What a week-end...

I thought I'd write a note on behalf of Ei-Lun, the cooking machine, for this week-end. As you know, we were dealing with the damage to our front door from Friday through the week-end, and in to the next week, but we decided we'd better get cookin' for the club regardless.

On Saturday morning, after checking out of the Berkeley Marina Doubletree, we went for brunch on 4th street in Berkeley, and stopped by Sur La Table after. We were still thinking about what to submit, and decided that we'd try to make meyer lemon souffle's. We bought eight ramekins as an initial commitment. After dealing with the locksmith and learning how to replace glass in a door frame at home (we ended up buying a piece of wood to put in the window frame until the glass comes in...it looks quite nice if you ask me) Ei-Lun started going through recipes for the souffle. We eventually settled on "a citrus trio" which would include a lemon tart, blood orange sorbet, and those little gel things you get at Manressa at the start and end of the meal. At that point I was pooped, so I went to take a nap. I'm pretty sure Ei-Lun tried to wake me up several times to discuss the recipe but I wasn't really participating. Later that evening when I woke up, I discovered she had posted an excellent recipe and had nixed the fruit gels, as people online said it was impossible to get the same results from following t-keller's recipe.

On Sunday, I threw the remaining chicken thighs we had from the previous week's sous vide cook-off (a crazy at-office sous-vide & searing extravaganza) in the sous vide machine with salt/pepper/rosemary/butter, anticipating a "eat at home" V-day meal. We actually tried calling a couple of our standbys, Wakuriya in San Mateo and Commis in Oakland, with no luck, but Ei-Lun had a nice chat with the Commis lady. We went back to SLT in Berkeley to return the ramekins and buy a stainless steel bowl, a rolling sheet, a rolling pin, and a candy thermometer. $122 bux at check-out (wthbtw), but we decided to not get the rolling mat (parchment paper would be fine), and found a cheaper bowl. New total: $30; much better. We then hit Camino in Oakland for brunch, and then Whole Foods to get all the ingredients for the dessert. Upon returning home, we were beat, so we slept. Then at 8pm, we got a call from Commis, a cancellation at 9! We had a nice Valentine's dinner at Commis, the couple sitting next to us got engaged at the restaurant, it was interesting. After the meal, I got a cup of decaf, and Ei-Lun, got a cup of regular coffee. hmm...

Returning home, Ei-Lun proceeded to work on the dessert, and pretty much single-handedly, prepped the tart crust, got the sorbet in the ice cream machine, and made the candied orange peels. btw, blood oranges don't have that much juice! We used 13 blood oranges, and only got 2 cups of juice... 18 next time? Also, I found it was easier to juice them if you cut away most of the rind first. Also regarding the crust mixing, I ended up just using my hands (we don't have a kitchen aid) and it worked out just fine. Ei-Lun also tried her hand at the candied orange peel, she later told me she had it perfect, but didn't remove the peels from the sugar bath, so they got stuck in the pan. She heating up the pan a bit more, and didn't like the result. (however, I happen to like the crunchy/sugary ones!) It was off to bed around 3am...

This morning we baked the crust, and made the tart filling, while we sous vide'd some eggs for eggs, break and prosciutto. I think we will bake the crust a little longer next time, and will refrigerate it after rolling it out, per some online suggestions. The crust was too crumbly, and it kind of collapsed when I transferred it to a plate. Also, the tart filling part, I think we could have let firm up a bit more in the water bath. And then instead of broiling, I think we'll hit the top of the tart with the chef's torch instead next time, for a little more control.

As we were leaving to pick up the replacement glass today, we tried the tart. We definately have some adjustments to make! It was quite tasty however. Also the sorbet was awesome, even though it was 2 parts blood orange juice, 1 part water. :)

We definately have things to try for the next run of making the dessert, so I think by March we'll both have the recipe down pat, and will be sick of lemon tarts and citrus sorbet! Also, as a personal note, I think Ei-Lun and I are learning about how to work together better in the kitchen. We definately have different styles, but we end up making tasty food in the end. All in all, we've both learned some new techniques and its got us working together in the kitchen! I'd better start pulling my weight on the cooking assignments instead of sleeping in the future. :)