Hi everyone, in case you are wondering….I’m still alive 😛

Recent lack of updates attributed to…

1) Cuisine and Pastry Exams
2) Hillsong Conference
3) K’s fun-filled visit here in Sydney 😀
4) Start of the busiest school term ever
5) Parent’s grand arrival (whee!)
6) Multiple kitchen accidents
7) Fallen sick

…all packed in a span of 2 months!

This term, I am juggling Superior Cuisine and Intermediate Pastry – 6 days of 6-8hours/day. On top of this, quite a couple of irreconcilable clashes between my Cuisine and Pastry classes which I will just have to catch up on my own 😦 DISLIKE.

Nevertheless, I figure it’s time to pay off my blog debt before the busy-ness of the school terms hits me full on.

This post features the second part of what we did in Intermediate Cuisine.
Throughout Intermediate Cuisine, Chef Tristan has never failed to highlight to us how beautiful the recipes are (as compared to Superior Cuisine) – at that time, we readily (and blindly) agreed really because most of the dishes were french classics that everyone loved. Now that I have set foot into Superior Cuisine….I must say I can’t agree more with Chef Tristan!!!

[LEFT] The array of ingredients that goes into our bouillabaisse
[RIGHT] BOUILLABAISSE (by Chef Andreas)  – what used to be peasant food has now become a rich man’s broth. With so much fresh goodness used to produce this broth…how can it not taste good?

BREAD ROLLS with CRISPY SHALLOTS (by Chef Tristan) – lessons like this one never fail to amaze me how we can spend the entire lesson in Pastry lesson making the same bread rolls which we only spent 30 minutes in Cuisine class on….hmm.

[LEFT] LAMB NOISETTES with CORIANDER PESTO and WILTED SPINACH (by Chef Tristan) – I LOVE the coriander pesto…what a welcomed change from the usual basil ones!
[RIGHT] BOULANGERE POTATOES (by Chef Tristan) – this dish was invented by bakers who were hungry at work – I believe this is is how many dishes came about!

[LEFT] PAUPIETTES OF TROUT with BRAISED ONIONS IN RIESLING with CARROTS VICHY (by Chef Andreas) – This dish requires skill, in my opinion….definitely not my favorite BUT it turned out to be our exam dish – oh bummer!
[RIGHT] ORANGE SOUFFLÉ  (by Chef Andreas)

[LEFT] DUCK IN ORANGE SAUCE (by Chef Andreas) – A VERY AWESOME CLASSIC!
[RIGHT] GÉNOISE SPONGE (by Chef Andreas) My second genoise sponge this term – made one in Basic Pastry….not my favorite cake for sure – too sweet, too egg-y.

[LEFT] SNAPPER AND PRAWN MOUSSELINE with NANTUA SAUCE (by Me) – The nantua sauce is so good because it has infused so much goodness from the considerable amount of crustacean shells used.
[RIGHT] WHITE CHOCOLATE CREME BRULÉE (by Chef Andreas)

[LEFT] STUFFED SQUID Á LA PROVENCAL (by Me)
[RIGHT] POACHED VEAL FILLET with GLAZED VEGETABLES and LYONNAISE SAUCE (by Me)

[LEFT] RAVIOLI FILLED WITH SPINACH and FETA with TOMATO and BASIL SAUCE (by Me) – Can’t wait to make egg yolk ravioli at home, soon!
[RIGHT] FILLET OF BEEF with ROSEMARY and MUSTARD (by Me)

[LEFT] ALSATIAN SAUERKRAUT with TOULOUSAIN SAUSAGE (by Me)
[RIGHT] WARM SOFT CENTRED CHOCOLATE PIDDING with DOUBLE CREAM (by Me) – Ah, so making one of those choc fondant cake is simple? I thought so! But I managed to undercook it anyway 😛

[LEFT] TOMATO CONSOMMÉ with BASIL TORTELLINI (by Chef Tristan) – tortellini was made using wanton skin….great short-cut method!
[RIGHT] RICE FLAN with CREME CHANTILLY (by Me)

[LEFT] ROAST FILLET OF PORK with VIOGNIER WINE and PRUNES (by Chef Andreas)
[RIGHT] BAKEWELL TART (by Chef Andreas) – not my favourite…

[LEFT] PAUPIETTES OF SOLE with PRAWN MOUSSE and CHAMPAGNE SAUCE (by Me) – love this dish! The base of the sauce is somewhat similar to the nantua sauce we prepared earlier…except this is even better with the champagne!
[RIGHT] CHOCOLATE TART (by Chef Andreas) – clearly the greatest tart so far! However, the shortness of the tart made it really hard to work with and I ended up with a thicker crust than I desired. Nevertheless, it tasted great!

All in all, a wonderful school term with an equally wonderful menu. And as foe exams…it  went fine except for some minor screw ups, thank God!

It’s now midway through superior and I am bogged down with truckloads of assignments and revision….will find time to update as soon as I can! Till then 🙂