Mon May 17th - Cooking Class at Le Violon d"Ingres

I fly out next Monday morning. As it gets closer to the end of the trip, time seems to be passing at a faster rate (maybe it's just my sense of time).

Cooking Class at Le Violon d"Ingres
Chef Stéphane Schmidt, formerly of the Hotel Crillon, teaches the class and he speaks fluent English, so there were no ‘Lost in Translation’ problems.

This was a very small class with a total of five students. I was really looking forward to this class since it takes place in a working kitchen and it is truly hands on. Our class was at a table in the middle of a working kitchen. There were eight people working in the kitchen as they prepped for the lunch.

Le Violon is one of four restaurants Christan Constant has in Paris. They are adjacent to each other and each has a different persona. Le Violon is fine dining and considered Chef Constant's flagship restaurant.

After a good sup of coffee, our class began. Stations had been prepped around a table in the kitchen. I enjoyed periodically watching the prep staff. Each of the seven had specific assignments. One was assigned to artichokes (cutting out the hearts). He was at it for more than an hour. Things move very quickly in a working kitchen. You have to be aware of what you are doing and who is nearby. There are a lot of busy knives and many boiling pots.

My fantasy chef world involves finding the best produce at the market and developing an inspired menu. It never includes the real world of "dues paying" and being assigned to prepping things like celery, onions and artichokes for months at a time.

Chef Schmidt handed us sheets with our menu: quail stuffed with foie gras (served on a bed of vegetables) and creme caramel. Chef also decided to include a pea soup since the peas looked especially good at the market that morning.

Pea Soup
We all worked at shelling the peas (approx 2 lbs). We saved the shells and got rid of the bad bits/ end bits. The peas were boiled in salted water then immersed in cold water which helped them retain a vivid green color. immersion had helped them retain their texture and vivid green color. The shells were boiled in chicken stock.

For serving, a few of the blanched peas were placed in the bottom of the bowl along with matchstick slices of the chorizo sausage, a sprinkle of finely chopped parsley and some of the tiny croutons. Then, a spoonful of the mink infused foam was placed on top. The bowls were all placed at the table. The soup came out in a large tureen and was ladled into each bowl.


Vegetable Mixture
The vegetable mixture included potatoes, onions and mushrooms. The small golden round potatoes that were from a special island off the coast of Great Britain (note to self - small yukon golds will work fine). We used paring knives to scrape the potato skin away and dropped our cleaned potatoes into a stainless bowl that had cold water.

The spring onions were about the same diameter as a quarter and still had the greens attached. We removed the outer layer and left approximately an inch of the green with the onion.

The chantrelle mushrooms were quartered. Chef recommends rinsing mushrooms in water and drying them on a towel.

The onions were sauteed with bacon, potatoes boild for 5 minutes in salted water for about 5 minutes then adder to the onions along with parsley and fresh thyme sprigs. After the potatoes and onion started to brown the mushrooms were added. They all cooked together for about a minute then were moved off the burner to cool.

We added salt and pepper to both sides of the quail and the chef gave each of us a slice of the foie gras (about half the size of a deck of cards). I was tickled that we were given wooden skewers to secure the quail after we'd folded them up. I use wooden skewers for turkey at home.

The quails were sauteed in peanut oil and butter. Interesting note - the chef used peanut oil to brown the quails. He prefers peanut oil because it can handle a high temp and it's priced well. Also, with olive oil at a high temp, the flavor cooks off. For times when you'd like the flavor of olive oil, chef recommended adding a bit of good olive oil at the end.

About a cup of the veg mixture was placed in the bottom of a very small oval cast iron covered pan. The browned quail was placed on top (breast side up) and brushed with butter. The top was placed on the pan and the pans went into a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.


Creme Caramel
The creme caramel was a fairly standard recipe (eggs, whole milk, sugar and two fresh vanilla beans). Chef Schmidt had a large non-stick metal mold. The browned sugar syrup (caramel) was poured into the bottom and allowed to rest. Then the egg vanila mixture was poured on top and it was placed into a pan with about an inch of very hot water. Some of the flecks of vanilla were visible at the surface of the mixture as the chef transported it to the oven. Since it needs at least three hours to cool after baking, chef had a pre-made creme caramel for us to have with our lunch. Chef also noted that creme caramel is great made a day ahead.

Q&A with Chef Schmidt
Q. How do you select peas at the market?
A. You open a few and make sure that the peas are good sized (not tiny, not too big).

Q. How do you determine the specials / menu for the restaurant?
A. Based on what looks best at the market in the morning.

We headed out to the restaurant and took a break as the quail finished cooking. The entire group was ready and more than willing when Chef Stefane asked, "Would anyone like a glass of wine?" After a bit of white wine and discussion, we headed back to the kitchen to check on the quail. Yes, they were ready.

For lunch, we ate what we'd prepared; pea soup, quail stuffed with fois gras and had the creme caramel for dessert. The soup was excellent and something I may make at home (maybe without the mint foam). The quail was flavorful and after cooking the foie gras had melded with the meat providing that special something that you couldn't quite identify. The vegetables were amazing. They had taken on a bit of the quail and foie gras flavor (sorry, David, I probably won't be making this dish at home).

The creme caramel was light and the vanilla beans provided an excellent flavor. I haven't used vanilla beans before but I am ready to trek to Draeger's when I get back. An option for the creme caramel is adding a bit of Grand Marnier and orange zest. That I can do!

At the end of the meal, Chef gave each of us a copy of the new Christian Constant cookbook. I love the inscription, "Cooking is feeling."

Opera Garnier
After the cooking class, I headed back to the apartment. Instead of feeling ready for a nap, I felt surprisingly energized. Okay, maybe it was the espresso at the end of the meal. After freshening up, I headed to the Opera Garnier for another look. When I got there, I started taking photos of the exterior and discovered that my camera had no charge left (yes, I took a lot of photos during the cooking class).

The combination of knowing I'd have to commit details to memory along with this being my final visit to Opera Garnier during this trip forced me to take time, walk slowly and really take it all in. The main auditorium was closed for rehearsals which was fne since I'd already spent two hours in there. Since I didn't have my camera, I bought a book of photos in the gift shop.

After Opera Garnier, I wanted to keep going and get one more stop in so I headed to the Grande Palais. It's a beautiful building and I wanted to see the inside. The line wasn't too long. After waiting for 30 minutes and noticing that the line hadn't moved, I asked an American woman if whe knew why it was taking so long. Apparently there are tickete with entry times and people with those can enter immediately. Those in the general admission queue would wait. It was going to be another hour before I'd get in.

Since it was after 4pm and the Grande Palais was open until 6pm, I decided to leave. The Palais wasn't quite grande enough to warrant a long wait at the end of a long day. If I get back, I get back. Otherwise, I'll see it as I'm heading places during the week and I can always check out images on the Web.

It felt good to get back to the apartment!