Menu 1

I began reading the recipes last Sunday night in order to familiarize myself with the ingredients and procedures for today's menu. I noticed that the order of preparation was not provided. I armed myself with paper and pen and came up with a list of cooking times and steps so I could get it all on the table about the same time.

I didn't know if I could buy a small airline size bottle of Cointreau at the liquor store. I was wondering why the cookbook had the word spelled with a capital C and found out that it is a brand name of a French orange liqueur. The Cointreau site (http://www.cointreau.com/) says that it is a "marriage of sweet and bitter orange peels". Another site says it may date back to 1849. Since the husband and I are only occassional drinkers (a beer or a glass of wine in 3 months, if at all) I have no idea what this tastes like. I do keep a bottle of Grand Marnier for crepes. Here is a site that gives explanations of various liquers: http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/people/nieminen/liqueurs.html (I am left wondering about the connection between liquers and the College of Physics at the University of Queensland, Australia).

Happily, the man at the liquor store said that I could use the Grand Marnier since they did not sell airline size bottles of the Cointreau.

This cookbook is not for someone without some cooking experience since it assumes that the user has prior knowledge of planning, preparation times and experience to guide them.

Now I know that I have a lot to learn about presentation, as I should have given more thought to the serving dishes to use for each course so that the food would stand out. Oh well, maybe next time.
Cucumber Salad with Mint. Crunchy and tasty. It would have looked better in a green bowl.

Roast Chicken. A simple roast with thyme from my garden, a clove of garlic and a bay leaf.


Peas with Lettuce, Parsley and Onions. The original recipe called for chervil and allowed a substitution of parsley, which I harvested from the garden. The lettuce is wilted in the pan while cooking with the peas and onions.


Fresh Fruit Salad with Grand Marnier. The recipe called for Cointreau and, as I mentioned earlier, I already had some Grand Marnier on hand so I used it. Very yummy fruit salad. I also didn't have an orange so I added some grapes, which livened it up :-)

All in all my family loved it. It took 2 hours to make from start to finish, including the roasting and resting time for the chicken.

My husband and son ate it up. I would serve this meal to guests.

What This Is About

You won't find the recipes for what I am cooking or baking on this blog. This is about my experience with each item that I prepare according to the recipes provided in Le Cordon Bleu At Home: the difficulties, the things I didn't understand and the success of each recipe or failure thereof. Hopefully, pictures of each completed food :-)

I will rely on Jacque Pepin's pictures and explanations for any techniques I don't understand and the DK Pocket Encyclopedia of Cook's Ingredients for items I have not heard of. Chervil, for example, which is called for in the vegetable dish I will be making.

I will not be providing any names of the food in French, which I do not speak. Thankfully, I don't need to speak French in order to enjoy the food.

My other food sources are my herb garden that is planted with rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil (thai and italian), tarragon, mint, parsley (flat-leaf and curly) and chives. We also have bell peppers, banana peppers, sweet peppers (corno de toro) and sungold, yellow pear and brandywine tomatoes.

You will also occassionally find an additional dessert or two thrown in here that is not in the cookbook, simply because I love baking.

Deciding To Teach Myself To Cook

Don't get me wrong. I have learned to cook the basics. I have also spent up to 3 years agonizing over a particular recipe in order to get it right. (My husband will attest to this, having suffered along with these passions.) I now accept that I don't have the money to afford to attend a culinary training institution and that my real life won't let me anyway.

You already know about the husband. There is also a son, a dog, and a for-the-summer hamster in my life.

For several years I have had a cookbook called "Le Cordon Bleu At Home" sitting on a shelf. What made me buy it was the gold medallion on the dust jacket with the words "Learn classic french cuisine from the world's most famous cooking school", and underneath "A complete course in more than 300 recipes". How could I resist?

Armed with Le Cordon Bleu At Home, a copy of Jacque Pepin's Complete Techniques, and the DK Pocket Encyclopedia of Cook's Ingredients I will teach myself to make classic french cuisine. Even if it takes another 3 years.

Just so we are all on the same page, here are the details of each book:

Le Cordon Bleu, Inc., Le Cordon Bleu At Home (HarperCollins 1991)
Jacque Pepin, Jacque Pepin's Complete Techniques (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc 2001)
DK Pocket Encyclopedia of Cook's Ingredients (Adrian Bailey ed., Dorling Kindersley Limited 1990)

I will cook the first menu this Saturday.