Lesson 6: Menu

Niner Savignon Blanc, 2004

I have been eyeing Lesson 6 for quite some time because of the fact that Mussels are the main course. The Mussels also caught the eye of my grandmother when she was checking out the book around Thanksgiving. Because of this, my wife and I have invited my grandparents to come and join us for this Lesson 6. This has been how I have been figuring out who to cook for, by family or friends looking at the book and finding something they like, and then I tend to invite them when that menu comes up.

Let me show you the menu from page 37, and then I will share of my thoughts:

	Lesson 6
Tarte a l'Oignon ONION TART ___ Mouclade MUSSELS WITH WINE AND CREAM SAUCE ___ Bavarois a la Vanille, Coulis de Framboise VANILLA BAVARIAN CREAM WITH RASPBERRY COULIS

I have never cooked mussels before, however enjoy shellfish. I have been reading several recipes for mussels and have found them to be very simple in directions and seemly fast to prepare. The wine selection to cook the mussels with is a local wine that I enjoy from Paso Robles, Niner Savignon Blanc, 2004.

In addition to the Mussels I am extremely excited about both the Onion Tart and the Bavarian Cream, as I think both will be extremely flavorful.  My expectations for this meal are very high.

As I review the entire menu I am not finding as many challenges as with the last meal, however I anticipate a struggle with the pastry dough for the onion tart. I have attempted making homemade pie crusts in the past, and have found it is much easier and produces better results to just buy the frozen crusts. With the lesson and explanation of Pate Brisee and Pate Brisee Sucree on page 38, I hope to be successful.

The dessert is an area where I don't feel too much concern as the Bavarian Cream is based upon Creme Anglaise, which in Lesson 5 I was able to work out how to make it. This is an excellent illustration of good teaching techniques as a technique or lesson from one menu is build upon and extended in the next meal. It allows for practicing the same techniques multiple times, while adding new skills each time. It should also provide some immediate feedback as to whether my abilities are improving or need additional practice.

My final thoughts on this meal include the fact that most ingredients seem readily available and should not provide much trouble in purchasing; I have selected the wine to cook with; have the guests chosen; and should be cooking next weekend. All seems to be in place for another great meal.

Lesson 5: Menu

Happy New Year!

I am looking forward to Lesson 5 because I don't normally cook and eat fish. It is not something that I dislike, just something that I don't usually buy and cook at home. I also don't normally order fish when we eat out, although my wife and I enjoy going out for sushi and often order crab cakes when we see them on a menu. I also really like calamari, however other than that, I normally select other items to cook at home or to order off a menu. I would really like to find good home fish recipes that would open myself and my wife to eating more fish, and something about the Fish and White-Bean Stew gives me hope.

Here is the menu for Lesson 5, found on pg. 29:

 

	Lesson 5
Salade Messidor SUMMER HARVEST SALAD ___ Cassoulet de Poissons FISH AND WHITE-BEAN STEW ___ Biscuit de Savoie, Creme Anglaise SPONGE CAKE WITH CREME ANGLAISE

In my last post I mentioned that timing may be an issue with finding fesh ingredients, mostly focussed on the fish. I have done some initial research, and Mike at Olde Porte Fisheries has assured me that it should be no problem getting whiting, monkfish and for Lesson 6, fresh mussels. This again is someone that has been extremely helpful and willing to share information with me, for which I am very thankful. My research was done the week before Christmas and since then I have yet to follow up again regarding the fish. I will be doing that this week and hopefully cooking this weekend or next.

The other timing issue would be that the first course of this menu is Summer Harvest Salad, and I will be enjoying this in the middle of winter (if you call it winter when it doesn't snow and everyone, including myself, has been complaining about it being "cold" when the highs are in the 50's and lows in the 30's-40's). I am not too worried about the ingredients for the salad, as I have already seen places to buy most, if not all of the ingredients.

As for the unknown, I am curious and excited about the Sponge Cake with Creme Anglaise. The desserts have definitely been a highlight. As an extension from the sorbet I might be curious enough to double the amount of Creme Anglaise, so that I could freeze some to make ice cream. I have also noticed that I will be making the Creme Anglaise as a base for Bavarian Cream in Lesson 6, a Strawberry Bavarian Cream in Lesson 7, and Creme Anglaise again in Lesson 8, so in the next few recipes I can expect a lot of practice.

