Bond Girl

You could try making an indian version of it with ginger and cumin and garam marsala.

Not sure if this will do but there is a stand in the union square green market that sells this stuff. Give it a shot.

Russ, this is great stuff! Very nice picture too, it's gives more colour to the Keller instructions. This story is going right between the pages of the Bouchon cookbook for future reference. Very well done indeed. I like the fluted tart shell look much better than the straight sided look of the pastry ring. Did you have to adjust the pastry dough to fit in the tart shell or is your tart shell the same size as the specified pastry ring? I use a cup of flour and 8 tablespoon of butter to make the pastry as my shell is only one inch tall.

Oooh, can you send some to me? I'll even offer to apy for postage. Fresh banana leaves are hard to come by. I use them in chinese cooking to wrap rice in call Tzong Tze. It's sticky rice with some beans, vegetables, braised eggs and dried shrimp. Also, it is very yummy when you make otak otak or place some rice flour balls with some palm sugar sauce, bananas and coconut shavings.

Round 2 of the leek quiche showed much improvement. I rolled out the dough much thicker than I normally would have and this time it worked fine with no leakage. Though I don't much care for the crust, too thick for my taste. I guess, it's a personal preference that I like crust that seemed paper thin....Will try it in a regualr pie shell next time and refine the crust. Meanwhile, I am tackling the herb gnocchi next!

As my oven has now completely recovered from the spill last weekend. I will try it again in the ring mold as well. This time I will roll it much thicker and keep both items hot. Still, the think is going to stand in a jellyroll pan just in case.

Wait, how does this happen? I bought main shrimps yesterday at Wild Edibles for $8.99 per lbs heads on. They were very good, but a bitch to cook and shell. Johnnyd, when you say ginger lime soy, do you just eat them raw? Also, since I've no experience with them, are they naturally pink in color? Or, was that chemically helped?

Thanks Betty. This is an interesting point because where I grew up (Taiwan), one of the biggest treats were something called egg pudding which were made in the rice cooker. Tasted like cream caramel if I remember correctly. Very few households had oven back then....so may be I'll experiement.

This is something I had in New Orleans a few years back and easy to replicate. Toss some shrimps on the grill or hot pan with some blackened seasoning, once the shrimps are a bit cooked, put in some cream and toss with pasta.

I believe it's to trap in the moisture and create the perfect smooth top with no air bubbles. Keller described the texture as something so delicate that it should practically melt in your mouth. I think this is a very similar thing to that Japanese Chawamushi texture, but richer and more creamy. Here is something I've been meaning to try....you make this custard in a bain marie, and you seal it so tight so all the steam gets trapped in....which is essentially what a rice cooker does...so following this logic, can creme caramel be done in a rice cooker?

I've not met a herb or a spice that I did not like, but it's really depends on how one use it. Too many chefs forget that "less is more" mantra.

Thanks Zeitoun, coming from you that is a compliment indeed. I kept on checking it to make sure they didn't melt, and ended up taking them out half way through the thing before it was done. I also lowered the heat to 250 rather than the 325 recommended.

Made Creme Caramel tonight. Although oven floor has not recovered from the spill yesterday, but hell, I put a foil over the spill and hopefully everything will turn to ash in a few days. I had a lot more success with this than with the quiche. One step that made me really uncomfortable was putting plastic wraps in a hot oven...somehow that was a bit too adventurous for me. Otherwise, the steps are surprisingly simple and while my custard did not look as pretty as the one in the book, it's still pretty damn good.

Ring mold is cheapest at Broadway panhandler for those living in NYC. $5-7 I think. Caution: it's just a ring with no bottom so make sure you stand it on something that will contain the leakage....I use my for building frozen desserts normally. Russ is right, I did roll my crust too thin. It was a default pastry program behavior. And, making it on a cake ring stood on cookie sheets and parchment probably didn't help either. I will try it again in a tart shell when oven floor recovers. This time I'll roll it thicker than usual. Looking for cracks is kind of hard since cracks can develop while quiche is baking, theoretically. Kitwilliams, directions were given in cups and I just measured it by scooping it out of my flour tin. The Pate Brisee in the back of the book is kind of floury. This is one is perfect with the canola oil brushed into the tin.

