Cucina Testa Rossa

IMBB23 ~ Vive la France! Haut Rond #1

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Bonjour mes amis francais! Bienvenue a l'IMBB23 Vive la France Haut Rond #1! Welcome to the IMBB23 Vive la France Round Up #1! I am overwhelmed with the great response and the innovative culinary prowess of this food blog world. Y'all are more creative than I could ever hope to be. This will be a quick round up as I am off on a 5-day-5-city-3-country PR roadshow from hell.  Next weekend I'll have the full Haut Rond (round up) so if you didn't finish it today, n'inquiétes pas (don't worry). Just shoot me a note by next Friday.

Thank you all for letting your blog burn for the 23rd time. I hope it was a delicious inferno!

Cucina Testa Rossa by Laura
Daube de Boeuf Arlesienne
Provence's traditional cuisine, "cuisine du soleil" hails from fresh produce, olive oil, herbs, tomatoes and garlic. No surprise as Provence kisses the top west border of Italy so much of the cuisine has these Italian influences, or vice versa as the French might claim...and let's not forget their heavenly (pun intended) Chateauneuf du Pape!

Ô Délices by Marie-Laure
Madeleines au citron - Lemon madeleines
The lovely Marie-Laure was not only the first one in and early, but she made my favorite little cake - Madeleines! These eponymous delights were "created in France in the XVIIIe century by Madeleine Paumier."  Marie-Laure shares her recipe in both English and French! C'est magnifique!

Seriously Good by Kevin Weeks
Daube d'Agneau a la Provençal ~ Lamb Daube Romanesque
Another early bird, Kevin also made a daube but his is with lamb. "...in the Mediterranean countries, lamb and even mutton have a long and honored tradition. LaRousse Gastronomique lists more than 130 ways of cooking lamb." His wine? A "New Zealand Pinot Noir... specifically, a bottle of Dyed-in-the-Wool Pinot Noir -- it just seemed appropriate."

ToastPoint by Katherine
Beaujolais lunch "at" Chateau des Ravatys
Katherine exemplifies the French joie de vivre that assumes any day is a good day to celebrate, especially when one is celebrating one’s first poached egg! Felicitations Kate! Cheers!

Baking Sheet by Nicole
Alsatian Onion Tart
Nicole found inspiration from her father’s fond memories of a pub he ate at in France that served nothing by beer and onion tarts… You’ve got to love the French. When they do something right, they really do it right!

Chubby Hubby by Aun
Gigot a la Bordelaise
I am so envious of Aun who not only is an amazing chef, captivating writer and stunning photographer, he also lives in my second favorite city in the world, Singapore! He and S created an incredible leg of lamb from Bordeaux and paired it with a fabulous Valpolicella he bought in Venice! Mangiare bene e tchin tchin!

Wanderlust from Athens, Greece
Papillotte de Loup de Mer Aux de Fenouil et Courgettes ~ Fillets of Sea Bass with Fennel & Zucchini, Provencal Herbs in Parchment Paper
True to her name, wanderlust spent the last 6 summers in Cote d’Azur, “long enough to have a love affair with their food….lots of seafood and sun kissed vegetables…” Her wine of choice was naturallement a Cotes de Provence… “Fresh and fruity and I could feel the summer days of Provence.” Don’t we all wish we could feel that right about now!

La Tartine Gourmande by Bea
Tartelettes Tatin à la ratatouille ~ Ratatouille Tatin Tartlets
“Ratatouille is a classic in French cuisine - so is la tarte tatin - that I grew up with.” Bea hated ratatouille as a child but fortunately for all of us she now loves it. These stunning ratatouille tatins look so divine, I’m sure every eggplant-hater will be converted.

