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!!)

Golly! Giant Macaroon!

We looked at more innovative logcakes this week, and a macaroon cake.  Ok first for the logcakes, don't you love the pretty sight of what I call a "Chanel bag" square logcake?  I thought the patterned indentation reminds me of an expensive fashionable purse or bag.  Sitting on a sweet tart dough, the inside houses a disc of vanilla pear cream, and a smaller disc of fleur de sel caramel, suspended in vanilla mousse, then encased by praline biscuit, and then, the outermost with coffee caramel mousse!  *pant pant*  Needless to say, we didn't make it, it would have taken us maybe 5 hrs!

Instead, we made the mango raspberry logcake which you can see mine in the pale yellow creamy logcake.  We laid some dacquoise, which soaks up nice and moist, in between layers of mango and raspberry cream.

Another demonstration was a vanilla apricot mouse cake, while for practical we made the technically more difficult macaroon.  This recipe uses Italian meringue.  While it holds up the batter more easily, it also gives a more chewy texture to the biscuit. I know the soft crumbly texture is much desired in the 'usual' macaroons, but I think it will not work in this recipe, as the minute you pick up these 18 cm discs, it would have fallen to bits or you would have given it undesired cracks.

Cakes!! Give me cakes!! - Marjorie from "Little Britain"

It's easy to see why the Fat Fighters are so crazy about cakes, it's pleasing to the eye as to the tongue, not many pleasures in life give you that.... 

I have submitted my post on the Opera cake in the other blog, so here, we have, a Jamaica: mango - passion fruit mousse on thin layer of choc sponge filled with coconut mousse with rum pineapples.
We have Royal Chocolat - soft smooth choc mousse cake with a crunchy layer in between, very delicious.   We also have a Lemon chocolate mousse cake, and a vanilla/chocolate 'buttercake' lined with roasted almonds.  A small dessert from Cuisine: Strawberries in Red Wine "Soupe".

Did i hear somebody say.... macaroons?

Yes, finally!!  The second other reason for having to choose to take up Pastry... the perfect macaroons!!  (The other reason, if you're curious to know, was to know how to make rich flavorful, flaky and light croissants!  We did that in Basic last term).

Is it difficult?  No!  Are there many ways you could go wrong, YES!!  But luckily for me, we made a good mixture and respected all the parameters to make a good macaroon, and the result is fantastic!!  We went back to puff pastry again, this time with the inverted method, where the butter is outside of the dough.  The result is a surprisingly light and flake texture , less puffy, but still flaky, and it has a more melt in your mouth taste.

Cuisine, we looked at rhubarb and vanilla cream with shortbread cookie, and a "Hello Kitty" cake, I shall stick to that name.