Week 7: A French Monk's Sword

"Rating a French tarte" is not really a text message you want to get sent from your partner. However I was guilty of the crime. I was guilty of not only mis-texting (is that a word?) I did mean to say "eating" rather than "rating", but I was also guilty of sitting in the sun eating a slice of lemon French tart which cost me an exorbitant price. A small gift to self as I was driving down to the capital this week. It's the price you have to pay for the research activities one has to do for French cooking.

This week for dinner Jan, Geoff and Giles - our neighbours from Millstream garden joined us. They are the best neighbours you could ever have - they are always supportive and do extra-ordinary things for us, like the time they help put out our house fire! But they are also amazingly creative and talented. They have their own business and produce a number of lotion and potions -  I highly recommend to visit their shop or their website millstreamgardens.co.nz 

I was turning to the French monks this week for inspiration (via Julia of course), where rooting is big and, also to my surprise, so was cooking lettuce. Being vegetarian these monks foraged for their meal which always had a root and green mix. The main was utilising this blend with sword fish. I must say I was excited going into Hawke's Bay Sea food . Going into fish shops previously had almost been as intimidating as walking through the multiple beauty counters you get in the front of department stores. You are surrounded by an array of products you have no idea what to do with. At least in the fish shop you are in less danger of a heavily painted female pouncing at you with brushes and concoctions in hand. With a sense of purpose, Caroline and I spent some time appreciating the displays of fish before purchasing two large fillets of swordfish.

I was perfecting my egg white technique (as the gateway to souffles) by making another Mousse au Chocolate. However this time I really wanted to do the frozen mousse with the attractive ladyfingers. Ladyfingers are not normally displayed in our house (I am pleased to say) and Caroline was rather taken back with this terminology questioning if they are taking the mickey out of women!
I was debating if I needed to amputate my lady fingers, as despite being on the hunt for the exact mould that Julia had, I couldn't find one in time and resorted to purchasing an overpriced removable push up base metal round tin that was not high enough. I  presented to my guests the dilemma ... should we trim off the ladyfingers so we could unmould it and have the nice formed chocolate top OR we should remove from tin but leave the same way up. The consensus was that trimming the lady fingers could be a painful exercise with the remark that the too long ladyfingers gave the dessert a rather fortified pa look - kiwiana - I had created the next pavlova iconic recipe equivalent!

It was another gastronomic delight filled evening. We also enjoyed  Moules a la mariniere (fresh mussels steamed open in wine and flavourings) as an entree accompanied with French bread. Jan and Geoff brought over some delicious cheese which were purchased from "over the moon" (you can find them in Putaruru) and homemade crackers - which I have been requested to make for school lunches! Of course to drink there was wine and water with Giles providing a tasting of his home made cucumber wine - which was very refreshing . I do believe the French monks when sitting down to enjoy their sword fish with accompanying roots and greens probably would have had their jolly little number to swirl it down as well.

Fantastic displays

Caroline with the book and fish in hand

Cooking lettuce

Giles

Uncontrollable Sword fighting neighbours - Jan and Geoff

Sword fish

The pa

Week 6: Paying a debt with Coq au vin

You don't really want to be in debt to the Finance Manager of the organisation that you work for. So this week I was repaying with food the debt I had made when changing jobs and creating more work for Peter. Peter has a great turn of phrase for the work he does (and I wouldn't be surprised if his position profile is just one line)...  at the end of the financial year he has to "land a jumbo jet onto a postage stamp" ... and magically he seems to be able to do it.

I was trying three new dishes. Firstly the Hor d'Oeuvres. This week Caroline was assisting in the kitchen preparing the Canapes for the "Foudue au Gruyere" or as husband Jamie commented as munching away on one - just a fancy way of saying "cheese on toast"!

The main was Coq au vin (Chicken in red wine with onions, mushrooms and bacon). Similar to the boeuf bourguigon - so I was feeling reasonably confident about this dish and this time I had my cook book. However I did get slightly confused with Julia providing conflicting instructions. My recollection of braised onions that I had watched on Julia's French cooking TV show via you-tube versus what Julia had written in the recipe book. I opted for the book and reassured myself unless you cook them to death or burn them then it really doesn't matter.

For those that are dedicated followers to this blog (hi Mum!) you may be beginning to see a reoccurring theme in the photo's posted .... the accompanying peas and parsley potatoes with the main. Now I do feed my family other vegetables when it is my turn to cook - however the ease of preparation of peas and potatoes is refreshingly quick (and it is a recommended accompaniment that Julia makes). However I failed to check in with Alinka who doesn't like peas - totally forgot for the third week in a row that Imke also does not like them! Resolved that I would never force a pea down anyone's throat after my sister' traumatic childhood of having to eat them or skilfully hide or re-direct consumption to the family dog under the table,  I am committed to introducing another vegetable as a future challenge.

