Ms. Glaze's Pommes d'Amour

Madeleine Tea Cakes: A Lesson in Life

This post is for Claire who asked me to share my recipe for the delicious buttery famous French Madeleine tea cake and Kathryn who was my cooking partner in pastry at Le Cordon Bleu. I'm sure that Claire had no idea her request would bring up a plethora of memories... but, well, food is the window to my ...

photo by Miwa on Flickr

Years before relocating to Paris and long before my career as an actor/director/teacher I worked in restaurants. The most notable being Ristorante Ecco (now closed) in San Francisco's hip South Park area which was one of the top ten Italian restaurants for years (anyone remember it?). I worked as Garde Manger preparing hot and cold appetizers, gourmet salads, and assembling all the desserts during service. Easily this was a job meant for several people but I managed...

One day our pastry chef quit. She was also working for the famous restaurant, Stars, in SF and couldn't handle both. I was asked to take her place while continuing with my Garde Manger position since we had a small cooking staff and none of the other Chef's had any extra prep time.

Baking for the first time in a restaurant was a total nightmare. Thank God Italian desserts are much simpler than French ones! I made every costly mistake in the book. Including not tempering the eggs right for our Creme Brulée, using bread flour for a cake that required all-purpose flour (the bins weren't labeled – how was I to know?), cooking cheesecake until it wasn't jiggly in the center and not letting it set afterwards, wasting over ten kilos of Valronna chocolate because I didn't temper it right – oh the list is endless!

There were many nights when the servers would tell the clientele that we were "sold out" of a particular dessert because I messed it up during the day and didn't have time to go back and re-bake it. I learned the hard way without the aid of a fancy cooking school education how to bake.

Fast forward to Summer of Paris 2005. I relocated to Paris with my husband and decided to go to cooking school and relearn all the things I had done wrong. I started my education at Le Cordon Bleu with a basic pastry class. I thought I was going to be best in class due to my vast experience in desserts. I was sure that no one would equal my skill, speed, or artistic creativity. I was wrong.

Parisian desserts are a science. They are not "a little bit of this and a little bit of that" like Italian desserts. On our first day we were given scales to weigh ingredients as opposed to the traditional measuring cups, a full case of knives and pastry utensils, and an enormous notebook with recipes covering every famous French pastry and cake that you can imagine. Our first recipes included several tried and true French tea cakes and biscuits – the Madeleine included.

I whizzed through the first recipes faster than anyone in the class. My pastry skills and muscle memory seemed to come back naturally. Even the teachers were impressed. And then came the Madeleines. I whipped through the simple recipe – maybe too fast – and waited for the rest of the class to catch up so we could put our little cakes in the oven at the same time.

When the oven buzzer went off I was excited to see my shell-like cakes with the traditional little bump on the other side (a phenomena that no one can explain, but signifies a well baked Madeleine). I was even more excited to taste their buttery spongy-ness with a fresh cup of black tea.

Our beloved pastry chef took out the cakes and stacked them on the cooling racks. One looked particularly horrible. The Madeleines had puffed up too much and formed one cake over the whole tray and the ingredients seperated. I remember thinking, "Oh, I'm sooooo glad those aren't mine. How embarrasing." and then when I couldn't identify my cakes as any of the other perfect golden brown delicacies, I went nervously to see whose name was on the ugly batch. Yup, they were mine.

The chef came over to me and said in broken English, "Zheese ahre yourz?" with a look that can only be compared to one who has seen the Grim Reaper in person. "I guess so." I replied, close to tears. He then proceeded to quiz me on how I made them and if I had measured everything perfectly. I assured him that I had. "Zhees happens you know, with zhis biscuit and no one knowz why" he comforted me. He popped one in his mouth and told me they tasted excellent. They did taste good at least.

I have made these several times since and I haven't had the same problem. I have even tried it with the butter melted compared to using softened butter and I still haven't had any problems. Most likely, I rested the batter longer than every one else's in an extremely hot classroom and perhaps I wasn't as exact with my measurements as I should have been.

