Like Jack says, “sometimes you get the bear and sometimes I bear gets you”. Well, the bear got me today. Like My-Tree eloquently stated we felt as though there was a time ticking bomb over our heads, but our bodies took it as a joke. We were both moving at a snails pace. We made the Fish Papillote along with pots de crème. For the sake of having to get ready for Halloween, I am going to keep this short and brief.
First, we made the Tuile (little rolled up pastry cigarettes) dough. Then started working on my tomato fondue and mushroom duxelle. My tomato fondue was VERY close to burning, but luckily I caught it just in the nick of time. I chilled both of those, but somehow the water got into my mushroom duxelles as the ice melted, so I had some trouble creating my whole ensemble in the parchment paper bag (it’s never a dull moment). Then I made the pots de crème custard. It is sortof like a flan, but you use egg yolks instead of egg whites. We then baked them in the oven at 325 till the crème didn’t jiggle when we shook them. After that, I julienned carrots, leeks, and celery to put over the fish. The fish we filleted and seasoned real well. So, while the custard was baking, I cut the parchment paper in the shape of a heart and started loading the bag. On the bottom went mushroom duxelle then the tomato fondue. On top of that I laid the fish down with thyme, salt, pepper, and oil. After cooking the julienne vegetables a letuvee, I put them on top of the fish with a splash of wine. I closed the parchment bag with egg wash and into the oven it went for 8 minutes.
We were running behind schedule, so we presented 8 minutes late (oops!). After presenting, I scarfed down my bag of fish and moved on to the pots de crème dish. After the crème pots were done, I transferred them into the fridge to cool. Meanwhile, I worked on the tuile dough. Baked it then rolled it like a cigarette! Thank the lord I only presented 2 minutes late.
This afternoon, I went to a chef demo that they were having on John Besh. We were able to taste his food and even got our free cookbooks signed!
Happy Halloween!
xo,
Eliana
