Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Weekend a la Child, Bertholle and Beck

Le Gourmand and I had a delightful start to the weekend on our balcony. Le Gourmand made the coffee (very week for me and Bruce) and I made Oeufs Brouillés - yummy scrambled eggs. The ratio of milk to eggs was 1 tsp to each egg and the amount of butter added at the end was surprisingly restrained! The results were soft, yummy scrambled eggs.

Menu
Gigot Ou Épaule De Pré-Salé, Farce Duxelles aux Haricots
Petites Crêpes D'Épinards

For dinner on Saturday night I was finally organised enough to make the crepe batter for spinach crepes, which were delicate and yummy. Le Gourmand last ate Julia's crepes after several litres of beer so they were even more of a revelation for him.

Very exciting - I was able to use my boning knife to bone our leg of lamb cooked with white beans. Less exciting - trying to stuff said lamb with the ham, mushroom, herbs, onion, pork fat (MacGyvered off the pork roast for Monday) and tie it - before browning the lamb and adding the obligatory carrot and onions to the casserole. Meanwhile parcook the beans - boil for two minutes, soak for an hour, simmer for an hour - before draining off the sauce from the lamb and degreasing. Return lamb, degreased sauce and beans to oven. Voila! Very tasty.

But the night was still young. It seemed to take forever to make the Tarte Au Citron Et Aux Amandes for afternoon tea the next day - making the sugar pastry crust (the same one I made for the apple pie); peeling the lemons and blanching the julienned lemon peel; cooking the sugar syrup with a candy thermometer; adding the lemon peel to the syrup; beating the egg and sugar to form a ribbon; adding the almond meal, almond essence and lemon juice; filling the crust and baking; removing the lemon peel from the syrup and scattering over the baked tart; boiling down the syrup and glazing the pie. All for one recipe! Luckily people seemed to like it (or at least eat it) at afternoon tea the next day. A little too almond essencey for me and apparently too sweet and tart for Le Gourmand so it was good that others could try it (plus it's never that great to eat a pie between two).

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