Salmon Beurre Blanc / Petit-pois purée / Tomato concassée with Chorizo

Step 1 - Petit-pois purée

Ingredients

500g / 17oz Petit-pois

1 clove of garlic

Salt and pepper

Method

First prepare the petit-pois, bring to boil in a saucepan with a large spoon of salt. The salt will help the peas to stay green, add one clove of garlic. When they are cooked, soft, strain them and let them cool down in cold water. Mix into a purée and add a little stock, water, wine (!) or liquid cream. Then strain the purée in order to have a very soft texture. Keep it in a small saucepan to heat it up before serving.

Step 2 - Tomato concassée with Chorizo

Ingredients

3 large tomatoes

1 clove of garlic

Piece of chorizo

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Basil

Method

First bring to boil some water in a saucepan and plunge the tomatoes in order to take out the skin off. Cut them in 4 and scoop out the seeds, cut them in small cubes.  Cut the chorizo the same size.  In a sauce pan with olive oil cook the diced tomatoes until they become dry, add the garlic, the basil, salt, pepper, and then add the chorizo, in order just to heat it up but not to cook it. Serve it warm.

Step 3 -  Beurre Blanc

Ingredients

190g / 7 Oz butter 

1 shallot 

5 tablespoons of vinegar (any kind) 

Salt/ ground pepper 

2 spoons of cream

 

Method 

Dice the shallot as small as you can. In a saucepan put the shallot and the vinegar together with a pinch of salt and pepper. Let it cook slowly. Add the cream. When the shallots are cooked, add the butter little by little, while whisking at the same time. (Make sure your butter is kept cold before adding). This classical French sauce is very good with any kind of fish.

Step 4 - Seared Salmon

Ingredients

6 pieces or 150g/ 5oz fish 

Salt and ground pepper 

Olive oil

Method

Take off the fish bones with a tweezers. Pre-heat a saucepan with a spoon of olive oil. Season the fish both sides. You can add lemon peel, ginger, and any flavors you like. Sear the fish skin side first until you can see on the edge a nice brown color. Finish to cook in the oven 350f (190°C) for 5 minutes depending how thin the flesh is.

SERVE all together with some fresh salad and some open clams.

 

Round zucchini stuffed with mushrooms and spinach

                                                   6 portions

 Ingredients:

   6 round zucchini (try substituting wide cylinders of normal zucchini)

   10 large button or crimini mushrooms

   1 clove garlic

   1⁄2 C grated aged cheese

   Approx. 6 oz./175g spinach (enough to reduce to about 1 cup when cooked)

   1 onion

   20 leaves fresh basil     

  

 Procedure:

• Hollow out zucchini and dice bits you've just removed. Rub insides with clove of garlic.
• Clean, finely slice and sauté the mushrooms in 2 T melted butter, about 10 minutes, till soft, much reduced in volume and no liquid is left in pan. Season and empty into food processor.
• Use the same pan to sauté the diced onion and the zucchini bits in 1 T olive oil also about 10 minutes, lightly browned, reduced in volume and dry. Salt lightly and add to mushrooms. Pulse a few times until you have a homogenous mix but stop before you get a purée.
• Clean the spinach, spin dry if necessary, and wilt in a covered saucepan, stirring occasionally. Once wilted, continue cooking over medium heat without lid till water has evaporated.
• If necessary. Lift spinach mass onto cutting board and chop. Add to mushroom mix with handful of chopped basil and grated cheese. Check seasoning and stuff hollowed-­out zucchini. Optionally enhance flavour with lemon zest and juice, and thyme, or garlic.
• Bake stuffed zucchinis about 30 minutes at 375 F. If desired, top with more grated cheese when cooked, and place under broiler 2 minutes to melt the cheese.

 Wine Suggestion:

        Dry Rosé from Provence, Corsica or Languedoc. Young reds from the 

        Mediterranean.

Raspberry Crème Brûlée

Ingredients

1⁄2 litre (2 cups) of whipping cream

6 egg yolks

120g (4oz) of sugar

1 vanilla pod or 2 tbsp vanilla extract

30 raspberries

6 tbsp of sugar for torching, if desired.

