Tuesday, October 20th

I’m sorry that it’s taken me an entire week to get this blog entry up, but I’ve been slammed with some projects, and it’s taken me all week to finish the leftovers and digest all of the really dairy rich dishes that we had on this Guest Chef Night. It was the first time in Frugal Foodies history that we had a virtual guest chef, Cecile Poyet, who wasn’t able to make it up from San Jose. She joined us via space phone, authentic French accent and all, and led us in veggie versions of some famous French dishes. As mentioned, it was a very rich meal, and one that I wouldn’t recommend eating on a daily basis. Here’s what we had:

French Onion Soup—this was a very flavorful soup. The base was a combination of veggie broth and white wine, and the equal parts of each was a bit too winey for me. I also think that they onions had a bit too much bite, either because they could have been cooked more or sliced a bit more thinly. But regardless, it was very tasty, and any soup topped with bread and melted cheese can’t be a bad thing. I give it a score of 5 bucks.

Warm Goat Cheese Salad with Walnuts—this was my favorite dish of the night until I got to the dessert. Any salad that has bitter greens, fruit, nuts, and cheese is alright by me, but it was the dressing that put it over the top. I had two critiques of the salad in that the breaded cheese patties, for me could have been a bit smaller—more bite size—and the dressing should have been put on the arugula and peaches before being topped with the cheese patties and walnuts. These two things could have really put this salad over the top, but still, I give this very yummy salad a score of 6.5 bucks.

Ratatouille—I was surprised to learn from Cecile that traditional ratatouille has meat in it. That’s crazy since I always had the veggie version of it, even before I was a vegetarian. In any case, this was a tastier dish the day after, and the drawback for me on the night of as the group of cooks added a bit too much spice—not in the recipe—to it for my liking. Ratatouille depends on perfectly cooked veggies and the group did a good but not perfect job on this. All in all, I thought that it was a good but not great dish, and give it a score of 5 bucks.

Bouchees a la Reine—this was the piece de resistance as a veggie version of sweetbreads in puff pastry. I liked many pieces of the dish but there was still something missing for me. First, I would have liked to have seen the puff pastry get really tall for presentation purposes, though it was very tasty even at half height. The fake sweetbread filling was made up of mushrooms and tofu in a white sauce, and though I would have never put them together, I thought that the tofu and mushrooms were a great combination, at least the way that they were prepared. But the sauce was far too bland for me, and that really hurt the dish. It could be spiced up in a number of ways, with chili, cheese, or sour cream as possibilities, and that would have made a world of difference. Still, I give the dish as score of 5.5 bucks.

Bittersweet Chocolate Fondant—this dessert got a bit overdone, but it was still out of this world. Had the cooking been right on, I do believe that this dish could have received the first perfect 8 score. Wowza! The batter was really wonderful but what brought this dish close to perfection were the squares of chocolate imbedded within each fondant, perfectly melted within the baked batter. Each bite exploded with liquefied dark chocolate. And this dish was great even days later after popping it in the microwave for thirty seconds. If you like chocolate, this dish is not to be missed. Just don’t overcook it. I give it a score of 7.5 bucks.

Overall—this was a pretty good night at Frugal Foodies, though when you put all of these rich dishes together, perhaps it’s a little too much. Still, it was a fun venture into French cuisine, especially for us vegetarians who can’t always enjoy all the treats outside of French fries. The overall score was 29.5 bucks, and it’s clear to me that with a few tweaks, this night could have scored as much as five bucks higher. Here are the recipes….


French Onion Soup

From the Guest Chef night of Cecile Poyet

Ingredients
3 medium-sized onions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
1 tablespoon of flour
Broth made with 4 cups of white wine and 1 liter of vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
pepper and salt
6 slices of bread
4 tablespoons of grated cheese

Instructions
1. Sautee the onions in butter, stirring regularly for 15 minutes. Add the flour and garlic, let the onions turn golden, then add the hot broth. Add the bay-leaf and cook for another 12 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Meanwhile, grill the bread either in the oven, on a grill or in the toaster.
3. Pour the soup in an ovenproof casserole, placing the slices of bread on top and covering with the grated cheese. Brown at 425 degrees for ten minutes. Alternately, melt the cheese on the bread in the oven and serve next to the soup.


