The rest of Basic Cuisine - A Photo Montage (Part III)

Writing these blog entries has been a good refresher on all of the recipes we've learned, which was good, since our final exam was coming up! It was yesterday, and it was actually a lot of fun ... but I'll get to that in due time...

After learning the methods for making various kinds of soups, we turned to more traditional French recipes, and, in general, our demos shifted from three dishes demonstrating similar techniques, to full meals (entree, plat, dessert). This demonstrated the timing and multi-tasking necessary for preparing an entire meal in a given time period. (We're not there yet, though ... in practical we generally just prepared the plat, and occasionally the entree!)

So, lesson eighteen: beignets de gambas, sauce tartare (deep-fried jumbo shrimp, tartare sauce) and souffle au fromage (cheese souffle). You'll all be happy to know that my souffle rose beautifully (although Chef Poupard did help me out a little with getting my egg whites to consistency. I have small arm muscles!) I couldn't help think about the souffle scene in Sabrina ("A woman happy in love, she burns the souffle; a woman unhappy in love, she forgets to turn on the oven.") and wonder what this says about my lovelife ... but I digress ...

In demo, chef also made saute de veau Marengo, pommes a l'anglaise (veal Marengo with boiled potatoes), and clafoutis aux fruits de saison (seasonal fruit clafouti). We learned that veal Marengo is so named because it is the dish Napoleon had the night before the Battle of Marengo (only he had it with chicken, because veal wasn't available - I kid you not!) But did he have it with those heart-shaped croutons??


The next day, we made blanquette de veau a l'ancienne, riz pilaf (traditional veal stew, rice pilaf). Not one of my favorites. Not difficult to prepare, but I'm not much of a stew person...

As a starter, chef prepared saumon cru marine a l'aneth (salmon marinated with dill) -- a nice light accompaniment to the heavy stew -- and for dessert, tarte au sucre (sugar tart). So I didn't go hungry!


But, I was happy to move on to our next class, when we made tournedos grilles sauce bearnaise, pommes Pont Neuf (grilled tournedos with sauce Bearnaise, potatoes Pont-Neuf). Potatoes Pont Neuf are so named because, according to legend, they were fried right there on the bridge. Chef suggested we plate them in a bridge formation, to continue the theme.


A few weeks later, I was able to demonstrate my sauce know-how at dinner at Hotel Costes ... after tasting Matthew's bearnaise (and amusing him by wanting to taste the sauce unadulterated by the steak it accompanied!), I subjected him to a discussion of how I'd improve it (it was missing acidity and flavor ... so a better vinegar/wine/shallot reduction). I think he realized at that moment just how much of a food geek I am!



That same day, Chef also demonstrated how to make flamiche (leek tart), and parfait glace au cafe, sauce caramel et cognac (frozen coffee parfait with a caramel and cognac sauce). Our degustations keep getting better and better!

The rest of Basic Cuisine - A Photo Montage (Part II)

Onward and upward. Les poissons, les poissons, how I love les poissons! Fileting a fish is not so easy, although I've definitely gotten better at it over the weeks. My first filets (on day TWO!) were small ... but this is definitely a skill where practice makes, well, maybe not perfect. But better.

We learned how to poach fish in a court-bouillon, making troncons de colin poche, sauce hollandaise (poached hake steaks with hollandaise sauce). (But don't be fooled by how easy that sounds ... we turned THREE different vegetables that day!) We also learned how to braise fish, making filets de barbue duglere (brill filets in white wine sauce). Brill is a flat fish, and is a beast to filet -- there are two filets on each side, and finding precisely where to cut is challenging. Also a challenge for some of my classmates? The sauce! This was the first time we didn't pass our sauce through a chinois before serving (because the sauce is supposed to have the perfectly cut tomatoes, onions, and shallots that have been cooking in it), but a few of my classmates strained their sauces out of habit ... all that hard work in the trash!