This little cake taught me some lessons: there is no place for ego in the kitchen, be exact when baking a recipe for the first time, learn from your mistakes.

Madeleines are a specialty of the northeastern French town, Commercy. They are baked in shell-shaped molds and often served with tea. I prefer the original recipe but there are many out there that change it. Start with this one and then you can explore

Click on "Continue Reading Madeleine Tea Cakes" for recipe....

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Le Cordon Bleu Graduation

I now hold the world's records in certificates! Some of my favorites include: college, teaching, marriage, and now – cooking! Woooo!!!

Our ceremony was held at the private estate of the Cointreau family located on rue St. Honoré. The famous liqueur company owns the Cordon Bleu schools world wide and they open up their gates in Paris for graduation. Quite the exclusive location surrounded by embassies and France's Maison Blanche (President's white house)

Mon Mari, Jamie, et Moi at entryway to Maison Cointreau

We entered into another world once through the gates; a luxurious era with gold plated fixtures, spiral stair cases, and manicured gardens. Guests were ushered upstairs to an old ornate ball room for the ceremony while students found their name tags and nervously awaited their 30 seconds of fame.

Gardens and Regal Staircase of the Cointeau Mansion

We listened to the opening speeches as the chef's talked about the different Intermediate and Superior classes. They were very forward with our strengths and weaknesses. Never ceasing to use even the last moments as an opportunity to teach. The Intermdiate pastry chef commented that several students would not be graduating this term and that he felt the level of commitment needed to be stronger. He encouraged students to do better in Superior pastry.

The Superior pastry chef commented on a recent tragedy where a student burned the flesh off his arm severely with hot sugar by carelessly placing the bowl on the counter, knocking it over, and then trying to catch it. He lectured students that safety is a number one priority in the kitchen. A somber reminder that accidents can cause serious damage in the kitchen.

Our beloved Suprior Cuisine Chef talked about what a great group we were but openly expressed his disappointment in our final exam results. He felt that many students did not work up to their capabilities. He did thank those that were creative. He said there was some problems with our cooking of the pigeon and that most were not done to the right temperature. Although his words were stern and fatherly, his point was well taken – you are not chef's yet, so don't get too comfortable!

Omri (#1 in Cuisine) and Jamie my cooking pahtnah

Their speeches were not flowery or hostile and I appreciated their honesty. That's what I love about the French chef's, they call it like it is. Any one who's actually spent some time cooking in a restaurant kitchen knows that culinary school gives you the skills to survive when the heat is on, but it doesn't teach you how to be a chef. Like all professions, being a chef is a life long learning journey. Similar to teaching or being a doctor. There is always room to improve. That is what makes the "belle profession" so fascinating.

Graduating Superior & Pastry Class, 54 International Students

After we received our diplomas everyone filed into another area of the mansion for champagne and hor d'oervres. My family and I drank a lot of champagne. One of the attendants took a liking to our family and made sure that our glasses stayed refueled. (hee, hee)

Mes Parents et mon Mari ready for some home cooked meals!

I did get the chance to tell my four favorite chef's just what I thought of them...

Chef Struil in charge of basic cuisine and former head chef of Maxime's and the Hotel du Palais in Biarritz

Didier Chantefort, Marc Thivet, Patrick Terrein, & Bruno Struil will forever be legendary to me. Bruno, is a teacher's teacher. He tells you what he's going to do, shows you how to do it, and then repeats what he just did. Had he not been my chef in Basic cuisine I would have been lost in Superior. Constantly patient and always professional.

No one could forget Chef Thivet, with his "petit histoire" for every dish and every situation or Chef Terrien with his beautiful presentations for Intermediate cuisine.

Chantefort, our Superior Cuisine chef, makes even the hardest dishes look simple. He adds humor and insight that keep students engaged – a difficult feat for a three hour intensive demonstration. Also, he really helped me pursue my apprenticeship at Guy Savoy.

