Bon Anniversaire: La Panetière

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Opened in 1985 by Jacques Loupiac, La Panetière is celebrating its 31^st Anniversary this year. The French restaurant has been serving Rye, New York, from a handsome house built in the 1800’s for thirty-one years, and their reputation for modern French cuisine remains stalwart.

 Entering La Panetière is like arriving at a retreat in Provence, complete with foliage clinging to the face of the 19^th century home, the charming colorful Provençal décor filled with folklore, and a delicious twist on classic French cuisine. The restaurant is intimate and romantic, cozy like a lovely cottage; however, the food is refined and elegant while the team is knowledgeable about the dishes and wine. There is a focus on the highest quality seasonal ingredients and authenticity inspired by the southeastern region of France.

To commemorate the anniversary, Loupiac and his team put together a veritable birthday party including a special six-course prix fixe dinner with a wine pairing option and an accordionist playing tableside. La Panetière regularly offers both a lunch and dinner prix fixe, but this menu was especially created and presented between August 2^nd and 4^th to celebrate its anniversary.

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The first course comprised of a ring of thinly sliced scallops dancing around a bite of briny sturgeon caviar in a pleasant pool of bittersweet grapefruit aspic. Fresh tomatoes and cleansing celery dotted the scallop carpaccio completing the fresh and clean flavors.

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A petit Hudson Valley foie gras flan was the second course of the special anniversary menu. It was both savory and creamy, complex without pretension. The flan was light as air grounded in earthy simmered mushrooms.

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The sizzling casserole of Maine lobster achieved a lovely balance, with raw almonds adding crunch and bite to the buttery succulence of the lobster tail peeled from its shell at the table. The green beans remained fresh and lively, bringing even more brightness to the aromatic third course.

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Veal filet mignon medallions rounded off the savory courses combining fragrances and malleable textures. The meat was tender and buttery, the curry was like a soft hum, and the vegetables were soft but not lost in the hearty quinoa.

The fifth course, a sweet course, piled summer fresh cherries in Greek Yogurt with a tingling mimosa jelly and Kirshwasser cappuccino. The summery dessert was refreshing, light, and not too sweet, but it was also decadent and layered with unexpected flavors.  

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To end, a caranoix cake, a mix of pecan nougat and caramel with nutella mousse, appealed to luxury. The expertly layered chocolaty dessert was decadent but not too heavy or overwhelming despite a variety of textures.

La Panetière offers an escape to the south of France in the middle of Rye using delectable food, superb service, and a warm atmosphere, all reminiscent of Provence. Here’s to more years of excellence! Joyeux Anniversaire!

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8.16.16

MangiaMore: Real Deal Southern Caramel Cake

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Ok, maybe I’m no expert. I know I’m no expert. My cakes do not always come out looking perfect. Believe me, I wish they would like those from gorgeous baking blogs and glossy magazines. But, sadly, they do not. I am no pastry chef with culinary background and know-how. However, I am a sometimes baker who enjoys trying something different and experimenting in the kitchen.

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For Father’s Day, I was inspired by my sister who has been wanting a caramel cake. A legit caramel cake. Not the gentler breed I made before. One of those super buttery yellow cakes held together by melted sugar caramel glue, sticky and sweet, decadent and southern. I got the picture.

However, my cake, unfortunately, did not come out like the picture.

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The Real Deal Southern Caramel Cake recipe from Grandbaby Cakes would appease sister’s dreams and celebrate my Daddio. Making the cake was easy, despite the zillion (six) eggs plus a load (two) of yolks, the copious amounts of butter, the surplus of sugar, the random sour cream, and the endless mixing. It was cathartic and exciting, maybe a little unnerving.

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The cake became infinitesimally more difficult when the thick evaporated milk, tons of sugar, and more butter than safe, simmered, bubbled, and boiled for more than an hour and a half. I sat and I watched and I stirred and I read when I was not sitting and watching and stirring, but at about the 1.45 hour mark, things started to burn. I ruined everything that this caramel was meant to be: a creamy, glossy, sticky caramel to coat that cake.  Mine got lumpy and dull, chunky, and stiff—to sum up, unpleasant. Little whisk in hand, I attacked the cooling caramel, hoping to bring back some of its luster  and revive the soul of this cake.

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If that wasn’t enough, this seizing caramel involved extreme, strenuous, and sometimes sweaty effort to apply. Warm caramel and muggy afternoons do not play nicely together, so what was once a straight, square and level cake, became a sloppy, lopsided mess. A few layers went one way while the others leaned the other way. Disaster.

To put it simply, the cake was not pretty.

But whoa, was it delicious.

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I made it on Saturday and threw the swerving cake in the fridge before any more damage could be done. Sunday, after prying off the lid and some of the caramel (and cake layer #2), the ugly cake tasted amazing. The crisp beautiful layers were sweet and tangy with sour cream, but dense enough to stand up to my imperfect caramel. It was just moist enough and felt like heavy pound cake on the tongue, while the candy coating was buttery, rich, and decadent with the aroma of browned sugar. Despite it all, my unattractive cake was scrumptious filled with love, commitment, tears, sweat, and dedication.

It’s the taste that counts? Or is it the thought? Well, this caramel cake ended up being pretty tasty.

Hope you all had a sweet Father’s Day too!

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6.21.15

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MangiaMore: all-in-ONE chocolate cake

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Another day, another cake. Well, not just any day, it was Mother’s Day. Early last week, I got a brief and to the point email with a link and “How about this for Mother's Day?” Perfect.

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Mommie wanted a chocolate cake, so Mommie was going to get a chocolate cake. And the Nigella Lawson no-nonsense recipe she found would do the trick for a Mother’s Day cake.

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The All-In-One Chocolate Cake could not have been easier. Some quick measuring, pulse, pulse, pulse, and the batter is done. The frosting was just as easy, albeit it multi-stage, but it ended up being a little runny because of the loose sour cream (I ended up lightening up the frosting with more powdered sugar and sour cream for the outside of the cake, leaving the middle dark as prescribed by the recipe). The name of the recipe explains it all. Nice and easy.

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This chocolate cake is very different from the chocolate cake I usually make. My classic cake is chocolaty and moist, tall and kind of fudgy; it reeks of children birthday parties and hot fudge sundaes—delicious but not the most sophisticated.

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Lawson’s cake puts a different spin on chocolate cake for a very adult twist. The cake has a fine crumb to it, springy, but it is also dense with chocolate notes, not relying on texture. Sour cream in the frosting, made glossy with corn syrup, added a tang and another distinctive level of maturity. It is sweet, tart but also light and rich, lacking the heaviness of a cream cheese frosting. The two elements combine for subtle sweetness and layered flavors, a very grown-up and refined experience.

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Make mum anything special for the holiday? Breakfast in bed? Spring savories or seasonal sweets? Would love to hear how you celebrated and follow foodie ventures on instagram, twitter, and facebook!

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5.10.15

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