Pan Roasted Rabbit in Red Wine with Prunes and Cinnamon

With my sister visiting for work in Paris we wanted to cook up something special for this rare occassion to meet up in Paris.

So we let our morning trip to the markets guide the way. A rabbit called out, and a great fruit and nut stand inspired the middle eastern spin on the dish.


Rabbit marinated in red wine, rosemary, orange rind and cinnamon...fried off briefly then roasted with the marinade with prunes til tender. This was absolutely delicious, the rabbit so tender and tasty and the cinnamon and prune combination added great flavour. A very memorable dish that would be amazing in a tagine. Food for thought.

We simply had this with some fresh baguette, some mushrooms and asparagus on the side, and a fantastic endive, fennel, strawberry and rochfort salad!

The Parisian Cooking Files: Jamie Inspired Breakfast

We saw Jamie Oliver do this with black pudding, so we couldn't resist cooking this up for breakfast one morning, after we had bought some fresh quail eggs from the markets and had that declicious salami on hand.


Simply fried quail eggs, served on sliced fresh baguette with a slice of salami. We resisted frying the salami but I'm sure that would be seriously good! This may look like pint sized, but it hits the spot! You have to leave room for a pan chocolat after all!

The Parisian Cooking Files: Roasted Pigeon with Fig & Walnut stuffing

We did go a bit cooking crazy in Paris, but our meals just kept getting better and better, and we were so excited to cook with produce we hardly get a hold of here in Sydney.

There was lots of game around in November, and we thought we try our hand at a pigeon! We stuffed this one with figs, walnuts and breadcrumbs, binded with a quail egg. No tooth picks to hold in the stuffing, so some rosemary spriggs did the trick. Roasted with sweet potato, this was beautiful, just like eating a big quail! just more meat to enjoy!

Charcuturie Platter

We started most evenings after opening a bottle of wine and grazing on some amazing pates, terrines and what was one of the best salamis I had ever had. A declicious pork and fennel seed salami. Amazing.
The cheese selections at the local Fromagerie were unbelieveable. We would lust take pot luck and pick what looked and smelt good. These picks were a mix of goats cheese, a soft harvati-like cheese and a brie. Served up with a fresh baguette and cornichons!

Pan Roasted Duck Breast with Clementines

Another Parisian cook up!

Some of the freshest and biggest duck breast I'd ever, which we bought from an amazing market in St Germain. The breasts still had the feathers on, then the friendly chap at the stall, cleaned and trimmed the breast beautifully! what service! Marinated in red wine, and some juice and rind from some clementines (mandarins - just making it sound Frenchy) garlic and rosemary. Seared in a pan, then left to roast in the oven with the juices and segments of the clementines.


Then served with some grilled endive lettuce and some more sauteed fennel which we still had from a previous market shop up! If only we had these markets on our door step in Petersham!

The Parisian Cooking Files: Artichoke Ravioli

We spotted a great pasta stall outside an Italian deli in Paris selling some great looking handmade pasta. We couldn't resist these artichoke ravioli! Simply served with some melted butter and parmasen with some rochfort crumbled on top with parsely and drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Very rich but very tasty!

Steak Parisian Style

We spent a month in Europe in November, 2010 and the final stage of our trip was 10 days in an apartment in the Latin Quarter in Paris. We couldn't wait to cook up a storm with so many amazing markets on our doorstep. A short walk from our house was a great strip of shops, filled with great butchers, fish shops, cheese shops and don't get me started on the boulangeries.

Craving something simple with not much fuss after our train ride from Belgium, we cooked up simple beef fillet. While in Paris, mixed some butter with parsely and thyme and some chopped cornichons to dollop on top of the steak before serving. Served simply with some grilled fennel and tomatoes.

Berlin Burger

This was an amazing burger we had while on Holiday in Berlin. My sister Caroline had heard about this burger place under a train track, which used to be a public toilet block. Doesn't sound very appetising!

But we just stumbled upon it by accident, when we were strolling around Kruezberg in Berlin. Smelt the grilled meat in the air and then spotted a line. Kind of the Harry's Cafe de Wheels of Berlin! This photo gets me hungry every time.