Mange la nourriture; vive la France!

Our third of four cooking classes was this past Friday, and as usual, it was fantastic! I think this one was my favorite so far: soft, white bread, mushroom risotto, duck with a Roquefort cream sauce and potatoes, and a tarte tatin to finish it off! I left in a food coma.

All the ingredients laid out to start - the apples were enormous!

We cook everything all at once, and it's always cool how the ingredients manage to work together. While some of us started cutting up the mushrooms for the risotto, others started preparing and grilling the duck. Then, while the mushrooms and risotto started to reduce, we started the duck and saved the juices produced from searing it in a pan, then mixed the juices into the risotto when it needed more liquid. It was the best risotto I have ever eaten. I could eat it everyday.

 Bubbling away!

 Bruno does some fancy plating

YUM.

The potatoes and duck were relatively simple to cook, but la piece de resistance was the sauce. We took a block of Roquefort cheese and melted it down, then added cream to it to make a sauce for the duck. It was strong, but well flavored, and tasted great with the duck! I have taken quite a liking to duck while I am here. We should eat it more often in the states.

The dessert was a tarte tatin, which is a French apple pie. It's actually rather different from an American apple pie, but still very good. This was the process which I was most involved in. We started with a simple butter and sugar mixture in a hot skillet, and we melted it down until it started to brown. Then, just went it became caramel, we pressed apple slices directly into the caramel in the pan, then stuck the whole thing in the oven. While it baked, we made a simple pastry crust, and rolled out one for each tarte. Then, we took the pan out of the oven, laid the pastry crusts across everything, cut a little chimney hole in the top, and stuck it back in the over to cook for a little longer. When we took it out, we flipped it over onto a plate so the crust was on the bottom and the apples were open on the top. It was delicious!

 In the caramel and going into the oven

We made three!

I think I may still prefer good ol' American apple pie with the double crust and syrupy apple filling (I know, crazy!), but it was exciting to try the French version, and I wouldn't pass on either if they were offered to me!

We only have one more cooking class this semester, and it is this Friday. I will be sad to say goodbye to Bruno and all the delicious food, but I can't wait to see what our last meal will be!