The traditional French two kisses for Superior Chef Chantefort, former executive chef of Le Grand Cercle, Coconnas, and the Beaux Séjour in Tokoyo.

All graduations are happy and sad at the same time. When confronted with one chapter of life closing and another beginning there's bound to be mixed emotions. I was sad to be leaving the family that I've found at LCB, and disappointed in myself that I didn't place in the top three (my pigeon was one of the undercooked ones – boohoo), but happy with the knowledge I've gained, friends I've made, and totally ecstatic over my upcoming internship.

I was also excited to be offered another apprenticeship by Chef Bruno in Perigord after my three months at Guy Savoy are over. He said he wanted to me to learn there – that made me feel really good! (Perigord is the land of truffles– yippeee!!!)

Tired but excited, we all drank, ate, and toasted to our graduation and upcoming endeavors. My family and I caught a taxi to eat at Chiberta (another Guy Savoy restaurant), and continued with our prolonged champagne rampage over delicious food. After a long day and night, we came home and crashed.

I went to bed like a kid with a new toy, mind reeling with how I will fare in my upcoming apprenticeship at Guy Savoy. Never a dull moment in the world of food....

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Le Cordon Bleu Final Examination

I love Cordon Bleu – and I'm not just writing that because I've had three bottles of champagne (okay, maybe I have, so what, it's Paris and I just finished my final exam!!!).

Seriously though, I feel fortunate to have worked with some of the Grand Chefs of France. GROS BISOUS to: Didier Chantefort, Terrein Patrick, Marc Thivet, Marc Chalopin, Bruno Stril, Patrick Lebouc, Nicolas Bernardé Mof, Xavier Cotte, Fabrice Danniel, Jean-Francois Deguignet, Walter, and Guy Shokr – you guys are amazing and I marvel at your expertise, stamina, patience, creativity, and dedication to the "belle" profession of cuisine. (merci bien par tout!)

Now about the exam...

I was calm and collected today. If you've followed my posts at all, then you know I'm a stress case, but today I woke up, ironed my uniform, sank a cup of coffee and caught a taxi to Le Cordon Bleu. I arrived and had another cup of coffee with my cooking partner Jamie, who was also relaxed. We watched other people freak out around us and pace back and forth, but we remained zen. Maybe it's because we practiced at home, or maybe it's because neither of us slept the night before.

I'm a big fan of improv and anyone who's ever participated in an improv show, knows that you can't control it. You just have to give in, go with the flow and have fun. That was my attitude towards this finale: just have fun. I knew that there would be some curve balls, but as long as I didn't forget my pigeon in the oven, everything would be okay...

Everyone's time was staggered and I was last. Being last is the worst because you begin when everyone else is stressing out. Also, any extra ingredients have already been used up and the student assistant is tired of running up and down to the kitchens to get more stuff. Luckily I didn't really need anything extra, except larger artichokes, two lemons, maple syrup, pine nuts, two 'gros carrots', basil, and an onion. Hey – I was the assitstant last time for the Superior Cuisine final – if anyone has the right to ask for more stuff, it's me!!

Our proctor for the exam was an Iron Chef. No joke. Guy Shokr was our chef today and he was awesome. For those that haven't watched Iron Chef from the start, he was the first chef to compete against the Chinese 'French' chef (Sakai vs. Shokr, episode 8). He should be returning to the show for a second show down sometime next year. Chef Shokr is also into molecular gastronomy and teaches a course at Le Cordon Bleu on it.

Everything went swimmingly today. Seriously, I cleaned my bloody pigeon quickly and roasted the breasts, saving the legs to confit separately. Afterward, I made my sweet pea basil gnocchi, glazed carrots with lemon confit, deep fried artichokes with tapenade, and lastly my little amouse bouche of foie gras mousse, pigeon confit & wild mushrooms. The sauce came out great, the plating was perfect. Yippeee!!!

