Paris! #2 by Giada De Laurentiis

Author:Giada De Laurentiis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-08-07T04:00:00+00:00

“Whatever will help us win.” He still felt a bit sour about the whole captain thing.

“But what’s your opinion?” Jacques pressed. “You have to help us.”

“I am helping,” Alfie said.

“I mean by having an opinion,” Jacques said. “What’s the one dish you’re really good at making?”

Three sets of eyes stared at Alfie, waiting for him to answer. Although Zia Donatella and his mom had been cooking a lot more at home and he was tasting better and more interesting foods, he still didn’t really know how to cook anything on his own.

“Well, I can make pasta,” he offered. Zia had taught him how to know when it was perfectly al dente—although he still didn’t know how to make sauce.

“You can make pasta from scratch?” Madeline said, impressed.

“Well, I mean . . . ,” he began. What he’d meant was, he could dump a box into boiling water and know when it was perfectly al dente. Sort of.

“We need to do French cooking,” Jacques said.

“How about if I make a classic French vegetable soup for a starter?” Madeline offered. “That’s simple, but it lets the ingredients shine. I heard Monsieur DuBois say we’re going to the market tomorrow to get our ingredients, so I’ll pick the freshest and best.”

“Great start,” Jacques said, writing it down. “Andre? Any ideas?”

“My grandmother taught me how to make her famous sausage wrapped in pastry. It was the first thing she learned to make when she moved here from Gabon. I can’t do it as well as she can, but it’ll make a good first course.”

“Sounds excellent,” Jacques said, adding it to the list. “I guess my dad did teach me to do steak really well. If I can find a great cut at the market I’ll do it au poivre. Sound okay?”

Feeling silly, Alfie raised his hand and said, “What’s au poivre?”

Madeline said, “You know—‘with pepper.’”

“Oh, yeah,” Alfie replied, hoping he sounded convincing.

“Now all we need is dessert,” Jacques said. “Looks like it’s you, Alfie. Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah, totally,” he said, even though the only dessert he’d made on his own was putting prepared cookie dough discs on a pan and shoving them into the oven.

“Any ideas?” Jacques asked. Alfie stared blankly, his mind racing for something, anything, besides ice cream with store-bought chocolate sauce.

“Jacques, your dad has that awesome raspberry charlotte recipe,” Andre said. “That’d be a great finish to our meal.”

“Doesn’t that recipe take a long time?” Madeline asked.

“Yeah, sort of,” Jacques agreed. “There are a lot of steps, but if you pay close attention it’s doable. I don’t know—maybe there’s an easier version that Alfie could do.”

“Yeah,” Madeline agreed. “Something simple that can’t be messed up.”

“Hey,” Alfie said, insulted. “I can handle it.” Maybe he didn’t have all their training—or even know what a “raspberry charlotte” was—but he could certainly follow a recipe.

“Are you sure?” Jacques asked, annoying Alfie further.

“I’m sure,” he said. “Just give me the recipe, and I’ll make the best raspberry dessert you’ve ever had.”

“Charlotte,” Jacques said. “Raspberry charlotte.

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