♪ ♪ - Today on Milk Street, we travel to the new Paris, where we learn to cook potato gnocchi from Peter Orr, chef at Restaurant Robert.

Then we visit a new-style French bakery called Le Petit Grain with an American baker, Diana Bush, who loves lamingtons, an Australian finger cake covered with chocolate and coconut.

Finally, we make a very simple salad-- greens with walnuts, parmesan, and pancetta vinaigrette.

So stay with Milk Street as we learn to cook the new recipes of the new Paris.

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♪ ♪ - Some things in Paris never change-- the statues, the Bateaux Mouches cruises on the Seine, the sidewalk cafés and brasseries-- of course, the summer tourists on Pont Neuf, the motorbikes, the metro, small dogs, and cigarettes, and a great croissant.

What is new, however, is the food.

So my question is: what's new in Paris?

- I mean, I think it all really began with a couple of things.

One was the impact of social media, because even if you were a chef who didn't have the opportunity to travel or, you know, apprentice abroad, like some chefs have.

But those who haven't at least now have a tool to see what's happening elsewhere.

And I think these chefs or food entrepreneurs are saying to themselves, like, "Well, why can't we have this?"

Paris is a... is a big international city with people of all different walks of life, and, and tastes and preferences.

- Everyone travels, wants to find a little neighborhood place that all the tourists don't go to.

And now you're gonna mention it, and all the tourists will go to it, yeah.

- I am gonna mention it, and it's probably, you know, all downhill from here, but I love Robert-- Robert, which is actually co-owned by an Australian chef named Peter Orr.

♪ ♪ What's interesting about this place is, it does revive a lot of classic dishes, but then you're also gonna have some fresh pastas.

He spent a lot of his career cooking at award-winning Italian restaurants in London, so fresh pasta is part of his sort of culinary schooling.

♪ ♪ - You're from Australia?

- Yeah.

- So you're here in Paris.

Is there a huge community of chefs not from France now?

- I mean, to be honest with you, I feel like my whole life is expat chefs.

My girlfriend's an expat chef.

I just had a friend, passed by the restaurant, he's an American, he's a chef here.

So we all kind of link together and hang out together, definitely.

- Talk about the menu.

It was really interesting, but it was also simple.

- It was one of the questions before we opened that we found really challenging.

People were saying, "Oh, what do you do?

What's your food?"

And we kind of came up with modern European.

It's sort of French, English, and Italian, I guess, all mixed up into one.

And we try and focus on tradition over trend and just make things look generous and tasty and appetizing.

And then, you know, within each plate, we're sort of adding a little... a little twist or a little technique.

And, and that's kind of how we've gotten into the food that we're doing here.

- Let's talk about gnocchi for a second.

It's... it's hard to make, 'cause it's obviously heavy sometimes.

- Yeah.

- You add a lot of flour.

So how do you cook the potatoes?

What are some of the tips for making gnocchi?

- Well, first thing, you need to find the right potato.

Here we use an agria potato.

And we boil it in a bit of salted water, just to help the seasoning, and then we transfer it onto a tray into an oven.

- To dry it out.

- Exactly.

- And then flour and what else?

- Flour-- it's really, really simple.

So flour, a little bit of olive oil, a little bit of salt, and an egg.

And then we'll, we'll knead it until it forms a nice dough.

- What is it supposed to feel like when you have a nice dough?

- It's... you know, very soft, very giving, not sticking to your hands, not sticking to the work surface.

Still pliable, you can still roll it out quite comfortably.

You're not having to really work at it, doesn't feel like too, too tight of a dough.

You have a nice texture at the end.

♪ ♪ - I just show up at the end.

You did all the work.

- Yeah.

- I'm going to try this.

- Please.

- Those are the lightest gnocchi I've ever...

They're feather-light, this is so good.

Really, really phenomenal.

- Fantastic.

- We're gonna run out.

♪ ♪ I have to say, the new Paris is a little unsettling.

I mean, some of it's like a classic bistro, and they've sort of slightly updated, or did a better job with the classics.

But Peter Orr had cooked in Dubai, in London, and now he's doing pasta in Paris.

So we thought we'd bring that back here to figure out how to do Peter Orr's lighter-than-air gnocchi.

