busy few days!!!

I wanted to say on Monday night I made dinner. The recipe follows below. However instead of using monkfish (which i LOVE- but didn't feel like cleaning it! haha) I used cod and it worked just as well.

Roasted monkfish with curried lentils and browned butter cauliflower

Sauce
4 1/2 cups small cauliflower florets (from about one 22-ounce head)
1 cup whipping cream
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons (or more) water

Lentils and Browned Butter Cauliflower
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped peeled carrots
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 cup French green lentils (lentilles de Puy)*
3/4 teaspoon curry powder
3/4 teaspoon paprika
2 3/4 cups water, divided

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
4 1/2 cups small cauliflower florets (from about one 22-ounce head)

Gremolata
1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons grated lemon peel

Fish
4 6-ounce monkfish fillets (each about 1 inch thick), skin removed
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preparation For sauce:
Bring first 4 ingredients to boil in medium saucepan. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until cauliflower is very tender, about 17 minutes. Cool slightly. Transfer mixture to blender; add 3 tablespoons water and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill. Rewarm over medium heat, stirring, and adding more water to thin sauce, if desired.)

For lentils and browned butter cauliflower:
Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery; sauté until soft, about 8 minutes. Add lentils, curry, and paprika; stir 1 minute. Add 2 1/2 cups water; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Uncover; stir until liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until browned, about 2 minutes. Add cauliflower; sauté until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup water; cover and cook until cauliflower is crisp-tender and water evaporates, about 3 minutes longer. Stir in lentil mixture. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Rewarm before serving.)

For gremolata:
Mix parsley and lemon peel in bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

For fish:
Sprinkle monkfish with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish; sauté until just opaque in center, about 6 minutes per side.

Divide sauce among 4 plates. Spoon lentil mixture alongside. Place fish atop lentils; sprinkle with gremolata.

Anyway, the dish was DELICIOUS!!!! It was a last minute decision because i had bought lentils and I didn't know what to do with them...so i found this recipe and it was perfect! Try it ;)

So yesterday was the busiest day I've had in a LONG time! I worked from 6-3:30. It was once again a pretty lame day at work. I got to make some tarts in the morning and then once again lined tarts and made kugelhopf. The big part of the day was when I couldn't eat lunch. It was a stuffed tomato with pork (ham) and 1) i dont like cooked tomatoes and 2) i dont eat pork products. So i was s.o.l. (shit out of luck!) So i ate some almonds and cough drops. After lunch I learned how they make the pizza dough and then made some coulis. Then when they started to clean the fridges (around 3:20) Lisa let me go because I had to be at LCB at 4 pm. So I rushed to get over there. Bruno Lederf (the chef who I went to see win the MOF competition- My blog Nov 5th 2007), was giving a demo at school. So I had to go!!! Anyway...here are the pictures of the stuff he made.

It looked really good. I didn't taste it though. In anycase i saw my friends and it was nice. The demo ran REALLY late. Got out at 6:45. By the time I got home i had to snag some leftovers from the night before and then leave at 7:30 to go to an 8pm mtg. This mtg also ended a little late. We finished around 9:30ish. I got home around 9:50ish and at 10 pm I was so exhausted I fell into bed! I was pooped. Not to mention I hadn't been sleeping because I couldn't breathe!!!

Chef Lederf!

Something he made for the MOF competition

Verrine au chocolat, caramel exotique, et croquant de noisettes du piemont

Bonbons de chocolat: Tendre Passion

Entrement Sauveur Yusu
Anyway, today I had a day off but I had a lot to do. I woke up at 7 am and couldn't sleep anymore. My alarm was supposed to go off at 7:30 so it was fine. I got dressed and then took the train to some place called Sceaux. After getting lost, I finally found the house! I met with my mentor and she said I was on the right track for my thesis! She liked my outline and gave me some sources. She also told me another addition to extend the paper. She told me now I just need to start writing! So i left. However when I left I didn't know how to get out of the front gate so after a few minutes of trying to get out...I finally just hopped the fence! hahaha. Now i have bruises all over my leg! I finally got back to Paris and it was raining. I went to the library and ran some errands. Then finally I had to come back home cause it was just nasty out. I took a short nap and then made some cranberry sauce because I had many cranberries in the house! Now I'm going to do some cleaning and maybe work more on my paper. Check back on friday for a big update!