Grandma's Kitchen Table

World Cuisine Wednesdays: Indian: Bal Ameson's Chicken Masala

      It's fun each week to throw something into the lineup that is not our usual, something "wordly," i.e. something from a cuisine not our own, and while Wednesdays here at The Table had belonged to Whisk Wednesdays for a bit, cooking with friends from Le Cordon Bleu at Home, I thought it might be fun to just do a quick post on Wednesdays of something I made around here this week, thinking someone else might want to make it, too. 

      First up is Indian cuisine:  Chicken Masala, a recipe from Bal Ameson, which I borrowed and will send you off here to look at the recipe if you think you might want to float it sometime at your place.  I have been cooking Indian food this year with Margaret and Leslie, and we have made a recipe of BA's a time or two.  She has a show called The Spice Goddess on The Cooking Channel...I just found out about it, so I tuned in last week, this recipe was featured, and I knew I wanted to try it soon.   It's easy, fairly quick, delicious, and healthy...what more do you need for a reason? 

      Ingredient list:  chicken, onion, garlic, fresh ginger, grapeseed oil, green chile, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, garam masala, Spanish paprika, tumeric, salt, tomato paste, tomatoes, potatoes, cilantro (I used parsley), and water.  The serving suggestion was to serve it with rice.  (Since I figured rice and potatoes were a bit much in the same meal, I halved the amount of potatoes.) 

      It is all made in one pan, simmers for about 25 minutes so you can do other things, and if the husband calls, is stuck in traffic on his way home for a short bit, it does hold very well in the covered pan.  Delicious, definitely a repeat.

Whisk Wednesdays: Poulet Roti (Roast Chicken)

In case you didn't know, Whisk Wednesdays is changing a bit.  The group formed in June of 2008 after I saw a note on Shari's blog that she was cooking her way through the Basic Cuisine Course of Le Cordon Bleu with an online version of the curriculum.  She was more than halfway through the course at this point, and I sent her an email saying that I would love to join in, but I did not have the experience and didn't want to embarrass myself each week.  She had not had anyone else ask about joining her, so she encouraged me to just jump in and do what I wanted when I wanted.  We chit chatted back and forth and before we knew it, the group was formed and others joined us. 

 

This past month Shari completed ALL of the Basic Cuisine course and the question arose as to the future of Whisk Wednesdays.  (A few of us have grown quite close cooking and learning together, and we didn't want to see it end.)  That said, however, Shari is now actually enrolled in the Le Cordon Blue Cooking School in Ottawa and furthering her French cooking knowledge and skills there.

 

Due to limited time, she decided that she would continue Whisk Wednesdays and go forth with the Intermediate Cuisine course for us, but only twice a month.  So, for those two times a month, there will be a schedule we can follow doing the curriculum for Intermediate Cuisine. 

 

The remaining weeks of the month will be Free Choice by each member, selecting a recipe of their own choosing from Le Cordon Bleu at Home, the book we have been using for Whisk.  This way each person can choose a recipe that fits family tastes and family budgets for those weeks.  If you have been a reader here and thought you might like to join in, or own the book and want to actually start using it, now is the time, contact Shari at her site!  

 

For myself, I have decided that I am going to go back to the beginning of the book and start with Chapter 1, proceeding forward each week, to cook/bake the recipes that were not included in the Basic Cuisine Course we used, or ones for one reason or another, I did not get time to complete.  (Each week Shari would try to select a recipe from our book that matched one in the course, so as a result we skipped all over the book, beginning to end, leaving hundreds of recipes untouched.) 

 

This week I chose Poulet Roti (Roast Chicken) on pages 6-7 of the book.  The recipe was simple to follow and I found the technique interesting.  Instead of just sticking the trussed and seasoned chicken in the oven to bake, the chicken was first placed on one of its sides to cook 20 minutes, then on the other side to cook for 20 minutes, then on it's back to cook for 30 minutes.  Easy enough to do, and it results in a chicken that is browned nicely all over with a crispy skin.

 

After letting the chicken sit under a foil tent for 15 minutes so the juices could redistribute nicely, I carved it, immediately seeing how moist and tender the chicken was cooked this way.  Raves all around from the guys.  This is my new way to roast a chicken. 

 

There are wonderful directions and the ingredient list for the spicing, rubbing, etc. in the book.  I still need work on trussing a chicken, I thought I had the string nice and tight, but by the time I moved the chicken this way and that, it all started coming off and getting rearranged so by the end it wasn't tight at all.  Sigh.  I also need to figure out how to turn the chicken from its side so that the skin does not stick to the pan and pull off when turning (you can see this in the photo on the chicken legs).  All in all, however, I was very happy with my first attempt and I know I can practice as we love roast chicken and have it at least twice a month. 

 

I'm excited to start at the beginning and work my way through the book page by page as I have come to appreciate and love cooking from this book for the past 16 months.  I am also happy that I can choose recipes that will be seasonally available (or available at all at times), items that are on special of a week at the market, and recipes that I know my family will enjoy.  My affair with this book has just begun! 

 

If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, and as always, Shari has a lot of interesting and great recipes on her site.

Whisk Wednesdays

It's been quite a week already and since I worked all day today and will tomorrow as well, I am thinking Whisking is not getting done this week...and it didn't get done last week either.  Hmmm...I need to get better organized on the weekends to do Whisk recipes (the original plan was such) so that I can post on Wednesdays which has always been a busy day for me.  Yep, so need to do that.  Maybe this weekend.  May. Be.

Whisk Wednesdays

   Will try to post tomorrow as we are on our way to the immediate care facility as Matt hurt his foot in practice...need x-rays, etc.  So, no Whisk dinner here this evening...he is shoveling down some pizza and then we are off.  Keep your fingers crossed for no broken bones!

Whisk Wednesdays: Spiced Shrimp Balls

The recipe scheduled for this week at Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 29, Menu 6:  Spiced Shrimp Balls, and can be found on page 246 in Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection should you wish to try this tasty recipe.  

This recipe could not be easier:  toss the raw shrimp into the food processor, give it a whirl to a coarse chop, add some fresh chopped garlic and ginger, salt, pepper, a little sugar, cornstarch, cilantro, and soft-peak egg white.  After forming them into little balls, they get rolled in sesame seeds, and parked in the refrigerator to firm up for 20 minutes before being deep fried for 4-5 minutes. 

 I don't fry food, like ever.  We aren't big on fried food and my excuse for never frying is that it gives them food they can score on the streets and appreciate there without it smelling up my kitchen.  But, I did do this in the spirit of being a good Whisk Wednesday member (albeit late).  My sesame seeds, for the most part, fell off, so there are fewer of those, but the balls all held together in the fry basket without falling apart, so I was happy.  

    Alex thinks all shrimp should be accompanied by a red cocktail sauce, it made his spicy shrimp balls even spicier.  Everyone enjoyed them, including me.  I could make these again occasionally and the guys would rejoice without a doubt.   

    Next week is Grenadins de Veau au Coulis de Celeri-Rave (Veal with Celery Root Cream Sauce), found on pages 330-331.  

    If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, and as always, Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click.

Whisk Wednesdays: Biscuit de Savoie (Sponge Cake)

  I am certain the LCBatH recipe is probably the best sponge cake in the world.  That said, however, I am desserted-out as far as making so many desserts.  My idea of dessert is usually to have two bites and pass it over for someone else to finish as I am not a lover of desserts generally.  I will make this cake at some point, but this week's schedule had had four desserts in my blog-alongs and I decided to forego making all but the TWD one this week.  You can check out Shari's version and the blogroll by clicking here. 

  Shari, by the way, has been accepted at the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Ottawa, Canada, so she will be busy pursuing her dream starting this week!  Congratulations and Best Wishes, Shari, we are so happy you have this opportunity. 

Whisk Wednesdays: Coquelets sur Canapés (Roast Squab Chickens with Chicken Liver Canapés and Mushrooms) and Pommes Pont Neuf (Pont Neuf Potatoes)

   The recipes scheduled for this week at Whisk Wednesdays are from Class 28, Menu 5:  Coquelets sur Canapés (Roast Squab Chickens with Chicken Liver Canapés and Mushrooms), and can be found on page 246 in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I by Julia Child and Pommes Pont Neuf (Pont Neuf Potatoes) which can be found on page 253 of the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home should you wish to try these tasty recipes.  

  The type of fowl this week was actually whatever type you preferred (or could find in my case), as in the book it listed several choices, so I chose the Rock Cornish Game Hens as they were readily available and always a hit around here. 

  I made them according to the recipe, with the exception of the chicken livers, as no one here is going to eat chicken livers, served on a fancy little crust of bread tucked under the game hen or not.  Nix on the chicken livers. 

  The rest of the preparation and sauce was delicious.  The meat was cooked perfectly with a lovely flavor from the tarragon, and a nice moistness from the bacon.  The sauce was simple, delightful, and light, made with stock, wine, shallots, and a wee bit of butter.   

   I did cook the mushrooms as directed and those were likewise a hit.  (Please note that somewhere between the beginning of summer and now, the boys have learned to love mushrooms.  Alex inhaled all of his and more than half of mine!) 

   The Pommes Pont Neuf I had made previously as an extra at Whisk, early in my membership, so click here if you would like to see/read about those as I did not make them again this week due to time constraints.   

  Next week is Biscuit de Savoie (Sponge Cake) in the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook on pages 33-34.   

   If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, and as always, Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click.

Whisk Wednesdays: Gaspacho (Gazpacho)

  The recipe scheduled for this week at Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 28, Menu 5:  Gaspacho (Gazpacho), and can be found on page 96 of the Le Cordon Bleu Complete Home Collection cookbook should you wish to try this tasty recipe.  

  Summer is a great time for Gazpacho as the tomatoes are so ripe and delicious, the cucumbers are nicely flavored, etc.  It's just lovely to have a cool soup for summer full of nice fresh vegetable flavors.  Nothing could be easier...sort of like salad in a blender, tossing in all the ingredients, giving it a whirl, seasoning it (I like a lot of pepper), chilling it (or not), and the soup is ready for eating. 

  I prefer Gazpacho without a lot of extra fat in it, so I like to go light on the olive oil, and don't drizzle any on the top to finish.  It's great without any oil at all in my mind.  I could make this and eat it once a week in the summer, it's that good.  

  Next week is Coquelets sur Canapés (Roast Squab Chickens with Chicken Liver Canapés and Mushrooms) page 246 in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I  by Julia Child and Pommes Pont Neuf (Pont Neuf Potatoes) page 253.  {Substitute straw potatoes for pont neuf, if desired.}   

  If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, and as always, Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click.

Whisk Wednesdays: Profiteroles au Chocolat (Profiteroles with Vanilla Ice Cream and Hot Chocolate Sauce) (One Sentence Blogging Week)

The recipe scheduled to be prepared for this week's assignment for Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 27, Menu 4:  Profiteroles au Chocolat (Profiteroles with Vanilla Ice Cream and Hot Chocolate Sauce), and can be found on pages 304-305 of the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook should you wish to make these yourself by creating the pastry, churning fresh homemade vanilla ice cream, and making your own chocolate sauce, all of which sounds much more difficult than it actually is as I found it all easy and manageable (okay, I need a little more practice at drizzling chocolate sauce but my main goal is just to get that stuff on there and get out, so don't hold your breath) for such a terrific dessert, excellent for company because you can prepare everything in advance and assemble the evening of the dinner, so buy the book, make the recipe, and if you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, and as always, Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click.

Whisk Wednesdays: On Vacation

   As some of you know, Shari from Whisk Blog, the creator of Whisk Wednesdays, has achieved a bit of fame here recently with a fabulous post she did on her blog honoring Julia Child and her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  What Shari did was to showcase photos of as many of Julia's recipes that she could find from food blogs (not professional photographs, but photos of the recipes food bloggers had made and posted).  She has listed, by chapter, all the recipes for the photos, so if you are making one of the recipes, you can go to Shari's blog to see a photo of it.  This is absolutely wonderful as there are no photos in Julia's book of any of the recipes.  It took Shari and a couple of volunteer workers nine days to put this together.  Click here to see the results.

  Word got out and Shari has been on television numerous times demonstrating her cooking skills, blogging skills, and talking about Julia's recipes.  This week she is being treated to a premiere of the movie, Julie & Julia, and if you check the movie's official site, Shari's blog is mentioned. 

   So this week at Whisk, we are all on vacation while Shari gets the star treatment!  Congratulations, Shari, we can all say, "We knew you when...."

Whisk Wednesdays: Mignons de Porc Arlonaise (Pork Tenderloins with Beer)

      The recipe scheduled to be prepared for this week's assignment for Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 27, Menu 4:  Mignons de Porc Arlonaise (Pork Tenderloins with Beer), and can be found on pages 367-368. 

      I almost sat this one out.  Am so glad I did not.  I thought it sounded a little stew-like and the guys are not that fond of stew in the summer.  As I read through the recipe, however, I discovered, the meat is cooked separately, the vegetables are cooked separately, the sauce is made separately, and then, in grand French style, it is all brought together for only five minutes at the end.  Oh, this is so delicious!  Buy the book, make the recipe, you won't be disappointed. 

      The potatoes are turned barrel-style (am getting a little better at that the more we do them) and boiled until just barely tender, sitting in their cooking water to keep them warm until time to plate.  I thought they might get mushy doing it this way, but they did not, and the extra time in the heat cooked them to perfection. The pork tenderloin is browned and then placed in the oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. 

      The carrots, leeks, mushrooms, turnip, and celery are all julienned and sauteed in a little pat of butter until tender after the pork has cooked the 15 minutes and is resting. 

