April in Paris Dining Club
It’s officially Spring and we are getting ready to cook any and all things green!
A good trick with incoming seasons is to have some base recipes and dishes you can make that will lend themselves to all the bounty as it arrives.
Our spring blanquette is a perfect example. The sauce is delicate and velvety, ready to welcome any bright fresh spring vegetable. The braised veal is a tender and rich foil to the light vegetables. You can serve blanquette with a side of rice, but we chose to serve ours in a vol-a-vent to make it feel really dinner party fancy, but not fussy!
Another great trick is to have a killer sauce, salad dressing or dip that is vegetable ready. That way, when you hit the market, you can buy whats beautiful and not stress about what to do with it!
My all time favorite: Bagna Cauda. It’s intensely good and easy to make. Serve warm with fresh vegetables and crusty bread for dipping. Recipe below.
6 high quality anchovy fillets
6 large cloves garlic, minced
125g butter
125g tablespoon olive oil
50g (or a splash) of heavy cream
1 lemon for juicing
roughly chopped parsley or dill (optional)
Place anchovies, garlic and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the garlic toasts a bit and the anchovies break apart. Add the olive oil and simmer for another 5 minutes, whisk. You can stop here- this is bagna cauda! I like to take another step of putting this mixture in a blender and streaming in a touch of cream and a squeeze of lemon to smooth it out and brighten it up. Then I pour into a vessel for serving and garnish with some nice herbs. Dill is my favorite.
