We gathered in the kitchen, wearing aprons and nametags, around an enormous kitchen counter and island. My apron is wine colored and reads “Sophisticated, seductive, complex and full-bodied, and the wine’s not bad either”, with the latter part in fine print of course.
Robert began by telling us his background. He trained in French cooking first with Josephine Araldo in Portland, and in France with Madelyn Kamman (I remember her cooking shows). Robert says there is a Mason-Dixon line in French cooking. Above the line, the fat in the pan is butter, with shallots. Below the line they use olive oil with garlic. He says French cooking is very regional and that people are steeped in the traditions associated with the foods that grow in the soil of their region. We are all captivated and he continues.
Italian cooking is “abbondanza” (abundance) where all the dishes are laid on the table at once for all to enjoy. French cooking follows a progression with very much consideration for what the body and digestion needs to begin, to lead to the main course (the piece de resistance) and the end notes. The starter, call an “amuse”, is to begin to wake the palate. An entrée or first course is next. To everyone else on the planet, the entrée is a starter course (the word means entrance in French) only in the US did we mix that up. The main course is next and is the peak of the meal. The salad is served next and is always a simple salad of leaves and simply dressed. The last course is usually cheese and fruit and here the purpose is for the bacteria in the cheese and the enzymes in the fruit to aid the digestion process. He says there is an emphasis on cleansing and a low sugar sorbet is sometimes served as an intermezzo between the first and main courses to clean the palate.
The menu we will be preparing begins with a vegetable tart. Made of roasted buttercup squash, cream and eggs on a pastry shell, the tart is light and fluffy and delicately flavored. I am certain it is served in heaven.
The next course is a cauliflower soup. We cook the cauliflower, and then puree it in a blender until it has the consistency of heavy cream. We salt it, tasting it both before and after salting it, and we marvel at the difference in the flavor. Unsalted, the creamy mouth feel is amazing, salted the cauliflower flavor really pops. We take about a third of the batch of soup and puree it with fresh watercress which instantly turns the soup green. Now diluted the soup must be resalted, but ladled into the bowl; a ladle each of the white and the green, the presentation is gorgeous and the flavor amazing. I would like to linger more on my soup, but I am part of the team preparing the next dish. We have dubbed ourselves team chicken for reasons to become obvious shortly.
Our dish is a chicken breast, poached in butter until firmed on both sides, but not browned, or browned as minimally as possible. Robert explains that the chicken is like the egg in that it must be treated delicately and not seared, otherwise it forms a crust and becomes tough. I haven’t enjoyed a chicken dish for a long time, because it seems so tough; this is why I have opted for team chicken.
The chicken breasts, once firmed on both sides, are set aside on baking sheets that have been lined with parchment paper to wait until the soup course has just been served. They are finished in a 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes and are perfectly done; tender and moist. The sauce for them begins with homemade chicken stock which has been reduced by about half. We add a French liqueur and Robert admonishes us to remember what Josephine Arand taught him about sauce; the old lady likes her liquor. We are to add the liqueur until we can taste it, and then we reduce the sauce again by about half. We chop cold butter into tablespoon size pieces and add them one at a time, whisking continuously. We add an astonishing amount of butter, but Robert tells us that a) we should keep the quantity of butter to ourselves it is our power as chefs, and 2) that each diner will only consume about 2 tablespoons of the sauce, so it’s not like we are endangering their health. We finish the sauce with a parsilade (garlic minced and then chopped together with parsley). We add the parsilade at the last moment then plate and sauce the chicken.
We had made mashed potatoes, lightened with milk, butter and goat’s milk, then mixed in chard that had been blanched in salted water. The greens chard leaves were specks of green in a see of white potatoes, and a riff on the green and white theme begun by the soup. Robert explained that the French like to serve a dish that reveals itself in layers; first you would taste the potato, then the goat cheese would register on your palate and upon your third taste the chard would reveal itself as the origin of the green flakes.
We plated by first plating a large quenelle of potato on the plate. My fellow team member bravely began fashioning them with two large spoons, but may have given up the attempt when he became outnumbered by the waiting plates.
The chicken breasts were placed skin side up and sliced. Not that they were either cooked or served with skin, just that they were placed smooth side up for presentation. (I had never noticed the difference before between the two sides and was startled and amazed to realize it was obvious, and chagrined I hadn’t noticed before.) We identified the direction of the grain in the chicken and cut diagonally across the grain, in four slices, beginning at the thick end. We nestled the chicken slices up to the potatoes on the plate companionably and sauced them nicely (but not lethally) with the rock-your-world-good sauce. We, the chicken team, received many compliments on the chicken and managed to remain humble about our greatness while explaining the method to everyone else.
Dessert was a souffléd omelet. We first baked a simple cake of eggs, flour and sugar, and some good technique, and then set it aside. Eggs, preferably from chickens with names (really, that is what the recipe called for!) were beaten with sugar, vanilla and orange flower water then cooked in a skillet in melted butter until the bottom was set and browned ever so slightly. It was then placed in the oven to rise (soufflé) until slightly firmed and not liquid in the center. Cake crumbs that had been soaked in rum were placed along its center, rested a few moments the folded over and flipped onto a plate expertly. Each omelet was sliced, dusted with powdered sugar and served. It was a bit sweet for me and to my palate would be better served in summer topped with seasonal berries for a counterpoint of tartness.
All in all it was an awesome day. Of course I had to rush off as there were people at home waiting for me to feed them. I was an hour late, and it was fortunate that they managed to survive on survival rations – takeout pizza. Don’t tell on me please. I had the loveliest time.
And now I am captivated with butter poached chicken and want to experiment with an easy at home version of sous vide. I am measuring water temperature now as I type. Recipes coming soon to a website near you!
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