Chef also made sole meuniere (pan-fried sole with nut-brown butter), goujonnettes de sole, sauce verte (breaded strips of sole, green sauce), and escalope de saumon a l'oseille (salmon escalope with sorrel). After a couple of weeks of meats, we were all happy to be eating a little lighter! (And yes, I realize that fried fish really can't be called light ... but in comparison to some of the other dishes we've been cooking and preparing, it's downright healthy eating!)



Next up? Soups. Day one was creme dubarry (cream of cauliflower soup), potage cressoniere (watercress soup), bisque d'etrilles (crab bisque). My least favorite of the three was the bisque (Anne and I decided it's because we're used to wonderful Maryland crabs, and this is one thing that the U.S. does better than France!), and unfortunately, that was the one we made in practical. This marked my first experience in cleavering live crabs, and it was actually pretty fun. Except, of course, the fact that when your knife lands in the middle of the still living crab, its claws reflexively move up to cling to the sides of the knife. A little disconcerting. (Sadly, when I excitedly related my crab-cleavering stories to a friend from home, he responded that he has crab-cleavering duties every summer when his family makes crab sauce. There goes my unique and entertaining story!)



The next day, we learned how to make soupe de poisson facon marseillaise (fish soup Marseillaise-style) and soupe a l'oignon gratinee (French onion soup). Fish soup just isn't my thing, but the onion soup was fantastic. (Are those three bowls all for me? Don't I wish!)


Next we learned how to clarify a consomme. I had no idea how fun and rewarding this would be! Maybe it's my science-y brain, but learning how and why egg whites work to clarify bouillon, and then actually making it happen was one of the most satisfying moments I've had here so far. (And it didn't hurt that my brunoise of carrots, daikon, haricots verts, and celery to garnish the finished product was lovely! Hooray for sharp knives and sharpening knife skills!)

More to come ...

The rest of Basic Cuisine - A Photo Montage (Part I)

Yesterday was our last practical class in Basic Cuisine - time has really flown. And I'm realizing I'm weeks behind in showing you all the delicious dishes we've been making. So now, a photo montage, picking up where I left off...

We learned to make forcemeats (stuffings) by making paupiettes de veau bourgeouise (stuffed veal rolls with glazed vegetables) and supremes de volaille farcis, sauce et champignons (stuffed chicken breasts, sauce and mushrooms). Much to my surprise, these were two of my favorite dishes, both to make and to eat! I liked them far more than the additional forcemeat dish Chef Clergue demonstrated, terrine de canard aux pruneaux et l'Armagnac (duck terrine with prunes and Armagnac). Turns out I just don't like Armagnac.


Next was rabbit day. Ah, rabbit day. This was the one animal I was less excited about butchering (and it's the one dish I'm hoping isn't on my practical exam at the end of the week!) Rabbits arrive with their heads (but sans floppy ears, thank goodness), frozen in what appears to be their last hop.

Good times. So after beheading my bunny, removing its entrails, and sectioning it, I wound up with lapin a la moutarde, pommes sautees a cru (rabbit with mustard, sauteed potatoes). A dish I've always enjoyed, but somehow couldn't bear to eat as leftovers that night...


That same day, Chef showed us how to make artichauts poivrade a la Grecque aux legumes printaniers (poivrade artichoke Greek style with spring vegetables) and petits pots de creme vanille, the et caramel (vanilla, tea, and caramel custards). I have to say, I found it a little weird to be prepping whole carrots the same day I was beheading a rabbit ... poor Bugs.

Next installment? Basic techniques for cooking fish and making soups.

Dinner Parties!

Today was a national holiday in France, so Le Cordon Bleu was closed, and my classmates and I decided it was time to have a little dinner party! I spent the morning flipping through the cookbooks I have here, trying to come up with a recipe whose ingredients I could find at the only market open today! I decided on sweet pea gnocchi, despite the fact that I've never made gnocchi before, and certainly not in a Barbie doll-sized kitchen like those we have here in our Paris apartments!

