Week 2 pastry started with us looking at a lemon pound cake & genoise almond sponge cake(pain de genes). We baked the pain de genes during our practical session. The cake is niiiiiiice but very sweet. We also got to play with marzipan, we had to do a rose flower & some leaves. It was quite difficult, the marzipan can’t be too cool, too warm, too thick, too thin…. you have to find that right balance & then after that you have to make it look beatiful.

During the demonstrations, the chef works with lots of ease, giving you the impression the task looks easy. During the practical, reality of the tasks sets in, then you realise you still have alot to learn & practise……

Next demo, we looked at sweet short pastry(pate sucree) and then various apple tarts. During the practical we made pate sucree then used it to make a tarte aux pommes(classic french apple tart).

In class you can watch the chef from three perspectives, watch him directly, the large mirror above his work surface, or the video screens. The translator also doubles up as video operator. The video captures amazing close-up views from the three cameras(which can rotatate and zoom) installed around the class.

Cuisine week 2 we looked at stocks, chef demonstrated a white chicken stock, brown stock & a fish fumet(stock). We also looked at sauce thickening methods.

We got to cook a cheese souffle, whiting fillets with bercy sauce(pictured above). For the fish we had to prepare & fillet our own fish from scratch, it was not that hard. Having a super sharp filleting knife really helps.

Chef also demonstrated poached chicken with supreme sauce( french khao mun gai or hainan chicken rice), pasta dough preparation & spinach stuffed cannelloni with tomato sauce.

To end the cuisine week, we baked a pissalidiere, which is kinda like a pizza made from a rich yeast dough topped with onions sweated in olive oil, anchovies, tomatoes, capers & olives.

That was week 2, we started to get used to the school routine, 18 hours in class & 18 hours in the kitchen.

I am at Le Cordon Bleu Dusit…….. Class started about 3 weeks ago, it has been hectic but fun. I will be blogging more about culinary school soon.

I went in and bought myself one to take home. It costed 29baht(about 90 US cents).

The pie is in the usual McDonalds pie box….

Unboxed, revealing crispy deep fried goodness…

The pie revealed…..

The close up….

Ok let us talk about what it tasted like, I actually liked it alot. The pastry was crispy & slightly sweet, the filling is broccoli, mushrooms & some sort of mornay sauce. The flavour of the broccoli is pared back, it does not dominate. Their is also a hint of coconut, I don’t know what it is from but it is pleasant……..

McDonalds should put this pie on the menu globally, broccoli is good for you………. what do you think?

Anthony Bourdain is chef at large of Bistro Les Halles, and host of “No Reservations” which is a food & travel show.

Thomas Keller is chef owner of the Thomas Keller restaurant group, his best known restaurants are the French Laundry & Per Se

Ferran Adria is chef owner of El bulli, he has also developed high quality fast food concept restaurant Fast Good.

Grant Achatz & Nick Kokonas is chef co-owner at Alinea. Nick Kokonas is a co-owner of Alinea.

Eric Ripert & Michael Laskonis chefs at New York’s Le Bernadin

I love the citrusy fragrance lemon thyme imparts on to your fingers when you gently squeeze its leaves. I have not cooked with lemon thyme until now in Nairobi because the veggie store where I do most of my herb shopping does not stock it, recently in serendiptious circumstances I found myself foraging through the herb section at the supermarket looking for the other thyme. My last encounter with the herb in Nairobi was at Mediterraneo, the roast duck dish I ate then had a fresh herb garnish that included lemon thyme. I seriously thought of swiping the herbs & taking them home with me, the only thing that stopped me is that waitperson was always hovering around. He was doing his job too well. Back to the supermarket, I found lemon thyme & bought a bunch pronto.

The preparations of lemon thyme were inspired by flavour ideas I got from Karen Page & Andrew Dornenbug’s Flavor Bible, which is a favourite cookbook of mine because It has no recipes, only just a massive reference guide on flavour combinations. The other great thing about this book, you work with the ingredients you have and the techniques you want. In a conventional cookbook you have to work according to the recipe.

