Au Revoir Yssingeaux...Bon Jour Paris!!

Time for graduation and moving on...how did it happen so quickly? As most of you know, I've been through more than a few graduations in my life, so I was actually a little blasé about this one...wasn't sure exactly what to expect...but I assumed it would be a simple little gathering where our chefs shook our hands and said "Bonne Chance". Well, let me tell you, I was wrong... these Frenchies really went all out...our graduation ceremony from Ecole Nationale Superieure de la Patisserie was quite a major ceremony, and, as I should have known, quite stylish! 

We started the day by queuing up to receive our "real chef hats" - our tocques - the tall hats - now we knew we had made it.  We then marched into the ceremony room - one of our classrooms that had been transformed with a stage, flowers and a very large banner congratulating all three of the classes that would be getting their diplomas.  We were greeted by all of the school staff, our chef instructors, several family members and friends (my husband among them) and several "visiting VIP chefs".  There was quite a bit of French pomp and circumstance - speeches by each of the chefs, speeches by a representative of each of the three graduating classes (lucky me - I was nominated by my class to give ours!), presentation of the diplomas to each student along with awards for special recognition and achievement - of course, all of it accompanied by much cheering and multiple-cheek-kissing! 

 

A great day - quite a fun way to celebrate our culinary accomplishments and to say Au Revoir and Bonne Chance to all of my classmates! My two months in Yssingeaux at ENSP has been a great experience - I've met lots of interesting people from all over the world, had great chef instructors who cared about me, and got to learn about (and sample) French pastry - it was all good! 

Graduation was on Friday and I didn't start my stagiere in Paris until the next Wednesday, so Guy and I had a few days to goof off and enjoy France before heading to the big city.  We spent a day in the nearby small town of Le Puy en Velay...wondering through the market ...

 ...and climbing the hills to visit the cathedral and get a view.

We then headed to the big city of Lyon for a few days, where we hit all of the hot spots....

---strolling along the Rhone River....

---riding a funicular up to the top of the hills to visit the cathedral and the Roman ruins, all the while enjoying the view....

 

---wandering the streets and doing some shopping and people-watching...

 

 

---and spending several hours enjoying the sun and blue sky at the local city park, which, surprisingly, had a pretty good zoo.

 

 

A very special treat was our 20th anniversary dinner at Paul Bocuse's restaurant, Auberge du Pont de Collonges.  It was an amazing evening - a lovely restaurant, unbelievable service, delicious and beautiful food -- and even a quick stop at our table and "bon appetit" wishes from the legend himself, Chef Paul Bocuse.

 

Finally, on Monday, we headed to Paris to get me settled into my apartment and get me ready for my stagiere.  We had a few days to enjoy the city before I started work, so we hit all of our favorites...

...of course, the Eiffel Tower..

...and Notre Dame - stunning by day and by night...

 

 

...it wouldn't be a visit to Paris without spending time at the Luxembourg Gardens, enjoying the beautiful scenery and watching the kids sail their rented sailboats...

 

 

 

...we had to fortify ourselves with plenty of good food and drink, like this stop at Angelina for hot chocolate and a selection from their pastry case...

 



 

...making sure we had plenty of energy for strolling the streets and shopping  - one of our favorite ways to spend time in Paris.

 



 

 

 

And, all too quickly, our days in Paris had flown by -- it was time for me to start my stagiere and time for Guy to head home.  It had been a wonderful respite - a great break between school and starting my stagiere in Paris, and, of course, a great way to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. 

 

As I said a tearful good-bye to Guy I found myself filled with quite a mix of emotions - proud to have made it through my classes at ENSP, nervous about starting my stagiere, thrilled my husband had been able to come over and share my graduation, and sad to see him leave! Whew! what a time I'm having - what an incredible journey - mon voyage culinaire! 



Queen of Tarts

I know, I know...it's been too long...je suis desole (I'm sorry, in French).  I have some catching up to do! 

