As promised, here are the recipes for the three course meal from my adventures in cooking at the L’atelier des Chefs in Paris. Rather than present the most popular first (the dessert), I’ll let logic prevail and order the recipes as you would savor them when dining. First, there is the salad of Mackerel with Citrus in Yuzu and Chili Espelette Sauce; second, the entree of Cod with Pumpkin Mousse and Ginger Foam, and *ta da* dessert of Chocolate Fondant with Chili Espelette and Caramel Sauce.
The flavor thread throughout the dishes is a spice called Chili Espelette made from Piment d’Espelette which are small, dried, red peppers that are hung to dry in the sun and then dried further in old wood burning ovens. Once dry, the peppers are finely ground into a red powder that has a sweet, fruity, mildly spicy aroma and flavor. Piment D’Espelette is used as a seasoning in French dishes. In translating the name of the dish I called it Smoked Paprika because paprika or a mild chili powder can be used as a substitution but will not give the same delicate flavor of this spice.
Mackerel with Citrus and and a Smoked Paprika Sauce
from L’atelier des Chefs cooking class | Serves 6
6 – 6 oz. Fillets of Mackerel
Yuzu fleur de sel: 6 Pinches
1 teaspoon* Smoked paprika (2 grams)
3 Pink Grapefruits
3 Oranges
2 Limes
⅓ cup olive oil
Garnish: ½ cup arugula (100 grams) and cilantro
Debone the mackerel using fish bone tweezers (or regular tweezers). Note: fish is most commonly cooked and served with the skin on- it adds more flavor and the meat of the fish is easily removed from the skin once cooked.
Peel the grapefruits and oranges. To supreme the citrus (separate the segments from the white membrane) use a sharp paring knife. hold the fruit over a bowl and carefully slice inward along the membrane on both sides of a fruit segment, then remove the fruit segment; repeat until all fruit segments are removed. Then squeeze the membrane over the bowl to get all the juice.
In a hot skillet with a drizzle of olive oil, brown the mackerel fillets skin side down for 2 minutes. Place them on a plate, season with the yuzu salt and smoked paprika, then drizzle with olive oil. Pour the fruits and their juices on top and allow to marinate for 30 minutes.
To serve, plate 2 fillets of mackerel per person. Garnish with citrus segments and season again if necessary. Finally, add a few baby arugula and a few sprigs of fresh cilantro.
*There is no real universal formula for converting grams to teaspoons that will work for all ingredients. This is because grams measure weight and teaspoons measure volume. A teaspoon of sugar weight 4.2 grams while a teaspoon of salt weighs six grams. A teaspoon of dried parsley only weighs 0.5 gram.
Cod with Pumpkin Mousse and Ginger Foam
from L’Ateliers des Chefs cooking class | Serves 6
6 – 6 oz. fillets of cod
2 cups Pumpkin or Kuri squash, coarsely chopped
Thyme
1 Onion, chopped
¾ cup milk
2 sheets of gelatin
For the emulsion:
50 centiliter (s) or 2 cups half and half
Fresh ginger: 100 gram (s) or 3.5 ounces
1 Vanilla Bean, split in half, beans removed
Salt and Pepper to taste
For the mousse, peel the pumpkin (Kuri squash doesn’t have to be peeled) and cut into small pieces. Peel and chop the onion, then sauté in a pan with olive oil and a pinch of salt. Add the pumpkin, a branch of thyme and ¾ of milk. Season and cook. Drain the pumpkin, retaining the liquid, then mix in blender. Pour the cooking liquid in, a little at a time, until a very creamy texture is achieved. Pour into a saucepan and keep warm.
Preheat oven to 200 ° C (converts to 392° F, so 400°)
Put the pan to warm with a drizzle of olive oil, saute the cod fillets skin side down. Season with sea salt and pepper and place on a baking sheet and finish cooking in the oven for 4 minutes.
Peel ginger and grate it. Place the gelatin in cold water.
