pardon my french

Eating my words!

So, I must immediately print a retraction from my last post about Intermediate cuisine being…well, lackluster.

Walking into demo this morning was exactly the same as we have done before. No pomp & circumstance. No welcome to Intermediate speech. Just the chef saying, (via our favorite translator, Deborah) "we're starting with the dessert." And he dove right in.

We finally received our coveted binders, and we all quickly rifled through to find the Lesson 1 recipes so we could start taking notes. As I started flipping through to see what we would be making, I realized that Intermediate cuisine is segmented into different geographic regions of France and their trademark ingredients and dishes. How fun, right?! Lesson 1 was our tour of the Basque country.

Sadly, we didn't have the adorable Basque chef (he is away doing demonstrations in Shanghai) to tour us through his homeland, but instead the head chef of Intermediate. A rumpled middle-aged man who looks like a teddy bear that has seen better days but you just can't part with. All we really know about him is he has been referred to as an "encyclopedia of cuisine" and likes beaucoup salt in everything. Although his cooking style can be distracting…oil splattering everywhere, his cutting board sliding on the counter…his dishes today were delicious. Actually food I would happily make again!

On the off chance you were wondering…Pays Basque is located on the south west of France on the border of Spain, so there is naturally an influence of both French and Spanish cuisine. It is situated between the Atlantic coast to the east and the Pyrenees to the west. Seafood is bountiful and fish soup is a signature dish--tastes much better than it sounds. They usually use olive oil instead of butter and their dishes often take flavor from red or green bell peppers.

In future lessons we will also be looking at Normandy, Burgundy, Bordelais, Alsace, Champagne, and Côte d'Azur to name just a few. To be honest…there are some dishes I'm not excited for. Sweetbreads, trotters, aspic and guinea fowl are all on the menu. As if I have to say it…yuck. But! I can't wait to make trout fillets stuffed with morel mushrooms braised in Riesling wine or sole fillet and salmon paupiettes with Champagne. Now, that should be good!

But, we started off with a bang…on paper, it might seem strange with the chorizo (the Spanish influence), but trust me. There were a lot of mmmmm's in the kitchen : )

Salmon and Watercress Salad

480 g fresh salmon
50 ml olive oil
1 small head of romaine or butter lettuce
a bunch of arugula
a bunch of watercress
1 hard boiled egg
1/2 bunch of chervil
180 g smoked salmon (about 1 package)
100 g chorizo, casing removed

Vinaigrette
1/2 T mustard
30 ml sherry vinegar
100 ml olive oil
salt & pepper
1/2 bunch of watercress

Clean, trim and skin your fresh salmon. Season with salt & pepper and steam until just cooked through. 10 minutes was suggested by the chef, but it depends on the thickness of the salmon. When cooked, shred it and put into a large bowl.

To a blender, add all the vinaigrette ingredients except the olive oil. Start the blender on medium speed and drizzle in the olive oil to slightly emulsify. It should be a pretty green color.

To the bowl, add:
-Smoked salmon slices, cut into 1/2" cubes
-Chorizo slices
-Minced chervil
-Finely grated hard boiled egg (or put through a drum sieve if you have one lying around)
-Thinly slice your lettuce leaves, almost as thin as a chiffonade
-Vinaigrette plus a drizzle of olive oil

Mix, taste for seasoning and serve over a bed of arugula and watercress.

You can be as fancy or as rustic as you like. For the demonstration plate, the chef lined a small mold with a slice of smoked salmon, filled it with the finished salmon salad mix and made a little paupiette. Then he served it over a bed of watercress, topped it with arugula and garnished with a few reserved slices of chorizo. But, it is indeed delicious dressed up or dressed down. It could even be calling for a bit of avocado.

It's that easy...

bon nuit : )