The Bride decants Vin de Noix, Nocino

Today, I decanted the Vin de Noix and the Nocino that I made a couple of months ago. I don't have a picture yet, but I'll post one when I do. It all tastes a little rough and needs some time to sit and mature. But that could be said of any of us. At the rate we drink, I estimate that they will last 5 years.

Vivi starts early (or late?) for Christmas

I've started macerating dried fruit for Black Cake, for Christmas. This is a variant of fruit cake, which you frost with fondant (in the English way). I got the recipe from the Houston Chronicle when I was there for our aunt's funeral. That recipe is one adapted by Nigella Lawson from Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking. I'll bet The Bride makes a variant even closer to something cooked a hundred years ago.

(green walnuts stewing in spiced vodka for Nocino left,
and dried fruit in rum and Manischewitz right)

The black cake seems a lot like Mom's old fruit cake recipe, with the additional step of soaking the fruit in spirits before you bake the cake, then store it in liquor-soaked cheesecloth for months before eating.

I've never made it, so I won't post the recipe now. Once it's proved, maybe I will.

Vivi Decants Vin de Noix

A few days ago we decanted the first batch of the vin de noix -- the San Francisco Chronicle version of the recipe. (Read about the infusion step here.) It took about 20 coffee filters, in five cycles of straining -- after starting with cheesecloth over a fine metal sieve -- to clear out the sediment. The half batch I made provided us with five half-liter bottles to give away, and one to keep for ourselves. (Bottles from Costco World Market.)


We aren't sure we like the flavor. It is definitely nutty, and a little sweet, and it lasts in your throat for a long, long time after swallowing. But it is rather bitter, too, and one dimensional. I though the flavor was all on the back of the tongue; HomoDomi all on the front -- either way, it was simple, changing over time, but always in linear fashion. (I am not a foodie, I don't taste "hints of blackberry and compost" in an expensive wine (see below), but this is the only way to describe the liqueur's flavor). We added one tablespoon of maple syrup to the batch, instead of more sugar, and that helped, a little.

I am told by The Bride that the liqueurs can and will change and deepen in flavor over time, so we'll give this a while. This recipe is interesting because you steep the walnuts in wine, and only add vodka and sugar when you decant it. In comparison, the Nocino (and the other vin de noix recipe that The Bride is making) steep the walnuts in the vodka and sugar directly. So I imagine the liqueur will have ample opportunity to flower in flavor as it ages.

About that "blackberry and compost" -- this is from Posh Nosh, a wonderful filler show (e.g., 10 minutes long, filling space between irregular length shows) on BBC a few years ago:

The Bride Makes Vegetarian Curry: 3 Masala Beans

Here is another nice vegetarian curry. I'm giving the recipe as it appears in The Best-Ever Curry Cookbook, but I actually have never used the fenugreek in it. Someday I'll acquire some from Penzey's, but until then, it's good without. Two Weight Watcher points again and it's Core.

Masala Beans with Fenugreek

Serves 4

1 onion
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp chili powder
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 tomato cut in chunks, or use canned diced tomato
2 or 3 cups green beans, blanched
1 bunch fresh fenugreek leaves, stems discarded, or 1 TBSP dried fenugreek, also known as kasuri methi
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 tbsp lemon juice

1) Roughly chop the onion. Mix together the cumin, coriander, sesame seeds, chili powder, garlic, turmeric, salt.
2) Put the chopped onion and spice mixture into a food processor or blender, and process for 30 to 45 seconds until you have a rough paste.
3) In a wok or large pan, heat the oil over medium heat and fry the spice paste for about 5 minutes, stirring to make sure it doesn't burn.
4) Add the tomato chunks, the blanched green beans, fenugreek and chopped cilantro.
5) Stir Fry the contents of the pan for 5 to 10 minutes until the green beans are the way you like them - a little crispy, but not too. Then, sprinkle in the lemon juice and serve.

The Bride Makes Cherry Wine, Step two

The Cherry Wine I made last month is ready for step 2, so I strained and bottled it. Then, in a bit of a Martha moment, I made labels for it. It's a beautiful color and tastes lovely, although it's supposed to sit for a while yet before drinking. I saved the cherries and I'm going to macerate them for a while in a little kirsch and simple syrup, then make ice cream with them. I'm thinking the wine will make a nice Sangria.

