Well, I guess that it's been a week since getting back from Vegas. I originally thought that I would come back to the weblog without much adieu, but in this case, what happened in Vegas DID NOT stay in Vegas; it came back with me and continued to bite me in the ass for the following 5-6-7 days. The kosmos was working it's vengeance on me and my little grab for the good times of ethereal cashola - yet I ask, what else could a stag be for?

(By the way Rommel, I asked all the bartenders down in LV about "the third leg of kermit" and they all thought that I was trying to pull THEIR third leg instead. I have also searched the on-line bartending databases and have come up with no dice on the famed kermit martini thus far. Again, I ask, in which bar in Vancouver had you imbibed this fine concoction?)

    'Tis been a long while since my last week long hangover, only difference this time is that I was actually able to feel it in all 3 bodies - gross, subtle and causal. F--k. I was as contracted and compacted as could be. Discombobulated might be the word I'm looking for here. Luckily I did not have to return immediately to work as my employes were still escaping the Canadian winter blues in the Carribean. Nice. I did have a project to work on however during their absence and it will become the subject of the next handful of entries here: Eric's first cooking class!

    I taught my first cooking class last night to a sold out "crowd" of 24 foodie-peeps. It was one of the hardest and most interesting tasks that I have ever performed. Seriously. Not since working my first night on the Saucier station (at Catch Restaurant) has something thrown such a pronounced curve-ball at me. Tossing me right out of my comfort zone, which in this cae was a good thing. Usually is.

Preparing and cooking up 5 dishes in 2.5 hours is one thing; doing it in front of a gathering of 30 people (including the serving aids, etc.) is another; but HAVING TO TALK THE ENTIRE TIME AND SOUND BOTH KNOWLEDGEABLE AND ENTERTAINING IS SOMETHING ELSE COMPLETELY. It challenged me in a unique and unforgettable manner which has given way to an odd sense of "relief/mountain-top sigh" that lasts even now as I sit to write this. It was possibly even more un-nerving than doing the cooking video for Integral Naked, perhaps in part due to the time constraints involved - one must also remember that video editing can make anyone appear to know what they're talking about.......thanks much, dear Ballard :-)

Anyway, I have chosen to share with you all the recipes that were concocted/demonstrated for this particular teaching debut. The class was entitled "Feasting on Salmon". (if anyone has information which contradicts or complements what I have entered into these recipe sheets, please shout it out loud! I am by no means the bearer of all culinary truth, as mucu as I would purport or like to be......) Here's an overview of the class and following it will be the first offering:

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Feasting On Salmon
Monday March 6th, 2006 / 6:30-9:00pm
Chef Eric Giesbrecht

Dishes to demonstrate:

- 1 salmon sashimi
- 2 cured salmon “lasagna” with avocado mousse
- 3 salmon tartare with crème fraiche, black Hawaiian volcano salt, salmon roe (on conge spoons or tuile cups)
- 4 salmon skewers (on lemongrass?) with orange-miso glaze
- 5 salmon mousse ravioli with homemade goat’s milk ricotta cheese, goat’s milk butter sauce
- 6 oven roasted salmon saltimbocca with eggplant relish
- 7 poached salmon with gewurtztraminer cream

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Salmon Sashimi

It doesn’t get any simpler than this – find yourself a sushi grade* salmon fillet (or tuna, etc.), pay the purveyor, bring it home, place on clean cutting board, invite your friends, and start slicing. Traditional accompaniments to raw fish in general would be some wasabi** paste, pickled ginger and soy sauce. Stop asking questions, grab a glass of chardonnay and tuck in.

*Depending on whom you ask, there is some discrepancy in the potential explanations of what exactly constitutes “sushi-grade” product. To purists, sushi-grade describes fish product which has met specific requirements of freshness, fat content, and firmness. In contrast to this, it also is understood to mean fish product that has met the aforementioned requirements AND has been frozen for a minimum of seven days at a temperature of about –25C . Use your intuition and make you own decision. (ed. just so you know, I have seen pictures of someone who had worms replicating under the confines of his scalp - he apparently ate sashimi 2-3 times per day. That particular fish was most likely NOT frozen beforehand.)

**Unfortunately, I have recently discovered that most of the wasabi paste that is consumed in North America is a faux mixture of ground horseradish, mustard, corn starch, and food colouring. (sigh…) While I have yet to secure a line of true-blue wasabi myself, I have come across a website (thanks do dear Ottmar) which claims to supply the real deal. Check out www.realwasabi.com to begin the journey. If you want to authenticate the experience even more, consider pickling your own ginger as you would any other vegetable, only make sure you get it sliced thin enough by employing a Japanese mandoline. As for the soy sauce, spend as much money as you’re comfortable with and go organic, as the fermentation process involved in creating it can only amplify toxins and undesireables.

la, la, et la.

