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.