Bordeaux's two of five finest chateaus

Recently I have joined a secret wine tasting club (when it is said 'secret', I can't tell any details of the club...), which I can have a varieties of fine wines.
I have attended the second one a few days ago and tasted already TWO of the wines from Bordeaux's finest chateau's:

Chateau Mouton Rothchild (1997)
Chateau Margaux (1988)

 

My impression first of all is that those top rated wines are needless to say different!!!  (first time for me to try those)

Among these two, I like C. Margaux more, with its so much complex it has, the aromas is even closer to floral perfumes or bouquet and with very high tannin, the colour is with very dark garnet, the nose is again floral yet also cherries, and other dark colour berries aromas with a scent of something not edible;) -I can't express, sorry for the lack of experience or the expression..

Anyways, the common features of these wines are still young and powerful when they are already over 15-25 years of age!!, I am sure I can't tell that these are indeed when it is served blind.

By trying those, I just start to wonder what sort of vineyard it is grown from, what those grapes look like no matter which stage they are growing, the climate, the condition of the soils, the geography, and so on and so on.... or even start to doubt these are really made of grapes and going through the usual method of making wines??? (I'm sure they are...), well it really does have the difference!!!

I am spoiled already;)

Easy cous cous with pan fried vegetables

Here is an easy recipe for your quick lunch or side dish to be accompanied with some main dish, European or Middle Eastern style of fish or meat whatever you feel like having;), the cous cous salad, Aki style^^;
Cous cous is anyway a very convenient carbohydrate ingredient, probably the most efficient in terms of cooking time.
All you need is to place it in a bowl with a olive oil or butter, and boil some water to pour in and wait for 5 minutes and done!
That is how we make 'plain cous cous' which you can probably eat with Moroccan style stew or even with any kinds of curries... but here, you need a bit extra cooking.


<Cous cous Aki style>

-Ingredients for two people as a main dish-
150g   　　Cooked cous cous　
50g     　　Shallot or onion - finely chopped
40g     　　Carrot - finely chopped
30g     　　Aubergine -finely chopped
20g     　　Paprika -colour can be any of your choice - finely chopped
20g     　　Dried fruits of your choice - here I use raisin and apricot
1.5 tbsp 　Tomato puree
                 Jalapeno, if you like it hot - finely chopped

Spice of your choice -e.g. ground coriander, cumin seeds, turmeric, chili powder, etc.
Salt & Pepper to taste

-Cooking instruction-
1. Cook cous cous according to the instruction on a package.
2. Chop all vegetables.
3. Pan fry shallot (or onion) first till it turns very light brown colour, and add the rest of vegetables and cook for about 3-4 min.
4. Add tomato puree to incorporate, and then dried fruits.
5. Season with some spices, salt and pepper.
6. Mix in finely chopped parsley.
Note that vegies can be anything you have in a fridge, from courgette, celery, cucumber, to beetroot, celeriac, etc.etc...

That's it! Easy!
Hope you will enjoy cooking (not just reading...)

Petit four series 3!

Manju and me again made some petit four few days ago.

From left, Mont Blanc, Chocolate Madeleine, and some fruit tartlettes and financiers on the picture right.
Not much work to make these things to be honest, I just made Pate sucre, creme pattissiere in advance and then the chestnut cream (creme chantilly mixed with malon puree) and little meringue to place inside of the Mont Blanc.

I tried to make the meringue by microwave which I won't be doing it again as it did not dry out completely. (it once got crispy but it became soggy in an hour or so)
Manju made the madelaines and the financiers.

I didn't look at any recipes for the chestnut cream which I regretted... the double cream had to be far less than what I used (Probably the ratio should be: 7-8 chestnut and 3-2 double cream)

We have not decided what we are making next - any ideas will be really welcome!!!

Thanks for reading this a bit boring posting;)
Recipes request would be highly welcome as well...

And so... here is petit four series 2!



I and my Le Cordon Bleu school mate Manju (I will update with the link of her blog as soon as she confirms) try to maintain pastry making skills and that we are getting together once a week or so to make these things.
We have made various tartlettes (some with creme de almond, others with creme pattiserie), choux buns, and brownies to make the plate a bit fancy;)

I used a recipe of THE Alain Ducasse which I picked from a magazine Figaro Japanese version 2011 and it turned out to be very good that anyone wants to try can get it herewith:

<Pate a choux de Alain Ducasse>
140g Soft flour
125ml Milk
125ml Water
1 tsp Salt
125g Butter
4 Whole eggs

1. Preheat an oven at 200 degree.
2. Sift the flour
3. Heat milk, water, salt and butter together and remove it when it starts to boil.
4. Pour the flour immediately all at once and stir with wooden spatula very hard.
5. Put back under medium heat and continuously stir for a few minutes to get evaporated.
6. Remove from heat and cool down a bit.
7. Whisk eggs lightly just to incorporate yolks and whites, then add to step6 little at once (total 4-6 batches), mix well till the dough and eggs are well incorporated to go for an another batch.
8. When the dough is very slowly dropped when it is lifted up with a spatula, the dough is done, place it in a piping bag with a plain 80mm nozzle.
9. Prepare a baking tray with silpat mat or baking parchment and pipe the 2.5cm wide dough onto the tray leaving 2cm gap between each of them so that they won't stick together as they are being baked.
10. Put in the preheated oven by lowering the temperature to 180 degree and bake for about 15-20 min.(depending on the characteristics of your oven) till the dough swells well and turns to golden brown.

And, here it is:

A normal creme chantilly (a whipped double cream with little bit of vanilla scented sugar) is used to fill the little buns (I personally like to add Grandmarnier into the cream..) and topped with a dash of icing sugar.

There is a little brownie with raspberry in centre of the plate to add a punch on this picture...  the recipe? well I have to ask Manju with this, but I have my own that it might be introduced sometime if you are patient waiting to be uploaded here;)-...


Will do another baking workshop with her soon so stay tuned...