As the story goes, Caprèse Salad was first created in the 1950s in Italy.

So I imagine myself sitting in a little restaurant in Italy, in the region of Campania, perhaps, and before my meal, I order a Caprèse Salad. I know that to prepare this dish, the Chef will pick a top-quality tomato in its prime—ripened on the vine. He will then lift some Mozzarella di bufala (buffalo mozzarella) out of the liquid in the special place he stores it. The buffalo mozzarella will be fresh and springy—even a little juicy and creamy and definitely delicious.

To this, the Chef will add the other simple ingredients, always ensuring that the quality of each individual item is top-notch. The Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or Balsamic vinegar).The fresh basil from the Chef’s own herb garden. Using dried basil from a spice jar would be irreverent. Even the salt the Chef sprinkles on the salad as a final touch is special sea salt.

And so the simple, yet exquisite ingredients come together to create a salad delicious, yet deceiving in its simplicity. The same salad made with lesser ingredients would be ordinary, even mundane. But something magical happens in the fusion of these fine flavours and textures and the salad becomes a dish fit for royalty.

Paired with a medium bodied white wine, somewhat aromatic and fruity, Caprèse Salad is perfection on a summer plate.

I finish my Caprèse Salad, take a sip of wine, and order dinner.

Actually, that's not far from what I experienced in June -- only the location was Paris, not Italy.

I enjoyed a Caprèse Salad on the patio of a quaint café called Camille in Le Marais, Paris. While people-watching and sipping wine, I marveled at the melding of these three perfect elements on my plate. Summer is the perfect time to enjoy this salad when you can get two of the key ingredients from your own garden or the local farmer's market.

Buffalo mozzarella is a type of mozzarella cheese that's made from water buffalo's milk, not from cow's milk. In Ottawa, you can get this cheese at La Bottega Nicastro Fine Food Shop or House of Cheese in the Byward Market.
When I returned home from Paris, a friend made this simple salad at his cottage using a drizzle of some fine Balsamic vinegar to dress it.


This salad pairs well with a fruity, light sipping wine such as Inniskillin's Winemaker's Series 2008 Pinot Gris (LCBO/Vintages #177766 $19.95) that's barrel aged. With its slightly crisp, tropical tones, it's a perfect afternoon-on-the-patio sipping wine.



Recipe: Caprèse Salad

Serves: 1

Tortilla Soup may not be part of your family’s treasured recipe collection, but it’s a culinary gem that has quickly gained popularity worldwide. Originating in the American Southwest and northern Mexico, this dish has evolved from humble chicken soup to a flavor-packed favorite. Today, it’s enjoyed everywhere—even as far north as Canada!

This versatile soup is perfect for any season, offering a warming hug on a chilly January day or a zesty refreshment in the heat of July. With fried tortilla strips, creamy avocado, tangy lime, and a dash of chili salsa, it’s a dish that pleases the palate while inviting creative twists.

This recipe uses stale tortillas, though fresh tortillas work well if you dry them in a low oven before frying. Looking for a lighter option? Bake the tortilla strips for a crisp and low-fat alternative.

Whether you love bold heat or prefer a milder flavor, Tortilla Soup is endlessly adaptable. Add sour cream to tone down the spice or experiment with additional toppings for a personalized twist.

Pâte feuilletée, or puff pastry, is often considered one of the most challenging yet rewarding doughs to master in the culinary world. Known for its delicate layers that puff up beautifully in the oven, this dough relies on a precise technique to create the "leaves" or layers without the use of yeast. Though made with just three basic ingredients—flour, water, and butter—it demands patience and skill to perfect.

The magic behind puff pastry lies in the layers of butter trapped within the dough. As the dough bakes, the water in the butter turns to steam, causing the layers to separate and rise, creating the signature light, flaky texture. While mastering puff pastry can be tricky, with the right technique and a bit of practice, you can create this stunning dough for all kinds of delicious treats.

Puff pastry's number one enemy is heat. Working quickly, and never doing more than two turns at a time, you must keep the butter cool enough so that it doesn't leak out during rolling.

Recipe: Cheese Sticks

400 g flour
200 g water
6 g salt
300 g butter
100 g Gruyère cheese

You can find the recipe for Allumettes au fromage (Puff pastry strips with cheese) here along with more background information. It was part of Week 2 at Le Cordon Bleu in Basic Cuisine.