The Bride Makes A Vegetarian Curry: Spinach and Potato Curry

Here is another favorite vegetarian curry. You can use frozen spinach or a package of baby spinach to save time. This one has 2 Weight Watcher points, and is Core. And, best of all, it can be made with ingredients you have on had - if you keep spinach in your freezer.

Spinach With Golden Potatoes

1 lb spinach, or any other greens, chard, tatsoi, kale, whatever
1 TBSP vegetable oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 TBSP fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped - optional
1 1/2 pounds potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne, optional
1/2 cup water

1) Clean and blanch the spinach in boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes, then drain in a strainer and leave to cool. When it is cool enough to handle, squeeze out any remaining liquid. If using baby spinach or frozen spinach this step can be omitted.

2) Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat and fry the mustard seeds until they begin to splutter.

3) Add the sliced onion, crushed garlic, and chopped ginger and the red pepper, if you are using it. Fry for about 5 minutes, until the onions are soft, stirring occasionally.

4) Stir in the potatoes, chilli powder, salt and water and cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more water if the water cooks down. You should have just a little bit on the bottom of the pan creating steam, but not drenching the potatoes.

5) Add the spinach to the pan. If you omitted step 1, the volume of the spinach may overflow the pan. Let it cook down for a minute or two and add the rest. Cover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Add more water if necessary.

6) Serve with rice and plain yogurt.

The Bride Makes Vegetarian Curry: 1 Aubergine Curry

I've been cooking vegetarian curries frequently this summer. They are low in calories and high in wonderfulness. I'm posting my two favorite recipes. No pictures, unfortunately. One serving is 2 WW points with or without mushroooms and without peas. Add the peas and it's 4 WW points. Any which way, it's Core. And it's really really really good whichever way you do it.

Roasted Aubergine Curry

4 servings.

2 large aubergine (eggplants)
2 TBSP oil (more or less)
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 TBSP fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 fresh red chili, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
14 ounce can diced tomatoes, or 2 cups fresh tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 cup frozen peas, optional
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms, quartered, optional

1) Apply about 1 TBSP of oil to the skins of the whole eggplants by rubbing it in with your hands. Prick the sides with a fork. Place in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. When the aubergine is soft, it's done. Take it out and let it cool somewhat.

2) While the aubergine is cooling, heat the remaining TBSP of oil and add the black mustard seeds. Leave them for a minute or two until they start to sputter. Then add the chopped onion, garlic and chili pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the onion is soft. Add the ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne and salt and stir through, allowing it to cook with the onions for another 2 or 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes.

3) While the tomatoes are simmering, return to the eggplant which is now cooled enough that you can handle it. Cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Discard the skin (and therefore 1 TBSP of the oil. Neat, eh?). Mash the flesh as best you can.

4) When the tomatoes have simmered for a while, add the aubergine mash and, if you are using the mushrooms and/or peas, add them now, too. Mix well. Reduce heat and cook for about 20 mnutes. Then add most of the coriander and stir through. At this point you can leave it to simmer at a very low temp until you are ready to eat it.

5) Serve garnished with the rest of the coriander and rice.

The Bride makes Walnut and Cherry Liqueurs

The Bride, following in Vivi's footsteps, has made two kinds of walnut liqueur. (Thanks for sending me the walnuts, Vivi and Girl child). The middle jar and the righthand jar are Vin de Noix and Nocino, respectively. I actually used the other recipe for the Vin de Noix, the one Vivi didn't use. It calls for 'bitter orange peel'. I'm working on getting it, but I just went ahead and made it without. And the Nocino on the far right - look how dark it has gotten. It started out clear with lovely green walnut quarters floating in it. I only made 1/2 recipe of each, because that's how many walnuts I had. If it's good, I'll have to get Vivi to send me more next summer.

The 2 gallon jar on the far left is Vin de Cerise, made from a recipe in the same French cookbook as the Vin de Noix recipe I used. This one we've made before and I love it. I highly recommend trying this while the cherries are available. I made the full 3 liters, but you could make less.

Vin de Cerise
3 liters of red or rose wine
1 kilo of black cherries
1/2 litre of vodka or eau de vie
500 grams of sugar

Crush the cherries (I put them in a strong plastic zip lock bag and smashed them with a flat meat tenderizer.) Leave the pits in place - much of the flavor comes from the pits. Put everything in a large jar. Mine is 2 gallons. Swirl the contents around every day for 15 days of maceration. After that, filter and put in bottles and let sit a little longer. The cherries that you filter out are really good with ice cream, once you pick the pits out.

