Food in Provence (and elsewhere)

Unbelievably, after the six chocolate elements we prepared for our cake yesterday, we start the day preparing yet another, a chocolate viennois sponge. The major complication here is that we need to cut 60cm bands and the baking sheet is 40x60cm so chef points out the sponge needs to be spread along a diagonal… S. takes care of this element while I reheat the glaze. This then needs to be cooled down to ~28°C, poured into a jug through a sieve (to remove bubbles) then blended a while, a process that, by magic through mechanical work and friction, heats the glaze up to the working temperature of 30-32°C. I’ve got the hang of pouring glaze over things by now, but not quite the knack of scraping off the excess so there’s a bald patch on my cake that I hope can be covered up later.

S. spray paints the chocolate cream—this was put in a spiral mould yesterday and left in the fridge; chef moved them to the blast chiller this morning—and we place the black-cocoa-butter-coated disks on top of our cake. S. also cuts two long strips from the now baked viennois sponge and we place these around the cakes. Meanwhile, I’ve been tempering chocolate and pipe some wavy lines onto cocoa nibs from a cornet—of which S. has a ready stash in her folder! I also pipe blobs onto parchment paper which we turn into large Gastronomicom logos using a stamp which is cold from the blast chiller. After some final assembly, I end up with a reasonable offering with blemishes hidden.

Not surprisingly, it is very rich. But J. and I enjoy reasonably sized slices with coffee for our goûter.

We have our final cooking test in the afternoon. We are given monkfish and there are various ingredients left over from recent recipes for us to choose from. Chef expects a Michelin standard plate and a demonstration of techniques learnt this month. I’m a bit stuck for ideas but prepare parsley decorated filo pastry tart cases (something we learnt this month…) whilst I hope for inspiration to strike. It comes as I notice I have two pieces of monkfish so decide to cook one in a water bath with lobster bisque and pan fry the other. To echo the two textures of monkfish, I prepare mushrooms and courgettes two ways, pickle and poach asparagus spears, prepare a sauce of confit asparagus stems, pickle onions and courgette slices and prepare a lemongrass, ginger and grapefruit juice sauce. It’s a lot of work and chef seems a little surprised by the number of plastic containers I have stacked on my bench but they are all full by the time it comes to plate.

I realise as I take my plate for inspection that I’ve paid too much attention to the plating of the side elements and not enough to the plating of the monkfish pieces. I should have sliced these (and given the poached slice a rub with olive oil). Sure enough, chef points this out! He does, though, think both portions of fish are well cooked, likes the contrast between the flavours of the two and thinks the lemongrass/ginger/grapefruit sauce is a good complement. Not really Michelin standard, but with a little more work it perhaps could be. And I’m quite happy with the 85/100 he gives me at the end of the class.