50g soft unsalted butter

12 x 65g eggs, separated

50g caster sugar

Method

Grease a 26-28cm springform cake tin and line the base and sides with baking paper.

Preheat the oven to 150 Degrees C.

Melt the chocolate, butter vanilla and brandy in a bowl over a bain-marie of hot water.  Let it cool

Beat the egg yolks with 30g of the sugar until pale and the mix “ribbons” – which means little rivers of pale yolkiness sit on top of the mix before slowing sinking

Mix the cooled chocolate and yolks together.  The chocolate needs to be cool enough not to cook the yolks but must not have begun to set

Beat the egg whites with the 20gm sugar until soft peaks form – which means that when you lift up the whisk the tips of the egg whites curl over like the top of Mister Curly’s hat (aka Michael Leunig character)

Beat ¼ of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mix – use a large metal spoon and lift the mix up and let it fall softly back into the chocolate. 

Now fold this lightened chocolate mix gently but thoroughly back into the remaining egg white mixture. A big balloon whisk is good for this

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 50-60 minutes. It should remain slightly moist in the centre with a thin crustiness on the outside. Remove the ring and base. Leave it to cool completely. The cake will collapse a little.

It needs to be cut with a knife dipped in hot water, otherwise the moist centre will stick to your knife and pull the cake apart.

Serve with whipped cream and raspberries.

Regards

Megan

Paris in July - Week 2

Merci mes amis.... what a wonderful first week we've had in this Paris in July. My habit is to try and provide a summary of the weeks posts from across the globe, and launch the 2nd week. So despite being really busy at work at the moment, I've tried to get around and visit you all. I've really enjoyed the excitement, passion and, as we've experienced before, the diversity of posts.

Book reviews filled many of the posts this past week - love stories, world war II stories, crime books, and of course foodie books. But my favourite book post this week was Deb Nance @ ReaderBuzz and her post of favorite french stories from childhood. There were also a couple of reviews that I appreciated because they warned us... Mae posted on a disappointing read of A taste of Paris, and Becky posted on a dark and creepy book called Dark Triumph..

Photo's and Memories of visits past also featured.. I just loved Carola Bartz  post on the City of Lights - gorgeous! Junkboattravels and Kwakito also posted some fantastic images of a city we all love... please share more photos!

Shopping in Paris made it to one post - but dont we all love shopping in Paris. Jeanie went shopping for art supplies and books. What a fun way to turn your artwork into a memory... I challenge more participants to recall their shopping experiences in Paris!

I think I was the only blogger who posted on French food this week, but next week is Bastille Day, or Le Quatorze Juillet, so maybe there'll be more food and wine to post on?

Now, only one of us made mention of La Tour de France - A Strong Belief in Wicker - but I am also a lover of La Tour. We are so lucky here in Australia to have the best commentary on La Tour de France through SBS. I'm sorry those from other countries cant see it. It's just a beautiful presentation of the country of france, the race, the teams, race tastics, and we have our 'taste of the tour' show as well - featuring food of the region the race is travelling through. A strong belief in wicker and I will become a little sleep deprived because the race shows between 11pm and 1:30am on Australian TV.

Here's to Week 2 - where I will feature a post from a guest cook and we'll end with something to celebrate Le Quatorze Juillet.

La Raclette

Paris in July is a blogging event with participants all over the globe celebrating all things Parissienne and French. For me, I love French Food, Wine and especially cheese. This week, my French class had a party, une fete de la Raclette. Oh my did we fill up on cheese... 

Here you can see the little cheese pans under the griller...and potatoes on the top.

CHEESE ON CHEESE ON CHEESE

If you are the kind of person that indiscriminately put cheese on everything that you eat (aren’t we all, deep down) La Raclette is the lunchtime treat for you. Essentially it’s a hard cheese that grilled ‘til it’s golden and bubbling, then scraped into a delicious gooey mess over potatoes and gherkins or straight into toasties. Pure heaven
.

Have you ever done this? This device has 2 layers for heating. Under the top tray is the griller. You put your cheese in a little pan under the grill, then when its all melty and yummy, you drizzle it over the plate of chosen items - sliced meat, potatoes, mushrooms, gerkins, capsicum etc..... on the top surface you can heat your other ingredients. We did les champinions et la pomme de terre. 

