Mazarine:
- Of or pertaining to Cardinal Mazarin, prime minister of France, 1643-1661;
- a deep rich blue;
- a deep rich blue butterfly;
- a silver strainer fitting over a meat dish and used for draining the water from boiled fish;
- the first Bible, and perhaps the first complete book, printed with movable metal types; – printed by Gutenberg at Mentz, 1450-55; – so called because a copy was found in the Mazarine Library, at Paris, about 1760.
- A forcemeat entrée.
Mazzarine – patisserie & chocolaterie artisanale
Israel’s English-language food bloggers, a cheery private dining room, a couple bottles of fume blanc, good conversation, and Tel Aviv’s finest desserts – last Thursday was a deliciously wonderful evening. I’ve been overly-exhausted with work, and thus have gotten behind in all the things I want to write about. The other ladies have indeed beat me to the punch, and rightly so. In any case —
It was delightful to meet Michelle Kemp (Baroness Tapuzina), Miriam Kresh (Israeli Kitchen), Sarah Melamed (Foodbridge), Liz Steinberg (CafeLiz), and Yael (Apples & Honey – an Israeli food blog in Finnish). We spoke about so many different things, it’s difficult for me to recall them all now. Arab markets, local ingredients, local winemaking, local dairies and cheeses, blogging, travel, cook books, genealogy, freelance food writing – you name it – just what semi-pro expat foodies in Israel would talk about.
I have long since discovered that food blogging (all blogging really, but here more significant that most) depends upon drop dead gorgeous photography. My colleagues’ photos are far superior to mine (I encourage you to visit their blogs), as I decided to break in my new uber-bells-and-whistles cell phone. These are great photos for a cell phone. But I’ve learned auto-focus is more than somewhat lacking…and these ladies are exceptional with a Nikon, one even coming with a fancy long lens.
Seared tuna, chive pancakes, jasmine rice, soy reduction sauce
The dinner was OK. Creative options, certainly. Their pastas superior to the fish special I ordered. Some homemade gnocchi, one with artichoke, another (a special) filled with plum (prune) in a portabello and shitake sauce. The soup was a clear veg broth with mushrooms (I believe), salmon pieces, and large homemade pasta squares blanketing the top. My seared tuna with some sort of chive pancakes and jasmine rice with a reduced soy sauce was a bit of a downer. Others enjoyed it but found the sauce too salty, something I agree with. But the fish was cut into strips with the “pancakes” interspersed between each slice. The pancakes were hard as pita crackers, and the fish was nearly cold when served to me (and was well stone cold long before I got into the middle of it).
By far the best part of the culinary experience of the evening was the dessert. Mazzarine is an incredible patisserie. I had the above cake, the “Ebony,” a 70% cocoa chocolate covering a dark chocolate mouse with some sort of meringue inside, a truffle on top, and a meringue glued to the side. The others had similarly decadent chocolaty, layered, glossy, rich concoctions.
To tell you the truth, the best part of the entire evening was communing with some extremely lovely friendly women. We had common interests, we all had seen each others’ work online, and it was almost therapeutic to meet in person. In years past before blogging, before the web, meeting in person was commonplace. Besides talking on the phone or writing a letter on a piece of paper, we met. Not anymore. It’s strange to be cooking such interesting foods, drinking such great wine, and feeling as though I don’t have too many people with whom to share it with. Not that I don’t have friends. But we don’t pop on by unannounced. We’re all busy. And weeks go by sometimes when I don’t have meals sitting down at an actual table sitting in front of a real person instead of my computer. The meeting was delightful.
A great thanks to Miriam and Michelle who organized it.
Here’s the best description I can come up with for what it tastes like: hot chocolate pudding. Yup. Made with dark chocolate and the very best cream, of course, but the consistency is right up there with Bill Cosby’s wigglin variety. Sometimes I’m tempted to see what would happen if I bought an individual made-for-a-school-lunch chocolate pudding and stuck it in the microwave. Because it’s really like that.
Irène Sharon Hodes 