Too Much Talking!

And not enough cooking! That's what we had in class today.

By the time Chef finished telling us about our finals on Friday (a 60 to 80 question multiple choice test and a competency where we have to make an entrée, plus sides, and we'll get our "protein assignment" tomorrow), lecturing us on the culinary regions and history of France, and demonstrating the proper ways to attack an artichoke, a pear, and a lobster, we had only two hours of class time left. We had to dirty all the dishes and then clean them, in that time. Plus the eating.

As with the paella, Chef got right into the middle of the lobster preparation and had us all working for him. It was supposed to be me and Derrick. We started by making a court bouillon, or poaching liquid, using water, mirepoix, and bay leaf and thyme. And we diced up a bunch of vegetables as the basis for our sauce: onions, carrots, leeks, celery, shallots and garlic. We sweated those in a large pan and poached the lobsters. I couldn't stick the skewer through the live lobster (to keep its tail straight) — well, actually, I tried, and it jumped, and I screamed just a little, and Julian came to take over. I had no problem taking them all apart, once they were cooked. (By the way, Chef asked the class how to tell the difference between a male and female lobster, and Silvia said, "The males have blue rubberbands on their claws.")

We sauteéd the lobster shells with the cooked vegetables and that's when Chef Alain took over. He added brandy and flambéed it, then added tomato paste, some court bouillon, and rice. Twenty minutes later, the rice was cooked, and he finished the dish (which, by the way, is called Lobster Americaine. According to Chef, it has nothing to do with the United States; it's a bastardization of "Armoricain," after the old name of the French region of Brittany, Amorique, which is on the Atlantic Coast.)

When the rice was cooked, Chef blended the entire mixture, shells and all, using our giant immersion blender, then strained it through a fine strainer. He brought the liquid to a boil, added more brandy (and flamed it off), then cream and seasonings. He added the lobster pieces to heat them through, then proclaimed it "finished!"



We have leftover liquid in the refrigerator — it's essentially lobster bisque.

Also on the menu today: roasted artichokes. Alex made them, along with a reduced balsamic glaze.



Marco and Jim opened oysters and made mignonette, after a lengthy search of the school building to locate an oyster knife.



Andy and Andrea made a "Far Breton," an eggy apple cake almost like a Dutch Baby, if you know what I mean. Chef Alain says it's common to serve as a mid-afternoon snack.



Sara and Julian worked on the snails. They were drenched in garlic butter and served in little puff pastry shells. What's not to like?



More apples tomorrow: I've signed up to make Tarte Tatin.