May 28, 2015 Fontainebleau Castle and Le Caveau des Lys

We left the apartment 7:20 and walked to St. Augustine metro station.  Then Kathryn bought us tickets to Fontainebleau and we metroed to Gare de Lyon, where we met the other six members of the American Women' Group in Paris and took the 8:45 train to Fontainebleu.  We visited the extensive castle rooms and garden for over there hours.  Fontainebleau was built beginning in the 13th century, but was significantly enlarged by Francis 1st in the 16th century and then Louis 13th and 14th in the 18th century.  It was the main castle/hunting Lodge of the French royalty until Louis XIV built Versailles.

Here are some pictures:

After walking through some of the gardens, we meet in the entry and then walked across the road into the town of Fontainebleau to Cadeau de Lys where Kathryn had made reservationa for lunch.

We all took the prix fixe lunch. The appetizer course included escargot in beet and creme fraiche purée, which Mike, Kathryn and Suzette ordered and foie gras with rumsteak, which I ordered.

My foie gras was revelatory; a terrine of whole duck liver with a thin slice of aged and salt cured "rumsteak" garnished with tall sprouts of a tender vegetable and topped with a delicate sail made with sugar crystal and accompanied by a spoonful of green tomato coulis; a fabulous presentation.

The entree course was equally impressive. Mike and Suzette ordered steak tartare with boiled potatoes topped with mashed potatoes served with a salad with a flower on it.  Kathryn and i ordered the local fish, which was served on a mound of risottoed rice and red quinoa.

Dessert turned out to be the most dramatic moment of many memorable moments in the meal.  Mike, Kathryn, and Suzette ordered pears and a baked crumble served with a warm chocolate sauce.  The pears and crumble was served in a deep glass bowl with a thin chocolate wafer covering the top of the bowl with a fleur de lis inscribed in powdered sugar on top of the chocolate wafer with a steel pitcher of warm chocolate sauce on the side. 

When each gave the signal to pour the chocolate sauce the waitress poured the sauce onto the wafer and the sauce melted through the wafer leaving the outline of the fleur de lis; pretty cool.

 My dessert was more pedestrian but no less imprssive; a shallow bowl of honey and saffron flavored creme brûlée with a thin layer of crystallized sugar on top.  I loved it.

After lunch we walked through a walking street to the church and then back to the bus stop and took the us back to the railroad station and took the 4:00 train back to Paris, arriving about after 5:00

We metroed back to St.Augustine station and walked back to the apartment.  

When we arrived Kathryn thawed out the four pork chops she had bought the day before and I suggested making the Spanish tapa of roasted pork with onion and apples.  Everyone agreed, so Mike and I ran to the bakery for a loaf of bread, then to the supermarche for a container of cream and then to the green grocer's next door to buy mushrooms, apples and tomatoes for a salad.  

We decided to make the Spanish tapa recipe and then add mushrooms and cream.  I sliced the onion and the Jazz Apple and we cooked them in a skillet and then baked them with the pork chops.  When the pork chops were cooked, we added a bit of cognac and the cream.  

Unfortunately, using two sauces made the dish unusually heavy.