Raspberry Cranachan (for Vivi from The Bride)

Raspberry Cranachan

This recipe is easy to make and full of flavor. You can use any soft fruit you happen to have. You can also adapt it as a breakfast dish, leaving out the whisky and substituting yogurt for part of the cream

3/4 cup oatmeal (not instant oatmeal)
1 pint raspberries
2 1/2 cups whipping cream
4 TBSP runny honey (a few seconds in the microwave will make it runny enough)
4 TBSP malt whiskey

Scatter the oatmeal on a baking tray and toast in a low oven or under a medium grill until golden. Watch it closely or it may burn.

Blend 50 grams of the raspberries in a blender until smooth. Whip the cream until stiff, then stir in the honey and whiskey and mix well but do not over-whip. Mix in 50 g of the oatmeal, then carefully fold in the raspberry purée to form a rippled effect.
Spoon the mixture into individual glasses or a serving dish, then scatter the rest of the berries and the remaining oatmeal on top.

Walnut Liqueurs

The Bride posted on her own blog, last fall, three recipes for walnut liqueur. It just so happens, we have friends with a huge walnut tree shading the back yard, and they offered us a step-ladder and welcome to as many walnuts as I could carry away (and come back and get more! Please! They drop from the tree, staining laundry on the line below it, attracting squirrels, and destroying tender plants. Not to mention, the dropping walnuts make a picnic in the backyard a chicken-little experience).

So, a couple of days ago, Girl-child and I picked 110 green (unripe) walnuts, more or less (she still occasionally leaves out 14 and 28, and sometimes gets confused at the transition from one decade to the next). We mailed about 30 to the Bride, and pulled out about 40 for me, and the rest will be used by our brother to make walnut oil for use in making his own paints.

Tonight, the children and I pulverized 18 walnuts for Vin de Noix, the recipe from the San Francisco Chronicle by Georgeanne Brennan (see The Bride's blog for details). The recipe calls for 35 green walnuts and 7 bottles of red wine! We don't need that much, so I halved the amounts. I had intended to use entirely local ingredients, to keep the terroire, but accidentally bought a California plonk, ur, I mean, wine, for the vin rouge. I don't think it will destroy the flavors. The photo shows the wine, some of the unpulverized walnuts and the pulverized walnuts soaking in the wine (for 40 days in a cool, dark place). On the first day of the children's school, I will strain and fortify it with sweetened vodka, and then bottle it and set it aside until we're ready to drink it.

Another 25 walnuts were more neatly cut into quarters, and then mixed with sugar, vodka, lemon zest, cloves and a cinnamon stick. It's so pretty! This is for an Italian version of the same liqueur, Nocino. No wine here, just the hard stuff (made in Oregon, too!). This bottle is supposed to sit in the sun, not in a cool, dark chat-bouton, for 60 days, at which point I will strain and decant it. This should be ready at the autumn equinox.


I'm eager to taste both of these. The walnuts have an unusual tart scent; the cutting board is stained yellow-green, but my fingers, from handling the pieces, are stained a beautiful dark brown, getting darker over the last hour. I would never have guessed that walnut stain comes from the green walnuts, not the ripe ones.

What The Bride is doing with the home made ricotta

With the home made ricotta I made this afternoon, I am making the following pasta. I'm going to use a whole wheat pasta for health, but since I used whole milk and cream for the ricotta it's probably futile. I'm serving it with a sliced tomato salad with a garlicky dressing, and green beans from Appleton Farm.

Lemony Ricotta Pasta with Basil
from Apartment Therapy, the Kitchen blog

Serves 6

1 lb good quality pasta in a short twisted shape such as gemelli or penne
2 cups of home made ricotta (or a 15 ounce package of good store bought ricotta)
1 cup freshly grated good quality Parmesan
2 TBSP olive oil
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil, sliced thing as in a chiffonade.

Set a pot of water to boil. When it boils add a few teaspoons of salt and the pasta.

Stack the basil leaves and Roll them into a tube, then cut very thinly into strips. Put aside until the end.

In a metal bowl wide enough to fit over the top of the pasta pot, mix together the remaining ingredients. excluding the basil.

