Main:  Salmon Fillet baked in puff pastry with leek, sultanas & ginger
Food Stuff (Mona Vale) Men only in the kitchen with Mark Holland

Dessert:  Caramelised Apple Clafoutis
From the Complete Book of Modern Classics (Women’s Weekly) Pg. 353

Hi everyone, hope you have had a great week,

Well back in 2011 I was thinking along the lines of “real men wear aprons” and sent the MAV off to a cooking class with his brother-in-law.  They learnt how to make two dishes.  One was chicken and the other this salmon.  At this men only cooking class the guys sat around and watched the demonstration whilst drinking a lovely drop from Spain.  They had a lot of fun and I have waited expectantly ever since then for a home demonstration of these recipes – still waiting!  Anyway I found the Salmon recipe in my folder of stray recipes and thought I would give it a go.  Hey, it is meant for men to cook, how hard can it be????

I started by pricing the whole salmon, which was very expensive, and then decided to use the fillets (skinned and boned) which were on special.  Once I had made the “stuffing”  I placed one fillet on the pastry, put the beautiful mixture of leek and ginger with sultanas on top and then another fillet placing the thick end opposite to the bottom fillet.  Gee – did that make sense??  Anyway they made lovely little parcels and of course you need to have fillets that are a similar size.  These little parcels easily fed three people each so it really did work out quite economical.  I prepped it all and put them in the fridge ready for baking.  With the sauce, which is very light in flavour, they were delicious and served with a simple salad (yes, Mimosa-family favourite) they were quite impressive.  They got a 7/10.  (I actually think my average is dropping).

Dessert did not win too many fans.  This is a shame but I think it is my own fault.  I absolutely love Clafoutis and whilst I was very keen to cook it, I new time on this particular Wednesday was limited so cooked it the night before.  Big mistake.  This is one of those desserts that should be cooked just before eating.  Sure,  caramelise the apples in advance but do not add the batter until you are ready to cook and eat.  Mine was somewhat rubbery when it should be light and cake like. The caramelised apples were delicious though.   I served it with thick cream but ended up throwing out the left overs.  Flunk!  4/10.

So bottom line here is definitely give the Salmon a go, it’s worth it but if you are thinking about the Clafoutis, then don’t do it unless you have the time to whip it in the oven just as you sit down for your main.

I am going to leave you with a quote from Julia Child –

“People who love to eat are always the best people”

Until next week,

From my table to yours with love.