The pastry in this recipe is called pâte brisée sucrée (or pâte sucrée), which is a sweet French short crust and generally used for desserts. It is generally more crumbly and cookie-like, and you can flavour it with vanilla, kirsch, or brandy. Although you can use pâte brisée as the pastry, the addition of sugar and vanilla makes it extra nice for desserts.

Tarte aux pommes is a well-known dessert in the Normandy region of France. Normandy is famous for its rich cream and apples. A similar tart called tarte Normande has a mixture of applesauce and ground almonds in it.

map from Wikipedia

Recipe for Pâté Sucrée adapted from Le Cordon Bleu at Home

175 g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
75 g (½ cup) cake and pastry flour
4 ounces (7 tablespoons) butter, softened
1 egg
Pinch salt
40 g (3 tablespoons) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water
1 egg, slightly beaten, for glazing




Measure the flours into a large mound on the counter. Make a well and add the egg, salt, sugar, and vanilla. Mix the ingredients in the well with your fingertips. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips or pastry scraper until well blended. (The butter should not be too cold because then it will be too hard to rub in. However, it should not be too warm or soft because then it will make the pastry tough.) Add the water. Bring the mixture to a dough, adding more water if necessary. Knead the pastry very lightly (by pushing bits of dough away from you, which is called fraisage, or final blending). Wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and chill it again. Blind bake the crust by heating the oven to 425°F. Prick the base of the dough (called docking). Line the shell with parchment paper, foil, or even plastic wrap (which is the most flexible and doesn't melt in the oven). Fill with pie weights. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 375°F and continue baking until pastry is a light golden color. Remove the lining and pie weights. Continue baking if you're completely cooking the pie shell for about 8-12 minutes until browned. Cool.

Recipe for Tarte aux pommes adapted from Link


Serves 6; 1 tart pan (8 inch or 21 cm)

Compote
3 apples, chopped into a paysanne (small squares)
50 g (3½ tablespoons) butter
50 g (3½ tablespoons) sugar
1 lemon, juiced
50 ml (3 tablespoons) water

Garnish
3 apples, sliced into ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick slices
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ cup apricot glaze

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Dust the work surface with flour. Roll out the pastry to a round about ⅛ inch (3 mm). Don’t roll it too thick or it will be hard and don’t roll it too thin or it will break. Roll the pastry up onto the rolling pin or fold it in half and then unroll loosely over the tart pan.

With your fingers, press the pastry into the pan. With a thumb and index finger, mold a 1 cm (½ inch) horizontal lip around the inside of the rim, then roll the rolling pin over the rim to cut off the excess pastry.

Pinch the lip of pastry into a decorative shape with pastry pinchers or your fingers. Prick the bottom of the pastry shell (also called docking) all over with a fork and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Blind bake the tart shell. Remove from the oven and cool.

To prepare the apple compote, peel and core the apples. Cut the apples into a paysanne (small squares).

Melt the sugar and water and cook until a golden brown. Add the butter, lemon juice, and apples. Cook until the apples are slightly tender, about 8 minutes, stirring very frequently.

Spoon the apple compote into the blind baked tart shell.

Peel and core the remaining apples. Cut each in half. Lay each half flat on a work surface and cut crosswise into ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick slices. Fan the apples and starting at the outside edge and working inward towards the center, arrange the apple slices.

Mix the softened butter with the sugar. With the back of a spoon spread this mixture over the apple slices.

Wrap aluminum foil over the cooked lip of the tart shell to protect from burning during cooking. Bake in the oven for about 40-50 minutes or until the apples are tender and golden brown. Remove and allow to cool on a cake rack.

To serve, heat the apricot glaze in a small saucepan. Gently brush over the apple slices to coat completely with the glaze. Serve warm or cold.

Tasting Notes

Since I used Granny Smith apples, the pie had a tartness to it. It had a pure, traditional apple pie taste. The pastry was delicious: flaky and crunchy. Next time I would add some cinnamon for fun.

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Running total: $125.09 + $1.76 (pâte sucrée) + $4.92 (tarte aux pommes) = $131.77

Quiche is derived from the German word kuchen, which means cake. It consists of an egg custard (eggs, cream or milk, and seasoning), usually one type of cheese, and fillings (such as bacon, ham, sausage, vegetables, and so on) baked in a crust.

This dish comes from the Lorraine region of France.

map from Wikipedia

Quiche can be served hot or cold and is typically served for breakfast or brunch, but it also makes a nice hors d'œuvre. According to Mastering the Art of French Cooking, a classic Quiche Lorraine does not contain cheese.

From Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom

You can use heavy or light cream or milk. Here are the proportions:

* 1 egg in a measuring cup plus cream or milk to the ½-cup level
* 2 eggs in a measuring cup plus cream or milk to the 1-cup level
* 3 eggs in a measuring cup plus cream or milk to the 1½-cup level
* and so on

Blind bake the crust so that you have a crispy crust, which is especially important when baking a pie shell that contains a filling.

For the pâte brisée, follow the same instructions as for the Flamiche.

