French Fusion Dinner Adventure at Café de Ville

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What a wonderful experience it is to let perfectly crafted food melt in your mouth. The sensual experience leaves your taste buds ecstatic with pleasure! That is exactly what Cravings members experienced at Sherwood Park's French Fusion restaurant: Café de Ville.

 

Fusion cuisine is cuisine that combines elements of different culinary traditions. It is a combination of traditional French cuisine and a variety of other cuisines such as Japanese, Italian and North American. Some of the most well known fusion cuisine combines European and Asian foods.

 

El Petit Bonhomme

Our evening began wonderfully with a glass of El Petit Bonhomme. Anita Jarmolicz from International Cellars shared her knowledge of this  bold blended Spanish red by Montreal's Nathalie Bonhomme from Bodegas Juan Gil. This blend is made up of half Monastrell, some Garnacha, and a little Syrah. Spicy with a hint of licorice and plum, it was a lovely start to our meal.

Chef Paul Campbell

Chef Paul Campbell, co-proprietor and Chef de Cuisine at Café de Ville, knows his French Fusion. He  creates new recipes or takes recipes, changes them, adds his unique "Je ne sais quoi" and creates bites of food that explode with flavour in your mouth!

What a wonderful menu Chef Paul created just for Cravings.

The evening began with two tempting Amuse-Bouche morcels. An Amuse-Bouche, or Amuse-Gueule, is very similar to an hors d'oeuvre but not quite the same. It is an extra little freebie to tempt you before your meal is presented to you. They are not ordered by you, instead, they are prepared by the chef as a little treat to show off his talents and prepare you to the meal to come. Translated from the French, it means mouth amuser. Something to make your taste buds happy!



One of the two amuse-bouche Chef Paul chose to serve us this evening were a flavorful Confit of Lamb, Wild Mushroom and Walnut Tartelette. The lamb was cooked using the sous-vide method, then confit with duck fat  and served in a small tartelette shell. The confit literally melted in our mouths (to find out more about the "sous-vide" method see Cravings'  "Fusion Cuisine" blog). Chef Paul uses locally grown and locally raised ingredients as much as possible in his recipes. The lamb used in the Confit was raised by  Barr Estates in Strathcona County.

Pan Seared Diver Scallop with a White Chocolate Beurre Blanc (bottom left)
Confit of Lamb, Wild Mushroom and Walnut Tartelette (top right)

The second amuse-bouche was a Pan Seared Diver Scallop served with a White Chocolate Beurre Blanc. This was the tenderest and most succulent scallop I have ever tasted. The fact that it was infused with white chocolate and Sambuca had absolutely nothing to do with it. Alright, perhaps it did.  The scallop was perfectly seared and the white chocolate beurre complemented it perfectly. Diver Scallops are different from the scallops you find in the seafood section of your corner grocery store. They are sea scallop that are hand-picked off  rocks by scuba divers. Diver scallops are not as gritty as boat-harvested scallops, which are dragged by nets at the ocean bed. Chef Paul shared a little chef's secret, the more colour you want your scallop to have, the drier the scallop needs to be.

Cravings is very lucky as Chef Paul has generously agreed to share his Scallop recipe with us!(see below) I will have to try making it but am pretty sure that it would never be as fabulous as his...



Chicken Consommé with Braised Leek

The next dish was a rich and flavourful Chicken Consommé with Braised Leek. Consommé is not a broth, it is a very strong, concentrated and clear stock that is simmered for a long time, filtered, and contains very little fat.

Following the consommé was  the entrée, an exquisite Beef Bourguignon served in a light and flaky puff pastry bouche. Once again the sous-vide method was used to prepare the meat. If I was not sold on the use of this cooking method before, I have become a great fan after tasting this dish. The cut Chef Paul used in this recipe was a flank steak. I could have sworn that he used tenderer cut. The small cubes of beef melted like butter in my mouth. I was not the only one ooing and aahing after each bite!  The beef was served in a bacon flavoured, velvety Bourguignon gravy with tender morsels of Field Mix mushrooms ( Crimini, Portobello, Button ) and onions. This lovely puff pastry nest was presented on a bed of Buttered Potatoes and accompanied by Roasted Vegetable Provence ( carrots, parsnips, broccolini )

Beef Bourguignon

This amazing meal was beautifully finished with a superb Poached Pear dessert. The pear was slowly and gently poached in Merlot wine mulled with cloves, cinnamon and orange juice. A sweet mascarpone cream dollop topped the pear. The silkiness of the cream was the perfect match to the grainy feel of the pear.

