Restaurant eleven, Lisbon

So, yesterday I visited the kitchen of Restaurant eleven in Lisbon, Portugal (that's "Lisboa" in the local lingo). Just to watch - and try to stay out of the way. Not easy given the limited amount of space in the kitchen and the large number of chefs and assistants; a dozen or more.

Got to meet the sous chef (Cyril)- a very nice guy. We chatted some about the mass of government regulations that the French have for running commercial kitchens. Also about sauces and how you have to make your own fonds.
Met the executive chef; he's got several restaurants and a number of Michelin stars in Spain.
Met (one of) the owner(s), briefly. He was passing through the kitchen and asked the sous who the new guy was (me); although I was not really "new" but just visiting.

Maybe having these contacts could eventually lead to some real work (maybe even paid work?).

Also got to eat lunch there; both the staff lunch (in the basement) and the menu (out front). Well worth it (the menu that is; and the staff lunch was not bad either). This place will likely have stars in a year or two.

Got a Gig in a Kitchen

And that's why I was out for a few days. A small, 40 seat, restaurant in a beautiful but tiny Guadalajarian village. There's the Exec, the sous and I'm the assistant to the sous; that is, the 3rd chef in a 2 chef kitchen. 4 days - 40 hours. And lordy but I'm tired.

The pic is a starter: terrine of foie, carmelized - quite lovely.

Time off

Probably no posts for the next few days. Feel free to chat among yourselves.

Chocolate Muffins - Later the Same Day

Second set of muffins. Did you know that it's about 900 grams of batter for 6 muffins? That's 150 grams each; but let's not count calories here. I'm actually not filling the cups right up (yet) so it's only about 120 grams per.

These are much better - bad a tad dry. Need to work on that.

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Chocolate Muffins
Makes 6 muffins - with some batter over / Oven: 180C

These are mixed in the "muffin method" - that is, just barely mixing the liquid with the dry ingredients. There should not be large pockets of flour in the finished batter, but occasional small sprays may be visible.

280 gr flour, all-purpose
15 gr baking powder
1/2 t salt
34 gr cocao
- mix these together and sift

1 egg, large (55 gr)
200 gr sugar
60 gr butter melted and cooled at little
280 gr yoghurt
1 t vanilla (4,5 gr)
- mix these together
(yes, sugar is a liquid ingredient today)

1. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, cocao in medium bowl until combined; sift onto anther larger bowl
   
   
2. Whisk egg in second bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds
   
3. Add sugar to egg and whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds
   
4. Add melted butter in 2 or 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition
   
5. Add yoghurt in 2 additions, whisking just to combine
   
   
6. Pour liquid ingredients into dry; fold with rubber spatula until batter comes together and flour is moistened, 25 to 30 seconds. Small spots of flour may remain and batter will be thick. Do not overmix.
   
   
7. Use large spoon to drop batter into silicon muffin tin.
   
8. Bake until and toothpick comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes; rotate pan from front to back halfway through baking time
   
9. Place on rack and cool 5 minutes
   
10. Turn muffins out onto wire rack, stand them upright, and cool

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Chocolate Muffin

These are, by the way, from scratch. No mixes for me; no siree.

Heavy on the cocoa - thus, delicious.

They're the cakey type of muffin, and you can see in the pic that they have a rather flat top; that was a dissapointment. Neither were the tops circular; sort of drippy and wierd mutant shaped.

Per the JoC the cause of irregular tops is too high a heat.
Not raising up well is due to too low heat. This may present a problem. Perhaps a different recipe is called for. I'm not happy with this one.