Bron Marshall, Classis & Creative Cuisine by Bron Marshall
Bouillabaisse
“I chose to make Bouillabaisse because I love fish and it would have to be the most famous fish stew of the Mediterranean, if not the whole world! This dish is prepared in every fishing port along the coast of Provence, although it is usually thought to have originated in Marseilles. Popular Marseillais legend suggests that the Goddess Venus served bouillabaisse to her husband, Vulcan, to lull him to sleep while she consorted with Mars.” If it’s good enough for a goddess…

Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once by Haalo
Blancmanger ~ Milk Jelly
Hallo from Down Under selected "Blancmanger" which in French literally means “eat white”. It is also known as…” Milk Jelly…the food that seems to be associated with English boarding schools but according to Damien its an ‘ancient recipe from the French region of Provence consisting of sweetened almond milk bound with gelatin and lightened with softly whipped cream’. Now, I ask you, who could resist that description?” Certainly not me!

Ostwestwind from Küchenlatein by Ulrike
Quiche Lorraine - Lothringer Speckkuchen
“The Quiche Lorraine, one of the most well-known specialties of Lorraine, has a long tradition and passed through many developments. Originally it was prepared with bread dough, like pizza, the Provençal Pissaladière and the Alsatian Tarte Flambée.” Ulrike recommends a Riesling or a Pinot Blanc from Alsace however unable to find one in her “beer-drinking province of Germany”, she selected a dry white wine made from French grapes. It’s a good thing the Duchy of Lorraine isn't around ;-)

Pint and Fork by Nicolas
Baeckoffe
Nicolas found inspiration in the most brilliant place I can think of, the Lutèce Cookbook by Andre Soltner. “As I sat and tried to figure out dish best epitomizes the opposite of the kind of French food we find in our restaurants, a traditional Alsatian dish came to mind. Baeckoffe is a simple stew of meat and onions in white wine.” As legend has it, this dish came about by the fact that women traditionally did the laundry on Mondays…

Tomato by Ed
Steak au Frites avec Sauce Béarnaise ~ Steak and Fries with Bearnaise Sauce
Ed made the quintessential bistrot fare that seems to have royal beginnings. “The origins may be obscure they are attributed to a sauce made for King Henry IV of France, the first of the Bourbon kings of France who was born in Béarne. Béarn no longer exists but was on the border with Spain in the Pyrénéés and, before you fall asleep, was part of the Kingdom of Aquitaine…” Being from Melboune, Ed looked to neighboring Yarra Valley for this fabulous Clos Pierre Pinot Noir. “It’s sort of a Burgundy made by the stark bollock naked winemaker, by Burgundy veteran Pierre Naigon.” I’ll drink to that!

One Hot Stove by Nupur
Crepes Epinard et Champignons avec Sauce Béchamel ~ Spinach and Mushroom Crepes with Béchamel Sauce
The delightful Nupur dedicated her post to the inimitable Julia Child with her recipe of Spinach and Mushroom Crepes with Béchamel Sauce. I’m sure Julia would be warbling with delight right now if she could. Nupur chose this recipe claiming, “I am particularly obsessed with the combination of spinach and mushrooms; sautéed together in some butter and garlic, I think spinach smells better than Chanel #5”. Just don’t tell the French! We’d have anarchy in the streets…

A Veggie Venture by Alanna Kellogg
Glace a la Fenouil Provencal ~ Candied Fennel Ice Cream Provencal
Alanna took this in a delightfully sweet direction with candied fennel ice cream. Even though it’s the dead of winter, I think it’s time to start chilling my little ice cream maker! Her favorite ice cream recipe is “less sweet and less rich than other ice cream recipes and still perfectly sweet and lip-smacking rich.”

Only Slightly Pretentious Food by Colin
Boeuf Bourgignon ~ Beef Stew from Burgundy
It seems that IMBB23 came around just in time for Colin who’s been “itching to try my hand at Boeuf Bourguignon for the longest time, and I can think of no better dish that would go so well with a glass of wine. Hailing from the region of Burgundy, Boeuf Bourguignon (or Beef Burgundy, for all you Anglophiles), is one of those très traditionnel dishes that is to be found at any decent French restaurant.”