When about 2 minutes remain in the pasta cooking time, put the bowl over the pot and slowly stir the ricotta and other ingredients. You will see it loosening as you stir. When the pasta is cooked al dente, drain it and add the basil to the bowl of sauce and toss with the pasta.

Because this recipe is so simple, everything depends on using the best quality, fresh ingredients.

Yum.

Home Made Ricotta from The Bride

Also not a Cordon Bleu recipe, but good, while we are trying to figure out what to do with this blog.

Home Made Ricotta

2 quarts whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 TBSP fresh lemon juice

Bring the milk, cream, and salt to a rolling boil over medium heat, stirring frequently so it doesn't burn. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil over. When it is boiling, add the fresh lemon juice and reduce heat to low. Stir constantly until it curdles - 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

Pour into fine cheesecloth or a linen dish towel draped over a colander or sieve. Leave for 1 hour, until the liquid has drained out. Longer if you want it firmer. Store in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Makes about 1 quart of cheese, depending on how long you actually leave it to drain.

Marlene's Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

5 cups cut-up rhubarb
4 cups sugar

Stir. Let sit over night. Bring to boil, add 1 small package of strawberry jello and grated rind of one orange.

This is good, really really good.

(from Mom, Marlene's sister-in-law)

This is not in any way a Cordon Bleu recipe, as it involves only one pan and one bowl, does not go into great detail (or, to be specific, any detail) about what to do with the jam (i.e., processing it). Also, I doubt Cordon Bleu depends on jello or artificial flavoring.

However, it is really, really, good. And very easy to make.

Desultory Cordon Bleu from Vivi

Over the last couple of weeks, we've slacked off a lot on Cordon Bleu, for a number of reasons. One of the household is formally On A Diet (and others of us are informally following suit because we really need to anyway). Money is tight, this tax month, and Cordon Bleu meals tend to be pricey. And I haven't been that interested in cooking (I've had a cold), nor in the meals as presented.

However, we have done some. I made a cheese soufflé a week ago Saturday, that was quite tasty. I've never made one before, and it was both surprisingly easy, and fun to watch bake.

(through the oven door, Before....and After)






And it was very tasty. I used the called-for cheese, a Conté, basically a French Swiss cheese (with no holes), which I got at Trader Joe's for cheap. Stinky, but very nice melted with a lot of eggs.
Then, on Wednesday this week, I made the dessert for Lesson 16 (for which I have not made the other dishes), Pêches, Poires, et Pruneaux au Vin Rouge (Poached Fruit in Red Wine). I used pears and prunes, as called for (but no peaches, as they are out of season, and you can't even get them from Mexico -- which of course, we wouldn't do anyway, for environmental reasons). It calls for madeleines alongside, which I was excited about, because I've never had madeleines.

Every time I encounter Pears poached in Red Wine, something about them, perhaps the spicy, sweet-sharp scent of the dark syrup, reminds me of Mother Bleu's eldest sister. She served them for dessert once, for Mother Bleu and me. I was a callow girl in her mid-20's, unworldly, still full of hopes and dreams not yet set adrift by so-called "polish" or refinement.

I really ought to read more of Proust before I try writing a send-up. By "more" I mean "any".

I actually did first experience this dish at our aunt's house, but I can't remember anything at all about the meal or the visit, except that we had pears poached in red wine. I had never eaten anything so sophisticated. To be honest, I remember more delight in being treated as a grown-up than in the flavor combination -- the pears were fruit after all, not chocolate or ice cream, and the wine tasted very, well, winey -- I didn't drink wine in those days, and certainly didn't like red wine. But, my, I felt urbane, eating that dessert.

My tastes have changed dramatically. Everyone quite liked the pears (not the children -- the pears and prunes are fruit after all, not chocolate or ice cream, which they chose instead). I used, I fear, the cheapest Shiraz from Australia that I could find, not the Burgundy called for, but it didn't seem to make a difference. And I forgot entirely to serve the madeleines! (which I had purchased, not made.) I want to make the dish again, if only to get those literary cookies on the table.

For those without the recipe, it's essentially a bottle of red wine, 10 oz. red currant jelly (no sugar), 12 peppercorns, and a cinnamon stick. Let it boil for 5 minutes, then poach the peeled and cored fruit (6 pears and 6 peaches, and 24 prunes) for 15 minutes. Let the whole mixture cool together, and serve. They have you soak the prunes in water for 20 minutes ahead of time, but I had purchased fresh, soft prunes, and after 5 minutes they were half dissolved.