      When the vegetables are tender, the pork is added back into the pan and the sauce is poured over it, allowing vegetables and pork to cook 5 minutes in the sauce. 

      The meat rests for another 5-10 minutes before slicing, and everything gets plated nicely with the sauce drizzled over the top. 

      The sauce was a combination of a little sugar, a little white wine vinegar, some dark beer, and some veal stock, all reduced to about half before use in the pan.  The beer gives it a nice depth and you can definitely taste that it is a dark beer, very rich and nice with the pork. 

      The complete dish was wonderful and I will make this again as it was easy, very tasty, and Mark really likes pork tenderloin.  This might be the Christmas Eve dish this year, yep, it just might.  Some homemade rolls, a salad, and a dessert and I'm set.   

 

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there.

Class 27: Menu #4

• Velouté Du Barry (Cream of Cauliflower Soup) pages 419-420
• Mignons de Porc Arlonaise (Pork Tenderloins with Beer) pages 367-368

• Profiteroles au Chocolat (Profiteroles with Vanilla Ice Cream and Hot Chocolate Sauce) pages 304-305

Whisk Wednesdays: Velouté Du Barry (Cream of Cauliflower Soup)

      The recipe scheduled to be prepared for this week's assignment for Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 27, Menu 4:  Velouté Du Barry (Cream of Cauliflower Soup), and can be found on pages 419-420. 

      While a bowl of hot steamy soup is not a traditional favorite in the summertime, I actually love soup any time of year, hot in the summer, cold in the winter, makes no difference to me when it comes to a good soup. 

      I've never had cauliflower soup before, just never dawned on me to make soup with cauliflower before now.  My loss all these years, as this is a wonderful soup, creamy and satisfying, with a gentle flavor accentuated by parsley and croutons. 

     The recipe goes together fairly quickly, making sure that you use a good number of pans, bowls, etc., as after all, you paid for this stuff, so you might as well use it all, as in "all the time" in French cooking.  Results are so worth it, so absolutely worth it. 

      Saute onions, leek, in a little butter, add rice flour, cook a couple of minutes, salt & pepper the concoction, add chicken stock, cauliflower, and simmer for a half hour. 

      In the meantime, cut bread into cubes for croutons and bake until browned.  Also boil (okay, I steamed as I always steam vegetables) some reserved cauliflower and refresh in cold water to add to the bottom of the soup bowls later and clip some fresh parsley. 

      When the soup has simmered, you process it in the food processor and strain it through a mesh strainer, then you put it back in the pot, add an egg yolk to some cream, whisking it into the soup as we all now know how to do quite well without making scrambled egg of it all. 

      Ladle into the bowl, top with parsley (don't skip this step as it is really good with the soup), serve the croutons on the side, and you have one very fine lunch.  Easy, simple, warms up well the next day, and is absolutely delicious. 

      I followed the recipe exactly, tasting a little here and there along the way for seasoning, etc. and I have to say that I could have stopped without the addition of the cream and egg...it was good, but seriously, after you puree the soup in the food processor, before you add in the cream and egg, the soup is very velvety and smooth and creamy and you don't really need the extra calories and fat at all to have a very wonderful soup.  Next time I make it, I'm skipping the cream and egg, as I loved the soup just as much without it.  And there will be a next time, and a next, and a next, etc.

     

If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

 

Class 27: Menu #4

• Velouté Du Barry (Cream of Cauliflower Soup) pages 419-420
• Mignons de Porc Arlonaise (Pork Tenderloins with Beer) pages 367-368

• Profiteroles au Chocolat (Profiteroles with Vanilla Ice Cream and Hot Chocolate Sauce) pages 304-305

Whisk Wednesdays

      Whisk Wednesdays is on break this week.  Shari, the founder and creative genius behind the Whisk Wednesday participants, was on TV today and that used up all of Shari's cooking time for Whisk this week preparing for that and doing the fancy write up on Julia Child's cookbook (scroll down further to see that at her site and be amazed)!  So, we are postponing the menu until next week to give Shari a chance to catch her breath! 

      If you would like to see Shari on TV, go to her blog today, www.whiskblog.com and scroll down to click on the words telling about her TV appearance.  There are about 2 minutes of commercials and then Shari makes Bavarian Cream on television!   This was her first time and she did a fantastic job and looks absolutely beautiful doing it.  We can all say, "Oh, and to think...we knew her when...." 

      Kudos, Shari...great job!

Whisk Wednesdays

      Due to everyone's scheduling this week, this next set of menu recipes is being postponed for one week, so it will appear beginning next week.

     If I get time, I may do a rewind recipe here from something Shari did before I joined her with Whisk, probably some sort of salad for summer.  I will let you know...about that and the missing Bavarian Cream from last week as I still have not made it...too many desserts around here lately, but I can see a gap this weekend, and fresh raspberries begging to be used. 

Whisk Wednesdays: Bavarois à la Vanille, Coulis de Framboise (Vanilla Bavarian Cream with Raspberry Coulis)

      This week's Le Cordon Bleu at Home recipe for Whisk Wednesdays was a dessert.  It sounded good, but we have had a lot of dessert around here lately and frankly, I am having trouble getting rid of some of it, i.e. the non-chocolate ones.  I am not a big dessert lover, so while I don't care for chocolate, the guys do, and they readily eat those up quickly.  The dessert for this week was a non-chocolate affair, so I had decided that I would skip this week's preparation since we just finished the TWD cake I made earlier which was essentially the same flavors, and make it another week when I could count on help getting rid of it, i.e. extra people around. 

     Then I talked to Shari and she said this was her favorite recipe in the whole book so far.  Great.  I don't want to miss Shari's favorite recipe in the whole book so far, so I will probably make this within the coming week and post it here when I do.  Just because.  If you are in the area that day, and want dessert, give me a call!

Whisk Wednesdays: Soufflé au Comté (Cheese Soufflé)

      The recipe scheduled to be prepared for this week's assignment for Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 25, Menu 3:  Soufflé au Comté (Cheese Soufflé) and can be found on pages 82-83. 

      This was so much fun to make.  The steps were all easy, the ingredients all readily available, and the taste was fantastic. 

      I made a half portion of the recipe because it was going to be lunch and Matt is not fond of egg dishes, so it would be just Mark and I eating it.  I also don't own a 6 cup souffle dish, but the smaller one that I do own worked out just fine with the half recipe.  

      The half recipe worked out great and required only two eggs, a little over half cup of cheese and the same of milk, a little butter, salt and white pepper, fresh nutmeg, and some flour.  Took about five minutes less in the oven, so in less than 45 minutes, souffle is ready to go. 

      It is amazing how quickly it all begins to deflate when it comes out of the oven, and then when you spoon into it, it really deflates...kind of exciting to watch on a slow day and all. 

      I will make this again, Mark wants bacon in it next time, a typical guy request:  if eggs are involved around here, bacon should be close enough by.  

      If you want to see how the others did, click

here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there.  If you would  like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click

 The Next Assignment

The next few assignments are Menus, so we are going to make the menu for one meal (hopefully), but then post each dish separately in its own week as posting it all at once seemed a bit much, following the schedule below.
• Civet de Lapin à la Française (Rabbit Stew with Red Wine) pages 452-453 (Post Wednesday, June 17, 2009)
• Soufflé au Comté (Cheese Soufflé) pages 82-83 {discussion of soufflés} (Post Wednesday, June 24, 2009)
• Bavarois à la Vanille, Coulis de Framboise (Vanilla Bavarian Cream with Raspberry Coulis) pages 40-41 (Post Wednesday, July 1, 2009)

Whisk Wednesdays: Salade Nicoise

      The recipe scheduled to be prepared for this week's assignment for Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 25, Menu 3:  Civet de Lapin à la Française (Rabbit Stew with Red Wine).

      I tried to be a player this week and order a rabbit and stew it, but somehow I just couldn't do it.  I took a poll and no one here wanted to eat stew in summer, and they particularly did not want to eat a stew prepared by boiling a bunny.  Me either. 

      Before I joined Whisk Wednesdays, Shari had been happily cooking her way through the curriculum alone and she had done many wonderful recipes at that time.  I decided I would pick a seasonal recipe that Shari had already done from the book and substitute that in the menu.  I wanted the recipe to be able to fit in nicely with the rest of the menu, so I chose the Salad Nicoise.   It can be found on pages 218-219.  It went well with the Souffle and the Bavarian Cream dessert. 

      The salad is served cold, consists of many vegetables, lettuce, olives, canned tuna, and a vinaigrette dressing.  I am not fond of canned tuna, but I chose the albacore all-white meat tuna packed in water, and with the vinaigrette on it, it was okay. 

      Mark grilled some asparagus and a red and green pepper because we like them grilled and I needed to sub the asparagus for the green beans that are traditionally in this salad.  All the green beans at the market had rust stains on them from all the recent rain, so those did not look appealing in the least.  The asparagus looked very nice, so that worked just fine. 

      The serving plate is lined with butter lettuce leaves, and the tuna mounded in the middle, sprinkled with diced red onion.  Around it are red, orange, and yellow tomatoes, red and green grilled peppers, grilled asparagus, sliced hard boiled eggs, and boiled, peeled, sliced new potatoes with the dressing on them.  I added some kalamata olives (because I could not come up with nicoise olives), splashed a little of the vinaigrette around, and the salad was complete. 

      Lovely for this time of year.  Lovely with a souffle.  I will definitely make it again.

 

       If you would  like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

 The Next Assignment

The next few assignments are Menus, so we are going to make the menu for one meal (hopefully), but then post each dish separately in its own week as posting it all at once seemed a bit much, following the schedule below.
• Civet de Lapin à la Française (Rabbit Stew with Red Wine) pages 452-453 (Post Wednesday, June 17, 2009)
• Soufflé au Comté (Cheese Soufflé) pages 82-83 {discussion of soufflés} (Post Wednesday, June 24, 2009)
• Bavarois à la Vanille, Coulis de Framboise (Vanilla Bavarian Cream with Raspberry Coulis) pages 40-41 (Post Wednesday, July 1, 2009)

Whisk Wednesdays: Savarin aux Kiwis et aux Fraises (Rum Savarin with Kiwis and Strawberries)

      The recipe prepared for this week's assignment for Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 25, Menu 2:  Savarin aux Kiwis et aux Fraises (Rum Savarin with Kiwis and Strawberries)

.  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home on pages 409-410.  

       Look good?  It was...very good. 

       I usually make recipes as close to the specifications as possible the first time through and then change things up a bit sometimes in subsequent trips.  This one I made in mini form as I didn't have a savarin mold (which is basically a pan with a place for a hole in the center), so I decided I would use a bundt pan, which I did have on hand, and then I decided I would make mini portions as I had a mini bundt pan also. 

      The minis, I figured would be good so that the kids could have their versions without the rum, which was at full strength alcohol and did not have the alcohol cooked out of it.  It made 5 little bundt minis, as you can see, and they turned out lovely. 

      The recipe was easy, and when it came together, I was expecting something more bread-like because it has yeast in the recipe, but it was actually more of a thick cake-like batter that never did gather into a ball like a bread dough would.  I poured it into the pan, baked it, and it came out just great.  Very cute. 

      The little bread/cake is then soaked with a vanilla rum syrup and glazed with an apricot glaze.  Thin slices of kiwi and strawberry graced the top, and since mine were minis, I could only decorate with half slices of kiwi and quarter slices of strawberries to get the proper effect and not have it look like giant fruit perched on the top.  The remaining touches were a Chantilly cream (cream, vanilla, confectioner's sugar) piped into the center hole of the little savarin and piped stars around the base of it all.  It makes a great presentation and is relatively easy to do once the little bread cakes were made. 

      The taste was very nice.  The savarin tastes like a rich bread, you can taste the yeast in it, but is lighter like a cake.  It isn't sweet like you would think it would be looking at it, but it isn't not sweet either...I know, confusing, but I can't think how to describe it.  The syrup, glaze, fruit, and whipped cream make it sweet, but the actual savarin part is just a nice bread/cake type of taste.  The only way you are going to tell from this description is to make it!  Then you can tell me how you would describe it.  Let's just call it delicious! 

      Would I make it again?  In a heartbeat.  Would I eat an entire mini?  Half would be more than plenty.  A nice treat with fresh fruit.

The Next Assignment 

• Civet de Lapin à la Française (Rabbit Stew with Red Wine) pages 452-453 (Post Wednesday, June 17, 2009)
• Soufflé au Comté (Cheese Soufflé) pages 82-83 {discussion of soufflés} (Post Wednesday, June 24, 2009)
• Bavarois à la Vanille, Coulis de Framboise (Vanilla Bavarian Cream with Raspberry Coulis) pages 40-41 (Post Wednesday, July 1, 2009)

Whisk Wednesdays: Salade de Foies de Volailles Tiedes (Salad of Warm Sautéed Chicken Livers)

      The recipe prepared for this week's assignment for Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 25, Menu 2:  Salade de Foies de Volailles Tiedes (Salad of Warm Sautéed Chicken Livers).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home on pages 306-307.

      Doesn't this look delicious?  Believe me, it was! 

      Okay, I confess, it's not chicken liver at all, it's chicken breast tenders.  If I would have made it with chicken livers, no one would have eaten it, including me.  Why waste a perfectly good recipe when all you need to do is sub in another chicken part that you do like? 

      I subbed two things this week, the chicken breast for the chicken livers, and a white wine for the port as I thought the white wine would go better with the breasts.  And I had white wine on hand.

      The recipe goes together quickly, and again, the layering of the flavors is what makes it so outstanding.  Rich, yes, but I am only making French food once a week, so I don't sub the cream and butter as that gives so much flavor that it would be pointless to make a French dish and sub those ingredients. 

