because French cooking is for everyone
because French cooking is for everyone
Want to up your game with your kitchen knives? We’ve got a video that explains the different types of knives and how you use them, how to choose a balanced knife, and how to maintain them. Within the video, there is also a really great …
Soufflés often intimidate everyone in the kitchen but the pastry chef! No more! If you have ever wanted to properly prepare a soufflé and serve it at a dinner party with your friends, or just on a weekend with your family, this upcoming episode with …
Food is for everyone. There are so many different styles of preparing food, and just as many different types of food. If you enjoy a particular style of food and the way it’s been prepared, then it is good food! As long as you are …
Yield: Six 3oz French Ramekins 1 1/2 oz Bread Flour 1 1/2 oz butter 8 oz milk 4 oz sugar 3 oz egg yolks 1 tsp vanilla 5 oz lemon juice 1 TB Cornstarch, dissolved into lemon juice 1 tsp lemon zest 2 tsp poppy …
Yield: Six 3-oz Ramekins
Yield: 4-6 Servings 2 TB Parmesan, grated 1 c Milk 2 1/2 TB Butter 3 TB AP 1/2 tsp Paptrika 1/2 tsp Salt Nutmeg, tt 4 egg yolks 5 egg whites 1 c Gruyère, grated Preheat oven to 400 degrees F; if using convection set …
Soufflés often intimidate everyone in the kitchen but the pastry chef! No more! If you have ever wanted to properly prepare a soufflé and serve it at a dinner party with your friends, or just on a weekend with your family, this upcoming episode with show you how!
Of course Pippin the cat makes an appearance. He actually thinks this entire thing is all about him!
Watch the trailer!
Want to up your game with your kitchen knives? We’ve got a video that explains the different types of knives and how you use them, how to choose a balanced knife, and how to maintain them. Within the video, there is also a really great …
Food is for everyone. There are so many different styles of preparing food, and just as many different types of food. If you enjoy a particular style of food and the way it’s been prepared, then it is good food! As long as you are enjoying it, it really doesn’t matter what the food critics might tell you about it if they were at the table with you; ditto your Great Aunt Mathilda. It doesn’t matter what the latest hot chef from wherever says about it either – if you like it, then by your definition, it’s good, and that’s all that matters!
Food should be fun. It should be fun to shop for it, to prepare it, to cook it, and most definitely to eat it! For me, French food summarizes many of my favorite types of dishes. Whether it’s a hot soufflé right out of the oven, or a paté served with champagne (actually either of those goes well with the bubbly!), I love it. I grew up eating a certain amount of Quebecois food because my family was from Maine, and some of them were from the French Provinces. There was that influence, and then there was the general New England influence which included shellfish, fish, and anything made with a Grape Nut. I’m not kidding about that last one.
After growing up eating some good food prepared by my mom, dad, and most especially my grandmother, I found myself being further influenced by others who had grown up with chefs in their households. Never underestimate the influence of the people with whom you surround yourself!
Following many other things, including two college degrees, and a stint working for the Mayor of NYC, I found my thoughts returning to the interest that had blossomed a bit during my time in New York, food. Indeed, I had taken a six week intensive cooking course while living in NYC, which was based in French cooking, and courtesy of the second floor of Zabar’s I had begun my collection of kitchenware.
By the time I moved back to Los Angeles, I was beginning to lean toward really and truly, once and for all, learning how to cook. Where else would I go but Le Cordon Bleu? For 16 months, my fellow classmates and I studied in the Culinary Arts program, which was an overall program of French techniques: Culinary Arts, Baking, Garde Manger, Wine, Math, and Business Management. It was an amazing time full of cooking our hearts out every, single day.
After graduating, completing my externship, and staging for a bit, I determined that working in a professional kitchen for a big restaurant was not for me. I was already well into my 40s at that point, and slowly but surely, what I had done all of my life prior to working for the mayor of NYC (music), pulled me back in by virtue of “I knew people and they hired me.” But I kept on cooking. And learning about wines. And cooking, and drinking the wine!
The great joy of French cooking for me, is in knowing how to cook correctly, and being able to have large dinner parties (10-20 people), and understand how to plan it, cook it, and serve it. Also, how to decorate it – this part should never be underestimated! Fantastic should be the centerpiece, but if you have paid zero attention to what your table looks like, then it can take away from your food. That was a lesson I learned in college, and I have never forgotten it.
I still work in music, but I cook for the sheer joy of it! I’m no Julia Child, who was gifted in personality as well as understanding the chemistry of the kitchen, and was just quite a brilliant human being. But I enjoy creating and sharing with my friends – there is nothing better than curating a beautiful evening with friends from the hors d’oeuvres to the dessert. Pairing everything well with wines, playing good music, and laughing at a beautifully appointed table.
French food is and should be for everyone. It may seem off-putting or possibly “fussy,” but really, it isn’t. It’s just good quality ingredients, prepared correctly with care, and served with love. The point of this blog is to share what I have learned and to have fun, so… Savourer Vie – Savor Life!
– Lesley Leighton
