Episode 5 The Little Paris Kitchen: Cooking with Rachel Khoo

'My name is Rachel Khoo.

'I'm a food writer and a cook.'

Wow!

'My passion is for French food cooked simply,

'the way Parisians do at home.'

I think there's still this kind of cliche of French food,

where you think it's complicated.

My cooking is no fuss,

just enjoyable.

Ooh, there's a little bit left. I'm going to have that.

Yum! I LOVE cheese.

'After training here as a chef,

'I opened the smallest restaurant in Paris in my tiny flat.'

-Hey!

-Hello!

Somebody said to me it's harder to get a reservation

at my place than it is for El Bulli.

And I was like, "OK!"

Superbe!

Fantastic! Really.

'In this series,

'I'm going to take the fear out of French cooking.'

-"Poir"?

-Poire!

-Poire!

'Tonight, on the menu,

'a soup with a special place in my heart...'

Homage to my grandma.

'..A forgotten classic to impress your friends...'

Forget the creme brulee. Forget the creme caramel.

THIS is the dessert you want to be eating!

'..And the ultimate Parisian party food.'

I'm going to have more.

'This is French food,

'the way the Parisians cook and eat it.'

C'est tout. That's it.

'The beauty of living in Paris is that every day,

'you get to choose from the best produce that France has to offer...'

Merci beaucoup, Madame.

'..From the freshest fish from Brittany

'to the ripest fruit of the Mediterranean.

'But some of the best veg is actually grown right here in Paris.'

-Bonjour.

-Bonjour.

'For my first recipe, I've come to see Joel Thiebaut.'

Joel is, like, the king of vegetables in Paris.

Well, I think he is!

'He grows over 1,500 varieties of vegetables

'just five miles from the Eiffel Tower.'

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

'The heat of the city creates near-perfect growing conditions,

'so Joel can produce this huge variety of veg...'

Wow!

'..Like this stunning purple carrot.

'But I'm after something else.'

THEY SPEAK FRENCH

'So, this is the old variety, Crapaudine...'

and the name comes from because the skin is kind of wrinkly.

Like a toad.

'It might look a bit rough,

'but combined with other amazing ingredients,

'it will bring my first recipe alive.'

-Voici.

-Merci beaucoup.

Salads are not just for sides.

They're for main courses as well.

And I've got a fantastic lentil salad

with beetroot, goat's cheese and a delicious dill vinaigrette.

The portion I'm making could serve four people as a starter.

I'm using puy lentils, the best in France.

Although a bit expensive, they're worth it

as they hold their shape better than green lentils, which is crucial

for the texture of my delicious salad.

These lentils are actually called "poor man's caviar".

They do look a bit like caviar.

And they taste really delicious.

OK. In the pot.

Throw them all in there.

Cover the lentils with at least double their volume of cold water

and slowly bring to the boil.

Reason why you want to use cold water

is because you'll get an even cook.

If you added boiling hot water straight away,

your lentils would cook on the outside and they'd go mushy on the outside,

and wouldn't be cooked in the centre.

I need to flavour the water with thyme,

a bay leaf and a teaspoon of salt.

Probably take 15 minutes to cook.

What I do is at the 12 minute mark, I have a little taste

and see if they're done already.

Next, my delicate vinaigrette.

Got this lovely dill.

I think people overlook dill.

They always think you've got to put it with fish.

And actually, it works well with a lot of other dishes.

Dill's subtle aniseed flavour works beautifully with cabbage

or in a warm potato salad.

Sunflower oil. Two tablespoons.

White wine vinegar. Two tablespoons.

Finally, add a pinch of sugar and salt.

All you need to do now is blend it.

We're going to make, like, a dill smoothie here.

If you don't want to use dill,

parsley or fresh basil will work just as well.

Mmm. Always have a taste when you make a vinaigrette.

If it needs a little bit more salt or a bit more sugar.

But that seems pretty good for me.

Now, for that Crapaudine beetroot,

which I've already roasted for 45 minutes.

It has a particularly sweet taste.

But obviously, if you can't find this type of beetroot,

regular cooked beetroot is fine.