Things got stressful during the last five minutes because they take your plates away when the time is up. If all the food isn't plated, then too bad. I stretched my last thirty seconds to the maximum and even managed to squeeze in a few photos with my Iron Chef before the plates were whisked away to the judges.

After I cleaned up and packed my knives away I got a little sneak peak of the rest of the plates from the other groups while the judges were sampling and making notes. There were an awful lot of plates to taste and only three judges to do it. I'm not quite sure how they managed!?!?!

We had to plate four identical dishes for our final using specific ingredients. Our plates had to include three side dishes: two composed (more than one ingredient) and one simple (technical). Also we had to cook the meat, which was pigeon (blech!) rosé and serve sauce along side it and on the plates. When I saw the beautiful plates from all the groups, my mouth just dropped. Nobody did the same thing. Who knew there were so many combinations of pigeon, sweet peas, carrots, potatoes, foie gras mousse, and mushrooms?

Here's my final plate:

Gotta go...I think another glass of bubbly is calling my name....

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Artichokes Deep Fried

It's spring and artichokes are everywhere in Paris. I've seen big globes the size of my head, small purple ones, you name it I've seen it. Artichokes have quite the illustrious past, which makes me happy because now there's at least two of us.

If you haven't already discovered for yourself, they are an aphrodisiac. That's right! You can put away the bottles of Viagra and eat some chokes instead. Wooo!

According to the site What's Cooking America, which provides excellent food history and basic recipes, ancient Greeks and Romans considered artichokes an aphrodisiac. The artichoke was attributed to aiding in the birth of boys. Later In the 16th century, Catherine de Medici made the artichoke famous. She is said to have introduced them to France when she married King Henry II and was later quoted: "If one of us had eaten artichokes, we would have been pointed out on the street. Today young women are more forward than pages at the court."

The nerve of those women! Going around eating artichokes like that! Tsk, tsk.

Well, us galavanting Cordon Bleu students have artichokes on our upcoming final. Hopefully we'll be able to resist tearing our sexy uniforms off while preparing our pigeon, peas, carrots, and baby chokes. I've been experimenting with baby artichokes and I want to make the most of their beautiful shape. I had considered making a purée, but that just seems criminal – like asking Gisele to wear a full body paper bag – or something like that, you get the idea.

I found that when frying them at a low temperature until cooked, and deep frying again quickly at a higher temperature forces the petals to open and gives a great crunchy texture to the edible inner leaves. A sprinkle of fleur de sel and a deep fried lemon wedge et viola – Bliss! (recipe to follow)

I'm using this as my simple garnish (sidedish which contains only one ingredient) but I will serve it with a little bit of tapenade in the center of the choke. This should go nicely with my sweet pea gnocchi, shoestring carrots, amuse bouche of foie gras mousse and confit pigeon leg, and roasted pigeon breast with jus.

P.S. Is that why California provides 90% of the artichokes for the U.S. ? You know, we're a little different on the West Coast...hee, hee ;-)

Artichoke Recipe on next page

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Eat Your Peas: Sweet Pea Gnocchi

My final superior examination next week at Le Cordon Bleu. I've been experimenting at home with some of the ingredients, like petit pois, attempting to create original recipes. I'm sure my husband's getting tired of eating the same things over and over although I haven't heard any complaints. I'm waiting for the: Peas and pigeon again? Isn't there anything else at the supermarket? Can't I whisk you away to a three star dinner tonight? (wishful thinking I suppose)

We are given a list of ingredients and two weeks to prepare our own recipes. Our menu must include two composed side dishes and one simple. The meat, which is Pigeon (oh, joy) can be cooked in any method we desire, as long as it's perfectly rosé. We also need to create a sauce. All this must be completed in four hours – not before or after.