I decided to do a lemon thyme risotto with lemon thyme roasted carrots & lemon thyme roasted chicken. I wanted to do quick & hearty meal, with all cooking done simultaneously. It took about 15 minutes to prep, and 30 minutes to cook.

About the flavours, lemon thyme with the carrots really popped for me, also did the lemon thyme with the chicken. The rice was beautifully scented by the herb. Even though the herb was similar was the same across the risotto, chicken & carrots, the lemon thyme brought different flavour nuances to each item.

In my plain (kenyan)english, this one ingredient obsession meal tasted really really great.

The recipes are below. Give it a go & tell me how it goes….

Lemon Thyme Roasted Carrots

• 2 carrots, diced.
• 4 lemon thyme sprigs
• Olive oil
• Salt & white pepper

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. Heat the olive oil in a hot saute pan.
3. Add the carrots & lemon thyme sprigs, saute for about 2 minutes.
4. Season with salt & pepper.
5. Transfer to oven and roast for 15 minutes.
6. Once cooked set aside.

Lemon Thyme Risotto

This recipe serves 4.

• 200 grams carnolli rice (arborio is alright too).
• 1 litre chicken stock or vegetable stock.
• 1 onion, chopped.
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped.
• 2 tbsp lemon thyme leaves only.
• 25 grams parmesan cheese, grated.
• Olive oil.
• Salt & white pepper.

1. You will need two sauce pans. Bring the stock to a boil in one of the saucepans, the reduce heat to a gentle simmer.
2. In the other sauce pan, heat the olive oil on medium heat then add the chopped onion & chopped garlic. Sweat them until they are soft.
3. Season with salt & pepper.
4. Add the rice and cook until the rice is slightly toasted.
5. Add a ladle of stock and cook by stirring frequently. When all the stock is arbsorbed add another ladle & continue stirring, repeat this until the rice is al dente, this will take about 15 – 20 minutes.
6. Stir in the roasted carrots & thyme leaves.
7. Check seasoning, add salt & pepper if needed.
8. To finish the risotto, turn off the heat. Add 4 tbsps of olive oil while stirring vigorously, then add the parmesan cheese & give risotto a few stirs.
9. Cover the saucepan & set risotto aside to rest for about 5 minutes.

Lemon Thyme Roasted Chicken Thigh

• 4 Chicken thighs.
• 2 tbsp lemon thyme leaves only.
• Olive oil.
• Salt & white pepper.

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (you can cook the chicken simultaneously with the carrots
2. De-bone the chicken thighs & trim of any excess fat.
3. Lay the thighs skin side down, sprinkle the lemon thyme leaves into the centre of each fillet then season them with salt & pepper.
4. Roll the thigh fillets into cylinder form, then secure using kitchen twine. Season the skin side with salt & pepper.
5. Heat the olive oil in hot saute pan, sear the chicken thighs until they are golden brown.
6. On a roasting tray, make a bed with the remaining lemon thyme sprigs. Transfer the chicken on to it. You can also lay some lemon thyme sprigs on top of the chicken.
7. Roast in oven for about 20 minutes.
8. When done, take it out from oven & set it aside to rest for 5 minutes.

Assembly

1. Slice the chicken thigh fillets into 2.5 cm(1 inch) pieces.
2. Spoon the risotto on to your plate.
3. Add chicken slices on top of the risotto, drizzle a little olive oil on top of chicken.
4. Garnish with lemon thyme leaves.

As Gordon Ramsay would say, “Lemon thyme risotto with lemon thyme roasted carrots & lemon thyme roasted chicken, DONE!”

Just bought!

This book has been out since 2005 but it is still relevant.I love this kind of book, it mostly concentrates on technique with recipes included. My take on cooking parallels my background in computing, if you understand frameworks, API’s & patterns you can build great software. The same with cooking, I am not really big on recipes, but I would rather master proper technique. With proper technique, you can create freely. I also have another book on technique “La Technique Complet” by culinary great Jacques Pepin.