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2 eggs
200 gr sugar
- mix those 2 together
130 gr flour (all purpose)
35 gr cocoa powder
2 t baking powder
- sift these
1 t vanilla
160 gr milk
- add all the above together & mix gently
160 gr butter (melted, cooled)
- fold into the above

6 large muffin cups
@ 350C for about 30 minutes
'til toothpick comes out clean
In the pan on a rack for 5 minutes
De-pan them

optional (I didn't) add 120 gr choc chips after the butter [toss chips in a little flour to help prevent them sinking]

glossary: JoC = Joy of Cooking

source for recipe: cacaoweb.net

La Cúpula - Pizzeria

Probably the best pizza in the area of Madrid.
La Cúpula Pizzeria in Las Matas (exit 24 on the A-6). Hard to find, as so many good restaurants are. It's on Calle Goya. Small place; just a 1/2 dozen tables or so and a summer terrace.

Using a wood fired, italian built oven; mostly organic & natural ingredients. Producing Napolitana Pizzas. thin crust; hand rolled - made with care.

This is their Sicilian - delicious.

nacha restaurant - II

This was the place by the way; it's just a scan of their business card.

And I have a pic of one of the dishes:
Carpacchio of Pigs Feet

But my photographic ability really sucks with the PDA's camera. I think I need a little more light and to be slightly further away. I have more pics but they are similarly "quality impaired".

Well, photgraphically, I tried.

This came with a sort of sesame crusted filo tube in the center, filled with some greens. The toasted sesame seeds go great with the meat and its marinade.

The pic realy fails to communicate how 1) pretty and 2) tasty this was.

Update: Since so many people land on this post from internet searches I'll add their phone number: +34 949 28 40 85

nacha restaurante, El Olivar (Guadalajara)

Update: Since so many people land on this post from internet searches I'll add their phone number:
+34 949 28 40 85

Today's lunch was lovely. The place: "nacha restaurante" in El Olivar (province of Guadalajara); about 100 km outside of Madrid (Spain). A little village of just a few hundred - with a top-class resto. In English that would be "nacha restaurant"; (yes, all in lower case). So you see, translations are not always that tough to figure out.

Pre meal:
Wine: Enate Cab/Merlot 2003
Some olives to snack on (it is, after all in El Olivar).
A little shotglass of Gazpacho de Sandia (watermelon)

Starters:
Ensalada de Reo (trout, salmonish)
Carpachio de Manitas (pigs feet)

Mains:
Arroz de Pescado (I love a good rice dish - especially for Sunday lunch)
Mejillas de cerdo (pork cheeks)

Dessert:
Mousse de fruta
Quesos

I'll post some pictures of the actual dishes later. Meanwhile make do with this nice pic of the restaurant interior (and the wine). Note the newspapers on the table - it was, after all, Sunday lunch; a time to sit back, relax, and recover from the week just past - - and prepare for the week to come.

Update: Since so many people land on this post from internet searches I'll add their phone number: +34 949 28 40 85

Fennel

Fennel
Originally uploaded by willsong.

Very pretty I think.

I got some very nice organicly grown Fennel (Hinojo) so it's going to be another attempt at fennel with fish next week some time.
This time I'll actually acquire all the ingredients in preparation for making it (i.e. Pastis). Might use some fish instead of the Dorada (Bream) though.

Carrot Cake

I've not had much success doing carrot cake either. So I'll try another box...just as a baseline; while I work on my own recipe.

Ingredients that seem to have worked (27 minutes @ 180C):

• Sugar
• Flour
  
• vegetable oil
• Carrots (dried) (5% by total weight)
• dextrose (a.k.a. sugars)
• modified starch (tapioca & cornstarch)
• raising agents
  
• sodium bicarbonate
• monocalcium phosphate
  
• sodium acid phosphate
• corn starch
  
• emulsifiers:
  
• E477, Propane-1, 2-diol esters of fatty acids, propylene glycol esters of fatty acids
  
• E471, Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (glyceryl monostearate, glyceryl distearate)
  
• salt
• spices
• color: E150d
  
• stabiliser: E466
• flavorings
  
  
• plus
• 3 eggs (medium)
  
• 200 ml water
• 70 ml vegetable oil

Into 2x 20cm (8") round cake rings (pans)

Turned into this:


Not bad at all; although the frosting's not what I need it to be. I made lemon instead of orange like I wanted ('cause I had lemons but not oranges in the fridge). And the frosting needs a little highlight/color or something; it's too damn plain white.