      The salad greens are washed and dried, dressed with a simple dressing of sherry vinegar and oil, salt and pepper, chopped fresh chervil and chives.  Oh, is it ever nice to have my herbs back in place on the deck so that I can just snip away anytime I need fresh herbs...luxury! 

     

Shallots are lightly sauteed in a little butter, chicken cooks quickly in that, followed by the wine for flavor and deglazing, and then the creme fraiche to bring it together...I boiled the creme fraiche to get it to reduce to a nice thick consistency, which it did in a very short amount of time. 

     The chicken was placed on the dressed greens, a little sauce dribbled over the chicken, some chervil sprinkled on top, and the fork was employed immediately. 

      Buy the book, make this recipe, use the livers if you like, the breasts if you don't, it is absolutely the most wonderful combination of flavors.  It was my lunch...plenty filling, very satisfying, and I will make this again. The flavors are fantastic together, nothing overwhelming, just nice subtle combinations making an enjoyable depth of flavor.  

      While we are on the menu section, and we were hoping to get all three dishes accomplished in one sitting, I knew that was not going to be happening here.  I cook throughout the day in bits and pieces due to running here and there and it all comes together somehow at mealtime.  In order for me to do all three of the French dishes in this menu, I would need to devote a whole afternoon to just that...not happening here soon.  So, my dishes this menu will be coming to you one at a time, which is very workable. 

If you would  like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

Next Week's Assignment:

The next few assignments are Menus, so we are going to make the menu for one meal (hopefully), but then post each dish separately in its own week as posting it all at once seemed a bit much, following the schedule below.
Class 25: Menu #2 (Make in one session, if you can, between May 19 and May 26)
• Salade de Foies de Volailles Tiedes (Salad of Warm Sautéed Chicken Livers) pages 306-307 (Post Wednesday, May 27, 2009)
• Longe de Porc aux Pruneaux (Roast Pork Loin with Prunes) and Mousseline de Céleri Rave (Creamed Celery Root Purée) pages 122-123 (Post Wednesday, June 3, 2009)
• Savarin aux Kiwis et aux Fraises (Rum Savarin with Kiwis and Strawberries) pages 409-410 (Post Wednesday, June 10, 2009)

Whisk Wednesdays: Gratin de Fruits au Marasquin (Fruit Gratin with Maraschino Liqueur)

      The recipe prepared for this week's assignment for Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 24, Part 1:  Gratin de Fruits au Marasquin (Fruit Gratin with Maraschino Liqueur).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home on page 376.  

      A dessert course this week, sort of a change from what we have been working on lately. 

  

      The recipe called for mango and figs, both of which I happen to like...since it is not fig season, I had to rely on Mission Figs, but I will try the recipe again during fig season and use the fresh ones. 

      The Le Cordon Bleu at Home book is a gem.  I can't say enough about how well written this cookbook is and how easy it is to follow the steps and come out with a very nice dish.  This recipe was so easy and yet when I finished, it felt like I had accomplished something very fancy and definitely a step up from the norm. 

      I made half of the recipe for the sauce and used a third of the fruit combination, I think...it's hard to tell with mango as this was a large one, so I might have had a full half of the fruit also.  I wasn't sure if we would like it, and it would be just Mark and I eating it as the liqueur in it wasn't something for the younger guys.  It's a good thing I only made half.  It's a good thing I told Mark it was available, or I might, just might, have eaten the whole thing!  Seriously.  Nothing boring after two bites with this dessert, nothing at all. 

      The fruit is marinated in 2 teaspoons of cherry liqueur (sub had to happen as cherry liqueur in the green glass bottle with the red bits and straw around it is $40 for a small bottle, and if one is not certain they are even going to enjoy a recipe, probably not happening here, so I subbed Chambord, raspberry liqueur, instead as I already had it...for future reference however, I would splurge on the cherry just to see what that is like because I can see making this again, and again, and again...but only if there are plenty of others who guarantee they will be around to help eat it...I can't be trusted with this alone!). 

      I wasn't certain if the mission figs were going to work out, but they did, the soaking brought out a nice flavor and it was enjoyable. 

      The sabayon sauce goes together easily, this was a sweetened version with powdered sugar, egg yolk, more of the Chambord, and some white wine, beaten until frothy and thick over a simmering pot of water.  Walking on the edge with that bit, but no scrambled egg in sight at the end, so I was very happy. 

      Sauce draped over the fruit, fruit and sauce under the broiler (don't take your eyes off it for a minute as it browns quickly), and into the mouth...OMW is this stuff great!  I love fruit, so the combination of fruit and sauce was ideal. 

      I know I say this all the time, but buy the book and start cooking!  This recipe alone is worth the price of the book (I know, I say that almost every week, too).

If you would  like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

Next Week's Assignment:

The next few assignments are Menus, so we are going to make the menu for one meal (hopefully), but then post each dish separately in its own week as posting it all at once seemed a bit much, following the schedule below.
Class 25: Menu #2 (Make in one session, if you can, between May 19 and May 26)
• Salade de Foies de Volailles Tiedes (Salad of Warm Sautéed Chicken Livers) pages 306-307 (Post Wednesday, May 27, 2009)
• Longe de Porc aux Pruneaux (Roast Pork Loin with Prunes) and Mousseline de Céleri Rave (Creamed Celery Root Purée) pages 122-123 (Post Wednesday, June 3, 2009)
• Savarin aux Kiwis et aux Fraises (Rum Savarin with Kiwis and Strawberries) pages 409-410 (Post Wednesday, June 10, 2009)
 

Whisk Wednesdays: Rouelles de Veau Bourgeoise (Veal Shanks with Pearl Onions and Mushrooms)

      The recipe prepared for this week's assignment for Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 24, Part 1: Rouelles de Veau Bourgeoise (Veal Shanks with Pearl Onions and Mushrooms).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home on pages 18-19. 

      This is part of the Menu section of classes, so I made it last week with the eggplant. 

      I bought actual veal, despite my feelings of such.  It was expensive and I had to visit a specialty butcher shop, but the butcher gave me a very nice deal (2-1/2 pounds of veal shanks for the price of 1-1/2 pounds...he now has a new customer). 

      It was okay.  I think (know) we prefer the beef version better.  There is something about veal that I just can't get past, so I ate a bite or two and called it a day.  I tried to eat a piece for lunch a few days later, and let's just say the Tibbies, Pippin and Vash, were very happy that I cannot enjoy veal. 

      The recipe was fairly simple...lots of steps, several pans, and fairly common ingredients (pearl onions and mushrooms) to go along with the veal.  The veal was cooked a fair amount of time, the veggies cooked separately, and then it all brought together at the end.  The sauce was the liquid the meat cooked in and egg yolk whisked in at the very last to give it a creamy consistency.  

      Since it cooked until it just fell off the bones (shanks), it was very tender to taste.  If only it wasn't veal. 

      Suffice it to say, from here on out, veal and I are parting ways.  If people want to eat veal, they are going to have to score it in the restaurants or on the streets, because it is definitely not happening in my kitchen again.  I think I will try this recipe with beef shanks and see how that goes...no sense in wasting a good recipe.   

      If you would  like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class,  click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

Next Week's Assignment:

The next few assignments are Menus, so we are going to make the menu for one meal (hopefully), but then post each dish separately in its own week as posting it all at once seemed a bit much, following the schedule below.
Class 24: Menu #1 (Make in one session, if you can, between April 29 and May 6)
• Aubergines Bayildi (Gratin of Stuffed Eggplant) pages 255-256 (Post Wednesday, May 6, 2009)
• Rouelles de Veau Bourgeoise (Veal Shanks with Pearl Onions and Mushrooms) pages 18-19 (Post Wednesday, May 13, 2009)
• Gratin de Fruits au Marasquin (Fruit Gratin with Maraschino Liqueur) page 376 (Post Wednesday, May 20, 2009)

Whisk Wednesdays: Aubergines Bayildi (Gratin of Stuffed Eggplant)

      The recipe prepared for this week's assignment for Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 24, Part 1: Aubergines Bayildi (Gratin of Stuffed Eggplant).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home on pages 255-256.  

      Lots of steps this week, lots of pans, but you end up with lots of flavor! 

      The recipe calls for simple ingredients, easily located at the local market, front and center being the eggplants, tomatoes, shallots, garlic, Gruyere cheese, salt, pepper, tomato paste, butter, and basil.  I could not locate the smaller eggplants, so I just worked with what I had available. 

      We were instructed to wash, stem, halve the eggplants, score them, salt them, turn them upside down on paper towels to draw out some of the liquid.    We then baked the eggplant for 15 minutes, I turned up my nose at how they looked coming out of the oven (not pretty) and made certain that boys didn't see this particular part or there would be no chance of getting them to try it at all.  

      Next I scraped out the eggplant and cooked it in pan until dry. 

      In a separate pan we needed to peel, seed, dice the tomatoes, cook them with shallots, tomato paste, and garlic until dry, reserving two thirds to puree for sauce to spoon over the eggplants at the end before serving  (oh, this sauce was so nice and fresh tasting and very good).  

      Next we combined basil, eggplant, and remaining tomato mixture to then stuff into eggplant boat shells.  Topped each with three thin slices of tomato, the Gruyere cheese, and a half teaspoon of butter dots, and it was ready to bake for another ten minutes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Not too difficult...everything comes together in the end and is definitely worth all the steps, pans, and time. 

      My family isn't too big on eggplant, and while I like it just fine, I am not ever too big on mixing lots of ingredients to end up with a lot of food touching together on a plate.  I know...I'm still six years old at times. 

      Anyway, I was a little skeptical of all of this, but figured I would give it a go and keep an open mind.  Happy that I did so, as this is absolutely wonderful. 

      Well, I thought so anyway...Mark ate it, said he really didn't care if I made it again, and the boys refused to even put any on their plates.  I think that it is just the idea that it was eggplant and they already made up their minds they weren't really going to like it.  Some things are like that.  Don't let that sway your opinion, this is a very good recipe.   

      If you would  like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class,  click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

Next Week's Assignment:

The next few assignments are Menus, so we are going to make the menu for one meal (hopefully), but then post each dish separately in its own week as posting it all at once seemed a bit much, following the schedule below.
Class 24: Menu #1 (Make in one session, if you can, between April 29 and May 6)
• Aubergines Bayildi (Gratin of Stuffed Eggplant) pages 255-256 (Post Wednesday, May 6, 2009)
• Rouelles de Veau Bourgeoise (Veal Shanks with Pearl Onions and Mushrooms) pages 18-19 (Post Wednesday, May 13, 2009)
• Gratin de Fruits au Marasquin (Fruit Gratin with Maraschino Liqueur) page 376 (Post Wednesday, May 20, 2009)

Whisk Wednesdays: Huîtres Chaudes au Muscadet (Poached Oysters with Muscadet Sabayon Sauce)

      The recipe prepared for this week's assignment for Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 23, Part 5: Huîtres Chaudes au Muscadet (Poached Oysters with Muscadet Sabayon Sauce).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home on pages 383-384. 

      This recipe is so good.  Worth the price of the book for this recipe alone.  Seriously. 

      First of all, I had never eaten oysters before, which is a little strange as I like seafood and have eaten a lot of things off menus I would not have thought I would ever eat:  squid, octopus, shark, etc.  Somehow oysters never seemed appealing. 

      Awhile ago I read a book on the oyster beds of New York and New Jersey and was absolutely enchanted.  While reading the book was great, I was still not thinking of actually eating any of the oysters.  I almost sat this one out, but I didn't want to let everyone else in the class down, and besides, those Whisk Chicks have a way of making everything sound good...they had all had oysters aplenty. 

      I ordered my Blue Point Oysters from my favorite seafood restaurant where they fly them in and waited for the day they were to arrive straight from the airport.  

      When I showed up, Rick was surrounded by lots and lots and lots of them.  I decided I was going to just make half a recipe (12/24) in case no one liked them as we all were oyster virgins. 

      I said, "Those are alive, aren't they?"  Rick just smiled and said, "Yep, they better be."  I said, "Well, we are supposed to insert a knife, twist it around until the shell opens, and slice with the knife around the top to pry their little selves out."  From the look on my face, he was quick with the "How about I do all that for you?"  I was even quicker with "Really?  Thanks, and can you save the liquid and the shells for me because I have things to do with those for the recipe?"  He said, "Is this that French cooking class you are writing about?"  When I told him it was our last week of seafood for a bit, he said, "Well, don't be a stranger...I was just getting used to having you come by every week."  I am sure it was great entertainment as I had not a clue what I was doing each week...except with the mussels, of course. 

      So Rick murdered the oysters for me...all the other Whisk Chicks gained loads of experience doing that on their own.  I did not, however, join up with this adventure with the intention of becoming a butcher, a fishmonger, or an oyster killer. 

      Home I came with the oysters and I followed the recipe exactly, well, except for the fact that I halved everything, and I did the spinach the only way the boys will eat it:  barely wilted not steamed and cooked and then cooked again and then broiled, cooking it again. (The French really like to eat spinach well cooked...so far cooking it at least twice for each recipe.) That's way too much cooking of spinach for this household.  They like it barely wilted, and trust me, it was delicious that way.  We just barely cooked the oysters in their liquor by letting the liquid boil and then removing it and the oysters from the heat immediately, allowing them to cool in the juice before placing the oysters onto a little bed of the wilted spinach and tucking them back into their cleaned and washed half shells.

