Jolanda learns to cook. A self-experiment, part 3
30.9.2017
Translation: machine translated
What sounds good on paper has to prove itself in the kitchen today. After a long period of planning at the green table, I'm making my debut in the kitchen today. I've decided to test cook the hors d'oeuvre (starter) and the poisson (fish course).
Today I'm making stuffed mushrooms with herb paste and fish gratin with ratatouille roses. My partner in crime today: my best friend, who hates vegetables but is good at crafting. While the former is likely to be a negative factor in the test meal, the latter will hopefully be an advantage, as I can see from the recipes that you need a skilful hand today. If everything goes well, we can expect a vegetable-rich feast, and with the lovingly wrapped ratatouille roses, there should also be something for the eye.
The adventure begins with a big shopping trip. Wow, that's a lot to lug home - and we're only cooking two courses today. I'll probably need the shopping SUV for the eight-course meal in December.
Back at the flat, the first coordination challenge awaits us: mushrooms, fish and ratatouille all have to go in the oven. But at different temperatures and for different lengths of time. To optimise the training effect, we cook under competition conditions and prepare the courses at the same time. So how do I manoeuvre the three baking trays past each other when there is barely room for two in my oven? As usual, I decide to improvise. In other words, I set the average temperature and extend or shorten the baking times accordingly. The calculations show that the mushrooms and fish can go into the oven together. After ten minutes of baking time, I can swap the mushrooms for the ratatouille. It should work out that way.
We start with the mushrooms, or rather with the herb paste, which should then be stuffed into the mushrooms. There's a lot of chopping involved. With a multifunctional chopping board, even the inexperienced cook can keep an overview. What has already been chopped can easily be stored temporarily in the drawers. Mix all the ingredients together and the herb paste is ready! However, the contents of the bowl don't really look like a paste, but more like an improvised vegetable salad - and how is that supposed to fit into the mushrooms? First interim conclusion: When the recipe says "dice very finely", it means "dice very finely". We cram our salad into the tiny mushroom openings with difficulty. The first deduction here is for the look.
After this first setback, we decide to do everything better with the ratatouille roses and stick strictly to the recipe. We painstakingly cut the courgettes and aubergines into thin strips, wrap them around tomato slices and press them into the baking tin. It looks quite nice. Second interim conclusion: sticking to the recipe makes perfect sense! And crafting experience is definitely an advantage when cooking.
I have the most respect for the fish gratin. Apart from in the form of fish fingers, no fish has ever found its way into my kitchen. The recipe promises that nothing can go wrong, but isn't that what the mushroom recipe said? In fact, the preparation is surprisingly simple: pour the tomato sauce into the baking tin, roll up the fish fillets, cover with a mixture of olives, capers and flaked almonds and pop into the oven. It's that easy! It's even easier with my new baking tin. Thanks to the large handles, it can also be handled safely with baking gloves.
While the ratatouille and fish gratin are still simmering in the oven, it's time to get to work on the mushrooms. They may not be suitable for the Betty Bossi brochure, but with a glass of Pinot Grigio, we can drink these little guys in. They are quite alright in terms of flavour. With a little more careful chopping, they could definitely do more to combine the fine flavour components with the aromatic wine.
The fish, on the other hand, is the poster boy of our kitchen output: easy to prepare, looks beautiful and is super tasty. It's hard to believe that something so simple can be so good. It tastes even better with a glass of fruity Estibal Minervois. So it's definitely worth throwing the old "fish only with white wine" rule overboard. Together with the ratatouille roses, it makes a thoroughly successful combination - at least in terms of flavour. It is obvious that there is still work to be done on the appearance. The roses are too large. This not only leads to vegetable overkill for vegetable haters, but also doesn't look particularly elegant.
My conclusion from this first experiment: cooking can certainly be fun. However, I still lack the practice to properly coordinate the various menu components. And there's a reason why you cook according to a recipe if you want to achieve a certain result. If you can read, you also have a clear advantage when cooking. And then there's the visual aspect - there's still a lot of room for improvement. Tinkering with courgette bowls and tomato slices still needs a lot of practice before the final in December.
Next time, however, I'll be making something for rougher hands: I'm cooking pork fillet and soup.
Missed the last bits?
Header image: Stuffed mushrooms with herb paste and fresh gratin with ratatouille roses
I like to get to the bottom of things, sometimes even with diving goggles and snorkel. Nature is my home, regardless of rain, temperature or time of day. I like to be on the road, sometimes even deliberately off track.