My other Paris in July intentions include 2 guest posts, a celebration of La Quartoze Juillet, some reflections on french music, a movie, and maybe a  book or parts thereof.. 

For those joining in this blogging event, I'll do a summary post kn sunday and a new mr linky for next week.. 

Paris in July - l'événement de blogging commence

This picture sits on the bench in my Library reminding me of trips I've had to Paris. The actual art work in the frame was a flier inviting us to an art exhibition in Les Jardins du Luxembourg.

What reminds you of Paris? What do you dream of when you think of Paris? What is it that helps you capture those memories or hopes?

Paris in July is a time when we reflect on our love of Paris, and all things French, and when we (most often) vicariously visit Paris through books, music, theatre, film or food.... over the years, bloggers have joined in the Paris in July blogging event for as little as one post, or as many as 3 posts a week! Mel U is notably a very regular poster in Paris in July.

So, if you haven't heard about this before, you can read about it here....
If you haven't signed up yet, you can do it here.....
If you'd like to check out of event buttons - look here.

If you've got posts celebrating Paris in July, you can start sharing your links below in the Mr Linky..

Paris in July 2019 - button options.

Wow, aren't these fantastic options? 

The Paris in July community have come to the party, and here's the choices for Paris in July Buttons this year. 

 Pretty in Pink - offered by Lisbeth @ The Content Reader

 Marc Chargall - offered by Mel U @ The Reading Life

Best food in the World - offered by Mae @ Maes Food Blog

La Tour Eiffel - offered by me. 

Image

Thank you everyone for making these offerings to Paris in July 2019. It's not long now... Start spreading the word!

If you haven't signed up yet, do so here

Paris in July 2019 - Sign Up

image credit

Welcome to the sign up post for Paris in July 2019. I will keep a link to this page in all the posts this month for easy access. Once you've signed up here, I will add your link to the blog roll on the side of my blog also. 

Buttons - I have had no creative offers of buttons - so I'll work on something a little more original this week. But for the time being if you have any images you could offer for the event, let me know. contact me here...

Event Description 

Paris in July is a French themed blogging experience running from the 1^st – 31^st July this year.

The aim of the month is to celebrate our French experiences through actual visits, or through reading, watching, listening, observing, cooking and eating all things French!  Here's a link to some of my previous reviews.

There will be no rules or targets in terms of how much you need to do or complete in order to be a part of this experience – just blog about anything French and you can join in! Some ideas might include;

• reading a French themed book – fiction or non-fiction, 

• watching a French movie, 

• listening to French music, 

• cooking French food, 

• experiencing French, art, architecture and travel

If you are interested in being a part of this experience use the MrLinky widget below to add in your details. 

Over the past few years, it's worked out that I've tended to post a new MrLinky each week so we can keep up with our fellow players, and follow each others Paris in July Journey.  NB, when you enter your name, also enter in brackets the theme of your posts ie, Tamara (Book review).....

In the lead up to July, you may like to post some of your intentions... let us know what you're interested in and what Paris in July means to you. We love to share this journey! 

Paris in July 2019.... Lets go!

So here it is.... Paris in July 2019.

I'm sure it needs no explanation , but for those who would like a brief description, Paris in July is a month long blogging event, with very few rules - except to focus on something Parisienne, French, or from France.... movies, books, authors, food, places, music, experiences, people, culture, history, future.... whatever you like to blog about - just do a post on something you love about Paris or France, and link it in.

There's no rules on how many posts you need to do with a French theme, and there's no limit on it either! Some of the usual participants dedicate the whole month to Paris in July, while others just link in from time to time. Some are solely into books and authors, while others try and test from all things Paris and France... So, weather you in boots n all, or just for a taster, join in, and enjoy the journey.

• Starting next week - 15th June - I will post a Mister Linky widget - so you can register your interest
• Then I will start a Paris in July 2019 blog roll on the side of my blog so you can easily find each other
• If you want to see what others have posted on in the past, I've done my best to keep an archive here

Homework for this week - I would like to invite a creative lover of Paris in July to design us a button or logo - something that we can share in all our posts to connect us all together. Here's a sample of buttons from the past. You can find my email in the 'about me' section on my blog.