Heat the 2 cups half and half with ginger and vanilla bean over medium heat to infuse. Season and add the softened gelatin. Strain ginger and vanilla milk, then using a blender, blend the milk mixture incorporating air to make foamy like a cappuccino.
For the dessert, the conversion from the metric system gets a little trickier. Americans typically measure ingredients by volume, while just about everyone else in the world measures them by weight. You can find a quick summary of some the basic cooking and baking conversions here. There are also specific conversions for all purpose flour, cake flour, confectioners, brown or granulated sugar, cocoa powder, almonds, coconut, flaked coconut, etc. It was all to overwhelming for me. Many of you are more experienced bakers than I, so please use your best judgement.
Chocolate Fondant with Chili Espelette and Caramel Sauce
from L’Ateliers des Chefs cooking class | Serves 6
For the cakes:
3 Eggs
½ cup Granulated sugar (110 grams)
½ cup Dark Chocolate chips (90 grams)
6 Tablespoons Unsalted butter (85 grams)
1/3 cup Wheat flour (35 gram)*
Espelette pepper: 3 Pinch (s)
For the sauce:
½ cup Granulated sugar (100 grams)
1 cup heavy cream (25 cl/250 ml)
2 tablespoons salted butter (25 grams)
For cakes:
Melt chocolate in double boiler with butter.
Beat the eggs and sugar with a mixer until it resembles a very pale, compact mousse (about five minutes). Then gently fold the chocolate in by hand, and then the flour and Espelette.
Preheat oven to 200 ° C or 400° F.
Cut out strips of baking (parchment) paper, then line the insides of stainless steel rings placed on a baking sheet. Fill the rings 3/4 of the way and bake for 6 min.
For the sauce:
In a heavy skillet, melt 1/2 cup of sugar until it caramelizes. Add the salted butter and cream and mix until the caramel has fully dissolved in the mixture.
Plate a cake, then remove ring and the paper. To be enjoyed hot or cold, served with salted butter caramel sauce.
Enjoy 🙂
❉ Thanks to Marie France Arcilla for her assistance in translating the text of the recipes ❉
wow…the cod…I can’t help but salivating! Of course chocolate looks great too, and the caramel…oh my…
Both fish dishes look absolutely out-of-this world! The mackerel is especially calling my name, since I love the citrus in the dish. Beautiful dessert too!
Now, the only question is which dish to make first…….
Wow that’s quite a meal. Was it wrong to have wanted dessert first. I’ve never had mackeral, and I love how it had the citrus with it. I’ll have to see if I can find some.
-Gina-
Oh my heavens, what a collection of recipes. I am intrigued by the sounds of the pumpkin mousse and ginger foam but all of it sounds and looks wonderful.
The smoked paprika sauce sounds AMAZING!
wow the fish looks wonderful first class recipes thanks for sharing them with us
Oh that dessert!! That sauce! Everything looks amazing … what a wonderful meal.
hat great recipes! I particularly like that mackerel dish. So mouthwatering looking.
Cheers,
Rosa
Yuhuu I had the recipes! Now I totally have to make this dessert! Thanks for sharing!
Oh my, I don’t know which one I’d love to try first, The fish, the pumpkin mousse and ginger foam or the chocolate. All look stunning.
Thanks for sharing Priscilla.
Hope you’ll have a wonderful weekend,
Roxana
I’m so glad that you shared these. When eating at restaurants like this…you truly appreciate the ART of cooking. Thank you for sharing such a great meal. I hope your weekend overflows with good food, good friends, and love!
Whoa. Those are some impressive pieces of culinary achievement! I … I … wow.
These are all such wonderful recipes…I say we have a girls day one Sunday and try for a repeat 🙂 Delicious!
I’ve ALWAYS wanted to figure out how the “foam” was made. THANK YOU! So many new things for me to experiment with now…
[K]
I’m generally a sweet tooth…so, if there’s any recipe I’d love to grab from you… it would certainly be the chocolate indulgence of course ;o)
Priscilla, thanks for putting in the work of translation and conversions…very helpful to get us to reproduce these in our kitchen ;o)
Flavourful wishes,
Claudia