Last night we made Pommes Anna, Pommes Dauphinois, Hollandaise Sauce, Tomato Sauce and Clarified Butter. I am going to brag for a moment here because I actually am pretty good with the clarified butter. This product can burn pretty quickly and I seem to have the touch that it takes to make this. I also kind of like Pommes Anna. They are tough though. You have to cut paper thin small round slices of potato and place them in the form of a rosette in a small pan. You then layer them (no less than 3 layers and up to 5 layers) repeating the formation and then you brown the edges, bake the dish in the oven and then when you pull it out of the oven you have to flip it over on the dish for a very pretty presentaion! Can you say BUTTER! The amount of butter in this dish is to die for!
Pommes Dauphinois is similar to scalloped potatoes. Made with garlic and heavy cream and sliced potatoes it is just really yummy! I could eat this daily but I would be looking like Robert on Hell's Kitchen and that ain't gonna happen!
Tomato sauce is easy and fun but boy is it a mess! It is hard to get the tomato stains out too! But, the end result is pretty delish and it goes great with some fresh pasta. You have to simmer long enough to melt the pork meat right off the bone and then you know you are good to go. The food mill is kind of a mess but it sure makes a good end product.
Tonight we make Latkes and Pommes Anna and Roesti Potatoes...oh yeah... Hollandaise too! Latkes are like small hash brown patties that are pan fried with very tiny diced onions and boy are they good! They go very well with some sour cream and I am dying to try them with some eggs and bacon at breakfast one time. Yum!!! I was pretty pleased with my pommes anna but I am going to practice over the weekend because I am pretty sure it will be part of our practical test on Monday and I want PERFECTION baby!
Roesti potatoes are kind of cool because you have to be like Julia and flip the pan and pray for the courage to do so without a mess. You for grated potatoes into a 1/2 inch thick pancake in the bottom of a hot pan and you wait for it to brown and then - all in the wrist now - you flip this thing over in one shot with the hope in your heart that it doesn't break into tiny pieces all over the range and make the mess from hell! I, surprisingly, did it perfectly the first time. I was so flippin' excited (no pun intended here!) and I ended up with some great color on my product which led to a great grade.
Hollandaise you may ask??? I need to work on this one and I am going to the master hollandaise maker this weekend (My Dad) to see what tricks he can teach me to make a great Hollandaise Sauce.
Oh yeah... Did I tell you all I burned myself? Well, I was in a hurry and my dumb ass grabbed a REALLY hot pan and burned my pointer finger pretty darn good. The blister was there within minutes. Luckily I know about this great cream that you can purchase at Wholefoods called "Calendula Cream" by Boiron. This stuff works miracles. My burn is half the size today and the blister that I want to pop worse than an 8 year old wants to open presents on Christmas, has shrunk and is not bothering me too bad at all. I am glad it is a burn and not a cut though so I just have to be happy about that!
Well all, have a wonderful night and enjoy tomorrow!
Cheers! and Bon Appetit!
Chef Boy R Tony
Tony everything looks and sounds so yummy!
ReplyDeleteThe burns are part of initiation into Chef hood.
Look forward to your next post.
Carolyn