Check back next weekend for Haut Rond #2. There's a lot more but I ran out of time, my apologies. Again, a GRAND MERCI to everyone who participated. Keep those blogs burning! Bon appetit, bon week-end et a bientot... Laura

Tagged with: IMBB23 + French

IMBB23 ~ Vive la France! Daube de Bouef Arlesienne

The mere whisper of the word Provence awakens images of flowing lavender fields, charming picture-perfect towns and farmers markets overflowing with heads of lettuce still sparkling with the morning dew and fresh milk and cream ladled from tall metal canisters, all being sold by the quintessential French farmer.

Provence's traditional cuisine, "cuisine du soleil" is built on fresh produce, olive oil, herbs, tomatoes, garlic and of couse, le soleil (the sun).  No surprise as Provence kisses the top west border of Italy so much of the cuisine has these Italian influences, or vice versa as the French would no doubt claim. It's similar to Switzerland looking like France, but I digress....

You will see the similarities in other distinctive Provencal dishes including ratatouille (eggplant) and soup de pistou (with fresh basil and pine nuts) ,daube (stew) and probably the most often associated with the south of France, bouillabaisse (fish soup with garlic, olive oil and saffron).

The delights don't stop there. The region is home to some world famous wines with ties all the way up to the sky. Opulent red wines include Cotes du Rhone and the noble Chateauneuf-du-Pape (new castle of the pope!). Crisp white and rose wines include Coteaux des Baux-en-Provence and Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence and don't forget the apres-meal with a Beaumes-de-Venise Muscat, an unctuous amber dessert wine.

I learned this dish in cooking school. In our last quarter, we cooked for the restaurant within the school, aptly named l'Ecole (the school). This is so popular and such a traditional French dish, it is still on the menu!

Daube de Boeuf Arlesienne ~ Beef Stew from Arles

16 tiny Red Potatoes
16 Pearl Onions
16 Baby Carrots
16 Beef 1-1/2" cubes
1  Onion, finely diced
1 cup Dry White Wine (from Provence!)
1-2 tsp Herbes de Provence
20 Hazelnuts, toasted
1-2 slice Dry Bordelais Bread, toasted
3 clove Garlic, chopped to paste
1 cup Parsley Leaves, chopped
2 Tomatoes, peeled & seeded
20 Nicoise Olives
2 tbsp Capers
Thyme & Rosemary sprigs
(serves 4)

Step 1. Prepare your mise en place which means everything in its place (literally 'put in place'). Set out all the equipment you will need (pots and pans, spoons, etc) and all the ingredients. This way, you won't get half way through a recipe and realize you are missing a key ingredient and guaranteed, all the stores will be closed. I always keep a small bowl or plastic bag next to me for garbage such as carrot peelings, vegetable ends, garlic skins, etc.

Step 2. Prepare the vegetables
1. For these tiny red potatoes, the recipe calls for peeling only half way around so you can still see the beautiful red skin contrasted against the white flesh.
2. Trim and peel the baby carrots and pearl onions.
3. Cook the onions and carrots separately in boiling salted water. Shock (drop in ice water when done to stop the cooking), drain and set aside in a bowl. Save the cooking liquid.
4. Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water but do not shock. Set out on a plate on a piece of paper towel. Save the cooking liquid.

5. While the veggies are cooking, peel and cut the large onion into a fine dice.
6. Depending on the size of tomatoes, cut lengthwise into 6 or 8 sections from top to bottom. Cut out seeds and then set the slice of tomato skin side down and cut through as close to the skin as you can. Then cut the slice into triangles, approx 3 per slice, or what ever shape you want.



Step 3: Cook the beef
7. Brown the beef cubes in a pot in a little olive oil. Remove meat, set in a bowl.
8. Saute onions in the same pot. Add a little olive oil if the pan is dry. Move cooked onions to the bowl with the meat.
9. Deglaze the pot with the wine.
10. Add the meat and onions back to the pot. Add the herbs to the pot.
11. Add the cooking liquid from the vegetables to cover the meat. Do not salt.
12. Cover the pot with foil or a lid. Cook for 1 to 1-1/2 hours on the stove so that the liquid is at a low simmer.

