Updating My Cooking Skills

Last Tuesday, friend, Sharon and myself attended the first of a series of five cooking classes at a local shop, KitchenAble taught by Chef Jessica. The topic of all five classes are "Mother Sauces", exploring the five sauces the famous Chef Escoffier felt were the fundamental basics of French cuisine.  We will also learn some of the “daughter” sauces that can be created using these sauces during the series of five classes.

In the first class we learned how to make a Béchamel Sauce. Now I have made a Béchamel Sauce before but I learned so many interesting things along the way in this class. I found it to be extremely interesting and we also talked extensively  about method and other sauces that begin with a basic Béchamel Sauce. We were served a four course dinner also and it was amazing. We started with Roasted Broccoli with a basic Béchamel Sauce on top, the legendary Hot Brown-from the Brown Hotel in Louisville, KY, a magnificent Macaroni and Cheese (Pasta Mornay) and in French tradition ended our dinner with a delicious salad of Arugula, a large shallot sliced, slices of Granny Smith Apples, the chef's own seasoning blend and topped with a Béchamel dressing. The Béchamel dressing is probably the best dressing I've ever had.

I did not take a pic of the salad but I will share the recipe of the dressing.

Béchamel Dressing
1 egg
2 cups prepared béchamel
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon minced fresh herb (in this case tarragon was used)
1 teaspoon sugar

Allow béchamel to cool slightly, remove some of the sauce to a small bowl to temper the egg. Add the egg to the small bowl and whisk thoroughly. Combine with remaining ingredients whisk to mix thoroughly and serve over lettuce of choice. Yield-2 1/2 cups dressing

Note: She did in fact put the entire mixture over a double boiler and cooked the egg, only for a couple of minutes for food safety purposes but a raw egg can be used as well if you are not squeamish about using raw eggs.
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This was the most interesting dressing I have ever had, not overly tart but smooth and very pleasant.

Dinner was in  fact a little on the heavy size but it was so worth it. Our main course was the legendary Hot Brown-from the Brown Hotel in Louisville.  I had never heard of a Hot Brown before but it was absolutely divine and I will be making it for dinner next week, it was delicious. Reminded me a lot of a Croque Monsieur which I dearly love but with much different ingredients.

 



Not exactly light on calories but it was sooooooooo worth it.

 

The Legendary Hot-Brown-From the Brown Hotel in Louisville

 

 1 1/2 tablespoons salted butter

1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, plus extra for garnish

pinch of freshly ground nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

14-ounce sliced roasted turkey breast, thickly sliced

4 slices of Texas toast (crusts removed)

4 slices of bacon

2 Roma tomatoes, sliced in half

 

In a two-quart saucepan, melt butter and slowly whisk in flour until combined to form a thick paste or roux. Continue to cook roux for 2 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. Whisk heavy cream into the roux and cook over medium heat until the cream begins to simmer, about 2-3 minutes. Remove sauce from heat and slowly whisk in Pecorino-Romono cheese until the Mornay sauce is smooth. Add nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.

 

For each Hot Brown, place one slice of toast (slightly toasted) in an oven safe dish and cover with 7 ounces turkey. Take the two halves of Roma tomato and two toast points and set them alongside the base of turkey and toast. Pour half of the sauce over the dish, completely covering it. Sprinkle with additional cheese. Place the entire dish under a broiler until cheese begins to brown and bubble. Remove and cross two pieces of crispy bacon on top to serve. Sprinkle with paprika and parsley and serve immediately.

 

Yield 4 servings

 

NOTE: Texas toast does not mean the brand that you see in the freezer section of the grocery but any bread of your preference but sliced thickly, 2-inches.

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As you can see chef did thin slices of tomato and placed on top of the Béchamel sauce which I think a better idea. If it were me I would use a gruyere in the sauce and top the tomatoes with the freshly grated Romano and then continue with the process. You can also see that instead of laying two slices of bacon crisscross on each piece which is how it would be served in France but instead chopped the bacon. I think this was an excellent idea not just for class serving but I would do the same if serving this at home.

Certainly this is not something I would serve often but since I know my husband would really enjoy this it will definitely be on my menu some time this week. It was amazingly delicious. I also intend to purchase a turkey breast and roast it myself which I think would be more flavorful but deli roasted turkey is also a good alternative. I will pare this with the salad that I gave the recipe above the Hot Brown and will double my Béchamel sauce, the recipe in the top portion of the Hot Brown.

 

This was a most enjoyable class, it's always a good thing to refresh your knowledge and certainly I learned some new techniques as well. This coming week Chef  Jessica will be teaching a Veloute' Sauce which I have never prepared before. This will be a sauce served over Salmon, YUM. I am taking my daughter so it will be a much needed mother/daughter outing together too. An evening I am looking forward to for more than one reason.

 

Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you will give the Hot Brown a try, you won't be disappointed.