Delicatique

2011-04-08

French cooking lesson 6

Lesson 6:

Game, whisked sponge genoise & sauces

Pulling chicken legs off...

galette of oubergines with marinated tuna

lovely bimi

prown timbale with chive cream sauce

stuffed chicken, warm morilles vinaigrette

medallions of stag with sauce bordelaise and parshnip puree

classic! tarte tatin

coffee and walnut gateau

French cooking lesson 4

Lesson 4:

shellfish, roasting & pastry

les oefs brouilles with smoked salmon in phyllo case

crab pot stickers with bouillabaisse saucerouille and grilled langoustines

casserole of rabbit with artichoke barigoule

slow roasted lamb farci withpreserved lemons, dried orange peel, caramelized apples

caramel cinnamon mousse, longue de chat and lightly salted caramel sauce

I also cooked pears in red wine sauce, but again too full to even take a photo...

I've never had such soft and juicy rabbit before, slow cooking is the best for game meat. Also, the South African style lamb tasted so unique. The preserved lemon flavor really lightened up the dish! I have to try this again at home.

French cooking lesson 5

Lesson 5:

Fish & egg whites in desserts

order list to the red cross. secret of the school

tartared of smoked mackerel with cucumbers, quail's egg and avruga caviar

seared red mullet with roasted beetroot, anchovy dressing and saffron potatoes

pate pantine en croute (from lesson 3 recipe) with chimney

sliced pate pantine en croute

aubergine butter

grilled halibut with aubergine butter and mushrooms

bateau frangipane (from lesson 5 repipe)

butter ramekins with a brash drawing stripes from the bottom to the top which brings souffle up

lemon souffle

very delicate, citrusy and fluffiest thing

meringues

meringues with chestnut puree and chocolate sauce

making angel hair

floating islands, creme anglaise and angel hair (mainly angel hair)

2011-03-11

Japan massive earthquake and Tsunami

Deep sympathy to people in Japan who are struggling from the massive destruction.

Prayers to the many victims of this earthquake and tsunami.

被災された方々には、心よりお見舞い申し上げます。

地震と津波でお亡くなりになられた方々には、ご冥福をお祈りいたします。

There are still many aftershocks and Tsunami warnings across the Pacific, please be safe and keep aware of evacuation announcements.

未だに余震、そして太平洋岸各地で津波の警報が出されております。どうか避難勧告をお聞きになって、皆さま御無事でいらしてください。

Thank you very much for people who asked after my family. They are all safe and luckily my friend in Sendai servived the quake.　However, the country is facing the hardest time of long term recovery, I hope those people in Japan receive all the support possible.

家族の安否を気にかけてくださった皆様、ありがとうございました。家族は皆無事で、幸運なことに仙台の友人の安否も確認ができました。しかしながら、日本広域では復興までこれから大変な時期を迎えることになります。どうか、被災された皆様へのあたたかい支援をお願いいたします。

If you need information or help:

For people seeking to restore contact with family members affected by the earthquake in Japan.
British foreign hotline: 0207 008 0000
Canada-Japan hotline:in Canada, 1-800-387-3124, or from elsewhere 613-943-1055
Please Do Not call to Japan or within Japan, they need phone lines for emergency service
Emergency telephone number:call 171+1+phone number to record 30 seconds message, call 171+2+phone number to listen to the message

Please help the people in Japan

2011-03-10

French cooking lesson 3

Lesson 3:

Pates and terrines, foie gras, and pasta (nouilles)

We got a treat before starting cooking. Yes, foie gras!

Lobster about to take a bath in boiling water...just hold its tail tightly

Lobster incident (story follows)

When I first saw the table with all of the ingredients for shellfish pasta sauce, I thought there must just be shrimp or clams under the tea towel. However,it turned out there were two beautiful live lobsters hiding under there.
Of course, this is a French cooking course, so you must go through cooking a lobster. (Scary to think of killing the lobster... although It wasn't my first time)
Laila volunteered to throw it into the boiling water. She managed to put one in very calmly and quickly. However, when Pat (my teacher) was bringing the next one toward her, while petting tne lobster and saying 'thank you, you did a great job, beautiful lobster...'
she accidently dropped the lobster onto the floor making a tremendously loud 'crack' sound!
It was big surprise for both the lobster and us... although for the lobster it was a very final and deadly surprise....
I'm pretty sure this definitely killed it quicker than the boiling bath..

Terrine of eel

home made pasta, shellfish sauce and grilled razor clams

Terrine of eel, toasted brioche and salad

Marble of foie gras with a game meat centre

spice-rub crusted quail with frothy sauce and puy lentils

rich chocolate tarte, crepe filled with orange cream and almonds, goat cheese ice cream

2011-03-09

French cooking lesson 2

Lesson 2:

Cold dressings, poaching techniques & choux pastry. We also learned how to fillet poultry

Mischa showing how to poach an egg

Trimming a duck breast

making choux pastry

brandade of salted cod with croutons

oeuf meurette aux cepes

Salad of sweetbread with poached quail

beautiful golden choux!

best part of the day, pouring chocolate

profiteroles aux chocolat

We also had for starters:

Wild oysters with leek and champagne sabayon
Crudite with aioli
Chinese crepes with confit of duck

But we learned from the first class that it takes too much time to cook then eat, so we started eating starters while working on other dishes. It's too bad I didn't take photos of the duck, it was beautiful and so yummy. Pat made the recipe influenced by Peking duck. We used magret breasts, so there was no need to blow up a whole duck. I love duck and was very hungry, I only realised that I forgot to take photos after I'd finished eating, so sorry to those who prepared this amazing duck and waited to see the photos...

French cooking lesson 1

Last night, I finished my last class of French cooking courses at Le Cordon Bleu - La Cuisine Francaise. I'd been studying French cooking as well as, of course, eating French cuisine every Tuesday night for the past while.

It was truly a fun experience and it was great to meet all the other food loving students and lovely teachers. It was pretty much my only time to chat with people in Amsterdam, and I will miss it so much... even though I did suffer from an over consumption of cholesterol and eating so much that I was almost not able to sleep after the class.

Our class started from 7pm and we finished cooking around 10:30, then usually didn't finish eating until about midnight. For the first class, I got home way passed midnight, so stuffed and overwelmed with the magic of butter and cream!

I'd like to upload some photos from the class for my own record and to share with my classmates.

Lesson 1:

Preparation of basic stocks & vegetables. Preparing and filleting flat fish