Duck with Garlic, Tomatoes and Olives : Canard à la Niçoise : Lesson 13 : LCB at Home

Today there were a few deviations from the recipes; this will be occurring as confidence builds while executing these lessons. 

Daurade Crue à l'Aneth : Marinated Sea Bream with Fresh Dill

It started out as Sea Bream but since I'd done the same recipe with Salmon in class in Paris we figured to go with the cheaper/more colorful option.  Layered between a mix of lemon and lime juice, shallots (very finely and neatly diced), olive oil, salt & pepper and a few hours to marinate.  Quite a success.

Salade d'avocat : Avocado Salad with Tomato

Unexpectedly (not mentioned in the menu listing) was a veggie salad to accompany the fish.  It's simply diced avocado mixed with some lemon juice, olive oil, and salt & pepper; with diced tomato and a few decorative leaves of lettuce underpinning it and some decorative dill on top. It's all very '70s looking. And surprisingly tasty for something so simple.

 

Canard à la Niçoise : Duck with Garlic, Tomatoes and Olives

The star of the show.  Delicious.  But there's not a lot of meat on one of these; I was worried that there wasn't enough for 6 people.

When preparing the duck remember to remove the wishbone (at the neck end); it makes the cutting of the meat ever so much easier.

Followed the recipe as written more or less (see the book: Le Cordon Bleu: At Home) except for two things:

1) I could not get a duck like the ones in France so we went over to Chinatown and got a nice fresh one there; as a result the tail end could not be trussed shut (as you can see on the right of the picture [compare to the picture in Marinated Fish, Duck, Crepes : Lesson 13 : Le Cordon Bleu at Home).

and 2) triple the use of cloves and don't discard them at the end

and 3) I didn't cook the whole thing on top of the stove. In cooking school and in professional kitchens the finishing of the dish is almost inevitably done in the oven; it's cooked in a covered casserole so why bother taking up space on a burner or two - better to get it out of the way.  Bring the thing to a boil on top of the stove and then stick it in a hot oven.
Some day I'd like to try this in the sous-vide manner - maybe 65C [145F] for a few hours.

well... also 4) I cooked it for an hour and then removed it from the stove to go on "standby" until dinner-time was closer.  Did the last half hour in a 350F [175C] oven to get it back up to temperature and finish it off.
I would have been better off cooking it for 40 minutes at first and then 30 at the end; the meat was very nice but would have been even better if it was a bit less "done".

oh, and...  5) I did not deglaze with cognac but with Brandy from Jerez (Spain); also delicious and much more reasonably priced.

Crêpes à la Gelée de Groseilles : Crepes with Red Current Jelly

Another major change to the recipe.  No red currant jelly.  It's strawberry season so let's exploit the opportunity.

Make the crepes (the sweet sort), sprinkle the "inside" with Cointreau, roll 'em up, line either side with 'berries and dust with powdered sugar.  These were very popular and a nice light finish to the meal.

Note:  Also served were some green beans (there are never any vegetable dishes in French cuisine) and a few baked potatoes (since the oven was on anyway).

Avocado Slicer

More fun tools for the kitchen.

I was doing that Avocado & Lobster Salad the other day and got to use one of my utensils from the bottom drawer; where the odds and ends hang out.



An avocado slicer. Cut the avocado in half, around the long axis, down to the 'nut' in the middle. Twist the two halves to open. Remove the pit. Slip the avocado slicer along the skin and ¡ voila ! you have easily and quickly scooped out pieces for sandwiches or salads. They do papaya slicer too.

I love kitchen toys.

¡ Lobster ! Avocado Salad: Ensalada de Bogavante y Aguacate

The same salad as last Thursday but now with real live Canadian lobster (actually, come to think of it, the lobster was dead - - or at least it ended up that way).

I could choose between a local lobster from Galicia (here in Spain), which was gigantic, or a smaller one that came all the way from Canada. I went Canadian because 1) I am one myself and 2) it's only a salad we're making here and I didn't need all that much lobster meat.

The idea is to compare the fake lobster tails that went on Thursday's salad. Presumably the real stuff will be better. The fake was a little bit gummy/floury for my taste.

Apart from taste, the real thing is about 7 times more expensive than the fake lobster - - hopefully worth it.