Ms. Glaze's Sweet Pea Gnocchi served along side filet mignon and tarragon glazed shoestring carrots

One of the ingredients we will be given is 400g of petit pois. I've overheard many students talking about making a purée or a flan, but I want to do something different so I'm making petit pois gnocchi with fresh basil. There are many ways to make gnocchi using ricotta, potato, or choux pastry. I've chosen the potato method but I'm substituting most of the potatoes for peas. It's taken awhile to figure out the measurements and play around with the dough, but it creates the most beautiful tasty bright green dumplings. (Recipe to follow)

Gnocchi doesn't have to be presented in the normal dumpling or small cylinder shape. It can also be served as an amuse bouche with a little shaved parmesan or tomato confit on top. I got the idea of this little tube from Bea at Tartine Gourmand – clever! It's easy to cook this way because you roll the gnocchi dough up in cling film and press out all the air. Then tie off the ends tight and simmer in water for 7-10 minutes. Cool in an ice water bath, cut to desired length, refrigerate, and reheat before serving with a little olive oil. Or top and bake quickly before serving. Cool, huh? Who knew gnocchi could be so versatile and easy?

One garnish down, two to go...oh yeah, and that little bird too...I don't want to give away all my secrets just yet, so I'll fill in the details soon.

Ms. Glaze's Sweet Pea Gnocchi Recipe on following page

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Final Exam Insecurity

For the last few weeks my mind has been pondering over our list of ingredients for the Final Superior Exam and Le Cordon Bleu. I finally came up with two composed garnishes, one simple, and two methods of preparing the meat with sauce that I thought were excellent. Mediterranean in inspiration, but nonetheless technically complicated and very tasty.

However, today at school I overheard students talking about their dishes: "Well, how many sauces does yours have? Mine has three..."

Three sauces? Are you friggin' kidding me? We have four hours to create a masterpiece and you're doing three sauces? Is there even room on the plate for that?

At first I was like, "Yeah, great, three sauces, whatever show-off." but now I'm like "Merde, he's doing three sauces? Is mine too simple? Are the judges going to scoff at my obviously Italian based menu? Did I just totally miss French cooking 101?"

Another friend of mine is making – making – puff pastry for his plate. I enjoy making puff pastry but the margin for error and the amount of uncertainty are high, especially if it's a really hot day, like it's supposed to be.

So now I'm looking at my menu and wondering if it sucks. Uggh-a-roo. I guess I'll find out tomorrow when I do my practice test on my husband and his buddy. Hope they like pigeon!

My six hour practice session is on Thursday at Le Cordon Bleu where we get to play around in the kitchens, so I'll get the male perspective two days in a row (from my hubby and the chef's). Wish my Mom was here to tell me just what's right and what's wrong. Mom's are great that way, aren't they? They just know...

P.S. I'll share my recipes after all students have had their practive runs at LCB. Just in case they really are good (totally paranoid, huh? I know, I know – pitiful). To try your hand at our final and check out the full list of ingredients go to Final Exam at Le Cordon Bleu

We Don't Walk to Cordon Bleu, We Fly!!!

Yesterday we took our written exam, which nobody studied for. We tried to study, really we did, but no one was able to concentrate. The questions on the test never seem to match what we have in our notebooks so we've all just given up. The closest analogy is the American S.A.T., which doesn't test your knowledge, but instead your test taking abilities. I barely passed the intermediate written final and I studied. Go figure.

Nonetheless, Le Cordon Bleu students are a happy bunch. I caught one student flying back from our local cafe after our brief session of cramming...our brief session of cramming coffee and pastries into our bellies!!!

I left the written exam feeling pretty good until I got home and started looking up questions I thought I had answered correctly. Those darn questions in Celsius really drive me crazy (what is the maximum temperature of freezer?... uh, I dunno...cold!?!) Then I realized that I probably just passed the Superior written exam too. Hey, I'm an actor, what can I say? I memorize dialogue, not inane facts that anyone can get from the internet – Jeez, I can't be perfect at everything!

Speaking of perfect (eh-ehmmm), I was pretty darn proud of my technical plate exam today. Our demo was at 8:30 A.M with the examination following. I barely made it because my alarm clock decided not to work and I just happened to wake up with sunlight streaming in my bedroom window disturbing my slumber. I called a taxi who came pronto and sped me across town so that I could make my final on time.

