First course:
Mussels in Saffron Cream Soup. This was a very good, simple, but excessively rich soup. Our musselsall opened up nicely and we simmered their steaming ligiud with fish stock, saffron and white wine, stirring in cream and a little cornstarch to thicken.
The next course was very time-consuming ~ Duck Two Ways. We jointed a whole duck, removed all the skin and fat from the breasts and set them aside. Then we removed the bone, fat and sinew from the thighs, chopped up the thigh meat and made a duck farce with it. The drumstick we also boned, but left the skin on and pounded the flesh out. then we took a roasted red pepper, cut it into squares, placed some of the farce on the square and rolled it up like a cigar. The drumstick was rolled and tied, then seared and roasted. The breasts were seared just before the end, then we made two pan sauces, a blood orange and Curacao one for the legs and a mango and star anise for the breasts. We served this with potato rosti, roasted shallots, roasted tomato and glazed asparagus. And I was sweating after that! But it was FUN. And the adrenaline kept me going for the next 8 hours!
Dessert? A Petit Saint Honore Cake, made with Puff Pastry, Choux Pastry and a special pastry cream called Creme Chibouiste (sp? I don't have the recipes in front of me). Rachel made this and it was also a killer amount of work, making all those pastries, caramel etc.
We had our soup and entree out on time, the desssert was 15 minutes late, but we could have had it out on time if we wanted. We were just so far ahead at that point, it seemed silly.
1 comment:
the flash-smoked coho sounds intriguing--care to expand upon the dish?
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