Tag Archives: Paris

Christmas meal essentials!

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One of my favorite things to do in Paris is visiting La Grande Epicerie de Paris. Their recent renovation is so stylish and the service impeccable. Not forgetting their sophisticated food items’ offer and regular dégustations…

To add that extra touch of elegance and perfection to our Christmas meal, I did a bit of groceries at La Grande Epicerie de Paris on the Christmas Eve and this was the result: Christmas essentials from La Grande Epicerie de Paris

From left to the right:

  • Bordier butter: the butter of “the real chefs”; the best butter in the world
  • Grey salt from Guérande with summer truffle by Maison de la Truffe: an absolute cooking must! (if you like truffle, do not miss their restaurant at 19, place de la Madeleine)
  • Balsamic vinegar from Modena by Fernando Pensato: a fine product of Italy, used by the most elegant restaurant and hotels of the world
  • Extra virgin olive oil with white truffle: another cooking must by Maison de la Truffe. Particularly good with the Finnish sweetened potato casserole
  • Organic Boletus-mushroom mustard by Savor & sens: excellent with smoked salmon
  • Onion confit by Le Coq Noir: an essential companion to foie gras
  • Scallops-flavored tarama: a bit more original than the ordinary tarama (also exists in truffle and other flavors)

La Grande Epicerie de Paris: http://www.lagrandeepicerie.com/en.html

French Christmas meal: stuffed goose from Les Provinces

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Traditional Finnish Christmas meal includes an oven-cooked ham but my parents happily followed French traditions while in Paris. Good for me, as I do not eat pork! Les Provinces

One week before Christmas we visited the boucherie-restaurant Les Provinces near Marché d’Aligre to see what our options for the Christmas meal are. The most typical French Christmas meat (poultry) is capon, a castrated rooster, but the butcher suggested we buy goose. After discussing the choice between the capon and the goose with everyone, we agreed that we prefer goose. Price-wise there was no difference and we had a feeling that the goose will be more original –the goose meat is more reddish brown (similar to duck or duckling) whereas the capon remains white as chicken (but is more fatty). So, “Prepare us a nice big goose with stuffing” we told the butcher and left a 10€ prepayment!Les Provinces

In the afternoon of the Christmas Eve we returned to fetch our stuffed goose and in the late morning of the Christmas Day we opened the package to find a beautiful, fat goose from Anjou with some organs aside for those who appreciate them.stuffed goose from Anjou

We followed the roasting instructions: higher temperature in the beginning that gives the goose golden color and crispy texture, and lower temperature during the rest of the time with the aluminium foil. We added a glass of water in the casserole and kept moistening the goose with this water (some fat drained from the goose and mixed with the water). 2 1/2 hours later our goose left the oven and was ready to be cut. Such a beautiful piece of goose it was! roasted goose

Everyone loved the goose and it will surely find its way to our Christmas table again in future! We enjoyed it with sweetened potato casserole, a Finnish dish, but you could also serve roasted carrots and potatoes or other vegetable with it. The red wine we had was Mas des Montagnes, “Terroirs d’Altitude” AOC Côtes du Roussillon Villages, and it was really excellent!!

The stuffing our goose had included veal, poultry liver, onion, alcohol, herbs and spices, and no pork, but remember that nothing prevents you from creating your own stuffing…

Boucherie-restaurant Les Provinces: Easy Saturday dinner from the Aligre Market

Wine: Maison Lorgeril from Languedoc-Roussillon and http://www.lorgeril.com/2-35542-Terroir-d-Altitude.php

PS As a bonus, here you go with a photo of the organs we prepared some days after Christmas. We recognized liver and gizzard but were not sure about the rest. Do you have an idea? goose organs

Importance of the new year

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The first day of a new year; new opportunities, new beginnings. To make promises or not to make? Continue to wish for a better life? My wish to everyone including myself is very simple: make sure you begin this new year with things you love. Doing things that bring you happiness will make this year a good one!!

After taking my parents to the airport, I prepared a small tapas dinner of ingredients that I love (Russian caviar, French champagne, artichokes, salmon etc.) and I am now going to enjoy it with my husband. Happy new year once more to all of you!!new year in Paris

PS Already following Pearlspotting on facebook?

Happy new year dear everyone!

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Champagne in Paris! Big Indian dinner waiting for us at the table!

Happiest new year to all of you and your loved ones!!

champagne new year paris

Elegant amuse-bouche recipe for Christmas

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Our Franco-Finnish Christmas meal begun with an amuse-bouche of quail eggs. These eggs make an elegant alternative to normal eggs and are pretty easy to find everywhere. We had tarama and black caviar as a topping but only your imagination is limit! Here you go with my recipe:

1. Boil the eggs for 5 minutes. I was under the impression that I should put the eggs into boiling water but when I did this, they cracked. Thankfully I had bought a dozen of eggs, so I boiled new eggs but this time in cold water and in lower temperature. The second time no egg cracked.quail eggs amuse-bouche2. Peel the eggs. Keep the eggs in cold water for a good 10-15 minutes before you start peeling the shells off. Change the water to keep it cool, if necessary. Once you start peeling, be careful. This is the trickiest part as you can see in the photo above….

3. Cut and place the eggs on a serving platter or a cocktail plate. A tip: have you ever wondered how to make an egg stand still? By cutting a tiny slice off of its bottom!

