Thursday, August 04, 2005

International ~ Vive La France

Not feeling too good today after a late fireworks night, but I dragged myself off to school. I had to, it was France today in our Culinary journey. Soren was very kind and allowed us to choose our own groups, so we hooked up once more, Joyce, Rachel and me. ( I am obsessing over my grammar right now. Amazing how 6 years of not training your mind and things start to slip). Anyway, we had an interesting menu in front of us. First course was pretty straightforward, French Onion Soup. How can you go wrong with onions and cheese??

Next course was a little dodgy. Fish mousse with leeks and tomato concasse. I knew it was going to be a challenge when I read the first instruction in the recipe "puree snapper until rubbery". Rubbery??? In the end, we did it right, but it really didn't float my boat.

Final course was mine, all mine. Duck Confit with a Warm Blackberry and Lentil Salad. People in my class sneer at the high fat content of some of our recipes and the methods used, but I loved doing this one! the duck was cured a day in advance with a juniper berry, thyme, and sea salt rub. Then the rub was brushed off and the duck slow cooked in a whole lot of fat. The salad was lentils with a gorgeous blackberry vinaigrette. I want to try this again with de puy lentils ~ I think they woudl be wonderful in this application.

6 comments:

Caterpillar said...

Oh my gosh, you have the most yummy site!!! I LOVE French Onion soup, and also duck is what I get 95% of the time at French restaurants. Yours looks amazing. Also, the shrimp from the day before looks decadent, and that Italian bread soup looked fabulous as well! Thank you for making me hungry, and also wanting to again try my hand at cooking!

Jennifer said...

French Onion Soup recipe please? Pretty please? I've yet to find one that I REALLY like.
Everything looks wonderful!

roya parsay said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

Jen, soup is clickable now for recipe.
Caterpillar, thank you for visiting. hope you get back into cooking soon.

Erika W. said...

Your French dinner looks wonderful! That duck confit is calling my name, guess that means I need a nice dinner out with DH.

Little Mama said...

I love French Onion Soup (and can actually make it). I will have to try your recipe on my next batch. Yummy.