Zizanie in Paris

Leading up to the Games

Greetings and many apologies for my absence the last couple of weeks. I’m blaming it on the Olympic Games which will start this coming Friday.  Why not, I figure, everyone else is blaming everything on them.

The truth is that Paris is in a state of “zizanie” or chaos, and it seeps into everything, including life and accomplishments.  The sound of hammers and power washing drowns out conversations, walls go up, favorite monuments are hidden, tried and true routes are closed, cars are constantly doing u-turns as drivers realize they can’t really get anywhere. 

As I bicycle through it all (on blessedly empty streets because vehicle traffic is diverted), I realize how many minds have been figuring out the details of hosting these Games, including:   329 sports events and 22 paralympic sports events; 39 sites where they will take place; the opening ceremony which will cover 6 kilometers (roughly 4 miles) on a newly clean Seine; and 150,000 created to pull off this event.  The Place de la Concorde will soon be a skate park; the Invalides home to archery; the Champs de Mars, a judo arena.  And this doesn’t even take into account the snappy new uniforms for the 4,000 young, buff policemen and women who are now surveying the streets of the city, blowing their musical whistles with abandon.

There is another amazing thing going on that I hope will continue long after the Games.  I think transit workers have been taking nice lessons because, after all, the world will be watching.  I experienced this first hand when I had to re-magnetize my Navigo metro pass and the experience was truly pleasant!  I got on the train at Gare St. Lazare going to Rouen, a heavily used line that stops near Monet’s home in Giverny and has been equipped with brand, new trains, its tastefully decorated cars rife with stairs that make life difficult for anyone with luggage bigger than a handbag.  I mustered my resources to carry my suitcase up to the luggage rack when, as if by magic, a bright, young conductor appeared at my side. “Madame, let me help you with that!” Accustomed to a surlier welcome at the best of times, I was frozen in place at this epic event. 

The other day I was going to the dentist, across the river on the Pont d’Alma.  I got to the bridge and a bevy of young police officers were diverting traffic, checking everyone for the QR code we’re all supposed to have to navigate the city.  I tried to get the code online, as we are supposed to, but after two attempts and two failures, I gave up.  Because I didn’t have it I was, kindly, diverted down little streets I didn’t know which was fun, around in a big circle and over the Pont des Invalides, then further diverted to get where I was going, late.  I’d called ahead and the weary receptionist said, “How late will you be?” as though this is a question she now asks twenty times a day.  Turns out everyone at the office was understanding since none of them had been able to get their QR codes either, quitting after three attempts.  Their ultimate solution? Closing the office until the Games are over.

A friend of mine who frequents the President Wilson market came over last night.  “I don’t know how I’m going to eat during the Games, so I decided to go to Spain,” she said, as a tear fell from her eye. “The market is closed, just CLOSED.”  It’s been disbanded to make way for the triathlon sports taking place at Trocadero.

In preparation for the opening ceremony on the Seine, wire fences have gone up on just about every street that leads to the river, and the quais are banned from use.  There are openings in some of the fences for people to slip behind and go to a café for a coffee, where they sit looking as if they are in a zoo.

But despite the complaints and disruption it’s really pretty fun to watch these games come together and, as usual, when it comes to planning a fête, the French are masters.  If any of you saw the Bastille Day fireworks you know that the French have that “je ne sais quoi” when it comes to doing it their own cool, imaginative, classy way.  The games are the same; I cannot wait to see how it unfolds, and I will, on a television screen.  Because I won’t be in Paris except for a day or two to feel the magic or the pain.  Instead, I’ll be in Provence for ten days, then off to the cool breezes of Normandy. 

I imagine many of you will join me watching the Games on a screen.  I’m including two iconic French recipes here to make you feel like you are present.  Enjoy them both!

AIOLI WITH SEASONAL VEGETABLES  - AIOLI AUX LEGUMES DE SAISON

This simple dish is delicious no matter the time of year, when you use the best seasonal vegetables.

8 ounces (250g) carrots, cut in half crosswise,

then in lengthwise quarters

10 ounces (300g) spring turnips, peeled and cut in half

1 pound (500g) whole spring onions or scallions,

green tops trimmed slightly, roots trimmed

1 pound (500g) new potatoes, unpeeled

1 head of lettuce, such as greenleaf, red or green oakleaf, romaine, trimmed, washed, and patted dry

10 ounces (300g) tomatoes, cored and cut in quarters

1 bunch (about 12) radishes, with leaves, root end trimmed

One recipe for aioli

1.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (roughly 1 tablespoon (15g) salt for 1 gallon (4 liters) water).  Prepare a large bowl filled with ice water.