Step 4: Arlesienne mixture
13. Toast the hazelnuts and bread (cut into small pieces, any country or hearty bread will do) in 350F oven for 5-10 minutes
14. Chop the garlic to a paste.
15. Chop the parsley. Set aside a few pinches for garnish
16. Put the toasted bread, hazelnuts, garlic and parley in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

Step 5. Mangez!
17. Just as the meat is finishing up cooking, add the carrots, pearl onions, potatoes and Arlesienne mixture to the pot. Stir to combine and thoroughly warm the vegetables. The Arlesienne mixture will thicken the broth.
18. At the last minute, add the capers, olives and tomato triangles. Stir to combine and taste for seasoning. Add sea salt and fresh ground pepper to your taste.
19. Plate in a bowl and garnish with chopped rosemary, thyme and rosemary sprigs.

Step 6. Buvez!



Now most Provencal recipes beckon for a light, crisp white or rose but for this dish, and the fact that it is still winter with near arctic temperatures, I'd prefer a stronger wine from the north of Provence, one with papal ties preferably so for this I would serve a Chateauneuf-du-Pape, specifically one from Domaine du Banneret. I had the pleasure of tasting this glorious Rhone with a wine expert (not-so-coincidentally the nephew of the winemaker!) on a recent trip to Provence and what a treat! Cheers!

Bon appetite d'Arles et Vive la France!

Tagged with: IMBB23 + French

La Vue de Ma Fenêtre ~ Our Lady of Laundry

Gare de Toulon, Provence ~ December 2005

Qu'est-ce qu'un espresso?

Qu'est-ce qu'un espresso? What is an espresso?!?!?!  Starbucks, the epitome of all things wrong with coffee, is educating the French on espresso?! The world has gone completely mad.

I swore I wouldn't do. I promised, I vowed, I crossed my heart that upon washing up on these fair shores that I Laura, being of somewhat sound mind and not-so-sound body, would under no circumstance frequent Starbucks, McDonalds, or any other American chain. I lasted from May 4, 2004 to January 7, 2006. You do the math. But it was Starbucks and the lure of brilliant marketing (always a sucker for that) that finally broke me. Actually I think it was the shock of seeing it sullying my charming little arrondisment just a few blocks from my home in what was once the glorious, though painfully overpriced, Hediard at the end of rue Mouffetard that did me in.

I turned the corner expecting to see the signature red awning and windows filled with a patchwork of jams, teas, cookies and other delights. But instead I was stopped dead in my tracks by that ubiquitous green awning, a messy scattering of tables and chairs outside (the "no-smoking section" - really!) and a stream of people pouring out with their 87 ounce $4 cup o' joe.

I had just returned from the states so I was still weak. I hadn't had time to built up my tough indifferent french 'peau' nor perfect my metro face - read expressionless dead stare - so I was vulnerable to the beguiling aroma and the all too familiar row upon row of oversized pastries. It lured me in like a seductive snakecharmer. I had to document this moment. Whipping out my camera, I snapped away to the horror and amusement of some of the people in line. I get this reaction  a lot in France.

That'll be 1 petite caramel machiatto s'il vous plait and a double serving of crow.

A Frappucino by any other name...

La Vue de Ma Fenêtre ~ La Musique de Place Monge

Sunday morning at Place Monge ~ a band entertaining the market crowd

Tarte aux Poires en Cage

Tarte aux Poires en Cage, or Pear Tart in a Cage, not to be confused with Cage aux Folles, though just as sinfully delicious. A light dessert in a pinch is poached pears in wine. It’s easy, you can start it when you serve the appetizers, it’s refreshing in the summer with a scoop of good ice cream or served warm, a cozy way to end a winter meal. If you have a special dinner coming up and want to serve something elegant but not complicated, you can take this poached pear concept one step further and have a visually beautiful dessert that will wow your friends. This one does require a trip to the kitchen gadget store – or a trip to heaven in my case – for a funny little torture-device looking thing called a lattice cutter. Click here to be sinfully tortured...

Time to build the ark.....