- Doesn't require any special equipment, but you do kind of have to be a little particular and follow a few sort of simple rules.

We're going to use russet potatoes.

These are peeled and cut into one-inch pieces.

This is four quarts of water.

We're just gonna let that come to a boil.

The water is boiling, so I'm gonna go ahead and put in two tablespoons of salt.

So that's going to take about 20 minutes to cook.

You want to be able to pierce it with a knife and have the potato just fall apart.

So when those potatoes were finished cooking, I drained them in a colander.

So instead of putting them in the oven, we're gonna just put them right back in this empty pot.

I'm gonna put this on over low heat, and we're just gonna kind of gently fold them in the pot.

And that's going to dry any excess moisture on the outside of the potato.

It's gonna take it right off.

So, Chris, you can see there's that film on the bottom of the pan.

That's how we know they're nice and dry.

So I'm gonna just transfer them to a sheet tray that we've lined with a rack and a piece of parchment.

You want to put these in a nice, even layer because they're gonna continue to dry here on this rack, and drier potatoes... - Make lighter gnocchi.

- ...equals lighter gnocchi.

So while that's cooling, we're gonna mix together our dry ingredients.

The proportion of potato to flour is critical to that airy texture.

So if you don't have a kitchen scale, this is a cup and two tablespoons of flour, but I really recommend weighing the flour.

So it's 146 grams of flour.

A half a teaspoon of baking powder, just gives it a little bit of lift.

- If you're gonna weigh your flour, that means you had to weigh your potatoes to get that exactly right, too, right?

- So we start with the weight of potatoes in a range.

So two-and-three-quarters to three pounds of potatoes.

But we're actually gonna weigh our potatoes again once we're finished cooling them.

- To make sure it's right-- okay.

- So this is a teaspoon of salt.

Just gonna whisk this together.

And then we'll come back once these are fully cooled to room temperature.

♪ ♪ So the potatoes have cooled to room temperature, and now this is where we're going to weigh them.

We want a pound and a quarter of potatoes.

Would be about four cups if you don't have a scale.

So we have some potatoes left over.

That's why we started with a range.

So you will get the luxury of having a little bit of extra potato to make... - Fine with me.

- ...tomorrow morning's hash browns.

- Okay.

- So to this, I'm gonna add a teaspoon of salt, and then we're gonna rice the potatoes.

And this is kind of another critical point.

Ricing really creates nice and light potatoes.

So you can see this is nice and light and fluffy.

So now we're gonna make the dough.

So here's the flour mixture we made earlier.

Dump that in.

We're just gonna toss it with our hands.

We don't want to do too much here, because that's what will make it really dense.

Okay, and to this, we're gonna add just one egg.

And you wanna beat this before you put it in here.

We need to be kind of gentle.

Right, so you want to just mix this until it just comes together as a dough.

We're just gonna give it a couple of turns on the countertop, and I'm gonna cut this into four pieces.

And you just want to roll this out into a log.

Try and make it as even as you can.

- And how long are you trying to make this?

- This should be about 16 inches.

And then cut it into 16 pieces.

- Half and half and half and half.

- We're going to do a real simple version.

You want to put a little bit of flour on the back of your fork and then just press down on it.

And our sauce will get into those ridges and cling there, and add a lot of flavor.

- So is that why there are ridges on gnocchi?

- That's why there's ridges, yeah.

- I never knew that!

- And I'm gonna transfer these to a tray, and I will continue rolling and cutting, and then we'll come back and cook this.

♪ ♪ So I have four quarts of water here, three tablespoons of kosher salt.

So I'm gonna add half of these in at once.

And once they float, we'll cook them for one minute.

So these have been cooking for about a minute after they've floated.

I'm gonna put them on a sheet tray lined with parchment.

This has two tablespoons of oil on it.

We don't want them to stick.

All right, so I'm gonna add the rest of these, and add them to that sheet tray.

And then they're gonna sit on the sheet tray for about 15 minutes.

♪ ♪ So now it's time to make the sauce.

So I'm gonna turn the pan on over medium heat and add two tablespoons of salted butter, and I'm gonna add a third of a cup of chopped fresh sage.

- So the old brown butter- sage sauce.

- Yeah.

