Will's Eats

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.

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.

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

an old, tired, battery and
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.

1000 Recipes

I'm on for book 18 from 1000 Recipes.
Book 18's mailing list is:

The fabulous FoodNerd newly ensconced in Chicago IL
Rachel-Wyoming MI
Kathy-Ontario Canada
Stefanie-Redmond WA
Jill-Vancouver BC Canada
Maureen-Kinross WA Australia
Willson from Will's Eats Madrid Spain
Lisa-San Francisco CA
Cara-West Vancouver BC Canada
Bart-Paris France
Nathan from Reality Food Network-Chicago IL
Brandon from Brandon Eats-Richmond VA

Book 18's not in the mail yet - I don't think. Looking forward to it. Better start planning my pages.

Yes from the Cordon Bleu

Looks like I've been accepted to Le Cordon Bleu - Paris! Eek!

Now, only have to pay for it and spend the next "n" months being nervous about it.

On chef2chef.net I commented that maybe they'll accept anyone who is:

Willing to pay and
Not a total loss in the motivation/background arena

Actually, I feel very fortunate to get in. As a 'mature' student I'm sure it'll be loads of fun to be around a lot of young people with tons of energy.

I'm in the summer session of the Basic Cuisine Certificate program which packs the usual 10 week schedule into only 5 weeks. I sure hope I can hold up under the (inevitable) pressure.

Le Cordon Bleu - maybe

Well, I've decided to apply. Am I crazy or what?

Le Cordon Bleu Paris ... here I come (if they accept my application).

I've taken several short courses there and quite enjoyed it - maybe I can make a career out of cooking?

I wonder how the "Intensive" course will compare to what I've come to think of as the "serious amateur" courses I've taken so far. Up until now the instructors have been friendly, helpful and a lot of fun. Does this change when a real education is at stake?

Spontaneous Chinese Cabbage Soup

Ingredients: Whatever is in the 'fridge

In this case...get a big pot - add oil

fry Merluza (hake) pieces 'til done/brown a little - remove - set aside
one sliced onion - fry - salt - soften - cover - steam for a bit
1/4 C hot water - deglaze, more or less, the pot
1 C carrots - sliced - into the pot - cover & steam
1 C celery - same
sprig of tyme, bay leaf, celery leaf into the pot (better to wrap as boquet garnis but did not feel so inclined)
white pepper
1C dry wh. wine - boil away the alcohol
75 gr of seranno ham - sliced and diced
10 cheery tomatoes - halved (for color)
All of a chinese cabbage - slice broad (1cm) and remove core bits - steam 'til softer
1/2 way thru that add 1/2 L caldo de pescado - fish stock
once cabbage has softened a little add 1C hot water (water up to cover the materials)
a little more salt (softens the cabbage actually)
simmer gently for an hour or so
Put the merluza back in and bring to a poil
reduce to a hot simmer - check salt & pepper - simmer for 5 min (hea the fish)
Serve it up.

No picture- can't find the camera.

No Dinner and a Movie

Instead of dinner went to a movie.

Movie: The Aviator; Martin Scorsese - not bad, bit on the long side. Can't figure out why Alan Alda would be nominated for his performance as a senator; maybe just 'cause he's old and is "due".

Reading: Therapy; Jonathan Kellerman

Lunch: Napolitaine Pizza (anchovies & capers) at Pizza Pino on the Champs Elysee - "Cooked in an oven with wood" is one of their taglines. Better than average but not spectacular. Vino - house Red Italian somethingorother was okay.

Snap dinner

Was programming all day and didn't get out of the apt for lunch even. Just had paté de foie gras on swedish breads (little toasted ½ loafs) at midday.
Dinner was planned as a light salad (less light than last night's - but still lite) until suddenly great hunger was expressed and thus the plans changed. I finally went out into the streets of Paris; in search of supplementary food. Just to the Monoprox across the street but at least I got out of the house. 2 (Irish) filets, a tiny can of french green beans and a bottle of cheap white cab.
Sauté chopped garlic in small pan, toss in green beens warm it all up and add wh. wine - boil 'til reduced to nada and the alcohol is sure to be gone. Just gave the (canned) beans a touch of home-made.
The filets were sautéed too. We only have teflon here so not much in the way of deglazing can be done - but I do anyway. Set filets aside, deglaze with sauterne, flambé, reduce/cook away alcohol and add a commercial pepper sauce; return filets to pan.
Oh yes, the main thing I wanted to note was the salad. It was baby spinach leaves; baby tomatoes marinated in (commercial) seafood sauce with a touch of sugar; and sliced ham (sweet) that had been marinated in soja & a little plum vinegar. It was very good.

Wine: Château Thuillac, Côtes de Bourge 2000 (Grand Vin de Bordeaux) Gironde - don't bother (although maybe the bottle was off?)

Reading: Professional Cooking Fifth Edition; Wayne Gisslen - well, skimming actually.

Work at Home

Well... in this case"home"is the alternate home in Paris. Due to a sudden change of plans I'm stuck here for another week. So today's leftovers for lunch were the remnants of the potatoes from the LCB recipe and the meat picked off of yesterday's rotisserie chicken.
Also doing the 4th quarters IVA (sales tax) documents online (today's the last day) and discovering that my bank and the tax department don't communicate too effectively; so I can't put the verification number (acquired from the bank online) of my payment into the tax department's online forms. Screwed - I paid but I can't tell them about it. Going to have to go to the office in person with piles of papers and try to figure it out (correct it) manually - after I get back to the other home. It'll be a challenge what with my bad Spanish and all.
Dinner tonight is lite lite lite & at home. Salad greens, mini tomatoes and maybe a little foie paté (ed. turned out not to be foie [apparently too fatty] but sliced/diced [sweet] ham).

Wine: Cellier Yvecourt 2002 Bordeaux (Grand Vin de Bordeaux) - very okay; bought it from the butcher shop across the street.

Dimache / Sunday

Quiet morning at home then out into the city to see what's happening. Drizzley but walked up to Etoile anyway. Cruised the Champs Elysee looking for a movie and settled on Closer; which I thought was really quite enjoyable.
Lunch at some random place (Vesuvio Cafe) next to the theater; she had moules and I had a pizza with an egg on it -nothing special, slow service & the pizza arrived several minutes before the moules. I don't recommend it.
Dinner was more leftowver potatoes (mine) and a roast chicken from the shop across the street.
Wine: have to look it up.

Opera

The Barber of Seville. Front row of the theater. Couldn't see the sur-titles very well.
Food. Lunch: Steak Frite (a classic) ¼ Bordeaux at the Mexique.
No dinner; came straight home from the opera.

(This is an old old draft I found in my entries page; I figured I'd finally publish it.)

Off to Paris

Travelling today and not cooking.
Lunch at the sit-down resto upstairs in Terminal 1 at Barajas. Good service; passable food.

Theater on arrival (didn't even get to drop the bag at the apartment): Duel at the Vingtieme Theatre - entertaining; and it's a musical duel, has no spoken parts & thus overcomes the language barrier.

Stella (16th) for late dinner. Steak tartare - picante; and, as always, quite good.