La Vue de Ma Fenêtre ~ L'Océan Pacifique

The Pacific Ocean from the Highlands Inn, Carmel, California ~ this week!

This is sadly not my view (and I nearly cried with homesickness when I saw this) but once again the view from my photographer friend Janet's window while in Carmel for the AT&T Open.  I can't click my heels 3 times... But you can click below to see a few celeb pics from the golf tourney....

The Final Exam

Chef Henri, Chef Pascal, Chef Susan, J.D., moi at graduation where we received the tall chefs toques along with our diploma

Wednesday, November 5, 2003. The final exam. Every day for the past six months, I'd been chopping and grilling and braising and flambeing and now I had to pull it all together for our final exam. Let me set the stage. The weather in New York had been miserable the previous week and I was sick as a chien (dog). My comrades-in-knives (Beverly, Michael & Michele) and I spent the entire weekend scripting out our recipes, trying to memorize them, and were up all night the two previous nights studying and wandering the meat-packing district looking for kosher food in driving rain. Don't ask.

After driving my body non-stop for six months with stress, exhaustion, and inordinate amounts of butter, heavy cream, croissants and foie gras, it innately knew the end was near and was beginning its revolt. Had it been any other sort of a test like a physics final or a French mid-term, I would have hunkered down under my comforter and not emerged until I felt semi-human but there was no way I was going to miss this. No way, Jose (who is Jose anyways?). After everything I'd been through, after all the cuts and burns and humiliation and tears, I was going to finish this thing if it was the last thing I did, and it was darn near that.

We arrived early to start exactly at 9am. 24 of us, we each drew a slip of paper with 2 recipes and a number (A1, A2...A8, B1..., C1...) out of a hat, and had approx 4-5 hours to prepare both and send them out to a panel of judges of top chefs from NYC. Not that there wasn't enough pressure or anything..... just throw in a few 4-star chefs to the mix to turn up the heat. Thank you very much and pass the Xanax. The numbers (I was A7) were listed on a whiteboard in the kitchen with the times that your specific dishes had to go out. I was relieved to draw fish and pastry recipes, as opposed to appetizer and meat as that bought me at least an hour. My first dish had to go out at 1:21pm and my second dish about 45 minutes later. I was so sick, with a raging fever, on the verge of coughing up a lung at any given moment, but was determined to get through this gauntlet.


Michele, Beverly, Michael, moi all very proud of our pate a choux swans with creme chantilly

When the clock hit 9:00am EST on Wednesday, November 5, 2003, 24 exhausted, white-coated, knife-wielding, clog-sporting culinary students charged the kitchen and set to work. I ran to my station and filled a big plastic container with ice water. I spent the next 5 minutes drinking and breathing, gathering my thoughts, walking through the recipes in my head, coaching myself to calm down, breathe, it will be fine, you'll get through this, only 5 more hours and it's all over then you can crawl in the gutter and die...and other encouraging mantras.

I gathered all the food for my fish dish, Vivaneau Cuit Poele avec Sauce au Porto (Red Snapper with Wild Mushrooms in Port Wine Reduction), organized my station, then headed into the pastry kitchen to start my pastry and ice cream base for Tarte aux Noix avec Glace a la Creme Fraiche (Walnut Tart with Creme Fraiche Ice Cream). I made the pate sablee first, wrapped it, wrote my initials on it and hid it in one of the low fridges. People have been know to swipe others pastry when theirs hasn't turned out, I kid you not! So much for my naive everyone-is-going-to-love-each-other and we-are-all-going-to-play-nice-and-cook-together assumption. Then I made the creme fraiche ice cream base and hid that as well to chill.

OK, 1 hour down, 4 to go. You can do it. Just keep breathing and drink water. You're going to die anyways, just do it after the final. I began prepping the mushrooms and snow peas, tuiles and port wine reduction. Tuiles are a monstrous pain as you have to slice potatoes very thinly on a mandoline, a torture device that scares the devil out of me having taken a sizable of chunk of my thumb off more than once and shredded another. Sorry for the visual. At least I didn't attach the picture of it, and yes, I do have a picture of it, quite a few actually from every angle.

