Another day of Paris 1906 Prep

I continued my march to the finish line of the Paris 1906 menu this evening by making pretty much all of the components of the Hazelnut Soup and a couple of garnishes for the mushroom dish and the fish course.   So here we go.

The first part of the hazelnut soup isi the glazed sunchoke, though in this case I used canned water chestnuts.  The top pic is the mise, water, salt, sugar, butter and sliced water chestnuts. The second pic is the mixture after about 20 minutes in the pan.

The top pic is the mise for each of the next two components.  Hazelnut Milk and Hazelnut half and half.  The mise includes hazelnuts, milk, half and half and oil.  The hazelnuts were fried quickly in a bit of oil and then the dairy was added to each pan and brought to a simmer. 

And the final thing made tonight were garnishes for a couple of dishes.  The top pic is the mise for the liquid the mushroom was cooked in.  there wasn't much in the way of mise for the tomato.  The second pic is the final result.

Louisiana FAST!

Last night after my marathon cooking for the Next menu I made some jambalaya from America's Test Kitchen Favorites.  Overall a pretty solid dish and easy to make.

The mise, a pretty classic combo.  Shrimp, andouille and chicken, parsley, onions and peppers, tomatoes, rice, salt and chicken broth.

The chicken got cooked first to sear it off and give it a head start before going in the final pot.

Now the andouille, which is just a spicy pork sausage classic in cajun cook and quite frankly is outstanding just grilled.

Now the onions, red peppers and garlic were cooked off.

The rice went in next and cooked for a couple minutes then the tomato, chicken broth and chicken went in.  Yes I know the chicken is raw in this picture but this mixture was simmered for 30 minutes.

After simmering for 30 minutes, the shrimp goes in to cook in the residual heat for a couple minutes.  This picture is of the completed dish in the pan.

And here's the final plating.

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.

A midday Sunday update

It's 12:30 on Sunday and I've been cooking like crazy making more components of the hors d'oeuvres plate.  So here's the update.

These are pictures from the rhubarb jam which will be a sauce for the boudin blanc (pork & rabbit sausage).  Top picture is the mise, I've got red wine and in the bag is a mixture of rhubarb and sugar which was cooked sous vide for about an hour.  The bottom pic is the final product.  After the rhubarb was cooked the liquid from the bag and the wine was mixed with a pinch of gelatin.

This is the salmon mousse.  The mise includes smoked salmon, ice water, olive oil, creme fraiche and salt.  The bottom picture is the result.  I beat the salmon in the bowl and alternated adding a bit of the ice water and olive oil until combined.  Finally I added the salt and a bit of the creme fraiche.  This mixture will be served in a small little cracker bowl (which I'll be making later today) and topped with our next dish, salmon jello.

This is for the salmon aspic which will be served on top of the salmon mousse.  The top picture is the mise.  More of the smoked salmon gelatin and salt.  The salmon was soaked in boiling water for about 20 minutes.  The liquid was then put into a pan with the gelatin and salt and brought to a simmer.

This is for the gougere, which is simply a stuffed pastry.  The pastry will be made later today, but this is for the sauce that goes inside.  The sauce is called sauce mornay and is a combination of cream, milk, thyme, pepper, salt, and gruyere.  The milk mixture was simmered with a blonde roux for about 30 minutes.  Then the gruyere was mixed in and melted.

I'll have another post later that shows the pastries, an apricot jam, and hopefully a mushroom duxelle.

The home stretch

So I'm down to one week to go on the Next menu and there's a lot of work to do.  Every night this week I've got about 5 or 6 components of different dishes to make.  Today was making all of the components for one piece of the hors d'oeuveres plate, the Ouef Benedictine or Egg Custard.  So here we go.

The first part I made was the salted cod that went into the brandade.  The first pic is the mise, really simple, salt and cod.  Second pic is the cod covered with the salt.  Third pic is the cod after it spent six hours in the fridge, and the final pic is the cod after it was simmered in milk for about five minutes and right before it went into the food processor for the brandade.

Another part of the brandade is potatoes.  Here are the potatoes in a vacuum bag ready to be cook sous vide for about 3 hours.  After cooking I mashed them and put them in the food processor with the cod.

The final piece of the brandade.  Heavy cream, garlic, thyme and shallots.  These items were simmered together for a few minutes and then placed in the food processor as well.

Here is the components of the truffle custard.  The mise includes, truffle oil, egg, half and half, and salt.  The unique part of this is that the custard gets cooked inside the shell of an egg while in the egg carton.

The second picture is the custard mixture after taking a spin in the food processor.

Here's the result.  The egg with the custard inside, which you can't see and the brandade.  Yes I know that is a bar tending tool the egg is sitting in but that's all I had to hold the egg shell until I'm ready to use it next week.  Eventually the brandade is going to end up on top of the custard with a bit of another cream sauce, which will be made the day of.

It's time for spring food

With the arrival of March we are starting to getting into spring type recipes with fresh stuff that is actually in season.  I got a bit delayed on starting on dinner tonight because I was playing with my new IPhone, so you should see an improvement in the quality of the pics.  On to the food!  Tonight was a honey roasted chicken with spring vegetables from Cuisine Magazine's April 2005 issue.

The mise.  We have a whole chicken, a lemon honey mixture for glaze, shallots and ginger, asparagus, potatoes and carrots, a mixture of chicken broth, white wine and honey, heavy cream, a spice mixture of salt, pepper and paprika, and a butter and flour mixture.

The chicken covered with olive oil and the salt mixture ready to go into a 425 degree oven with the carrots and potatoes.

The chicken and veggies after 30 minutes in the oven, note the addition of the asparagus.

Here's the start of the sauce.  The shallots and ginger in a pan with a bit of olive oil.

The completed bird after and hour in the oven.

The completed sauce.  I added the chicken broth mixture to the shallots and ginger and simmered for about 15 minutes, then I added the cream and brought to a boil.  The final step with added the butter and flour mixture.  This is called a beurre mane and helps to thicken sauces. 

The final plating.  Not the best presentation but man was it delicious.