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Five courses from the French Laundry Cookbook

bilrus

By bilrus
in Cooking

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handmc

handmc

Posted
Posted (edited)

Bill,

Did the tart for a church fundraiser on Valentines day. You can make that early it will hold in the fridge at least 24 hours if you have a container with a seal so it doesn't pick up smells. It comes out really nice.

I went le halles and julia for the rest of my menu however, fewer tools and had 2 seatings of 35 so it could not be as involved.

Love what your doing, I wondered what it would take to acuatually make something other than the tart.

Thanks

P.S. I think the tart recipe alone was worth the price of the book. But I'm biased if its lemon I'm lovin it!

Edited by handmc (log)

**************************************************

Ah, it's been way too long since I did a butt. - Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"

--------------------

One summers evening drunk to hell, I sat there nearly lifeless…Warren

bilrus

bilrus

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted (edited)

I woke up with a pretty good cold this morning, so I'm dragging a little and didn't make it to the farmer's market like I'd hoped. But I am about an hour into my prep time as of 11:15 EDT. I've made my schedule and hope to stick to it pretty closely, although I didn't really build posting time into the schedule.

10 Make Sabayon for tart

Cook Tart

11 Shuck Peas - jenrus

Roast Beets

Defrost Stock

12 Go to store to finish shopping

1 Cook Peas

Puree / Blend Soup

2 Make Crab Salad

3 Make Cream Corn

4 Prep bruniose / Shallots

5 Relax

6 Peel/Cut Beets

Cook Duck / Mushrooms

Cook Creamed Corn

7 Begin Plating

7:15-7:30 Begin serving

I've made the sabayon and cooked the tart - it seems to be setting up pretty well:

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gallery_7851_477_173883.jpg

The beets are in the oven:

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Jenrus is shucking peas:

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And I'm off to the store to buy my last few ingredients.

Edited by bilrus (log)

Bill Russell

Busboy

Busboy

Posted
Posted
I woke up with a pretty good cold this morning, so I'm dragging a little and didn't make it to the farmer's market like I'd hoped. 

Dude, that is so totally a hangover from the Rock(s) & (Spring)Roll bash last night.

Good eatin'!

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

bilrus

bilrus

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
I woke up with a pretty good cold this morning, so I'm dragging a little and didn't make it to the farmer's market like I'd hoped. 

Dude, that is so totally a hangover from the Rock(s) & (Spring)Roll bash last night.

Good eatin'!

That could have something to do with it - but I've never had a hangover with a sore throat and congestion. :huh:

Bill Russell

bilrus

bilrus

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

Biggest score at the store today - MORELS!!!

gallery_7851_477_1953.jpg

I also ended up deciding to go all Burgundy, all the time tonight, based on conversations with many eGer's at the aformentioned Rocks and Rolls bash lst night.. This is what I picked up. Don't know much about it, but the guy in the wine shop at Wegman's concurred with the choice. Apparently it's been written up in the Wegman's magazine, for whatever that's worth - either it's good or they're trying to get rid of it.

gallery_7851_477_49702.jpg

Bill Russell

Busboy

Busboy

Posted
Posted (edited)
I woke up with a pretty good cold this morning, so I'm dragging a little and didn't make it to the farmer's market like I'd hoped. 

Dude, that is so totally a hangover from the Rock(s) & (Spring)Roll bash last night.

Good eatin'!

That could have something to do with it - but I've never had a hangover with a sore throat and congestion. :huh:

Dr. Busboy says that only truffle oil and fresh greens can cure you. So you're in luck.

Nice 'shrooms.

Edited by Busboy (log)

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

hjshorter

hjshorter

Posted
Posted
I woke up with a pretty good cold this morning, so I'm dragging a little and didn't make it to the farmer's market like I'd hoped. 

Dude, that is so totally a hangover from the Rock(s) & (Spring)Roll bash last night.

I don't know, Bill was pretty restrained last night, unlike some of us.

The tart looks gorgeous. So does the wine.

Heather Johnson

In Good Thyme

bilrus

bilrus

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted (edited)

Nice to see my DC “homies” are “in the house.”

I'm a little ahead of schedule at this point. Actually I left a lot of pad time in the schedule that I haven't needed - yet.