Merlot Poached Pear with Mascarpone Cream

Chef Paul emphasized that the choice of wine doesn't really matter. It is the pear that will sweeten it. This great recipe was also shared with us below by Chef Paul.

Café de Ville and Chef Paul do not only create delicious dishes, they create visually pleasing dishes that start your mouth watering as soon as the plate is placed in front of you! If you are looking for a restaurant that is a guaranteed to please even the most the discerning palate, look no further than Café de Ville.

Cravings guests will definitely be returning to Café de Ville again and again!

Café de Ville is located at:

25 Sioux Road
Sherwood Park, Alberta

To make reservations, please call: 780-449-4765 / 1-877-504-4765

~ Monique

Join us on our next Cravings Culinary Adventure: An Arabian Nights Adventure. Enjoy Middle Eastern Food, Belly Dancing, Shisha and more!  March 6, 2013 at 7 p.m.

For tickets, please click here:  Arabian Nights Dinner Tickets

Pan Seared Scallops with white chocolate beurre blanc and chiffonnade of basil
 

6 x Large (10/20 size) Fresh Scallops – Cleaned

2 Tbsp Clarified Butter
Salt and Pepper
2 Fresh Basil Leaves – Chiffonnade

For the seared scallops: In a large cast-iron skillet, heat the butter over medium-high heat until it has a nice sheen and you can feel the heat coming off of the skillet. Dry your scallops well using paper towel, sprinkle each side with salt and pepper and add them to the hot skillet. Once the bottom of the scallops start to brown around the edges, flip the scallops and cook until golden brown on each side and just cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Beurre Blanc

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1 large shallots, chopped

1/8 cup Sambucca

1/2 cup Whipping Cream

1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

2 ounces white chocolate, broken into pieces

Heat the oil in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and sweat until just softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the Sambucca simmer until the liquid is reduced to about 2 tablespoons, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the cream (this will help stabilize your sauce and keep it from breaking) and simmer until reduced by one-third, 5 to 7 minutes. Strain the sauce into another warm saucepan over low heat. The sauce should remain warm, but never hot, or the sauce will break. On low or no heat, whisk in a few pieces of the butter at a time. Wait until each addition is incorporated before adding more butter. Once all of the butter is incorporated, whisk in the white chocolate.

Top each scallop with some beurre blanc and garnish with a bit of the basil.

Poached Pears
 

3¾ cups (one 750-ml bottle) Cabernet Sauvignon wine
1 grated orange zest
1½ cups fresh orange juice
1 cup sugar
½ Tablespoon grated lemon zest
½ vanilla bean
1 cinnamon stick
2 firm Bartlett pears, peeled, halved, and cored

In a saucepan, combine the wine, orange zest and juice, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla bean, and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil over high heat and reduce heat to a simmer. Add the pears and poach for about 1 hour, until tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife. Lift the pears from the pan.

Strain the poaching liquid through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Reserve ½ cup of the liquid and pour it over the pears. Cover and refrigerate.

Assembly

½ cup mascarpone cheese

1 Tablespoon sugar

In a small bowl, whisk together the mascarpone cheese and sugar. Spoon the sweetened cheese in a pastry bag fitted with a #3 plain tip.

 

Remove the pears from the refrigerator and place each pear half in a shallow soup plate. Pipe a little of the sweetened mascarpone into the cored space in the pears. Spoon a little of the reserved poaching liquid around the pears.

Wine Not? How to Relax and Enjoy Your First Wine Tasting

So, you are going to a wine tasting for the first time. Are you a bit nervous? Intimidated? Or just plain curious? For many people, the idea of attending a wine tasting brings to mind snooty people sniffing their wine and spitting it out after making rude noises swishing it around in their mouth.

The truth looks nothing like that. Or at least it shouldn’t. Well, ok, it might. But a good wine tasting will consider people with all levels of wine knowledge and experience. A great place to consider for your first wine tasting experience is Baseline Wines, located on Athabascan Avenue in Sherwood Park.

The crew at Baseline Wines is both knowledgeable and friendly. When you enter the store, you will notice that the wine tasting room is located just to the left of the store. You can’t help miss it, because it is a glassed in room that is the focal point of the store.

