France

There’s something about a long, cold winter that makes you want to eat warm, rich food. Nothing fits the bill quite like France...  Coursssseee by course! One by one! Until we shout, “Enough I’m done!”

First, we had smoked salmon canapés.  A canapé is a small appetizer with some kind of toasted bread that holds a savory element on top.  We used croissant dough cut into small squares and topped with smoked salmon, dill cream cheese, and a caper.

We also had an amuse-bouche (mouth amuser) of vichyssoise, a cold leak and potato purée soup.

 



Then a little spinach soufflé.  We got a picture of it right out of the oven since it was losing its puff pretty quickly.  What makes a soufflé deflate?  Most likely not whipping the egg whites properly… or opening the oven 7 times.  You could probably implement a better technique and get better results.  Or you could do what we’ll try next time and add a little cream of tater to stabilize.

For the main event: Chicken cordon bleu.  We’re not entirely sure it originated in France, but it was definitely based on French cooking.  Close enough.  Pound out the chicken, place prosciutto and cheese on it, roll it up, bread, cook, ta da.  We had ours with sautéed spinach and white wine cream sauce …

…With a side of croissants. 

 

To make them, roll the dough thin.

Cut into triangles and roll up.  Let them sit for a while to rise before putting them in the oven.

 

Finally, it was time for the sweet stuff so we had pain au chocolat.  Again, we used the croissant dough and wrapped it around a piece of chocolate. 

 

We also had mini chocolate cream puffs.  When making the dough, make sure to beat in the eggs one by one.  That’s what gives them the air to puff. 

 

 

We used a mini scooper to drop tiny balls onto a greased pan.

 

Let them cool, then they are ready to be cut in half, dilled with cream, drizzled with chocolate, and eaten.

They turned out beautifully…initially (we didn’t have the foresight to take a picture until much later).  Word to the wise: Fill them and put on the drizzle right before you serve.  Like our soufflés, they lose their puff too.