Summer Fruit Mousse

Okay, so I feel that I need to admit to something before anyone starts reading this post. This was a failure. A complete failure. And it doesn't count until I get it right so I will give it another go further down the track.

I followed all the instructions, beginning with boiling the juices, raspberries, and vanilla - my first short cut, I used vanilla essence instead of a vanilla pod. The smell from this boiling mixture was magnifique. 

Fresh fruits for the mousse

I soaked, I sieved, I cooled. My next major failure was the sugar/water syrup, I did not own a candy thermometer and thought I could "wing it". I could almost hear the groan from all the chefs out there. Apparently you can't just wing it. It went perfect! Oh my google, I was winning.

But all our best chefs out there know this wont last. It turned to hard and grainy mixture! QUICK! Add more water, this brought it back to a syrup. I quickly added it to my 'whisked to a peak' egg whites and after it cooled and I had mixed it on a lower speed for a while I added the raspberry-gelatin mixture with the whipped cream.

Whipped cream is a hard one to measure, do you stick it down in the measuring cup to get it level, or do you leave it with a few holes in it? So I was pretty sure I was off with the cream measurements. After a little more mixing I found my mixture was not 'pink' and I had little white 'pills' through the mixture.

I figured that would sort itself out and added red food coloring for effect. I did not have the 'PVC rings' quoted in the book so I used small glasses from the cupboard.

"Summer Fruit Mousse"

And the dish up ends up looking like this, even after I let it set for about 6 hours.

Summer Fruit Slop

It still tasted delicious though!

Sauteed Chicken with Tarragon Cream Sauce and Carrots

This was my first attempt at a recipe from The Book. The Sauteed Chicken with Tarragon Cream Sauce and Carrots.

This one sounded easy enough, most of the ingredients on the list were already at home so it was just a couple of bits from the market.

Fresh Produce from the South Melbourne Market

I begun by getting the basic prep out of the way, the carrots were chopped, shallots finely diced and I removed the skin from the chicken. The tarragon was washed and chopped. Finally everything was mise en place and I fired up the stove-top.

Side note here: while preparing this super cute guy came out of my farmers market groceries, so I took him to my little garden :)

Now, you know that's fresh!

One thing I'm really bad at is multi-tasking. My next worst thing is time management. I decided that the chicken would take longer to cook than the carrots, because its thicker, right?

Chicken is in the frypan, browning the sides - I added the shallots and went back to the cook book to read. Oh my google - how did I burn the shallots, and I had cooked all of them so I didn't even have a backup! Lesson learnt. I quickly throw the wine in and get it simmering, putting the timer on, of course!

Scraping the carrots into the pot and quickly adding the butter and water and get it fired up. The carrots were bubbling away happily and I popped the lid on, timer for 10 minutes, just like the book said... and FOR CRYING OUT LOUD how did I burn them already? The carrots must have been up too high, and they've burnt to the bottom of the pan. I taste them, the burntest (that's not even a word) carrot I can find and it still tastes delicious, so I'm using them or I'll starve tonight.

The final step is putting it all together and this is what I was left with...

Should have wiped up the dish...

   

Our first French meal, done!

The Inspiration

It started with a cooking book. This cook book, infact.

A Taste of France by Gabriel Gate

And it was pushed by Lorraine Elliots "Not Quite Nigella" blog and book. The inspiration further fueled by Julie and Julia film.

Having been to Paris and having a love for all things French, this book arrived in my hands on New Years Eve 2013 - just in time for my New Years resolution. I hope after these next 52 weeks my cooking/baking repertoire expands from pasta, frozen chips and cupcakes.

NYE Paris (photo: destination360)

My plating up has always been something to be desired and on more than one occasion I am guilty of setting my smoke alarm off. I cut corners and can be impatient. I don't eat red meat and have never ventured far from white fish and chicken. In Peru once I ate guinea pig and alpaca, and of course I've had kangaroo, but you must understand these ventures never went further than a small bite. I believe staying away from all these meats my growing life has lead me to meat digestive issues and avoid eating them now. I hope to tackle some of the duck, crayfish and prawns in this book over the next year.