Squab, a euphemism for a 4-week old, tender nestling pigeon is on the menu this week. I've only fed pigeons, never eaten one so it was a new adventure for me! Along with the squab, I prepared a partridge and a regular chicken for comparison.

The birds were sprinkled with salt, shallots and tarragon, then rubbed all over with butter. Finally strips of bacon (that had been simmered in water for 10 minutes to remove some of its smokiness) were placed on top to add flavor. The poultry were roasted in a 400°F oven until the juices ran clear (about 30-40 minutes).

The mushrooms, canapé and sauce make this roast poultry so much more delectable! The mushrooms are easily sautéed in butter and oil and then set aside. For the canapé, I chopped up some fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes and made a bruschetta using the recipe's ingredients instead of the requested chicken-liver version. Frying the bread slices in clarified butter added extra richness. To deglaze the roasting pan, I used the pan juices, homemade chicken stock, a dash of leftover veal stock and a splash of port and let this mixture simmer until reduced by half. Finished with butter, this sauce was perfect ladled over the meat.

Recipe

Serves 6 (I halved the recipe.)

Partridge, Squab, Chicken

For the Mushrooms:
¾ pound fresh mushrooms
½ tablespoon butter
½ tablespoon oil
½ tablespoons shallots, minced
¼ clove garlic, mashed

For the Canapés:
3 slices homemade-type white bread
¼ cup clarified butter
3 poultry or game livers
1½ tablespoons bacon fat
1/8 teaspoon salt
Big pinch of pepper
½ tablespoon Madeira, port or cognac

For the Squab:
3 10- to 12-ounce, ready-to-cook squab chickens
¾ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon shallots, minced
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons butter
3 strips of bacon simmered in water for 10 minutes, rinsed and dried
1½ tablespoon butter, melted with ½ tablespoon good cooking oil
¾ teaspoon salt

For the Sauce:
½ tablespoon shallots, minced
¾ cup brown chicken stock or brown stock
1/8 cup Madeira or port
½ to 1 tablespoon butter, softened

For Reheating the Mushrooms:
½ tablespoon butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
Pinch of pepper

For Final Assembly:
Handful of parsley (or sage) for garnish
You can find the recipe for Coquelets sur Canapés (Roast Squab Chickens with Chicken Liver Canapés and Mushrooms) in the book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with their recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Statue just outside the entrance to Central Park in NYC
Tasting Notes
The squab had a meatiness similar to dark chicken meat, but it wasn't gamey as I had expected. It was moist and had a good chew to it. Getting all the meat off the bones of the squab was more work for each bite, but worth it. Surprisingly, the taste of the partridge was not discernible from the chicken. Overall, though, I'd rather eat chicken and feed pigeons! Links
• Squab.com
• The Julie/Julia Project

Next Class
• Biscuit de Savoie (Sponge Cake) on pages 33-34

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $1,497.55 + $19.76 = $1,517.31
($3.29 per serving)

Butter used so far: 12 pounds, 31 tablespoons

91% complete Basic Cuisine

. . . . . . . . . .

::Whisk Wednesdays::
We're cooking our way through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook. The "classes" are based on the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum found online and used as a guideline. Not all the items in the curriculum are in the cookbook, but most are. Where the items are not in the book, we try to find a suitable substitution. Find out more here.

For such a simple recipe, Gazpacho has a lot of history dating back to the Middle Ages in Andalucia. The name gazpacho means "soaked bread" and is essentially a cold liquid salad, says Clifford A. Wright in his book Mediterranean Vegetables.

This rustic, simple dish is perfect when you don't want to cook. You can serve it as a soup or as a sauce over chicken or fish. Pull out your mortar and pestle (and muscles) or plug in the food processor and give it a try with fresh vegetables from your garden! Get creative by adding crabmeat, shrimp, avocado or twist it into a fruity version with peaches.
Recipe

Serves 6

2½ ounces fresh white bread, crusts removed
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (another recommendation is Sherry vinegar)
2 cloves garlic
¾ English cucumber, unpeeled and roughly chopped
1 onion
½ green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
3½ pound ripe tomatoes, quartered and seeded
½ cup olive oil

For the Garnish:
¼ English cucumber, unpeeled
½ green bell pepper
4 slices bread, crusts removed, toasted
You can find the recipe for Gaspacho (Gazpacho) in the book Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with their recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

To let the flavors build, it's best to let the soup sit in the refrigerator overnight.