Crab Bisque

I'm not just making muffins from a box... today I also made a Crab Bisque. No pic (let's face it - soup is not generally photogenic) but it tasted really very good. Went lighter on the cream than the recipe calls for (lower calorie motivations) and substitute maizena (corn starch) for the rice flour to thicken it; maybe agar-agar would have been a good idea?

Muffins

I've not had much success doing muffins here in Spain. It must be the ingredients (maybe the flour?); it certainly couldn't be me could it?

Here's some muffin ingredients that seem to have finally worked (24 minutes @ 180C):

• Flour
• Sugar
• Blueberries (15% by total weight)
• vegetable oil
• dextrose (a.k.a. sugars)
• modified starch (tapioca & cornstarch)
• raising agents
• sodium bicarbonate
• sodium aluminum phosphate
• wheat gluten
• emulsifiers:
• E477, Propane-1, 2-diol esters of fatty acids, propylene glycol esters of fatty acids
• E471, Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (glyceryl monostearate, glyceryl distearate)
• E481, Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate
• salt
• stabiliser: xanthan gum
• flavorings
  
  
• plus
• 1 egg (medium)
• 110 ml milk
• 30 ml vegetable oil

Yes, it's a mix! For shame!

But, but, but... I'm doing this as an experiment; to have a muffin
that's a baseline for my future attempts. I will also be going to get a
Starbuck's blueberry muffin for further comparison.

This is how they turned out: taste is okay but too dense a grain.

You're Making Sauce! Not Soup!

Wise sayings from our LCB Chefs:

• Too cold egg whites don't whisk up
• High acidity apples have higher pectin
• Grand Marnier - Yellow Band (ribbon) for cooking; Red Band for drinking
• You're the chef - control the heat
• Mushrooms will soak up pretty much whatever you offer them; use little butter
• Don't eat wild snails - due to concentration of pesticides
• When plating rare sliced meat put sauce under not over the meat
• Poaching pears first ensures they release less liquid during frying

Just a few odd and ends - since I didn't actually make a dinner tonight and lunch was Sunday leftovers.
Maybe something interesting tomorrow.

Fish - Bream

Sea BreamWhite Bream
Pretty close; very similar you'd think. But no-o-o.
I was planning to do a Dorada (Sea Bream) and Fennel (after all, I'd been practicing - remember?). But they were out of Sea Bream so, since the White Bream looked so close I decided to take those. 1/2 a mistake.
There was no fennel to be found either - so I bought leek (not even close) and slow cooked/poached it, fine julienne, in a little butter for a half hour, to provide a bed for the fish presentation.

White bream is 1) bonier 2) smaller fillets 3) less 'fine' a meat 4) greasier (I think).

They also curl dramatically as compared to regular (Sea) Bream. I cut crosses / lines in the skin side of the fillets but they curled up anyway. By the way, the skin's harder than a Sea Bream's too.

And, in the excitement of doing 8 fillets simultaneously, I under-cooked 2 of them - drastically. I really completely failed to check on the doneness before plating them. Idiot!

So, with a little care you can use White Bream instead - but it takes experience (and using bigger fish to get similar sized fillets). Learn from your mistakes. I hope I've learned from mine.

White Sea Bream: Diplodus sargus sargus (Linnaeus, 1758); Family: Sparidae Order: Perciformes

It´s Raining in Belgium

This post is not about food -- but let´s not be pedantic. I just happen to have driven on a part of the old Spa (Belgium) race Formula track. It used to use a portion of the road to Luxembourg as part of the race course. On the way from Holland to Luxembourg on I happened to pass over that particular stretch.

That, and the fact that I love spas... and saunas and juccuzis and such.

And that the Spanish driver, Fernando Alonso has a shot at taking the F1 championship this year.

And that I visited a spa today (Talaso Atlantico in Oia, Pontevedra (Galicia) [in Spain]); a seawater spa in fact - - and it was raining there too.