(By the way, they are now called not prunes, but dried plums, as Baby Boomers hope to differentiate their middle age digestive issues from those of their parents').

We will have a guest for dinner on Sunday, so it will be another Cordon Bleu day. I haven't yet decided whether to cook from Lesson 16 (Carrot Soup and Breaded Veal Scallops -- I'll use Eggplant -- with Milanaise Sauce and Spaghetti), or Lesson 17 (Duck Breasts with Pears). If I do the former, we could have the Poached Pears again (this time remembering the madeleines). Otherwise, it will be Pots de Crème (and it's hard to bypass Pots de Crème, particularly when they are vanilla, chocolate and coffee flavored. It's not a fruit dessert, after all).

How to fix sauces that 'break'

A while back, we had problems with a sauce 'breaking' and kind of had to fudge the results. I've just learned what to do when your sauce breaks, so I thought I'd post it here.  This is from Apartment Therapy - The Kitchen blog.

If your sauce is just starting to break, little droplets of fat will start to form around the edges of the bowl. When you see this, hold off adding more fat for the moment and add a little liquid instead. Use a teaspoon or two of whatever liquid you've used as a base (like water, wine, vinegar) and whisk vigorously.  The sauce should tighten up in a few seconds and the fat droplets will get suspended back into the emulsion. If the sauce isn't thick enough yet, you can pick back up with adding the fat one teaspoon at a time.

If your sauce has broken completely, the fat and liquid have separated and the sauce will look grainy and thin.  To save this one, you need to take a few extra steps.  In a separate bowl, whisk together one egg yolk and a teaspoon of whatever liquid you've been using as a base. Whisking constantly, add the broken sauce to this egg yolk one teaspoon at a time. This will form a fresh emulsion and a new stable sauce.  If you're making a warm sauce and the eggs start to cook, unfortunately there's not a lot you can do to save it. If you're down to your last egg or stick of butter, you can strain out the curdled egg and begin a new sauce using a fresh egg and the old sauce as we describe above. 

Spring Doldrums?

Very little activity on HotDish recently. I haven't had time to update the menu to the next lesson (which is Cheese Souffle, Poached Salmon Trout and a Clafouti made with Cherries). The menu is rather high in eggs, as usual, and because it was Easter Weekend, we were already rather overrun with egg dishes of other sorts, so we've put it off a week.

Instead we had a good old traditional meal -- for Thanksgiving, that is: turkey and stuffing, roasted vegetables, salad, with coconut cream pie for dessert. I used the Cordon Bleu method for cooking the turkey, turning it every 30 minutes, and it was a splendid bird. I also sort of roasted the veggies a la Cordon Bleu, except I refused to pre-cook everything (which I should have done, because in the end we had to hold dinner 15 minutes for them to finish).

Ne pas Cordon Bleu -- Cordon Au'Vert!

A day late and a dollar short, but here's my entry for the St. Patrick's day feast we ate last night. Green beer, corned beef and boiled veggies, with homemade Irish Currant Loaf with lots o' butter on the side. (I don't know why the recipe for the bread isn't called Irish Soda Bread, because it's identical, aside from being half whole-wheat, and not calling for the optional caraway seeds.)



And a moment of silence in memory of Father Bleu, who would have turned 85 today.

Not-Quite Real-time Cordon Bleu blogging by Vivi

Saturday night
I started Lesson #14 Saturday night after finishing dinner and dishes. I couldn't find any candied orange peel (for the orange ice cream) at the store, so I decided to make my own. I hadn't looked very hard -- I remember Blithe making candied citrus peel (was it grapefruit or orange?) in married student housing in St. Anthony Park, back in The Day. I also started the old-fashioned No-Knead Bread, (since my copy of the infamous Artisan Breads in 5 Dollars a Day hasn't come in from the library yet) so I had to get that stirred together 18 hours before second rise.

Sunday morning
This morning I completed the candied orange peel, which then required to air-dry for an hour (end of Joy of Cooking recipe) and then to macerate in Cointreau for another hour (beginning of the Cordon Bleu recipe -- I used my homemade 44 instead of Cointreau). Then I took a break from Cordon Bleu and made Breakfast Burritos for the gang who go out to play soccer at 8:30 a.m. every Sunday (from a recipe in The Week magazine).