If you're not a fan of beetroot,

roasted butternut squash or pumpkin would be ideal substitutes.

Once you've scraped the beetroot skin off,

give it a rinse, as you don't want any tough skin in your salad.

I'm going to thinly slice my beetroot.

Use my favourite tool, my mandolin.

If you don't have one of these, sharp knife will do the same job.

So, you're looking for something like this.

So, you can almost see through it.

Let's have a look at our lentils.

Mmm. They are done. Should still have a bit of a bite to it.

I'm going to rinse them under some cold water,

just to stop them from cooking any further.

Fish out the bay leaf and the thyme.

Don't need that any more.

Now, all you need to do is plate up.

Grab some of your lentils.

Already looking VERY delicious.

Already, you can see how the lovely deep red of the beetroot

goes very well with the dark green from the lentils.

Cheese.

I'm using a kind of fresh goat's cheese.

It's quite mild.

You don't have to use goat's cheese.

You could use a mozzarella if you wanted to.

Obviously, it doesn't have the same flavour, but it would work well.

Or, if you want something a bit saltier, feta.

That works well, too. You want to crumble it on top.

Don't forget your lovely vinaigrette.

Got that bright green colour. Just brings it all to life.

And finish off with a sprinkling of salt

and a bit of black pepper.

And there's your beautiful lentil salad

with the bright red sweet beetroot,

creamy goat's cheese

and a really sharp, zingy kind of dill vinaigrette.

In my restaurant, this beautiful salad was a hit,

even with the most hardened meat lovers.

Moving to Paris changed my life.

Tres superbes fromage!

'When I came here six years ago,

'I couldn't even speak French.'

-Comme c'est le dessert, clafoutis?

-Oui. Alors...

This city is overflowing with food,

but it's also crammed with people.

Four times as many per square kilometre than in London.

No wonder so many of us live in tiny flats.

So I've had to change the way I cook because of my petit kitchen.

No space and I just go, "whaaaa-ah!"

My tiny oven...

tries to limit my ambition.

It's not very big, but I can fit a mini chicken in here.

Yeah, mini chicken.

A cake fits in all right,

but big roast is not on the menu.

This is just jam-packed with more ingredients - my Madeleine tin,

which I bought and then realised it doesn't fit in my oven.

'And my fridge is overworked.'

I've got my fridge in the bottom, the freezer compartment is broken,

so if I ever buy ice cream, I have to eat all the ice cream in one go.

It's like any relationship, you have good times and bad times.

'I've learnt to simplify the cooking process without skimping on taste.'

But even in this tiny kitchen,

I could still make a dish that has very special memories for me.

When I first moved to Paris, I didn't know anybody

and sometimes I'd feel a bit lonely

and I'd want something comforting,

and I would make this chicken dumpling soup,

like my grandma in Austria used to make for me when I was little.

I'm going to start off with my chicken stock.

I'm using home-made but you could always use a good quality stock cube.

Just don't tell the Parisians!

That goes on there.

I'm going to peel two carrots.

While my carrots flavour the stock, it's on to the dumplings.

I'm using a traditional French shape for dumplings,

which they call "quenelle."

You need five slices of white bread,

cut the crusts off cos they don't taste nice in your dumplings.

If you really wanted to,

you could use...whole wheat bread,

but I wouldn't, actually, because what's nice about this recipe -

by using white bread -

is your dumplings are really light.

Add your bread to a blender along with 200 grams of chicken breast,

one whole egg and one egg yolk.

100 millilitres of single cream,

nutmeg for seasoning.

This is real home-cooking.

I mean, you're very unlikely to see...quenelle in a restaurant,

and if they do quenelle, they tend to be baked

and quite heavy with a rich, kind of, white sauce,

whereas this is actually quite light cos you're having it in a soup.

It feels really nourishing, it's kind of one of these dishes where,

if you're feeling poorly, you would have this.

Add some salt, a good two pinches.

Black pepper.

And then... We're going to plug this in.

If I can find my plug.

I've like, only got one socket in this apartment.

Hey! All right.

You want to blend it until it's a paste.

Perfect!

