I've had the opportunity to teach two classes in my home this month. The first being with a lovely group of women who originally wanted to lunch at Chez Chloe. I ran into Lise outside the cafe and after confessing it was just too much stress, tried to compensate with a lunch and demo Chez moi. It was a morning and afternoon of laughter, stories, good food and a little education to boot. The kind of day for which one feels guilt because it's so much fun in the middle of the week. It was mostly a demonstration with some interactive work and a lovely sit down lunch at the end.
We kept to traditional recipes and to my delight brought Lise into the "I think I like escargot circle". We followed the Escargot Bourgogne with French Onion Soup and a light salad picked from the early greens in my greenhouse. We finished with a fresh ginger and chocolate torte recipe from the River Cafe Book Green.
Here's recipes for the above mentioned........
French Onion Soup
serves 8
7 lg onions - a red one if available
4 TB butter
1 TB flour
Pinch of sugar
4 quarts beef stock
1 c demi glace (omit if not available- but adds richness and depth to stock)
(Demi can be found at www.dartagnan.com
or www.morethangourmet.com)
1 c white wine
1 TB port
sprigs of thyme
1 clove garlic crushed
bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
Crostinis 3-4slice/person
Gruyere cheese for finishing.
First slice baguette and let dry out over night or bake at 200 degrees till dry.
Slice onions, melt butter and place onions in pot to carmelize with a pinch of sugar and salt.
You may do onions in two separate batches.
Stir in flour and cook a few minutes. Add wine and reduce a bit but not all the way dry.
Add stock, demi glace, port, garlic, bay and thyme.
Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer for 20-30 minutes with lid off.
Finish soup by topping with crostinis and gruyere. Place under broiler for 5-10 min till cheese starts to brown.
Escargot a la Bourguignonne
For 2 dozen:
1/2# butter, softened
3 cloves garlic, degermed and minced
1/4 c parsley
1 small shallot
1 T white wine
1 tsp cognac
2 tsp salt
This can be done in a food processor or by hand. Combine all ingredients
Put a little of escargot butter in the shell, then the escargots followed by more escargot butter. Make sure you pack the butter down.
Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Serve hot.
Chocolate Ginger Cake
from River Café Cook Book Green (half amount of recipe)*
Serves 8-12
100g peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
250g unsalted butter
250g bitter sweet chocolate (70% is great)
35g fine polenta flour
1 TB cocoa powder
5 medium eggs
200g sugar
pinch of baking powder
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Butter and line a 12” cake tin or springform with parchment paper.
Melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Do not let the bowl touch the water. Peel and finely chop the ginger, and add to the chocolate mixture once it has melted, along with the flour and cocoa powder. Allow to cool a little.
In a mixer combine the eggs and sugar and whish until they have tripled in volume. Slowly fold the whisked eggs, sugar and baking powder into the chocolate mixture. Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes.
When the cake is cooked, you can opt to place a plate on the top for 5 minutes. This will give the cake a good dense texture.
ENJOY.....
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