It is always comforting to come back to a familiar place to cook and eat. That's how I feel about Fernando and Cissa's apartment in Paris where I spent last spring.

Since then, their apartment has gone through a major makeover. The old kitchen is gone. Gutted and replaced with beautiful modern appliances.  Walls removed and repainted, old posts exposed, etc. It's amazing what fresh ideas, new cabinets and carpentry can do. The whole apartment is lofty and light.  

This summer, Fernando was in Paris with his family.  So was our friend Niv and there was me. Fernando invited us to come and cook. This is what we often did when we were shooting our last film in Canada.  It was our favorite passtime.

We went shopping at the Grand Epicerie - on Rue du Bac- the gourmet supermarket to die for.  We let our whims and what caught our eyes dictate what to cook. That's always the best.  At the La Gazetta, Niv had eaten  a fabulous fish the night before. He wanted to recreate the dish.  He said it was this delicate fillet that was served on a creamy bed of cauliflower puree and some arugula. Mmmm.  I was thinking more like sashimi or ceviche to start with and something a bit more simple like grilled lamb chops. But that's okay. I welcomed the challenge.   

We found a very nice fat sea bass at he Poisonnerie on Rue de Bac. There were going to be eight of us for dinner so we bought two medium size sea bash and asked for the fishmonger to make them into fillets.  At the Grand Epicerie,  we found a variety of fresh pasta in the Italian section.  So we picked up some vegetable, mushroom and tomato ravioli.  We decided to make the tomato sauce from scratch.  

We came up with the following menu:

Red radishes and carrots with fresh hand churned smoked butter (Bordier)  

Mushroom, mixed vegetables and cheese ravioli with tomato sauce and basil.  

Sauteed seabass served on a bed of stir fried arugula and 

julienned red peppers

Cauliflower puree  

Mixed greens and herbs with lemon dressing

Bread from Eric Kaizer

Strawberries, blueberries and currants with creme fraiche

Cheeses

and of course plenty of wine and a nice vintage champagne.  

We couldn't go wrong with these ingredients.

Lots to carry back to the apartment.  Niv was the master chef.  I started the tomato sauce for the ravioli. The sauce needed to cook for a few hours.  Fernando chopped garlic.  Caca peeled the carrots.  We all contributed our love and labor.  The Tomato sauce was slightly on the sweet side but we adjusted the flavor with chopped basil.  

For the Fish dish, Niv marinated the sea bass in some olive oil, sliced pickled lemon. He seasoned it with some salt and pepper.  Then Spencer remembered that the fish had a little dill in it.  So Niv used the dill from the green salad.  One herb can do a whole lot good to a fish..  We didn't have a blender for the cauliflower puree but Niv made it with an old  French press puree   we found in the cabinet.  It belonged to the former owner.  It took two people to assemble it together but we did.  He added some creme fraiche to the puree and seasoned it with salt and pepper.  

Niv, sliced some red and yellow pepers and pan fried them.   He put them aside. 

He took the sea bass out of the marinade and pan fried it in the same pan as the peppers.

To serve, He lay a small handful of argula on each plate.  The put a bed of creamy cauliflower puree.  Arranged some peppers on the side and then finally the sea bass on top.  The dish looked beautiful.

Basically, we won everyone over with the first course - the ravioli with fresh tomato sauce. Then the main fish course was served.  It was fantastic.  With some creme fraiche and chopped chives, the cauliflower puree tasted like a creamy cloud.  We were basically in heaven for the rest of the evening. Master chef at work serving the fish on the beautiful old Limoge plates.

Mmmmm so good!

At the end of the  evening, we promised each other that we will do this again.

A bientot!