http://www.saltshaker.net/20060902/a-great-perhaps Casting a little flavor (and a few aspersions) on the world of food, drink, and life Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:01:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 http://www.saltshaker.net/20060902/a-great-perhaps#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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