4. Be a Michelin-starred chef! Think of the presentation and colors. Green always looks great with yellow and white, so I added slices of leek and cucumber.quail eggs with cucumber

5. Topping: I added scallop tarama and black Russian caviar on both eggs, with a sprinkle of dill, but I am sure that herring, salmon, dried and smoked meats, cream soft cheese etc. would all marry well with quail eggs! And if you want to make the amuse-bouche a bit more heavier, place the egg slices on a blini….quail eggs with caviar and tarama

Voila, the easiest and classiest amuse-bouches are ready to be served with French champagne! Happy Boxing Day everyone.

Merry Christmas!!

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midnight mass at Notre DameWith this photo taken at the midnight mass at Notre Dame de Paris, I wish my dear family, friends and followers a merry Christmas!!

Christmas food shopping at the Bastille Market

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Today’s mission was to buy tons of fruits and vegetables for Christmas. The Bastille market was even more attractive than usually and some stalls had installed Christmas decorations. There were more specialty foods like stuffed lobster tails as well as different types of poultry. They looked so delicious and mouth watering that I had to get some photos to share with you –enjoy!

Scallops: scallops

Blue Breton lobster and sea urchins: Blue Breton lobster and sea urchin

Famous “Bresse chicken”: Bresse chicken

Snails with parsley and garlic: snails

Frog legs, of course!frog legs

Chapon (capon/rooster) and goose, traditional French Christmas poultry:capon

We skipped all of these appetizing foods and focused just on fruits and vegetables. Upon arrival at home, I placed everything on the dining table and this is what it looked like: fruits and vegetables from the Bastille Market

Tomorrow we continue the groceries and the list includes: foie gras, oysters, blinis, fish eggs, ingredients for chocolate cake and Mont d’or cheese. Not forgetting wine from Le Baron Rouge! Tuesday will be another big day as our stuffed goose is ready and we can pick it up. So, three more nights until the Christmas Day and the menu already looking fine!

How is your menu coming along? What are your favorite Christmas dishes and do you prepare them yourself?  Follow Pearlspotting on Facebook to read more about our Franco-Finnish Christmas in Paris!

Bringing a little bit of Finnish Christmas to Paris

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My parents arrived in Paris yesterday, carrying a little bit of Finland in their suitcase.

Finnish Christmas treeFirst of all, they brought us a tiny pine with some Christmas decorations. The tree seems to be seven years old and now waits in the kitchen to be properly planted. It will be interesting to see how it will like French climate and after how many years it has to be moved to the balcony?

transporting frozen fish in a suitcaseIn addition we received almost ten kilos of fish caught by my father in our summer house lake: salmon (järvilohi = landlocked salmon) and pikeperch (kuha). They were frozen when they left Finland and arrived intact upon arrival in Paris. I put them directly back to the freezer together with some berries sent to us by friends of my parents. No shortage of organic, local and healthy food this winter!

Do you think we will manage to succeed in creating a fine Franco-Finnish Christmas in Paris this year? What about you: how is your own Christmas coming along? Do you have influences from different countries and cultures? I would love to learn more about you!

PS If you find this interesting and fun, why not to check out Pearlspotting’s Facebook page too!

Parisian fireplace

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Our renovation company came over this morning to do some last touch up paint, so it was a convenient day to begin pre-Christmas cleaning. I used the opportunity to see what our 1870s marble fireplace looks like without the mirror and all other decorations and this is it, in its rather minimalist style: Parisian marble fire place from 1870s

The round wooden boxes come from Afghanistan and the region. I learned in Turkey, where I bought them, to keep almonds and pistachios inside, but I do wonder what tribal treasures they carried one hundred years ago?

The painting is by a young, talented Parisian artist called Dominique Dubien (http://dominiquedubien.com/).

PS Already following Pearlspotting’s Facebook page?

White Finnish Christmas

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I do like celebrating Christmas in Finland, especially during those years when there is a lot of snow, but I do not need to go back there every year. I am not one of those people who follows all Christmas traditions. I do not even like most of the traditional Finnish Christmas dishes. I have spent many Christmases abroad and to be honest, one of my most memorable Christmases was in Mamallapuram, India (eating lamb chops!). Quite a traitor, some of you are thinking now…

This year we are going to celebrate Christmas with my parents in Paris. The preparations are yet to be completed, but on the 24th we are invited to a birthday party/Russian Christmas Eve buffet at a friend’s place. After smoked salmon and champagne, our night will probably continue to the midnight mass at Notre Dame. Sounds like an other excellent way to start the celebrations to me!

However, to pay respect to the Finnish Christmas and to show you how it looks like, I thought to share some old photos from where my parents live. In this first photo, you can see my father preparing a path for ice skating (yes, he is walking on a frozen river!).Finland at Christmas time

This next photo shows you the house from the river. There is a very little of light around the Christmas period, but often a nice blue light appears just before the sun sets.. frozen lake in Finland

In this last photo you can see a huge pile of snow that we accumulated by keeping the ice path free of snow. We thought of constructing an igloo of it but the time run out! snow in Finland

If I get a permission from the people involved, I will post more photos of Christmas in Finland and especially of what jumping half-naked to the frozen river or lake means…! Meanwhile, what does your Christmas usually look like? Which has been your most memorable Christmas?