But that idea was feeling a bit flat to me, until I remembered a phenomenal dish I had in the spring at Customshop, in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was a squid ink pasta with chilis, crab, and peas ... but the key to the dish was mint, chopped to a powder, and mixed into the pasta dough. I love the combination of fresh peas and fresh mint, so this seemed like a winning idea to me, if only I could pull it off.

The good news? I pulled off the flavor. The bad? Gnocchi texture is tough to get right, and my first venture into gnocchi-making was, although not entirely unsuccessful (everyone had seconds!), not entirely successful either. But look how pretty and green!

We also enjoyed a lovely tomato, mozzarella, and basil salad with homemade pesto, and butter chicken (courtesy of Amit's secret family recipe)! And ice cream for dessert. One of these days my pastry friends are going to step up and make a delicious dessert for a dinner party ... until then I'll just have to settle for snaring leftovers at school!














*****

This was the second dinner party we threw this week! Monday was our written exam in Basic Cuisine, and a few of us got together Sunday afternoon to study our hundreds of vocabulary terms, and dozens of recipes, sauces, and proportions. (How much roux for a liter of Sauce Supreme? How about for Blanquette de Veau? What's in a bechamel? Bearnaise? Hollandaise? Albufera? Define monder ... detrempe ... abattis.) But what kind of culinary school students would we be if we didn't bring food?!

Anne and I threw together some apero -- bruschetta with tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, and olive oil; asparagus with roasted red peppers and olive oil; and watermelon with feta, basil, and lime juice. Do you detect a theme? (No butter!!) See the excitement on the face of an LCB student when she gets to use olive oil, and not butter!

I was in charge of the chopping (as we were cooking in Anne's kitchen, so I was her sous...), so here I am (LCB hat and all) preparing a tomate concasse.


It wasn't just apero, though ... Alexandra prepared cod Duglere, atop a healthy bed of spinach. What's this? A meal in Paris without a potato to be found? Shocking!

Of course, the whole point of the evening was to study, not just to cook, so here we are, studying...


It wouldn't be studying without a glass of pink bubbly, now would it? I'm pretty sure we all passed, we were just celebrating early!

Visitors, take deux

Oh, how I love having visitors.

This morning, my friends Kristen and Todd arrived, and not a day too soon, as I'd been having a little bit of a low time lately. There was some loneliness, despite a couple of amazing trips (soon, updates on London and Burgundy, I promise!), and I was in real need of some hugs from home. Enter Todd and Kris.

We had the most lovely day! First, their plane landed on time, and all of their luggage arrived with them. I've never heard of such a thing at De Gaulle!! My phone rang when they arrived at their hotel -- "breakfast?", Todd asked. "But of course," I replied. And off we went for their first cafe creme et croissant experience.

Seeing friends from home is such a wonderful thing. As much as I love being here, there are definitely times when I miss being around people who've known me for longer than a few months, people who I laugh and joke so easily around, people who run across Boulevard Saint Germain to give me a hug. And today was a day full of that laughing, joking, running, and hugging.

After breakfast and a couple of peeks at various patisseries in the neighborhood, we set off for a walk along the Seine. My job today was to keep them awake, so they could beat jetlag. So we set off on a march through Paris. Walk along the Seine, through the Tuileries, to the Champ de Mars ... we lunched at la Fontaine de Mars, recommended to me by the Michels at my regular haunt, Bistrot du Coin, in Washington. After a tasty lunch (other than the dessert, a very disappointing peach soup), we wandered off through town, eventually winding up back at Fish la Boissonerie for a drink (where we saw the owner, who we recognized from lunch at la Fontaine de Mars -- sometimes Paris can be so small!); then the original Cosi for another drink; and then a lovely little bistro just off of rue Princesse for dinner (my filet du bar with cumin cream was lovely). A nutella and banana crepe was a perfect ending to the night, and I can't wait til tomorrow!