Well, once again I have been slack! But im going to do my best to keep you up to date more often, I have finally realised that I can download an app onto my phone so I can actually update from my phone now... Not sure how much of a good idea it is, as there is now even more pressure on me to update, but I suppose now i have no excuse!!!
So, since my last update, we have been cooking like mad... It's really great, with out noticing, class has become more intensive and more is expected of us, but we still doing it all in the same time frame!
So, we stepped into the Loire valley, which is about grapes and apples and fish and such.... So we made stewed trout wrapped in a lettuce leaf and braised in white wine served with creamy butter sauce and for pudding... A hot Cointreau souffle, it was so soft and light and fluffy and a perfect balance of sweetness. Delicious.
Next was pork fillets stuffed with prunes and Paris style mushrooms, which is a stuffed mushroom, stuffed with mushroom duxelle (chopped mushrooms) and breadcrumbs and parsley on top, and put under a grill so it gets crispy. And then with dauphine potatoes, which are deep fried and seriously light and crispy. It's a mash mixed with a choux pastry and fried until deliciously golden and some salt sprinkled on just before you serve it.
Our next prac with chef David's guidance, we made goats cheese on glazed beetroot with poppyseed and grape dressing... Now, if you ever need to waste time... Peel grapes. Honestly, the most time consuming and annoying process ever! But in the end , it gives ur digestive system a much easier process of digesting. So all good in the end I guess :-) and for mail course, we made calilles roties grand mere, paillasson de legumes: roast quail with a shredded vegetable cake! It was sweet, juicy quails, with a bacon and mushroom sauce served on a veggie rosti in layman's terms really. And was simply splendid.
Mouclade was our next class, this was a creamy curry mussel soup so to day and a tender, lamb neck stew with fresh spring veggies, so delicious.
In Bordeaux, we made an asparagus and walnut salad and a fillet of beef with red wine sauce (would you expect any less coming from Bordeaux, just wish I was actually in Bordeaux, drinking it!! Haha) with sautéd wild mushrooms... I think this has been one of my best dishes so far this term..
Next: quack quack... Yes, you guessed it, duck!! Yum!! Well, mine wasn't, but it was meant to be! I kinda messed up my sauce a tad, well, we can't all be perfect all the time!! ;-) ... I put too much lemon in my sauce so it was acidic beyond bearability! All I can say is that I learnt from that experience! So, it was a duck breast withs citrus sauce, and sautéed apples and pears with roast beetroot and celeriac. Magret de canard was the french name!! Then we marinated a duck leg for prep for confit of duck.
Perigord... The region of France, famous for truffles, orchards, confit, foie gras, goose fat....
So can you guess what was on out menu this week??
You guessed it....
Hot pan fried foie gras served with grapes and a sauternes reduction jus.
Confit de conard (confit of duck) sauce perigueux et pommes sarladaises ... Truffle sauce and pan roasted potato slices, layers down in a pan to look like a daisy, with garlic between each layer! So crispy and delicious.
Basque- our next region of France
This region has slightly more spice in it. Has a Spanish influence, so peppers and paprika style pepper are used. Also cured hams and sausages are known to be found on menus here....
Our menu was: basque style chicken cooked with peppers and wrapped in cured ham!!
That was it for all our cooking...
Patisserie:
We have been busy busy busy with out exam cakes: gateau fraisier, gateau opera and gateau Sabrina.
Fraisier is a Sponge cake With a creme mousiline flavoured with kirsh, and strawberries layered in a ring around the edges so they are perfectly even. And a layer of sponge on top and a pink marzipan disk on top and finished with a marzipan Rose.
Gateau opera- chocolate and coffee... This cake has to be 3.5cm in height and every layer has to be 0.5cm... So it is layers of almond sponge, with a smooth rich chocolate ganache and rich coffee buttercream alternate In perfectly flat layers between the sponge until the ideal height has been achieved. Then finished off with a perfectly smooth layer of chocolate glaze.... Sounds hard??? Hmmm well!! Thats why it's an exam piece.
And then the Sabrina, was invented for Sabrina fairchild, remember the movie...?? This is a spiral of sponge with strawberry cream inbetween, masked around the edge, finished with chopped pistachio nuts, and a marzipan coated in an even layer of tempered chocolate, and portioned to even sizes and finished with a strawberry!!!
And then it was the weekend :-)
xx
So, since my last update, we have been cooking like mad... It's really great, with out noticing, class has become more intensive and more is expected of us, but we still doing it all in the same time frame!
So, we stepped into the Loire valley, which is about grapes and apples and fish and such.... So we made stewed trout wrapped in a lettuce leaf and braised in white wine served with creamy butter sauce and for pudding... A hot Cointreau souffle, it was so soft and light and fluffy and a perfect balance of sweetness. Delicious.
Next was pork fillets stuffed with prunes and Paris style mushrooms, which is a stuffed mushroom, stuffed with mushroom duxelle (chopped mushrooms) and breadcrumbs and parsley on top, and put under a grill so it gets crispy. And then with dauphine potatoes, which are deep fried and seriously light and crispy. It's a mash mixed with a choux pastry and fried until deliciously golden and some salt sprinkled on just before you serve it.
Our next prac with chef David's guidance, we made goats cheese on glazed beetroot with poppyseed and grape dressing... Now, if you ever need to waste time... Peel grapes. Honestly, the most time consuming and annoying process ever! But in the end , it gives ur digestive system a much easier process of digesting. So all good in the end I guess :-) and for mail course, we made calilles roties grand mere, paillasson de legumes: roast quail with a shredded vegetable cake! It was sweet, juicy quails, with a bacon and mushroom sauce served on a veggie rosti in layman's terms really. And was simply splendid.
Mouclade was our next class, this was a creamy curry mussel soup so to day and a tender, lamb neck stew with fresh spring veggies, so delicious.
In Bordeaux, we made an asparagus and walnut salad and a fillet of beef with red wine sauce (would you expect any less coming from Bordeaux, just wish I was actually in Bordeaux, drinking it!! Haha) with sautéd wild mushrooms... I think this has been one of my best dishes so far this term..
Next: quack quack... Yes, you guessed it, duck!! Yum!! Well, mine wasn't, but it was meant to be! I kinda messed up my sauce a tad, well, we can't all be perfect all the time!! ;-) ... I put too much lemon in my sauce so it was acidic beyond bearability! All I can say is that I learnt from that experience! So, it was a duck breast withs citrus sauce, and sautéed apples and pears with roast beetroot and celeriac. Magret de canard was the french name!! Then we marinated a duck leg for prep for confit of duck.
Perigord... The region of France, famous for truffles, orchards, confit, foie gras, goose fat....
So can you guess what was on out menu this week??
You guessed it....
Hot pan fried foie gras served with grapes and a sauternes reduction jus.
Confit de conard (confit of duck) sauce perigueux et pommes sarladaises ... Truffle sauce and pan roasted potato slices, layers down in a pan to look like a daisy, with garlic between each layer! So crispy and delicious.
Basque- our next region of France
This region has slightly more spice in it. Has a Spanish influence, so peppers and paprika style pepper are used. Also cured hams and sausages are known to be found on menus here....
Our menu was: basque style chicken cooked with peppers and wrapped in cured ham!!
That was it for all our cooking...
Patisserie:
We have been busy busy busy with out exam cakes: gateau fraisier, gateau opera and gateau Sabrina.
Fraisier is a Sponge cake With a creme mousiline flavoured with kirsh, and strawberries layered in a ring around the edges so they are perfectly even. And a layer of sponge on top and a pink marzipan disk on top and finished with a marzipan Rose.
Gateau opera- chocolate and coffee... This cake has to be 3.5cm in height and every layer has to be 0.5cm... So it is layers of almond sponge, with a smooth rich chocolate ganache and rich coffee buttercream alternate In perfectly flat layers between the sponge until the ideal height has been achieved. Then finished off with a perfectly smooth layer of chocolate glaze.... Sounds hard??? Hmmm well!! Thats why it's an exam piece.
And then the Sabrina, was invented for Sabrina fairchild, remember the movie...?? This is a spiral of sponge with strawberry cream inbetween, masked around the edge, finished with chopped pistachio nuts, and a marzipan coated in an even layer of tempered chocolate, and portioned to even sizes and finished with a strawberry!!!
And then it was the weekend :-)
xx
trout with braised letuce
croissants and pan au chocolate... i forgot to mention we made these too
hot cross buns and chocolate brioche
mushroom turning practice for the exam dish
pork stuffed with prunes with paris style mushrooms
goats cheese with glazed beetroot and peeled grapes
quail with shredded veg cake and mushroom and bacon
foccaccia and rye bread ... made this too in pastry!!
one fun night!!!
lamb stew with spring veggies
aspargus and walnuts
fraisier
Opera... and all the layers
basquaise chicken