The staff will help you deal with any coats or baggage you have and get you seated. There is no set seating so grab whichever looks the most comfortable.  All the seats offer easy viewing for the big screen TV where your host may show pictures of the wineries he is discussing.

In front of you, are glasses sitting on top of a paper placemat. On the placemat are the names of the wines you will taste.

•       top line refers to the winery.
•       second line is the type of wine and the year.
•       final line will tell you the name of the country. 

There are also communal plates of crackers, cheese or bread along the table. This is for eating between the wines so your tastebuds are cleaned off from the previous wine. Please refrain from snarfing. There are also carafes of water provided.

I have noticed that those who have a vast amount of knowledge about wines are quite eager to help those just starting out, so don’t hesitate to let people know this is your first time. I found our host at Baseline Wines, Ryan, to be very approachable and if he knows it is your first time, he can help coach you through.

Once the wine tasting begins, the host will pour a small amount of wine in your first glass. This is where most newbies start to sweat. But have no fear, you learned to drink as a baby and your years of experience will serve you well. It is perfectly acceptable to take a small sip of your wine and see how you like it. No one will snicker or point fingers and proclaim you a blasphemer.

You may notice that those around you are doing other things with their wine. They may be swirling it in their wine glass. This is to let the wine aerate a bit – or “letting it breathe”. This helps the less desirable elements of the wine evaporate and brings out the more desirable and aromatic elements.

Another thing you may notice is people sniffing their wine. Part of the enjoyment in tasting wine is experiencing all aspects of it and smelling the wine and discovering its “nose” is one aspect. When people sniff the wine, they are inhaling the aroma of the wine and trying to figure out what it smells like. Many wine tasters will refer to it as having a “nose of…” or a “aroma of…”

One of the more disconcerting and rather intimidating things you may notice is people doing odd things with the wine once it is in their mouth. It can appear rather odd to see and hear a grown adult swishing the wine around in their mouth with their cheeks puffed out. We usually give kids heck for pulling this trick. What they are doing is drawing air into the wine to enhance the tasting experience. It is not necessary for you to do this or to feel in any way inferior because you don’t. Frankly, your seat mates may silently thank you.

Of course, you can learn to introduce more air into the wine in a discrete way so you can more fully enjoy the process. Sip a small amount of wine, let it pool around your tongue and teeth, part your lips slightly and quietly suck in air, almost like a relaxed, reverse whistle. You will notice that the aromas of the wine fill your mouth and the flavour intensifies. Practice this at home, before the wine tasting so you are comfortable and confident you won’t end up with wine dribbling down your chin.

It is considered good etiquette not to say anything about the wine until every one has had a chance to try it. If you shout out “it tastes like wood chips!” before someone has had a chance to taste, it is considered the equivalent of shouting out “the butler did it!” in a movie theatre before the end of the show.

Don’t worry if you have nothing to say about the wine other than “I like it” or “I don’t care for this”. As you try more and more wines, you will become more discerning and understand why you like some wines more than others.

If you don’t like a wine, listen to how the more experienced wine tasters describe it. If they refer to it as being very oaky or full-bodied, then that might mean oaky, full-bodied wines are not for you. If you love it and others are calling it light and fruity, then you know where your palate lay.

If you find a wine you really love, make sure to make note of it. The Baseline Wines tastings provide slips of paper where you can write down your first, second and third choice. If you taste a wine you don’t care for, don’t feel you need to finish drinking it. Simply let it sit in the glass.

Throughout this process, your host will be providing information about the winery, the region the grapes were grown and any other interesting tidbits he comes across. This helps you gain a better understanding of the wines you are tasting.

After everyone has sampled the wine and compared notes, you can take a piece of cracker, cheese or a sip of water to cleanse your mouth from the taste of the wine and prepare for the next glass.

Sometimes, your host may say that a particular wine goes well with the cheese they have provided. By all means, pop a piece in your mouth and sip more wine. If you have the cheese and wine in your mouth at the same time, bite down on the cheese and let the flavours mix to get the full effect.

You will go through this process several times until all the different types of wine have been tasted. Once it is all done, you will be able to hold your head up high. You have survived your first wine tasting without ridicule and maybe even enjoyed yourself. 

But wait, it isn’t over just yet! At Baseline Wines, they offer all participants a 10% discount off the wines that were tasted.

Baseline Wine Tasting Schedule