The Fumbling Foodie

The Kitchen and Me, One Last Time

As I was preparing Sunday dinner today, it occured to me that this would be the last time this kitchen and I did battle together.

The house has been sold. Next weekend my Sweet Lady Wife and I will be on a long-deserved (particularly for her) vacation in Reno, NV. Closing will be the Tuesday after that. So today is IT.

Don't get me wrong. In five or six weeks we'll be in the new house with the new kitchen: Lots of cabinets. Corian countertops. A real pantry right off the kitchen. Lots of electrical outlets. Room to store my mixer and food processor and condiments someplace other than my Den. I am looking forward to that more than you know.

THIS kitchen however, is where I learned to cook. Learned to saute. Learned to make Beurre Blanc. The kitchen that made Coq au Vin for five generations of women in my family on Mother's Day last year. The kitchen where I made my first Thanksgiving dinner -- solo. The kitchen where I learned my knife skills.

I remember when Adam challenged everyone to send him pictures of their kitchens and I was the only one to respond and he wrote a rather flattering post about me and my kitchen.

It is a kitchen right out of the 1970's, isn't it? My Sweet Lady Wife and I picked out that wallpaper shortly after we moved in 31 years ago. We went to a wallpaper class and then I hung that wallpaper myself. There are lots of other memories in this kitchen too. Down low (about eye-level for a five-year-old boy) near the refrigerator are two small 1/4-inch diamter holes in the drywall. I was fixing something somewhere in the house with a hammer one day long ago. I heard 'I'm fixing too, Daddy" - accompanied by a tap-tap-tap eminating from the kitchen. It wasn't until hours later that we found my son's handiwork :-)

And of course we'll always laugh about that small grease fire in the oven.

So there is some sadness in saying godbye to this kitchen.

Sauces

I confess: I keep hearing the siren call of French recipes with those wonderful sauces.

I have found a French Chef who shares my love of sauces and is willing to share his secrets and techniques. A few weeks ago, I attended a cooking class at Plate It Up! taught by Chef Bernard Chirent. Chef Bernard is French, learned his trade from French masters, and had is own restaurant in Paris. After emigrating to the USA about 10 years ago, he was the Executive Chef at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. (The Fairmont is that beautiful grand old hotel at the top of Nob Hill.)






He lives here in Arizona now and is in the process of opening his own restaurant in Goodyear. Meanwhile, he is sharing his knowledge and passion with us amateurs.

A couple of weeks ago, Chef Bernard taught a French Cooking class in which he shared his technique for making Beurre Blanc. When I learned he would be teaching a class on the mother sauces I had to attend.

We started with Holandaise. Just egg yolks, clarified butter, salt, and white pepper. Served over a tower of asparagus spears with a little chopped tomato, it tasted as good as it looked.







With Hollandaise in hand, we used it to make Bearnaise. Just add a reduction of shallot, red wine vinegar, and tarragon to the Hollandaise to make Bearnaise.

And then to the Bearnaise, we added some diced tomato to create Chorron sauce. Here you can see the Bearnaise (top) and Chorron (bottom). While all these were great, for me the Bearnaise was seriously good. I could have licked the plate. I'll be in the new house in about six weeks and I'm going to try some over baked potato. (I'm told that Bearnaise turns French Fries into a heavenly treat.)

We're not done yet. Not by a long shot.

How about a mustard sauce over sear-roasted pork tenderloin? Sear-Roast the pork. De-glaze the pan with about 1/4 cip white wine and let it reduce to almost nothing. Add about a cup pf a 50-50 mixture of grainy (stone-ground) mustard and water. Add a little veal stock and some cream. Let it reduce just a bit.

I love pork tenderloin anyway but this was just heavenly.

Finally, how about some Bordelaise Sauce over beef skirt steak? Imagine startng with a couple chopped shallots and 3/4 bottle of red wine. Let it reduce down to about 1/2 a cup. (Oh man was this sauce rich!) Add about an equal amount of veal stock. Then add a stick of butter (cut into small pieces, added a little at a time).

I've had Bordelaise before but it was nothing like this. There was a richness and depth there that I've never before experienced.

Any Port in a Storm

I miss baking. Unfortunately, almost all my baking stuff is packed up for the move to the new house. In a couple of months, we'll be in the new house with the new BIG kitchen. Brioche is number one on my list of things to make the instant everything is unpacked. I am already salivating.

In the meantime, I've had to satisfy my yearnings any way I can. I was at the Apple store in the BIltmore the other day and this wonderful smell eminated from WilliamsSonoma as I walked past. Even my decrepid olfactory sense was able to lead me to some Spiced Vanilla Quick Bread stil warm from the oven. I grabbed a package, paid for it, and brought it home.

It's hard to call it baking really - the mix, a couple of eggs, and some water. Oh well. soon. very soon.

Beurre Blanc, Perfected

At last, a presentable Beurre Blanc sauce!

My beurre blanc has always turned out lousy. Try as I might, I would whisk the heck out of it as I added the butter but it never came out nice and creamy. Either that or it would be too hot and the butter would break.

No more.

A few days ago, I took a cooking class at my favorite gourmet cooking tols store in downtown Glendale AZ from a new instructor, Chef Bernard Chirent. Chef Bernard is French, trained with the French masters, and had his own restaurant in Paris. He was the executive chef at the Fairmont hotel in San Francisco after moving to the USA.

Chef Bernard taught me his secret to making a nice Beurre Blanc: after reducing the wine and before adding the butter, add a little cream.

The other night I had a chance to try it myself. First, saute a tablespoon or so of chopped shallots. Add a little wine and let it reduce down till there is almost none left. Add about 1/4 cup cream and let it reduce for a minute or so. Then add the butter. There is no need to whisk like mad. Just a little stirring or whisking and it makes this beautiful sauce.

You gotta use unsalted butter. I can tell you from experience that the sauce comes out WAY to salty if you use salted butter. Americal salted butter is almost tasteless, unfortunately. I am lucky that AJ's carries Plugra butter and so I always use that.

Here is a final picture: sear-roasted filet of salmon with Beurre Blanc. A tiny pinch of paprika and some chives have been added for presentation. Accompanied by Braised Asparagus with Shallots, Pancetta, and a Balsamic-Butter Glaze