I am so disappointed that I cannot complete the challenge this month - I wanted to make it so badly but life just got in the way.
Also, I'm putting the Test Kitchen on hiatus for the month of June. There are some stuff I need to turn my attention to - some projects are exciting and some are just plain dreary.
See you all in a month!
Weeks ago, I was lamenting the fact that I got an email from the French Pastry School in Chicago that I was not selected to take part in an exclusive class taught by Pierre Hermé. A week after that, I got a phone call from them telling me that I was on the waiting list and a spot opened up – did I want it? Heck ya! I tried so hard to keep my voice calm but I remember barely squeaking out the information needed to reserve the slot. Apparently there were 2000 entries – hmm I wonder how far down the waitlist I was – but who cares!
That was in the 1st week of March. Can you imagine how hard I had to contain my excitement and wait 2 ½ months for this class? Fortunately I was kept busy with a new job assignment, the business and a visit from my brother.
You can’t believe how paranoid I was about getting sick or about flight cancellations or whatever might prevent me from attending the class. Anyhow, I did arrive at the French Pastry School in full chef uniform and was greeted by the school director and was told to go up to the second floor. Three tables were arranged in a U shape and I already saw like 10 students seated and having coffee or tea.
I was informed that we had our chef’s jackets made especially for the occasion and I looked for my name on the hanger. It was then that I saw him...suddenly appearing and walking over to the table to greet the students at the table and then he headed my way.
I smiled…he smiled and said “Bonjour” and gave my hand a firm hand shake… and all I could get out was a weak “Bonjour” ….and then he moved on to the next person.
Gah! I suddenly remembered Meg Ryan (Annie) in “Sleepless in Seattle” when she flew all the way from Baltimore to Seattle to meet Tom Hanks (Sam) and all she could say was “hello”. I am an idiot!
Over a breakfast of black-truffled eggs, bread and rose-litchi jam, I continued to ogle him as he was took the chair right across from me. Also luckily for me, his assistant Mickael Marsollier was seated right next to me and spoke perfect English …plus was very friendly. I sure did not waste any time and grilled him on the technique of their macarons. PH uses Italian meringue in his macarons and I complained it was too sweet. Mickaél said, yes it is sweet but the shell is balanced by the filling. I told him, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt until I taste it (am I not cheeky?)
So I finally found my voice and talked to Pierre. I told him I made his white truffle macaron from his PH10 book and it was awful. Could it be my truffle paste? He agreed and said that it took him a while to find the right truffle paste for it. He said in our class he has included a black truffle macaron recipe as well as a foie gras one. Oh my God…I can’t wait!
Although Pierre spoke English, he was most comfortable speaking in French. Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer – owner of the French Pastry School- was on hand to translate. (My lessons with Helen helped tremendously because the language did not sound completely foreign and I was able to pick up on a lot of words). We were each asked to introduce ourselves. We were an interesting bunch. There were a couple of pastry chefs from some high-profile places like Spago, Payard and Robuchon. There was also another food blogger, Mitzi of Yummy in the tummy blog - such a sweet lady!
The class started with PH giving a power point presentation regarding his ideology on how he runs his business.
1. Quality of his ingredients.
2. Attention to detail. He hates perfection but loves detail. If you look for perfection you will never be satisfied. He always wants to make his offerings interesting and different from others. Every patisserie in Paris makes macarons but his macarons stand out in terms of detail.
3. Packaging – enough said.
4. Always think of how you can do things better. His recipes are never staid. He keeps on tweaking them.
His products are classified in three categories:
1. Classics like tarts and millefeuilles
2. Fetishes – which are his flavor combinations
Ie. Ispahan, Chloe, Sarah, Elise
3. Creations – how it is interpreted – Emotion, Miss Gla Gla
Before PH started delving into the recipes, Chef Pfeiffer said that we will have a test at the end of the class on saying the word macaron properly. “Maca-RAWN” with that tricky French R sound.
We had a total of 12 creations, one of them not yet released. But here are the following:
Black Truffle Macaron
Emotion Depayse (green tea , red bean, grapefruit)
Emotion Ispahan (rose, litchi, raspberry)
Ispahn Entremet
Chocolate and Foie Gras Macaron
Macaron Ispahan
Macaron Satine (Orange, passion fruit, cream cheese)
Miss Gla’Gla Ispahan glace
Revelation ( tomato puff pastry, black olive, olive oil and vanilla mascarpone)
Tarte Ispahan
Vanilla Tart
New Creation 2008
It was confusing at first as we jumped from recipe to recipe while completing each component at a time. We started with the geleés and the English cream that went with the Buttercreams. Most of PH’s macarons use ganache, but his Ispahan uses buttercream.