Recipe for Pâte Brisée

9 inch fluted, removable-bottomed tart pan

200 g (1 cup) flour (half all-purpose and half cake and pastry flour)
5 g (¾ teaspoon) salt
1 egg
100 g (6 tablespoons) butter
15-30 mL (1-2 tablespoons) water

Measure the flour into a large mound on the counter. Make a well and add the salt, egg, and butter. Mix the ingredients in the well with your fingertips. Rub it in with your fingertips or pastry scraper until well blended. (The butter should not be too cold because then it will be too hard to rub in. However, it should not be too warm or soft because then it will make the pastry tough.) Add only enough water to bring the dough together. Knead the pastry very lightly (by pushing bits of dough away from you, which is called fraisage, or final blending). Wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and chill it again. Blind bake the crust by heating the oven to 425°F. Prick the base of the dough (called docking). Line the shell with parchment paper, foil, or even plastic wrap (which is the most flexible and doesn't melt in the oven). Fill with pie weights. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 375°F and continue baking until pastry is a light golden color. Remove the lining and pie weights. Continue baking if you're completely cooking the pie shell for about 8-12 minutes until browned. Cool.

Recipe for Quiche Lorraine adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Note: I've added leeks and cheese. I think I was sleeping when I was doing my research for this one since classic Quiche Lorraine doesn't include them. Next time, I'll leave them out!

Serves 4-6

1 pound leek, white parts only, sliced (about 3½ cups)
½ cup water
3 tablespoons butter

½ to 1 cup bacon, cooked and sliced
3 eggs
1½ cups whipping cream
1 teaspoon salt (leave out if including the bacon)
pinch of pepper
pinch of nutmeg
8-inch pastry shell, partially cooked

¼ cup (1 ounce) Swiss or Gryère cheese, grated
1 tablespoon butter, cut into pea-sized dots

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a covered saucepan, put the leeks, water, salt (if using), and butter, and boil over moderately high heat until liquid has almost evaporated. Lower heat and gently cook for 20-30 minutes until leeks are very tender.

If desired, blanch the bacon in simmering water for 10 minutes to remove the smoky flavor. Then, in a skillet, cook the bacon and set aside.

Blend the eggs, cream, and seasonings. Gradually stir in the leeks and bacon. Check seasoning. Pour into pastry shell. (Fill the shell no more than ¾ full to allow room for puffing.) Sprinkle with the cheese and dot with butter. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until puffed and browned.

Tasting Notes

This is a tasty, rich quiche. I found the quiche too salty and next time wouldn't include the salt if I'm including the bacon too.

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Running total: $111.29 + $1.68 (pâte brisée) + $12.12 (quiche) = $125.09

Butter used so far: 1 pound, 15 tablespoons

Pâté (pah-tay) Pantin is a small pork pastry. Pâté has never been something I’ve been interested in eating. The thought of eating liver sounds awful to me. So, it is with great trepidation that I attempt to make this.

First some background. Pâté comes from the French word pâte, which means pastry or paste. It refers to a well-seasoned ground-meat dish that contains spices, and in most cases, brandy or some other alcoholic liquid, that can be either chunky or smooth. If cooked in a crust, it’s called pâté en croûte. If cooked in a terrine cooking dish, it’s called pâté en terrine. Julia Child called pâté "a luxurious cold meat loaf" (The French Chef Cookbook). However, to call pâté meatloaf seems sacrilege. You can also cook it without a mold.

The best pâté has a complex range of distinct textures and flavors. Pâté is a flagship product of Brittany, one of the 26 regions of France. It occupies a large peninsula in the northwest of the country, lying between the English Channel to the north and the Bay of Biscay to the south.

map from Wikipedia

A pâté can be made from one or more of the following base meats (called forcemeats): beef, chicken, duck, fish, goose, ham, lamb, liver, pheasant, pork, seafood, vegetables, or wild game.

It is typically wrapped in caul fat (pronounced KAHL), which is the edible, lace-like fatty intestinal lining of an animal. As the pâté is roasted, the caul fat melts, bastes and flavours the pâté, and leaves a brown lacy texture on the top. What more could you ask from pig caul fat (which I guess is better than sheep caul fat)! Thin strips of bacon can be used as a substitute, and I've read that some chefs use cabbage or chard leaves instead. You can buy caul fat at some butcher shops and freeze it indefinitely.

I used the same pâté brisée recipe as I did for the Flamiche.

Recipe for Pâte Brisée

9 inch fluted, removable-bottomed tart pan

200 g (1 cup) flour (half all-purpose and half cake and pastry flour)
5 g (¾ teaspoon) salt
1 egg
100 g (6 tablespoons) butter
15-30 mL (1-2 tablespoons) water

Measure the flour into a large mound on the counter. Make a well and add the salt, egg, and butter. Mix the ingredients in the well with your fingertips. Rub it in with your fingertips or pastry scraper until well blended. (The butter should not be too cold because then it will be too hard to rub in. However, it should not be too warm or soft because then it will make the pastry tough.) Add only enough water to bring the dough together. Knead the pastry very lightly (by pushing bits of dough away from you, which is called fraisage, or final blending). Wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Recipe for Pâté de Campagne adapted from Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home

Yield: 20 or more appetizer slices

For the spice mix:
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
24 allspice berries
6 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme

For the forcemeat:
¾ pound veal shoulder, coarsely ground
2¼ pounds pork shoulder (Boston butt or pork butt), coarsely ground
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
⅓ cup shallots, chopped
¼ ounce dried porcini mushrooms, chopped dry into ¼ inch pieces (about 3 tablespoons)
⅓ cup pistachio nuts
⅓ cup white wine
2 tablespoons cognac
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons salt
½ pound veal shoulder
4 ounces chicken livers, cleaned and trimmed of sinews
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cognac

For assembling the pâté:
6 to 8 ounces caul fat
4 ounces country ham, cooked, sliced into long ½ inch thick strips
2 large fresh bay leaves
¼ teaspoon fresh thyme

You can grind the meats yourself, using the coarse blade of a meat grinder or a food processor. For the veal, if you buy 1¼ pound, save ½ pound for cutting into strips and grind the rest.

