Tartine Tuesday: Serrano Ham, Arugula, and Butter Tartines

I am finally living in Paris! I spent the last week moving my stuff from the Paris suburbs of Bougival to our apartment in the 13eme (13th arrondissement), and all of my suitcases are finally empty. Such a great feeling. I can finally really start to explore this city!

My favorite thing about exploring Paris (besides finding good food, of course) is finding all the little parks that are strewn about the city. There is a park for every personality. There are the super touristy parks that are perfect for people watching, such as le Jardin des Tuileries and Jardin du Trocadero... Tiny garden hideaways tucked between the buildings, where you can steal a quick romantic moment... There is even le Parc des Buttes Chaumont, complete with it's own waterfall and an amazing view of the city.

One of my favorite parks at the moment is le Jardin du Luxembourg. There is something magical about this park. I recently went early one Wednesday morning to relax and soak in the atmosphere.

On a warm, sunny day, le Jardin du Luxembourg is usually bustling with tourists and children playing in the fountain with les petits bateaux. But that day, there was a slight gloom over Paris, which lent an almost eerie silence to the park. As I walked through the rows of perfectly lined trees, I passed a group of older men and women doing Tai-Chi. Their slow, fluid movements mimicked the wind moving through the trees, and the branches seemed to join them in their routine. The murmur of children's voices could be heard in the distance as they practiced their tennis lessons. Empty chairs surrounding the fountain were positioned as though invisible bodies were in deep conversation. It was a completely different park than when I last was here.

I sat myself underneath a tree (just in case it started to rain), with a view overlooking the park. I watched a younger group of adults practicing Tai-Chi to my left. It was obviously a taught class, led by an older and much more experienced French woman. I listened in to see if I could make out what she was saying... good way to practice learning French, I figured.

I was straining to hear what the woman was saying, but kept getting distracted by a rustling in the trees above me. As I looked up I saw tiny birds dangling from the branches, sipping up little droplets of water that had condensed onto the leaves. After about 5 seconds of thinking how cute the little birds were above me, I immediately thought, "Oh SHIT." No literally, SHIT. In less than a second the equation came together in my head, "Birds nibbling on leaves... birds get full... birds need to poop... SHIT." And just as I put that all together... splat. Like freaking magic. Right on my pants. It was like the park (or the birds, I guess) had read my mind. Luckily my pants were dark brown, and after wiping the shit off it was barely noticeable. I literally laughed out loud at the coincidence; the people around me probably thought I was crazy... apparently laughing at thin air. Oh well! 

I washed my hands (and pant leg), and moved out from underneath the trees. The sun was starting to come out now, and after all that mess I (strangely) was starting to get hungry. I went to the grocery store earlier that morning to grab some things for lunch, so I dug into my bag and made myself a little tartine. 

This tartine is all about good quality ingredients. The French don't drown their sandwiches in tons of mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, and dressings like we do in the States. They do though, however, use one condiment that, if they so choose, always makes a sandwich better. Butter. For this recipe, I recommend going all out for the ingredients. If you can find high-quality European butter, use it. If you can find arugula that doesn't come pre-washed in a sealed, plastic bag, get it. It's incredible the difference it makes.

I found some 18 month old Seranno ham at La Grande Epicerie, and it was just so beautiful that I had to get some. If you have access to a bakery that sells freshly baked baguettes, go there. I'm not trying to be a food snob. It's just that since there are really only 4 ingredients, why not make them all the best?

So today's super simple Tartine Tuesday is coming to you straight out of the park... minus the birds, of course.

Serrano Ham, Arugula, and Butter Tartines

1 baguette aux cereales (multi-grain baguette)

a handful of arugula

200 grams of thinly sliced serrano ham

salted butter (use high-quality butter or european butter if you can; it really makes a difference)

Spread some butter on a piece of baguette, top with arugula and serrano ham. Serves 2.

Tartine Tuesday: Cream Cheese, Green Olive, and Cracked Pepper Tartines

I have a (fairly) new obsession in my life...

Olives.

It all started with my best friend, Dannielle's arroz con pollo, which she made for me one night while hanging out at her place. Sure, I've had arroz con pollo before; chicken, rice, garlic, saffron... I knew the basic flavors, but never had I had it with green olives. I caught myself picking and eating the olives right out of the pot. I swear to you, I never liked olives before that very moment. I always found them too salty, too briney. But there, they were the ingredient that made the dish truly sing. Literally, my mouth is watering right now just thinking about it (and D, you know it's true!). 

That one night, that one dish... it opened up a whole new section of my palette that I didn't even know existed. From that moment on I was putting olives on and in everything... deviled eggs, lentil salads, gazpacho... and not just green olives, I love them all. I've come to really love the niçoise olives here in France... something Quentin thought might be "too much olive" for me. I eat them by the handful. 

So for this Tartine Tuesday, I'll give you a painfully simple, easy, snack that always quenches my thirst for olives.

Cream Cheese, Green Olive, and Cracked Pepper Tartines

8 slices of baguette, toasted

cream cheese

green olives, pitted and sliced

freshly cracked black pepper (black pepper is key in this recipe, so make sure you use freshly cracked black pepper)

Spread cream cheese over toasted baguette slices. Crack black pepper over top of the cream cheese. Top with sliced green olives. Serves 2(or one super olive-lover like me).