 

Procedure

Preheat your oven to 100C/220F.

Distribute the raspberries between the 6 ramekins; your goal is to submerge them completely in the crème brulee mix before baking. If your ramekins are too shallow place the berries on their side and press them gently to remove the air pockets that make them float. In a bowl gently whisk (without incorporating too much air) the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla. Bring cream and the scraped vanilla pod to a boil and then pour it slowly over the egg+sugar mix while continuing to slowly whisk. Strain mix if it seems uneven in texture.

Ladle mixture into the ramekins.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until set. Crème brulee is ready when completely set. Be careful not to over bake as this will result in a rubbery texture. If after one hour the crème is still runny, increase the oven temperature to 120C/250F.

Once set, let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes, then transfer in the fridge for 2 hrs (up to 2 days). To speed things up you can also place the crème in the freezer for 1 hr.

If desired sprinkle a heaped tablespoon of sugar on the crème and with a torch caramelize the sugar until dark amber. Serve immediately after.

An adventure in Molecular Gastronomy

Siphons and syringes to the ready and a large dose of imagination Chef Alex and his avid students carried out a fun Molecular Gastronomy Class using fresh market ingredients. 

We created an elaborate menu to cover techniques such as Spherification [controlled jellification of a liquid which forms spheres when submerged in a bath] and gelification to make all sorts of gelified shapes and we created foams and emulsions.

 

And the results? Well after getting familiar with handling the siphon and managing the precision of ingredients the following menu was tested and approved:

Aperitif: Mojito Espuma

 Tomato Water Consommé with Cucumber Gelée

Poached Quail Eggs with Parmesan Foam

Carrot flavored Ravioli filled the fresh pea puree served with Orange Caviar

Pistachio Chocolate Microwave Cake

Chocolate Mousse with fresh Mint Caviar

For a taster here is the Pistachio Chocolate Cake Recipe, which was made at light speed:

Ingredients
80 grams Sugar
80 grams Pistachios
20 grams flour
4 Eggs
100 grams Chocolate
5 - 2.5 inch ramekins
1 Siphon, Gas cartridge

Procedure

In a food processor, add the sugar, flour and the pistachios and blend until even. Add the eggs and blend until smooth. Add this to the Siphon and charge it with one cartridge. Add a few pieces of chocolate to the bottom of the ramekins. Foam in the batter into the ramekins about half way up. Microwave them for 30 seconds, then flip on the plate and serve immediately.

The Adria brothers may have closed their famous molecular restaurant El Bulli but you can still buy your chemicals on-line:

http://www.solexpartners.com/media/texturas/texturas-spherification-line.html

and take a class with Cook’n With Class to get you up and running!!

Mastering French Cheese & Wine

Cook’n With Class - Wednesday ‘s - Cheese & Wine Master Class

Life is endless tasting experience when living in France! There’s so much to learn about French Cheese and Wine. With 400 varieties of cheese and thousands of wineries it can be daunting (yet fun) trying to explore it all.

 

However most people know what they like and in the Cheese and Wine Master Class we guide you to understand better the tastes and the flavors you like and "bien sur" discover new ones.

Perhaps you’ve always liked Burgundy wine but didn’t know the grape or you are always drawn to Chardonnay white wines but don’t know the region? 

What about cheese? – not sure if goat cheese is your favorite or perhaps a Roquefort is more to your taste? The amazing part is when pairing the Cheese and Wine noticing and understanding why these flavors combine to delight your palate. The French concept “terroir” is fascinating and in the Cheese & Wine Class we dig in and explore the finest that French culture has to offer while enjoying delicious produce from our sommelier and Chef.

This Wednesday we tasted one champagne, 2 white wines, 2 red wines and a fortified red wine with accompanying cheeses.