Links
Video (in French but shows the technique) 
Eggbeater's Puff Pastry 
50 Flaky, Crunchy, Delicious Appetizers, Entrées (affiliate link)

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

Do all chowder recipes have bacon in them?

Recipe: Chicken Chowder

adapted from 50 Chowders (affiliate link) by Jasper White

Serves: 6 to 8 as a main course

Ingredients:

• 6 to 8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 4 ounces bacon, cut into ⅓-inch dice
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery (4 ounces), cut into ⅓-inch dice
• 1 small red bell pepper (6 ounces), cut into ½-inch dice
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 pounds Yukon Gold or other all-purpose potatoes, peeled and sliced ⅓ inch thick
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups heavy cream (optional) or 2 cups chicken stock
• Salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Cayenne pepper (optional)
• Broccoli (optional)

For garnish:

• 6 green onions, very thinly sliced

Instructions:

1. Sauté the chicken: In a frying pan, sauté the chicken until cooked through. Set aside.
   
   
2. Cook the bacon: Fry the bacon in a pot until crisp and golden brown. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat, leaving the bacon in the pot.
   
   
3. Sauté the vegetables: Add the butter, diced onion, celery, and red bell pepper to the pot. Sauté, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are softened but not browned.
   
   
4. Add potatoes and stock: Add the sliced potatoes and 4 cups of chicken stock. The stock should just barely cover the potatoes; if it doesn’t, add enough water to cover. Increase the heat and bring to a boil. Add the thyme leaves.
   
   
5. Cook the potatoes: Cover and cook the potatoes vigorously for about 10 minutes, until they are soft on the outside but still firm in the center. If the stock hasn’t thickened enough, mash a few potatoes against the side of the pot to release their starch and thicken the soup.
   
   
6. Finish the chowder: Remove from heat and stir in the cooked chicken and cream (or extra stock). Season to taste with salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper if desired. If you are not serving the chowder right away, cool it slightly, refrigerate, and cover it once cooled completely. Otherwise, let it sit at room temperature for up to an hour to allow the flavors to meld.
   
   
7. Reheat and serve: When ready to serve, gently reheat the chowder over low heat, being careful not to let it boil. Use a slotted spoon to serve the chicken, vegetables, potatoes, and bacon in the center of large soup bowls. Ladle the creamy broth around the ingredients and garnish with sliced green onions.

Tasting Notes
This Chicken Chowder is so good that even friends who don’t eat bacon went for seconds—proof of how flavorful and comforting this dish can be. I also had leftover chowder the next day, which I enhanced with rice. Though I usually avoid combining rice and potatoes, this chowder is versatile and forgiving, making it an ideal leftover meal.

Links
• Clam Chowder from Recipe Girl
• New England Clam Chowder from Andrea Meyers
• Chicken, Corn & Potato Chowder from Cookin' Canuck
• Corn Chowder with Cheddar from Serious Eats

In mid-February I spent a wonderful afternoon with Chef Andrée Riffou of C'est bon Cooking who I met care of a food event at the end of January hosted at Ottawa's Urban Element (sponsored by the Chicken Farmers of Canada) through her marketing person, Paola St. Georges who I had met through Twitter!  It turns out that since Chef Andrée completed her Grand Diplôme at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa (including one semester at the Paris school) in June 2009, she was allowed to judge exam dishes, and ended up being a judge in November 2009 (therefore, judging my exam dish…blush!).

Moving away from typical French cuisine and into something a little more Asian-inspired was a nice change. Practicing deep-frying technique is always helpful and usually renders something crunchy and tender at the same time.

This is a simple recipe. I used my food processor to mince the shrimp into a purée. Then, I stirred in the remaining ingredients. After whipping the egg whites, I folded them into the mixture. Finally, I formed the shrimp mixture into balls and rolled them into sesame seeds.

I followed the same technique for deep frying that I learned when frying potatoes.

Recipe: Spiced Shrimp Balls

Serves: 6

For such a simple recipe, Gazpacho has a lot of history dating back to the Middle Ages in Andalucia. The name gazpacho means "soaked bread" and is essentially a cold liquid salad, says Clifford A. Wright in his book Mediterranean Vegetables.