Our incredible Superior Chef demonastrated a recipe that used just about every part and every animal I can think of. Delicious and deceptively simple: Selle D'Agneau Prince Noir Et Son Gateau Au Lard Paysan (Black Prince Saddle of Lamb and Bacon-Potato Cake) Our Chef walked us through the steps carefully making sure there was no cause for concern.

The most difficult part is butchering the lamb. It must be taken off the bone and then butterflied. The farce (stuffing) is made of ground up veal and carefully brunoised mushrooms, carrots, shallots, and black truffles. Served with a cake of mouthwatering fat: foie gras, cured tongue, bacon, and potatoes on a bed of savoy cabbage. Not for those on any sort of diet of any kind, with the exception of Atkins perhaps.

The practical was relaxed. We all whizzed through our technical cuts without any problems. The biggest issue was the heat in the kitchen and the sweat rolling down our foreheads blurring our vision. I'd say the hardest part was cooking the lamb to the right temperature. Even though I used a meat thermometer I could tell that it was still too rare.

I put my lamb loaf back in the oven – which was a smart idea. Lamb can be very hard to get just right. Over cooked and it's tasteless and tough, but lamb sushi isn't good either. It has to be perfectly rosé. I cooked it just the way I like it, so I was happy. My layer-of-lard-cake turned out nice and so did my jus. The chef told me "Super! Super!" (zuhpear, zuhpear!) Let's hope it makes up for my written exam!

One more exam to go..the Final where we get a basket of ingredients and have to create recipes. Hey, how come only two people have answered my challenge!?!?! Doesn't anyone like pigeon!?!?

P.S.
Thanks for all the encouraging responses on my upcoming stage. I was happily surprised by all the positive feedback ;-)

Gros Bisous!

Final Examination for Le Cordon Bleu

Let me tell you about the final exam process at Le Cordon Bleu for superior cuisine...

We are given a list of ingredients with items that we must use and other's that we can add if we desire. In the space of three weeks we need to create our unique recipes. Our presentation must include two composed garnishes (side dishes) that require a mixture of ingredients like a flan or a vegetable tian and one technical garnish, like carrots turned perfectly into an olive shape and glazed. We must also cook our meat or fish to perfection and plate it with a sauce, reserving extra for the judges to taste seperately.

Normally in class we just plate a single serving, but for the final we must plate four servings exactly the same way and finish precisely at our end time – not before or after. Points will be taken away if we fail to meet this criteria. All of our cooking times are staggered so that the chefs can stand over us with their stop watches waiting to clock our final burst of adrenaline.

I love games, so this to me is fun. I practice mentally whenever I go to the supermarket... Okay now if they give me beet root and dourade, what can I make?

Perhaps I should say, I thought this game was fun until we received our ingredients. Before I break the bad news, I must admit that I'm happy there was no mention of frogs legs, escargot, or mountain oysters on the list.

Drum roll please...

In the spirit of a starving Hemmingway, we are cooking, PIGEON!!!

I think the PC term is squab, but they will always be rats with wings to me. Bloody rats with wings that come with head and feet attached and all the innards intact. Joy.

Well at least there's some petit pois on the list and oyster mushrooms. Oh, and my faaaaaavorite – foie gras mousse. Nope, it ain't the fattened duck liver that you slice ever so gently and sear quickly before serving to drooling guests. It's the other version that comes in a can. Spam would be a close cousin.

A squab recipe that we did in class (roasted w/olive tapenade & fava beans)

Despite my initial disappointment (the last superior class got scallops & dourade and the class before that got lamb – we get pigeon? Is LCB bankrupt or what?) my brain has been going like a slot machine on speed and has finally hit the jackpot with four cherries. I really want to share what I'm going to do, but I think it's best I keep it a secret for now, incase a spy decides to runaway with my coveted recipes.

