Day 3 and 4 of International Influence

Update: Yay, I took the leftovers from school to bring to friends for dinner that night, and they took a photo! It's the next best thing.

Going clockwise from the top, the first dish is partly covered by the wine, it's the fish wrapped in crispy crepe, it's not longer crispy by nowfor sure.

Next to is it the pigeon with kumquats confits, below it the langoustines with mango salsa, on its right is another dish from earlier, lamb parcels, and the last is the beef tataki (like a carparccio). And a little apricot mango chutney from earlier as well. Served with 1999 (or is it 98?) Chinon red, from the cellar (yes, below the very apartment) of my friend!!

Day 3

a) Tuna and Mango, Wasabi Vinaigrette, Ice Plant Salad (extra: coriander and shiso leaf 'pesto')

Nothing really exceptional, except the ice plant is very unique, I've never seen it before. It's like a juicier watercress, with little bubbles of water/juice surrounding the stems and leaves, looks like someone spritzed it with water. It's soft to the bite, slightly 'sweet' and a little sour aftertaste. Very refreshing. The Asian 'pesto' was very good too!

b) Boiled White Fleshed Fish with Green Curry and Galangal

In french, they called it a Tom Kha Gai, but it's not at all! It's like a mix of that and Green Curry.

When I made it, I made it taste more Tom Kha soup, and I made the green come out of blendered herb greens and not so much from the green curry paste. Chef took extra spoonfuls of it!

c) North African Lamb Parcels, Quinoa Risotto, Apricol Chutney

Taste of well seasoned cumin, mint marinated lamb, very soft to the bite. My quinoa risotto was good too, except could do with a little more salt.

d) Fresh Fruit Minestrone with Pearls Tapioca, Tomato Cappuccino and Basil

Very refreshing, nice! You will not be able to achieve the tomato cappuccino without a whipped cream dispenser! Actually this device is getting very popular in modern cuisine with many ideas of foam. While it's very fancy sounding, I think it plays well with its light airy texture vs more denser items on your plate. And the mixture of air gives it an immediate 'lift' of flavors to your olfactory senses.
Ok, now it comes to the highlight of this week!

Day 4 is a workshop, where we have free play to create 4 dishes out of a 'mystery' basket of ingredients. Well, it's not so much a mystery, cos' it was given to us in the folder, but I didn't notice until Day 3, I thought it was a mystery basket till the very morning!

Well, we have to create 1 fish, 1 beef, 1 pigeon (squab), 1 langoustine dish. Use of foie gras is a must, either with the langoustine or in any of the above dishes.

My creation:

a) Beef Tataki with Shiso Leaves, blend of Ginger Sesame sauce.

I seared the sirloin and cut strips of 2mm slices, arranged in a radial pattern, alternating with Jpn seaweed and shiso leaves. Good!

b) Pan Fried Langoustines with Mango Salsa

Juicy mango with shallots, chilli, lime juice and zest. And a small side of salad green. Was good too, until I forgot about the mango salsa! I hurriedly sent it up!

c) Sea Bream Fillets with Mediterrenean Vegetables, wrapped in Crispy Warka (like spring roll skin), served with Light Mango and Curry sauce. Was good!

d) Roasted Squab stuffed with Nashi pears and Foie Gras, side of candied kumquats. Very similar to the quail dish we did in Superior class. Problem is, I served it still a little on the rare side! Booboo. I liked my candied kumquats, but I think I could have done a more alternative jus, maybe a bit more galangal, and could have added a small potato or rice side. Like yeah... do I have time!

Where are the photos, I'm sorry!!! Try to imagine the dishes!!! I didn't have time to take any photos as once the dishes were ready, I sent it up right away!! I wasn't late, but the Spanish girl was so quick! I couldn't lag behind! She doesn't take photos of her dishes at all! When I was chatting with chefs while keeping my tools, she was out of the classroom already! Actually, quite rude...!

Best of all, we had a bottle of champagne at the end of Day 4! Yay!! I didn't realise it was a test! Well done!

Countdown for last Cuisine entries

Yes, it's all coming to an end soon, and this is my last week for Cuisine lessons. Next week are all exams, both Pastry (Sugar work and your own cake creation), and Cuisine (mise en place as well as the actual exam), not to mention written exams for both. On top of it, I was chosen to give a speech for the graduation. So I have to prepare a draft for chef. Busy busy busy.

I will update this entry with more dishes along the week.

Starters:

1) Tatin of endives with goat cheese, sweet sour jus

2) Crispy tart with tomato, langoustines and pistou

3) Taboule with fresh shrimp and vanilla oil

Main:

1) Beef Wellington with turned vegetables. Bouquetier-style means to fan out the turned vegetables in ordered alternatives for presentation. The beef is roasted, brought down to colder temperature, stuffed with foie gras mousse in the centre, wrapped in mushroom and crepe, and again in puff pastry, and baked till crispy. Note: the beef should still be à point, and not overcooked! Served with truffle sauce.