So you place an herb in between two potato slices, brush over melted butter then place in between silpats (silicon mats) with another steel pan (or very heavy pan on top of another sheet pan) to keep them flat. The issue is you can't check on them, you have to let them cook and hopefully have done it so many times before in class that you should know when it's ready. Right? Wrong! My first batch was 1/2 overcooked, 1/2 undercooked - damn, forgot to rotate the sheet pan. I buried the rogue tuiles far down in the garbage away from the probing hands of the chefs. Round 2. Came out perfectly, the tuile gods decided to smile down upon me. Better late than never.

The chefs walked around with clip boards taking points off for messy stations, too many dishes in the sink, they even rifled through our garbage to see if we'd thrown out/wasted things we shouldn't have, exuberantly living up to their "Qualité. Discipline. Realité." motto.  

Once the mushrooms were sauteed and caramelized, the snow peas were blanched, and the port veal sauce was reducing nicely, I traipsed back to the pastry kitchen to finish the tarts and ice cream. I retrieved my pastry and ice cream base from the back of the small fridge and set my ice cream churning. Rolling out the dough and molding the tart rings, chilling them then making the batter, I was quite pleased with myself for holding it together so well and for managing my timing. My timing! Ohmigod! I looked at the clock then at my watch and it said 1:15pm! 6 minutes to get out my fish dish! OHMIGOD! RUN!

I raced back to the main kitchen, threw down the pans, fired up the burners, rubbed Chinese 5-spice on the Snapper fillets, slapped them on the pans and prayed to the fish gods. I plunged the snow peas in boiling water I borrowed from the person next to me whose dish had just gone out, fanned them at the top of 4 plates, gave the mushrooms a quick toss on a searing hot pan, placed a heaping of sauteed wild mushrooms in the center of each of the four plates, crossed 2 fillets of Snapper over the mushrooms, poured port sauce around the bottom of the plates, sprinkled chopped chives, garnished with a potato tuile and sent them out at exactly 1:21pm!

I immediately burst into tears. The tears just poured down my face. They wouldn't stop. I was just so exhausted, so sick, so relieved, so overjoyed, so everything that the emotions just flowed out through tears. Then one of the chefs said, "It's not over yet! Get in there and finish your pastry!" So I raced back to the pastry kitchen, pulled myself together, finished my walnut tart, garnished it with a scoop of creme fraiche ice cream, and a few squiggles of caramel sauce and sent it out. 6 months earlier I was saying, "I can't believe I'm here." Now I was saying, "I can't believe I did it!" The champagne popped and we started toasting.

At 2:45pm we were sent upstairs to change into a clean uniform and instructed to meet back in the kitchen at 3pm sharp. We were herded back into our 3 groups (remember, I'm A7, something I'll never forget.) and sat, as a group (!), in front of our panel of judges as they critiqued our food, yes, in front of the group! I was dreading the public humiliation and had to wait through 6 rave critiques including J.D.'s consomme that was "Michelin star quality" - no surprise that he just received a real Michelen star as head chef at Danube. Side note: I interned there during cooking school under Chef Mario Lohninger.

As the judges worked their way around the semi-circle my anxiety level shot up like a thermometer in a road runner cartoon. "Number 7", I heard. Oh God that's me! I wanted to crawl under my chair. I cringed waiting for the verbal whipping but to my absolute disbelief the chefs, including Andre Soltner and two of his former sous-chefs at 35-years-running 4-star Lutèce, told me my fish dish was perfect, as was my tart! The tears poured down my face again. I really couldn't believe I did it! I didn't give up. I didn't get scared. Well I did get scared, many times, but I didn't let it sabotage me. I didn't run off the stage, as a friend claims I do at the first whisper of success. A very unfamiliar, but very wonderful, feeling. I went to bed that night an didn't get up for 2 weeks.

After the judging I thanked Andre Soltner and he said to me that when he met me a year earlier in San Francisco he never thought I'd be able to cook like that. A back-handed sort of compliment but a compliment nonetheless and I take what I can get these days... Bon appetit!