Each chapter in the book features an expert (celebrity) chef, the chef are all stars in their own regards. These are my favourite sections

• Paul Gayler – Sauces & Dressings; Very comprehensive focussing on modern sauce technique
• Ferran Adria – Foams; this chapter features a great deconstruction of the spanish potato tortilla.
• Charlie Trotter – Fish & Shellfish, Vegetables;
• Marcus Wareing – Meat; Very comprehensive, Marcus worked with Gordon Ramsay before they fell apart publicly.
• Ken Hom – Chinese cooking; A small chapter, but it sparked an interest. I love eating chinese, but never cooked it.
• Michael Romano – Pasta; Explains & illustrates how to make home made pasta.
• David Thompson – Thai cooking; A non-thai bloke who does better thai food than most Thai chefs.
• Pierre Herme – Pastry & Sweet Doughs, Desserts; Pierre Herme is just the man when it come to pastry.
• Greg Malouf – Middle Eastern Cooking; Greg is the authority on Lebanese food in Australia. Great illustrated labne recipe.

The best thing about this book is the photography. It is more illustrated than any book I have seen.

How easy is this. Wash potatoes, leaving the skin on, cut into chips. Parboil for 10 mins, toss chips in olive oil, thyme, salt & some chili powder. Cook in hot oven for about 30 minutes. Fry an egg any way you like it, I like mine fried with sunny side up. The yolk is great for dipping the chips into. Egg & chips also goes great with ketchup.

Lots of flavour with almost no fuss. This is how I love my food, the less you do to it the better. Great ingredients will always speak for themselves with no need for cascading layers of flavour. But with a minimal approach to cooking, execution becomes very crucial. But as chef G. Garvin says with the requisite concentration and confidence, cooking great food is within reach of everybody.

The Flavor Bible by Karen Page & Andrew Dornenburg is really great cookbook without recipes. It is a massive reference guide to ingredients, cooking techniques & how you can combine them for the best tasting food. Some of America’s most innovative chef’s share their wealth of knowledge on great flavour combinations. The cover of the book features the wrong spelling of the word flavour…. lol

Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook This is collection of recipes from Anthony Bourdain’s french bistro Le Halles. The food in this book is classical french bistro food. I have been a longtime big fan of Mr Bourdain & his tv shows. About his tv shows, they don’t show on free to air tv anywhere that I have lived. So I have been rather resourceful in sourcing his shows on the internet. My purchase of the book should be my little contribution to his pension fund & put conscience to rest….

Jacques Pepin’s Complete Techniques is like a cooking technical manual. It is a really great collection of techniques from how to use a chef’s knife to skinning a rabbit. Some of the techniques are really old school, you don’t see them in modern cuisine, but the knowledge of which is rather useful. The only beef I have with this book, all the pictures are in black & white, thats how old this book is… Bought this book on recommendation from Mr Bourdain (I read Kitchen Confidential)

Justin North’s French Lessons is a great introduction to modern french cuisine. Justin North is the accomplished chef owner of Sydney establishments Becasse, Plan B Cafe & Etch. Modern french is my favourite cuisine at the moment. This book is great for beginners, it goes over all the basics of french cuisine such as stocks, sauces, soups, roasting, sautéing…. the whole gamut

Harold McGee’s McGee on Food & Cooking is my favourite cookbook, it does not contain recipes. Its a kitchen science reference, it explains the science behind cooking. It is my “go to” book when mishaps start happening when cooking, the other day I was having problems with a creme brullee. McGee set me straight & I tweaked my recipe based on the science of how baked custards work.

Ok now for some food porn

I made this the other day for lunch. It was all random & quick. It is pan fried red snapper, with crushed potatoes speckled with diced red pepper for taste & appearance. The sauce for the meal was a lemon vinaigrette made of olive oil , lemon & a bit of seasoning. Now this is what fast food should be.

So I cook now……. It’s a lifelong journey