Paris, clouds and bad food

My weekly walk around Paris. Unfortunately this time, weather was crap, like... often. So I decided just go for a lunch in the brasserie "Aux deux Ecus", Rue du Louvre in the 1st arrondissement because I've already seen this place in some movie (like the movie "Julie and Julia", I've seen lately).
After I talked to you about those "grilled steak with black peper", I really wanted to go for a good steak, so here I am.

I liked, the place, with threes, spring feeling, I also like how french menue can be so simple sometimes, like to start, a basic "eggs and mayonese".
I disliked, that lettuce leaves are not seasoned. At least a little bit of oil and salt would be tasty, no ?

I liked, that the waiter recomended me a cheap wine, to fit with the dish I chose : Bordeau "Moulin Laborde", wich was actually pretty good.
I disliked, the messy plate with the Roquefort sauce all around the plate.
And the dish was actually just ok.

To conclued, I haven't been really happy by my lunch, It's too bad to notice that we can't expect anything anymore from a brasserie, excepted a continue service.
But maybe this is also the french signature... Never be satisfied


I passed the door for the first time of the E.Dehillerin store. Famous cooking store. It's a big mess but you can literally find everything you want. I mean "find", it's such a mess that it would be better to ask somebody from the staff !! But I absolutely recommend this place, at least for a visit !!

Muscade, Sun and Seine !

Sun is on Paris, and life become a dream.
It's even smelling good outside. Walking in the street... it smell like grilled steak with black peper corn, and french fries and béarnaise sauce !
Some typical french food you can get in a terrasse, at any brasserie, every corner !!

Tourist take pictures of the sunset from the "Pont Neuf", and locks keep being locked by some romantics lovers, on more and more bridges, and I chilled at the Muscade restaurant in the Palais Royal Garden. Peace, quiet, birds, threes, and the BEST service in town, thanks to Kamel (owner), and his brother, and also to the hand/homemade pastries made by Kamel's wife !!

Red Bull challenge

As an old member of the "Red Bull Family", I'm still deeply in love with the brand, and addicted with Red Bull life style.
I found myself, lately, looking at the Red Bull's website, and my memories just came out, so that made me think to a challenge : Cooking with my lovely favorite energy drink !

So here is the first recipe I imagined for you : Grilled Daurade, with a onion declination and Red Bull Agar.

For 1 Fish :

25cl red Bull
1,5g Agar powder (find easy in every supermarket or chinese store)
1 onion
Fried onion (I bought in chinese store too)
1 shallot
1 cup of rice
1/2 cucumber
Olive oil

First prepare your garnish (onion etc) :
For the Onion declination, I chose to make caramelized onion stewed, with fried onion (I bought already made) and fresh shallot :
I cut one whole onion and put it in a pot with a tiny bit of water just to not get dry. Let it cook until it start getting a nice caramel color. Then when the water is already evaporate du to warmth, deglaze with red bull, and let cook with low fire until no water anymore.
Then cut a nice cucumber julienne that you'll use to garnish and give a fresh flavor on the top.

Step two, the Red Bull agar :
For those who have no idea of what the hell I am talking about,  the Agar is like a jelly powder, way stronger and less sensitive to the heat. And more important, that come from fish, unlike the jelly powder who usually come from porc or beef.
Boil the Red Bull with the agar powder. Put  on a plate with plastic film, and let cool.

Step 3, prepare the rice :
1 cup of rice (I chose purple rice, nice flavor but more important, nice color :)), 1,5 cup of water. When the water start boiling, cover it and low the fire at the minimum. When there is no more water in the pot, the rice should be ready. I say "should be", because some rice ask for more water, some for less, some for more time etc etc... that's the rice mystery, and if I can cook a fish, I still have trouble to cook a perfect rice in one time !!

Last step, cook your fish :
That need to be done last, obviously, to eat it warm. Try to check the rice baking, to have everything ready at the perfect same time
Get the "filet" of the daurade fish, simply grill it on a pand, with a little bit of olive oil, on the skin side. Once you'll see most of the fish is getting well white around, flip it and keep cooking one minute. Then it's ready !
To dress up your plate, cut the agar in little pieces in the shape of the fish. Put it in the plate, you'll just have to add your rice and fish once they'll be cook.

Can you tell this is Red Bull "jelly" ???

Final result. I add some dried flowers on the rice for decoration. They actually smelled like roses but didn't tasted much, but it's pretty !

To finish, i had a bunch of head and fish's bones, so I used everything to make a "fumé de poisson".
Nothing easier :
Put all your fish's bones in a big pot, with leek, carrot, thyme, bay leaves, black peper corn, onion and celery, fill it with water to cover it, and let it boil. Once it's boiling, low the fire and let cook for 1 hour, or more, depend of how patient your are ;)
Here is my "fumé", already smell amazing !
If you don't have need for it right now, you can do like me : In a ziploc bag, in the freezer. When you'll have some soup or you just want to cook a fish, you can re-use this at any time.

I will find another recipe idea for a Red Bull cooking session ; but if you have some, you're welcome to submit your challenge !
Red Bull give me wings !!