Avocado Lobster Salad

Ingredients

serves 2

• mixed greens
• some rucula [rocket]
• 1 lobster (tail and claw meat)
  
• 1 avocado (sliced longways)
  
• avocado vinaigrette
• 5 T virgin olive oil
• 1 T red wine vinegar
• ¼ avocado (the bits left over from slicing the avocado)
• ¼ t salt

Procedure

1. put greens on a plate
2. distribute rucula around the rim
3. place lobster tail on top - - sliced thinly, placed judiciously and decoratively
   
4. surround, symmetrically, with avocado slices
5. blend oil, vinegar, avocado bits and salt
• drizzle over the salad

Notes

1. Using enough salt is really important in the vinaigrette. People tend to under-salt oil and vinegar salad dressings
   
2. A stick blender is ideal for making the vinaigrette
3. The non-tail/claw meat (all the bits left over after you use the big chunks) can be shredded and used in tomorrow's green salad. A little touch of deliciousness to an otherwise mundane dish.
4. From a 610 gram [1^1/3#] lobster I got 320 grams [11 oz] of meat
   

Chicken Madeira & "Lobster" Avocado Salad

Suddenly I had to make lunch yesterday. No planning went into this; I just popped out to the store and hoped for the best - - and a little bit of inspiration.

A fish & fruit salad (fake lobster tails and avocados with an avocado vinaigrette


and a Chicken in Madeira Tomato Sauce

Avocado Lobster Salad

Ingredients

serves 2

• mixed greens
• some rucula [rocket]
• 2 lobster tails
• 1 avocado (sliced longways)
  
• avocado vinaigrette
• 5 T virgin olive oil
• 1 T red wine vinegar
• ¼ avocado (the bits left over from slicing the avocado)
• ¼ t salt

Procedure

1. put greens on a plate
2. distribute rucula around the rim
3. place lobster tail on top - - sliced thinly
   
4. surround, symmetrically, with avocado slices
5. blend oil, vinegar, avocado bits and salt
1. drizzle over the salad

Notes

1. Using enough salt is really important in the vinaigrette. People tend to under-salt this kind of dressing
   
2. A stick blender is ideal for making the vinaigrette

Chicken in Madeira Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

serves 3

• 3 T olive oil
  
• 3 chicken thighs
• 3 T Madeira wine (or port or some type of fortified wine; I used a light sweet port)
  
• 1 C tomato sauce (homemade - sofrito)
• 1 C tomato pureé
  
• 1 onion
• salt
  
• 2 cloves garlic
• red pepper
• cumin (a pinch)
  
• ¼ C water (fresh from the tap)
• 1 red pepper (deseeded)
  
• lemon juice (from a half lemon - fresh)
  
• thyme - fresh from your back porch
  

Procedure

1. Oil into a pan
2. fry the thighs, skin side, until very browned (5, 6, 7 minutes or so)
3. fry the other side until really brown (another 6 minutes)
4. remove the pieces from the pan
5. pour off excess fats & oils
6. deglaze the pan with the port (Madeira)
7. add the tomato sauce
• bring up to a boil/good simmer
8. add enough water so that it's soupy
9. return chicken to the pan - skin side up
   
• get back up to a good simmer
10. Add lemon juice and the red pepper
    
11. Cover with a loose lid and reduce to a slow simmer - for 10 minutes to three quarters of an hour
12. Remove chicken to the serving plate
• Cover loosely with aluminium foil
13. Remove the red pepper
    
14. Reduce tomato sauce so that it's saucy, not soupy
15. Pour over/around chicken pieces
16. Sprinkle a little (very little) bit of thyme leaves over the presentation
    

Notes

1. Browning the chicken, very well, in just a bit of oil will result in crusty brown bits let in the pan bottom; which is what you want; so that you can get it, and its accompanying flavour, into the sauce by deglazing the pan with the port
2. Degalzing is: pouring a liquid into the hot pan and scraping up the flavourful brown stuff that was left from the previous cooking step.
3. Adding water to the tomato sauce before simmering the chicken is to make sure that there's enough liquid to keep the sauce from burning on the bottom of the pan. You could use a really good chicken stock instead of water - - that would be nice
   
4. Chicken Madeira often has mushrooms in it - mine didn't today