Lesson 10: Sautés

Crème Vichyssoise
(Chilled Cream of Potato and Leek Soup)

Poulet Sauté Basquaise
(Chicken, Basque Style)

Riz Pilaf
(Rice Pilaf)

Tarte aux Pommes
(Apple Tart)

Cooked about January 27, 2008
(Lesson 9 has been postponed until spring)

Soup: Though Vichy is a city in central France, this chilled leek and potato soup is said to be the creation of a French chef working in the United States in the early years of this century. It has since returned to France, where the term vichyssoise is occasionally applied to cold soups in general. At Le Cordon Bleu, only the whites of the leeks are used in making the soup and they are mixed with only a small amount of potato to produce a creamy texture and refreshing taste.

Chicken and Pilaf: Dishes in the Basque style typically contain bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic, and ham -- and this one is no exception. Basque dishes can also be quite spicy (especially when they are seasoned with a local chili called piment d'espelette instead of pepper). At Le Cordon Bleu, a French version of the classic Turkish pilav (pilaf in French) accompanies the sauté.

Apple Tart: An apple tart can be as simple or as complicated as you like. At home in France, it is often made by layering thin-sliced apples over pie dough, dotting them with butter, sprinkling with sugar, and baking -- that's it. This Cordon Bleu apple tart is slightly more elaborate, but baking the dough blind and giving it an egg glaze before garnishing it ensures that the crust will never be soggy.

Vivi Cooks #10 over Two Days

I started with the Vichyssoise and the Apple Tart on Sunday, and cooked the chicken and the rice pilaf for dinner last night. I had expected the soup to be too light for a Sunday meal, so served it with lots of bread and cheese and a salad, but we hardly touched the cheese (though the bread was used for soaking up the remains of the soup).

We are a potato-leek soup household, and this version of potato-leek soup was particularly good. I was surprised how much it sticks to your ribs, after pureeing and then sieving out the solids -- of course, the cup of crème fraiche doesn't hurt, for flavor or rib-sticking. I should add that we cheated and ate it warmed, not chilled. It is January, people!

The Apple Tart was also divine, although we philistines added cinnamon over top, and whipped cream. The applesauce filling was a surprise, but very nice. I'd like to try the whole thing with pears (and pear-sauce) or in late summer, with applesauce filling but mixed fruit over top. I'm sure that's the basic operations at the Cordon Bleu.

The Chicken, Basque-style was also very tasty. Brother asks at every meal how much work the dish was to make, and takes effort into account alongside flavor. In other words, the Guinea Hen dish, while tasty, was marked down due to the vastly more than usual number of pans and pots to cook, and the hours and tediousness of preparation. This Basque Chicken, however, was really no more difficult than any pan-fried chicken. (Well, aside from the usual Cordon Bleu extra pans and warming plates.)



I really liked the Rice Pilaf, more so apparently than the Bride did. Easy and aromatic. I too made it with brown rice (but ran out, so about 1/3 of the rice was brown Jasmine rice, so perhaps that helped the aromaticity). The recipe called for a huge amount -- I didn't think about that when I was cooking. However, it is plain enough that we can serve the leftovers with other food later this week.