      The sauce consisted of two parts, both delicious, and the next time, I can easily make a quarter of the sauce as I have plenty left over.  It will not go to waste...I will think of something else to make with that sauce as it was very very good.  I think the kids were willing to just sip it through a straw and have done with it in the moment if I would have let them. 

      The first part of the sauce is butter, shallots, Muscadet wine, creme fraiche, and a little pepper, all reduced to a syrupy consistency...OMW is this part good.  The second part, a sabayon sauce (I had never made this kind of sauce before and was surprised that it was fairly easy and I did not scramble the eggs while they were cooking and whisking...it stayed liquid) cooked separately, consists of egg yolks and water...whisk, whisk, whisk, etc. until it is thick and ribbony, add clarified butter, whisk some more, and then add the shallot/wine/cream mixture, whisk some more, and then check for seasonings (I added just a pinch of salt and a little more pepper). 

 

      

      When the sauce all comes together, you spoon it all over the little selves resting on the wilted spinach back in their little shells. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      I ran them under the broiler...it only literally takes a minute, and then I was going to plate them nicely and take a photo, but the guys were standing right there, plates in hand, pointing out the ones they wanted me to scoop onto their plates, and that was pretty much the end of any photo opportunities. 

      Everyone loved this recipe.  I had made the dozen (well, 13 actually as Rick had thrown in an extra one), and I could easily have gotten rid of three times that amount with the way they were eating their three oysters and raving about them.   We are all oyster fans now, and willing to try other recipes (not sure about eating them raw at this point, but cooked, YES!)  Thanks to all my fellow Whisk Wednesday classmates for encouraging me to just dive in and make these and go at it with an open mind.  I have got to start trusting them more!  

     

Next Week's Assignment:

The next few assignments are Menus, so we are going to make the menu for one meal (hopefully), but then post each dish separately in its own week as posting it all at once seemed a bit much, following the schedule below.
Class 24: Menu #1 (Make in one session, if you can, between April 29 and May 6)
• Aubergines Bayildi (Gratin of Stuffed Eggplant) pages 255-256 (Post Wednesday, May 6, 2009)
• Rouelles de Veau Bourgeoise (Veal Shanks with Pearl Onions and Mushrooms) pages 18-19 (Post Wednesday, May 13, 2009)
• Gratin de Fruits au Marasquin (Fruit Gratin with Maraschino Liqueur) page 376 (Post Wednesday, May 20, 2009)

Whisk Wednesdays: Mouclade (Mussels with Wine and Cream Sauce)

     The recipe prepared for this week's assignment for Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 23, Part 4: Mouclade (Mussels with Wine and Cream Sauce) 

It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home on pages 39-40.  

  

     Think that I can safely say, at this point, that I can cook mussels in my sleep.  We are a mussel-loving family, so cooking mussels is always met with a great deal of enthusiasm. 

      This recipe is easy, requires just shallots, a little butter, wine, and parsley to cook the mussels for about 5 minutes, and then that liquid is strained and reduced by half, with the addition of a little cream, boiled and reduced until thickened.  Spooning the sauce over the mussels preserved in a half shell completes the dish. 

 

      How simple...and how unbelievably great tasting these turned out!  Mark must have commented ten times how much he really liked the way these were prepared.   I believe I could serve these weekly, if I so desired, and they would be met with rave reviews.  Definitely a winner.  

      If you would  like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class,  click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there.

 

Next Week's Assignment:

 • Class 23, Part 5:
Huîtres Chaudes au Muscadet (Poached Oysters with Muscadet Sabayon Sauce) pages 383-384

Whisk Wednesdays: Bouchées aux Crevettes (Puff Pastry Shells Filled with Shrimp and Mushrooms)

      The recipe prepared for this week's assignment for Whisk Wednesdays is from Class 23, Part 3: Bouchées aux Crevettes (Puff Pastry Shells Filled with Shrimp and Mushrooms).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home on pages 467-468. 

      I knew we would all enjoy this week's recipe...shrimp and mushrooms in a creamy sauce, what's not to love about that?  

 

      Making the puff pastry shells was not my strong point, as you can see. 

      I think I rolled my dough too thin for starters...it was supposed to be 1/8th of an inch thick, and that just seems so thin anyway, but I might have gotten it even thinner, so next time, I would stop rolling a little sooner. 

      Forming the shells was interesting and I enjoyed seeing how that all came together, first cutting out a 4 inch fluted circle and then a 3 inch fluted circle and fitting them together with egg wash.  With the extra dough, I cut out additional shapes just to have in case anyone wanted them on the side, and they did.   

      When I baked them, it took half the time specified, so I think that my dough being thin was the reason for that.   

      All in all, I made shells, they puffed up, they tasted fine, and it worked to put the sauce in them, so who's to say it wasn't successful?  I am just considering mine the rustic version with their misshapen oval shapes instead of nice and perfect circles! 

      The filling was incredibly easy...saute the mushrooms, the shrimp, and then add them together.  The sauce was supposed to be added to that mixture, but I have to say, this recipe makes a whole lot of sauce, and if I added ALL of that to the shrimp and mushrooms, they would have been floating.  So, in the better part of calorie/fat intake judgment, I spooned the sauce over the mushrooms and shrimp once they were in their little shell nest, using a discretionary amount of sauce.  It worked out just fine and everyone loved it. 

      Matt went back for seconds and Mark was headed in that direction, only to discover Matt thought everyone was finished and had wiped out the contents of the pan.  I would say this recipe was a decided hit.  (I need more practice on making those little shells, but I am counting this one a keeper and a repeater.)  Oh, and CC, this is my portion...the guys' portions had filling and sauce spilling out over the sides of the shell, and pretty much covering the plate, so relax, I am not serving them "Barbie" portions over here...they ate plenty of this...a pound and a half of shrimp and 8 ounces of mushrooms totally disappeared!

      If you would  like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class,  click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there.

 

Next Week's Assignment: 
 • Class 23, Part 4:
Mouclade (Mussels with Wine and Cream Sauce) pages 39-40

Whisk Wednesdays: Coquilles Saint Jacques Dieppoise (Scallops with Mussels and Shrimp in Cream Sauce)

      The recipe prepared for this week's Whisk Wednesdays' assignment is from Class 23, Part 2:  Coquilles Saint Jacques Dieppoise (Scallops with Mussels and Shrimp in Cream Sauce).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home on pages 78-79. 

      This week's recipe is similar to ones that I already have in my repertoire/arsenal/old standbys, but this recipe incorporated various techniques and combinations that I had not made use of prior to today, so I was eager to try them and see if they really would make that much difference to do it this fancy French Le Cordon Bleu way. 

      Oh, YES...definitely worth it to do it this way.  While my variations are good, and they are, this one was incredibly even more flavorful.  More depth of flavor.   It's that "how many pans can we possibly use in preparing one meal" deal the French seem to have a penchant for on any given day.  I used seven today, and that did not count the pasta pot for the linguine I made to serve with the sauce.  (The photo at the right is the sauce itself before being spooned over the linguine.) 

       It is truly amazing how they cook everything separately, with all their little seasonings and techniques and go-withs, and then bring it together at the end for one very lovely and memorable dish.  This is my favorite thing about this class...I am learning all sorts of new techniques for bringing out more true flavors.  It is immensely satisfying to be able to do that...and I am a rookie, so imagine what all those fancy French chefs can really do with a dish! 

      This week we took mussels, scallops, shrimp, mushrooms, shallots, parsley, salt and pepper, wine, and creme fraiche and transformed them into a wonderful sauce, which I served over linguine as my guys really like pasta.  It goes together fairly quickly as seafood never takes long to cook, even when you are doing it all separately. 

      And the reviews?  "Excellent, very good, wonderful..." 

      It's definitely a repeat recipe and definitely easy and quick enough for a weeknight.  

      Buy the book...this recipe alone is worth the price.  The final photo shows three very satisfied and happy diners:  Mark, Alex, and Matt...Coquilles Saint Jacques Dieppoise was a big hit.

      If you would  like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class,  click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there.

 

Next Week's Assignment: 

 • Class 23, Part 3:
Bouchées aux Crevettes (Puff Pastry Shells Filled with Shrimp and Mushrooms) pages 467-468

Whisk Wednesdays: Pintade à la Cévenole (Guinea Hen with Mushrooms and Chestnuts)

      The recipe prepared for this week's Whisk Wednesdays' assignment is from Class 22, Part 4:  Pintade à la Cévenole (Guinea Hen with Mushrooms and Chestnuts).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home on pages 187-188. 

      I could not come up with a guinea hen, so I just used chicken...chicken thighs to be exact, because that's what the guys would eat as they have had chicken breast a couple of times this week and I think that if I serve any more chicken breast, there will be a walk-out.   

      I loved this recipe.  It just went together nicely, everything was cooked separately and then placed into the pot and into the oven for the last little stint. 

      There are lots of fun ingredients in this recipe:  chicken, shallots, bacon, pearl onions, oyster and crimini mushrooms, chestnuts, and red wine (I used merlot from Mondavi).   

      The whole dish tasted so wonderful!  Really lovely moist and flavorful chicken.   It was a big hit...well, except Mark did not care for the chestnuts.  He indicated that the next time I make this dish, he would be just fine without the chestnuts, so I will either leave them out, sub an additional mushroom type, or keep them in (my first choice as I loved them) and just make certain that none land in his portion.  I think they added to the overall flavor of the sauce, and he loved the sauce, so maybe it was just the texture of the chestnuts he did not care for.   

      The only chestnuts I could find were canned ones imported from France (at $9 a can, you can be sure I won't be making it with the canned chestnuts all that often).   

      Chestnut season is definitely not now, and when I tried to see if I could order them online, guess what...none could be found.  So, I went with the canned.   

      I am thinking, however, that this is such a great dish (and fairly easy with a low to normal pan ratio) that I might like to try this with the chestnuts I can find in the autumn.  Just to see the difference, as I am sure there is one.  Sort of like a huge difference between fresh green beans and canned ones.  The little chestnuts are actually kind of scary looking...they look like a brain, seriously.  I had never had them before and I thought they were good...a nutty meaty taste. 

      Ah, well...despite the chestnuts, this dish won rave reviews.  And, I was able to throw it together for lunch between swim sessions, who knew?  Now when I go back to the pool and anyone asks, "So what did you do between sessions?"  I can say I went home and made and served my family a Le Cordon Bleu lunch.  It always makes me seem way more interesting than I actually am. 

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there.

Next Week's Assignment: 

Class 23 Les coquillages, escargots et cuisses de grenouilles – Shellfish, snails and frog’s legs
• Class 23, Part 1:
Cuisses de Grenouille aux Herbes (Herbed Frog's Legs) from Chocolate & Zucchini (if you click on Clothilde's site, she has the recipe posted...she is our guest recipe chef this week as our home LCB book did not include a recipe for frogs legs...and well, what can I say, Shari was all about trying to make frog legs as it went with this class...and the rest of us figured we were all game if Shari was).

Whisk Wednesdays: Cailles à la Normande (Quail with Cream and Apples)

      The recipe prepared for this week's Whisk Wednesdays' assignment is from Class 22, Part 3:  Cailles à la Normande (Quail with Cream and Apples).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home on pages 212-213.

  

Quail, okay...not something you can find easily in Indiana, but I did manage to come up with four little (and I mean little) quail courtesy of a quail farm in Georgia, frozen. When I unwrapped them, my first thought was, "Ohhhh...they are so little...like babies..." and I wasn't sure I could actually go through with it.        

 

 

 

 

 

      Despite the hesitation, I seasoned the little birdies, trussed them up a bit to tie their little legs together as they looked a little indecent without the trussing, wrapped their breasts in the bacon like a little shawl (no fatback could be located this week), to keep them moist while cooking, browned them in the pan, and baked them in the oven for 20 minutes at 400.  It smelled really good in the kitchen...poultry and bacon has a way of enticing one to the table!  Mark and Matt also enjoyed eating the bacon with this...in the recipe it said to discard the fatback, but when I went to discard the bacon, there were many cries of "No, don't get rid of the bacon, we want to eat that!"  And so they did, commenting on how good it was with the sauce on it. 

      I made three inch croutons as a little bed for the quail, as instructed (well, it said four inch croutons, but my loaf of bread would not do a four inch cut, so I went with three inch ones.  Note:  the four inch would be better as the little quail would rest completely on that size, so next time I will have larger/taller bread on hand).  This worked nicely for elevating the quail and soaking up a little of the meat juices and the apple/brandy/cream sauce. 

      Oh, was that sauce so good...plus it had the added attraction for me of getting to set things aflame in the kitchen, on purpose, which is always fun! 

      I could not find little golden delicious apples, the only ones available were HUGE, probably twice the size of the little bitty quail, so I did not broil and caramelize them the way they described in the book as they would have been way too large in proportion.  Instead, I just diced the apples and did it that way (easier to eat at the table this way, too).  

      I figured the guys would like the quail, but there wasn't a whole lot of it, so I made some little lemon scallion brown rice tartlets and snuggled the caramelized apples in those, along with some steamed carrots on the side, and a mixed baby greens salad.  There were comments made, as guys like to do, of course, about this little bitty bird being an "appetizer." 

     As a meal for men and growing boys:  Quail would NOT be it.  Unless you owned a flock of quail and could readily make several dozen per meal...at $5.00 a quail, however, it's not happening here anytime soon. 

      The quail was tasty and delicious, I had never had quail before, so it was fun to try something new, and I would like to order it at a French restaurant sometime to see what the chef does with it.  Unlike the guys, I thought the portion size was just fine.  I would make this again as Mark particularly enjoyed it very much and indicated that he would like to have it again.  It was that good.   