While that's coming to the boil, I'm going to chop up my mushrooms.

All right, that has come to a boil. I'm going to turn it down.

To make a quenelle, you have a spoon

and then you just rock it back and forth.

Like that.

Just get a nice shape.

You don't have to make perfect dumplings,

this is just a good way of portioning it

cos you want them roughly the same size so they cook evenly.

Drop your dumplings into the soup.

They should be ready in less than five minutes.

A minute before they're finished, you can throw in the mushrooms.

I like my mushrooms when they still have a bit of a bite to them.

All you need now is some chopped parsley.

The dumplings have risen to the top so you know they're cooked.

They're kind of trying to come out.

Crazy!

And that is ready to eat.

You could serve these quenelles on their own with a bechamel sauce

or like the French, with a tomato sauce.

Mmm, I love the smell of this -

reminds me of my early days in Paris.

When I was all on my own! And had no friends!

Apart from French guys who were trying to chat me up!

Garnish with a bit of parsley on top.

A steaming bowl of chicken dumpling soup.

Homage to my grandma.

Ah.

This is my light take on the classic quenelle of the Lyon-Alpes region and I love it!

Springtime in Paris means socialising,

so I'm throwing a little drinks party at my friend's house.

In true Parisian style, you always have to serve food as well.

But over here, you can't just get away with a bowl of crisps.

Each week, Stephane travels three hours from Normandy

to set up his oyster stall for the weekend.

Bonjour!

Bonjour, hello.

I'm having a little aperitif tonight with my friends

and I want to serve some oysters.

-OK.

-So you're the man to come to.

Oysters are rated in sizes, zero being the biggest

and four the smallest,

but where they're farmed is just as important.

My friend, the oyster farmer is here, near the Mont Saint-Michel,

on the west coast.

-Yes.

-The oysters here are a little bit salty.

-Yeah.

-On the east,

with the rivers and the sweet water,

they are more meaty and the taste is really different.

Do you want to have a taste of one of them?

Yes, I'd love to have a taste.

I'm going to try the sweeter oysters from the east coast of Normandy.

It's important to open them well

because the oyster farmer works during three years

to get something like that.

Three years of work, you want to take care when you open the oysters.

Of course, of course.

-I saw it in your eyes, you love oysters.

-SHE LAUGHS

Very true, I love oysters.

At the beginning it's quite salty but at the end it's sweeter.

-It's what I want to show you.

-Yeah, it's very good.

I think that would be delicious. If you could do one dozen of each.

-One of each?

-That'd be great, thank you.

-We have got another tradition.

-Yeah.

-We put one more.

-Oh, I like that tradition!

-Yeah?

-Yeah!

-One for luck.

-Yes.

-SHE LAUGHS

Merci!

Sometimes people ask me the question if I find pearls in my oysters.

Now I say, "Yes, I've found one!"

Armed with two dozen oysters,

I'm off to my friend Benjamin's house to prepare my next recipe.

Benjamin may have worked in some of the most talked-about restaurants in France

and helps run one of Paris' biggest food fairs,

but today he'll be MY sous chef.

-Parisians love oysters, don't they?

-Yeah.

-You can't go wrong with oysters?

-No.

Oyster purists would frown upon eating anything

but the oyster itself,

but I'm going to make three delicious garnishes

to take the edge off swallowing one.

My first one is a true classic.

I'm going to make a traditional mignonette, which is shallot with red wine vinegar.

First, finely dice your shallots.

You want it quite fine.

Yey!

-You can prepare this in advance, can't you?

-Yeah.

Red wine vinegar with my shallot.

A couple of tablespoons.

I might use a little bit of salt in there.

A pinch of sugar with your mignonette.

Let it sit for a little while.

'Benjamin is shucking my oysters.

'You should do this just before your guests arrive

'to make sure they remain fresh.'

You should seriously be careful with oysters.

If it's open, it's... Just fold it like that.

It's really important, they have to be alive.

Yes. The oyster has to be alive.

'The rule is simple, if the oyster is already open, DO NOT eat it!

'My second garnish is an apple and Calvados mignonette

'and is a tribute to where the oysters come from.'