We're just gonna lightly brown the butter here.

- Okay.

- It'll take about a minute.

And then I'm gonna add a half a cup of water.

And if you would pick up our gnocchi and add those... - En masse?

- En masse.

(chuckles) (sizzling) Want to be pretty gentle as you toss these.

You don't want to break them up.

And then, once that comes to a simmer, I'm gonna add two more tablespoons of salted butter.

And this is gonna cook for another minute or so.

Just want the sauce to sort of lightly thicken.

All right, this looks like a nice and buttery sauce, so I'm actually gonna take it off the heat and add the last two ingredients.

So I have a quarter-cup of chopped chives, two tablespoons of lemon juice.

We always wanna add citrus off the heat.

We want to keep it nice and bright.

- It does look delicious and professional.

- Thank you!

- Yes!

- All right.

- Thank you.

- Ready?

- This is the moment.

- I know, hopefully they're... - This is your final test.

- ...light and fluffy.

- Mm!

Those are incredibly light.

- The lemon is so nice in this.

It's so nice and bright.

- Very soft, very light.

That is delightful.

Yes.

So we went all the way to Paris to find out how to make gnocchi.

Sort of an odd thing, but Peter Orr has been cooking Italian food for years.

And we found the secret to gnocchi really was all about weighing the potatoes and weighing the flour, and making sure you had exactly the right proportion.

We finished with a nice butter-sage sauce, but we add a little bit of lemon juice and chives to lighten it up.

So great gnocchi from the new Paris.

♪ ♪ Some things in life never change, including my favorite bistro in Paris, Chez Georges.

It's small, there are lots of little dogs under the tables, and they serve the classics, including a salade frisée aux lardons, which is a frisée salad with a soft poached egg, and there's little bits of pork-- the lardons-- it's excellent.

So we did find the updated version of this recipe by Paul Bertolli.

It's a little bit of a fresher take on it, but we loved the concept, so we thought we'd investigate what he had to say.

- This is a great way to use those sort of little bit heartier, bitter winter greens that some people don't really know what to do with.

We're using a combination.

Here we have, of course, the frisée.

We're also using escarole, which is a lovely hearty green.

And then for color, we're gonna add some radicchio.

So now we're gonna go ahead and start our dressing.

This is two tablespoons sherry vinegar.

I'm gonna add a tablespoon of Dijon mustard.

And a half a teaspoon of kosher salt.

Okay, I'm just gonna whisk these together.

This is six ounces of pancetta.

And you can see this has been thinly sliced and chopped and it's gonna cook up nice and crispy.

We start it in a cold medium skillet.

I'm gonna put it on medium heat.

And you just want to stir this occasionally.

I'm spreading it into an even layer.

- Now why the pancetta versus the lardons?

The lardons a little greasier or heavier?

- And it's a little harder to find in the United States.

So while that's cooking-- and I'll let you keep an eye on that for me-- gonna go ahead and chop one shallot.

Okay, Chris, this looks great.

I'm just gonna transfer this to a paper towel-lined plate here, and allow it to drain.

Now, I know you're worried-- we're not gonna use all that oil that's in the pan in the dressing.

We're gonna pour all but one tablespoon, is all we need.

And we're gonna add our shallots.

(sizzles) We're just gonna cook it until it's light golden-brown and softened.

It's gonna take about two minutes.

We're gonna add three tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil.

And then the vinegar mixture that we did earlier.

If you go ahead and turn off the heat for me.

Just gonna whisk this together.

And we're ready to use it, and we want to go out and use it when it's nice and warm like this.

If you let it cool, it congeals, and it doesn't coat the greens as well.

I'm just gonna toss this gently.

We have a cup of walnuts.

We have toasted these, and then we roughly chopped them.

And then also a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.

Again, I'm just gonna toss this a little bit.

Finally, we're gonna add this wonderfully crisp pancetta on top, just a little sprinkle.

- Mm.

- I have an ounce of parmesan here, and I'm just gonna shave this over top.

- That does look great, I have to say.

- Mm.

- And I love the crunch from the nuts and the pancetta.

- This was delicious.

It's an updated version of salade frisée aux lardons, based on a recipe from Paul Bertolli in Cooking By Hand.

