Not A Cooks Blog ... Mastering French Cuisine With Julia Child ... (Once A Week): week 4: Queen of Sheba and Bouches

Bouche may translate to meaning " a little mouthful" but at 5:45pm and expecting guests at 6pm, I did believe that I may have planned more than a handful!
On the menu tonight I was following Julie's idea for a "Cheese and wine party". Our friends are cheese makers (award winning in fact) and they had supplied us with a home made cheddar cheese. So to accompany this and some other divine cheeses I was to make little tartlets and cheese balls (deep fried).

In my attempts to being organised, the night before I made the pastry. In my Friday night, end of the week, really could just go to bed now state, I failed to add sufficient water and ensure that the pastry was the correct consistency before chilling. This was just after being in disaster recovery mode when the Queen of Sheba cake failed to unmold out of the tin. I must admit I unashamedly become very un-Julia Child like at that moment (more of a Gordon Ramsay). However I quickly gained back my composure and managed to repair so she was all ready for icing tomorrow.

After a little detour to Napier to the Total Food Equipment store (only for essential items) I had all afternoon to devout to food preparation. I extracted the concrete pad from the fridge from the night before, relegated that to the pig bin, and repeated the dough making - this time got it right! Managed to make a decent icing for the Queen, however in the family taste test, eldest daughter Caroline was absolutely disgusted that the cake and icing had been contaminated by rum!

Chicken was in the oven, potatoes prepared - Queen of Sheba was all decorated and ready... however these little bouches could not be underestimated. According to Julia for the cheese balls you have to whip the mixture to a smooth but really sticky consistency. I had doubled the recipe so I was whipping with a fair bit of enthusiasm and in the name of cooking pushed through the pain and muscular fatigue to get it right - well it wasn't. After adding the cheese and butter the mixture was way to runny. So at 5:45pm it was emergency management with my able ~~Kitchen~~ Kitchin hand. Thank goodness for scientific workability (a Julia Child's quote) and a husband with a Chemistry degree... (who needs fairy dust).

Acknowledgements:
To the Nieuwenhuis family for their great company, the cheese and a fantastic evening together
To my parents for the use of the deep fryer
To our neighbours at Mill Stream Garden for their advice and knowledge about tarragon (more about that later!)