Marinating the forcemeat:

In a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder, process the spice mix ingredients into a fine powder. (I have a coffee grinder that I use only for spices.)

In a large mixing bowl, add the spice powder, garlic, shallots, mushroom pieces, pistachio nuts, white wine, cognac, cornstarch, and 1 tablespoon of salt to the meat and mix well.

Slice the veal into long strips, about ½-inch thick. Put them in a bowl with the chicken livers, and mix with the 2 teaspoons of salt, pepper, and cognac.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 days, or as long as 5 days or a week.

Assembling the pâté:

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Divide the dough in two and roll each piece into rectangles.

Carefully unfold the caul fat sheets (soften them in slightly warm water so that they don't break). Lay the caul fat in a crisscross pattern on top of one of the pastry rectangles. Gently lay a third of the forcemeat on top of the caul fat to make an even layer about an inch thick. On top of the meat, arrange about half of the veal strips end to end, to form 2 evenly spaced rows. Press another layer of forcemeat about ½ inch thick, over the veal, and set the chicken livers in a long row down the middle, laying some of the ham strips end to end to form 2 rows on either side. Press half the remaining forcemeat over livers and ham.

Make 2 rows of the remaining veal, with a row of the remaining ham in the middle. Press the rest of the forcemeat to cover the meat strips, shaping it to form a smooth loaf, mounded in the middle. Turn the overhanging caul fat to cover the pâté neatly. Trim off any excess.

Place the bay leaves on top of the pâté, and sprinkle with thyme over the surface. Wrap the filling in the rest of the pastry, decorate it and brush it with egg glaze. Cover and refrigerate the pâté for ½ to 1 hour until firm.

Cooking the pâté:

Bake the pâté until the pastry starts to brown, about 15-20 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350°F and continue baking until the internal temperature of the pâté registers 150°F to 155°F on a meat thermometer (about 30-45 minutes). The internal temperature will rise about 5 degrees after the pâté is removed from the oven. Allow the pâté to cool on a baking sheet for 5 minutes before serving.

Serving the pâté:

To serve, line a platter or individual plates with lettuce leaves and arrange the slices on top. Garnish with black olives and cornichons, and serve with Dijon-style mustard and crusty bread on the side.

Tasting Notes

I'm still not a fan of liver. I think this would be wonderful without it. The spice on the meat was very tasty. Although the pastry was flaky and tender, as you can see from the picture, I still need to work on my pastry skills!

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Running total: $87.68 + $1.68 (pâte brisée) + $21.93 (pâté pantin) = $111.29

Butter used so far: 1 pound, 5 tablespoons

Flamiche is the Flemish word for cake. This dish comes from northern France where Belgium meets Northern France. A flamiche is similar to a quiche but originally used bread dough instead of pastry. Now, it refers to a pie crust filled with a custard containing cheese or vegetables (classically it contains leeks) or both. A flamiche can be made without a top crust, like a pizza.

map from Wikipedia

In this recipe, the pastry is pâte brisée (paht bree-ZAY), which is a French short crust and generally used for savory preparations (although puff pastry can be substituted as well). There are many definitions of what constitutes a pâte brisée:

* 3 parts flour, 2 parts fat, 1 part water
* 3 parts flour to 1 part fat with a little salt and liquid
* half fat to flour
* 5 parts flour to 4 parts fat (butter)

The final result should be tender, crunchy, and buttery.

One of the difficulties in making pastry is flour because the characteristics and quality of a specific flour (such as all-purpose) differs according to geographic region. That means that flour in the United States with similar specifications as flour in France may act very differently when used. Experimentation is the key. That is the only way to get a good result.

Another technique you’ll hear when talking about pastry is fraisage. This is a French technique of pushing out the dough with the heel of the hand. This thoroughly blends the flour and butter.

Tips:

* Handle the dough as little as possible to make it easier to work with and tender.

* Weigh the ingredients for accuracy.

* Always sift the flour.

* Ensure you rest the dough for about 30 minutes. If you don’t, the pastry won’t have enough stretch and will keep breaking when it’s rolled.

* To cool your countertop, set a bowl of ice water on it for a few minutes. In Julia Child’s book Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom, she suggests keeping a marble slab in the refrigerator and bringing it out to use when making pastry. (This sounds like such a good idea that I may just have to go shopping!)

* After blind baking the shell for a while, remove the pie weights and brush the shell with an egg glaze to make it resistant to liquid. Return it to the oven to continue cooking. (However, if your pastry cracks on the bottom, as mine did, your filling will escape so make sure your pastry fills the shell well!)