Tartine Tuesday: Brie, Crispy Ham, and Green Olive Tartines

I've never been too crazy about lunch meat style ham. It's usually in some kind of rectangular shape(I've never seen a rectangular pig) and packaged in a bag with water(why?!?). Now, I'm not trying to be snooty or say I'm too good for lunch meat... I can't really afford to be picky these days. I have found a way though, to give a little umph to the blah that is lunch meat.
 

Meet my brie, crispy ham, and green olive tartines.

Brie, Crispy Ham, and Green Olive Tartines

6 slices of bread or baguette, toasted
6 slices of brie(cream cheese works really well as a substitute)
2 slices of lunch meat style ham, cut into small strips
green olives, sliced
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a sauté or frying pan on medium to medium-high heat. Add the strips of ham and fry until crispy(as you would with bacon or lardons). Top each slice of toast with a piece of brie, crispy ham, and green olives. Salt and pepper to taste. Serves 2.

Tartine Tuesday: Mascarpone BLT Tartines

To make my life a little easier, I have decided to implement Tartine Tuesday. The tartine is the epitome of the French open-faced sandwich, usually consisting of a slice of bread topped with a spread or pâté. It is similar to the Italian bruschetta, grilled toasts topped with concoctions of tomatoes, red peppers, olives, herbs, etc... all in all, delicious.

 

So, in honor of this deliciously simple and versatile snack, each Tuesday I will post a new tartine recipe. Doing this helps me in more than one way. First, it lets me spend a little less time on writing a whole story/backdrop for a recipe(gives you more recipes, and me more time to see Paris... he he), and second, it puts an ease on my wallet, since I'll really just be improvising with whatever I already have in my kitchen!

First up to bat:

Mascarpone BLT(Basil, Lardon, Tomato) Tartines

6 slices of baguette, toasted
mascarpone cheese
6 leaves of fresh basil
150g lardons(if you don't have access to lardons, you can always just use bacon that's cut into small strips)
6 sun-dried tomatoes, in oil(I used home-made oven-dried tomatoes, which will be in the next post!)
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a saute pan on medium to medium-low heat. Add the lardons(or bacon) and slowly render out the fat until they are browned and crispy. Place lardons on a paper towel to soak up any extra grease.

Toast the slices of baguette, and spread mascarpone cheese on each slice. Top with lardons, fresh basil, and sun-dried tomatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Serves 1-2.

Happy Floody Fourteenth

Have you ever had one of those mornings where you were like, "Aw, SHIT!" before you even had time to rub your eyes? You know, like when you sleep through your alarm clock? Today was one of those days... and a rainy one in fact. As I told you in my previous post, we are watching over a leaky roof in a friend's apartment in exchange for a free stay in the center of Paris. Romain told us that the day he noticed the leak, he slept through 3 hours of rain, and woke up to a flood in his bedroom. So today around 10am Quentin woke up peacefully to the pitter patter of rain... then immediately after opening his eyes came the "Aw, SHIT!" moment. He jumped out of bed and ran to Romain's bedroom, where the major leak is located. Luckily, it wasn't raining too hard, and nothing was leaking through. Whew.
 

I, on the other hand, woke up around noon(niiiiiiice!) to a dark and dreary Paris... Happy Bastille Day by the way. Being that I already slept half the day away, I was immediately starving for something to eat(hey, when am I not?). Quentin and I didn't want to leave the apartment(in fear of the leak), but our stomachs were growling for breakfast... uh, er, lunch. Everything was pretty much closed for the holiday, with the exception of a few restaurants and shops in the more touristy areas of the city.

We waited for a break in the rain and ran out to find an open boulangerie nearby to get a baguette for breakfast. Just as we got to the boulangerie, of course, it started to rain... but I'm not talking a little drizzle here... I'm talking torrential downpour. Ok, maybe not that bad, but it was enough for Quentin and I to look at each other, look at the 5 to 6 people in line in front of us, look outside, and say, "Aw, SHIT!". We hurriedly paid for our baguette and darted out into the rain. We ran up the 5 flights of stairs(my legs and butt are going to get the best workout here) back to the apartment and opened the bedroom door. Romain was not joking. Rain was pouring in through the ceiling like a mini waterfall, dripping ever so unwelcomely on the shelves in the wall cabinet and all over the floor. We got there right in time though, and started placing pots, bowls, and buckets anywhere we could to lessen the damage. I seriously felt like someone in a sinking boat, taking buckets of water and tossing them out, only to replace it with another full bucket. I have to say though, that I am so glad we were there... for Romain and his girlfriend's sake, because they would have returned from their vacation to an absolute disaster.

After about an hour or so the rain died down, and we were able to ring out the towels and hang them up to dry. By then it was around 4pm and we were hungry again. This time, I stayed at the apartment, and Quentin ran out to grab some food. He came back with a Baguette avec rosette, cornichon et beurre... Yum Yum :)

and Fougasse aux Lardons(not the best one).

 

 

Since it is Bastille Day, the French Independence Day, I was crossing my fingers that the rain would stop before nightfall. I was desperate to see the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower, since we missed the fireworks on the 4th in NY(long story). I didn't want to miss two Independence Day fireworks shows in less than two weeks. Thankfully, it turned out to be a gorgeous, and almost cold night! The fireworks at La Tour Eiffel are absolutely amazing... I'm going to try to post the videos of the fireworks tomorrow... it's getting super late. For now, I'll leave you with a photo from before the fireworks show.