Cafe Fernando

Paris Photos

I must be the only person who visited Paris for a week, ate insane amounts of caramel au beurre salé , smeared salted butter on everything imaginable and still lost 5 pounds. Where did all that caramel go? I’ve spent a small fortune on those caramels and I’ve got nothing to show. I melted just like the mango passion fruit caramels at Denise Acabo’s shop did in my mouth. Maybe I should move to Paris, too.

Actually, I know why. I walked from 9 am to 9 pm, everyday for 7 days, almost always on a sugar high with a 10-pound backpack (camera, lenses, caramels au beurre salé, chocolate, more caramel au beurre salé…).  And you know what else? I still couldn’t finish visiting all the places on my list.

I’ll tell you all about my delicious adventures later in the week. Until then, here are some photos I took during my trip – after the jump. Enjoy!

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Roasted Tomato Soup

I guess I am a bit late about this roasted tomato soup recipe as the season is over, but better late than never (or next year), right?

This roasted tomato soup with goat’s cheese crostini recipe belongs to Gordon Ramsay and was published in his column at Times Online. It has great depth, thanks to roasting the tomatoes with red onions, sea salt, olive oil, fresh thyme and a bit of sugar in the oven. Since this is a pretty straight forward recipe with few ingredients, it all comes down to how good your tomatoes are.

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Potato Salad with Crunchy Pastirma

The inspiration for this potato salad came when I was preparing eggs & pastırma for a brunch with friends. For those who haven’t heard of it before, pastırma (pass-trrr-mah) is an air-dried cured beef, which I consider to be one of the ultimate treats for a typical Turkish breakfast or brunch. Pastırma is believed to be the origin of the Italian pastrami, but for me the taste is much closer to a beef jerky.

The last time I prepared the dish, I was juggling many dishes at once. The pastırma slices fried more than intended and became ultra crispy. Instead of starting over, I crumbled and sprinkled them on top of eggs. It was a smashing success. Following that brunch dish, I kept on overcooking my pastırma slices and sprinkling the salty bits on top of everything. And the minute they hit these warm potatoes in a creamy mustard dressing, I knew this recipe was going to be a keeper.

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