Walloon Lake Inn 2-Day Cooking Class

Fonds Du Cuisine

There were 6 of us total, Gary, Linda and their daughters Laura and Heather plus Tim and me. Heather was visiting from Portland Oregon, but her family was right from the area.



Me standing by to help put those scallop and spinach bundles into phyllo 'purses'



Tim brushing butter on phyllo sheets



Chocolate mousse! Chef Dave Beier adding the hot sugar syrup to the egg yolk mixture. No thermometer necessary, he showed us how to just drip it from a long-tined meat fork until you see it form fine threads--then it's ready.



The finished scallop phyllo purses on a clam/chicken stock saffron veloute sauce and a colorful smidgen of rouille. This was our appetizer.



The finished plate: Chicken cordon bleu, a red beet risotto, Provencal baked eggplant and tomato, and cipolline onions browned in butter. This was day one of heavy consumption of eggs, cream, butter and wine. Needless to say, this lunch lasted us most of the rest of Sunday.



Fellow student Linda took this pic of us and the finished pisaladiere (onion tart) before it went into the oven. This was our appetizer for Monday's lunch. Tim actually ate the anchovies and olives on it.



Chef Dave adding water to the pan containing the ramekins of creme caramel custards. The pan is directly on the floor of the oven. Two hours--low and slow--no rushing! He's told by globe-trotting, 5-star hotel loving friends of his that he makes the best creme caramels they've ever had. And it's all no big deal, just good technique.



Lemon, orange, lime and grapefruit zest for a citrus vinaigrette



Taking the temperature of our individual halibut filets en croute. I had never made/played with brioche dough before. It's good baked plain, but the shaping possibilities are endless. We all made fish shapes, including fins, tails, eyes, etc.



The finished plate: halibut en croute with citrus vinaigrette sauce, grilled asparagus with hollandaise sauce, and mushroom-shaped red potatoes browned in butter.



This alone may have been worth the price of the class: the mess generated by two days of Country French cooking we did NOT have to clean up!