Yummy, yummy meal #5, from sister #2

Some years ago, after internet but before Google, I learned that almond flour was used in cakes and as a thickener back in Jane Austen's day, and, of course, I developed a passion to try it if I could ever find it. Thus, today, when I discovered almond flour on the shelf at Whole Foods, I knew immediately that I was going to use it in today's sponge cake no matter what the recipe called for. This turned out to be just one of many substitutions in today's menu.

Unlike the Bride, I made the summer vegetables as diligently as I could--the artichokes stuffed with green beans, cauliflower, celery, tomato. But I drew the line at the mayo. I made it, yes, whisking away, cheating only on the quantity of oil I used, but I served the vegies plain, with the mayo alongside rather than mixed with the vegies. The vegies themselves were delicious. The cauliflower, lightly soaked in vinegar water, was crisp and flavorful. The beans were cooked to just the right state of undoneness. The celery added texture and crunch. The tomatoes provided a vivid red contrast. But Whole Foods didn't have curly endive, so I subsituted some rather odd smooth Belgian endive and a frizzy lettuce that, as far as I could tell, added nothing but expense.


The real revelation of the evening was the seafood cassoulet. I started from canned navy beans, not dry, because, honestly, I haven't had much luck with dry beans in the past, and I didn't feel like messing around with them today. They have always ended up too dry for my satisfaction, and I wanted a nice Toulousain mushiness tonight. Meanwhile, Whole Foods had no monkfish nor did they have Trout NOR did they have whiting filet. So I bought the six scallops required by the recipe and substituted pricey sea bass for the monkfish and filets of tilapia for the trout or whiting fillet. The resulting cassoulet was flavorful, seafood-rich without being "fishy", and the beans were tender.


And the almond flour-adulterated sponge cake was lovely with strawberries and blueberries on the side. I substituted 1/4 cup of almond flour for 1/8 cup of the potato and 1/8 cup of all-purpose flour. The cake had a light almond flavor, almost marzipan-ny, which I quite liked. The only disappointment was the crème anglaise which curdled slightly. It still tasted simultaneously decadent and comfy, but the texture wasn't quite as smooth as I hoped.

We--the husband, the niece, the fiancé, and I--agreed that this was the best Cordon Bleu meal yet. We had a lovely Portuguese white with all this yummy goodness. I'll post pictures just as soon as I can find my transfer cord thingie.

I want to mention level of effort. I started around 1:00 PM after I got home from the grocery store, and I spent the rest of the day cooking with a little quiet email/IM break around 3. We ate around 7:30 PM. The on-line Weightwatchers activity tracker estimated that I earned 8 points for all that standing, slicing and juggling of hot food to help offset the 18 points or so that the meal cost with all its butter, eggs, flour and sugar. (I estimated 240 minutes of activity --four hours rather than the six to seven I had spent--but I had to substitute "housework-ironing" as my activity. I guess Weightwatchers doesn't really want its members to use "cooking a three course meal" as one of its activities. It is the sort of thing that might lead to abuse.)