Recipe for Pâte Brisée

9 inch fluted, removable-bottomed tart pan

200 g (1 cup) flour (half all-purpose and half cake and pastry flour)
5 g (¾ teaspoon) salt
1 egg
100 g (6 tablespoons) butter
15-30 mL (1-2 tablespoons) water

Measure the flour into a large mound on the counter. Make a well and add the salt, egg, and butter. Mix the ingredients in the well with your fingertips. Rub it in with your fingertips or pastry scraper until well blended. (The butter should not be too cold because then it will be too hard to rub in. However, it should not be too warm or soft because then it will make the pastry tough.) Add only enough water to bring the dough together. Knead the pastry very lightly (by pushing bits of dough away from you, which is called fraisage, or final blending). Wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and chill it again. Blind bake the crust by heating the oven to 425°F. Prick the base of the dough (called docking). Line the shell with parchment paper, foil, or even plastic wrap (which is the most flexible and doesn't melt in the oven). Fill with pie weights. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 375°F and continue baking until pastry is a light golden color. Remove the lining and pie weights. Continue baking if you're completely cooking the pie shell for about 8-12 minutes until browned. Cool.

Recipe for Flamiche adapted from Le Cordon Bleu At Home

3 pounds leeks (before trimming), trimmed and sliced
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
¼ cup heavy cream
salt and freshly ground pepper

Procedure for the Leek part of the Flamiche

Slice the white parts of the leek about ¼-inch thick. Rinse them well in cold water to remove any sand and then drain. In a large skillet, melt the butter over low heat. Add the leeks. Cover and cook, stirring frequently. Cook them slowly for about 20 minutes until they are soft.

Preheat the oven to 450°F. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks and cream. Stir in the leeks and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Roll out the remaining dough into a 10-inch round, ⅛ inch thick. Pour the leek mixture into the pre-baked pastry shell. Brush the rim of the shell with the reserved egg glaze and cover the pie with the dough round. To seal the top crust and sides, press gently around the edges. Trim off any excess.

Decorate the top. With the egg glaze, brush the top of the pie. Cut a small hole in the center for the steam to escape. Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Remove the tart from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Unmold, transfer to a platter. Serve warm.

Tasting Notes

The delicate crunch of the pastry with the soft, tender leeks is nice. It's a mellow side dish and would complement a rich main, such as roast beef.

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Running total: $75.87 + $1.68 (pâte brisée) + $10.13 (Flamiche) = $87.68

Butter used so far: 31 tablespoons (~1 pound)

Here is my game plan of how I would attack all 8 garnishes in one fell swoop:

• Bouquetière
• Duxelle sêche de champignons
• Grand-Mère
• Jardinière et macédoine de légumes
• Laitues braisées
• Pommes de terre pour frire
• Portugaise
• Tomates concassées

Step 2
Mise en place: chopping
Tomato concassées (use water from Laitues braisées to blanch tomatoes)
Carrots
· ½ cup + ⅛ cup + 1 cup diced
· 20 pieces tournéed, medium size
Onions
· ½ cup + ⅛ cup + 1 cup diced
· 2 medium (about 2 cups) sliced
Potatoes (store completely covered in cold water)
· 1 pound (2½ to 3 cups) +20 pieces, tournéed
· 1 pound (2½ to 3 cups), for french fries
· 1 cup diced
Turnips
· 1 cup diced
· 20 pieces tournéed, medium size
Mushrooms, 1 pound, ½ diced and ½ finely minced
Shallots, minced, 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon
Bouquet garnis, 2
Parsley, 6 to 6½ tablespoons
Garlic
Peas, 1 cup
Green beans, trimmed, 12 tablespoons + 1 cup Mise en place: procedures
Prepare 5 tablespoons clarified butter

Mise en place: measure liquids
· ½ + ¼ cup beef stock
· ¼ cup Madeira
· 1 tablespoon olive oil
· 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
· 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
· about 4 cups water or stock
· ⅛ cup white wine

Mise en place: measure butter
· ½ tablespoon + 1 tablespoon + 1 to 1½ tablespoons + 2 tablespoons = 5 tablespoons

Mise en place: measure other
· 4 tablespoons + pinch sugar

Step 3
Start cooking Portugaise

Step 4
Cook/finish:
· Jardinière
· Bouquetière
· Duxelle
· Grand-Mère
· Pommes

A jardinière (zhar-de-nyayr) and a macédoine (mah-say-dooan) are both garnishes of various vegetables. You can use carrots, peas, turnips, green beans, potatoes, onions, cauliflower, fennel, and son. However, it is essential that the selected vegetables go well together. This is good practice for improving your knife skills since you can cut the vegetables into sticks and cubes.

Recipe adapted from Link

1 cup onions, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup turnips, diced
butter
about 4 cups water or stock
salt and pepper
bouquet garni: thyme, bay, parsley, and celery wrapped in the dark green part of a leek tied with string
1 cup potatoes, diced
1 cup peas
1 cup green beans, trimmed

Sauté the onions in butter. Add the carrots and turnips. Cover with water or stock. Season with salt and pepper. Add bouquet garni. Simmer for ½ hour.