Note: these recipes are written out as we did to study for our final. It's not the conventional ingredients then steps listing but hopefully it will make sense and give you some ideas as how to arrange those daunting recipes that go on ad nauseum for pages on end. For our purposes, the steps (1., 2., etc...) were written in a column directly to the right of the corresponding ingredients but this format doesn't allow for it so I tried to make it as easily readable as possible. Give a shout if you have any questions.

Vivaneau Cuit Poele, Sauce au Porto ~
Red Snapper with Wild Mushrooms in Port Reduction Sauce

Step 1: Prep

1. Get Pans: bain marie, 3 sautoirs (pot with straight sides), 5 sauteuse (large frying pans with angled sides), bowl w/ ice, hotel pan, rings, foil, mandolin, 2 steel sheet pans, 2 silpats, parchment paper, mip cups (mise en place cups)
2. Get Herbs, Clarified Butter
3. Preheat oven to 300F for maximes.

Step 2: Sauce

1 L Brown Stock
1 L Port
1 L Sherry Vinegar

4. Reduce stock by 3/4.
5. Reduce port by 1/2 - 3/4.
6. Add to reduced port and reduce again by 3/4.
7. Add port/vinegar reduction to the reduced stock. Put in bain marie. Season.

Step 3: Fish

4 pc Snapper
8. Portion fish into 150 g pieces. Slice in ½ on bias. Score skin. Wrap. Chill.

Step 4: Mushrooms

60 g Creminis
60 g Shiitake
60 g Oyster
60 g Portobello

9. Saute each type mushroom in oil separately in hot pan. Caramelize

1 ea Shallot, fine ciseler (tiny dice)
4 sprigs Thyme
4 cloves Garlic, smash, no germ

10. Add to mushrooms, finish cooking. Remove thyme, garlic. Hold in hotel pan.

Step 5: Garnish ~ Snow Peas, Potato Maxime, Chives, Salt

24 ea Snow Peas, a l'anglais (cooked in boiling, salted water)

11. Cook. Shock (drop in ice water to stop cooking). Cut top on angle, seeds on left.

2 ea Idaho Potatoes, peeled
8 sprig Chervil

- Clarified Butter

12. Peel. Put in water. Slice paper thin on mandoline. Lay slices on silpat.
13. Put Chervil sprig on potato slice. Top with potato slice.
14. Brush with clarified butter. Cover w/ silpat/parchment. Cover w/ steel pan.
15. Bake in oven at 300F, 20 minutes. Set aside on parchment.

- Chives, chopped

16. Chop. Plate on top of sauce at service

1 mip Fleur de Sel (mise en place cup)

17. Plate on top of fish at service

Step 6: Fish

8 pc Fish

17. Rub skin of fish with back of knife to remove moisture.

- Salt, Pepper

18. Salt, pepper flesh. Pepper skin.

1 mip Wondra Flour
1 mip Chinese 5-Spice Powder

19. Sprinkle Wondra, 5-Spice on skin

Step 7: Service

20. Warm 4 plates, 12" plates.
21. Add oil to sauteuse, heat to smoking. Lay fish skin side down. Press down on fish when first in pan. Cook 90%. Flip to finish.
22. Flash snow peas in boiling water.
23. Heat mushrooms in sauteuse.
24. Put port sauce in sauteuse. Monter au beurre (whisk in cold chunks of butter to velvety consistency and shine).
25. Plate snow peas, fanned, seeds on left.
26. Plate mushrooms in center in ring.
27. Plate fish in "X" on mushrooms.
28. Plate sauce from "9 to 3".
29. Sprinkle chives on sauce.
30. Potato maxime in slit on fish.
31. Sprinkle fleur de sel on fish.




