http://www.saltshaker.net/20060902/a-great-perhaps Casting a little flavor (and a few aspersions) on the world of food, drink, and life Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:16:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060902/a-great-perhaps/comment-page-1#comment-188889 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Indy Day Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:33:01 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060902/a-great-perhaps#comment-188889 [...] So this year, what to do? The 4th fell on a Saturday, part of our weekly dinner schedule, and Thursday and Friday we were planning on our Palio dinners that I just wrote up, keeping Saturday as a possible third night. Some friends who lived here for a couple of years and have now moved back to the States were down for a couple of weeks, and wanted to have a big dinner, asking if they could have it here. Why not? Only they wanted a French dinner – classic brasserie sort of fare – dishes that I haven’t cooked since I went to cooking school to refine my cooking skills, 18 years ago. Why? Well, the male half of the couple had gotten into cooking while down here, and it turns out, partially due to something I wrote up back in September of 2006 in a review of the French brasserie, Rabelais: [...] [...] So this year, what to do? The 4th fell on a Saturday, part of our weekly dinner schedule, and Thursday and Friday we were planning on our Palio dinners that I just wrote up, keeping Saturday as a possible third night. Some friends who lived here for a couple of years and have now moved back to the States were down for a couple of weeks, and wanted to have a big dinner, asking if they could have it here. Why not? Only they wanted a French dinner – classic brasserie sort of fare – dishes that I haven’t cooked since I went to cooking school to refine my cooking skills, 18 years ago. Why? Well, the male half of the couple had gotten into cooking while down here, and it turns out, partially due to something I wrote up back in September of 2006 in a review of the French brasserie, Rabelais: [...]

]]> http://www.saltshaker.net/20060902/a-great-perhaps/comment-page-1#comment-6554 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Another Spirited Evening Mon, 06 Nov 2006 12:23:06 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060902/a-great-perhaps#comment-6554 [...] Of course, you all remember my visit to the local French brasserie, Rabelais and their excellent baked Camembert salad. I decided to play with that for an after main course salad/cheese course. An obvious match seemed the honey liqueur - some sort of honey mustard. But obvious is not my favorite way to go. A little twist on it, I decided to use the caramelo liqueur, which adds a dark, toasty or even slightly burnt note to the flavors. I mixed it with peanut oil, which also added some flavor, I mean, caramel and peanuts…? Then a bit of mustard powder, salt, and white pepper. It took a little while to get a good balance as the burnt caramel note is very strong in this liqueur, but eventually I was happy with it. Simply dressed arugula leaves with this vinaigrette. Then I tossed wedges of Argentine Camembert into the warm oven and let them melt a little (I think I like Rabelais’ presentation better - the Camembert cut in squares, lightly floured, and then toasted to warm and slightly brown it… Although there is something appealling about gooey melted cheese on a plate… I’ll have to work on that. I though the flavors ended up working wonderfully together - I think this dressing could also work well with a stronger flavored cheese… things to think about… [...] [...] Of course, you all remember my visit to the local French brasserie, Rabelais and their excellent baked Camembert salad. I decided to play with that for an after main course salad/cheese course. An obvious match seemed the honey liqueur – some sort of honey mustard. But obvious is not my favorite way to go. A little twist on it, I decided to use the caramelo liqueur, which adds a dark, toasty or even slightly burnt note to the flavors. I mixed it with peanut oil, which also added some flavor, I mean, caramel and peanuts…? Then a bit of mustard powder, salt, and white pepper. It took a little while to get a good balance as the burnt caramel note is very strong in this liqueur, but eventually I was happy with it. Simply dressed arugula leaves with this vinaigrette. Then I tossed wedges of Argentine Camembert into the warm oven and let them melt a little (I think I like Rabelais’ presentation better – the Camembert cut in squares, lightly floured, and then toasted to warm and slightly brown it… Although there is something appealling about gooey melted cheese on a plate… I’ll have to work on that. I though the flavors ended up working wonderfully together – I think this dressing could also work well with a stronger flavored cheese… things to think about… [...]

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