jphilg
08-17-2003, 12:17 PM
Well, the big anniversary plan to cook a five-course meal from the French Laundry cookbook got trashed when DH whined that he didn't want to cook. But after spending a blistering hot day at the Virginia Wine Festival (Virginia wines still have a long way to go, IMHO), I decided to go ahead and tackle on of Thomas Keller's (chef at the French Laundry)notorious complicated dishes by myself, and just have a one-course anniversary dinner with a nice bottle on non-Virginian wine.
Making the pasta was downright luxurious. The recipe calls for 3 times the eggs of a standard fresh pasta recipe (6 yolks plus one whole egg per 8 oz. flour), and then a long kneading time. The dough feels so good, the kneading is fun (I actually always think kneading is fun, so take it for what it is worth). The filling was very rich (I admit I cut the butter for 8 Tbs to 4 Tbs, but it was still MUCH more butter that I generally use with mashed things, and I also added bacon!). Assembling the agnolotti was pretty easy; I made 2 dozen in about 5 minutes, after the pasta rested and the filling chilled.
Another component was the sage cream, which was a cup of beurre monter (emulsified melted butter), a cup of creme fraiche, pureed with blanched (!) sage. Strained. Delicous. How could it not be?
Then I made some brown butter, and deep-fried tiny sage leaves for garnish. Oh, and julienned some prosciutto.
It all came together very nicely....the cooked agnolotti were tossed with the sage cream, plated, drizzled with brown butter, and garnished with fried sage leaves (very crispy and delicious) and prosciutto.
It was amazingly rich and flavorful. And gorgeous to look at.
But more significantly for me, it was so fun to really follow a restaurant-style recipe like that without lightening, simplifing, or subbing less expensive ingredients. The dish would have been pretty darn good with about half the butter, and with one sauce and one garnish, not two sauces and two garnishes. But doing the whole thing really put it over the top, and I think I will try more of this kind of cooking (about twice a year, followed by a cholesterol-purging diet for a week thereafter).
(Recipe is too long to post; I know that the pasta method is on epicurious.com, with a different filling.)
Making the pasta was downright luxurious. The recipe calls for 3 times the eggs of a standard fresh pasta recipe (6 yolks plus one whole egg per 8 oz. flour), and then a long kneading time. The dough feels so good, the kneading is fun (I actually always think kneading is fun, so take it for what it is worth). The filling was very rich (I admit I cut the butter for 8 Tbs to 4 Tbs, but it was still MUCH more butter that I generally use with mashed things, and I also added bacon!). Assembling the agnolotti was pretty easy; I made 2 dozen in about 5 minutes, after the pasta rested and the filling chilled.
Another component was the sage cream, which was a cup of beurre monter (emulsified melted butter), a cup of creme fraiche, pureed with blanched (!) sage. Strained. Delicous. How could it not be?
Then I made some brown butter, and deep-fried tiny sage leaves for garnish. Oh, and julienned some prosciutto.
It all came together very nicely....the cooked agnolotti were tossed with the sage cream, plated, drizzled with brown butter, and garnished with fried sage leaves (very crispy and delicious) and prosciutto.
It was amazingly rich and flavorful. And gorgeous to look at.
But more significantly for me, it was so fun to really follow a restaurant-style recipe like that without lightening, simplifing, or subbing less expensive ingredients. The dish would have been pretty darn good with about half the butter, and with one sauce and one garnish, not two sauces and two garnishes. But doing the whole thing really put it over the top, and I think I will try more of this kind of cooking (about twice a year, followed by a cholesterol-purging diet for a week thereafter).
(Recipe is too long to post; I know that the pasta method is on epicurious.com, with a different filling.)