Well, it's now the end of August and my 30 week French cooking class ended back in May. I admit, I missed cooking every week with a really great group of people but the good news is I'm taking another cooking series.
In this 12 week class, we're going to be looking at 6 chefs from NY and also working from a book written about the different boroughs of NY by an author from Ohio. I was pleased to see several people from the 30 week class so there's familiar faces and there's 12 people in the class instead of 10 which makes for a large group.
The first chef is Gabrielle Hamilton.
We made several dishes as usual. The first was fried oyster omelettes with a tabasco slurry and tartar sauce. It was a strange combination of flavors, I must admit. Most of students either didn't care for it or loved it. The fried oysters tucked into an omelette was fine but the tartar sauce got really salty from the cornichons and the tabasco slurry was just well.... weird. The slurry is made from tabasco sauce and powdered sugar so it was a hot sauce that was sweet.
We also made mussels with snail butter and no there were no sails in the butter. The mussels were cooked in white wine and then broiled with the butter on the half shell and served with toast. The butter was really tasty and I could probably eat that on several things. The butter had garlic, shallot, brandy, parsley and salt and pepper in it and was really good.
The main dish we had was cod in saffron broth with leeks, potatoes and cabbage. The potato and veggies were lightly boiled in a separate pot, while the fish stock was flavored with saffron and other aromatics and reduced to a lovely flavorful golden broth. When the broth was reduced enough, the veg and potato was placed in a bowl and the broth ladled over to reheat everything back up and a piece of seared cod on top. The cod was seared with a Berbere spice mixture coating that included, coriander, cumin, cloves and pepper. It was light, flavorful and filling.
We also had mixed carrots with preserved lemon butter. We used the preserved lemons we made earlier in the spring, added butter, garlic and shallots and some basil to make a nice compound butter. We blanched some mixed colored carrots and put a little bit of honeycomb on top along with a dash of sea salt and served. I assure you, carrots have never tasted so good.
For dessert, we made lemon panna cotta with berries and black and white cookies. Both desserts were very light and refreshing and the panna cotta was super easy to make.
Our second class featuring recipes from Gabrielle Hamilton were really good. We cooked a vegetable tian, chicken braised in hard cider, toasted lamb wonton wraps in a beef broth with cayenne butter, roasted sweet potatoes with a brown butter vinaigrette with fried potato skins, a plum tart, cornmeal pound cake with rosemary syrup and poached pears.
Everything was really good but I have to admit the wonton wraps with beef broth was fantastic. It was simple yet flavorful and the broth with the spicy butter was wonderful. I can see myself sipping on that throughout a cold winter. I did forget to take a picture of the dessert plate I had with the cornmeal pound cake, pear and plum tart but that's okay. The pear was lightly flavored with wine and rosemary sugar mixture and was delicious. The pound cake was different but good. The cornmeal gave it a little different texture.
During class we also have a cocktail. Our first cocktail was called Diet Fresca, made with grapefruit juice, vodka, a scoop of sugar and tonic water. The next cocktail was called a Pimms Cup. It was made with Pimms, Boodles gin and ginger ale. Both were light and refreshing.
In this 12 week class, we're going to be looking at 6 chefs from NY and also working from a book written about the different boroughs of NY by an author from Ohio. I was pleased to see several people from the 30 week class so there's familiar faces and there's 12 people in the class instead of 10 which makes for a large group.
The first chef is Gabrielle Hamilton.
We made several dishes as usual. The first was fried oyster omelettes with a tabasco slurry and tartar sauce. It was a strange combination of flavors, I must admit. Most of students either didn't care for it or loved it. The fried oysters tucked into an omelette was fine but the tartar sauce got really salty from the cornichons and the tabasco slurry was just well.... weird. The slurry is made from tabasco sauce and powdered sugar so it was a hot sauce that was sweet.
We also made mussels with snail butter and no there were no sails in the butter. The mussels were cooked in white wine and then broiled with the butter on the half shell and served with toast. The butter was really tasty and I could probably eat that on several things. The butter had garlic, shallot, brandy, parsley and salt and pepper in it and was really good.
The main dish we had was cod in saffron broth with leeks, potatoes and cabbage. The potato and veggies were lightly boiled in a separate pot, while the fish stock was flavored with saffron and other aromatics and reduced to a lovely flavorful golden broth. When the broth was reduced enough, the veg and potato was placed in a bowl and the broth ladled over to reheat everything back up and a piece of seared cod on top. The cod was seared with a Berbere spice mixture coating that included, coriander, cumin, cloves and pepper. It was light, flavorful and filling.
We also had mixed carrots with preserved lemon butter. We used the preserved lemons we made earlier in the spring, added butter, garlic and shallots and some basil to make a nice compound butter. We blanched some mixed colored carrots and put a little bit of honeycomb on top along with a dash of sea salt and served. I assure you, carrots have never tasted so good.
For dessert, we made lemon panna cotta with berries and black and white cookies. Both desserts were very light and refreshing and the panna cotta was super easy to make.
Our second class featuring recipes from Gabrielle Hamilton were really good. We cooked a vegetable tian, chicken braised in hard cider, toasted lamb wonton wraps in a beef broth with cayenne butter, roasted sweet potatoes with a brown butter vinaigrette with fried potato skins, a plum tart, cornmeal pound cake with rosemary syrup and poached pears.
Everything was really good but I have to admit the wonton wraps with beef broth was fantastic. It was simple yet flavorful and the broth with the spicy butter was wonderful. I can see myself sipping on that throughout a cold winter. I did forget to take a picture of the dessert plate I had with the cornmeal pound cake, pear and plum tart but that's okay. The pear was lightly flavored with wine and rosemary sugar mixture and was delicious. The pound cake was different but good. The cornmeal gave it a little different texture.
During class we also have a cocktail. Our first cocktail was called Diet Fresca, made with grapefruit juice, vodka, a scoop of sugar and tonic water. The next cocktail was called a Pimms Cup. It was made with Pimms, Boodles gin and ginger ale. Both were light and refreshing.
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