I’m sure it will be tedious for most readers if I go into too much of the details in this post. I selected a few pictures and some captions to give a gist of the class. Warning: there is an overabundance of the Ispahan creations - they are absolutely heavenly!!!
PH preparing the sugar dough for the Vanilla Tart. He said to mix the dough very little so the tart dough will not puff too much.
Preparing the Litchi Gellee for the Tarte Ispahan.
Delicious Chocolate and Raspberry Sable we had during the morning break. Pierre said to undercook them. The interesting crunch witihin the cookie comes from Fleur de sel.
PH getting down and dirty with the Ispahan macaron batter. He said there was no spatula big enough to mix the batter properly.
Piping the macaron batter for different creations.
My first taste of PH's macarons. Passion fruit and chocolate. It was the moment of truth too - the shells were not sweet at all. They were perfect in texture. Though I love my French Meringue method I am curious again to try sucre cuit again.
PH weighs each component of his Emotion creations. This is because the balance of flavors are very important. Such attention to detail!
Putting the different Ispahan creations together. It is important to select the same size raspberries.
Shaping the vanilla mascarpone cream for the tart. Poured into warmed rings so it can be lifted out easily.
Taking care of Miss Gla Gla (gla gla is what the French say when they are cold)
Pierre with a margarita in hand during cocktails. We headed out to Art Smith's house (Oprah Winfrey's former personal chef) for Mexican food.
DAY 2
Most activities on the second day were assembling all the creations.
Working on the Ispahan tarte.
PH pointed out that the tart shell should be really browned because you will taste the flour.
Finishing up the Foie Gras macaron. Pierre said that his idea of a perfect macaron should have a lot of filling.
Rolling out the tomato puff pastry in the laminator.
Ispahan Emotion
Ispahan Entremet
I asked Pierre what he did with the litchi juice leftover from the can. He said to take a bath in it was a dream of his. Someone added :"With rose petals?" The class burst out in laughter.
The finished Vanilla Tarts with the trademark PH logos.
The next few pictures are from the dessert buffet that immediately followed the class . We started with some champagne. But seriously, I think it was pretty cruel to have us eat all the desserts in one hour. I mean look at the spread!
My favorite macaron turned out to be the foie gras macaron. This is not savory, it is sweet. How this combination worked simply blew my mind. Pure genius!!! I was not able to finish a whole Ispahan entremet...my tummy was pretty close to screaming :Enough!!
I was able to take four macarons home to the "Hungry" hubby to try. I tried to take him the Ispahan Entremet but it did not survive in my purse as Mickael said it wouldn't. :(
And of course , the class will not be complete without a picture with the man himself and his brilliant assistant Mickael. :D
It was a rare opportunity that I was able to spend two full days with the most brilliant pastry chef of my lifetime...
Recognize him from his profile ?
....
No? How about this front view shot?
Still do not recognize him? The clue is in the initials of his chef's jacket or his most famous creation shown below :
More later... I just got back and there is a ton of pictures to sift through. And as usual when I go on this "business" trips I end up in a sugar coma...
The hubby and I are the type of people who would drive hours just to eat a certain dish we crave. Years ago, this was Persian kabobs and we would make a day trip up to Tyson’s Corner in the D.C. area to dine in a restaurant called Shamshiry. Then, one Christmas, his sister gave us a cookbook called The New Food of Life by Najmieh Batmanglij and it was then that we decided to try our hand with the kabab recipes in the book.
We never went back to Shamshiry.
This preparation is the specialty of the “Hungry” Hubby. It’s kind of a signature dish of our household. It’s useless sometimes to prepare something else other than kababs for our guests because the look of disappointment is so evident if the grilled meat dish is not on our menu.
I really wanted to have a picture of a plated kabab dish complete with step-by-step instructions for preparing the rice. Believe it or not, there were two professional photographers at our dinner party - my brother and a family friend. But alas, the aroma of the sizzling meat was too great that the vultures could not wait to descend.
Fillet Kabab
Kabab-e barg
2 lb tenderloin
1 large onion; peeled,sliced
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp black pepper; ground
2 tbs lime juice (fresh)
2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp saffron; ground,dissolved in water
1/4 cup yoghurt
8 roma tomatoes
Basting
2 tbs Butter
2 small lime juice (fresh)
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp black pepper; ground
Cut meat into 3 by 4 by ¼ inch pieces and place in a large glass or Pyrex dish with cover. Add onion, olive oil, pepper, lime juice, salt, saffron water (if desired) and yoghurt to the meat. Mix well. Cover the meat and marinate for at least 24 hours. Turn the meat in the marinade twice during this period.
Thread each piece of meat onto the flat, sword-like skewer, leaving a few inches free on both ends. Spear the tomatoes on separate skewers.
For basting, combine oil, the juice of 2 limes, and salt and pepper in a small saucepan. Keep warm.
