This photo is at The Pond in Marsing, ID
Entrance to Bacquet’s Restaurant in Eagle, ID
Main dining room
Wine dinner area
Daughter Marnie and Robin
2017 Select Eagle Foothills AVA Viognier/Roussanne
2014 Eagle Foothills AVA Merlot
2017 Select Eagle Hills AVA Viognier/Roussanne
fresh mussels cooked in a Chardonnay cream sauce with a touch of lavender and honey
2017 Select Eagle Foothills Chardonnay
roasted young vegetables and Chef’s famous potatoes au gratin
2013 Heritage Syrah/Mourvedre
[Sauce Diable is one of many sauces that can be made from a basic and versatile recipe for Quick Brown Sauce. James Beard famously served it with his Deviled Beef Bones, but it is equally delicious with broiled flank steak or broiled chicken. For an even tangier preparation, add small capers and finely chopped sour pickles…A basic brown sauce with the addition of wine, vinegar, shallots and red or black pepper. It’s usually served with broiled meat or poultry.]
pink peppercorns give pepper flavor without the bite. Served with mushroom risotto and a vegetable galette
2014 Eagle Foothills AVA Merlot
[A savory galette is the easier and more streamlined cousin of a classic Quiche.]
from the north of France, Chef Franck’s home, this tarte is filled with Gruyere and five cheeses
2014 Eagle Foothills AVA Cabernet Sauvignon
Tournedos with Creamed Spinach
11 Tuesday Oct 2016
Tags
Escoffier, French Food, Sauce Bible, tournedos, truffles, veal
I saw this recipe this morning and really thought it looked interesting. Tournedos with Creamed Spinach. The recipe comes from Rachael Ray, but we have adapted it somewhat. I have also placed some fairly deep information on the recipe. Here is some of that info.
- Note: Tournedos are: A beef tenderloin, known as an eye fillet in Australasia, fillet in France, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Germany, is cut from the loin of beef.
Tournedos Rossini (pictured here) is a French steak dish, perhaps created for the composer Gioachino Rossini by French master chefs Marie-Antoine Carême or Adolphe Dugléré, or by Savoy Hotel chef Auguste Escoffier. The dish comprises a beef tournedos (filet mignon), pan-fried in butter, served on a crouton, and topped with a hot slice of fresh whole foie gras briefly pan-fried at the last minute. The dish is garnished with slices of black truffle and finished with a Madeira demi-glace sauce.- Demi-glace (English: “half glaze”) is a rich brown sauce in French cuisine used by itself or as a base for other sauces. The term comes from the French word glace, which, used in reference to a sauce, means icing or glaze. It is traditionally made by combining equal parts of veal stock and espagnole sauce, the latter being one of the five mother sauces of classical French cuisine, and the mixture is then simmered and reduced by half.
Common variants of demi-glace use a 1:1 mixture of beef or chicken stock to sauce espagnole; these are referred to as “beef demi-glace” (demi-glace au boeuf) or “chicken demi-glace” (demi-glace au poulet). The term “demi-glace” by itself implies that it is made with the traditional veal stock. - Espagnole sauce: The basic method of making espagnole is to prepare a very dark brown roux, to which veal stock or water is added, along with browned bones, pieces of beef, vegetables, and various seasonings. This blend is allowed to slowly reduce while being frequently skimmed. The classic recipe calls for additional veal stock to be added as the liquid gradually reduces, but today water is generally used instead. Tomato paste or pureed tomatoes are added towards the end of the process, and the sauce is further reduced.
- Auguste Escoffier King of Chefs 1846-1935.
Auguste Escoffier, “The Chef of Kings and The King of Chefs,” was born in the Riviera town of Villeneuve-Loubet, France, on October 28, 1846. His career in cookery began at the age of 12 when he entered into apprenticeship in his uncle’s restaurant, in Nice…a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. Much of Escoffier’s technique was based on that of Marie-Antoine Carême, one of the codifiers of French haute cuisine, but Escoffier’s achievement was to simplify and modernize Carême’s elaborate and ornate style. In particular, he codified the recipes for the five mother sauces. Referred to by the French press as roi des cuisiniers et cuisinier des rois (“king of chefs and chef of kings”—though this had also been previously said of Carême), Escoffier was France’s preeminent chef in the early part of the 20th century.
Alongside the recipes he recorded and invented, another of Escoffier’s contributions to cooking was to elevate it to the status of a respected profession by introducing organized discipline to his kitchens.
Escoffier published Le Guide Culinaire, which is still used as a major reference work, both in the form of a cookbook and a textbook on cooking. Escoffier’s recipes, techniques and approaches to kitchen management remain highly influential today, and have been adopted by chefs and restaurants not only in France, but also throughout the world. - And finally, a really great source book for every kitchen is the The Sauce Bible: Guide to the Saucier’s Craft by David Paul Larousse
Here are some other variations on Tournedos Rossini. Look at the variations and then add your own. Have fun. Enjoy!
Notice the black truffels in this one – same as pictured above.
Anyone with any ideas of getting veal bones to make veal stock in the Boise area, please let me know. Just remember, I have meds to get next month. Cheers!
From Cast Iron to French Cuisine
24 Thursday Jul 2014
There was some very interesting information delivered today from some of my food groups. One such piece of info was on how to clean a cast iron skillet. Watch this short video on Cleaning Cast Iron. Other articles on cast iron include such things as identifying old cast iron pans, reconditioning cast iron and seasoning cast iron. Good information to keep in your library. I have been using the same three cast iron skillets for over 30 years. And I have a camp cast iron pot that I have had for every bit of that long. All are in good condition – like new! (And yes, that is Robin and I in 1984!)
The other great piece of information, and great reading, comes from the Huffington Post and can be found at 17 Food Reasons The French Are Better At Life. And from that article,
Between their rich buttery sauces and the artistry they’ve brought to pastry, it’s easy to understand why French food has long been the envy of the world. But it’s not just the food they make that’s so special, it’s the way they think about their cuisine. In our food-forward minds, this means that the French are winning at life. Here are the 17 reasons why — though we’re sure we could have come up with 100.
And another little interesting tid-bit of information from the same article, particularly if you like butter,
Butter is more important than water.
That’s the secret to fine French cuisine. Their sauces are based on butter. Their pastries are layered with butter. But, it’s all with good reason, because some of the finest butter in the world is made in France. Particularly, the butter made in the Normandy region, which is bright yellow thanks to their fine dairy cows. And, guys, the butter is almost always salted, the way butter is supposed to be.
So there you have it. Two really interesting pieces of information and ones that you may want to keep. Enjoy! And remember, l’heure du gouter, any hour is the “hour to taste” as this translation says. Cheers!
Told You! Can’t Stay Away From Janjou Pâtisserie
18 Friday Jan 2013
What can I say? Except that the biggest problem with Janjou Pâtisserie is that they are just 1 1/2 blocks away from our front door! That’s jogging distance. A slow jog! If you have been following these posts, and many of you have, then you can see the absolutely delicious, landlocked cruise food that they offer! Here is some more that we photographed this morning. Oh, and that is the other reason we need to go back – I need more photos. Enjoy these. We will see you at Janjou Pâtisserie the next time. The Chocolate Tartlet is super awesome. And so is the Quiche Lorraine. Cheers!
Chocolate Tartlet
Espresso
Mocha
Mocha gone!
Quiche Lorraine and Green Salad
Look at the photos enlarged – Left-Click the photo – and grab a fork. Yum-O! This is way too much fun.
