I have more things planned for this trip, more reservations made & tickets
bought in advance, etc., than for any other one in recent (or distant) memory. Normally I just get an apartment and then
wing it at least 2/3 of the time, going where my whimsy leads me. But maybe now that I’m retired I don’t have
to focus so much on relaxing and can instead go back to the “accomplishing
stuff” mode. Or not. You will be justified asking, “so how’s that
workin’ for ya?” in a couple days!
I thought I’d
avoid the “crash when you arrive and risk losing almost an entire day”
syndrome this time by signing up for a class at Le Cordon Bleu for the
afternoon of my arrival. The class was
good, but not as riveting as usual (Chef was a relatively recent addition to
their faculty and not as demanding of the students’ attention – so there was a
lot of chattering while he was doing his lecture/demo – and his teaching style
wasn’t as smooth as some of the more seasoned chefs). I’m embarrassed to admit that I drifted off a
few times during the class, losing some of the important points, I’m sure. Oopsiedoodle!
The first course was a warm “salad” of baby calamari with
very finely julienned “batonnets” of fennel, carrots, celery, red onion, lemon
peel, and confit tomatoes, lemon juice and herbs. Very tasty, and one of the students was kind
enough to give me a double serving of the tasting portion that each student
consumes at the end of the lecture/demo!
The main course was a non-typical take on bouillabaisse,
and at least my tasting portion made me long for the typical version! But the problem might have been that the
class was very large (I’d guess almost 50 students) and Chef prepared a large
portion for student tasting in a slightly different manner than he did the
presentation portion. Anyhoo, in his
preparation a refined fish stock was made from a Conger Eel (all the students
said “eewwww when he displayed it) plus aromatics and the heads, bones and
trimmings of the John Dory (Saint-Pierre fish) and Rascasse (red scorpion fish)
that were filleted for preparation on top of the soup. A vegetable “marinade” was prepared by gently
cooking julienned leeks, onion, fennel, garlic and tomatoes, saffron and herbs
in olive oil. Potatoes were cut into
cylinders and then sliced very thinly for cooking on top of the vegetable
marinade. Once the vegetables were
cooked through, the fish fillets were placed on top and the pan was covered
with a disk of parchment and set aside (the fish thus cooked very gently in the
heat/moisture from the vegetables). A
rouille sauce (basically a garlic aioli with cooked potatoes, some tomato paste
and paprika) was made to accompany the dish.
I was surprised that the portion I sampled wasn’t nearly as tasty as I
had expected given the ingredients and interesting method – again, maybe it was
my portion, but I have not been converted to this chef’s interpretation of the
dish.
The dessert really wowed me, though, and I wasn’t
expecting it to do so! It was a lemon
tart wherein the lemon filling consisted of a lemon curd (prepared in a crème patisserie
style, although Chef said that a sabayon style preparation would work well too)
combined with a lemony Italian meringue – intense flavor but with a fluffy
light texture – wow! The basic
shortbread crust was enhanced with some ground almonds and a little bit of dark
rum – yum! Chef decorated the tart with
sugar syrup “tuilles” – a very thick syrup was drizzled onto a silpat mat and
sprinkled with candied orange zest, then baked briefly until just crispy. Gotta try this one when I get home!
So all in all, a successful class despite my snoozing!
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| Chef showing us the Congor Eel, eliciting "eewwws" |
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| Students descending on the presentation table at the end of the lecture/demo |
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