With this little condiment - I was inspired by Normandy

because they obviously have a lot of apples.

You want to chop it into fine little cubes.

You need a tiny bit of Calvados.

'But an apple brandy would work just as well.'

Some cider vinegar.

It's all about having that acidity.

It's like, a lot of people have lemons with their oysters.

The acidity adds some flavour.

'Add a pinch of salt and leave to stand

'so the apples can soak up the flavour of the Calvados.'

-Are you done?

-Yeah!

-You know what, you could do my watermelon.

'My sous chef is helping me out with my third garnish,

'which I'm giving an Asian twist.'

-What are you using with this?

-Watermelon, cucumber.

-Yeah.

And rice vinegar.

That's fine.

Oh, my goodness! Your cubes are so much better than my cubes!

-You could just do my cucumber.

-All right, the same?

-Look at him go!

Watch those fingers!

OK, so put the cucumber in. Go for it.

-I think the colours look great, don't they?

-Yeah.

'Add two tablespoons of rice vinegar.'

OK.

-I think that's quite good, actually.

-Yeah. It's perfect.

-Yeah, cool.

Let's put it in our little dishes.

'You only need about half a teaspoon of the condiments on each oyster,

'as they should enhance not mask the flavour.

'Each bowl should be enough for 12 to 15 oysters.'

OK.

'All we need now are the guests.'

DOOR BELL RINGS

-Hi, how are you?

-Hey, how you doing?

-Whoo!

-Great.

-A little aperitif.

-Yes.

I'm going to have more.

It's really good, like cucumber and rice vinegar with watermelon

is just, like, perfect.

And from hosting a Parisian party to being a guest at one...

When invited to a dinner party,

many people will offer to bring a dessert,

which they'll buy from one of Paris' 1100 patisseries.

But when I really want to impress my Parisian friends,

I like to make a dessert you can't buy in the shops

but looks just as good.

My next recipe is a bit tricky but I promise you it's worth the effort.

"Iles flottantes" means floating islands

and basically, you have this cold sea of creme anglaise

with a floating, light meringue in the middle.

We'll need a pot.

First, the creme anglaise

or custard as we call it in England.

This is full-fat milk, it just tastes a lot better.

Take half a litre of milk, add fresh vanilla.

We're going to add the pod as well, there's flavour in there.

OK, Indonesian long pepper.

It's got this very sweet, kind of peppery smell.

All you need to do is grate it.

OK, that's enough.

'I'm going to add my milk to four egg yolks and 80 grams of sugar.'

You just want to mix it together.

Right, so the milk has come to a boil and you can turn it off now.

You can fish out this vanilla pod,

give it a little rinse in some cold water.

Then, put it out to dry, pop it in a bottle of rum.

Spicy rum!

OK, we're going to incorporate our milk with our eggs.

Egg yolk's a little bit sensitive to the heat, so what you do,

is mix that in slowly and keep on whisking.

Make sure you get all the vanilla grains.

'The creme anglaise needs to be the consistency of double cream,

'so put it back on the hob to thicken it.'

Keep it on a nice, low heat. Whisk constantly.

Creme anglaise would make a great accompaniment with apple crumble.

It's a good one to have in your pocket. "Have in your pocket?"

You wouldn't have any creme anglaise in you pocket!

I'm going to switch this off.

This goes in the fridge till it's well chilled.

Leave it in the fridge for four hours,

in the meantime, I can start making my crunchy praline topping.

Heat 75 grams of sugar and 25 ml of water together

until they make a syrup.

The sugar's dissolved and I'm going to add my almond slithers in now.

You're looking for your mixture to go a golden-brown colour.

When it gets that dark colour,

it's time to switch it off.

While it's still hot, you want to pour it out, onto your baking tray.

Spread thinly to cool, now time for the meringue.

I need to weigh my egg whites, grab my scales.

We need 60 grams...

Oh, yes! 60 grams!

I'm going to start off with just half of it in there.

And add 45 grams of icing sugar.

I'm making a classic French meringue mixture,

which will be soft and fluffy.

Add a pinch of salt...

..and a couple of drops of lemon juice.