Serves 8



Warm Goat Cheese Salad With Walnuts

Adapted from the Guest Chef night of Cecile Poyet

Ingredients
1 bunch arugula (or lettuce), rinsed and dried
2 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced
1 (4 ounce) package goat cheese, crumbled
Butter
Breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
Salt

Instructions
1. Arrange the arugula and peaches in a large salad bowl. Set aside
2. In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in breadcrumbs. Cook and stir until slightly golden. Drop the goat cheese slices into the breadcrumbs a few at a time, and turn to coat in the breadcrumb mixture. Repeat for all of the goat cheese, removing the cheese once coated. When done, place them atop the arugula and peaches.
3. In the same skillet you used for the goat cheese, roast walnuts in olive oil for a few minutes.
4. Meanwhile, make the dressing by melting the honey in a microwave. Add mustard and stir with a whisk. Add olive oil, balsamic, and salt and stir well.
5. Place walnuts on salad, and drizzle with dressing.


Serves 6



Ratatouille

Adapted from the Guest Chef night of Cecile Poyet

Ingredients
1 medium sized onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium or large eggplant, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
2 medium zucchini diced into large chunks
Herbs (basil, thyme, 1 bay leaf)
2+2 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste.

Instructions
1. Sauté the onion and red pepper in olive oil until tender. Add garlic and tomatoes. Stir in the herbs, add salt and pepper. Simmer, covered for 30 minutes
2. In a separate pan, sauté diced eggplant and zucchini in olive oil for 3-5 minutes. Add a cup of water or broth and simmer for another 10-15 minutes until vegetables are suitably soft. Remove from heat and add to the rest of the vegetables.
3. Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold.


Serves 6



Bouchées a la Reine

From the Guest Chef night of Cecile Poyet

Ingredients
6 round puff pastries
½ beaten egg
1 box of tofu, diced
4 cups Vegetable broth
1 box of mushrooms
1 onion

Sauce Ingredients
5 tablespoons of butter
3 cups of milk
1/3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cups of butter
Salt, pepper, nutmeg
Juice of ½ lemon

Instructions
1. Pre-heat oven at 350F.
2. Place puff pastry onto a non stick oven dish, then brush the pastry all over with beaten egg. Place in oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown. When done, take out puffy pastries and remove their top, hollowing out the core. Set aside.
3. Meanwhile, boil tofu in broth for about 10 minutes. Drain the tofu and set aside.
4. Meanwhile, sauté onions, mushrooms and seasonings (salt and pepper) in 2-3 teaspoons of butter for 6 minutes. Add the tofu cubes to the sautéed onions and mushrooms. Cook for an additional 10 minutes.
5. To make the sauce, heat the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until melted. Progressively add the flour and stir until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until the mixture turns a light, golden sandy color, about 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a separate pan or microwave.
7. Add the hot milk to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time, whisking continuously until very smooth. Cook 8 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from heat. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and lemon juice.
8. Mix together sauce and mushroom stuffing. Fill the puff pastries with this mix.


Serves 6



Bittersweet Chocolate Fondant

Adapted from the Guest Chef night of Cecile Poyet

Ingredients
3.5 oz dark chocolate
10 chocolate squares
3 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup butter
1 T flour
Additional flour and butter for preparing ramekins or muffin tins

Instructions
1. Pre-heat the oven to 500°F.
2. Melt the dark chocolate—not the squares--in a bain-marie, then add the butter. Remove from heat.
3. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs and flour. Incorporate the chocolate and mix well.
4. Pour 1/3 of the mixture into five buttered and floured ramekins (or into muffin tins). Put 2 chocolate squares in the middle of each ramekin, then cover them with the remaining batter.
5. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.


Serves 5