Meanwhile, peel, wash and cut the potatoes. In a separate pan, cook the potatoes in water.

5 minutes before the end of cooking, add the peas and green beans. Heat gently. Check seasoning. Drain all vegetables and serve hot.

Tasting Notes

The vegetables were tender, but overall the dish was on the dull side. Great variety of vegetables.

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $69.10 + $6.77 = $75.87

Butter used so far: 22 tablespoons

A bouquetière (boke-a-tare) is a garnish of mixed fresh vegetables, in season. You can use carrots, turnips, pearl onions, zucchini, yellow squash, cauliflower, peas, or whatever suits your fancy. The mix of vegetables you choose should blend well together.

Recipe adapted from Link

20 pieces carrots, tournéed, medium size
4 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
salt and freshly ground pepper
20 pieces turnips, tournéed, medium size
4 tablespoons curly parsley, finely chopped
1 handful sea salt
12 tablespoons green beans, trimmed
1 teaspoon shallots, finely chopped
20 pieces potatoes, tournéed, medium size (cover completely with water if cutting ahead of time) 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
3tablespoons clarified butter, freshly made

To clarify butter, use unsalted butter. Slowly warm butter over low heat (but don't boil). As the butter melts, the milk solids rise and the water sinks. When the butter is completely melted, skim the milk solids. Ladle the butter (leaving the water behind) into a separte bowl. You can keep clarified butter in the freezer or refrigerator.To cook the carrots, put them in one sauté pan. Add water up to the top of the carrots, and add 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon butter. Season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium-high heat until liquid is completely evaporated and vegetables are tender. If the vegetables are tender before the liquid is evaporated, remove the vegetables and continue reducing the liquid until it carmelizes.

To cook the turnips in the other pan, add water up to the top of the turnips, and add 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon butter. Season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium-high heat until liquid is completely evaporated and vegetables are tender. If the vegetables are tender before the liquid is evaporated, remove the vegetables and continue reducing the liquid until it carmelizes.When the caramel is a light brown, return the carrots and turnips to the respective pans until each vegetable gets the brightness and light brown color. Season the carrots and turnips individually. Divide 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley among the sauté pans. Remove from heat and set aside.

To cook the green beans, bring a small pan full of water to boil. Add a large handful of sea salt. When the water is boiling, add the green beans and let them cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, until the green beans are soft, al dente. Plunge them in ice water. To reheat the green beans, melt some butter in a sauté pan, add the green beans, and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chopped shallots and the remaining chopped parsley and sauté for about 1 to 2 more minutes. Season, to taste.

To cook the potatoes, put the potatoes in a small pan. Add water up to the top of the potatoes. Add the sunflower oil and boil the potatoes and oil for about 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the potatoes. In a skillet or a sauté pan, heat the clarified butter over high heat until very hot. Add potatoes and cook until golden brown. Season with salt, to taste. Drain the clarified butter from the pan. Add 2 tablespoons butter (not clarified) and cook again for 3 to 4 more minutes. Set aside and keep warm.

Tasting Notes

This was my favourite vegetable side dish. The sweetness of the carrots and turnips from the caramelization was so tasty. When I started cooking the vegetables, I mixed up the turnips and the potatoes, so the turnips were finished as if they were potatoes in disguise. My mistake! The searing of the potatoes (or in my case the turnips!) is something I'll have to try again since the crunch on the outside and the softness inside were a nice combination. The shallots on the green beans were tasty too. The hardest part was getting all the vegetables served while they were all still hot.

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $62.21 + $6.89 = $69.10

Ah, potatoes. Did you know that The United Nations has declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato! I didn't always love potatoes. When I was growing up, it seemed like potatoes were only boiled and served with butter. I thought they were horrible. Little did I know they could be roasted with garlic, mashed with cream, scalloped with cheddar, twice-baked with cheese and bacon, and best of all twice-fried until they're crispy but tender inside. Now, when I'm out for dinner, I will often order my main dish based on what potato it comes with!

There are many different ways to cut potatoes. I had to dust off the mandolin stored in the back of my pantry and give them a whirl. However, I found out I need to upgrade to a fancier mandolin to get a waffle cut, which is now on my wish list. So, after dusting it off, and figuring out how to put it together (and after slicing part of my thumb), I was able to get some of the following cuts out of my basic mandolin:

Pommes Allumettes: Potatoes cut into thin ‘matchsticks’ and fried, also known as straw potatoes. Don't cut them too thin or they'll burn.

Pommes Neuf: Thick-cut fries

Pommes Frites: Chipped potatoes

Pommes Gaufrettes: Waffle-cut potatoes

Pommes Souffles: Sliced, oval-shaped potatoes (3/16-inch thickness). The age of the potatoes is important. New potatoes have too much moisture and will not puff, and neither will old potatoes that are soft.

Tip for oil: Save a cup of old oil to add to the fresh batch of oil. The science behind this is well explained in the book How to Read a French Fry by Russ Parsons. Fresh oil doesn't allow foods to completely brown because oil and water don't mix. And since most foods are comprised of water, this water becomes a barrier between the oil and the food. During the frying process, the oil breaks down and creates a chemical compound that can penetrate through the water to get to the food. Fresh oil is not broken in, per se!