All that serendipitously leads to this off topic posting.

It´s a holiday in Spain

So I´m taking a couple of days off too. Probably catch you on Monday. Ciao.

Cucumber Salad

Was using up stuff that's in the fridge so had a cucumber that needed something done with it.

Peel; mandoline the thing paper thin. Do likewise with a some frsh ginger - paper thin, or thinner. Then chop the ginger in 3 or 4; sort of a gigantic fat julienne. Put in a bowl; add a dash of sugar; a teaspoon or 2 of wine vinegar. Let it sit, cover & cooled, for 3-4 hours - marinating.
Drain the juices; slice a few gherkin pickles thinly and mix in. I though of adding some yoghurt to make it creamy but finally decided againt it.
This gave me what you see here (bad foto).

Tasty. Ginger is the dominant flavor; constrasting / blending(?) with the pickle.

There was also scrambled eggs (LCB style) with ham, mushrooms and steamed, julienned leeks - - but scrambled eggs are not a great photo opportunity; it always looks like puke to me; so I skipped that one.

Rodaballo Bercy

Turbot Bercy
Dinner.

Rodaballo = Flounder, Turbot
it's a flat flat fish.

Bercy sauce is:

1. make fish fumet (stock) from the bones and residue of the fish/es that you just finished filleting
   
2. cook (poach) the fish on a bed of shallots and in white wine & fumet.
3. strain those juices; reduce something like 80% (until syrupy - be patient)
4. mount with butter; add a tablespoon of finely chopped parsley
   
5. pour over/around the fish you just cooked

Another winner - - delicious.

The pic is a macro shot - with insufficient light; but when doing macro pics on the (ancient) camera the flash won't (flash).

Dorada con Hinojo

Dorada con Hinojo
Originally uploaded by willsong.

Sea Bream with Fennel

Again with the pictures of Dorada you might be saying.
Well, I really like this dish. It was today's lunch.
The trick here is to only cook the fish for 30 seconds of so (real hot pan) on the skin side; then medium temp for a minute or so on the flesh side. Just barely done - delicious.

Changes from the official LCB recipe were to not include star anise nor Pernod because I had neither in house. I did add some regular fennel seeds (fresh ground) to enhance the flavor of the sauce. And I cheated by using some fish stock that I had frozen already because I was short of fish pieces since I forgot to ask the fish-monger for them when I had him fillet the fish (which also might be considered cheating).

Put less cream and butter in the sauce than in traditional French food - I had calorie and fat concious consumers watching over my shoulder (& I hate that).

The hard part of this whole thing was paring & julienning the fennel. It takes quite a while (for me anyway).

You'll be seeing this one again - it's really good done the way I did it today an dwill be delicious when I find some star anise and go get me some Pernod.

Tortilla Español, Spanish Tortilla

With cebolla / onion

Not actually as good as the photo (which is, in my opinion, not bad at all). It stuck/burnt to the pan. Eggy things have never been my forte. I'l had some success with French omelettes lately but the Spanish version still has me bamboozled.

This should be deeped/higher - I should have used a smaller pan. It burnt on the 1st side so the heat started out too high.

1/2 kg onions (1lb) - finely chopped; sautéed slowly, in a little oil, 'til sweet but not brown - low heat, up to 45 minutes; then cooled for 10 min.

6 eggs (300 gr)
salt & pepper - mix with eggs; don't beat up foam though

Add onions to eggs. Mix gently
Pour into oiled pan, medium heat.
Let it sit for 3 minutes, setting the bottom
Then lift the sides and push underneath with a spatula, letting the liquid egg/onion mix go under - too cook next.

After about 10 minutes it ought to be pretty set
Lay a plate over the top and flip the whole thing upside-down
Slide the tortilla back into the pan to cook the other side until it's set.
Side one should be pretty nice looking so slide it out of the pan, back onto the plate from earlier, with side 2 down.

It ought to stand a couple of centimeters high (an inch) and be nice and evenly set.
Mine was too thin an was not hanging together very well due to some sticking to the pan & a little scorching in the first side.