We lost the lardons and used pancetta instead.

We added some walnuts and cheese in place of the poached egg, and the dressing, I think, is much lighter.

It's not as greasy.

So if you like a green salad with walnuts, parmesan, and pancetta, I think this one is the right one for you.

♪ ♪ This is Belleville.

- Yeah.

This is a neighborhood with a lot of life, and the population is diverse.

I mean, you have young people and artists, and then you have diversity in the, in the sense of where people are coming from.

And it doesn't look like, you know, the neighborhoods necessarily that you're used to seeing on postcards.

And foodwise, it's been, it's been a, a big mix, But you're getting also a sort of younger vibe, as well.

Restaurateurs who used to go to the 11th arrondissement for cheaper rents are now coming up here because, well, the 11th isn't so cheap anymore.

- Oh, really?

- Yeah.

- I thought that was... ten years ago, it was up and coming.

- Well, then it was, and then... And then it became quite saturated.

And so you've got, you know, the guys who do Le Grand Bain and Le Petit Grain, the bakery, which has been busy ever since they opened.

♪ ♪ - So is this what's happening now in Paris?

People are opening non-traditional bakeries all over, or you're sort of an outlier?

- I think it's the same... it's the same movement that you find in restaurants, in restaurants right now in Paris, to propose something different from what we find in other bakeries, and the lamington, I have to say, is, I think, my favorite.

- It's, really, the lamington cake so how do you make that?

- So I make a vanilla cake, and sandwich it with chocolate in the middle, and then freeze it, cut it into rectangles, and then dip it in chocolate, and then roll in coconut.

- So you said the cake was reverse-creaming.

That is, you mix softened butter with the flour before you add the milk or the liquid.

- Yup.

- Right?

Is that a traditional Australian recipe, lamington cake?

- It's usually a sponge cake, like a Genoise-type cake.

But I've switched it, so it's a little moister, and stays a little longer.

- And easier to make, since Genoise is the hardest cake in the world to make.

- (laughs) ♪ ♪ - It's really light.

- It is.

- Those are really, really, really good.

- Thanks so much.

- We're gonna have to take one to go.

- (laughs) ♪ ♪ - You know, when I went to see "the new Paris," I was a little suspicious, 'cause people always go, "Oh, it's new."

Well, it turns out Le Petit Grain, that bakery, you have things you don't expect to see.

You know, it's not all the usual things, which makes Paris so much more interesting.

You get new stuff.

So how do you make a lamington?

- So we're going to start by mixing the wet ingredients together first.

We have a half a cup of whole milk.

We're adding three egg whites and a half-teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Want to just get that going.

Set this aside until we need it later.

And then we're gonna start with the dry ingredients.

So we have a cup and a quarter of cake flour.

We have one cup of granulated sugar, one teaspoon of baking powder, and a half a teaspoon of kosher salt.

We're gonna mix this on low to blend everything together.

(whirring) Okay, so now we're gonna begin adding the butter.

We're gonna add it one piece at a time, and then we're gonna let it mix on medium-high until it's fully incorporated.

- Now, this butter is, is softened or what?

- Yes, this butter is six tablespoons of butter at room temperature, so it's got a softer texture to it.

It'll blend a lot easier.

Okay.

- So this is technically called reverse-creaming.

- It is.

- Right.

Because you start with dry ingredients, then add the softened butter, instead of whipping the butter with the sugar.

- Exactly.

This should take about two to three minutes until the butter is fully incorporated.

It should look like wet, loose sand.

Okay, this is looking good.

So we're ready to add some of the liquid ingredient, because it has to be a batter in order to aerate.

However, too much liquid will thin the batter too much, and a thin batter won't take on as much air.

So we're gonna add all but a quarter-cup of this with the machine on low.

Good, so once that is fully incorporated, we can turn this up to medium-high.

(whirring increases) And it takes about a minute.

Okay.

We're going to add the rest of our liquid and then get it in the pan.

It's that simple.

(whirring slowly) Okay, good.

So we've prepped an eight-inch square baking pan by spraying it with a little bit of oil and dusting it lightly with some of the cake flour.

And we have parchment in the bottom, too.

You might think, one eight-inch pan, how much cake is that gonna make?

