Not A Cooks Blog ... Mastering French Cuisine With Julia Child ... (Once A Week): Week 8: Fiery Father's Day Feast

Asked to pose for a Father's Day photo before commencing our night of gourmandising, the three father's choose out of the many prompts available to them, weaponry. I can report that as a holder of a firearms licence, this was a safe and controlled event with no breaches to the Arms Act of 1983! These three father's all have been hunter gatherers with a few beasts being bought to the dinner table. My repertoire of shooting has been pretty limited to the odd possum (thanks to the Pukehou Possum Hunt), and despite the romantic notion of bringing the kill to the table I didn't think anyone would appreciate a possum pie. So as carnvious beings, the request for the main meal was a repeat of the Tournedos Saute Chaseur. Yet again it did not fail to be nothing less than superb.

As this was a special occasion, not only was it Father's day it was also Jamie and his Dad, Michael's birthday week it was time to try something new. Cake Le Prantome seemed appropriate - Julia describes it as a VIP cake. Made in two pans, this walnut cake uses whipped cream as the batter. As I whipped the cream and added the 1 1/2 cups of sugar, reviewed the ingredients for the royal icing which included another 1 1/2 cups of confectionary sugar, I could feel the adipose around my hips swelling in response to the anticipated fat injection it was going to get in a few hours time.
Imke supported the cake making process by sieving and boiling down the apricot jam for the outer glaze which we painted on the side of the cake to enable stick-ability for the walnuts to cling to.

This week I had a lost in translation moment when trying to source clarified butter - knowing that I needed it for making the canapes, I was opting for the ready made. Not available in the supermarket I had been instructed to source it from an Indian food shop. My request in the shop for unclarified butter (rather than clarified) probably didn't help, with the friendly assistance trying to ascertain if what I really wanted was ghee. Of course all the ghee products didn't simply state anywhere on the product it was clarified butter - anyway with a bit of to and fro in the discussion we both decided this was the right stuff. Handy hint to self... look for the ingredient "Anhydrous milkfat".

Another request for this feast was whitebait fritters. I Julie-fied this by making a Beurre au Citron (Lemon Butter) sauce to accompany it. I was slightly nervous entering Hawke's Bay Seafood this week to source the whitebait. Just after my visit last week and merrily taking photo's of the inhouse operations a media release of some potential shenanigans with supplying over quota was released and the place was under investigation! I may have been identified as a spy. I might need those armed father's for protection!