      And, I have a whole bottle of Calvados to figure out what to do with if I don't...maybe Dorie has something coming up that requires Calvados.  Oh, I am having the greatest time learning new cooking techniques and recipes!

      This one was so delicious and definitely will have a return visit occasionally here.

If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

The Next Assignment
• Class 22, Part 4:
Pintade à la Cévenole (Guinea Hen with Mushrooms and Chestnuts) pages 187-188 {You can substitute Duck breast if you like.}

      

Whisk Wednesdays

      The Whisk Chicks are all taking a week off to play this week.  We will return next week with more of our astounding accomplishments while attempting to learn how to prepare fine French cuisine. 

Whisk Wednesdays: Fricassée de Poulet à l'ail et à la Sauge (Chicken Fricassee with Garlic and Sage)

     The recipe prepared for this week's assignment is from Class 22, Part 2:

 Fricassée de Poulet à l'ail et à la Sauge (Chicken Fricassee with Garlic and Sage).  (It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 324-325.)

      The recipe this week did not require a lot of prep or pans or fancy ingredients.  It was just plain and simple French farmhouse cooking at its best.  

      It called for a chicken, cut into parts...which means I went to the store and just selected the parts we liked for the recipe (no one here is going to eat wings and necks and backs, etc., for example).   

      After browning the chicken in a small amount of olive oil, 20 cloves of garlic were added with one cup of dry white wine.  Yep, you read that correctly TWENTY cloves of garlic, I did not mistakenly write 20 for 2 or something along those lines.  Simmering the chicken and garlic for five minutes, adding a bunch of slivered sage, and the whole pot was ready for a 30 minute stay, uncovered in a 375 degree oven.   

      After 30 minutes, the lid was placed on the pot, and another 10 minutes cooking made mine completely done.  The chicken was tender, moist, and flavorful with a hint of garlic (really, the garlic cooks down to a mild taste) and sage. After the chicken was cooked and set aside to keep warm, the liquid is reduced to half, creating a wonderful wine/garlic/sage sauce to spoon over the chicken. It was also very tasty.   

      The best compliment I can think to share is that Mark said, "This is so good...I would eat this once a week."  Mark's a beef and pork guy, so once a week for a chicken dish is high praise indeed. 

      The dish seemed fairly rich, with the sauce, and all, so I just served it with a cheddar biscuit and a fresh spinach salad with dried blueberries and freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano...Mark poured a glass of the wine I used, and dinner was served. 

      Very easy.  I would make this again definitely.  (Note:  while I left the skin on for browning and cooking, I don't really care for chicken skin, so I removed that on my portion and it tasted lovely that way, very clean and fresh.)   

      Everyone is having a bit of fun suggesting we post this, that, or the other of a week.  It was suggested that we all post our recipe/book holders so that we could see what everyone uses to hold their recipe and/or book each week while they cook.  Hmmm...I don't really have anything like that, and what you see here, is just how unprofessionally my kitchen is run on a daily basis...I just plop the chicken decor from the countertop on the book and it works fairly well.  I can't wait to see everyone else's holders as on the member exchange they were discussing stainless steel and Lucite and this fancy thing and that fancy thing, and I thought, "I think I will just remain silent on my method..." until they decided to post it all!  Now you know...this Whisk chick uses a chick and her chicks!     

If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

The Next Assignment

• Class 22, Part 3:

Cailles à la Normande (Quail with cream and Apples) pages 212-213 {You can substitute Partridge if you like.}

 

 

Please NOTE:

The Whisk Chicks are all taking a week off next week just to play.  Seriously, we all figured we would just throw caution to the wind next week, do something absolutely frivolous and fun, and maybe even not cook a thing all day!  If you want to know what each one of chose to do with the unexpected windfall of time, you'll have to join the group as we are posting it privately on our member exchange.  Or you can bribe each member separately if you really really want to know.

From

       Our little Whisk Wednesdays group has gotten to be quite fun.  There are less than a dozen of us, which makes the group seem small and cozy.  We all love to cook, but we are all busy with lives that keep us on the move and occupied, so there isn't a lot of pressure to "get posted or get out," each week, although posting is definitely preferred, everyone is pretty laid back and not into finding fault.  (Thank goodness or I would have been ousted long ago!)

      While what you all see is the completed dish each week (or in my case,  whenever I can get around to it), we also have a site where the members can post questions, answers, thoughts, share whatever they want at the time, and sometimes just a bit of chit chat each week.  This has been such fun for me as the other members are entertaining as well as enlightening about all the cooking they are doing in their kitchens.    

      Through this little venue, Michelle organized a swap to add some cheer into the cold winter days we were having...okay, Glennis lives in California, but we let her play anyway...  The assignment was to have a secret partner (Michelle matched everyone up) and to send your partner something(s) that was/were your kitchen favorite(s).  

      Melissa drew my name and here is the box of goodies that she sent to me! 

      Since we all don't really know each other, except through the group, we were busy reading each other's blogs trying to come up with things we liked, but also things that our partner might not already have or might enjoy owning a new version of the item. 

      Melissa knew I liked to scrapbook and make cards, so she sent some items along those lines. 

      She sent a very cool cutting board, which I do not own any like this, and believe me, I have a dozen cutting boards (seriously), all of which I like for different things and use exclusively for those different things...don't ask...LOL, so I am excited with this new one as the surface is really different and very enjoyable to use.  It is my new vegetable cutting board.  One of the nicest  things is that it has a hole in the corner (like a paint palate) so that when you are transferring the vegetables from cutting to the pan, for instance, you can insert your thumb in the hole and the grip is perfect for doing that task...hard to describe, just go to the store and check this out...it is wonderful.  She sent the 12 by 9 size which is the perfect size for my family when I cut vegetables.  It's knife-friendly, non-porous, eco select, dishwasher safe, heat resistant, natural wood fiber....okay, just go check this out at the cooking store:  Epicurean Cutting Surfaces...I love this already and the next size up is going on my birthday request list as sometimes I have very big vegetables, like fennel and squash and those huge zucchinis you get in the summer, etc.  So great.

      Included also were some new dishtowels in my kitchen colors, always nice to have new dishtowels. 

      She included a salt and pepper grinder which operates with just one hand...I do not have one that uses just one hand for holding/grinding, so this is terrific!   Being Melissa, she wasn't certain the peppercorns that came in the grinder would be any of good quality, so she swung by Penzy's and got a package of her favorites for me.  How nice was that? 

      I love the shopping tote that she sent, handmade by someone she knows, such a great fabric, and I use these kinds of bags for all my shopping, grocery and otherwise, on a weekly basis: mine, of course, not being this stylish and fun, so this is a very nice treat to have such a lovely tote. 

      And, since she knows I am a little bit bookish (read that A LOT bookish), she found a book entitled Things Cooks Love and included that for me...the book was a lot of fun to read, filled with interesting, and educational information...a good read...I would know, as I have been doing that instead of cooking my Whisk Wednesdays food the last couple of weeks...the book is portable and can go with me anywhere, my kitchen is not!  That's my story as to why I have finished the book and not the cooking. 

      Thank you so much, Melissa, you came up with an entire box of wonderful surprises and I will use each and every one of them with the added pleasure of knowing they came from you and our little group of Whisk Chicks.

      If you would like to see what the others received in their boxes, you can click on the Whisk Wednesdays site and then click on each blogger from the Blogroll and they have them posted on their sites.  Michelle, this was tons of fun...thanks for organizing it!

Whisk Wednesdays: Pigeonneaux en Papillote (Squab Cooked in Papillotes) {Substitute salmon for squab.}

       The recipe prepared for this week's assignment is from Class 21, Part 3: Pigeonneaux en Papillote (Squab Cooked in Papillotes). {Substitute salmon for squab.}  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 219-220.  

       Since we are focusing on cooking fish, I made the salmon substitution for the squab.  I was going to try snapper with fennel, as that was another option, but I could not come up with any decent snapper, while the salmon was lovely this week.   

      I have cooked en papillote before, and in fact is an excellent choice to send along when cooking a meal for another family as you can do all the prep ahead, they just need to pop it in the oven at 425 degrees for about 12 minutes, and dinner is hot and on the table!   

        There are so many combinations you can use when cooking with this method...this week I used shallots, mushrooms, lemon, a little white wine, and just a dot or two of butter with a little salt and pepper in the packet with the salmon.     

      You can buy parchment paper in white (more elegant looking for a more formal occasion) or brown (more rustic looking, and my preferred color as I think it just looks lovely with the little brown packet all toasty looking with splatters of melted this and that all over it), the price is the same. 

      Very delicious...Mark raved about it, and there was nary a crumb to be seen on his plate at meal's end.  The younger guys were not here for dinner this evening, so you will just need to trust the recommendations of Mark's clean plate with my "very delicious" review.  Easy, easy recipe. 

      Come on, give it a try...it's sort of like campfire cooking with those little foil packets we used to call Hobo Meals when we were kids...just as fun now as it was then!  

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

Next Week's Assignment

• Class 21, Part 4:
Blanquette de Lotte aux Petits Légumes (Monkfish in White-Wine Cream Sauce with Vegetables) pages 408-409

 

Whisk Wednesdays: Bar à la Normande (Sea Bass with Mushrooms and Cream)

• Class 21, Part 2 (Post on Wednesday, February 4):
Bar à la Normande (Sea Bass with Mushrooms and Cream) pages 180-181

      I finally made this bass recipe this evening (a week late, February 11th), and it was a very big hit here...the guys, as well as myself, loved every last bite of it. 

      The bass is very mild and fresh tasting (scored it at a fancy seafood restaurant here in Carmel that has it flown in, so it was very fresh tasting and wonderful texture...oh my!).  It doesn't smell up the house while cooking at all, which is a very big plus.   

      I didn't do all the cleaning, skinning, etc., as I just purchased it with all that done for me.  While a bit pricey ($26.00 a pound), I had them cut three 5 ounce portions (the one you see on my plate is half of one portion, so it was about 2-1/2 ounces, which was a nice size), so we splurged a little on this meal, but it was very good, delightfully flavorful, and there was not a scrap left when all was said and done.   

      The fish was poached in wine and water (we had the option of using fish stock in place of the water, but since the bass is so mild tasting, I figured I would stick with the wine and water and not complicate things overly much) with a minced shallot thrown in also. 

      The sauce is made from reducing the cooking liquids by half and then adding the creme fraiche and whisking that in.  I might reduce the liquids even further next time to produce a thicker sauce, but this sauce was very lovely on its own. 

      This was one very easy and quick meal...we rounded it off with steamed broccoli and cinnamon glazed butternut squash and I surrounded the fish with the sauteed mushrooms as the recipe suggested...I love mushrooms, can you tell?  The guys also put away a mini loaf of bread, because, well, because they like artisan breads and can do things like that because they are guys and all. 

      Go ahead, buy the book...you can substitute other kinds of fish for this...the method, sauce, and taste is so wonderful, even if you never make another recipe from the book you will be happy you have it (but, I promise, you will make many of the recipes!). 

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesdays members fared in this class, click

here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there.

 

  Next Week's Assignment:  

Class 21, Part 3:
Pigeonneaux en Papillote (Squab Cooked in Papillotes) pages 219-220 {Substitute salmon for squab.}

Whisk Wednesdays: Truite aux Amandes (Trout with Almonds)

       The recipe prepared for this week (actually last week as this one is a week behind) is from Class 21, Part 1: Truite aux Amandes (Trout with Almonds).   It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 49-50.   

      For this class, we were supposed to clean six whole trout and cook them.  You think?  Hmmm...  First of all, who eats a whole trout per serving?  That is way too much of a portion for around here, so I made half a trout per person, and it was plenty. 

      I didn't clean the trout...I have a fish guy who does all that and packages it all up so nicely for us, so to keep him in business, we let him do things like that...that's my excuse for getting the trout cleaned, boned, heads, tails, and fins removed. 

      I followed the rest of the recipe instructions on cooking the trout, first dredging it in a bit of flour and then frying it stovetop for a few minutes on each side, followed by the browning of the butter sauce, toasting the almonds in that.   

     When I poured a little of it on my portion of trout (and doused the guys' portions with the rest as they swear there is no such thing as "too much butter"), I could instantly see that the figure-friendly fish was no longer going to able to hold that title.  It certainly tasted delicious, though!  The toasty almonds in that butter sauce over that trout was very very good.  I can certainly think of lots of other fish which would certainly love to be bathed in such a sauce.   

      I forgot to chop parsley to sprinkle on top, and while I had lemon available, I am not a fan of lemon on trout for some reason.  I like the taste of the trout to come through.  (And, if you know me at all, you know I am always looking for excuses to have lemon on or in anything, so this is a bit unusual.  I left the lemon out  in this recipe, it was just a slice per portion placed on top before serving.) 

     The guys raved about it all and definitely would like to see this appear more often, so I do believe it will.  This is one very fast meal...the alfredo took the longest and even that was not long...Mark likes pasta with fish, so you will be seeing a lot of pasta in the next few weeks on the fish plates.

 

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click

here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

 

The next assignment is:  • Class 21, Part 2 (Post on Wednesday, February 4):
Bar à la Normande (Sea Bass with Mushrooms and Cream) pages 180-181
 

Whisk Wednesdays: Côtes de Porc Flamande (Baked Pork Chops with Potatoes and Thyme)

        The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 20, Part 3: Côtes de Porc Flamande (Baked Pork Chops with Potatoes and Thyme).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 106-107.  

      The photo of this week's plate shows Matt's plate as CC keeps emailing me telling me that these plates I feature have way too little food on them and that certainly I am starving my guys with these "Barbie" portions.  As you can see, Matt's plate shows ample nutrition and amounts of food!   

