Baked camembert

Sometimes I can’t believe how long it takes me to actual make a recipe that is on my list. Especially when said recipe is as easy as turning on the oven and involves only three ingredients. Also when the recipe in question is nothing short of pure bliss when it comes out of the oven a mere 10 minutes later. Also when I have technically already made this recipe several dozens of times while working in a restaurant… But somehow never got around to making it in my own kitchen. I guess it just takes that one trigger that makes you think about a recipe that you used to make/ want to make/ haven’t made in forever. For me, it was a trip to the grocery store. We were in the cheese aisle when Jé saw a specially marketed cheese that was made for being baked, or rather microwaved. It came in a cute little wooden basket-like packaging that you just had to heat up and… Amazing! Fondue in a neat little package! Jé was intrigued and wanted to try it, despite the fact that we had no idea what kind of cheese it actually was. Because who doesn’t want to eat melty, gooey, hot cheese and call it a meal? Enter the baked camembert. I gently shooed him away from the mystery cheese and picked up a camembert instead.

Poulet Vallée d’Auge (roast chicken with apples)

Normandy is a region known for several things: cows and amazing farm-fresh butter and cream, beautiful cliff-lined coasts, the D-day beaches, Camembert, Livarot, Neufchâtel and Pont l’Evêque cheese, and of course, all things apple: Calvados (an apple Brandy made in the sub-region of the same name), hard cider and Pommeau (an apple liqueur), to name a few. Imagine a recipe that combines several of these gems into one succulent dish and you’ve got the Poulet Vallée d’Auge, which just means chicken from Vallée d’Auge, a small sub-region in Lower Normandy. It’s just as rich as you might expect, but the tart and sweet apples cut right through all of that richness, bringing balance and amazing sweet and savory notes.

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!

Culinary school, the end

It’s over! I can’t believe how fast these past few months went by. I can remember back to my first day, so excited to be in the kitchen and so eager to learn, and I realized that even though I’ve learned so much, my attitude hasn’t changed one bit. I’m still as avid as I was that very first day, still yearning to know more with a million questions brewing in my head.  I still believe that this is my path and I’m so happy to have finally found it!

Culinary school, week twelve: an internship

It’s official. My last internship is over! I’ve got two days of school left, but no kitchen time. We’re just back to wrap things up and finalize all that we’ve done over the last three months so that our programme will be validated. My internship, which lasted one and a half weeks, was crazy and great. I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired, but I never once questioned my place in the lab as I tore the coral from fresh scallops, heated blocks of foie gras to melt the fat and rolled them in hazelnuts, prepared 300 tomato, mozzarella and bell pepper bouchées, etc., etc.