At home with our Parisian Home Chef
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This week we’re talking with Clotilde Dusoulier, our Parisian Home Chef. She’s young, switched on, and passionate about food. People are passionate about Clotilde, too: her blog attracts hundreds of visitors daily, as well as award nominations (nominated for Best European Blog in this year’s Bloggies) and praise from respected foodie magazines.
Clotilde talks to us about which chefs inspire her, which cookbooks she can’t do without, where to shop for cooking gear in Paris, and her future plans, including her “Cooking in Montmartre” classes.
BP: Congrats on your recent inclusion in Gourmet magazine’s Best Food Blogs article (April 2004 issue). When did you decide to start a food blog, and why?
CD: When I discovered food blogs about a year ago, I instantly fell in love with the format. I loved reading those daily cooking and eating journals, and I loved peeking into the author’s kitchen and being virtually invited at his/her table. I am so passionate about cooking and eating, and food is such an all-time favorite topic for me, that the idea came quite naturally to start my own. I called it “Chocolate & Zucchini” to illustrate my somewhat schizophrenic tastes: healthy cooking with a big focus on vegetables, but a tremendous sweet-tooth, too.
Initially, I simply felt like sharing my thoughts, experiments and recipes with fellow food enthusiasts out there, but it has turned out to be much more rewarding and inspiring than that: new friends, new ideas, new recipes—I learn so much from my readers, every day!
BP: You get the chance to train with the chef of your choice. Who would that be?
CD: Living or dead? If I can pick someone long departed, I’ll choose Antonin Carême, a brilliant pastry architect from the early 19th century. The inventor of the petit-four! And if I have to choose someone who’s still with us, Alain Ducasse and Pierre Hermé would be my dream mentors.
BP: What inspires you in your recipes?
CD: Inspiration can come from a lot of sources; I’m just generally tuned in to all the food channels around me! I read a lot about food and cooking (cookbooks and cooking magazines, websites and other blogs, but also food-oriented novels, essays, and bios). I love looking at the windows of food stores and I study restaurant menus when I walk in the streets. I also frequently find myself in conversations about food—if someone says “I had dinner at so-and-so”, I’ll inevitably ask, “Oh, what did you have?”
I tend to have a good memory for those things, and they seem to get filed away somewhere in the pantry of my brain. So when I find myself in the kitchen, trying to come up with a dish, ingredient pairings and preparation methods sort of spring into life, and voilà! there’s a new recipe!
BP: What’s your favorite meal to cook?
Tough question. I really enjoy having friends over for dinner and preparing a full-blown menu, or preparing food for a party, with buffet-style dishes and nibbles. But I also love it when you just whip up something without much forethought and it turns out great. That’s very satisfying. Generally speaking, I love making intricate things and pretty, appetizing presentations.
BP: What about when you go out and let someone else do the cooking?
CD: Going out to eat, be it for brunch, lunch, tea or dinner, is one of my greatest pleasures and excitements. I love reading restaurant reviews and I keep a running list of favorite places and new ones to try. Happily, my friends will often leave the choice of the restaurant to me, because they know I enjoy it so much! Sometimes they’ll even call me and say “I’m in the <fill the blank> area and I’m starving, any pointer?” Then I get all excited and start racking my brains, trying to find the perfect suggestion for them.
BP: If any of our readers were interested in buying kitchen gadgets in Paris and only had time to go to one store, which one would you recommend?
CD: I send everyone who’ll listen to E.Dehillerin, 20 rue Coquillère in the 1st arrondissement. Review to be found on Chocolate & Zucchini.
BP: And if they wanted to take a cooking course, which one would you recommend?
CD: I have heard good things about Trucs de chef and Diet Café but I haven’t tested them myself.
I am also developing my own cooking classes: “Cooking in Montmartre” takes you food shopping in the little stores of Montmartre, followed by the hands-on preparation of a three-course meal in my Montmartre apartment. The class ends with the eating of the meal we have prepared. The second class is “Food shopping in Paris,” and takes you on a tour of the best places for food-related shopping: the best gourmet food stores, the best candy stores, the best boulangeries and pâtisseries, the best cooking supplies and equipment stores, and a visit to a market. In both cases, you get handouts, a CD that contains the recipes used and/or addresses visited, and the digital pictures taken during the class. These are the concepts my classes are based on, but they can be custom-made for each group. I adapt the content and length of the class to the students’ preferences, and what they would most like to do and see. Email me for more info!
BP: Which chefs/restaurants make your mouth water?
CD: I’m always very curious about creative chefs who experiment with food. I’d love to go to Alain Passard’s restaurant l’Arpège for the all-vegetable menu (Collection Légumière). I have heard great things about Michel Bras’ restaurant in Laguiole, and of course, I wouldn’t turn down an invitation to El Bulli!
BP: If you could open your own restaurant, what would the theme be and what would feature prominently on the menu?
CD: My dream restaurant would be a small place, not too fancy, where you would be made to feel comfortable and at home. The menu would be short and sweet, and would change weekly, depending on what’s fresh and in season. Inventive French cuisine would perhaps describe the style best: French dishes under various influences, with a big focus on vegetables and fresh, artisanal products. As for the dessert menu, it could always be counted on to offer a few light options, but also some indulgent desserts and lots of room for chocolate!
BP: For the newcomers to Paris who are hoping to entertain some of the locals, what words of advice would you give them?
CD: It all depends on whom you’re entertaining of course, but it’s often nice to start the evening with a few nibbles served at the coffee table with a pre-dinner drink, and skip the first course. It’s easier, and I like the pleasant, laid-back atmosphere it sets off.
Also, you don’t have to prepare everything from scratch. Take advantage of the markets and the small stores in your neighborhood. You can serve a few slices of terrines from the charcuterie, or a cheese course with your favorites from the fromagerie and one or two types of good bread, an array of antipasti from the Italian deli, fresh fruit from the produce stall with sorbets from Picard… Your good taste and efforts will shine through the selection of products you’ve made, and picnic-style dinners are all the rage!
And of course, do serve your guests a favorite dish from back home (most ingredients have acceptable substitutes here), especially if it has an accompanying story. They’ll love that—I’m sure I would!
BP: Which cookbooks do you recommend?
CD: I love every one of Trish Deseine’s books. She’s from Ireland, married a Frenchman and lives just outside Paris, so her cooking has interesting influences and she has a very unique style. Her books are friendly, simple and chock-full of brilliant ideas. She’s a real inspiration.
BP: We here at BP see you with your own cooking show in 10 years (because we think you’re gorgeous, vibrant and talented!). Where would you like to be?
CD: I have a variety of interests that I’m pursuing: food writing and journalism, cooking classes, recipe creation and development, catering for special events and parties, restaurant reviewing, and I’m currently working on a cookbook project. So in ten years, if I have it my way, I will be a published author, making a living out of all those activities.
That, and the cooking show, of course!