Another tip I learned the hard way: Don't fill your pot too full with oil. I thought half-way up a nice-sized stock pot would do the trick. Not so. After preparing the potatoes, and drying them off with a paper towel (sufficiently I thought), I dropped about a cup of potatoes using my dollar store spider spoon in the hot oil. "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble." Shakespeare had it right! It overflowed onto the stove (a flat-top thankfully). I turned off the heat, found the lid, moved it off the heat and was lucky all I had to do was clean up the spilled oil. Hard lesson learned. I don't need that much oil in the pot OR I need a bigger pot OR I give up doing it on my own and buy a safe deep fryer. But this cooking experiment is already adding up, so I'll save my money. I've learned my lesson (I think).

Recipe

1 pound (2½ to 3 cups) baking or russet potatoes
peanut oil for frying

Peel the potatoes, and cut them into all the same size. Drop them into cold water as you cut them to prevent discoloration. This also removes some of the starch and helps to make them crisp. Drain the shapes and dry them thoroughly before immersing in hot oil.

Heat the oil to 350°F. Ensure the oil is hot or the potatoes will absorb the flavour of the oil. Immerse the potatoes in the oil for 5-6 minutes. Remove and cool for about 10 minutes or up to 2 hours. The potatoes are almost cooked but they are still pale.

Heat the oil temperature to 375°F this time. Deep-fry the potatoes until crisp and golden, 1-2 minutes. This French way of deep-frying potatoes by twice-frying gives them an extra crisp result. Do not overcrowd the fryer since the oil will cool down too much, and then you will have soggy fries.

Lift the fries out of the oil and let as much oil as possible drain away on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt before serving.

Tasting Notes

This has become a favourite in our home (now that I've promised I'll do my best not to burn the house down)! Who can resist fries, in any shape or size?

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Running total: $61.10 + $1.11 = $62.21

Butter used so far: 9 tablespoons

Tasting Notes

I couldn't get this recipe right. It tasted oily the first time I made it, and bland the next time. After re-heating it to serve alongside a steak, I crisped it up in a skillet. This helped.

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Running total: $51.90 + $9.20 = $61.10

Butter used so far: 9 tablespoons

A duxelle (dook-SEHL) is a finely chopped mixture of mushrooms and shallots or onions cooked to bring out all the moisture from the mushrooms. It is used as a garnish, a stuffing, or to flavour sauces and soups. According to Mastering the Art of French Cooking, duxelle is said to have been created by La Varenne, chef of the Marquis d’Uxelles.

Since mushrooms shrink when cooked, for 1 cup of duxelle you need about 3 cups mushrooms.

Tip for cleaning mushrooms: Don't wash mushrooms. Trim off the woody parts of the stalks and save them for stocks and soups. Wipe gently with a damp paper towel to remove any dirt.

Tip for chopping mushrooms: Use two chef’s knives held together in one hand. Secure the tips of the blades with your other hand and then chop. Use a rocking motion. This limits the time the mushrooms are exposed to air and helps prevent discoloration. For a whiter duxelles, don't use the stems, only the caps.

Tip for keeping mushrooms: Use lemon juice to avoid discoloring. You can freeze duxelles be frozen for 1 to 2 months.

Recipe adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Makes about 1 cup

½ pound (about 2 cups) mushrooms, whole or just stems, finely minced
2 tablespoons shallots or green onions, minced
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon oil
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup Madeira and ¼ cup brown stock or beef stock (optional)

Clean the mushrooms and mince.

In a skillet, sauté the mushrooms and shallots or onions in butter and oil over moderately high heat, stirring frequently. After 6-8 minutes, the mushrooms should start to brown and separate from each other. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add the optional wine and stock, and boil down rapidly until liquid has completely reduced.

If you're holding the mushrooms to serve later, allow to cool. Pack in a covered jar, and refrigerate or freeze.

Tasting Notes

This was one my favourite garnishes. A rich, complex flavour.

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Running total: $49.22 + $2.68 = $51.90

Butter used so far: 5½ tablespoons

Portugaise is a classic sauce of onions cooked in fat (such as butter or oil) with tomato concassées, tomato sauce, garlic, and chopped parsley.

I used the tomato sauce recipe in the Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cooking Techniques cookbook. The tomato concassée was my starting point. Then, I sweated some garlic, onions, and carrots. A dash of sugar, salt, and pepper, and a quick purée in the food processor and voilà — Portugaise sauce.

Recipe adapted from Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cooking Techniques

1 garlic clove, minced
½ cup onions, diced
½ cup carrots, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tomatoes, concassée
pinch of sugar
salt and pepper, to taste
fresh parsley, for garnish

In a skillet, sweat garlic, onion, and carrot in olive oil over a moderate heat, for about 5-7 minutes. Add tomato concassée , a little sugar, and salt and pepper. Cook until soft, for about 10-15 minutes. Check the seasoning. Purée. Sprinkle with fresh parsley.

Tasting Notes

A fresh tomato-y sauce with just enough garlic to give it some punch.

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Running total: $48.30 + $.92 = $49.22

Butter used so far: 3½ tablespoons

A concassée (con-cass-eh) is a coarsely chopped or ground mix. Tomatoes concassées means tomatoes that have been peeled, deseeded, and chopped.