This rustic, simple dish is perfect when you don't want to cook. You can serve it as a soup or as a sauce over chicken or fish. Pull out your mortar and pestle (and muscles) or plug in the food processor and give it a try with fresh vegetables from your garden! Get creative by adding crabmeat, shrimp, and avocado, or twist it into a fruity version with peaches.

Recipe: Gaspacho (Gazpacho)

Serves: 6



To let the flavors build, it's best to let the soup sit in the refrigerator overnight.

Tasting Notes
Chunky or smooth, this soup is refreshing on a hot day. The bite from the raw onions and garlic, the sweetness from the garden-fresh tomatoes, and the hint of acid from the vinegar rounded out with a pinch of salt make this soup a palate-pleaser. My Bucket List
• Visit Andalusia and enjoy a bowl of Gazpacho by the sea.

Next Class
• Coquelets sur Canapés (Roast Squab Chickens with Chicken Liver Canapés and Mushrooms) page 246 in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I (affiliate link) by Julia Child and Pommes Pont Neuf (Pont Neuf Potatoes) page 253 {Substitute straw potatoes for pont neuf, if desired.} (post on Wednesday, August 26, 2009)

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Running total: $1,489.66 + $7.89 = $1,497.55
($1.32 per serving)

Butter used so far: 12 pounds, 22.5 tablespoons

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More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
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This is an easy soup to make if you don't have to take your daughter to a birthday party, pick her up from the party, go shopping for a different birthday party, take another daughter to a sleepover, make meals in between, and watch Hoodwinked.

The soup is named after Contesse Dubarry, a favorite of Louix XV, and just so you know ... the cauliflower represents the powdered wigs of the time. Vinegar
First, soak the cauliflower in vinegar for 5 minutes (or all afternoon while you're shopping!). The vinegar helps retain the whiteness of the cauliflower.

Roux + Stock = Velouté
Next, cook the leeks and onions in some butter until translucent. By adding the rice flour (which absorbs more moisture than regular flour), you're making a light roux. The next step is to add white stock, such as chicken stock. Now, the mixture is called a velouté. Stir in all but 1 cup of the cauliflower florets and cook for about half an hour.

Here's a video showing how to make a velouté sauce.

After puréeing the soup, strain it through a fine-meshed strainer so that you get a velvety, smooth soup. Bring the soup to a boil and simmer for a bit on low.

Liaison
The last step is to make the liaison, which is a mixture of cream and egg yolks that thickens the soup and adds a richness of flavor. This is the trickiest part of the recipe since the eggs can curdle. Slowly whisking some hot stock into the cream and egg mixture is key. After "tempering" the cream and egg mixture by bringing it up to a similar temperature as the stock, combine the rest of the stock and liaison in the pot. Then, stir and watch it carefully on the heat so that it thickens a bit more without letting it boil.

Garnish
Cook the remaining cauliflower florets by boiling in salted water or steaming in the microwave. These will be part of the garnish, along with some toasted, homemade croutons.

Recipe: Velouté Du Barry (Cream of Cauliflower Soup)

Serves: 6

The word soufflé is irresistible as it blows over your tongue and through your teeth. {It's a word in French that you can say without your French Immersion daughters laughing at your pronunciation.} It means breath, or to take one's breath away. Which is exactly what happens. As you hold your breath, the soufflé takes a breath and falls.

In the unfair world of food, a chocolate soufflé is allowed to take a breath, but a cheesy egg soufflé is not. This soufflé is filled with a cheese called comté (pronounced con-tay) from a terroir that spans the Jura and the Doubs departments in France. This region learned how to transform milk into a cheese that could be preserved and gained status as one of the first cheeses with the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) signature. Unfortunately, I couldn't find this distinguished cheese in my grocery store so I used a humble, but satisfying tangy Swiss cheese instead.

Roux…béchamel…Mornay…meringue are all techniques learned in previous classes that merge in this recipe to make a delicate, diva-like, spectacular dish. First, prepare the milk by bringing it to a boil. Don't turn your back on it for too long or the neglected mixture will punish you with spilled, scorched milk on your stove. While watching the milk, make a roux. Whisk in the hot, un-neglected milk and stir until the sauce becomes thick. Now the sauce is christened a béchamel. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Simmer and whisk for a while to encourage the flavors to develop and avoid burning and sticking. Remove it from the heat and add the cheese. Now it's named Mornay. Next whisk in the yolks and set aside.