Hard to believe that my time at ENSP has come to an end...all too quickly it was the last week, and we were spending our final days in the kitchen with Chef Damien learning Tarts.  For those of you who know me, you know I LOVE to make me some pie...so, of course, I was very excited to roll up the sleeves of my chef jacket and start learning about tarts!

We started the week with the basics - the various kinds of crusts used for sweet tarts, such as Pate Sucree and Pate Sable - mixing doughs to the right consistency, rolling them out to just the right thickness (in centimeters, of course) and forming them with supposedly perfect 90 degree angles in the tiny corners of those lovely tart rings.  We began with classic tarts such as Tart aux Pommes (an apple tart - filled with a thin layer of apple puree and topped with thin slices of fresh apples)...

...and Tart aux Poires ( a pear tart - filled with a layer of almond pastry cream and topped with thin slices of pear and slivered almonds).

 In addition to making lots of crusts, we learned to  make many different types of creme patissiere (pastry creams) to use for filling tarts - plain/vanilla pastry cream, almond pastry cream, praline pastry cream, lemon pastry cream, and creme Chiboust (pastry cream lightened with an Italian meringue).  I'd like to think I built up my biceps from all of the whisking...

 

Of course, it wouldn't be a class on French tarts if we didn't make a lovely fruit tart.  After filling our tart shell with creme patissiere..

...the goal was to artfully arrange all types of beautiful fresh fruit on the top.  You know me - I do much better at making crusts than artfully arranging things...but I tried!

In addition to these traditional tarts, our Chef shared his recipe for Tart Snickers - yes, that Snickers - one of his creations from the time he spent as a pastry chef in Vegas.  While it may not be classic French - let me tell you, this is one tasty little tart.  It starts with a base of creamy caramel (which I carefully watched so as not to burn)....

....next, a layer of roasted, salted peanuts tops the caramel...

 ...and finally, a layer of rich, chocolate ganache...

...and Voila - you have a Tart Snickers...as you might expect, the sweet-salty combination is just perfect.  This was definitely a class (and personal) favorite.

We also spent time this week on some other classic French desserts using doughs and creams, in addition to our tarts.  Of course, we made Pate a Choux...piping the sticky, pasty dough in several different sizes and shapes for baking, then filled them with various creams to make cream puffs, eclairs, etc.

One of my personal favorites is the classic Paris Brest - a ring of Choux Pastry which is cut in half...

....filled with hazelnut praline pastry cream...

....then the top is popped back on, with a few almonds and powdered sugar for kicks. 

Chef Damien also taught us how to make puff pastry dough by hand...he always makes it look so easy!

Ever wonder what makes puff pastry so light, fluffy and yummy - well, no surprise, it's the butter - lots of butter, layers and layers of butter. 

Essentially you have a layer of butter and a layer of dough - and you fold them, roll them, flip them, fold them, roll them, over and over again...until you end up with a multi-layer structure that yields beautiful, flaky layers of pastry when baked.  (BTW - this recipe gets filed under the category of "things I would not do at home".  All this folding and rolling is quite easy with the help of a machine called a "sheeter" - which quickly and evenly rolls the dough to the desired thickness...not so sure I would have the patience to do this in my home kitchen, without the help of that handy machine!)

 

 

And, of course, we filled our layers of puff pastry with pastry cream - making a classic Mille Feuille, literally translated as "thousand leaf".

 

As you can imagine, we were all getting a little punchy in the kitchen since it was our last week.  Here's just a peak at what happens when the Chef isn't looking!

 





 

Hard to believe, but it was finally time for our last buffet - our last buffet - how could that be?  It was definitely a mix of emotions - we were a little sad, a little tired, and very proud - all combined.

Of course, I had a few extra emotions piled on top of that...I was absolutely ecstatic that my sweet husband arrived for a visit just in time to see our last buffet.  It was a perfect way to end my time at ENSP - finally getting to share my pastries  with my biggest supporter and favorite recipe taster.  C'est Bon!