Russ, did you make the quiche using a mixer? I am having the hardest time with this dough. Being in a pint sized NYC apartment does not afford me the luxury of owning a stand-up mixer with a paddle. So, the get the butter completely incorporated into the flour, I cut them into bits first, freeze them rock hard, and put them into a mini-chopper with batches of flour. It seemed to work fine with no huge clumps. Water was then mixed into the mix with a pastry cutter. The tart rolled out like a dream. I checked all around for cracks and holes, all seemed well. Stuck that on a pastry ring as instructed, and baked the shell. Check again. Still fine. Put the batter in and had a huge leaky mess burnt on to the bottom of my oven. May be I need to invest in a mixer, but the way I learned pastry, a mixer was never part of the equation. Then again, I never made quiches in a pastry ring either. Round 2 of leek quiche is set for tuesday. Oven need a day to clean up and for Easy Off fumes to disperse. I am determined to get this done!

I'm iin for this one. I usually make the gimbo roux with bacon fat. While the roux is cooking, I chopped the vegetables (onion, garlic, celery and bell peppers and sometimes tomatoes). It usually worked out that by the time I finished chopping the vegetables, the roux is done. I scrape out the roux, drop in some canola oil and sweat the vegetables with some sausage. At this point, I add in some thyme and oregano and a large pinch of cayenne. Put in the tomatoes if I am using them and add the roux. Stir to mix the flavors and pour in the fisk stock. Then I let it cook for a few hours and when it's ready toss in the sea food, usually a combination of oysters, shrimp, and crab meat. It may not be authentic but it has won a lot of compliments.

McDuff and Zeitoun, you guys are really impressing me. The thing looked delicious even for a non-meat eater.

La Maison Du Chocolat in Midtown makes really velvety one although you can't have more than just a small cup.

My beans arrived all 1/2 lbs of them. The package was surprisingly small, the beans were drier than the variety that I bought in Tahiti a few years ago, but better than what I would have gotten on the Island of Manhattan. Good for the price of $46 (shipping included) since I can revive them with some moist paper towels when I need to. Will make Vanilla ice cream.

I've had Jacque Torres, but Marie Belle in Nolita makes a pretty good one too.

Butternut squash soup for a Monday evening. The instructions are the longest I've ever seen for a butternut squash soup. Very complex as well. The soup called for caramelization of leeks, shallots, and onions, and carrots. These together with the squash, which was roasted the night before, gave the soup a subtly complex note. If anything, this book is teaching me a hell of a lot on flavor combinations.

Why don't you check in with WCR-women chefs and restauranteurs for a fuller list? I think they have a website.

Having seen the apples at the green market this weekend, I couldn't help it and made the Tart Tartine last night. The direction to achieving the perfect caramelized apples were superb, although I did squirt in a bit of lemon juice to give it a nice balance of tart and sweet. I did not like the pate brisee recipe-much to floury. There was none of that flakiness that you would expect from it. Next time, I'd probably up the butter to flour ratio and throw in a tinsy bit of sugar in the crust.

I prefer different Vanilla for different purposes. For ice cream I prefer the subtle floral tone of the Tahitian vanilla, the same goes for cream infusions like panna cotta or a creme anglais sauce. Bourbon Vanilla for pies, tarts and cakes that has a dark rich taste like a pecan pie or a flourless chocolate cake. Last year when using vanilla in savory dishes such as shrimp or cod, I use Mexican vanilla, which stands up to the savory overtones.

Laurent Gras is no longer at the fifth floor room, the new chef is Melissa Perello. Her food is more oriented towards the basic, and defeats the purpose of a tasting menu. edit: that's just my opinion.