Wish me better luck next time.

Blanquette de Veau - 2

So here it is with its sauce (versus the 'naked' picture earlier). We at it for lunch; served 7 (including 3 teens boys!).

The whole secret of blanquette is (well, okay, several secrets)

1. Don't soak the meat before cooking (as some suggest)
2. Do blanch the meat by putting it in a wide pan, cover with water and bring to a very brief boil over high heat. Skim off the scum, strain the meat and give it a quick rinse under cold water (although the LCB told me to not rinse it).
   
3. While cooking skim the impurities off once in a while; also when making the sauce
   
4. Only simmer, never boil, the meat - prolonged high temps will make it tough
   
5. Don't overcook
6. Cook the veggies individually to retain their individual flavors before combining into the dish

Keller's book on Bouchon has a nice recipe. There is an enthusiastic review at alacuisine's blog.

Tomato Chicken

Pollo Tomate al la Willson

Almost forgot to take a pic of this one; we'd already eaten most of it.

This is just some chicken pieces I had lying around (1 kg); salt, pepper, thyme; fried a bit to color it (in corn oil & butter); drain the fat;
then peeled, seeded, chopped tomatoes go in and stir it around (3 large ones); cover, simmer for 20 minutes (max).
Then I removed & covered the chicken pieces; strained the sauce through a "china cap" (metal strainer); smushing out the tomatoes to capture all the sauciness - then set that aside.

Later, at dinner-time, I dumped the chick pieces back into the sauce and heated it on medium - to just warm the meat.

It was ¡delicious! - which I attribute mostly to the quality of the tomatoes. They were home grown from Galicia; slightly 1/2 green / unripe. But, as many "real" tomates do... they had flavour.

Simple is good.

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A similar recipe can be found here (es) but uses mejorana / marjoram and adds chiles.

Veal Stew

Blanquette de Veau

I'm preparing a dish for lunch on Sunday; one that can be almost completed a day or 2 in advance then held in the fridge (if you have a big enough fridge that is).
Here it is before the sauce goes back on.

Notice the lovely copper pan from Mauviel.

Nanaimo Bars

I was telling my sister's kids, while chatting with them online, that I was making Nanaimo Bars. So here's a picture for them. Hope you enjoy it.

Note: Cooking while instant messaging decreases kitchen productivity by about 70%. One batch took 2 1/2 hours to produce!

Quiche Lorraine

Really very easy; except for making the dough by hand in a kitchen that's 28 degrees C (82 F). Rather hot for making short pastry.

Also make a 27cm shell instead of 22cm so had to up the recipe by what I calculated as 20%.

Calculating the volume using the Pi R Squared rule (and using pi = 3):
(22/2)**2 * 3 * 1.5 (deep)= 544
(26/2)**2 * 3 * 1.5 = 761
761/544*100 = 140 %

So I was off by 20% - it worked out to be enough filling - but I could have used a little more pastry.

I still don't have a decent format for recipes. The following looks a little disorganized.

On your marble table top:
240 gr flour; sifted
120 gr butter; cold on a hot day like yesterday
Blend them quickly by hand to a nice "sable" (sand); make a Fontaine (a well in the flour/butter mixture)

Add in the center of the fontaine:
1 1/4 eggs (I used liquid pasturized so I weigh my eggs)
6 gr salt
1 T Water (15 gr) - have another 15gr on standby - might be needed

Cut liquids into solids - make a rough dough - don't work it too much; cut the ingredients together. Add the other 10-15 grams (milliliters) of water if needed.

Press the dough out onto the marble, in sections, with the palm of your hand and push it away from you; spreading it out in a long thin streak - - to make sure there are no clumps of butter. Do this up to twice (to blend everything well).

Gather it up; form into a ball; flatten to about 2 cm thick; cover & fridge it for at 20 minutes (while you do other stuff).

