Thursday, September 30, 2010

Ultimo Foodie Finds

So, the other day we had a evacuation drill at work. Conveniently, the assembly point was just around the corner from a new cafe that I'd heard about in Ultimo called 'Le Depot'. They are one of the few spots around Sydney that are selling MakMak macarons, which I've been hearing some good things about.

Fellow foodies Jonathan, Laura and Jo came along to check it out.


We're not the only ones that have heard about the macarons - I was looking forward to the raisin toast flavour, but they'd already sold out.



Since I'd already had a piece of Zucchini Cake with Crunch Lemon Glaze for morning tea, Jonathan and I decided to get 3 flavours between us and have half of each.


We finally decided on salted caramel, lemon and black sesame.

The girls both got something for lunch.

Poached egg and proscuito roll with hollandaise (we all stuck our fingers in the hollandaise - so delicious):


A jazzed up cheese and tomato toastie:


Walking back to the ABC and we found that another little placed had popped up along the way.


We popped in for a look and were rewarded for our curiosity - the lovely guy behind the counter gave us all a small piece of a pear and almond tart to try (good move, we're so going back). They bake their own bread on the premises (I stuck my head in the kitchen to see their set up) and have a nice selection of pastries.


So - what about the macarons. Well, they were so so. They looked perfect and the shells were great, but the fillings let them down. Regardless, I'm still keen to try the raisin toast one.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Do you want to see my croquembouche? More from Intermediate Patisserie

The last few weeks of Intermediate are a bit of a blur. It flew by.

I remember pizza.

I was over the moon with my croquembouche - my lovely classmate Pixie took these photos with her very fancy camera.


Everything you see (even the flowers) was edible. The sad thing about it was that the whole lot went into the bin! Croquembouches don't have a very long shelf life - because of the creme patissiere they need to be kept in the fridge, but that speeds up the melting of the toffee. What does a girl do with a croquembouche at 11:00pm on a Saturday night?

And finally, Intermediate Patisserie assessment day - Gateau Opera.

Mine is the one closest on the left. By the time I took this photo I was so over it! This assessment was nowhere near as fun as the last one. We had a lot more time for the Basic assessment and we were making two things, so it felt like if you didn't do as well as you hoped on one product, you could make up for it on the other. For this one, it was just one 20 x 20cm layered gateau. I was nervous the whole time (especially when it came to piping 'Opera' on top - I had to have a stern word with my shaking hand - it didn't listen!) Also, unlike the Basic assessment all our cakes were taken out of the kitchen and assessed by 3 chefs while we all stood around in the kitchen wondering if we had passed or failed (we all passed).

The last couple of lessons were biscuits, biscotti, macarons, shortcakes and sable breton - forgot to take photos.

We made macarons using the French meringue method and to my surprise they worked (previous tries at home with the French meringue method were a bit fat flop).

I also tried a new method of tempering chocolate - ice bath. Most people stay away from this one because of the potential of ruining the chocolate by splashing water into it, but I took various precautions and my chocolate was just perfect. It's much less mess than tabling and quicker than the vaccination method.

So, with that my journey at Le Cordon Bleu has come to an end. I've decided not to go on to Superior Patisserie as the curriculum just isn't going in the direction I want to go. I mean, I could happily stay in that kitchen 3 days a week, every week, for the rest of my life, learning new things everyday and hanging out with my great classmates and our chefs. Instead, in November I'll pack my bags for San Francisco, Toronto, Amsterdam and Paris. 46 sleeps and counting!

Bonjour Balmain!



Lately, it seems that nearly every weekend I find an excuse to go the Essential Ingredient - my bank account has suffered greatly since they moved back over the bridge and onto my turf. And since I'm going to Rozelle, I thought, I may as well continue on to Balmain for some pastry perfection.

A long overdue trip to Adriano Zumbo and Victoire - the perfect way to spend a gorgeous Sydney spring day.

I was prepared for half of Sydney to be doing exactly the same and for the line to be halfway up the street, but I walked straight in and hadn't even finished looking at everything before one of the staff asked if they could help me.

The Zumbo front window is full of Viennoiserie items, quiches, cookies and bread - my kind of window. The shop is long and narrow, with a glass case counter running all the way along that houses 'the collection'. Right up the back of the shop are the macarons and a large number of people wedged into the small space in front of them.

Macaron flavours for the day were mango/tonka bean, strawberry/mint, coffee, chocolate/early grey, rice pudding, salted caramel, passionfruit/yogurt, fennel/pear/pistachio - naturally, I ordered one of each. I also got a 'Quasimodo' (can't remember all the elements exactly but I was sold at pistachio and cherry) and 'Escape from a Colombian Rainforest' (chocolate mousse, dark chocolate fizzy discs, cherry cola jelly).



My next stop is Victoire - it used to be directly opposite Zumbo (and the man himself worked there for a number of years), but it has recently moved up to the Rozelle end of Darling Street - I wonder how much of this had to do with the competition that popped up directly opposite.

I want to buy one of every type of bread in Victoire, but I settle for a small levain and a rustic olive. I've eaten a third of the rustic olive before I even make it back to car. It's delicious with a thin crust and a chewy, moist crumb and just a little salty from the olives.


The demolition of the goodies from Zumbo happens later in the afternoon at my brother and sister-in-laws house.


Anything containing fennel makes me so very happy, so I went for the pear, fennel and pistachio macaron first. The macaron shell is light and crisp on the outside and a little chewy in the inside and the ganache is super smooth. I must admit, I couldn't really taste either pear or pistachio here, only fennel - not a bad thing given my love for it.

Probably the flavour winner for the macarons is the passionfruit/yogurt. It's tangy, fresh and very passionfruity!


The 'Quasimodo' isn't particular pretty, but is very tasty. The top is quite squidgy, almost like rice pudding with a creamy/nutty flavour. Underneath is a layer of cherries and a cakey base.


The 'Escape from a Colombian Rainforest' looks great. It is super smooth and light chocolate mousse, flourless chocolate sponge, cherry coke jelly covered with a red fizzy powder and topped with a silver painted disc of chocolate that looks like the top of a coke can.

And lastly - the aftermath:


Very happy belly.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Intermediate Patisserie... so far

Well, I've only got one week of Intermediate Patisserie left to go. This term has just flown by. At times it has been a little bit scary and it has been a lot of hard work, but most of all it has been fun. Every day there is laughter and fun in our kitchen - it seems like most of our little group feel so lucky to be doing what we are doing. I think me most of all (somedays I still can't believe my luck).

Sacher Torte


Swiss Roll


Feuille d'automne


Gateau Concorde


Tranche aux fruits



Gateau St. Honore


Plated desserts - Panna cotta, mousse


Chocolate Pudding


Crepes Suzette

Savarin


Souffle


Souffle glace


Baklava


Bread - foccacia, bagette, lavosh


Gateau Opera - this is what we make for our practical test


Strudel dough - this was amazing, you don't roll strudel dough, you have to stretch it out until it is paper thin.


Apple Strudel


Chocolate croquembouche


Raspberry mousse cake

As amazing as this has been, I've decided not to go on to Superior. I'm going to miss our great group and the amazing chefs, but I've got something else planned - will share soon.