Le Cordon Bleu - Instruction #6; Practical #6

Instruction #6

• Smoked and fresh salmon terrine with leek, shallot vinaigrette
• Provencal-style crisp wrapped lamb fillet, vegetable tian
• Strawberry and rosemary “brochettes,” rhubarb sorbet, balsamic jus

Led by Chef Terrien. Our fist demonstration with him. He is quite amazing, a bit messy, but amazing. He’s off for a four week vacation so it might be a while before we see him again in the kitchen.

Without flaw or panic Chef prepared today’s menu. Starting with the entrée.

Thin slices of salmon layered with baby leeks, and smoked salmon. Rolled into a log. Cut into small, round wedges. Passed with mimosa – capers, chives, hard-boiled eggs and olive oil. Topped with shallot vinaigrette. And decorated with salmon roe and reduced balsamic vinegar.

I have a bit of the stomach flu. Or at least something nasty in my gut. So I passed on all tastings today. This looked great and pleased many of my fellow students.

Lightly seared lamb roast – trimmed from a rack – was wrapped in phyllo-type dough. Along with a forcemeat of pine nuts, pistachios, garlic cloves, parsley, cilantro, basil, and chicken mousse. Browned to help crisp. And baked until cooked.

Served along with breaded and fried garlic cloves. Vegetable tian – montage of onion, zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes. And lamb jus.

My jus was a little too light in color. So Chef Clergue suggested browning some more vegetables to help darken it. That worked. Everything came out good, except my lamb was a bit overcooked.

Trying to survive the day from my flu, I was just happy I made it to the end.

Dessert was interesting all around. First rosemary sprigs skewered strawberries. Next fresh rhubarb, sugar, water, and strawberries were combined for a sorbet. And finally a tuile of blackberry purée, flour, sugar, syrup, and melted butter was created.

The end result was stunning. In fact all of Chef Terrines’ plating was fantastic.