Touraine

Today's class was nothing special. In all honesty, I am sitting here writing this and I can't even remember how lecture went or what we did in the kitchen. I think the sleepiness is catching up to me. The classes are pretty exhausting and I am usually pretty good at not letting it get to me, but this week it has. My brain really feels like mush right now! Oh well, it's all part of the journey.

There wasn't much that I learned in lecture. We mostly discussed this region of France being known for it's chateaux. This regions is where they started to guide away from the huge feasts and started focusing on the elegance of the room. The now had chandeliers, fine linens and china. They also made grand gardens. These gardens would be separated by what they were growing. Obviously, they would have flower gardens, but there would be a 'kitchen' garden with all of the herbs, fruits, vegetables. These gardens were located right outside of the kitchen for easy access. I would love to have a chateaux with a huge kitchen garden!

We got into the kitchen and started cooking. I was given the recipe of Fricassee de poulet a L'Angevine (chicken fricassee with mushrooms and onions from Anjou). It was a very easy recipe. It was quick to prep and cook. I could have been ready to cook and serve it well before the appetizers went out, but I held off. I had to break down 2 chickens for this recipe, peel 24 small pearl onions and clean some mushrooms. It really didn't take me that long to do any of that. Once you learn how to break down a chicken it's so easy and quick! I had to cook the chicken on all sides, then add the onions and wine and chicken stock and cook that until the juices ran clear in the chicken. In a separate pot I cooked the mushrooms with water, lemon juice, salt and pepper for about 5 minutes. I then took the chicken and onions out of the pan, added the mushroom liquid to the chicken pan and cooked the sauce down. I added an egg yolk beaten into some heavy cream to enhance the thickness and richness of the sauce. Once that reduced, I added the chicken, onions and mushrooms back to the pan to heat through. It was a really good dish. Quick, easy, and hearty. Everyone loved it!

For seminar, we discussed the kitchen and it's tools. We spoke mostly about colonial times and their use of hearths and beehive ovens. It made me want to go back to Plimoth Plantation or visit Sturbridge Village. I started my Food History report on Onion Soup. It seems like it's going to be an easy paper to write. Next week, the instructor is going to be cooking for us. This will be cool because he's going to be cooking recipes from the colonial time period and use authentic ingredients. I'm expecting it to be bland. The did use salt, but they were so limited on their ingredients that I don't think they could have produced the types of flavors we have today.

Today's Recipes:Tarte au Fromage de Chevre, Aumoniere de Saumon aux Poireau et Asperges, Rillettes de Porc D'Anjou, Fouaces, Soup Tourangelle, Fricassee de Poulet a L'Angevine, Gateau Anjou de Pomme de Terre, Pain de Carottes a la Tourangelle, Salade aux Fines Herbes, Poires Belles Angevines Fourrees de Cremets a la Creme Anglaise Parfumee, Gateau D'Amandes