Series Three: Part Eight: Books, duck eggs and a convent

There is a saying in that it is not the destination but the journey of how you get there, which is the most important. This also applies to this weeks Cordon Bleu dish. OK the final dish is pretty simplistic -I am going to be up front now... but more of that later. What made this week's journey invigorating and exciting was because of two unrelated events - a visit to a bookshop and a gift of eggs.

The best second hand bookshop in the country can be found in Kennedy road in Napier - "The Little Bookshop". It is packed full of books with great prices to boot. Eldest daughter and I took the opportunity for a visit to tank up the book supply for the school holidays. I gravitated to the cooking section and "yeeha" I found this bloggers equivalent of a goldmine. There on the shelf was "My life in France" a book by Julia Child that includes a number of linked autobiographical stories, including a chapter dedicated to Le Cordon Bleu. I can't wait to sink my literacy teeth into it. Nestled close by there was "Recipes form the French Kitchen Garden" a steal at $7 and then not one  but two books of "Julie and Julia" the book that became the motion picture of which became an inspiration for many (including moi). Problem - there was the slightly worn copy which had the movie pic of Meryl Streep and Amy Adams and then the "looks like new" copy ... I couldn't decide so I brought both!

The second part of this journey was the gift of 6 duck eggs. I was excited as I had never cooked duck eggs before. I searched through the Cordon Bleu cookery course and found series 28. This provided "40 ways of cooking eggs for all occasions". I was spoilt for choice - there was coddled, deep fat fried, French poached, stuffed hard boiled, cold soft boiled, shirred and soufflé. One problem - I had limited time and with work commitments over the weekend  I resorted to where one goes when under pressure and of need of a higher order - the convent. Convent eggs are baked eggs. Eggs are simply put into a buttered cocette (is that what you call them!), seasoned, with cream spooned over the top. They are cooked in the oven for about 8 minutes. With a little additional salt just before consuming the result was magnificent! Although I am not sure about the Spanish saying that the editor of the Cordon Bleu quotes "an egg without salt is like a kiss without a moustache" - lost in translation perhaps! Now with a little time on my hands ... where is that book...

Caroline in "The Little Bookshop"

THE BEST second hand bookshop

The convent egg

Series Three: Part Seven : Restful Ravioli

Have you ever done a relaxation session? There comes a part where the instructor informs you to start coming out of your relax mode by starting to wiggle your toes and fingers and a part of you just doesn't want to. It's the equivalent to a near death experience where you have the choice to follow that light at the end of the tunnel or wake up from your coma, but not so extreme! This Saturday afternoon after a 10km run (with challenging hills might I add) and post shower all I wanted to do was sleep. However I had a dinner to cook - ravioli in fact - Cordon Bleu series 30 (not French!). Imke reminded me of the fact 1 1/2 hours into my sleep. My body protested at the thought of moving (I took it as a sign that I should remain where I was). However not all was lost... Imke to the rescue!

I had complete confidence as when it comes to pasta making Imke is a star. This was demonstrated back in 2013 when Imke was part of the Pukehou school team who starred in the Maggi Kitchen Showdown on the Erin Simpson show - this is big when you are at primary school - hey I was excited taking the team down to the Wellington TV studios.

So I take no credit for this week's cordon bleu dish. Imke had it all in hand. She even got to use for the first time the ravioli tray - another purchase at sale. Imke followed the recipe but found the "paste" concept rather strange - this is what toothpaste is but pasta? The paste was sticky and therefore difficult to handle. So when rolling it out it stuck to everything - fingers, board, rolling pin. A little flour was added (against the rules) and this made it slightly manageable.  Imke choose the spinach and curd cheese filling and made those little parcels of delight. My contribution was rounding up a tomato sauce in my post haze "had too much sleep" state. The end result was perfect, and even better I had enough for work on Monday! Thanks Imke :-)

Series Three: Part Six - Le Poirat & Dubble Zout Drop

Of course catering for a Father's Day luncheon this Sunday called for a least one Cordon Bleu dish.
I went for two (I am soooo committed). For the meal I choose:
- Sweetbreads Tante Marie (CB series 49)
- Salmon Croquettes (not CB)
- Le poirat (Pear tart) (CB series 5)


Sweetbreads do require a bit of prep with soaking, simmering and boiling in stock. This recipe called for making croutes as the bed to rest the sweetbreads, mushrooms and sauce. Croutes versus croutons... what is the difference? I consultanted Julia, who informed me that croutes are hard toasted bread whilst the term croutons is applied when the bread is a triangle shape and used to garnish an entrée.
The salmon croquettes was just something I wanted to cook. I had made them years ago and really enjoyed them. They are deep fried (and anything deep fried is normally a winner with my father!).
The only problem was we didn't have a deep fryer. Hmmm... father's day.... "Jamie how would you like a deep fryer for father's day?" I asked strategically the day before. This was totally unfair as I was taking advantage of showering him with treats, this day being his birthday. We were out looking at what he could spend his birthday vouches on, however in the family flurry of getting into the car we left them on the dinning room table by mistake. So our trip to town became the hunt for the best deal for a deep fryer. Just by chance there was a sale at Briscoes (sic) and we managed to purchase one for less than $60. The salmon croquettes crisped up a treat and went down well with a simple green salad.
Le poirat is a speciality of the French province of Normandy, which is famed for its excellent fruit and cream.  I knew at the early stage of the process that this dessert was going to be a winner. The indicator was one daughter having constant study breaks to claim a morsel of the pastry. The pastry is made as for pate sucree (sweet pastry) but what makes this pastry special is the addition of ground cinnamon and walnuts. William pears were called for however not knowing any difference I chose a pear that I thought looked similar from the supermarket shelves. The pears are peeled and quartered and placed in the pastry case with the pointed ends in the centre. Pasty for the top is rolled out with a cut round about 2 1/2 inches in diameter out of the centre... this is to be filled with whipped cream just before serving. It takes about 40 minutes to cook in a moderate oven.
I ticked off my mental check list of foods my father likes to ensure that I had covered all bases:
- some sort of offal (kidney etc) : done
- something fried : done
- dessert not too sweet (done)
However being from Dutch heritage a Father's day meal could not be complete with a gift of Dubble Zout Drop (salty liquorice). This is a highly salted Dutch licorice which only my sister and my Father enjoy in our family. I feel my arteries hardening just at the sight of it. No problems for my father as he joyfully threw in 4 pieces in one go following dessert! I bet I don't find those instructions in any of my Cordon Bleu magazines!

Pop's

Sweetbreads Tante Marie