A Date with Mr Cod

Starters:  Spicy vegetable 'jelly' with avocado cream (Fondant de Légumes Epicés à l'Avocat).  Why some menus insist on using the French terms is because, and I find this case a good example, is that, something is lost in the English translation.  Fondant in French means 'melting' as a noun, de legumes, of vegetables.  It's a  cool, melt-in-your-mouth consistency, yielding to small brunoise of vegetables rolling on your tongue, as its sweet and spicy flavour warms up from your palate to your nose.

Mains:  "Roasted Cod, Basil Gazpacho, Vegetable and Chorizo skewers" is very tasty, and reminds me of the kind of food I like best and would love to make, Mediterranean... eggplants, zucchini, bell peppers, herbs.  

Desserts:  Stuffed Dates wrapped in phyllo pastry and saffron ice-cream (!!) Delicious!!! 

Interestingly, this is the 2nd cod dish we produced.  The other being Cod with Red Cabbage in Beer Jus Vinaigrette.  The cod we receive is unlike the 'black cod' that we get in SG.  Although the cod is also a white fish, it is far less oily than what should be correctly termed as 'Chilean seabass'.  The taste is more delicate and the cooking is definitely more so!  It risks of drying and flaking very easily once overcooked.  The chilean seabass is more forgiving as it exudes plenty of fish oil when cooking, and this fat absorbs flavours very well.  I should count myself lucky to be able to work with the genuine cod, as its species are on the brink of extinction.  

Getting exotic (relatively speaking)

Cos' it happens that this week, we received our very first truffle to work with!!

It was for a truffle sauce to be served with grilled steak, celery flan and potatoes confit in goose fat, as you can see from the above.  The 'sua koo' me, took a photo of the black diamond on my cutting board in class.  Well, I always knew where to buy some in SG, but I guess I'm not doing it any justice if I don't learn how to use it well, but now I know...... Definitely not content to tiny bits that you (don't!) see on your plates when you dine out, I had mine in tasty slivers, and yes, the chef liked my sauce.


Another exotic food item is the foie gras, we'll get to cook some next term, but chef made a demonstration and when we had the tasting... it was so good!
In class this week, we also made some monkfish encrusted in fresh herbs, rolled in bacon, served with braised artichokes.  The other, a hearty meal, called Cassoulet (comme fait à Toulouse) - white bean stew with lamb and sausages, with duck confit, Toulouse-style.

For demo, we had langoustine, and a warm starter salted cod dish called brandade de morue.  Salt cod, once used to be the food of the poor (cos' they could not afford fresh cod) of European countries along the Atlantic ocean, are now a treat for all classes, as cods are now a dying breed.  This salted cod soaked overnight, cooked and flaked, mashed with some olive oil, potatoes and cream, and served with parsley garlic cream.