Tasting Notes
Chunky or smooth, this soup is refreshing on a hot day. The bite from the raw onions and garlic, the sweetness from the garden-fresh tomatoes and the hint of acid from the vinegar rounded out with a pinch of salt make this soup a palate pleaser. My Bucket List
• Visit Andalusia and enjoy a bowl of Gazpacho by the sea.

Next Class
• Coquelets sur Canapés (Roast Squab Chickens with Chicken Liver Canapés and Mushrooms) page 246 in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I by Julia Child and Pommes Pont Neuf (Pont Neuf Potatoes) page 253 {Substitute straw potatoes for pont neuf, if desired.} (post on Wednesday, August 26, 2009)

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $1,489.66 + $7.89 = $1,497.55
($1.32 per serving)

Butter used so far: 12 pounds, 22.5 tablespoons

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A profiterole (pronounced pruh-FIHT-uh-rohl, but I like to say "olé" at the end for flair) has its own fairly strict definition that's not to be confused with cream puffs. You must scoop vanilla ice cream (not whipped or pastry cream) inside a delicate puff of choux pastry (pâte à choux to be French about it) and drizzle the concoction with chocolate sauce (not sprinkle it with icing sugar as I did because it looks so pretty!). And don't try to call a savory choux pastry a profiterole!

Profiteroles are quite simple to make, if you know how to make choux pastry! Getting the consistency of the choux pastry just right is tricky.

Choux be do be do
Choux pastry is cooked twice, once on the stove and once in the oven. First, you cook the water, butter, sugar and salt on the stove until it comes to a boil. Then, add the flour all at once and cook over low heat until the dough pulls away from the sides and bottom of the pan. This is the tricky part. How long do you cook this mixture? How "dry" do you let the dough get?

Then, if you've figured that out, you whisk in the eggs off the heat, one at a time, until the mixture is light and airy, not runny, and the dough is "just right"! Here is where practice, practice, practice comes in. The size of your eggs, the type of flour used and how dry the dough is make a difference. Too many eggs, and your puffs will be flat. Not enough eggs, and your puffs will be tough. The dough should be glossy and stiff enough to pipe. Got that?

Pipe the dough into rounds and brush with egg glaze before baking at 425°F for 15 minutes and then at 350°F until they're browned, about 10 minutes.

Once you've mastered choux pastry, vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce are easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Recipe

Serves 6


For Vanilla Ice Cream
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg yolks
½ cup sugar

For Choux Pastry
½ cup water
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2/3 cup sifted all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 egg, slightly beaten for glazing

For Chocolate Sauce
7 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut into pieces
½ cup milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Unsalted butter for baking sheets
You can find the recipe for Profiteroles au Chocolat (Profiteroles with Vanilla Ice Cream and Hot Chocolate Sauce) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with their recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Tasting Notes
These profiteroles tasted spectacular! The choux pastry was tender and delicious while also providing protection for the cold ice cream from the hot chocolate sauce. The chocolate sauce, for such a simple recipe, offered the perfect balance of bitter and sweet. This recipe was a huge hit with my family and I encourage you to try it, even though it's deceivingly challenging.
Links
• Chocolate Éclairs…Kransekage
• Peppermint Cream Puff Ring
• Video of Alton Brown making choux pastry
• Article with step-by-step pictures of what the choux pastry should look like along with some history

Next Class
• Gaspacho (Gazpacho) page 96 Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection

Award
I am so pleased to have won a DMBLGIT (Does My Blog Look Good in This) award for July 2009. It was hosted by Jeanne of Cook Sister! and judged by Jeanne and some other amazing bloggers: Bron of Bron Marshall, Ilva of Lucullian Delights, Juno of Scrumptious Blog and Andrew of SpittoonExtra.


