Elegant Entertaining

In Paris’s exclusive Faubourg Saint Honoré, not far from the Elysée Palace, the magnificent residence of the American ambassador to France is the setting for the capital’s most elegant Franco-American events. Built in the mid-19th century by the Baroness de Pontalba of New Orleans, whose extraordinary life reads like a novel, the mansion was later bought and embellished by Baron Edmond de Rothschild. It was acquired by the US government in 1948 and, as the ambassador’s residence, hosts receptions, concerts, dinners, garden parties and national holiday celebrations such as Thanksgiving and an annual Fourth of July garden party. Among its guests have been US presidents, foreign dignitaries, French friends of America and some lucky Americans in Paris.

Those of us who’ve never received one of the ambassador’s engraved invitations can now pay a virtual visit, thanks to Dorothy Walker Stapleton’s sumptuous Elegant Entertaining: Seasonal Recipes from the American Ambassador’s Residence in Paris. Part coffee-table book, part cookbook, the volume is a joint effort by Stapleton, whose husband Craig was ambassador to France from 2005 to 2009, and Philippe Excoffier, executive chef at the residence since 2000.

The book is organized around seasonal events, and while Excoffier enjoys providing his own Gallic take on such American classics as barbecue and brownies at the Fourth of July party, here he offers grander fare: gazpacho and crab millefeuille, grilled tuna with broccoli mousseline, medallion of lamb stuffed with chanterelles and truffles, iced cognac soufflé with wild strawberries. Some dishes, like the salmon with champagne sauce, in which overlapping slices of finely sliced, blanched zucchini are layered over an entire salmon to mimic fish scales, are better suited to Excoffier’s kitchen with its team of 12, but many others, including a creamy pumpkin soup and a caramelized pineapple dessert, are surprisingly simple to prepare and guaranteed to wow dinner guests.

The book’s introductory text describes the history, architecture, renovation and decoration of the residence, and gives a fascinating glimpse into the day-to-day kitchen routine of an establishment where several events may be held in a single day, and where the number of guests can change significantly at the last minute. And Francis Hammond’s gorgeous photographs of the mansion, its gardens, and its sumptuous tables, which take up most of the book, are a feast in themselves. Part of the book’s proceeds go to FXB International, an organization that fights poverty and AIDS and provides support to the world’s orphans.

Elegant Entertaining: Seasonal Recipes from the American Ambassador’s Residence in Paris, by Dorothy W. Stapleton and Philippe Excoffier. Flammarion, 2009. Photographs by Francis Hammond. Distributed by Rizzoli through Random House. website