Over several dishes in Superior, they want to test how you can perceive the doneness of your food, when it is covered, in crust, in cabbage, etc. It's simple to roast or to pan-fry and know when to take them out. But when you have to cook the crust and yet not overcook (or undercook) your meat, is a different challenge!

This was what I served to Mel, Kev, Soogee and Kenneth who were visiting from SG.

2) Noisettes of venison with "grand veneur" sauce

3) Red mullet fillets with crispy potato scales

Desserts:

1) Figs roasted in rosemary, cinnamon mascarpone. You can also see some edible crystallised rose petals and borage flowers.

2) Caramelised coconut cake with roasted mini bananas

3) Soft macaroon, candied fennel ice cream, wild berry coulis. The flame-like toppings are fennel chips. Fennel sliced thinly and dried in oven to a crisp.

Cuisine this week...

Cuisine this week:

Starters:

a) Buckwheat crisps with crab meat and crab 'mustard' - I must explain more about this mustard, it's basically the cream at the back of the brains of crustaceans that gives a rich creamy seafoody sweet taste when mixed into sauce or soups.

b) Terrine of duo salmon and leeks, shallot vinaigrette

c) Sauteed green asparagus spears and langoustines, beetroot vinaigrette. The pink quenelles you see on the left are whipped cream colored with beetroot juice. First time I had a salty whipped cream! As you notice, this cuisine chef of mine likes pink and hello Kitty!

Mains:

a) Crusted Seabass, Lemon and capers, and Chicken Jus, with Maple almonds

b) Filet de boeuf a la ficelle (Tenderloin in bouillon), celeriac "bone" with beef marrow, horseradish sauce.

It's cute, we cut the celeriac and dug a hole in centre to make it look like a bone with a hollow, and stuff some real beef marrow in the edible 'bone'.

c) Lamb rib roast in bread crust, artichoke puree with hazelnut oil. We made a country bread dough, flatten it out, and rolled a lamb noisette (chops without the bones) in it. When it bakes, it looks like a large loaf of bread, but when you cut it open, surprise! lamb and vegetable trimmings!

Desserts

a) Apple crisps with pineapple sorbet, lemon balm-lemongrass syrup

b) White and wild rice with vanilla milk, pan-fried mangoes and honey milk granita

It's essentially Thailand's famous Sticky rice with Mangoes! Sorry, didn't capture the photo well. The crisps covered a bed of rice pudding with sauteed caramelised mangoes on it. I was too mesmerised by the hello Kitty! cut outs..... I told you my chef is crazy about pink (pink icing sugar) and hello Kitty!

c) Seasonal fruit clafoutis and streusel with mango-passion fruit sorbet. Gotta be one of the best mango sorbet I tasted!!

Fish and more fish!

Yeah, about half of superior cuisine's mains has to do with fish, I am guessing the chef who is in charge of us this term likes them a lot.

Starters:

a)  Foie gras terrine.  Cooked in a bain marie, it needs to rest for a few days, followed by..

b)Presentation of the foie gras terrine.  Foie gras should be eaten with something sweet and a little sour, it should work well with chutney, like this beetroot and red onion.  The pink swirls are tuiles made from rice flour colored with beetroot juice.  Also on plate, fig bread.

c)  Haddock and Potato Terrine

Mains:

a)  Red Mullet with Tapenade sauce.  We made the fresh egg pasta ourselves in class, it's so easy, I'll never pay for over-priced pasta at Da Paolo Gastronomia ever again!

b)  Herb crusted salmon supremes with mushroom flan and red wine sauce.  Delicious!  Who knew red wine can be paired with a fish!  You actually can, for fatty fish, e.g. tuna.

c)  Sea bream sauted, squid filled with cilantro flavored langoustine risotto.

Desserts:

a)  Frozen choc parfait, orange cream and citrus fruits and basil

b)  Inversed peach melba, red currant jus flavored with hibiscus (rosella)

c)  Crisp sweet puff pastry with berries

More Cuisine!!!

The problem with putting away updating your blog is that you suddenly have too much to do!

Starters:  

a)  Creamy Capuccino Mushroom Soup in a Cup

b)  Mackerel fillets, cucumber and cream with lamb's lettuce salad

c)  Duck Foie Gras Terrine and wild mushrooms

d)  Cold French Scrambled Eggs with Botargo, herb salad and green olives coulis

e)  Tuna Carpaccio with parmesan cheese

Mains:

a)  Roasted Lobster Tournedos, zucchini, risotto and fennel confit

b)  Thick Veal Medallions with lemon and ginger, macaroni cake

c)  Chicken breasts with langoustines in a light curry sauce

d)  Roasted squabs (pigeons) with new potatoes and fava beans

e)  "Black Prince" saddle of lamb and country-style bacon-potato cake

Desserts:

a)  Mango Pineapple and vanilla "kebabs" with gingerbread and coconut

b)  Figs in spicy strawberry wine, cocoa crisp and yoghurt sorbet

c)  Soft-centred chocolate cake, pistachio ice cream

d)  Apples slices with cinnamon mascrapone mousse

e)  Mango and pineapple chutney, avocado sorbet

Happy feasting (with your eyes!!)