The soup is chilling ready to be plated (or bowled, actually). A few things on the soup - first, Busboy was spot on about needing more peas than the recipe calls for. I ended up with about 1 1/2 cups of soup, which is plenty for two but would make a very small serving for four. I know this is usually how they would serve it in the restaurant, in a demitasse. But unless you are serving it as an amuses, go for more peas. The picture below is of me pushing the puree through my makeshift tamis. It worked, but it was a lot of pushing. This is the point in a normal meal where I would have said "Screw this, this looks smooth enough." But that's not what we're about here. I took a little bite of the un-tamised peas and, although they looked fine, they were pretty fibrous and gritty. The final result, going through all the steps however, is a different story - smooth as cream.

gallery_7851_477_22211.jpg

The crab salad is also together, ready to go on the cucumber gel.

gallery_7851_477_101644.jpg

Edited by bilrus (log)

Bill Russell

Chufi

Chufi

Posted
Posted
The picture below is of me pushing the puree through my makeshift tamis.  It worked, but it was a lot of pushing.  This is the point in a normal meal where I would have said "Screw this, this looks smooth enough."  But that's not what we're about here. 

which is why I'm so glad that you are doing this instead of me! :biggrin:

It's all very impressive and I can't wait for your next post! I just hope that after all your work, you'll be able to enjoy your dinner..

Klary Koopmans

~ The Travels of Verjuice & Chufi

~ Eat cheap, travel far

~ Dutch Cooking recipe index

website

bilrus

bilrus

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
I'll be interested in what you think of the Vero, from my memory (which is bad!) it is a new style done by the Joseph Drouhin family, for some reason I actually thought it was a north Willamette Pinot?? Anyway I hear very good things!

I'll try, although I'm more like the Thomas Haden Church character from Sideways - "I like it" or "I don't like it".

I'll do my best though.

Bill Russell

handmc

handmc

Posted
Posted

Forging ahead with the peas is shear dedication. The morels look great.....Must have steak and morels for dinner.

It looks like it is coming together nicely.

Yeah Bill, would you like us to bring anything?

**************************************************

Ah, it's been way too long since I did a butt. - Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"

--------------------

One summers evening drunk to hell, I sat there nearly lifeless…Warren

bilrus

bilrus

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
Where did you source your crab?  And, as everyone has said, those morels look marvelous.

Like probably about 75% of the ingredients I bought the crab at Wegman's - the really big grocery stores based out of upstate New York.

It was a container of jumbo lump meat. It is blue crab from Venezuela, not Dungeness as the recipe calls for, but it is very sweet. Not cheap (I'm planning on totaling up my expenses at the end, although I didn't keep receipts), but when is crab ever cheap?

Bill Russell

bilrus

bilrus

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

My dog was just trying to get up on the table at the Lemon Tart. If he had gotten to it, I'd be posting to see if anyone wanted to adopt a miniature schnauzer. But he's safely sequestered now.

Corn juice is something I've never even thought of, but the result of this process is a very sweet essence of corn. I didn't have all white corn, this is the bi-color variety. It would probably be a pretty good ingredient for other recipes. I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but maybe baking? Anyway, this is the base for the corn sauce that goes with the duck.

gallery_7851_477_17937.jpg

I've also rolled the the duck in the red swiss chard, then cheesecloth and then plastic wrap and have them waiting to be cooked. One thing that was not clear to me in reading the recipe is that when they call for a "whole duck breast", they mean both sides, not just one boneless breast, which is what I bought. That works fine for me, since I'm only serving two, but keep that in mind if you make this one.

gallery_7851_477_9332.jpg

gallery_7851_477_833.jpg

This will probably be my last post before plating. Everything else that I have to do is a la minute. At this point I need to cook the duck and the two sauces, with the mushrooms, and plate everything. I'll post the final prep and plating pictures after dinner, along with the final plated dishes.

I'm off to relax for a bit before I "bring it on home strong".

Bill Russell

hjshorter

hjshorter

Posted
Posted

Here I am dead tired but rather than go to bed I turned my computer back on just to see if there was an update. :rolleyes:

I'm dying to see how this all turned out, especially the wine pairing. The library had the FL book waiting for me this afternoon so I am now following along at home.

Was the lemon tart as easy as the recipe seems to be?

Heather Johnson

In Good Thyme

Chris Amirault

Chris Amirault

Posted
Posted
This is the point in a normal meal where I would have said "Screw this, this looks smooth enough."  But that's not what we're about here.  I took a little bite of the un-tamised peas and, although they looked fine, they were pretty fibrous and gritty.  The final result, going through all the steps however, is a different story - smooth as cream.

Those who stop at "Screw this" salute you!

Chris Amirault

eG Ethics Signatory

Sir Luscious got gator belts and patty melts

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