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
| Recipe | Ingredients | Preparation | Cooking | Taste (1-5) | Do it again? |
| Onion Tart | Very Easy | Easy (30min) | Easy (60min) | 4 | Likely |
| Mussels with Wine and Cream Sauce | Easy | Easy (30min) | Easy (20min) | 4 | Very Likely |
| Vanilla Bavarian Cream with Raspberry Coulis | Very Easy | Easy (20 min) | Easy (30 min) | 4 | Very Likely |
Table Legend: Ingredients - How hard to find them; Preparation - Cutting, assembling, washing, etc.; Cooking - Roasting, frying, searing, etc.; Taste - 1=inedible, 2=edible, 3=good, 4=great, 5=OMG; Do it again? - How likely would I do it again (based on cost, time and result).
January, 2008
My Browser
Del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Furl
StumbleUpon