Dessert was Crème plombieres pralinee - Caramel Almond Cream. This dish has a custard filling into which beaten egg whites and praline are folded. It is spooned over a sponge cake (yes I cheated and bought one) and chilled. I must say I enjoyed making the slab of pralin for this dish and pulverizing it to smithereens.

One of the fun aspects of cooking is also selecting wines to accompany your creation. I visited Advintage - a wine store where the people that serve you really know their wine - and, I found out, also their French. I was explaining my cooking challenge and was asked what I had made to date... I started to fumble on saying boeuf bourguigon when my able assistant completed the phrase. When asked what I was serving this week I just couldn't bring to myself to say Coq a vin as I was anxious that after saying Coq that the pause afterwards would be too long as I struggled to pronounce the rest and that it would all sound highly inappropriate. "Chicken in red wine" I replied - ahah replied my assistant - "Coq au vin". I apologised that I was bastarding the French language but redeemed myself  by supporting the French and Kiwi economy by purchasing two bottles of French wine. Recalling this experience to my parents they duly gave me a series of books and CDs on learning to speak French. I do believe that landing the jumbo jet on the postage stamp looks easier!

Coq au vin!



Caroline preparing the Foudue au Gruyere

Peas!

The debt is paid

Now... how do you land that jumbo jet

Week 5: Tournedos Sautes Chasseur & Mousseline au Chocolat

Aka - Steak and chocolate pud!

I love visiting a traditional butcher shop. The smell and sight of beautifully cut meat not to mention the quality service and assistance. Armed with my JC cook book at the page for "Filet steaks with mushrooms and Madeira sauce" I discussed the proportions and best steak to use. The butcher produced an eye fillet and went about cutting up 6 beautiful round, luscious juicy steaks.
This is not a cheap option however like anything expensive you invest in there is always a good rationale or two that you can immediately come up with to make yourself feel better - like significantly increasing the haemoglobin of your family, and that you would have easily have spent that much and more if we went out to dinner.....
Preparing the main was not time intensive so for once I had time to get myself presentable before our guests David and John arrived. However I did have one anxiety moment when I realised that I had to saute the bread rounds and I didn't have the clarified butter and had to make it myself.  I was delightfully surprised that it didn't take 6 hours to prepare and that I just had to melt butter and strain off the milky residue (because that is the part that burns more readily).

Although the main didn't involve a day dedicated to the cause - a few extra pairs of hands to assist to enable everything to come together at the critical time was required.  David, John and Imke provided the instruction (which also saved the book from my greasy paws) and the team were able to vertically construct the piece de resistance with the accompanying peas and potatoes.

 

 

 

The dessert challenge: to make a chocolate mousse that was a good as the instant sachet jobs that you get from the supermarket (Caroline). There are only 4 main ingredients - chocolate, butter, eggs and sugar - but of course it is what you do with it that counts. This recipe couldn't be prepared an hour before serving - so my Friday night was dedicated to preparation.
The translation of mousse is foam...and according to Julia your end product needs to be so smooth, light and fluffy that it brings tears to your eye. To get this desired result you have to beat, beat and beat some more. I was beating egg yolks, beating the sugar and coffee mix, beating continuously the egg yolks and the chocolate over a gentle heat. The recommendation is that when you are continuously handbeating for 8 - 10 mins (that long!) you think sweet thoughts. I quickly moved from feeling that I was participating in a dominatrix training programme to being a mindful beater and observing the changes happening in the pot in front of me. Beating to get the ribbon effect ... beating the egg whites so that they have a satin finish and make little peaks. Beating so much - I do believe that my right bicep is going to be disproportionately bigger than my left unless I train myself to be an ambidextrous beater.

 

 
 
The result - pretty good according to my taste testers that night. However according to eldest daughter "it would have been better if I had used plain milk chocolate"!

We completed the evening with David providing an informative knife education session  - who despite knowing for years I had completely forgotten that in the beginning of his working life he had been a qualified chief!

PS: Happy Birthday Julia Child for the 15th August

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!)

Reine de Saba

 

Contaminated chocolate icing

The Cheese Makers

Kitchin hand

Bouches - ready, steady

EAT

Week 3: French Onion Soup and Crepes

This week we were entertaining for lunch... and my "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" recipe book had not yet arrived. So back to you-tube to see what Julia had to offer on her cooking show.
I had contemplated the roast chicken and frozen chocolate mousse however this required having the needle for trussing and the right type of mould for the mousse. In absence of having a full fledged kitchen supply shop close to work (probably just as well) I suddenly became obsessed with checking out second hand and charity shops for cooking gear. I did purchase for 10 cents knitting needles I could use in place of a trussing needle. However I parked the chicken and chocolate mousse for another day as I believe that the stress of getting that organised for a lunch was too much for me (and the family) for a Saturday morning.