So here's a game for you, what would you make if you had these ingredients to choose from? Remember there are three side dishes: two composed and one technical. Don't forget the sauce! All astericks are ingredients you must use. I will also include a list of items that will be in the kitchens at your disposal

Ingredients listed on the next page...

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Le Stage?

Oh I am such a big BIG big big DORK! I finally got up the nerve to walk over to Guy Savoy, which is close to my house, and turn in my resume and letter of motivation. This of course, was after the chef's at Le Cordon Bleu approved my request and gave me their blessing. LCB doesn't have a normal stage (internship) set up with Guy Savoy so I had to take the first steps.

This morning I got up and got dressed. Let me rephrase that, I got up and got dressed thirty times before settling on a pair of jeans and smart looking shirt. I drank my coffee and rehearsed my script: bonjour, je m'appel Amy Glaze et je voudrais travailler ici pour ma stage. The whole way over I repeated my mantra.

Once I got to the doors of Guy Savoy, both receptionists were on the phone obviously checking messages from the night prior. One woman finally hung up and asked me what I wanted and then cut me off half way through my Bonjour, je m'appel Amy Glaze et je voudrais travailler ic..." She pointed to a man coming up from the kitchen with chef's pants on. Jeez, did I have "stagier" written all over my forehead or what?

So I began afresh with my mantra to this new chef who looked at me like I was crazy in a sort of amused way. People often give me that look when I try to speak french. It's the – she doesn't look American, but eer accent, eets zo strahnge look. He was obviously confused, maybe there's not a lot of women who ask for an apprenticeship? After I mentioned that I go to school at Le Cordon Bleu (at least that's what I think I said) the light bulb turned on for him.

I could feel the blood starting to rush to my cheeks, so I thanked him quickly, gave him my packet, and said "Au Revoir!" and bolted out of there. On my short walk home I caught my reflection in one of the shop windows. My cheeks weren't too red but my nervous energy was making my curly hair stand on end. Hello Frankenstein's Bride!

I often rehearse what I want to say to people in French if I need to communicate something important, but it's the response back that totally throws me off guard. When the chef started rambling on I wanted to say, "Hey buddy, this isn't in my script all right?"

Now, I just wait I guess....

Okay, I'm waiting................................

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Crispy Sea Bass with Capers, Lemon, and Chicken Jus

This recipe reminded me of Zuni's restaurant in San Francisco. (Haven't been? You must go!) The sauce was reminiscent of the jus they do for their specialty roast chicken. You know, the one you have to wait 45 minutes that's cooked in a wood fire oven and worth every second? This dish, Croustillant de Bar Au Pain Perdu, is fish, but it has a chicken jus combined with brown butter and the salad has a tangy red wine shallot vinegar dressing that compliments the fish and the chicken jus perfectly.

Even Jamie, my cooking partner at Le Cordon Bleu, who made the worst grimaces when the chef brought out a tin of capers during our demonstration, couldn't get enough of the sauce. And she's a vegetarian! I saw her gobble down the chicken jus like there was no tomorrow! I might have been sighted licking my plate, but I wouldn't want to admit to that in public.

The toughest part of this dish is wrangling with the sea bass. They are huge with fins that poke holes in your fingers, and big scales with tough skin. I filleted one huge one (1.5 feet) for us to share and it took me at least thirty minutes. Thankfully Jamie compensated and prepared our jus from carmelized chicken bones and chicken stock as well as most of the garnishes. By the way, if you haven't already check out my video on filleting fish it should be running smoother.

I have simplified the recipe because most of us don't have the luxury of using thirty million pots and pans and taking the time to make homemade chicken stock. If Rachel Ray only has 20 minutes to whip up chili, then how are the rest of us supposed to manage? The sauce is an old popular French recette that can be used to accompany poultry, white fish, or eve perhaps breaded veal.

Recipe is on the next page...

P.S.
Just bought the Zuni cookbook and it's incredible. My French chefs would have a fit it they read some of her techniques, but I love it! She won two James Beard awards for outstanding restaurant and oustanding cookbook. Worth the splurge

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