Lemon Balm and Verbena Mojito
Check out all the winners and entries here. I am honored to be in the company of such amazing food bloggers and photographers. Cheers!

TV
Yesterday, I received a call from Norman Fetterley of CTV News who will be interviewing me today at my home for a segment about Julie and Julia, Le Cordon Bleu and food blogging. To prepare for the segment, I decided to throw together cream puffs! So here I am at 11:00 p.m. enjoying a tasting!

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $1,482.31 + $7.35 = $1,489.66
($1.23 per serving)

Butter used so far: 13 pounds, 4.5 tablespoons

90% complete Basic Cuisine

. . . . . . . . . .

::Whisk Wednesdays::
We're cooking our way through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook. The "classes" are based on the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum found online and used as a guideline. Not all the items in the curriculum are in the cookbook, but most are. Where the items are not in the book, we try to find a suitable substitution. Find out more here.

Paul Brent, a seasoned and well-respected reporter in the Ottawa area, called me on Wednesday to see if I would like to be interviewed for a segment about blogging, cookbooks and Julie and Julia. The next day, he came to my home to film me making a recipe, as well as discuss my role as a food blogger in this new era of blogging and books. What he filmed will be on CTV Ottawa Weekend News on his segment called Tech Now with Paul Brent Sunday, August 2nd at 6:00 p.m and here (and then click "Tech Now: August 2, 2009"). One of the questions Paul was exploring is this: I hope not. I still use a cookbook regularly. I love browsing the pages of beautiful and inspiring cookbooks before bed. I like to write notes in the margins. The stains on the pages of my cookbooks give them personality. I even have several cookbook ideas that I'm exploring and hope to get published someday!

The food blogging world brings new stories and visuals to classic and well-loved cookbooks. Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I is complete with directions, techniques, instruction and information, but it doesn't have any pictures. Now, through food blogs, there are hundreds of photographs and stories from kitchens around the world that work as a companion to this hefty volume. My post on Blogging the Art of French Cooking is just a small slice of what exists on food blogs about Julia Child's classic cookbook.

The online food world is another resource to become a better cook. Television didn't replace books and neither will blogs. I made this Apple Charlotte last year as part of the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum, but this time I didn't make a classic charlotte. Instead, I made little tarts using my square tart pan. This was so much simpler than using a charlotte mold and just as tasty.

Recipe

adapted from Le Cordon Bleu at Home

Serves 6

For the Apple Compote:
3 pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and diced
¼ cup water
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter
¼ cup apricot jam (I used cinnamon crabapple jelly.)
2 tablespoons dark rum (I used white rum.)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

9-10 slices firm white bread
½-¾ cup clarified butter (I used regular butter.)

For the Crème Anglaise:
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons dark rum (I used white rum.)
Prepare the apple compote: Combine the apples and the water in a saucepan. Cover and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes. Stir the apples occasionally with a wooden spoon to keep them from sticking to the pan. Add the sugar, butter, jam, rum, and vanilla. Raise the heat to medium and continue cooking, uncovered, until all the moisture has evaporated, about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Remove the crusts from the bread and trim the bread into 4-inch squares. Brush the pieces of bread on both sides with the butter and press into a tart pan (or square tart pan). Fill the bread shells with the apple compote.

Bake the charlotte 15 minutes, then cover with parchment paper or foil to keep the exposed ends of bread from burning. Continue baking until the bread is golden, about 20 minutes longer. Serve with crème anglaise.

For the crème anglaise: Heat milk and vanilla extract in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring mixture to a boil. Remove immediately from the heat and let steep for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk the yolks and sugar until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is a pale yellow color, about 2 minutes. Continue whisking and slowly drizzle in a bit of the hot milk mixture to temper, or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle. Keep whisking and slowly pour in the remaining milk mixture.

Return the mixture to the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the custard coats the back of a spoon. Do not boil since it will curdle if boiled. (If it does curdle, either strain or blend in a blender, adding cream if necessary. Or, start over.)

Remove the crème anglaise from the heat and strain it into a bowl. Let it cool in a bowl set of an ice water bath to stop the cooking, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. It keeps for a couple of days.