      This week's recipe was very easy and used only two pans!  We buttered the baking dish, put in a layer of sliced potatoes, placed browned pork chops over the potatoes, layered another round of potatoes, doused it with a little melted butter, salt, pepper, and thyme, and into the oven it went at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.  How much easier could it possibly be than this?   

      The guys loved it, definitely a successful recipe.  I liked it okay, but I am not that fond of greasy things, and this was a little greasy if you ate the potatoes from the layer underneath the pork chops, as the pork chop juices dripped onto the potatoes (which is why the guys LOVED them), and made them just a little too fatty for my taste.    The potatoes on the top layer, however, were nice and tasty.   

      The recipe called for portions of 6-8 ounces of pork chop each, so that is what I purchased, with the bone-in.   This amount of pork chop is probably fine for a husband who absolutely loves pork chops and a son who swims 5 hours a day...for all others, one of that size would feed two easily. 

      All in all, a very nice recipe, and since Mark liked it so much, I would probably make it a few times a year for him.  Important (and fun) to keep the man happy, you know!   

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

      Next week's assignment is:   

Class 21 Les Poissons – Fish
• Class 21, Part 1 (Post on Wednesday, January 28, 2009):
Truite aux Amandes (Trout with Almonds) pages 49-50

Whisk Wednesdays: Poulet en Cocotte Grand-Mère (Braised Chicken Casserole with Bacon, Mushrooms, Potatoes, and Onions):

       The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 20, Part 2:  Poulet en Cocotte Grand-Mère (Braised Chicken Casserole with Bacon, Mushrooms, Potatoes, and Onions).  It can be found in the cookbookLe Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 296-297.  

      Okay, it's basically roast chicken.  Nothing terribly fancy about that, and in fact, this was described as a sort of "grandmotherly one-pot dish" originally. 

      Make no mistake about it, my grandmothers did cook fine roast chickens in their days, but that said, OMW...THIS is my roast chicken recipe from now on.  Seriously.   

      What a great dish...again, it's the layering of the flavors.  It's magical how these recipes take very simple ingredients and bring layers and layers of flavor to a finished dish with the techniques used, making it taste like nothing you have ever tasted before.  It was that good. 

      It got rave reviews around here...when the husband is extremely happy with his dinner, there is no end of good things that result!   Okay, I know you are thinking he was just very appreciative of having homemade food again, and he was, but truly, this is one of those recipes that is very easy, and very tasty...worth getting to know.  We enjoyed it very much...moist, tender, flavorful. 

      The recipe was easy (Shari has it posted on Friday, January 23rd's date), all the ingredients are common, easy to find, and went together quickly.  (Five pans, but I have learned to just tell myself that I enjoy using all my pans/cookware and get over the pan count each week.)    

      The recipe states that in France, grandmothers would put all these things in one pot and cook them.  It goes on to say that now this recipe has all the ingredients being cooked separately and then being brought together in the end for about a 20 minute cooking time of all being in the same pot.  (Photo:  at the end of the cooking, and please excuse the incredibly incompetent trussing as I am not terribly good at that, and it all was coming undone by the end of the cooking time.  I need a whole lot more practice in tying things up properly.)

      It works...all the ingredients taste very much of themselves, and then there is also a sort of blending of flavors.  In most, if not all, my recipes, the one-pot dishes end up with everything in them pretty much tasting the same at the end (I am thinking of a pot roast, carrots, and potatoes, for example).  In this dish, cooking the ingredients separately, i.e. pearl onions, potatoes, and mushrooms, ensures that at the end you can taste the best of the three separate ingredients on their own.  Hard to explain, just try it.  Absolutely wonderful. 

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

      Next week's assignment is: 

• Class 20, Part 3:
Côtes de Porc Flamande (Baked Pork Chops with Potatoes and Thyme) pages 106-107

Whisk Wednesdays: Canard aux Navets (Roast Duck with Glazed Turnips)

        The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 20 Rotir et Poêler – Roasting and Frying Class 20, Part 1: Canard aux Navets (Roast Duck with Glazed Turnips).   It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 257-258. 

      First of all, I have never cooked a duck before.  Secondly, I have never even eaten duck before.  After today, such is no longer the case.  I always avoided duck as the usual comment when someone brings up duck is, "Oh, duck is so fatty," and that always sounded very unappealing. 

      I have to say, there were copious amount of fat being skimmed off and discarded from beginning to end in the recipe.  I tried to get out as much as possible, and in the end, while I left the skin on when serving, I decided it wasn't going any further than my plate as it looked fairly fatty...and the duck was delicious without it.  Absolutely delicious.   

      Duck is not easy to locate in Indiana outside of holiday seasons, so we were lucky that this fell over Christmas/New Year's so that I could get a duck easily. 

      The veal bones for the veal stock were another matter...you have to do a fair amount of searching to come up with veal bones.  I located them early on and put them in the freezer so that I could make the stock on a day when I was home and able to babysit it...then back in the freezer it went. 

      Veal stock is amazing...I thought it would taste a lot like beef stock, but it does not...it is smooth and mellow and sort of buttery tasting...hard to describe, but very very good. 

      The recipe for the duck is easy...requires a lot of basting and removing of fat, etc., in ten-minute increments during the 70-80 minutes cooking time, but not bad as it is just popping it in and out of the oven while you do other things. 

      The "turned" (French method of cutting/paring...actually codified according to size in France, etc., can you even stand it?) turnips were a riot...I have not done turned turnips before and they are really hard to do.  I am sure in French cooking school one must spend literally months learning how to properly do this...one afternoon isn't going to do it.  That said, I did try...and with any new skill you want to acquire, practice makes perfect...I will work on the practicing and perfecting part because these are actually lovely to look at and fun to cook.  I made both turnips and carrots as I wasn't certain if the guys would eat the turnips cooked this way or not.  Turns out, they loved them.   

      I went to all this work of making this wonderful sauce, following all the steps, etc., and then promptly forgot to drizzle it over my piece of duck breast for the photo...oops...same with sprinkling the parsley over the veggies...oops...my only defense is that I am not exactly operating at peak performance level over here yet.  I drizzled the sauce after the photos, and wow...that sauce is very very good. 

      The whole dish is worth doing again...a big success around here.  Michelle made great use of her leftovers, and we are going to follow her recipe for making those little Chinese duck in plum sauce pancake things, click on her site if you would like the recipe also.  Sounds like a perfect lunch during the Hawk/Wolverine game Sunday, conveniently scheduled over the noon hours.

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click

here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

      Next week's assignment is: 

     • Class 20, Part 2 (Post on Wednesday, January 14, 2009):
Poulet en Cocotte Grand-Mère (Braised Chicken Casserole with Bacon, Mushrooms, Potatoes, and Onions) on pages 296-297.

Whisk Wednesdays: Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

Christmas Vacation! Whisk Wednesdays will be back Wednesday, January 7.

Happy holidays!

Class 20 Rotir et Poêler – Roasting and Frying
• Class 20, Part 1 (Post on Wednesday, January 7, 2009):
Canard aux Navets (Roast Duck with Glazed Turnips) pages 257-258

 

And for a little extra Christmas cheer:  Click here for a bit of roasting!

 

Whisk Wednesdays: Truite de Mer, Sauce Verte (Whole Poached Salmon Trout with Herbed Mayonnaise

      The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 19, Part 2,  Les Grillades et les Gratins (Grilling and Browning) and is Truite de Mer, Sauce Verte (Whole Poached Salmon Trout with Herbed Mayonnaise).    It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 84-85.  

       More Salmon...yeah, we happen to all love salmon here.  A whole salmon, with eyes staring out at you, and tail still attached?  Not so much.  The guys weren't too keen on eating anything that was so identifiable, so I opted instead of the whole salmon trout decked out in his fancy cucumber tux, for one of salmon filet decked out in a mere cucumber party skirt. 

      I cut the recipe down to one-sixth of the original as 54 ounces of salmon seemed like a whole lot of salmon for around here, and it was just going to be Mark and I eating it anyway...Alex not being fond of anything green and Matt liking his "just plain please."  As you can tell by the plate in the photo, this is still a whole lot of salmon and my usual portion would be about two-thirds of this...4.5 ounces shown here.  I would make less per person next time, or just shove more onto Mark's plate as there was no way I could eat all of this. 

      This was fun actually...I didn't have any interruptions today, so I was able to leisurely cook and assemble not being a tad distracted and all as I usually am around here.   

      I had never made the cucumber slices like this before...I sliced them and then laid them out with a very light sprinkling of salt, and waited for three hours for them to become translucent and sort of bendy-like so they would curve around the fish.  I can obviously use some work on getting all these slices the same width...even with a food processor, the pressure you put on the full cucumber made the slices vary in width...need to work  on that part. 

      The homemade mayonnaise is just out of this world, so I did make that to assemble the sauce as I had time today to fool around with that step, the blanching of the spinach and watercress, etc. before whirling it with the herbs into green sauce.  Yum.  (I goofed when I was spreading it on the fish and contaminated the bit I had in the bowl with bits of salmon, so I had to toss some of it out, a big loss as I am thinking of several things I can use this sauce for this week and I didn't like wasting any of it...it is really tasty!)  

      The court bouillon was easy to make, we had done that previously, and the flavor it imparts as the poaching liquid for the salmon is excellent...it really adds to the depth of flavors and you can definitely taste it in the salmon.     

      After I poached the salmon, I let it cool slightly and scraped off all the skin, etc., with a spoon, tossing it in the garbage and then spread the green sauce over the salmon and fashioned the cucumber slices into the little outfit you see in the photo.  

      The recipe said to sieve a boiled egg, white and yolk separately, and then place that around the fish.  I thought it was just for decoration, but it was very tasty combined with the salmon, the sauce, and the cucumber, definitely a tasty little touch.  Very nice. 

      It was all amazingly nice and I would make this all again in a heartbeat.  I would, however, make smaller portions as this was huge...maybe okay for a guy, but not a chick portion.  I served it with a salad of romaine lettuce topped with dried blueberries, dried cranberries, slivered almonds, and raspberry balsamic vinegar dressing and threw a few grape tomatoes on the plate as well.  A great combination, trust me.   

      The last photo is a bit of fun we are having amongst ourselves at Whisk Wednesdays this week.  It all started as part of a little joke where Shari was keeping track of the butter she used weekly, and expenses, on her blog with the recipes.  I was forever mentioning my pots/pans count and ALL OF US were noting each week how many dishes, etc.,  it took to make all this French food.  Last week, as a bit of a giggle, we decided we would all post our sink photos this week of all the things piled up before we tidied up.  OMW, all my friends and family are going to have a heart attack seeing this as I ALWAYS clean as I go and my kitchen NEVER looks like this.  I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it about half-way through, but I didn't want to let the rest of them down.  So, here, in all it's NON GLORY, is the damage in pots/pans/utensils count for this recipe this week.   As bad as it is, we have had worse, believe me...the French get their money's worth out of all their cooking utensils and equipment!

 

       If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

Christmas Vacation! Whisk Wednesdays will be back Wednesday, January 7.

Happy holidays!

Class 20 Rotir et Poêler – Roasting and Frying
• Class 20, Part 1 (Post on Wednesday, January 7, 2009):
Canard aux Navets (Roast Duck with Glazed Turnips) pages 257-258

Whisk Wednesdays: Saumon au Champagne (Salmon in Champagne Sauce)

        The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 19, Part 1,  Les Grillades et les Gratins (Grilling and Browning) and is Saumon au Champagne (Salmon in Champagne Sauce).    It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 486. 

      We had our choice of recipes this week, between this and a chicken dish, so I picked this one as the recipe was in our book and our family loves salmon, so I figured there was a good chance I would make it again if it turned out well. 

      We all made fish stock this week for this class, and that was easy enough with the instructions as we have done many of these same steps for other recipes already.  I didn't buy real champagne from France, etc., as that would be a bit costly, so I purchased an Italian Sparkling Wine and made due. (I'm still making due with that as I am sipping the remainder of the bottle as I write this...after Mark had a go with it at dinner, there isn't all that much left actually, maybe just enough to get one in a romantic mood early of an evening and all...LOL).   It turned out well...so I can just imagine what the real champagne would do for this dish!     

      I used salmon filets as that was what was the freshest at the fish market, flown in yesterday, so that seemed a fine choice. 

      The actual sauce part was easy enough, techniques we have already learned, and I made sure to have the best ingredients as that helps immensely for the flavoring.  Once again, the layering of flavors is the most amazing thing about the entire process.  It makes all the difference in the world to cook with the layers and then bring them together.  This is actually my favorite part each week, to see how all this layering comes together and what it does for even a simple dish.  Very nice.

      The most difficult part was combining the cream and egg and then mixing it into the hot sauce as I am always afraid that I am going to scramble it all and have fancy scrambled eggs in the end.  I don't trust myself over direct heat with this, so I always pull out the double boiler for it (another two pots to wash, but worth it in my mind as I would be devastated to come all this way in a recipe and ruin it at the end!)...total pan/pot count this week, including that, was six (but only 4 if you are comfortable without the double boiler at the end). That said, it also took another three pots for linguine and broccoli...are you counting???!! 

      We all loved the sauce on the salmon...it was creamy and very tasty, lots of layers of flavor, complimenting the salmon just enough but not overpowering it at all.  You are actually supposed to pour the sauce over the salmon, but I put it on the plate and then put the salmon down as some members of this family are really picky about things like having too much touching on a plate...you know, that if you pour it on top, you have no choice but to have sauce with every bite...whereas, if you put it on the bottom (the skin protects it and I don't eat the skin), then you have a choice whether you want a bit of sauce on the bite or not...I'm just saying...SOME MEMBERS of this family like the sauce on the side or the bottom...the above plate was mine just in case you had any doubts about who these picky people might be over here.  Oh, and it was really good on the lemon garlic butter linguine also as a little seeped into that as well.