The Cheese List

- Sainte-Maure de Touraine

- Crottin de Chavignol

- Gratte Paille

-  Mimolette/Boule de Lille (mi-mou)

-  Roquefort + Roquefort/Gingerbread

The Wine List

- Champagne Demilly De Baere, Brut

- Domaine de Blanes 2010, Muscat Sec

- Château Coutinel 2006, AOC Fronton

- Château Taffard 2003, Médoc Cru Bourgeois

- Domaine du Mas Rouge 2008, AOC Muscat de Rivesalte

- Banyuls

"Tchin, tchin" :)

Risotto With Shrimp

                              Recipe for 6 people

Ingredients

18 to 24 shrimp, shelled, save the shells (and the heads if available)

4 tbsp vegetable oil for frying

3 shallots, minced

1 cup (1/4 liter) of dry white wine

fish trimmings, heads, bones, etc.

2 onions, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

few peppercorns

2 bay leaves

1 thyme sprig
---
1 onion, finely minced
1 oz butter
salt
---
2 oz butter
2 cups arborio rice (also Carnaroli or Vialone Nano)
1 cup dry white wine, room temperature
4 cups (hot) shrimp or fish stock
salt

4 tablespoon of finely minced flat parsley


Procedure

1. fish stock

 

In a large pot add fish trimmings, head, bones, 2 onions, chopped, 2 carrots, chopped, few peppercorns, 2 bay leaves, 1 thyme sprig. Cover with water and bring to a simmer.
In a medium size pot with high sides add oil and preheat on medium heat. Add shrimp shells and heads, shallots and stir until well colored (almost brown), about 5 minutes. Lower the heat if it starts to burn. Add the white wine and stir well to scrape the bottom of the pan. When the alcohol has evaporated add some water, bring to the boil then transfer everything in the large pot that you started before. Let simmer for 45 minutes, keep hot for the risotto.

2. precook the shrimp

 

Lightly season the shrimp with salt. In a skillet with a dab of butter cook quickly the shelled shrimp on medium heat. Do not overcook as they will be incorporated in the risotto at the end and will cook a bit more. Save one shrimp per person for garnish, slice the rest in small rounds. Set aside.

3. cook the Rice

Start by melting 2oz of butter in a deep skillet, over medium-high heat. Add the diced onions and cook until translucent, add a pinch of salt to make the onions sweat. Add the rice, make sure that the grains are well coated with butter. Let cook until the grains are partially translucent and there is a faint smell of nuts. At this point add the cup wine, stir well and let the alcohol evaporate entirely. When the rice starts to look dry lower the heat and start adding the stock, one ladle at the time (through a strainer to avoid adding shells and other solids from the stock). Taste the rice and adjust the seasoning. Keep adding stock until the rice is almost al dente. Use hot water if you run out of stock. At this point take the pan off the heat, add the cooked shrimp and the parsley. Stir and cover for few minutes.
Serve immediately with the saved cooked shrimp on top for garnish.

Note: For a deeper gold color add some saffron powder or threads during the cooking phase.

Duck a L’Orange

Ingredients:

  

                    2 Magret de canard or Duck breasts

                    6 Organic Oranges

                    20  threads Saffron 

                    2    tablespoons Butter 

                    Sugar and Water 

                    Salt and Black Pepper 

                            Method:

Juice:

• Juice 3 of the oranges and reduce their juice with the saffron. 
• Zest the other oranges and make the zest into fine julienne, or thin strips. 
• Blanch these at least one time on boiling water for 10 seconds, then cooling it down in ice-cold water. 
• Then make a simple-syrup (equal parts sugar and water by weight). 
• Bring to the boil and add the blanched Zest and simmer for 30 mins.Reserve on the side. 
• Segment the other oranges making sure there is no pith. When the bubbles of the orange juice start getting bigger and sticky, add the butter and whisk until it is incorporated.

Duck: 

• Remove all silver skin and small filet. 
• Score the Fat-side half way through the skin about 1/2 an inch apart whole length on a bias, and repeat to make the skin look like a grid. 
• Make the skin look like a grid.Season with salt and pepper. 
• Place into a warm / dry pan and cook on one side until skin has reduced in size but about a third and is golden brown. 
• Place duck breasts in a pre-heated oven @ 300 until desired internal temperature. (5-10 mins) 
• Let rest out side the oven for 5 mins.

Slice and serve with sauce:

• To finish the sauce, add just the zest (not the sugar syrup) and the segments to the reduced orange sauce and glaze the duck. 
• Spoon a bit on the plate as well. 
• Enjoy your meal.