cod soufflé

This is an Atlantic cod soufflé made with Comté cheese and finished with parmesean paired with roasted red potatoes and cauliflower with toasted almonds, coriander, cayenne and cumin. I was worried that the soufflé would taste like fish chowder, but it was wonderful. I poached the cod in mild with peppercorns, bay leaf, shallots and celery. The poaching liquid was the base for the soufflé and I shredded the cod — it was fantastic.

almond-orange tart

I've been working on perfecting this tart, and I think I got it right. It's a flaky crust (pâte brisée) with orange frangipane cream. For the frangipane, I used 7 oz. butter mixed until creamy, and then creamed it with 7 oz. sugar (in two additions) and some salt (the basic recipe is Tartine's). To this I blended in 7 oz. of almond flour. I added the zest of one orange, 1 tbsp. brandy, 1 tbsp. orange flower water and one egg. Blend well, add a second egg and 1 tbsp milk. Spread in an unbaked, chilled tart mold (10 inches) and sprinkle with sliced almonds. Bake at 350º until set (≈45 mins) and glaze with the juice from the aforementioned orange reduced with 2 tbsp. apricot preserves.

This was really wonderful — and inspired by these orange blossom friands, which are also delicious.

tartare

Steak tartare with mini pommes anna and brussels sprouts. Just what I need to end the weekend and finish the last week of my trimester (I got sick of eating grilled cheese and almond butter & marmalade sandwiches, so this had to happen).