The last step is to make a meringue. After the meringue is at its perfect, softly-whipped-but-holding peaks stage, sacrifice some of it (about a third) to lighten the Mornay mixture. Carefully fold in the remaining whites {remembering your Grandma looking over your shoulder as you folded the egg whites into waffle batter when you were just a head taller than the counter, pointing out all the whites that needed hiding}.

Even pouring the mixture into the soufflé dish requires a patient, careful hand. You must avoid dripping any batter on the sides so that the soufflé can climb the dish without touching a patch of burnt-on batter. Then you must tap the dish gently to remove air bubbles. After putting it in the oven, you must not open the oven door while it's baking. And you must not slam the oven door. {Whisper soufflé and blow it a kiss.}

Finally, after baking, hold your breath. Carefully remove the soufflés from the oven. Exhale slowly. {Photograph quickly.} Devour.

Recipe: Soufflé au Comté (Cheese Soufflé)

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

A simple salad appetizer topped with slippery liver that's been sautéed lightly and finished with a little shallot-wine sauce thickened with crème fraîche. Nothing too tricky and everything is delicious…except the liver.

If I had used foie gras, the perfect substitute, I could tell you all about how foie gras is made and possibly get into trouble from activists about how geese are force fed for the last few weeks of their lives. Do the geese mind the funnel-feeding? Does the liver of ethically-raised geese who naturally gorge themselves taste better than geese that have been force fed? Unfortunately, I didn't have time to run out to buy this delicacy as I had intended to. But I do have a bit of time to think, read and ponder foie gras. Before I knew much about it, I had tasted it and found it smooth, custardy, salty, rich and good. Pan fried lightly in a touch of butter, ending with a bit of a crust and a smooth, velvety center, it was memorable. It was served as part of the main dish at a restaurant that was paying tribute to Julia Child shortly after she died. I ordered Tournedos Rossini (Filet Steaks with Foie gras, Truffles, and Madeira Sauce) found on page 299 in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I: 40th Anniversary Edition (affiliate link) But the fois gras is what stood tall in my memory banks. And how different is fois gras (besides cost!) from chicken liver? I wish I'd had the time to source some fois gras this week just to compare the two offals. Working through this curriculum, I've made several dishes that I wouldn't normally come home from work and choose to make. Frog legs, chicken liver, caul fat encased sausage and soon rabbit are examples. Why does the vision of Hannibal Lecter whispering in my ear linger each time I'm about to sample something unfamiliar, causing me to take a deep breath before taking a taste? Why don't I feel guilt or discomfort when I put a piece of beef tenderloin in my mouth? Is it any different? No, it's just more familiar.

Recipe: Salade de Foies de Volailles Tiedes (Salad of Warm Sautéed Chicken Livers)

Serves: 6 (I halved the recipe.)

Ingredients:

More to Explore:

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Do you ever feel like an oyster? Raw. Shell clamped tight. Knowing there's a pearl inside. Only to find out you're not the pearl-producing type of oyster but the one that gets eaten. Oysters
Oysters got their aphrodisiac reputation from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love who unwittingly sprang forth from the sea on a convenient oyster shell and then in the same breath gave birth to Eros, according to this link. And if you believe that, you can have faith in their aphrodisiac powers too.

Oysters with the thickest shells have the most juice. Before shucking, make sure they're alive. It's ok if they're sleeping. Just tap them and discard any that do not close firmly. They're dead and not worth getting food poisoning from.

I was amazed at how tight the oyster shell was clamped shut. I worked from the hinge at the back to pry it open, and even then I chipped off pieces of the shell in the process. Some were easier to open than others, and with each shell opened, I felt more powerful and confident. Now I don't have to go to an oyster bar and pay premium prices for someone else to shuck me some plain ol' oysters. I can do it myself and make a fancy-shmancy sabayon to go with it.

After you've figured out the shucking part, it's onto the poaching. Simple. They're just poached in their own juices until the liquid boils. Then they wait on the sidelines while you make the star of the dish: the sabayon.

