Cucumber canapes with Smoked Salmon and Crème Fraîche
For a girl on an assistant’s budget, one might wonder how/why I use crème fraîche in so many of my dishes when it costs $4 for a tiny little tub that doesn’t stretch very far. I love the tang and creamy texture it gives to anything from an herby salad dressing to real pumpkin pie to a garnish for scrambled eggs or smoked salmon. It’s a thick, rich, better sour cream that won’t curdle or go all watery when it’s cooked with, so it’s perfect for things like Tarte Flambée (a kind of crème fraîche pizza with bacon and onions) or to stir into a pot of hot white beans with some thyme and black pepper.
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I can feel my culinary brain expanding already. These classes were intense, and jam-packed with AHAH!! moments. It was beautiful! I had the fortune of being able to take parts 1 and 2 back to back instead of a week apart, since (drumroll….) I’m going to ITALY on FRIDAY!!! So I made up the class I’ll miss this weekend on Tuesday of last week, right after the part 1 class on Sunday.
Part 1 was mostly stocks: Brown stock (made with roasted veal/beef or chicken bones), white stock (same animals but blanched, not roasted), fish stock, and vegetable stock. I got stuck with veg stock, which was lame. No cleaver for me, no roasting pan, just dicing. Lots of dicing. Which, as you may recall, I’ve already been practicing.
Part 2 was mostly sauces: the roux-based (Veloute with stock, bechamel with cream), and the reduction-based (a syrup of wine reduced in the pan with shallots, combined with demi-glace for a classic reduction sauce, and a burre blanc made with the same base, but with an assload of butter stirred in off the heat instead of stock). This class was really fascinating for me, especially the discussion of demi-glace.
Warning: about to get VERY food nerdy.
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