It's been a little while since I cooked anything worth posting but it was my Mom's birthday last night. A bit of a rush since I made dinner after work but it's all in the preparation - last minute sauce but mise-en-place done before and/or most of the major cooking, which means the only things I actually had to do was make the sauce, reheat and flash the duck, supreme the orange, re-heat the broccoli, toast the almonds and plate. Easy 60 minutes (only because the sauce takes a while).
Happy birthday Mom!
The result was a group effort - Dad made salad to which I added a few bits and pieces (roasting the almonds took the longest, surprisingly enough), Mom made the rice and I did the duck, sauce and veggies.
And I found out why you trim the duck's legs before you cook it. Trying to trim them after - well, the bones shattered into pieces and the ugly end was still attached. The confit leg may not have looked very pretty but apparently it tasted really good. Frankly, I couldn't face eating any duck after smelling the duck fat while it was cooking. Don't get me wrong, the duck fat actually smells really good but it's such a rich smell, all I wanted for dinner was a little rice and all veggies.
No madeira for the sauce. Oddly enough, the liquor store / bottle shop didn't have madeira. ("What? No madeira? What kind of bottle shop doesn't have madeira???") They had port but I forgot it at home so I cheated - red wine and orange juice. Substituted chicken stock for brown duck stock. Yes, shock horror - but it all still tasted pretty good so happy faces around the table.
Dad's pretty salad to the right with cherry heirloom tomatoes - just right with the toasted almonds and vinaigrette. The crisp greens were a perfect antidote to the duck fat smell. I think I would have been happy just to eat salad and nothing else. Why is it that there's so much pleasure in cooking but sometimes, the pleasure in the eating is just not there?
And then of course, dessert. You can't have a birthday without dessert...but I didn't have time to make it so I bought it from the deli. I have dessert guilt. On the other hand, this was gluten free and my gluten free repertoire is (thus far) very limited. Mousse, anyone?
In any event, a lovely night with the parents and they got to eat something they don't cook at home and isn't necessarily on a restaurant menu. Ah, Cordon Bleu was definitely not a waste, according to them. A true pleasure for me to have more people who like to eat!
(I am off to pick up some dinner - yes, yes, cheating but all in a good cause - I don't cook Chinese food at home.)
So until next time, happy Mother's Day, happy eating and a very good night to you all!
No pigeons
I forgot pigeons are out of season for another little while. Luckily there's a rather good butcher (reflected in the prices) just up the street. They were kind enough to order in some large quail - I figured it would be kind of similar to pigeon in size (although I didn't have to look for birdshot so hopefully that won't affect the timing during the Cuisine final). The options were to get smaller quails (6 in a packet) or the larger ones (the 4 in the packet below).
So you may ask how it went and the answer is...gloves are the answer. They keep the blood from sticking to your fingers and any worries about anything yuck being stuck under your nails - it still feels like there's crap under the nails even after scrubbing under them several times with a nail brush. Ugh. I'm ashamed to say that there was a little bit of distressed squealing when the tube-y things in the quail wouldn't come out easily and there had to be some yanking and pulling to get it out.
Anyway - there's a bit of an ick factor because you have to get all the spongy bits out of the ribs and things so that they don't cloud the sauce and make it taste yuck. The wine tonight is from a drier year - about twice the alcohol content of the one from last night, although it's the same grape and the same vineyard.
Ok - enough bitching and moaning. Back to the quails...the lucky (?) guinea pigs are my neighbors downstairs. They both had plans Friday night bu the quails had to be cooked so the plan is to have the plates and dinner the next night... the good butchers also had some duck fat - very nice, very clean - and expensive, of course. Luckily you can reuse the fat as long as you clean it so the plan is to filter it through coffee filters (I can't find the muslin cloth), then store it in the refrigerator. It's a pretty good incentive to make confit anything when you have the right fat.
It was kind of a tight fit to get the 8 legs into the pot but everything eventually settled down and the confit smelled quite nice, especially considering that I don't think quail tastes that nice.
Forgetting almost everything
So I had to check cooking times again because it's been so long since I cooked anything. The timing is for pigeon, so I have a feeling the legs are a bit over - the meat was kind of falling off the bone, which isn't quite the aim. Soft, but not falling apart...so will have to rethink the timing again. On the other hand, the rest of it seems to be on track. Somehow it's a lot harder to focus at home - so many distractions (laundry, dinner...Harry Potter and a quiddich match, etc. etc.)
Bloodless dinner
Given the blood from the quails (and having to clean out the spongy bits from inside) dinner was perch, hapa rice and broccoli. In case you didn't know, hapa rice is what my sister and I (I think we got it from in-laws) call the white rice/brown rice mix. The white rice is because it tastes better, the brown rice is a nod towards being healthy. I'm not sure how effective it actually is, but it doesn't feel so much like the husks from the brown rice get stuck in your teeth and it cooks faster.
A Saturday Lunch
I promised my friend JB that I would cook for him a while ago. It's taken us a little while but we finally managed to get ourselves organized. He tends to eat quite healthy so I had to think a little bit about what to make which would fit in the healthy, not too heavy (it was a hot afternoon) and edible meal. He said he would be happy with whatever I cooked, but since we both ended up laughing at the possibility of my making him beans on toast, a decision was made to have something that required just a little bit of technique. We ended up with stuffed mushrooms and garlic shrimp (prawn) starter, sauteed zucchini and pan fried salmon main and a burnt fig and caramel ice cream with mango for dessert. I didn't make the ice cream but I did play with it a little...
There was a moment of panic when the acetate wouldn't come out of the mould with the ice cream and I could see the ice cream slowly starting to ooze. Luckily we got it out and took off the acetate (I remembered this time). Normally I don't like mango, but it went surprisingly well with the ice cream and the mint.
We ate on the balcony, looking down to the water - sorry, somehow I didn't manage to get a photo but a lot of sailboats were out. The sun has since moved on and the clouds have rolled in. Perhaps the forecasted rain will still arrive.
Dinner
It seems the reheating can take quite a while - the fondant potatoes were giving me conniptions. It seemed to take at least another 15 minutes longer than I expected. The guinea pigs (AC and VB) were good choices - as they are both familiar with French food, I got a nice comment that it tasted like France. There was a bit of panic over the confit legs because the flesh kept falling apart so that I had difficulty getting a nice piece for presentation. Baby onions weren't available so I didn't plate them (or the green - parsley? - garnish) and I forgot to buy green olives so it wasn't an olive sauce. So far it seems like the dish will be ok - except the timing needs a bit of tightening up. Or a lot of tightening up...
I'm not sure if you've ever smelled duck fat. If you haven't, let me just say that it's quite a strong smell - so much so that before I was even finished cooking, I didn't feel like eating much. The result - some vegetables, confit potato (turned for mine) and a quail leg - for a taste. Actually it tasted quite nice, but I still didn't want anything heavier. Lucky for me, AC made a delicious salad and I ended up eating most of that instead. Then grapes for dessert - I think such heavy scents made the salad and fruit seem much more appealing because they are so much lighter.
Verdict - could be better, could be worse. Timing needs a bit of work and a few details need to be refined. Hopefully it will be a smooth run for the mock exam.
So until next time - may you be able to enjoy the meals you prepare with your friends and loved ones (instead of just meal times).
No madeira for the sauce. Oddly enough, the liquor store / bottle shop didn't have madeira. ("What? No madeira? What kind of bottle shop doesn't have madeira???") They had port but I forgot it at home so I cheated - red wine and orange juice. Substituted chicken stock for brown duck stock. Yes, shock horror - but it all still tasted pretty good so happy faces around the table.