Spinach
But first there's the spinach to steam. I found the spinach to be the perfect foil to the rich sabayon and oyster. It acted as the go-between, diplomatically keeping the oyster and sabayon from being the dueling divas.

Sabayon
Sabayon means "wine-foam cream". It is zabaglione without the sugar and with the use of Muscadet instead of sweet Marsala, changing it from a fancy dessert into a rich, savory sauce.

The base of the sabayon is a shallot/wine reduction. Cook the shallots in butter until translucent. Add the wine and oyster juices to round out the sauce. A bit of reduction builds flavor and then add the crème fraîche for tang, richness and viscosity. Again, the sauce is reduced to build flavor.
While the sauce reduces, whisk the yolks and water into a foamy frenzy. Then, while they're distracted, set them over a bowl of simmering water. Gently cook the eggs until the mixture becomes thick and creamy and increases in volume. This is probably the hardest part of the recipe. If it gets too hot, you'll have scrambled sabayon. Not so sexy.

After you've cooked this sauce to its ribbon-y texture, whisk in the clarified butter slowly. The sabayon and the butter should be at the same temperature, which is the key to a successful sabayon. Finally, add the reduced shallot/wine mixture. Lots of eggs, butter, and crème fraîche make this a very rich, sensual sauce.

Spinach, again
Back to the spinach. It's sautéed in even more butter and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Finally, assemble and serve.

Recipe: Huîtres Chaudes au Muscadet (Poached Oysters with Muscadet Sabayon Sauce)

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

You can find the recipe for Huîtres Chaudes au Muscadet (Poached Oysters with Muscadet Sabayon Sauce) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home (affiliate link). To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with their recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Serve with Muscadet, Chablis, or Champagne, or even red wine.

Tasting Notes
I've had oysters before, but usually they just came with a squeeze of lemon. This was decadent. I wouldn't want to eat more than an appetizer-sized serving, but they were the best-tasting oysters I've ever had. I even shucked a few more oysters the next day and re-heated the sauce. After the sabayon broke in the microwave, I stirred in some cold sabayon and it emulsified again and I had a perfect lunch. Next Class
• Aubergines Bayildi (Gratin of Stuffed Eggplant) pages 255-256

Links
• Thomas Keller's signature dish "Oysters and Pearls"
• Red wine with oysters: A Rule Just Waiting to Be Broken
• cookthink: How To Choose Oysters

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Running total: $1,262.59 + $17.99 (oysters) + $6.60 (sabayon) = $1,287.18
($8.20 per serving)

Butter used so far: 11 pounds, 25.5 tablespoons

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I love mussels and have enjoyed more than one all-you-can-eat mussel bar. They're easy to prepare and only need a good sauce to transcend them from bland to spectacular. This Mouclade with its simple herbal sauce thickened with crème fraîche does just that. But, you must use crème fraîche, the secret ingredient.

More common Mouclade recipes contain curry, and this idea is scribbled in the margin of my cookbook for next time. Mouclade is a specialty dish from the Poitou-Charentes and Bordeaux regions in France. The mussels are steamed in a bath of butter, onions, shallots, and wine. After straining the sauce and setting the mussels aside, the sauce is reduced a bit. Then crème fraîche is added along with a sprinkle of thyme. Just like that, you have a one-pot meal that you could easily serve at a fancy dinner party.

Recipe: Mouclade (Mussels with Wine and Cream Sauce)

Serves: 6

You can find the recipe for Mouclade (Mussels with Wine and Cream Sauce) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home (affiliate link). To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with their recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Serve with Muscadet.

Tasting Notes
Pull out the mussel with a fork or an empty mussel shell. Scoop up as much sauce as the mussel will hold. Taste. Repeat. Finish the remaining sauce in your bowl with a fresh slice of baguette. Lick your fingers. Help yourself to another bowl.

Next Class
• Huîtres Chaudes au Muscadet (Poached Oysters with Muscadet Sabayon Sauce) pages 383-384

Links
• Billy Bi (Mussel Soup)
• Video: Mussels Provencal (Steamed Mussels in a White Wine Sauce)
• Times Online: Mouclade
• Bitten: The Mussel Challenge

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Running total: $1,244.26 + $18.33 = $1,262.59
($3.05 per serving)

Butter used so far: 11 pounds, 14.5 tablespoons

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