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.

Regional cuisine: Touraine, Cote d'Azur

From the delights of Touraine region, we debond a rabbit, rolled over forcemeat of hind legs, and stuffed with mushrooms and prunes, served with goat cheese stuffed baked potatoes.  

From the delights of Cote d'Azur, we made beef provencale stew with handmade raviolis with tomato fillings. 

Last but not least:  Tian d'Agneau, lamb medallions balanced on a trio layers of tomato concassées,  mushrooms, and spinach sautéed in beurre noisette, served with its peppermint flavoured jus.  

The other starters we had raw tuna on puff pastry, warm salad with lightly smoked pikeperch (a kind of fish), marinated filets of fresh sardine with tomato and basil.

Pastry: Mousses and chocolates

Out of the cakes and pastries below, Rus who visited for 3 days this week, had the pleasure of tasting the Douceur Chocolat, base: hazelnut dacquoise (sponge) with creamy choc mousse, a crunchy choc disc balanced in between, another layer of choc mousse and another choc disc with deco.  Sorry guys and girls.... this could not be brought home, it would have melted.  I hope the chocolate pieces will be satisfactory.  We did a lot of chocolate this week....

Every tried 'creme brulee' on a vanilla/choc mousse cake?  

The last pic you see, is a coconut mousse sandwiched with choc joconde, and topped with mango-passion fruit mousse, aptly called Jamaica.

Regional: Auvergne, Basque, Ile de France

In Cuisine this week, we reviewed regional dishes of Ile de France (of which Paris is a part) with Asparagus d'Argenteuil with mushroom flan, Cotes d'Agneau Champvallon (lamb chops cooked in a potato gratin, which made a very yummy dinner above).  From the Basque country, where a very tasty blend of Spanish and French cuisine gives you piquillos peppers stuffed with salt cod,  chicken basque-style (rolled in bayonne ham and cooked in a tomato based stock), and from the Auvergne country, a very interesting stuffed cabbage dish.  The sauce is delicious!  The picture with the red check tea towel was my cabbage (wrapped in caul's fat) before cooking.  

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".

Sweet endings...

The last practical for pastry for the week was a very simple chocolate lava cake with a mousse and coconut ice cream, but the important point was to test our plating.  (Mine is on the grey marble).  We also made a strawberry cake (fraisier), which I believe most people incorrectly label it as a strawberry shortcake, in fact there's nothing 'short' about it at all ('short' meaning a heavy butter-based crisp, crunchy e.g. shortbread biscuits, tartshells).  This is just a plain and simple sponge with mousseline cream and fresh sweet strawberries.   The green layer on top is marzipan, edible of course!

For cuisine, we deboned a fish (while keeping it whole!) and stuff it with mushroom duxelles, we made an easter pâté in puff pastry (with lotsa eggs!  Doesn't it look like a SG 'steamed meat bun??), typical of Le Berry region of France, lastly, cod (real cod!) panfried, served with flemish-style red cabbage and beer jus vinaigrette.

Other dishes on demo, was a 'belgium pizza' - flammenkuchen, potjevelesch (a sort of jellified cold dish with various meat in it, it reminds me of some chinese cold appertiser), rooster in red wine finished with sauce thickened with fresh pig's blood.  2 plated desserts: mirabelle parfait, and caramel chibouste with speculoos (a type of thin spice cookie), and le poirat - pear tart.