DWZI - Lunch at Le Cordon Bleu

So there we were, exhausted from slaving away at making croissants in the big industrial kitchen at Le Cordon Bleu. Listening attentively to Chef Xavier Cotte announcing that it is time for lunch.

Well, the translator told us what he said since he was speaking in French.

I welcomed the break because I am not used to standing on my feet for hours at end (shame on me!).

We headed to the lunch room and there we found a table laden with French treats. Fresh fruit, melon with parma ham, a big selection of cheese, pate's, shrimps with avocado, beef terrine, salmon terrine, tomato with mozzarella and pesto, bread and of course red and white wine.

Happiness!

The French certainly know how to have a lunch break :-)

Deze week zag ik... this week I saw
(inspired by DezeWeekZagIk on the blogs by Daan en Roos)

Croissants!

Le Cordon Bleu is a world renowned culinary institution and I was lucky enough to attend a workshop on French pastries at their Paris campus.

Two of my fellow foodie friends joined me for a weekend in Paris and it was great!

The workshop was everything I expected and more. It is not quite as easy as you might think to make croissants and brioche... in fact, it is very hard work.

The chef, Xavier Cotte, was hilarious. He is not just a funny guy, oh no, he is also a very a talented pastry chef! We were so lucky to be able to learn from him. He was patient as he demonstrated all the techniques, and even more so when he walked around the class helping us with our own attempts.

We had a translator since the chef spoke only French. Amazingly the language barrier is no problem when it comes to food.

I contemplated posting the croissant and brioche ingredients and the recipe, but I decided against it.  All I will say is that there is more butter in them than you imagine... lots and lots of butter.

You really had to be there, see it, make it and taste it for yourself.