An adventure in catering

For the last few weeks, I’ve been working my butt off in a local catering company, producing in mass some of the most appetizing food I’ve ever seen in my life. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you may remember my last two internships during culinary school were done at this company, and I was very enthusiastic about them. I’m still enthusiastic, albeit exhausted. I had no idea when I interned in March and April just how busy they could get in the middle of summer what with all the weddings, big-ticket events and parties to cater. We’ve been working incredibly long hours and my feet are killing me, but I’m learning a lot and making money doing it!

Brown butter cream sauce

This is one of my all-time favorite sauces. It’s quick and easy, requires very few ingredients, and is amazingly tasty. I usually make it to accompany fish, but it’s also fantastic with poultry or even on roasted or steamed veggies. My fridge is always full of crème fraîche, and this sauce can also be made with whipping cream, although it will be slightly less thick.

Cinnamon chocolate macarons

One of my absolute favorite things about France is macarons. They’re the epitome of everything I love in a dessert: both slightly crunchy and chewy, like a mixture of cake and cookies with a fabulous texture, small enough that I can eat several of them and try tons of different flavors and diverse enough that they never get old. Even though they’re incredibly expensive, buying a small box of macarons always seems worth it and makes my day. Macarons are a notoriously tricky pastry to make at home and up until now I’ve mostly been content to buy them in specialized shops. Recently I learned a trick that seemed as though it might help me conquer the home-made macaron and decided to give it a go at home.

Rhubarb curd tartelettes

I grew up eating rhubarb straight out of my grandparent’s garden. Of course as a kid, the extreme tartness was a bit too much for me, but my Grandma sure knew how to make an amazing strawberry-rhubarb pie that won us all over. Since moving to France, I have a tendency to always choose rhubarb desserts when they’re available. One of my favorites is a perfect little rhubarb tartelette covered in a crumble topping. When my own rhubarb plant starting growing this year, I knew that I needed to find my own signature dessert showcasing all that I love about rhubarb. And honestly, what’s better than a curd? I LOVE curds, their silky texture and tart sweetness. This was a no-brainer.

Grilled honey mustard tenderloin & a simple salad

I never knew how amazing pork tenderloin could be on the grill. Seriously? How did I not know this? About 80% of all the meat Jérôme eats is pork, so I’ve definitely had to find new and fun uses for tenderloin, or filet mignon as it’s known in France, over the years. In the winter I usually make it as a ragoût, cutting it into medallions and cooking it with white wine, cream, leeks and other veggies. In the spring and summer months, I tended more towards searing and finishing off in the oven, adding balsamic reductions or making plum chutneys to wake up the flavor of the pork. I even marinated one with Coca Cola recently, and it turned out to be one of my most favorite ways to cook tenderloin. But grilling it? Totally simpler, and perfect for summer.

Mini dark chocolate moelleux (lava cakes)

This recipe is a real winner. It’s one of the easiest recipes in my repertoire yet the results seem so fancy. Lava cake seems like one of those desserts that we can only enjoy in a restaurant, somehow just too complicated to try and make at home. A rare indulgence. I’ll admit, these are so rich and fabulous that it’s probably a good thing that they remain a rare indulgence, but making them at home should no longer be a roadblock.

Hazelnut lemon-lime coconut bars

A while back I had a serious craving for lemon bars. It came completely out of left field. Jérôme makes an amazing lemon tart, and that has satisfied our lemony needs for the last few years. But I wanted a bar. Something that reminded me of my childhood but that was different and better at the same time. I had a lime and a few lemons, and knew that I wanted some coconut thrown in as well. This recipe from Bon Appétit was exactly what my taste buds were yearning for, and it turned out to be one of my most favorite desserts ever.