But this is actually gonna make 16 little lamington cakes.

- Really?

- 16, yes.

So we're gonna spread this out till it's level.

Our oven is preheated at 325 degrees, and we'll bake this for 30 to 35 minutes.

The top should be springy, light golden-brown.

And when you insert a toothpick in the middle, it will come out clean.

♪ ♪ So, Chris, our cake after baking came out and cooled on a rack in the pan for ten minutes.

Then we inverted it and put it back on the rack right side up, and let it cool completely for two hours.

Okay, so first, we'll trim the edges.

- Oh, good.

- Yeah.

- I love trimming edges.

- This is the part... - 'Cause that means I get to eat the edges, right?

- I was gonna say, this is the part the kids can have.

So there you go.

So now we need 16 squares.

So the best way to do this is to cut in half completely, and then we're going to do half the half.

We're gonna cover this with plastic wrap, put these in the freezer, and then, after they are firm, we'll be ready to do the glaze.

♪ ♪ Okay, it's time to make the glaze.

The cakes are in the freezer, and we need a heat source for this.

So what we're doing is making a homemade double-boiler.

We have about an inch of water simmering in there, and we're gonna start with three-quarters cup of whole milk, quarter-cup of coconut oil, and then we have the chocolate, of course-- it's a chocolate glaze.

And we're using four ounces of unsweetened chocolate.

The sugar will come later.

Okay.

So we'll set this over the simmering water.

What the double-boiler does is, it's a very gentle heat.

It's not direct heat.

We don't want the chocolate to burn.

You can see the, no more chocolate chunks.

Let's put it onto a towel, since the bottom of the bowl is wet.

We have one cup of powdered sugar and an eighth-teaspoon of salt.

Gonna whisk this together.

I love the way this comes together, because suddenly it gets shiny.

Okay.

So, fingers or fork?

- Fingers!

- Okay, you do fingers, I'll do fork.

The glaze is hot, so be careful.

- (laughing): Now you tell me the glaze is hot, okay.

- So you put them in, flip them over.

Now, the cakes being frozen will help set the glaze.

Gonna tap them off a little bit, let that drain, and then right into the coconut.

Two-and-a-half cups of unsweetened shredded coconut.

- I'll do this part.

- Okay.

- I'll do the hard part.

- Good.

- You have the fun part.

- Yeah, you just want to lick your fingers later.

Okay, so good, these are very lightly coated.

Great, and they could just go right back on the same sheet tray.

Now we just have to let these set for 30 minutes.

(laughing): Till the glaze firms up.

♪ ♪ All right, so here we are.

- Yup, I'm here.

- I can see.

- Anyway... Mm...

The, the cake is so tender.

- Mm-hmm.

- You're right, you know.

- Velvety, right?

This is perfect.

- Mm.

So, a really great cake.

It's very tender with a nice fudgy coating on the outside.

And then you also have the coconut.

So three different textures, three different flavors.

Just a really great dessert.

It's also not very hard to make, so you can get the recipe for the lamington, and all the recipes from this season, of course, at MilkStreetTV.com.

All episodes and recipes from this season of Milk Street Television are available for free at our website, MilkStreetTV.com.

Please access our content, including our step-by-step recipe videos, from your smartphone, your tablet, or your computer.

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The Milk Street cookbook offers bolder, fresher, simpler recipes.

Order your copy of the Milk Street cookbook for $23.95, 40% less than the cover price, and receive a Milk Street tote with your order at no additional charge.

Call 855-MILK-177, or order online.

- Funding for this series was provided by the following.

- Ferguson's proud to support Milk Street and culinary crusaders everywhere.

For more information on our extensive collection of kitchen products, we're on the web at fergusonshowrooms.com.

- For 25 years, Consumer Cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like.

Our U.S.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you.

To learn more, visit ConsumerCellular.tv.

- Since 1899, my family has shared our passion for everything that goes into our Mutti 100% Italian tomatoes.

Only tomatoes.

Only Mutti.

- Designed by cooks for cooks for over 100 years.

Cookware collection by Regal Ware.

Handcrafted in Wisconsin.

- The AccuSharp knife and tool sharpener, designed to safely sharpen knives in seconds.

AccuSharp: Keep your edge.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