      Thanks to fellow Whisk member, Michelle, for the suggestion of the scallion on top of the salmon and the chopped up olive relish on the side (okay, she said on the top, but again...it's a personal call, right?).  It was fun...I was cooking and Clarice (my computer) was sitting there watching and Michelle was emailing me back and forth with these suggestions and describing olives and olive butter and what not...21st Century cooking together even though we live far, far apart!   

      Since we have been learning to make our stocks and freezing them, this recipe would go together in very little time if the stock was already made and ready to use. 

      Shari has been making her sauces and keeping them warm in a thermos, which is excellent if you want to make this dish for company...you could have most of it done and then just cook the salmon and sauce it at the last...very easy. 

      I have some sauce left, so I thought I would play around with a bit tomorrow to see if I could get it a bit thicker...mine was okay, but I just want to see what a thicker version would be like, and I love to mess around with stuff like this.  (Note:  This is the longest post ever...may have something to do with sipping this sparkling wine as I am writing this up...yep, just might.)

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

Upcoming schedule: 

• Class 19, Part 2 (Post on Wednesday, December 10, 2008):
Truite de Mer, Sauce Verte (Whole Poached Salmon Trout with Herbed Mayonnaise) pages 84-85

Whisk Wednesdays: Oeufs Mollets Florentine (Soft Boiled Eggs with Spinach and Mornay Sauce)

      The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 18,  Les Grillades et les Gratins (Grilling and Browning) and is Oeufs Mollets Florentine (Soft Boiled Eggs with Spinach and Mornay Sauce).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 68-70. 

      When I saw this recipe, I thought...hmmm...may have to be a rewind week for me as I can't see the guys eating runny eggs and cooked spinach.  They like eggs fine...cooked completely...and they like spinach fine...not cooked at all.  However, once again, the indefatigable Melissa, our current newbie, got on the ball Saturday and cooked up her weekly assignment, proceeding to gush all about it on the Whisk insider's email, and, before you would even imagine, I am lining up ingredients to make this dish. 

      And, how did it taste?  Wonderful!  I would do it again in a heartbeat as Mark raved about it, and it turns out, he informed me he DOES like runny eggs, he just never bothered to tell me that in 30 years because he knew I did not care for them.  What a guy! 

      Let me say that this is a recipe for which you want to line up all the ingredients, a la Shari's style, before you begin, because things go pretty quickly from that point on.   

      I did make one minor change...no one here was going to eat spinach cooked and then cooked again and then cooked again...three times cooking spinach was just not happening.  I wilted it barely in the saute pan with just a tiny bit of butter and salt and pepper.  It was perfect for us this way. 

      Pan count:  one for wilting the spinach (done the recipe way would have also resulted in another pan), one for boiling the eggs, one for making the mornay sauce (I used a double boiler as I don't trust myself with sauces right on the flame yet, and the double boiler ensures that I can wash up as I go, which I like to do, since I don't have to keep stirring that sauce non-stop for ten minutes), and then the little individual dishes I used to assemble it all before placing it under the broiler, so I guess that makes 4 or so.  The French do love their pots and pans.    

      So, while I was going to pass this week on this recipe and make a rewind instead, I'm so happy Melissa convinced me otherwise...delicious recipe...and now I can use my rewind pass in a couple weeks when we are back to VEAL again...I'm done with the veal...it's either going to be chicken or rewind that week for us.  I just can't get past those sweet little baby calf faces with veal.

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

Upcoming schedule: 
Class 19 Pocher (Poaching)

• Class 19, Part 1 (Post on Wednesday, December 3, 2008):
Blogger choice: Saumon au Champagne (Salmon in Champagne Sauce) on page 486 OR Petite marmite Henri IV (Chicken pot-au-feu) on page 246 in Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection

Whisk Wednesdays: Gratin Dauphinois (Potato Gratin with Garlic and Cream)

       The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 18,  Les Grillades et les Gratins (Grilling and Browning) and is Gratin Dauphinois (Potato Gratin with Garlic and Cream).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on page 498.  

      OMW...you cannot believe how good this dish is.  If I were a different type of blogger, I might even put a very descriptive word in front of the word "good" as it is THAT good.   

      These are the BEST potatoes I have ever had in my entire life.  Hands down.  Get over here quick before I eat more than two bites...two VERY BIG BITES...so you can finish this off before it gets out of control. 

      We have a little question and answer connect as Whisk Wednesday members that Shari set up for us so we could post amongst ourselves if we were having difficulties with a recipe or whatnot.  Early in the week, newbie Melissa, all excited to get going on her first assignment, started in on the recipe, leaving the rest of us in the dust and making us feel slightly guilty for being such slackers on a fairly regular basis, cooking things at the last minute and all (that would be primarily me), and posted and gushed that these were the best things going and that we should definitely NOT cut the batch in half as we would want the whole recipe, telling us it warms up well, etc.   

      I thought, "Yeah, okay...potatoes with garlic, cream, and cheese...been there, done that..." and made plans to make half a batch.  Well, that and the fact that my guys will NOT eat leftovers.  I know, I know, I have aided and abetted this crime for so many years that there is no changing it now...there is no sense in me making something that will not get eaten at one sitting because they will not eat it warmed up, reheated, made into something else, carefully disguised...they have radar like you would not believe on leftovers.   

      Melissa was right...these are so good, I think I might have been able to get by with warming these back up and serving them again, especially because the guys will eat anything sounding like it has a potato in it (except probably rice pudding with potato...they really did not like this week's TWD recipe). 

      So, what's in this potato dish?  Potatoes, milk, garlic, cream, bouquet garni, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and a little cheese grated on top.    

      The pan count was one for milk and potatoes, etc., one for boiling cream, and one gratin dish for baking it in...just THREE!  Directions were very easy, boil the potatoes and such in milk, drain the milk, boil the cream, layer the potatoes in the gratin dish, pour the cream over the potatoes, top with the freshly grated cheese, bake 40 minutes. 

      Same as all the other recipes pretty much, but NOT the same at all.  There is something about the way the French layer ingredients that gives it a depth of flavor, the way they cook things separately and then bring them together...it's what gives a dish that "OMW" wow.  I halved the recipe, but otherwise followed it exactly.   

      At the end of the boiling potatoes, it instructed us to drain and toss out the milk...and I did not do that...I strained it into another container because it was absolutely gorgeous and thick from the potato starch.  I saved it so I could make cream of broccoli soup with it tomorrow.  When the cookbook says to toss things, I figure that sometimes that just means it isn't needed for that recipe any more, but toss it completely...no way...it was perfectly good boiled milk nicely seasoned and thickened and just begging for broccoli and cheese. 

      I am so making this again...might be finding its way onto the Thanksgiving table.  Yep, just might.   

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there.  Upcoming schedule: 

• Class 18, Part 3 (Post on Wednesday, November 26, 2008):
Oeufs Mollets Florentine (Soft-boiled Eggs with Spinach and Mornay Sauce) pages 69-70

Whisk Wednesdays: Entrecôte Lyonnaise (Steak, Lyonnaise style)

      The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 18,  Les Grillades et les Gratins (Grilling and Browning) and is Entrecôte Lyonnaise (Steak, Lyonnaise style).   It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 158-159.  

      Steak and onions and potatoes, oh my!  Big hit here with my guys.  Definitely guy food.  I did, however, enjoy it also. 

      This was not fussy French cooking this week...this was more like bistro food, very down home and maybe fewer pans than we are accustomed to:  two for onion batches, one for steak, one for potatoes, and one for the broccoli (that was my own take on it as there wasn't quite enough green food going on with just the steak, potatoes, and onions with a bit of watercress tossed into the mix).  5 pans.  We've had worse weeks, believe me.   

      Everything came together simply and per the recipe directions.  I cut down on the butter and oil a bit as the French seem to have a very carefree attitude toward butter and oil. 

      Instead of decorating the plate with a few sprigs of watercress, I made the salad from it, some cucumber, oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper sprinkled over the top sparingly...very good.    

     

      The potatoes were boiled first (oh, that makes 6 pans, I forgot about that part in the pan count) and then cooled, peeled, and sliced before frying in butter.  The guys love these kinds of potatoes...they will eat anything that begins or ends with the word potato around here. 

      The onions for the steak had a sauce that made them absolutely delicious...a little wine, a little vinegar, a little stock...it doesn't sound like much, but it is what the French do best:  add depth of flavor.  I always have things out at restaurants and wonder what it is they do to get depth of flavor to the simplest of dishes...this is, after all, why I am doing this class with Shari, et al., to learn the secrets of those little mysteries.  It is amazing what just a simple little ingredient will do.  You know what?  You should come and join us!  You won't be disappointed.  And, when you serve these things from your own kitchen, it's your choice...you can either tell your guests the secrets, or NOT.  Let them wonder! 

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there. 

 

Upcoming schedule: 

• Class 18, Part 2 (Post on Wednesday, November 19, 2008):
Gratin Dauphinois (Potato Gratin with Garlic and Cream) page 498

Whisk Wednesdays: Pavés de Rumsteak au Poivre Vert (Sirloin Steaks with Green Peppercorns)

       As promised, here is the second, and final post for Whisk Wednesdays this week. 

      The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 17, Part 4 and is Pavés de Rumsteak au Poivre Vert (Sirloin Steaks with Green Peppercorns).  It can be found in the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 127-128.  The recipe for the potatoes is also found in the book on page 130.   

      The recipe is simple, straightforward, and delicious.  All votes were highly in favor of repeating this on a semi-regular basis.  The only thing I changed was that I did not use veal stock in the sauce.  You already know my thoughts on veal, so I won't repeat that now, but I did have beef stock and chicken stock on hand, and since veal stock is lighter than beef stock, I combined the two stocks I had 50/50 to come up with a nice sort of pseudo-veal stock.  It was very tasty actually, so I might use this little technique in some other things I make around here. 

      We like our steaks rare, so the pinkish bit on the plate in the photo would be steak juices and not sauce juices, which were a creamy tan in color.  I had some mushrooms on hand, so I sauteed those and tossed them in the sauce also at the last moment. 

      The green peppercorns were a new experience.  I have the blended peppercorn mix (red, green, white, black, pink) on hand and use it most often, but I have never had the green peppercorns on their own like this in a sauce.  Wonderful.  Absolutely wonderful...they don't have the bitterness of the black peppercorns, and they have a more gentle punch of pepper.  Very nice. 

      A cute little side here about the peppercorn sauce:  Matt said, "What are these little green things in this sauce?"  I responded and he said, "Well, that explains it!  I thought they were little bitty green peas and when I bit into one, it was clearly not a little bitty green pea!"  Gotta love a teen who is willing to go with the flow of being an agreeable taste tester for new cooking forays, don't you?  Once he figured out the taste difference, he was perfectly happy to eat any and all the sauce on his plate and enjoyed the green peppercorns immensely.  (Permission granted to post this little aside, btw.)

      The recipe in the book was accompanied by the potatoes you see on the plate, basically sauteed potato slices, so I made those as well as my guys are big fans of these types of potatoes.  Mark grilled some asparagus for us to complete the dish.

       The only other change I would make would be in portion size as 6 ounces of steak is way more than we need...Matt and I were happy with 4 ounces and Pippin and Vash were delighted to have the other two ounces from each of ours for their dinner last evening.  You hear that, Remy?  The boys got LCB steak last night! 

      And, because Buddy likes to refer to this as "Whiskey Wednesdays," there was, in the sauce besides the stock, a little cream, and the peppercorns, a small amount of cognac to add a bit of depth of flavor...try not to leave it out as it makes a big difference, not to mention that it is so much fun to light things in pans on fire!

  

       

If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Shari has the ingredients posted on her site at the click, so while we can't post the recipe instructions, you can at least look at the ingredients, and I bet you can figure out a lot of it from there.

 

      Upcoming schedule:

 

Class 18 Les Grillades et les gratins (Grilling and browning)

• Class 18, Part 1 (Post on Wednesday, November 12, 2008):
Entrecôte Lyonnaise (Steak, Lyonnaise style) pages 158-159

Whisk Wednesdays: Beignets de Langoustines, Sauce Tartare (Langoustine Fritters with Tartar Sauce)

       I am posting two weeks' worth of Whisk Wednesdays recipes today at some point, so here is the first. 

      This recipe is from Class 17 (last week), Part 3 and is Beignets de Langoustines, Sauce Tartare (Langoustine Fritters with Tartar Sauce).  It can be found in the cookbookLe Cordon Bleu At Home on pages 162-163.  {We could substitute shrimp if we wanted to do that.} 

      I didn't want to just skip this recipe as I need practice frying things.  I do not fry things as a general rule.  We eat very few fried foods, mostly the guys score them on the streets at restaurants as I don't really care to fry things in the house.  For one thing it always smells for way longer than the meal lasts...no matter how many candles I light, I can still smell it the next morning.  The guys think I exaggerate, but I think not.  I also don't really like eating fried foods, so I see no real reason to prepare them at home when restaurants are perfectly willing to smell up their premises on our behalf. 

      That said, everyone was very enthusiastic about this recipe, so I gave it a go.  Wow.  This does not taste like most fried food...it is clean and light and very tasty.   