220 gr serrano ham pieces; cut in small (1/2 cm) bits (the original recipe calls for smoked slab bacon/poitrine)
Degorge it (put in cold water & bring to a boil); strain; pat dry; fry it briefly to give a little color

120 gr Emmental; diced (should have been Gruyere); or grated

Roll out the dough; it will be crumbly - place into the (buttered) pie shell (27cm [11 in]; removable base)
- Buttering the mold is not to prevent sticking. It is to help the crust stick to the form of the mold
(prick bottom and fill with beans to hold the shape)
Blind bake (prebake) the shell / crust @ 140 for 20 minutes until slightly browned

3.6 eggs; mixed (not beaten frothy) - sure, use 4 if you want to

When shell is done remove from oven and if needed brush egg mix on holes that need repair - the egg will seal small gaps.
Cool shell for 10 minutes on a rack
Crank oven to 180C

Mix the custard:
300 ml cream; 35% type
pepper & salt (light on the salt)
nutmeg; discrete use of this
& the egg mix from earlier

Layer the bottom of the shell / crust with 1 layer of bacon/ham.
Cover with a layer of grated cheese (not touching the sides of the shell)
Pour in the custard mix to cover all and reach (max) the bottom edge of the shell's rim.

Bake for 15 minutes. Until knife comes out cleanly (no custard mix, maybe a little melted cheese though).

Cool on rack for 5 minutes before removing ring & bottom; then cool some more or eat warm.

Reportedly this produced a very nice quiche (I didn't have any - it was for the gang at the Book Club); but not an Oh Ah ¡Spectacular! result. Flaky, not greasy, crust; tasty custard.
I think maybe it needed salt & would have been better with lardon / bacon and the Gruyere cheese instead of ham & Emmantal.

Grapes

The grapes on the back porch are ripe. Covered with their natural must.
Good eating - although every one of them has 3-4 seeds. These are real grapes; not some special seedless blend. the stems / roots are probably 20-30 years old and still producing. The vines also drape over the trellis so that the leaves shade the porch from the intense summer sun. A very nice place to sit & have dinner - plucking your dessert off the vines.

Poulet Roti au Jus, Pollo Asado, Roast Chicken

By whatever name this one's always a hit at home. When it's nice and juicy and flavorful that is. if dry and tough it's not so popular.

The LCB instructions are easy enough to follow at home; the tricky bit is that the oven can't maintain the correct tempurature at all well. Every time I opened the door to turn or check the pollo (chicken) the temp dropped like a stone and took forever to get back to the cooking temp. This is the disadvantage of the home versus the professional oven. I'll need an upgrade (= $$).

Also, this pic is mine; in the style of Mishmosh (close and not fuzzy).

Oven @ 180C; top & bottom heat on if you have dual heat available

1 1/2 kg chicken; trimmed & cleaned (save trimmings, you meed 200 gr misc chicken pieces [wing tips, carcsasses saved from before etc])

Inside the chicken put
laurel
thyme
salt & pepper

Goose fat (or just use oil) in pan
Salt (no pepper) the chicken outside
Put chicken on its side in a roasting pan just big enough; & add the chicken pieces
and heat it on top of the stove to start sizzling
then into the oven with the thing

The chicken has 3 sides in this recipe; roast it 20 minutes per side (15 minutes if it's only a 1,2 kg chicken); watch the color & adjust heat up or down to keep the skin browning
Sides are: left, back, & right (facing down)
Baste when turning (don't open the oven too much) If you have an oven like mine the temp will drop quickly and take time to build back up and thus the cooking time will increase.
The bottom of the pan ought to be browning.

When turning to the last side add a mirepoix (roughly chopped) of:
1/4 onion
1/4 carrot
1 shallot
2 garlic cloves

The chicken is done when you pick it up, tilt it and the juices run out clear (not rosy/bloody); or prick 1/2 cm deep in the thigh and press the meat to see the juices.
If the skin needs a little more color pop the top element on higher at the very last moment.
Don't overcook this thing; it will finish cooking completely while it's resting & you are making the jus.