Cured Salmon “Lasagna” with Avocado Mousse

    The idea of this recipe is adapted from the pages of “East of the Danube” – it remains one of the more difficult cookbooks out there, in so far as the actual execution of the recipes require multiple processes over multiple days of preparation. We’re going to cheat a little here but still achieve the same textural wow-factor. Which, to me, is what it's often all about
   
    In this preparation, the thinly sliced cured salmon (referred to technically as “escalopes”) provides the faux pasta in betwixt which sits a simple avocado mousse, on top of which sits a mustard-dill cream. The original recipe calls for a basil gelee to be laid down as the base for this "pasta-esque" dish, however, it's cut out here for the sake of simplicity - that said, one might also leave out the dill cream without missing out on anything to die for; the party is in the marriage of the salmon and the avocado. The original recipe also calls for a ravioli to be crafted out of the salmon escalopes, however, culling slices large enough to pull this off is not possible for this class. Thus, we’ll steal/assume artistic license and morph this puppy into an open-faced lasagna…

Cured Salmon
For all intents and purposes, no one is expecting you to make cured salmon at home! Let’s be honest. If you really want to, email me for the recipe. Basically, you could do this with a pre-sliced smoked salmon package from the store or simply slice your own pieces from a raw fillet of salmon, as broad and as thin as your knife skills allow, and give them a quick curing/seasoning at the very outset of this whole enterprise. By the time you’re finished organizing the ingredients for the mousses/mixtures, they’ll be ready for you to slather and devour. The quick cure simply requires  a bit of high quality salt, some lemon zest, 2 parts lemon juice and 1 part olive oil. Lay them out and let them sit with the marinade; just make sure they don’t sit too long or you could end up with “stiffs”. Ugh.

The Dill Cream:
2.5 tbsp of Dijon mustard
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
2 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1tsp extra virgin olive oil
2/3 cup heavy cream
fine sea salt to taste, fresh ground black pepper

Combine the lemon juice, dill, mustard, and sugar in a bowl whisking until the sugar is dissolved. Continue whisking and slowly add the olive oil until a smooth emulsification forms. Whisk up the heavy cream separately until you achieve stiff peaks and set aside 1/4 cup of the whipped product. Fold the remaining whipped cream into the mustard emulsion, season with salt and pepper and set aside. Do a little dance.

Avocado Mousse
2 ripe avocados
juice of 2 fresh limes
pinch of cayenne pepper
2 tbsp small diced shallots
2 tbsp small diced red bell pepper

Scoop the avocado flesh out of it’s skin and push through a fine meshed sieve (or just smash with a fork/spoon if you’re too lazy). Add to it the lime juice and cayenne pepper first, achieving a consistent mixture, then proceed to add the shallots and red pepper. Fold in the remaining whipped cream. Smile.

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Now - lay it out: one slice of cured salmon escalope, a spoonful of avocado mousse, one slice of salmon, and an expertly crafted quenelle of dill cream to top it off. Review your newly acquired vocabulary and dig in.

Forks are highly over-rated.

Salmon Tartare with Crème Fraiche, Salmon Roe and Black Salt

10-12 oz salmon fillet, belly if at all possible (fat content, yo)
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (lemon oil if you have it)
1tbsp finely sliced chives
2-3tbsp minced shallots, brunoise them if you’re feeling perky
2 turns of a white pepper grinder
juice of half a lemon, maybe two (halves…)
zest of one lemon
1/4 cup of crème fraiche
pinch or two of black Hawaiian volcano salt (ditch for caviar if you’ve got the means)
small jar of salmon row
 
The key to this snack is actually using a proper chef’s knife to slice and dice the salmon – if you try to use a Cuisinart to save you and your wrists the effort, you would cheat your self out of the velvety nugget-like texture of the salmon and probably end up with something resembling more of a pate than tartare. Don’t wuss out.

Mix the first seven ingredients gently, so as not to smear the salmon. Also be careful not to overdo the lemon juice as this will tend to cure the salmon completely and make it rubbery. Not that cured salmon isn’t good, it’s just not what we’re going for here. All we want to accomplish with the lemon juice is to provide an aromatic background and to “cut the fat” in the fish.

Place immediately on your chosen serving utensil, preferably a conge spoon (which is essentially the spoon they usually give you for wonton soup - a nice over-sized table spoon would do the job as well) and proceed to garnish with the crème fraiche, the salmon roe, and a pinch of the black salt (this is our only substitute for caviar at this point…). Say, “hot damn is that sexy” and pass around to your guests. If you really want to step this up, go to page 6 of your friend’s copy of The French Laundry Cookbook and take a whack at those savoury mini tuile coronets. Dead sexy. Daaaaaa……Thomas is the man.