      I used shrimp as langoustines are a tad difficult to come by here in Indiana.  It only took about two minutes for them to fry until they were completely done, tender, moist, and since I am not very good at frying, some of the batter came off, which means that it saved a bunch of calories and looked fairly interesting with the shrimp peaking out.  I'm now a fan.  If I can stick to this degree of incompetency in frying, I think I might do this again. 

      The tarter sauce was absolutely out of this world good.  Homemade mayo makes a big difference.  A. Big. Difference.  The other ingredients were hard-boiled egg yolk, gerkins, capers, chives, parsley, onion, and for a little extra zing, I tossed in a teaspoon more of freshly squeezed lemon juice because in this house one can never have too much lemon flavor.  Wow.  The tartar sauce to end all tartar sauces. 

      We can't post the recipes on our blogs due to copyright laws, so really, just buy the book and have a go at this recipe.  Very very good...even if you are incompetent at frying. 

     

If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us! 

      Upcoming schedule:

• Class 17, Part 4 (Post on Wednesday, November 5, 2008):
Pavés de Rumsteak au Poivre Vert (Sirloin Steaks with Green Peppercorns) pages 127-128 of Le Cordon Bleu At Home

Whisk Wednesdays: Sole Belle Meunière (Pan-fried Sole with Nut-brown Butter and Mushrooms)

       I'm a week behind here at Whisk Wednesdays, but at least I am posting something, ANYTHING, on a Wednesday, so I am counting this as progress.  My Wednesdays have become a tad occupied with other things...I am struggling to get this all in hand, and I am determined to do so, so thanks for the patience. 

      I have my ingredients to make this week's recipe, so I will make it tomorrow and either post it at the end of this one, as a double post, or hold it for next week and hopefully double post it at that time.  That's the current plan. (Note: my current plans tend to change hourly.)  

      The recipe prepared for this week is from Class 17 (last week), Part 2 and is Sole Belle Meunière (Pan-fried Sole with Nut-brown Butter and Mushrooms), can found on pages 65-66 of the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home, and was absolutely delicious.  This recipe works with many other types of fish as well...I know because I tried it with talapia, cod, and haddock, due to the lack of fresh sole around here. 

      The recipe could not be easier, quicker, or more tasty.  (I do suggest a certain judicious attitude toward the butter sauce because butter coupled with lemon...well, it's a crime, an absolute crime in consumption.)  I know the mushrooms look burned in the photo, but trust me, camera and lighting only, as they were not, just very nicely browned and absolutely delicious with the fish.  I confess, I dredged them a tiny bit in the nut-brown butter sauce, okay, more than a tiny bit, a soft gentle drizzle of the most light-handed variety.  Was that ever good!  I figured the rest of the meal was nicely nutritious and calorie-friendly, right, so a little butter sauce applied with abandon....well, okay...massive justification of the crime committed.   If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in this class, click  

here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdaysconnect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us!  Upcoming schedule:

• Class 17, Part 3 (Post on Wednesday, October 29, 2008):
Beignets de Langoustines, Sauce Tartare (Langoustine Fritters with Tartar Sauce) pages 162-163 {You can substitute shrimp, if you like.}

• Class 17, Part 4 (Post on Wednesday, November 5, 2008):
Pavés de Rumsteak au Poivre Vert (Sirloin Steaks with Green Peppercorns) pages 127-128

Whisk Wednesdays

      Okay, please be patient and I promise to post right here tomorrow.  Really.  I promise.  Today just had way too much going on with me cooking for others in need this week and I did not get to the Whisk assignment.  Tomorrow, though, I am setting aside time for just such.  See you then.  Oh, and thanks for your patience.  You are being patient, right?

     Update on Sunday:  Okay, I lied, unintentionally...it is still not up...I went out and enjoyed a couple of days with my teenage son home on fall break...really, who will remember that I didn't post this in a timely manner as opposed to my son who will remember that we went out and had a lot of fun together over his fall break?  Be patient...maybe I will get it posted here yet.  Maybe.

Whisk Wednesdays: Blanquette de Veau à l’Ancienne

       Whisk Wednesdays rolled around again, and while I had planned to make this over the weekend, it turns out that my butcher could not get any veal shoulder until Wednesday at noon.  I thought perhaps that would be okay...that I could slip it in while doing my regular cooking gig, but things got a TAD busy and I had to do the stew in two rounds, which probably did it some good actually, to sit a bit and soak up some extra flavors, so I am actually posting this on Thursday. 

      This week's recipe is from 

Class 16, Part 2 • Blanquette de Veau à l’Ancienne (White Veal Stew with Onions and Mushrooms served over rice), on page 55-56 of the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook.   

 

       Stew is pretty much stew.  You put a bunch of stuff in a pot and cook it a long time over low heat and the flavors all sort of meld together and create a comforting bowl of satisfying goodness.  The French, however, I have decided, have a special knack for layering flavors to make something taste as if it has depth, and not that it is just a bunch of flavors melded together.  You can taste the layers separately and identify all the parts, or at least a good many of them.  It's hard to describe, but it is definitely there.  Make this stew and tell me if you don't think so, too.  I think, honestly, that it may be all those pots you need to use...things cooked separately and then brought together for the FINALE...what's not to love about the FINALE?

       The only thing difficult about this recipe was for me to order the veal...not because it was all that difficult to score a veal shoulder, because it wasn't, just a few days advance notice and all, but because I have a very difficult time eating veal.  I know...I know...I have been around farm animals my entire life and learned early on that one never NAMES anything that could possibly be destined for the dinner table. 

      That said, I have no trouble eating beef, but veal to me is a little baby calf that is so darn cute and fun and cuddly and sweet and I just can't bear to do it.  My friends all make fun of me and call me a hypocrite, saying things like, "Okay, you won't eat veal, but you will eat steak...so all you are saying is that you are fine with eating something that has grown up and been around for awhile.  That it isn't the same?" 

      Yes, that is what I am saying.  It isn't the same at all!  By the time the steers, etc. are grown up, you aren't really all that fond of them anymore.  Steers do things like run you into the side of the barn, try to flip you over the feed trough, step on your feet, knock your hand into the chute sides when you try to vaccinate them causing your hand to be numb for two days, splat huge amounts of do all over you when you are moving them, etc., etc....yep, by the time they are at that stage...dinner seems a fine choice for their future. 

      So, I hope we are done with the veal things as I really really don't like making veal.  Was it tasty?  Well, yes, it was tasty...I ate two chunks of it and it tasted different than regular beef in stew, it tasted more like pork actually.  Mark declared it "Fantastic...extremely good, and much too good for the French."  (Sorry if you are French...Mark can get rather political at times.)  Matt loved it, too.  Alex was not here for dinner to try it, so I will need to make it again if he wants to try it...and shhhh...don't tell, but next time, I will substitute pork loin because I hold no sappy sentimentalism for hogs. 

      If you would like to make this recipe at your own home, just purchase the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home and give it a go.  The techniques you need are shown clearly in the book, so rest assured it is all very simple if you take it one step at a time.  (Oh, yeah, and I cheated on one part because if anyone thinks I am sitting around peeling 60 tiny pearl onions, they are wrong...I just bought the ones already peeled and frozen and made do.)   

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in the braising class, click here, and then on the Whisk Wednesdays connect to individual bloggers, or better yet, come and join us! 

      Next week's class is:   Class 16, Part 3: • Navarin d'Agneau Printanier (Braised Lamb Shoulder Stew) page 350-351.

Whisk Wednesdays: Rewind: Brochet au beurre blanc (Whole Poached Pike with White Butter Sauce)

REWIND:  Today I am posting a Whisk Wednesdays rewind recipe (one I missed one of the weeks I was absent without leave) as it sounded incredibly good and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to cook a whole pike and all in my kitchen here in land-locked Carmel, Indiana. 

      You guessed it...I didn't really cook a whole pike, I used salmon, which had already passed through someone else's filet knife.  But I did make this incredibly great beurre blanc sauce for the fish from the Le Cordon Bleu recipe.  Incredibly. Good.  And easy.   All you need are shallots, wine, white wine vinegar, thyme, a bay leaf, creme fraiche, fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper, and butter.  It takes just a few minutes.  As you can see from the photo, Mark liked the sauce...a quick taste test indicated that he would prefer his piece dripping in sauce...and, oh, yeah, plopped on the asparagus as well.  A keeper of a recipe, used sparingly probably, because I am not certain even Mark can afford all these additional calories each time we have salmon.

      So, without further adieu, I give you Brochet au beurre blanc (Whole Poached Pike with White Butter Sauce), found on pages 307-308 {discussion of Beurre blanc (Emulsified butter with shallots) page 192} of Le Cordon Bleu at Home...well, minus the Whole Poached Pike thing as I used the salmon filet.  To round out the meal, I threw together a little fettuccine Alfredo (because it is so French and all...sure, right, it was actually because Mark requested it), steamed some asparagus, and lightly sauteed some fresh mushrooms.  Trust me, I dragged a tiny bit of each selection through a little beurre blanc sauce and it is downright sinful. 

      The most difficult part of French cooking is reconciling oneself to the vast amount of cooking vessels you will use for any given dinner:  a fish poaching pan, a saucepan for the court bouillon, another for the beurre blanc and then a pot and pan for the pasta, a saute pan for the mushrooms, a steaming pan for the asparagus...yep, lots of pans.  But SO worth it.  Mark raved about it...it's always nice when the husband raves about accomplishments in the kitchen.  Frankly, if he didn't, I wouldn't be doing this as I could truly get through life on salads and soups. 

      If you want to make this recipe at your own home, just purchase the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home and give it a go.  The techniques you need are shown clearly in the book, so rest assured it is all very simple if you take it one step at a time. 

      If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in the class, click here, or better yet, come and join us!  I have to say, you really will not be disappointed in checking out Shari's blog each Wednesday as she always includes a lot of extra information, the history of the dish, product reviews (for instance this recipe she compared seven different butters), little video clips on techniques, etc.  That's why she is our whisking guru...she is amazing in the kitchen and her photography will leave you breathless.  Go ahead...check it out!

Whisk Wednesdays: Éstouffade de Boeuf Provençale

       Whisk Wednesdays rolled around again yesterday, and while I had planned to serve the beef roast on Wednesday, our week went as such that I wasn't certain anyone was going to actually be here to partake of it, so I made and served it tonight instead. 

      This week's recipe was from Class 16: Les Braisages (Braising)

Part 1 - Éstouffade de Boeuf Provençale (Braised Beef Casserole, Provence Style) and braising.   

 

         What a hit...Mark raved and raved about it and Matt loved it.  Alex decided he wasn't having any, but I would not take that as any sort of critique at all as Alex can be rather unadventurous in the trying of new recipes realm.  (Photo on the right is one of the manly sized portions on a dinner plate, the other photo is a more chick-sized portion on a salad plate...oh, and the chick doesn't like her food touching too much, so the sauce is on the side.) 

 

      I did think it was very very good also.  Definitely a keeper.  I served it with a garden salad and some sliced perfectly ripe nectarines.  The guys thought they maybe would like some potatoes with it, or at least that was the excuse when they headed down to the Men's Den with a bag of potato chips to fill the potato "void." 

       I know why French food is so expensive.  They use expensive ingredients, the dishes take forever and a day to prepare much of the time, and you need a certain amount of know-how in the kitchen to effectuate even a smattering of a hope that yours will turn out in much hoped-for success.  I am counting this one as a success. 

      The recipe calls for fatback, 5 ounces, to be larded in the 2-1/2 pound roast and I really didn't want to do this, but I wanted to be a player, so I did it.  If you look at the photo of my plate, you can see the globules of orangish colored fat floating in the sauce...this is not something I care for, so I am not sure I would do that next time at all, or if I did, I would plan to make the roast one day, park it all in the frig for a few hours so the fat would solidify and then scrape that off and toss all that out, and reheat the whole dish to serve it.  I think most of the fat could be skimmed off most efficiently using that method.  

      There are 4 cups of red wine in this...I am not all that great on picking out wines for cooking, so I just grabbed a bottle of Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon and that really was a nice flavor with the beef.  Years ago Mark and I visited the Mondavi winery in California and I tend to reach for a Mondavi bottle as it never disappoints and is modestly priced.  The winery is spectacular...set at the foot of the mountains with beautiful rose bushes blooming all over the property...if you are in the area, go tour it, it is just romantic and wonderful and beautiful.  Oh, yeah...back to the recipe...there are also three tablespoons of cognac in the broth and while not a huge flavor, you could taste it in there and it did add a little something-something to it.  In the broth also were onions, garlic, carrots, herbs, peppercorns, and tomatoes.  Kalamata olives were added at the end, so those provided the salt flavoring.

      You need to plan ahead with this recipe as the roast needs to marinate overnight, but that was no problem.  Okay, mine actually marinated an extra night because of the scheduling around here, but believe me, this was definitely an okay thing to do...it may have added that much more flavor, I will need to let you know when I make it next and only marinate it one night.  The recipe recommended marinating it "at least 12 hours."  I think mine marinated 42 hours and it was really really great in flavor.

       If you want to make this recipe at your own home, just purchase the cookbook Le Cordon Bleu at Home and give it a go.  The techniques you need are shown clearly in the book, so rest assured it is all very simple if you take it one step at a time.   I think you will be very pleased with the results.  It was such a hit here that Mark wanted to make certain I knew he wanted me to make this again...he kept telling me over and over, "This is very very good.  I really really like this recipe a lot."  It's always nice when the partakers are so appreciative! 

       If you would like to see how the other Whisk Wednesday members fared in the braising class, click here, or better yet, come and join us!  Next week's class is: 

     Class 16, Part 2 • Blanquette de Veau à l’Ancienne (White Veal Stew with Onions and Mushrooms), on page 55-56.