February 2014 – Mon Voyage Culinaire

Gâteau Opéra

Gâteau Opéra is made of joconde sponge imbibed in coffee syrup, layered with chocolate ganache and coffee buttercream, topped with chocolate ganache glaze. This is one of my favourites.

I used french buttercream for the cake. French buttercream is made by whisking the egg yolks with a hot sugar syrup that has reached the soft-ball stage until the mixture turns light. When the mixture is at rtp. butter and other ingredients (e.g coffee extract or vanilla extract) is added to the mixture and combined well with the rest of the ingredients.

Poussin Breast

Poussin breast filled with goat cheese on top of the pan fried polenta. Très bon! Poussin is a young chicken, less than 28 days old.

Polenta is cornmeal boiled into a porridge, and eaten directly or baked, fried or grilled. When cooked, it has a warm jelly-like soft inside with a crunchy outside. (Source: wikipedia)

Macarons and Tarte au Citron

Macarons ! My favourite flavour ,pistachio macaron with lemon diplomat filling. YUM ! Lemon Diplomat is basically lemon curd combined with whipped cream.

Tarte au Citron // Lemon Tart // Lemon meringue pie (small). These are my brother’s favourite dessert. It is made of pate brisee and lemon curd as the filling. I decorate the small tarts by piping Italian meringue on top of the tarts and finish with a blow torch.

Bouillabaisse

Bouillabaisse is a fish stew with selection of Provencal herbs and spices in the broth such as thyme, bay leaf, garlic, onions and tomatoes. In this picture it is served with a mussel as well.

Red gurnard, monkfish, John dory, red rascasse are fishes often being cooked for a bouillabaisse.

Croquembouche

My first croquembouche ! It was not perfect but I managed to finish this cake.

In Italy and France, Croquembouche is often served at weddings, communions, and first communions. It is made of choux pastry filled with pastry cream (custard), dipped in a caramel and arranged into a cone shape.

Feuille d’automne

Feuille d’automne is a cake layered with 3 meringue biscuits and chocholate mousse topped with chocolate fans.The meaning of Feuille d’automne is Autumn Leaves which describes the shape of the cake.

Meringue is made of whipped egg whites and sugar. There are 3 types of meringue ( French/ Swiss/ Italian ). The ingredients used are the same, the only difference is the method. This cake is really rich and sweet. Personally, it’s a little bit too sweet for me ,but it’s still a really nice cake.

Basic Certificates

Oh yay ! These are my 2 certificates (Basic Cuisine and Basic Patisserie) that I received last year.

I am taking 2 courses simultaneously and each course has 3 different levels ( Basic-Intermediate-Superior ). The duration of each level is 10 weeks (3 months)

Few photos that I post previously are just some of the things that I did in Basic classes, I’m not going to post everything of course because there are lots of things that we made in Basic and sometimes it’s just kind of a repetition.

Ugh, sorry that I posted lots of things in a day, I’ve been trying to blog here instead of tumblr.

See my previous blog http://forknspoon.tumblr.com/

After this post ,everything that I post will be what I made recently (Intermediate level) and it’s just getting more and more exciting !

Buckwheat Blini with Akaroa Salmon

Blini is a type of pancake that contains leavening agent like yeast.

The akaroa salmon is marinated with a mixture of lime, olive oil, mustard, salt &pepper and some herbs.

Quiche Lorraine

Quiche is savoury pastry filled with savoury filling. In this photo, it is a ‘Quiche Lorraine’.

The pastry is Pate Brisee and the filling is made of milk, cream, cheese, bacon and seasoning.

It is absolutely delicious and it’s one of my favourite quiches !

Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate mousse

Chocolate mousse in a chocolate teardrop topped with chocolate ganache, served with Crème Anglaise and raspberry coulis.

A mousse is a prepared food that incorporates air bubbles to give it a light and airy texture. It can range from light and fluffy to creamy and thick, depending on preparation techniques. Dessert mousses are typically made with whipped egg whites or whipped cream, and generally flavored with chocolate or puréed fruit. (source: Wikipedia)

Chocolate ganache is made by heating up the cream and pour it over the chocolate so that the chocolate melts. It is stirred gently until smooth.

Crème Anglaise (French for “English cream”) is a custard and usually used as a sauce for a plated dessert. It contains egg yolks, sugar, milk and usually flavoured with vanilla.

A coulis is a thick sauce that is made of fruit or vegetables puree.