Use firm, ripe, red tomato. Core the tomato. Score an “x” in the bottom of the tomato. Blanch in boiling water for 5 to 10 seconds. Drain, then immerse in iced water. Remove tomatoes from the water and peel off the loosened skins, using the tip of a small knife. If the tomato is difficult to peel, blanch in boiling water again.

Cut tomato in half crosswise, not through the stem. Taking each half, squeeze out the bitter seeds over a bowl with a sieve to catch the seeds. Remove any core.

Put each tomato half cut-side down and cut into strips, then cut across the strips to dice the flesh. If you're going to let the tomatoes sit for a bit, cover with a little olive oil to prevent them from drying out.
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Running total: $44.80 + $3.50 = $48.30

Butter used so far: 3½ tablespoons

Braising is both a wet and dry cooking method. It means to brown food in fat, then cook in a covered dish with a small amount of liquid. It takes up to an hour and a half or more to draw out the flavours. My first attempt at this was not something I could publish. The lettuce was brown, overdone, and very limp. But if done properly, the lettuces cook slowly and take on the flavour of the bacon.

Braising breaks down the cellulose in the vegetable and expands its starches. The fibres soften, giving the vegetable a delicious texture and flavour.

As for the lettuce, the recipe calls for Boston or Bibb lettuce, chicory, or escarole. Any soft-leaved lettuce works. My husband thought I was off my rockers to cook lettuce! It seems ridiculous to cook something that is perfectly good raw. But once I tasted the sauce with the braised lettuce, I convinced him another try would be worthwhile.

Braised lettuce is a delicious garnish for poultry, white meats such as veal or pork, or steamed white fish.

The only bacon rind I could find was a twice-smoked chunk of bacon, so I used the blanching method to remove the smokiness from the bacon.

Many braises taste even better the next day.

Recipe adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

2 heads lettuce (Boston or Bibb lettuce, chicory, or escarole), 6-8 inches in diameter
2 thick slices of bacon
1-inch square of bacon rind
⅛ cup onions, diced
⅛ cup carrots, diced
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup beef stock
⅛ cup white wine or dry white vermouth
bouquet garni: 1 parsley sprig, pinch of thyme, ½ bay leaf tied to a cheesecloth
A round of buttered paper
½ tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon parsley

Trim stems of lettuce and remove wilted leaves. Clean the lettuce by dipping it in cold water to remove all the sand.

Boil 8 cups of water. Add about 3 teaspoons salt to water when it comes to the boil. Put one of the heads in the boiling salted water. When it reaches the boil, boil slowly, uncovered, for 3-5 minutes until the lettuce has wilted. Remove and dip in cold water for 2-3 minutes. Repeat with the remaining lettuce. Squeeze each lettuce head gently but firmly to eliminate as much water as possible. Slice each head in half lengthwise. Season with salt and pepper. Fold in half crosswise and shape into triangles.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Simmer the bacon and rind in a 4 cups of water for 10 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water, and dry.

In a casserole, slowly cook the onions and carrots in the butter until tender but not browned. Add the lettuce triangles in the bottom, so that they're touching each other. Spread part of the vegetables over the lettuce, then add the bacon and bacon rind.

Pour in enough beef stock and wine to barely to cover the lettuce. Add the bouquet garni. Bring to the simmer on the stove. Place the buttered paper over the lettuce, cover the casserole, and set in lower third of preheated oven. Simmer slowly for 1½ hours.

Remove the lettuce and keep it warm. Quickly boil down the braising liquid until it has reduced to a ½ cup and looks syrupy.

Off the heat, swirl in the butter, and strain it over the lettuce. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

If you're serving the lettuce later, do not put the sauce on it until the last moment. Strain the sauce into a saucepan. Reheat the lettuce by covering with buttered foil and setting it for about 15 minutes in a 350°F oven. Just before serving, add the butter to the sauce and pour it over the lettuce.

For more information about braising, check out this book All About Braising by Molly Stevens. It won two awards: Winner of 2005 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Single Subject Cookbook and Winner of 2005 International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Award for Best Single Subject Cookbook.

Tasting Notes

The salty, smokiness from the bacon gives the sauce a robust flavour. The tenderness of the lettuce almost melts in your mouth. Although not one of my favourite garnishes, it's tasty.

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Running total: $35.57 + $9.23 = $44.80

Butter used so far: 3½ tablespoons

Now that the turning is done, I can move onto the easier part: the cooking. I used the Court Bouillon recipe from an original Le Cordon Bleu book called Grand Diplôme Cooking Course published in 1971 with Anne Willan as the editor. It looked easy. I added coriander (fresh cilantro) to the original recipe as well.

A court bouillon (which means “short broth” in French) is a poaching liquid that contains water, an acid (such as wine, vinegar, or citrus), and aromatics (such as herbs, zest, or spices). It is used to poach fish, shellfish, or vegetables.

Another term I came across when reading about court bouillon was à la nage. Cooking à la nage means poaching food in a court bouillon and serving the court bouillon and the vegetables around the food as part of the garnish. When making a court bouillon to use for cooking à la nage, cut the vegetables in a decorative manner, such as turned or julienned.

Tip on cooking vegetables in a court bouillon: Do not cover while cooking. The colour of the vegetables will be lost if covered.