2.  Blanch the carrots until they are just tender but still have a slight crunch, about 4 minutes.  Remove them from the water with a slotted spoon or ladle and plunge them directly into the bowl of ice water.  When they are cooled through, remove and pat them dry with a tea towel.

3.  Return the same water to a boil, and blanch the turnips until they are tender with some crunch, 4 to 5 minutes.  Transfer to the ice water, let cool, pat dry. 

4.  Bring a new batch of salted water to a boil and blanch the onions until they are just tender through, 3 to 4 minutes depending on their size.  Refresh in the chilled water and pat dry.  Return the water to a boil and cook the potatoes until they are tender through, about 15 minutes depending on their size.  Drain and let cool.

5.  To serve, fill a basket or a platter with the lettuce leaves, and arrange the vegetables attractively atop the lettuce leaves.   Transfer the aioli to a small bowl and serve immediately. 

Yield: about 6 servings

AIOLI

3 garlic cloves, green germ removed

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 large egg yolks

1 cup (250ml) neutral oil

2 teaspoons (22ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup (60ml) extra-virgin olive oil

1.  Make a paste of the garlic and salt in a mortar and pestle, by working the pestle around slowly in the mortar. You can also do this in a food processor.

2.  Whisk in the mustard and egg yolks until they are blended with the garlic and salt then, using either the mortar or a whisk, very slowly add 3/4 cup (185ml) of the neutral oil very slowly in a fine, fine stream, until the mixture becomes thick.

3.  Add the lemon juice to the oil and garlic mixture, then add the remaining neutral oil, and the olive oil.

4.  Taste for seasoning and adjust with more lemon juice and salt if necessary.

Makes about 6 servings.

CHERRY RHUBARB CLAFOUTIS - CLAFOUTIS AUX CERISES ET A

LA RHUBARBE

Clafoutis, a simple, homey dessert said to come from the Limousin, and it was traditionally made with region’s abundant cherries. Today, however, any fruit from apricots to pears can be folded into a clafoutis batter, which resembles a thin pancake batter. 

I loved testing clafoutis recipes, sorting through them like memories, for as I tasted I would remember the moment I first tasted them, with a snippet of conversation, a glint of light off a wine glass, an echo of laughter.  A clafoutis is convivial, it speaks of abundance, of self-sufficiency, of simplicity.  Clafoutis can be banal or heavenly, and this is the latter. I got the recipe from Nadine Devisme, the best home cook I know. 

Remember, if using unpitted cherries to warn guests.

About 1 teaspoon unsalted butter, for buttering the pan

2 tablespoons light brown cane sugar

3/4 cup (100g) unbleached, all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 cups (500 ml) milk - preferably whole, but two-percent is fine, too

3 large eggs

1/4 cup (60g) vanilla sugar

The seeds from 1 vanilla bean

1/2 pound (250g) cherries, stemmed, rinsed, patted dry, pitted

5 stalks of rhubarb, strings removed if necessary, and cut into small dice (to give about 2 cups diced rhubarb)

1-1/2 tablespoons salted butter, cut into 6 pieces – optional

1.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees (230C).  Butter and lightly flour a 9-1/2 inch (24cm) non-reactive tart pan or baking dish, either round or rectangular.  Sprinkle the pan with 1 tablespoon of the cane sugar.

2.  Sift together the flour and the salt into a large mixing bowl.  Whisk in 1 cup (250ml) of the milk to make a smooth batter, then add the eggs one at a time, whisking briefly after each addition.  Whisk in the sugar and the vanilla seeds until combined, then whisk in the remaining milk.

3.  Place the cherries and the rhubarb in the tart pan atop the cane sugar.    Pour the batter over them.  Dot the batter with the pieces of butter if using, and bake in the center of the oven until the clafoutis is golden and puffed, about 25 minutes.  Remove it from the oven and immediately sprinkle it with the remaining tablespoon of cane sugar, then let the clafoutis cool to lukewarm before serving.

6 to 8 servings