Normandy & Brittany

Upon moving back home with my parents and younger brother two months ago in an effort to save some money for my inevitable investment in graduate school, I decided to reward myself by indulging in my longtime passion for food and cooking by enrolling in recreational classes at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts in Cambridge, MA.

After completing a series on the basics of baking, I was hooked!  So I signed up for a class on French macaroons (more on that later) as well as a regional French cuisine course - spurred by my love of the City of Lights & Love and all things French.

Filled with feelings of anxiety and anticipation, I entered Kitchen E and was immediately greeted with a familiar sense of ease of being in the right place.  Chef Dot Jacobson started off the class by introducing us to the course and the region that we would be focusing on that week: Normandy and Brittany, in the Northwest corner of France.

Our group of eleven reviewed the dishes that we would be preparing that afternoon and then divied up recipes.  Everything sounded mouthwatering, from the shrimp with cognac and beurre blanc, to the Moules à la crème, to the tarte tatin that we would conclude our meal with.  Opting for a recipe that I hoped would both fill the allotted 3 hours we had for cooking, in combination with presenting me with a new culinary experience, I elected for the "Goujonette of Sole with Remoulade".

Despite my love of cooking, I am still new to many culinary terms and techniques.  The base of my remoulade was a mayonnaise, which I assumed would be given to me to expand on.  Instead I learned how to make mayonnaise from scratch, slowly adding olive oil to my egg yolk and Dijon mustard base.  Then I proceeded to dice and chop my additives:

• Flat leaf parsley
• Tarragon
• Garlic cloves
• Shallots
• Capers
• Cornichons
• Anchovy fillets

 

 

And added them together to create the dipping sauce for my goujonette:

 

 

Then I started in on slicing my sole.  My goujonettes - or "thin strips of fish, cut from the fillet" - were cut on the bias and then rolled out to resemble small cigars.

 

 

I whisked together a quick batter of flour and soda water and dropped my little fish cigars into the deep fryer.

 

Et voilà!

 

 

When everyone finished preparing their portion of the meal, we set the table, and poured some regional libations - sampling a bit of Bénédictine and Calvados.  We laid our fare out on display and with eager appetites started filling our plates with a little bit of everything.

 

 

During our communal meal, Dot asked each of us to reflect on our preparations and share our insights with the rest of the group - a task which proved difficult in between bites of our delicious feast.

 

  

Out of all the dishes that we prepared that afternoon, I'd have to say that my favorites were the mussels in the cream sauce and the camembert and carmelized onion tartlettes.  But everything that I tasted was truly delicious and left me excited for what the following week would bring!

 

Bisous!

 

Next week: Touraine