Blanc de cuisson is another term I found that is described as a court bouillon. It means to cook food in a white broth, such as a "short" broth based on water, flour, lemon juice, and salt. The differentiating ingredient is flour. In Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child explains that a blanc is used for any food that may discolour during cooking, such as artichokes. The flour and lemon juice combination keep the food white.

Recipe for Court Bouillon adapted from Grand Diplôme Cooking Course

Here's what my court bouillon looked like.

Tasting Notes

The vinegar in the recipe permeated through the air, pungent. The vegetables were tender, with a subtle taste of coriander. Just boiled vegetables. Nothing spectacular.

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Running total: $33.88 + $1.69 = $35.57

Butter used so far: ⅛ cup

Another basic recipe is vegetable presentation à la grèque. Here’s a good definition of à la grèque from The Elements of Cooking by Michael Ruhlman:

"The term à la grèque refers to cooked vegetables that are served cold. An à la grèque salad is composed of cooked vegetables sauced with a vinaigrette. The technique is simple: cook vegetables in a court bouillon till they are almost, but not quite cooked through, and shock and store them in the chilled cooking liquid until ready to serve."


The à la grèque part sounds straight forward. Now, onto the “turned” portion of the demo: the mise en place, so to speak.

I have heard a whole class of cooking students groan when the word “turned” or “tournée” was mentioned. It’s a difficult vegetable cut that takes lots of practice. Although there are turning knives (also known as bird’s beak knives) to help, they don’t make it any easier. Only practice, practice, practice. Why turn? Because the vegetables will cook evenly and they look uniform and elegant.
A turned vegetable is one that is cut into a football-shaped piece with five or seven equal sides and blunt ends. The following vegetables can be turned: beets, carrots, celeriac, cucumber, potatoes, turnips, and zucchini. Although not mentioned, I would think parsnips could be turned too.

This is where Knife Skills Illustrated left the reader cold. There is no mention of turning in this handbook. Quel dommage! I followed the three pictures in Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cooking Techniques. There is some instruction in On Cooking as well.

Turned potatoes have different names depending on the size and shape of the cut:

Château
½ inch longer and thicker than À l’anglaise
2.5 inches long
1.5 inch thick
À l’anglaise
2 inches long
1 inch thick
Cocette
Shorter, olive shape
1 inch x .5 inch
So, I went out to buy 2 pounds each of carrots, cucumber, potatoes, turnips, and zucchini. After two hours of turning, I was what I considered a “zen master of turning”; however, I’m sure a real chef would not agree!

Before:

After:

I did find myself using some techniques to get a football shape. I looked at the vegetable about to be turned, found the best place to start cutting and started at the top. I took more flesh out of the vegetable at the top and bottom and less out of the middle. I did one cut, turned it 180°, and then did another cut. Then I would repeat this on the other “corners”. Finally, I would trim away any lines or corners.

Tip: You don’t need to peel the vegetable first since you cut the peel away as you turn.

Here are some stats: It took me 2 hours to turn 10 pounds of vegetables. After turning, the vegetables weighed 2½ pounds. That means I wasted (or should I say the art of turning wasted!) 7½ pounds. I used the trimmings for a vegetable stock, however, so I guess not all was wasted. Although my end product was not perfect, turning 10 pounds of vegetables helped improve my technique!

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Running total: $13.88 + $20.00 = $33.88

Butter used so far: ⅛ cup

There are three important concepts and skills that are always mentioned when starting out in the culinary world:

* Mise en place
* Mirepoix
* Knife skills and different kinds of cuts

Mise en place (meez-on-plahs) means “set in place”, getting everything for a recipe ready beforehand, including preparing any vegetables, measuring out liquids and dry ingredients, and assembling the equipment you will need.

Mirepoix (MEER-pwah) is a basic flavouring for soups and stews according to Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cooking Techniques comprised of a coarsely diced mixture of onions (or leeks), carrots, and celery. Roughly half the mixture is onions, a quarter is carrots, and another quarter is celery.


A knife is the most important tool in the kitchen, and therefore knife skills are one of the most important skills a chef can learn. With proper technique, accomplished chefs can quickly cut through mounds of vegetables quickly and efficiently. That’s not me! I’m still learning. I have been enjoying learning from the latest handbook about knives called Knife Skills Illustrated by Peter Hertzmann. Here is a list of the different types of cuts, their sizes, and a picture:

Large dice
¾ inch cube
2cm cube Medium dice
½ inch cube
1cm cube Small dice
¼ inch cube
6mm cube Brunoise (BREWN-wahz)
between 3/16 and ⅛ inch cube
2-3mm cube Fine Brunoise
finely diced cube
1/16 inch cube
1.5mm cubePaysanne (PAHY-sahn)
flat square or triangle
½ inch by ½ inch by ¼ inch
1.2cm by 1.2cm by 6mm
To cut a paysanne, take one of the dices and cut it in half.

Bâtonnet (BAH-toh-nah)
matchstick shape
¼ inch by ¼ inch by 2-2½ inches
6mm by 6mm by 5-6cm

Julienne (JU-lee-en)
long, thin sticks, sometimes called matchsticks
⅛ inch by ⅛ inch by 1-2 inches
3mm by 3mm by 2.5-5cm