Provence

Every other Friday, we prepare a menu based on a different region of France. We are paired with another student in the group and are given specific recipes to make for the day. There is no demo. The Chef just lets us take a stab at it, which is why I heard the word CHEF! yelled (including by me) almost once every minute today. He was running around the kitchen like a crazy man, helping everyone, and telling us to stop being 'petit cochons' (little pigs) because of the mess we were making.

The menu today was Provence, and it was a blast. We started prepping at 7:45 am this morning and by 12:30 had produced a six course menu between the 12 of us. So, we all sat down with Chef and three different types of wine and indulged ourselves until 3 pm. It was delicious and a much needed reward to end a hard week.

The recipe Alisha (exchange student from Johnson and Wales in the U.S.) and I were given was Lemon Sorbet and Lemon Macaroons. We decided we also wanted to make lavender ice cream (since it was a menu from Provence) and serve it in tuiles (thin cookies we molded into cups). Everything came out wonderfully, except unfortunately the ice cream. We weren't told how high-powered the ice cream maker was. It makes ice cream in 10 minutes (that's a machine that sounds dangerous to have access to to me!), and we let it churn the cream for 30 minutes. So, we basically had a mix between lavender ice cream and lavender butter. Either way, not too shabby! I made 70 macaroons filled with a lemon curd, and there was not one left at the end of the day. They were delicious and so was the sorbet. A perfect ending to a lovely meal and a long week.

Prepping/cooking the meal:

Leo (Brazil) and Isabelle (Venezuela) make the Daube.

Then they add a dough that they made around the pot to keep the steam in while cooking in the oven. How cool is that?

This is what it looks like after 4 hours.

Getting ready for Ratatouille.

All the 'veg' has been brunoised for it - what gorgeous colors! Yum!

Kyoko (Japan) diligently preps her crudité.

Beautifully prepped 'veg.'

Carleta (California) coring zucchini for the Petit Farcis.

Perfection.

Alexandra (Finland) and Sonja (Haiti) are on spinach duty.

Sarah (the other J&W exchange student) filets her fish.

It's just not your week, is it fish?

Lavender and cream for the ice cream!

Lavender being infused into milk.

Working on the Macaroons (I can't believe I am openly putting photos of the hat on the blog!).

The meringue for the macaroons is coming together.

Ready for the oven now.

Freshly baked macaroons.

Tuiles to be used as a cup for the lavendar butter-ice cream :)

Macaroons stuffed with lemon curd.

And dusted with powdered sugar for the finished product.

Finally - the meal transported us to Provence...

Table for 13, please.

First Course - Anchoiade with Crudité (Raw veggies with anchovy paste)

Second Course - Petit Farcis a la Provencale (Provencial stuffed vegetables)

Third Course - Filets de Rougets a la Creme D'Olive et Marjolaine, Fine Ratatouille (Redfish with olive and marjoram cream sauce and ratatouille)

Fourth Course - Aioli de Cabillaud avec Epinards (Codfish with aioli and sauteed spinach)

Fifth Course - Daube a la Provencale (Braised beef stew over mashed potates infused with an olive tapenade and more ratatouille)

Sixth Course - Sorbet Citron, Macarons au Citron, Glace a la Lavande (Lemon Sorbet, Macaroons with lemon curd and Lavendar ice cream)

The dinner went a bit like this...

We're just excited we get to eat sitting down for a change. Hungry and ready to eat!

Then, the wine begins to flow.

Six courses and three plus glasses of wine later...

You mean we have to clean up now? Can't you just roll us out of here instead?