Walnut Bread

Walnut Bread
Originally uploaded by willsong.

What I've been doing...
went to Paris and did the 4 day Boulangerie course at Le Cordon Bleu. Loads of fun; great group of people; and chefs & assistants.
This was my walnut bread from day 1.

Veal Marsala

What I actually did...

• 3 filetes of veal (ternera lechal) [scalopines] do you know; what they do to those animals? - - Yes, I do and there are worse things out there. Let's fix those first.
• flour, seasoned [salt & pepper]
• dredge (good word that) filets in flour - get a good complete coating but doesn't have to be thick
• mushrooms (300gr before cleaning [10 oz for the metrically impaired]), slice sauté shrooms in a little oil, eventually generating their liquids
• 1/2 c chicken stock (caldo), adding a little powdered veal stock to strengthen it (I didn't have beef stock)
• pour mushers' liquido into the stock
• 1/2 c Manzanilla (didn't have Marsala wine) into mushrooms on high heat;
  let it boil down to almost nothing
• pour the stock in; lower heat to barely simmer
  
  Now,
• large frying pan with 50/50 oil & butter; let butter foam and subside (but not burn)
• hi heat - fry filets to brown them (they don't have to cook through), one or 2 at a time unless you have a huge pan; set them aside
• 1/2 c Manzanilla to deglaze pan; boiling away the alcohol
• strain the resultant mixture into mushroom sauce ('cause it was a bit messy/chunky & had some burnt bits)
• pour the mushroom sauce back into the big pan;
  put the filets into the pan too
• add about 1/2 c chicken broth to get the level of liquid 1.2 way up the filets
• simmer vigorously for 5 minutes - turn once - while preparing the salad and some vermicelli to accompany it all
• remove filets to serving plate - cover with foil while doing finishing the sauce
• 2/3 c kwark (sour cream) and nata (regular thick cream) that I had in the fridge and had to use up;
  - -add cream(s) to sauce gradually.
  
  It is now no longer Veal Marsala but has become Veal something else;
  - - maybe Veal Cream Manzanilla (Marsala).
  
  
• Pour sauce over filets (after removing the foil of course!)

Looks loverly doesn't it?

Maybe 30 minutes, tops; which for me is record time for any sort of a meal.

Posted originally by e-mail (as text) but it didn't process the html at all.

The World

Places I've been (& yes, I know it overruns the navigation on the right - sorry):


create your own 'visited countries' map or check out their Costa Rica travel guide.
The little tag line / advertising is the price of having them deliver the map for me. No too bad I don't think.

Google Content Blocker

Not at all a food related entry - but... I laughed. Google Content Blocker
And, I'm testing posting via e-mail.

Civet of Wild Boar

A grand success. Although when I described it as what amounts to "Wild Pig in Chocolate Sauce" the looks were incredulous.

I used Bourdain's recipe from the Les Halles cookbook (more or less); substituting great big shallots for the onion, doubling the garlic, using filets instead of shoulder and forgetting to pat dry the meat after dumping everything in the colander. All in all about typical for my ability to follow a recipe. Oh yeh - I also failed to properly brown the meat - pulling it off before it really showed good color 'cause I was worried about overcooking the filets.
I'd been talking about this recipe with some people who love good food but find it "too complicated" to do at home. I told them that they probably have all the ingredients (except the meat) in their cupboards at home - it's not complicated.. All it takes is some technique. That's the difference between Bourdain and the commoner - that, and a hell of a lot of Attititude.

And, despite my creative approach to following the recipe, a reasonable success.

Welcome to the 1000 Recipes Bunch

Welcome to all those who are finding this by way of 1000 Recipes. Sorry that it's not updated often. I'm having a spell of laziness. That, and the fact that my ThinkPad T30 was in the shop (again) and I've been using a borrowed X40 for the last 2 months. Now that I've got my machiine back maybe I can get everything copied back over to it. . . . . except that the 4th time I started it up I got a mysterious "Fan Error" message - which worries me.

Hell, even if it was updated it wouldn't be all that interesting.

You want a good food blog? Try The Amateur Gourmet.

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Update on ThinkPad: Apparently a "Fan Error"can occur if you have

1. an old, tired, battery and
2. a dying internal backup battery

Or so I'm told. I haven't ordered new ones yet since I'm trying to figure out whether the cost is justified versus buying a new machine.

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