Jus:
Remove chicken from pan; cover with buttered parchment paper
Boil the pan juices until the water has evaporated and there's only the oils/greases remaining - then pour off the grease (or strain & return "debris" to the pan).
Brown what remains quite well, slowly, to develop flavor - do not burn (messes up the flavor something awful).
Add a little water to deglaze & then transfer the mix (veggies & chicken pieces & liquid) to a smaller pan.
Just cover with water - cook briefly (the real work of cookig the jus was actually done in the oven with the chicken).
Strain; pressing lightly
Now you have your jus.

Done.

Filets de Daurade Poêlés au Fenouil

Class 27: Filets de daurade poêlés au fenouil
By mishmosh.

Okay folks, now here's a photo worth looking at! My colleague Mishmosh has talent to burn when it comes to food pictures. Compare to my version for a laugh.

Click on the pic and then browse through her beautiful collection of pictures from Le Cordon Bleu Paris demo classes.

Pork Fillets Charcutiére

Last night was the first attempt at an LCB recipe at home without the professional kitchen set-up at the school. It worked pretty well - despite the changes that I made.

No photo. I forgot; I'll try to be better about that.
In fact, it looked something like this (from a previous time).

I cooked it a little too far through (or the meat ought to have been a little thicker). I didn't get much of the pinkish center that I was looking for.

Charcutiére sauce is made with mustard & pickles (yes pickles, really; stuck me as odd the first time I heard it).

Pork Fillets Charcutiére

120 gr (5x)	Pork loin fillets	thick (should have been even thicker - maybe 180 gr)
	salt & pepper
		Trim the fillets nicely & reserve the trimmings to cook with the fillets and help make the sauce.
		Season lightly
	oil	Heat some oil in a frying pan (large enough for all meat in 1 layer)
	butter	Add a generous glob of butter. When sizzling hot add meat - shaking pan (to avoid sticking)
		Once it's a little golden on side 1 add the trimmings
		Lift meat occasionally to sluice juices underneath
		Turn them when beads of 'blood' start to appear on top of the meat
		Cook side 2 until 'done' (still good & pink in the middle) - remove and stash in a warmish place (you'll reheat in the sauce later)
Sauce
		Pour fat out of cooking pan <== important
30 gr	Shallots	Was supposed to be onions
		Into the pan to start deglazing - heat through
100 ml	Dry White Wine	Add. Stir, shale, deglaze. Reduce about 90% (to almost dry)
250 ml	Veal Stock	Add (or chicken stock or water). Reduce to saucy thickness (coat back of a spoon)
		Strain. Don't press the solids too much.
	salt & pepper	Check Seasoning
2 T	Dijon Mustard	A strong type
20 gr	Butter	Very soft. Mix together with mustard
		Whisk in a little of the cooking sauce to 'temper' the mixture & melt the butter. Then whisk this tempered mix back into the saucepan.
		Add juices from the resting meat. Reduce to saucy thickness
30 gr	Gherkin pickles	julienned. Add to sauce. Bring to slight boil
1 T	Curly parsley	very finely chopped. Add to sauce at last moment. (Could also use Chervil)
		Add meat back into sauce to just warm the meat (don't boil or cook it in this step - just warm it up)
		Plate it.

At LCB this was: Médaillons de Porc Charcutiére

Served with salad and giant white asperagus (cold).

Pork Filets in Sauce Charcutiére

Médaillons de Porc Charcutiére

Last night was the first attempt at an LCB recipe at home without the professional kitchen set-up at the school. It worked pretty well - despite the changes that I made.
No photo. I forgot; I'll try to be better about that.

5 Pork loin fillets 120 gr each, thick (should have been even thicker - maybe 180 gr)
salt & pepper
- Trim them nicely & reserve the trimmings.

- Sauce -
30 gr Shallots (was supposed to be onions)
100 ml Dry White Wine
250 ml Veal Stock

2 T Dijon Mustard
20 gr Butter

salt & pepper
30 gr tiny pickles - julienned
1 T chopped (curly) parsley