When the grill is hot, brush the tomatoes and meat lightly with the baste. Place the tomatoes on the grill first, then place the skewered meat on the grill. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes on each side, turning the skewers frequently. The meat should be seared on the outside, pink and juicy on the inside.
Serve with chelow ( saffron steamed rice) and garnish with tomatoes. Sprinkle sumac powder if desired.
Ground Meat kabab
Kabab-e kubideh
2 lb ground beef; twice ground
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 large onion; peeled,finely grated
Basting
2 tbs Butter; melted
1/2 tsp lime juice (fresh)
12 flat 1-inch skewers
sumac for garnish
In a warm mixing bowl, combine meat and the rest of the kabob ingredients. Knead with your hands for about 5 minutes to form a paste that will adhere well to cooking skewers. Cover the paste and let stand for 15 minutes at room temperature.
Using damp hands, divide the meat paste into 12 equal lumps about the size of oranges. Roll each into a sausage shape 5 inches long and mold it firmly around a flat, sword-like skewer. Cover and keep on a cool place.
For the baste, melt the butter in a small saucepan and add a pinch of salt and lime juice.
Arrange the skewers on a hot grill, keeping in mind that the ground meat should not touch the grill. After a few seconds, turn the meat gently to help it attach to the skewers and prevent it from falling off.
Grill the meat 3 to 5 minutes on each side, and brush with baste just before removing from the grill. Avoid overcooking it. The meat should be seared on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside.
Slide the meat off the skewer and sprinkle with sumac. Serve with chelow (saffron steamed rice).
Yoghurt-cucumber garnish
Mast-o-kiar
1 pint of yoghurt
salt pepper to taste
1 tbs dried mint
1 tsp dried tarragon
½tsp dried rosemarr
1 cucumber, skinned and diced into small
Crush the dried herbs in your hand and mix together. Add the yoghurt and the cucumber, salt and pepper.
Cooking Notes:
Eating notes. Let me just describe how this is eaten. Make a mound of rice on your plate and carve a well in the middle. Drop a piece of butter, cover with the rice and let the butter melt. Sprinkle with sumac if desired. Traditionally a raw egg yolk is thrown into the mix but we stopped doing this. Get a piece of grilled tomato, sprinkle with sumac, salt and pepper and mash it down a little. Add the kabobs and enjoy!
We make our rice with a crispy crust called tah-dig. The crust is great to enjoy with the yogurt mixture.
The Fillet kabob is pretty straightforward to make like any shish-kebab. The book suggests sirloin but we find that tenderloin from Costco tastes the best. There is no need to get prime cuts for this because it is going to be marinated.
The ground meat kabab on the other hand has a significant degree of difficulty to prepare. This is my favorite kabab. Use ground meat that has fat in it – don’t even think of using those 97% fat -free type, 80% is pretty good. If you master the method of preparing this you shall be revered by your friends as a kabab master. The meat should not be too cold when you mount them on the skewer. Have a bowl of water beside you to dip your hands in to prevent the meat from sticking them. Gently shape the ball of ground meat along the length of the skewer. Make sure that it is spread evenly so it will cook properly. As if skewering this is not hard enough, grilling it is just as tricky. This is normally done with no grates on the grill. But we chose a grill that will let us lay the skewer without the meat touching the grate too much. Timing in turning the ground meat kabob is essential because you do not want one side to cook too much that it will detach from the skewer. We do get some casualties from time to time , but our guests love this fallen kababs as impromptu appetizers.
With the weather getting warmer, I can’t wait for the next round of kababs!
* the sword-like skewers are available in Iranian/Persian stores.
photo by Mark Perez
It was a good day at the Farmer's Market! The macarons sold out before noon today. Which was a blessing because after days of 70 F weather, the mercury decided to stay in the high 50's with a pretty chilly breeze (and gusts) at times - the sun playing peek-a-boo with the clouds until it decided to stay hidden for an extended period . In short - it was pretty darn cold!
I was thrilled to finally meet food blogger Deborah Dowd of Play with food who came down from Newport News, VA with her family to spend the day in Richmond. Also, Karen , lovely spouse of Rva foodie of Caramelized OpiNIONS dropped by with baby Jasper and her mom to pick up a macaron order. Other foodies, who read about these "little bites" either on my blog or from the article in Richmond Magazine or Style Weekly, were also responsible for the macaron shortage. Thanks for all your support!!
I will not be at the Farmer's Market on May 17th but plan to be back on May 24th and every Saturday onwards till the end of June. Any deviations to this schedule will be posted on the Petites Bouchees availability calendar.
Anyway, I think I need a 12-step program to curb my growing fetish for polka dots , especially in the brown and pink combinations as evidence in another polka-dot apron.
Robert Steinberg: Essence of Chocolate: Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate
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