For my second challenge, I decided to do a 4 course meal. My guests this week were Priska and Natalie.

It was a lot of work for me, but I managed to pull it off. I had to cut some corners (I left a component of the dessert out), but I planned this a lot better this time around. I started prepping throughout the week and it worked out well because I only got one day off this week (which happened to be Thursday).

Here’s the menu this week:

Puree of English Pea Soup with White Truffle Oil and Parmesan Crisps

Poached Moulard Duck Foie Gras au Torchon with Pickled Cherries

Lamb Chops with Cassoulet of Summer Beans and Rosemary

“Coffe & Doughnuts” Cappuccino Semifreddo with Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts

The first course, the soup, was kind of mediocre for me. I guess it’s because I’m not a big fan of peas. It was just kinda… meh. The parmesan crisp was delicious though.

Pardon me for the ugly presentation of the soup. I wish I had a smaller bowl and the parmesan crisp could have stayed dry and crispy instead of soaking up all the soup and getting chewy and soggy.

The second course was the foie gras au torchon. Foie gras au torchon is a really personal dish for me. It’s the very first type of preparation of foie gras I’ve ever tasted and worked with. When I was working at The Chefs’ House (a school restaurant designed to prepare students for industry at George Brown College), it was the very first dish I got to work with. I remember the first week I was there and I was chosen to work with foie gras. I had no idea what it was or how precious the material was; I didn’t even find it that appealing. But since then, I have learned to appreciate the beauty of this delicacy. I even got the nickname “Foie Girl” because I got to work with it so often. And now every time I see foie gras on a menu I get giddy. It’s just so darn yummy!!

I enjoy foie gras seared, but I love it when it’s poached. To me, this is the truest, and I guess, rawest form of foie gras preparation. The one I made for my second challenge had a really simple marinate- salt, white pepper and sugar. I had doubts about this marinate since I always did some fancy marinate with Madeira and pink salt at The Chefs’ House. This one turned out really good though.

The pickled cherries were also amazing. I believe I tweeted three or four times about the pickled cherries. Within the first hour of pickling it, I already snacked off half of it. And here’s the best part about it- it was the easiest thing to make. All you need is water, red wine vinegar and sugar. It went really well with the foie as well. Balanced out all the richness with its tart sweet-ness.

The third course, or main, was the lamb chops. It’s pretty straight forward. It was a really hearty course. Meat, beans and sauce. It was good, but it wasn’t like, OMIGODTHATWASAMAZING.

The final course, the dessert was really delicious. Unfortunately, because I had to take my food handler’s test during the day, I did not have enough time to prepare and make the doughnuts. The semifreddo was really good though.

What I loved about this was the texture. The entire thing was just… fluffy. Cappuccino semifreddo on the bottom and frothy milk on top. It was absolutely delightful. The milk was warm and the semifreddo was cold so there was that temperature difference that made it a really interesting dish. Since this was supposed to go with the doughnut, it was a little sweeter. But because I skipped the doughnut altogether, it was just… sweet. Priska and Natalie liked it a lot though, so it’s all good. I will do the doughnut again next time when I have time to make up for this!

I wont be posting much the next week because my day off is on the day of my convocation. So I’ll probably be too busy celebrating and have no time to prep. I’m going to start planning the next one though, so stay tuned :)

As for the mistakes I made this time, I could have planned a bit better. Planning is key when you’re doing stuff like this I guess. Also, the photos would have looked nicer if there was more colours in the components of the dishes. Everything just looked really washed out this time, which makes it look less appealing. Definitely keeping that in mind for next time.