Today we scheduled a private cooking class with French Chef Eric Fraudeau. In hindsight this may have been an advantageous beginning for a prolonged stay in Paris, as we began our time together with a trip to the local favorite markets. We met Eric at Poissone Pepone, for seafood selection on the corner of Rue Lepic and Rue Abessess. For almost two weeks now we have walked by this hub eyeballing the shrimp as they stared back, but...just didn't know what to do with them - legs, eyeballs and all! So here we are, just ordered about six of them, as part of this list of ingredients Eric has brought along for our morning shopping excursion. We made two more stops for the vegetables, greens and herbs. Today's menu: Avocado & Shrimp Salad Layered Tower (I will get the French title later) drizzled with a grapefruit and cilantro dressing, followed by the main course of Roasted Chicken and Rosemary Potatoes, endearingly called Poulle Grandmere - or Grandma's Chicken - accompanied by a very nice bottle of white wine and punctuated by another epicurean delight - Tarte Chocolat - no translation needed. As the good chef's assistant I was assigned the task, a total abandonement of my policy of not cooking with things that have eyes still attached, of preparing the shrimp. So after a quick blessing, off came the heads and so on. In the end we had beautiful shrimp fillets for our salad to come. There was of course much more peeling, slicing, dicing - a little of this, a little of that - umm perhaps a bit more of THAT! The kitchen beginning to heat up, steaming with the fantastic aromas of onion, garlic, rosemary and cilantro dancing together - a little French air conditioning was called for to keep our Chef cool - windows open with breezes traversing one another. Steam is rising from the pot of Grandma's Chicken on the stove top - the Chocolate Tart, layered with market fresh strawberries (which is actually an oxymoron) has by now made it's way into the refrigerator to cool and at the same time we are building our salad tower with a presentation that rivaled the finest of restaurants. The culmination of tastes just in the salad was indescribable - but you might get this - I was one thought away from picking up my plate after the last bite and licking it clean. How tacky would that have been? Enough said. I could go on and on, but I'd rather leave you wanting for more, exactly the feeling we had as the last bit of Chocolate Tart was washed down by a swig of coffee. Beyond our dancing tastebuds the time with Eric - with all of our preparations, drinking, eating and chatting has been a highlight of this trip and an experience I recommend highly. Eric is soon opening an intimate cooking school in Montmartre for visitors, plus he offers the private shopping, tasting and cooking classes in the privacy of your apartment. Check out his website at www.cooknwithclass.com.
Bon apetite - Lori Brookes!
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