Back to the luncheon... my menu selection was to be French Onion Soup as the first course, followed by savoury crepes. This proved to be a good combination because you had to constantly watch the onions cook through the two stage approach, which you could do at the same time you made the crepes.
There were two high anxiety moments this week. Firstly after adding the red wine to the soup it smelled terribly and the colour looked putrid.... however following Julia's advice I let it simmer slowly and it all turned out in the end.
Second anxiety moment was making the crepes... by the time I had (semi) perfected the art of making  a crepe I had gone through 1/2 the mixture. This was much to the delight of eldest daughter, who loves pancakes and was quite happy to eat the disintegrated little messes her mother made - albeit one that went to the chickens. I had considered making a Gateau de Crepes, however I abandoned that challenge for another day and focused on having the "conviction" to toss the crepe.
Paul and Caroline were our guests for the day and Caroline (who is a great cook) said that the French Onion Soup tasted like what a French Onion Soup should - now that I consider a win!
I need to work on my crepe making skills - there was a crepe booth in Manners street in Wellington where a French couple made the most amazing crepes... maybe I could go and work with them for a day!... Not that I am going anywhere soon, because guess what just arrived in the post.....

 

Hmm... a bit holey

Chicken food!

Ready for the oven

Paul and Caroline

The tasting begins

Guess what arrived in the post?

Week 2: Boeuf Bourguignon and La Tarte Tatin

Courtesy of Book Depository I am in eager anticipation of the arrival of the 50th Anniversary hard back edition of Julia Childs "Mastering the Art of French Cooking"... it has the entire 524 recipes... that will keep me busy for a while! 40% off (I am saving money!) at the price of $54.29. Meanwhile the fun has begun... and no better way to start off with the signatory dish of Boeuf Bourguignon and La Tarte Tatin.


You know that you are getting obsessed when you:
- wake up in a cold sweet fretting about what you could possibly cook your La Tarte Tatin in
- say to your family in conversation that "Julia told me..." and unless she has visited me from the spirit world that would be pretty much impossible
- keep to purchasing chuck steak despite porterhouse only being marginally more in price, because that was in the recipe
- undertaking a research project on the qualities of NZ apples to ensure the right apple was selected
for the La Tarte Tatin
- purchasing (investing in) a new casserole pot and a French Skillet pan
- watch the original filmed episodes of the Julia Child programmes at least 3 times each (I did have to get the recipe from them)
- your children tell you that you ARE obsessed (quote from Caroline)

After running around getting the ingredients and purchasing new equipment in the morning, pretty much of the day was dedicated to food preparation and then eating. Of course there was the mandatory "I can't possibly cook in this mess" manic clean up and then food preparation commenced at 2pm.

I can confidently report that the evening was a great success. My tasting crew of my parents, Jamie and the girls all gave it the thumbs up, with my father even reporting it was good (not just alright), my mother saying it was better than any similar dish she has had in France (and of course that is without daughter favouritism) and Caroline ate it (we starved her before hand giving a better chance of eating anything that was put in front of her).

Imke was the chief photographer and has captured the photographic evidence... even the high anxiety moment of the unmoulding of the La Tarte Tatin.

If you want a giggle... look at the you tube clip of Julia Child cooking La Tarte Tatin and when unmoulding goes wrong... it is refreshingly down to earth and gives you permission to adapt and carry on even when things don't quite go the way you wanted.

Week 1: The DVD

"Mum's gone nuts!" - is how I have just been described from my eldest teenage daughter who I completely depend on to navigate around this blog site.
Inspired by watching the Julie and Julia movie (thanks to the loan of the DVD from the neighbours) I am on a quest. The movie was released  6 years ago, so I am slightly behind the times where I am sure like minded individuals sought to improve their culinary skills as well as get the chance to try out blogging.

My aim is to incorporate at least one new inspired Julia Child idea a week focusing on Frence cuisine.(I am widening this to a receipe/ handy hint/ recommended equipment etc etc) . This will be supported with photographic evidence and no doubts due to my current lack of mastery - there will be the odd disaster!

Week 1: Watched the Julie and Julia movie - after being robbed of the last 30 minutes of watching the movie on a plane trip back from Australia, I managed to watch the complete film in the comfort of home - nicely positioned on the couch accompanied by a French red wine (seemed appropriate) and a Moro bar (increasing tolerance to fatty foods).