My Blog

March 12, 2008

    This week I also did lunch instead of dinner. I need to adapt to my friends commitments. Since I have so many friends with kids, I try to invite one couple of kids and one without. I had some concerns about the quantity so I increase a bit of the portions.

    This week's recipes were:

• Onion Tart (Tarte à l'Oignon)
• Mussels with Wine and Cream Sauce (Mouclade)
• Vanilla Bavarian Cream with Raspberry Coulis (Bavarois à la Vanille, Coulis de Framboise)

The Cooking

    I love when a recipe allows you to prepare a big or tough part ahead of time, and the dough for the Onion Tart was just like that. According to the book, I could prepare it 2-3 days in advance while keeping it on the refrigerator. That's what I did, but then... When Saturday came, I checked out the though and it was tough like a rock. Did I ruin the dish? Well, I gave it an hour or so to reach room temperature and it was still pretty tough. I decided to roll out the dough anyway, and, surprise... It worked perfectly. I found this dough recipe quite easy to do.

    For the mussels dish it seemed like an easy task. I've done mussels many times and I've learned how to know when mussels are ready. That part was very easy. The hard part was creating a reduction with the liquid left-over and crème fraiche. The problem is that if you heat too much, crème fraiche can suffer so chemical separation  of the fat (like cheese), and that's exactly what happened.

    The desert was quite simple. Crème anglaise, like last week, whipping cream, gelatin powder and the raspberry coulies. I almost messed up the crème anglaise by cooking at a higher temperature than what I used last week, but at the end it worked out pretty well. The gelatin powder also had some issues becoming too firm before I mixed with the crème anglaise. My solution was to poor a little of the crème anglaise over the gelatin, mix until they were relative well homogeny and then turn it back into the big bowl w/ the rest of the crème anglaise.

The Results

    I think I never had home-prepared Tart dough before, because this was just perfect. The onion tart was very good. It didn't have onion taste, but a sweet mix of tart dough, cheese and nearly melted onion. Really wonderful and I'm glad I did two tarts instead of just one.

    The mussels were good, but not great. I was expecting something much better, but it was just like nearly every mussel recipe I had before. I'm starting to think there aren't any original way of cooking mussels. That said, I love mussels and I ate quite a bit.

    And, finally, after five not so great deserts, this one was excellent! It was not too sweet, or too moist or too dry, just great. And given how simple it was to prepare I think I'll have to do a few more times.

    Different from other "lessons", I think this one, although without any dish that stand out, was the most uniform experience with three very good dishes.

Technical Data

• Guests: Renato, Ana Elisa, Paulo, Angela, Belinha
• Total cost: $57
• Item hard to find: None
• Utensils bought: 9" tart pan ($12)
• Appliances bought: none 
• Best Dish: Onion Tart 
• Worst Dish: None
• Accompanying wines: Chateau roumieu-Lacoste, Haut-Barsac, Lauternes, France, 1999; Principessa Gavia, Gavi, Itaily, 2006; Hangtime  Pinot Noir, 2005, USA; Facelli, Syrah, 2003, USA. 

Score

Comments (2) for "Lesson 6: Onion Tart, Mussel...

We loved it, thank you very much Marcelo and Jordana. To be honest, I don't remember ever having tried mussels before, not my favorite food. However, last Saturday I felt compeled to try it and I actually like it, so that was a milestone for me :-) I loved the desert above all. I have a very sweet tooth and I had way more than I should have but it was very good. Thansk for invinting us, taking the time to prepare it and share it with friends. I think this is a really nice project that one day you'll look back and think about how much fun (and work) it was to do all this. You could maybe write a book about it once you're done. Cheers, Paulo, Angela, Bella e Leo By Paulo Oliveira - 3/13/2008 1:58 AM

Is not everybody that can follow recipes and be successful with the results . It requires a bit of talent . Marcelo has a good hand for it. I’ve been dining out lately in Seattle, trying the reviews for a few restaurants and could say that people would be happier tasting Marcelo’s cooking project. The mussels were in perfect sauce ( I didn’t notice the “chemical separation”) with flavors interacting in perfect chemistry (no chemical separation here). I’ve never had shellfish that didn’t have a bit of ocean taste. This one didn’t. Sorry Marcelo, I forgot that your cat likes mussels and there were no left over’s for him. I love onions! You invited the right person for this one. Onion tart! Uau!! Ana knows I can’t lie about food and if you see me not having a second round, is just my polite way to say it was average. I had to have a second and third slice of the tart (I bet you didn’t notice the third one) Highest score! The Vanilla Bavarian Cream with Raspberry Coulis : I would never think that a dessert with whip cream as a main ingredient could be so light in flavor. It was a very good way to clean the palate. Maybe just another tea spoon of sugar would make my ant palate go nuts. :) or Maybe not...just leave the way it is. Congratulations Marcelo & Jordana. We loved the lunch and we’re already thinking about the next lesson. :) By Renato Calmon - 3/15/2008 2:18 AM