In addition to the Creme Anglaise, the other lesson will be to make mayonnaise. Page 31 starts by saying "mayonnaise is very easy to make", which is far enough for me to read to not freak out (even though the rest of the sentence reads "if you follow a few rules").  Following directions, I can handle that, so mayonnaise should be no problem...right?

Can't wait for the fish to arrive!

Lesson 4: Menu

My new ice cream maker-attachment for the Kitchen Aid mixer

I have waited on Lesson 4 so that I can make it while entertaining and enjoying an evening with my coworkers and their spouses.  The wife of a coworker selected this menu (probably because of the salmon crepes) after they found out I started this project.  It is also a menu that I assumed would be affordable enough to make for a larger party of 12; veal didn't fit the bill.

The menu contains something for everyone: a starter of crepes that sounds fantastic, a really great main dish, a rich side dish, and a dessert that most should enjoy.  Here it is in all its glory from pg. 22:

 

	Lesson 4
Crepes au Saumon Fume SMOKED SALMON CREPES ___ Gigot d'Agneau ROAST LEG OF LAMB ___ Gratin de Blettes SWISS CHARD GRATIN ___ Ananas Givre PINEAPPLE SORBET

Even though I have known for quite some time when I will be making this meal, and have read and reread, and read again the entire menu, directions, ingredients, etc. I really have spent little time planning where I will buy the ingredients or even gotten so far as to make a list. I guess I feel like I can find everything with ease and will have no problem just making it all happen. However as I write this, it scares me to think that a failure on this menu will bring an element of public humiliation my way. Although I was told by one of the guests that if I messed something up they would chalk it up to a learning experience and I could always try again, I think it could also ruin a perfectly good night to hang around with a good group of people.

I guess the nerves should be telling me to get on with the preparation, make a list, scope out the good stuff and where I will buy it, and of course plan my order of attack...that would be much better than being complacent or arrogant in any way about my limited cooking skills and what I have learned from only 3 short lessons.

Lesson Thanksgiving: The Menu

Thanksgiving Butternut Squash--My practice run for this year

I want to write about Thanksgiving because I feel it fits perfectly with my goals of cooking Le Cordon Bleu AT HOME. As mentioned going in to it, French food wasn't the primary draw. Instead the draw being learning the best techniques to apply to all my other cooking, although I am feeling a slow conversion and growing aversion to French food and cooking.

For Thanksgiving I am hoping to use the following things that I have learned from LCB to improve the meal I serve for my family:

1. Roasting--I am going to roast the turkey, as I always do, however I hope the practice will continue to improve the end results.
2. I am going to cook the dish Petits Pois a la Francaise--SPRING PEAS WITH LETTUCE, CHERVIL, AND ONIONS from Lesson 1. I think this will make an excellent dish to go with the Thanksgiving meal. I will not bother with pearl onions because I liked my white onion substitute and know they are easy to find and easy to work with.
3. I will be making stock use with a recipe I created for roasted butternut squash soup that I called "Thanksgiving Butternut Squash Soup". Last year I used chicken stock, but I may make vegetable stock so that I can have the flexibility to make it vegetarian if desired.
4. Successfully use a liaison to thicken a sauce--gravy.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because of the food, I LOVE IT! I also really enjoy the entertaining and the family. I began hosting Thanksgiving meals about 8 years ago in college because I forgot to bring leftovers back from home. I had a friend who worked at a grocery store pick up a turkey for really cheap and had everyone bring over dishes that they prepared. We filled our living room with tables and had a great time (word is one of my roommates met his wife at one of these meals).

The first Thanksgiving after my wife and I bought our house, we hosted our families for Thanksgiving. This was in part to make it so we only had to travel for Christmas rather than for both Christmas and Thanksgiving, and so that we could have extra help with fixing up our house (having 15 extra hands to clean up the yard, paint doors, and repair many items was a huge help).

Now that we have moved to be close to our family, we have been hosting Thanksgiving so that I can continue to cook and because we have a place that is big enough for everyone to get together.

Our menus usually have similarities, however we try to add something new or different each year, with varying degrees of success. Two of my students are taking French class at the local community college, so I asked them to translate my meal into French, to go on blog.  In fact, I also found the Nov. 12 post at Easy French Food to be helpful as well.  Here is the menu that I think we will be cooking this year:

	Lesson Thankgiving
SOUPE DE LA COURGE AU JOUR D'ACTION DE GRACE Thanksgiving Butternut Squash Soup ___ PATATES DOUCE AU LARD GRAS "CHEZ GRAND-MERE" Grandma's Sweet Potatoes with Bacon Fat ___ DINDE ROTE AUX HERBES AROMATIQUES Roasted Turkey with Herbs  ___ FARCE AUZ SAUCISSES ET CHAMPIGNONS Sausage and Mushroom Stuffing ___ SAUCE AUX CANNEBERGES Cranberry Sauce ___ SAUCE DE LA VINADE Gravy ___ LES PETITES PAINS Rolls ___ TARTE AUX POMMES MAISON Homemade Apple Pie

My own thoughts and notes go a little like this: I like to stuff the turkey (I have read much of the don'ts on this one but love the moisture and flavor) and cook some separately as well. Grandma's Sweet Potatoes-I don't know exactly what she does to them, but I like the flavor...not overly sweet. She slices them diagonally and there is word that she fries them in bacon fat that she collects all year. These are served warm or cold and are a great topping for leftover turkey sandwiches or paninis. Pie-homemade apple pie, pumpkin and mince meat pie. We usually buy the last two, and my wife and I took over making the apple pie last year from one of my grandmothers. We are improving in our pie making and will probably be doing more baking this year than in the past. Apple pies turned out well last year, as I think we made about 8 apple pies between Thanksgiving and Christmas for three of use to eat. This year I hope to try pumpkin pie (although I had a previous bad experience with pumpkin so am not really a huge fan of the flavor). Can't forget the cranberry sauce and gravy!

I want to post again about Thanksgiving and my use of the things that I have learned from the first three lessons. In addition, I am not planning to cook Lesson 4 until the week after Thanksgiving. I am planning to host my coworkers who selected Lesson 4 as a meal they would eat, and we can't get together until then because of our schedules.

Lesson 3: Menu

Here are the menu and my initial thoughts for Lesson 3 from page 16:

	Lesson 3
Oeufs a la Tripe GRATIN OF HARD-BOILED EGGS ___ Rouelles de Veau Bourgeoise VEAL SHANKS WITH PEARL ONIONS AND MUSHROOMS ___ Mousse au Chocolat aux Noisettes et au Whisky CHOCOLATE MOUSSE WITH HAZELNUTS AND WHISKY

Looking at the menu, I am excited to again cook veal; knowing that I had already purchased the veal shanks and successfully overcome my fear of messing it up in Lesson 2.  

I am sceptical about the Gratin of Hard-Boiled Eggs.  My first thought is that it will be bland and flavorless, too much egg and not much else.  The great thing is that you never know until you try something whether you like it or not. This could be a recipe that far exceeds my expectations...I am not so sure though.

My wife made it clear that she was not going to have anything to do with the veal...she didn't like the veal scallops in Lesson 2, she doesn't like the idea of where the meat comes from, and she doesn't like any meat that has a bone...definitely not a Nose to Tail kind of eater.

She isn't going to eat the veal, but I knew for sure that she would be eating all of the Chocolate Mousse that I could make. She is looking forward to this part of the meal.

Looking forward to Lesson 3!

Lesson 2: The Menu

Here are the menu and my initial thoughts for Lesson 2 from page 10:

	Lesson 2
Soupe Villageoise COUNTRY - STYLE VEGETABLE SOUP WITH NOODLES ___ Escalopes de Veau Vallee d'Auge VEAL SCALLOPS WITH APPLES AND CALVADOS ___ Creme Renversee au Caramel CARAMEL CUSTARD

Now that I have completed Lesson 1 with some ease, both with the preparation and with such enjoyment, I look at Lesson 2 with some concern...I couldn't even find pearl onions (although the substitute was great), how am I going to find veal?  

I am not so sure it will be all that hard to buy and prepare, but for me it sounds intimidating. It is also a little shaky because I know it is something that my wife will be very resistant to eating, as she is not very adventurous. If I can cook it properly and get her to try it, she just might be open to eating veal again in Lesson 3 and even be more willing to try other things...like fresh fish.

I know my wife will enjoy the Soupe Villageoise for sure, and she will try the Creme Renversee au Caramel, which I am sure looking forward to. So I know she will be receptive to enjoying the dinner with me.

Any suggestions on where to find veal or suggestions on cooking it?