Sunday comes to a close

What a marathon day in the kitchen but it was an absolute blast.  Here's what I accomplished this afternoon.

There are out of order but this is the apricot jam which will be served with a Foie Gras Torchon (Brioche stuffed with duck liver).  The bottom pic is the mise and it includes dried apricots, mustard seeds which were simmered in white wine, vinegar and sugar, the reserved liquid from the mustard seeds and sugar and salt.  The apricot were chopped in the food processor and the remaining ingredients were mixed in .

I talked this morning about a sauce that would be stuffed inside pastries, well I made the pastries this afternoon. The dough was butter, flour, eggs, salt milk and water.  The butter, milk and water then went into the pan until simmering.  After that the flour went into the pan and was cooked until the dough was formed.  The dough was then transferred to the mixer where the eggs were mixed in.  Once the dough was finished the mix went into a piping bag and baked in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. 

Now it's time for a mushroom puree which is destined to be part of a mushroom duxelle and then wrapped in leeks and served sushi style.  Top pic is the mise of olive oil and a bowl with mushrooms, fennel, leeks, garlic and shallots.  The whole batch went into the food processor to be chopped.  Then into a saute pan to cook out as much liquid as possible.  Finally back to the food processor to be pureed. 

Now the mushroom duxelle.  The mise included and herb mixture of chives, parsley and tarragon along with breadcrumbs, creme fraiche, gelatin and the mushroom puree.  All the ingredients were then mixed together. 

The final task of the evening was the dough for the salmon dish.  The mise was sugar, salt, butter flour and eggs.  All the ingredients went into the mixture to form the dough.  To complete I'll need to roll it out and then bake it, which will probably be a job for tomorrow.

Overall, I've gotten a great jump on this thing this weekend.  I want to get as far ahead of the game as I can so when crunch time comes next Saturday I'm ready.