Tarte aux Noix, Glace a la Creme Fraiche ~ Walnut Tart with Creme Fraiche Ice Cream

Step 1: Prep

1. Pans: bowl on ice, chinois, sautoir, 4 tart molds, parchment paper, blind bake beans, wooden spoon, rubber spatula, paddle, skewer
2. Heat convection oven to 350F

Step 2: Creme Fraiche Ice Cream

1 L Milk
500 ml Heavy Cream
455 g Granulated Sugar
16 ea Egg Yolks

3. Make creme anglaise.

- blanchir (whisk til lightened in color) 1/2 sugar, egg yolks
- heat cream, milk, 1/2 sugar.
- temper, return to pot, cook to nappant with wooden spoon
- strain through chinois (strainer) into bowl on ice bath, vanner (stir to cool).

500 g Creme Fraiche

4. Stir in creme fraiche w/ rubber spatula.

Step 3: Pate Sablee

250 g Flour
90 g Confectioners Sugar (10x)
pinch Salt

5. In kitchenaid w paddle, combine flour sugar salt.

150 g Butter, cold, cubed
2 ea Egg Yolks
1 T Vanilla Extract
1-2 T Ice Water, if needed

6. Add in butter, mix to sandy texture.

7. Add yolks, vanilla extract. Mix til solid. Flatten, wrap, rest, chill.

Step 4: Dough

8. Roll out dough to 1/4" thickness. Cut with ring mold.
9. Mold dough into tart pans. Freeze for 5 mins.

Note: If ice cream is ready, now scoop onto plate and cover.

Step 5: Walnut Filling and Tarts

200 g Chopped Walnuts

10. Lightly toast in oven. Chop.
11. Blind bake tart crusts w/ parchment, beans at 375F, 7-10 mins

2 ea WHOLE EGGS (I capitalized this because when I made this during class I wasn't paying attention and only used egg yolks and my tarts were a disaster!)
70 g Granulated Sugar
100 g Creme Fraiche

12. In kitchenaid, combine eggs, sugar, creme fraiche. Don't overmix.

60 ml Grand Marnier
45 g Butter, melted
75 g Brown Sugar

13. Add. Mix well.
14. Put 1 layer of nuts in tart pans.
15. Pour in filling 3/4 up sides.
16. Bake 375F, 15 - 20 mins.

Step 6: Service

Get 4 - 10" plates.

- Apricot Glaze

17. Brush with Apricot Glaze (In cup, add glaze, water. Microwave. Strain.)

- Caramel Sauce

18. Place drops on center of plate to anchor tart. Plate tart.

- Chocolate Sauce

19. Alternate chocolate, caramel sauce dots around tart.

20. Run skewer (paring knife) through dots.

4 scoops Ice Cream

21. Scoop ice cream on center of tart.

And after that, a big whopping Bon Appetit!

Also posted here: KQED Bay Area Bites

Drinking from the firehose...

I'd never heard the expression before yesterday when I heard it twice and my goodness it certainly sums it up.  Yes, indeed I am drinking from the firehose...at least that is what it feels like. Usually, when you start the job search process, you mentally ramp up for the intensity that awaits you but to be going in one direction and then shift on a dime and head 180 degrees in the opposite direction logistically, intellectually, and emotionally overnight, well...think firehose. then think drinking from it.  when it's turned on. full blast. you get the picture...

And after 4 weeks of 12-14-16 hour days sitting at my desk or on planes, trains, and auto mobiles, it's official. I have no ankles.  They are so swollen I go from leg to foot. I was going to take a picture but didn't want to turn my little blog into a circus freak show of bloated joints.  So I spared you all the visual but suffice to say it really bums me out. And speaking of being bummed out....

Those damn Gateway elves must have spent too much time locked in their Iowa barn because rather than restoring my DATA, they restored my LAPTOP.....to it's original state! Thereby wiping out everything. Let me repeat *everything*! Years of contacts, emails, calendars, software programs, recipes, documents, work, etc.... poof, gone! I backed up a few things, including some pictures and my humble little book less one major edit, but the rest, gone. I'm trying not think about it or I shall hurl myself off La Tour Eiffel.  If you happen to be at the Trocadero and see a red-head flying through the air, you can shake your head knowingly.....