I'm going to add my egg white.

In it goes.

I think that's ready to go!

Done.

Perfect.

So...

Soft peak, but you should still be able to turn it upside down

and hold it over your heads!

That's when you know your meringue's done.

Finally, you need to cook your meringue in a pan of simmering water.

All you need to do, is take, like, a spoonful

and form it into a nice dollop.

You just want to gently put one in like that.

OK, the island's puffing up nicely.

Turn it around.

'While the other side cooks,

'it's time to bring all the ingredients together.'

You need a ladle.

So a couple of ladles of cold creme anglaise in your glass.

You just pop it on the top...

carefully.

AND finishing touches - our praline.

You can pop it on your island.

I love this dessert, it's absolutely one of my favourites.

Forget the creme brulee, the creme caramel,

this is the dessert you want to be eating.

Yum!

If you want to know more about the recipes in the programme,

log on to...

I think there's a cliche about French food being very rich and heavy,

since living here I've discovered it can be quite the opposite.

The French are one of the biggest fish eaters in the world.

Ah, oui! Superb!

The average Parisian will eat over 35 kilos a year.

But they don't often eat strong-tasting fish.

They prefer more delicate flavours.

So less mackerel and herring and more fish like trout and salmon.

Merci beaucoup, Madame. Au revoir!

So, for my final recipe,

it's the subtle flavours of sole that take centre stage.

Most people think French cooking is complicated to do,

this dish is the exact opposite.

My super-quick supper.

The key here is the nutty sauce that's going to complement

the subtle flavour of the fish.

I've got here a fillet of lemon sole.

I'm going to grab some plain flour, about one and a half tablespoons.

A generous pinch of salt - two pinches

and some black pepper.

OK. Then just grab your fillet and then you kind of dip it.

This technique of flouring fish and cooking it gently in oil is called

"a la meuniere," which means "of the miller's wife"

because of the flour.

OK, give it a little pat...

..to tap it off.

OK.

Frying pan.

I'm going to use a bit of sunflower oil, so...

That's enough.

We want to get this nice and hot.

While that is heating up,

I'm just going to grab... a bit of parsley.

Scrunch it up and then just run your knife through it.

This is flat parsley.

I always think curly parsley kind of tickles a little bit.

OK, I think that is getting hot enough.

So it's ready...

You can put it in the pan.

What it should do, it should bubble round the edges.

Two minutes on each side is fine.

Sole is a delicate fish, you want to be able to taste the fish,

that's why you don't need many ingredients.

Yey! I think we can turn it over now.

Yey.

I'm going to cut half a lemon, I'll need that later.

That's a beautiful brown, golden-brown colour.

OK.

And then you're just going to slide it out onto the paper.

Wrap it up to keep it warm.

Just wipe off the excess in there.

Put that on the heat - a nice chunk of butter.

Now we're going to make our brown butter sauce.

This is a very quick sauce, so don't go disappearing anywhere,

otherwise you'll come back

and you'll have a black butter sauce, instead.

As the milk solids in the butter cook,

they give the butter a lovely, nutty colour and taste.

The French call it "beurre noisette" or hazelnut butter.

You can actually smell the butter starting to cook

and it should get this light, toasty flavour.

OK, so that is done.

Watch out, I'm going to add the lemon. It's going to...

..splatter a little bit.

The lemon goes in.

Parsley...

..and then...

I'm just going to add a good tablespoon of capers.

Right, that's the sauce done.

Get a plate,

unwrap your fish,

slide the fish on there and put the sauce on top.

You can finish off with a bit more parsley on top...

..and a little slice of lemon. That's it - c'est tout.

That's supper in a couple of minutes.

Who said French cooking was complicated?

In next week's final programme...

I use an unconventional method...

If you have anger issues, this is what you need to do.

..for a classic melt-in-the-mouth quiche Lorraine.

Bonjour!

I have a go at making the Parisians' favourite snack...

-Oh!

-Aah!

And I finish with my favourite dish from my little Paris kitchen...

That looked delicious, my guests are in for a treat!

..a gorgeous venison Wellington.

Bon appetit!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd