Day 50: Midi, France

Midi is known for making dishes such as duck, and casseroles. We touched upon each of these ingredients throughout this lesson. highlighted in the dishes below. 

Pommes a la Sarladaise is potatoes sliced thin on a mandoline, then layered with black truffles. This potatoes get very crispy and are a pretty dish to serve with a lot of flavor. Since I sell truffles at work I have become a bit of a white truffle snob. Therefore the black truffles don't excite me all too much (occupational hazard) any more, but at the end of the day a truffle is still an amazing treat to have. 

Pommes a la Sarladaise

The cassoulet is one of the most hearty dishes I have ever set eyes on. It is broken into 4 layers. It starts with a lamb stew, followed by soaked beams, pork loin, and lastly with duck confit. Each layer is prepared separately and then set into a large casserole dish. It is then topped off with the juices of each meat, duck fat, and breadcrumbs to make a crust on top. It is best made when it sits over night so all of the juices can get absorbed, enhancing the flavor and making the meat and beans extra tender. The final step is to bake the entire casserole in the oven to completely heat it through and lightly crisp the top. We ate ours the day after it was prepared (at 9am). It is one of the most flavorful dishes i have ever eaten, with each layer highlighting a different set of flavors. I am most intrigued as to when this dish is eaten in France. While I started this topic by saying French food isn't always heavy, this is most definitely heavy! It is also a special set of ingredients, using many expensive items. So indeed it is used for special occasion, and as a way to preserve meat in the olden days. Lucky them. 

Cassoulet

Tarte aux Blettes

This tart uses a tart and is then filled with many regional ingredients. Ingredients include swiss chard greens, gouda cheese, currants, rum, apples, and pine nuts. I was expecting the dish to be on the sweeter side but since there is so much swiss chard it was pretty bitter, making it a definite savory dish. It is a nice dish since it really expresses what the region represents in one little tart. 

Day 49: Alsace France

As I mentioned earlier, French cuisine varies region to region. They target their recipes based on availability of products in each region. 

Tarte aux Pommes de Terre 

This is a tart filled with hard boiled eggs, bacon and potatoes. It is a hearty tart that is eaten as part of a savory meal.  This was our first introduction to rolling dough so it was a really cool lesson.

Spaetzle 

We made Spaetzle paired with Sauteed Trout. Spaetzle is a fun dish to make, and my chef's favorite. It is a basic combination of ingredients such as yogurt, milk, flour and a few others, and then poured through a strainer into frying oil. The process of pouring it through the strainer allows little 'spaetzles' to form, basically making small pasta nibs. 

Chourcroute Garni

This dish is a combination of sauerkraut, sausage, every 'wurst' that exists, pork and potatoes. While reading the recipe I thought it straight up sounded gross. However, the combination of all of these meats with the sauerkraut cancelled out the pungent flavors leaving it extremely tasty. It is a really wholesome dish, and shows the german influence on certain regional french cuisine.  

Day 48: France!

Welcome to French cuisine! I have never been all that interested in French food but after cooking through its many regions I have a strong appreciation for French food. Although looked at as heavy and fattening, they focus on fresh, tasty products that are used chosen for their availability in each region. 

Cotes de Porc Normande

This dish is a pork chop topped with apples, giving it a nice balance between sweet and savory.

Souffles d' Alencon en Timbales

In english this is called a 're-inflatable cheese souffles with a mushroom duxelle'. In my language it was 'eat me' because as soon as  I took my first bite I could not stop. It is a light and fluffy soufflé topped with mushrooms and heavy cream.

Homard a l'Americaine with a Riz en Couronne

This is a lobster sauce that is placed into a ring of molded rice pilaf. While you all know I hate killing lobsters, this dish was so delicious that I am trying to look past it. The molded rice makes a really nice presentation and goes really well with the rich lobster sauce.

Salad of Duck Confit with Red Cabbage, Chestnuts, and Watercress

This dish looks simple to make, but it actually is a two day process. The key aspects of this dish are the roasted nuts, cabbage vinaigrette (which is a lot better then it sounds) and duck confit, the money maker. Duck confit needs to marinate over night in salt and herbs. It is then cooked in additional duck fat until tender. We then took the skin and made 'cracklings' which are pure pieces of crispy, heavenly fat. It is one of the most flavorful meat dishes I have ever had, but of course it is because it is fat+oil+more fat. Once all pulled together the flavorful meat tastes great on a bed of lettuce with a sweet vinaigrette and sweet nuts all mixed together. Topping it with cracklings gives it an extra crush and texture. 

Day 46 and 47: Plating 3 and 4

Day 3 of plating we made some really gourmet dishes. We started by making a Duck Roullade. Roullade is the french word for 'roll'. We rolled the duck around a piece of foie gras and spinach. We plated it with a fennel sauce, and some vegetables. Very serious.

Above are vegetable timbales, another one of my favorite dishes. It is made of roasted zucchini, Chinese eggplant, tomatoes and yellow zucchini. Then a puree of goat cheese and herbs is placed between each layer of vegetable. These are baked together making a really amazing dish. We also made little crisps out of a cheese based paste, which is a little added bonus on any dish. 

Roasted Poussin with Wasabi Mousseline Potato 

First we roasted Poussin which is a baby chicken. Then we made Wasabi Mousseline Potato which is a very smooth, almost mash, but more mouse-like consistency. We used the pan sauces to draw on the plate and make it look pretty. This was so good!

Last up we made braised short ribs over polenta with roasted tomato. I love anything braised, especially when its short ribs, even more when its on top of polenta. 

Day 45: Plating 2

We continued practicing plating today. These days are really awesome because we are making really complex recipes, and then focusing as much time on the presentation. I personally made the foie gras pudding which was extremely complex, and extremely delicious. It contains foie gras, croutons, and a ton of other ingredients to give it a pudding like consistency.

Rabbit legs with a foie gras pudding and a black currant sauce.

Sauteed steak in a pan sauce

Sauteed salmon with a citrus vinaigrette salad

(this one is my favorite of the day) 

Day 44: Plating Begins

On day 44 we began mod 3. Mod 3 starts with learning how to plate. We were taught the importance of color, texture, balance, and white space when placing food on the plate. Our new Chef, Karen is amazing at plating and taught us so much on day one. We began by making tuna carpaccio served with micro-greens, horseradish mayo and fried capers. I warn you now, I am more creative than artistic so no judgements on the first few days. 

Below is a sauteed scallop with turnip puree, a potato disk and fried leeks. 

Last piece for plating was sauteed sole over a warm vinaigrette salad. 

Day 43: Deli

Today we were basically a deli. We mass produced sandwiches, each of which were amazing. As I have mentioned before, the class is geared for 15 people. Since we only have 5 people we get 3x the amount of food we need. Today was particularly ridiculous since we each made 3 types of sandwiches, and we made 6+ of each sandwich type. 

I was in charge of making the Reuben, egg salad, and salmon BLT. In addition we had chicken burgers (freshly made), turkey clubs, croque monsieur and deviled ham and cheese. These sandwiches in my eyes seem very simple. When you are on the other end making them, there are a lot more moving parts then I ever realized. Between cooking the meats, to toasting the bread, and slicing the veggies, there is a lot of work that goes into a sandwich. All of the prep was worth the wait because we created a full spread of delicious sandwiches.