Sunday afternoon
Half the afternoon was spent badgering, urr, encouraging Boy-Child to write up his Science Fair project. The other half seemed to go to making the Orange Ice Cream. First the base, which was egg yolks, sugar, and hand-squeezed orange juice (no diary in this ice "cream"). Then the chilling of the base. Then the freezing in the ice cream making machine (which has a place of honor on a drop-down shelf built by the resident Bleus Brother, outside the back door). Then the continued chilling of the thickened ice cream in the freezer.

And then the pureeing of the strawberries for the sauce. I used frozen (the fresh are hit -- bullseye hit -- or miss, these days). The recipe calls for something like 1 cup of confectioner's sugar with the puree, but remembering that Cordon Bleu is often too sweet for my taste, I used perhaps 1/4 of that (after ascertaining that the puree did need some sweetening). And It Was Good.

As early afternoon slid into late afternoon, I baked the No-Knead Bread and started on the main dishes for dinner.


Late afternoon, early evening
I'm still not having much luck with mussels. The Coquilles Saint Jacques Dieppoise was supposed to be mussels, shrimp and scallops -- but I discovered that the stink in the fridge was that every single one of my mussels were dead by the time I went to cook them. I bought them only yesterday, but I guess Fred Meyer is not the place to buy mussels. (Also, they were picked up early in my shopping run, and they may simply have gotten too warm while I finished my purchases. I feel badly for all those wasted little lives.) In the end, the dish was good, but I think it would have been better with the mussels -- the sauce (in Lesson #6) of mussels, shallots, butter, wine and parsley was amazing.

However, the Foie de Veau (or in my case, Pork Loin Chops) was delicious, and quite easy to make (relatively speaking). It is sautéed meat, with a sauce of the drippings in the pan seared with apple cider vinegar and beef broth (supposed to be veal stock, but you take what you can get). On the side, roasted potatoes and apples. Really really good potatoes and apples, and the meat was delicious, too. I fried up one slice of calf's liver, to try. We all dutifully tasted it (including, surprisingly Girl-Child, who hated it, but at least she tried), and gratefully returned to the pork. The sauce was perfect with the dark flavor of the liver, but you have to really like liver (which I don't).

The Porc au Vinaigre et aux Deux Pommes gets very high marks from the whole household, on a par with our very favorites, the Truite Amandine and the Fish Cassoulet.

Sunday night
We finished off with the ice cream, in its pool of strawberry sauce. It didn't entirely freeze hard, but even in softserve format it worked particularly well. I do not as a rule care for fruit ice creams, yet I went back for seconds, and even for thirds, and now am doubting I will ever fit into a nice dress for Daughter-of-The-Bride's wedding in only 2.5 months.

We think this dessert would be especially good in deep summer, when it's very hot outside -- on one of those days when we take hours to drift through dinner, and drink a whole pitcher of Sangria between us.

Back on track?

Yo, mes soeurs! Are we back on track for this weekend?

Frankly, I'm not so sure about the Foie de Veau -- intrigued, but I expect in this household, a main dish of calf's liver for 6 will have, after everyone has eaten their fill, about 5.5 servings left over. I am thinking of cooking one calf's liver (beef liver, actually) this way in a small side pan, and substituting another meat for the rest of it. Perhaps pork chops (I know, it seems a travesty, but the flavors would probably go together nicely) or maybe pork tenderloin?

But the starter and dessert sounds good! The meal needs a veg and a starch, from my point of view, too. Easy enough.

Any thoughts?

Irritably Crediting Cordon Bleu with Taste

Perhaps the primary lesson I appear to have learned so far from cooking the Cordon Bleu, is how bad food can taste when it's poorly cooked, or cheap. I am now halfway through my trip away, in a small town. I would expect that a small town would have one good restaurant, but I haven't found it yet. The recommended seafood restaurant used frozen vegetables in its seafood wine sauté, and the wine was cheap and the seafood may have been frozen too. I don't think I could have told before that the food needed something. Another's fish fry had bland batter and too much of it. I bought some locally cooked sandwich bread and have been eating in my room but the bread has as much taste as cardboard. The canned soup I'm eating lacks that extra dimension in the broth.

I have just this evening learned of an apparently superior Mexican restaurant in town. I will try that tomorrow.

How will I stay down on the farm, now that I've tasted Paris?