My Week of Feasting Left One Tired Cook

Suddenly it hit me without warning.  My filet knife was carving out the last filets of the sole I had bought for New Years eve dinner, when I suddenly felt very light-headed, weak, and slightly queasy of stomach.   Since I had not eaten much at lunch, only a few nibbles here and there, I knew it was probably a hypoglycemic attack  exacerbated by physical exhaustion.

It’s tough to be an exacting gastronome and cook, who carefully plans out intricate menus, especially when I have to execute them by myself!.  My son, who is a executive chef, can be totally unfazed by serving a few hundreds of people a night, but he has a lot of sous chefs doing the prep and final cooking.

I had already successfully accomplished  preparing the two feasts of  Christmas, along with my almond and orange confit Kougelhopf for breakfast.   Christmas eve was really simple and light for me.   Lumpfish caviar canapés , followed by the plain steamed lobster, which I compassionately anaesthetised prior to putting it in the pot,cheese course and then les oranges orientale, which are fresh sliced oranges, marinated in Grand Marnier, topped with their candied peel and syrup.

Christmas day dinner was a lot more demanding and  special with a first course of a carpaccio of sea scallops bathed in a passion fruit and mango marinade. Golden roasted poularde de Bresse was the star, as personally selected by Christophe Bourdais, my local expert on poultry de Bresse seen in the photo.   It was served with caramelised chestnuts, sautéed brussel sprouts with red onions and my favourite montbeliard sausage pecan dressing.  We passed up the cheese course knowing the grand dessert was awaiting us.

The grand finale was my Bûche de Noël.  Instead of my usual classical french buttercream,  I decided to go tropical.    I made a pistachio dacquoise for the base and filled my biscuit roulade with mango passion fruit mousse, and frosted the outside with a tart lemon curd.

My New Year Eve menu was to be as spectacular, but in the end turned out to be a lot more labor intensive due to the special pastry I had planned.  Additionally, I started off the day in a marathon search  for fresh crawfish, which ended up being a 3 kilometres run bouncing back and forth between several seafood markets, an outdoor marché, green grocers and the list goes on!

The first course on my new year’s menu was simple oysters on the half shell, then a millefeuille of foie gras and apples, served with a fig and orange chutney.  The main course was filet of sole stuffed with a mousseline of crawfish and sauce Nantua.

A cheese platter was to follow and then my magnificent Gateau Saint Honore as seen in all its glory.   It is one of the most labor intensive of French pastries, even more than my Bûche de Noël, that graced my Christmas day dinner.

I prided myself on being ahead of the game by making my puff pastry dough the day before, which takes about 6 or 7 hours from start to finish.  Most of the time involves letting the dough rest betweens turns as seen in the photos.

With not a lot of sleep the night before, I had nevertheless gotten out early to hit all my favourite places to find exactly what I needed.  I like to visually check out what each purveyor has and then go back to the one I liked best, which can be time consuming at best.

It became a goose chase for the fresh crawfish, as there were none to be found.  So I had to settle for the frozen tails from Spain.  I still needed crustacean shells for my beurre de crustacea, since in the end, it was not going to be made with any crayfish.

I could have kicked myself for not saving the shells from the lobster last week, as that would have sufficed.  Unfortunately the fish markets jack up the seafood to stratrospheric prices just before the holidays, knowing that they are going to make a killing from the French obsession of serving oysters and shellfish platters for their réveillon(holiday feast).

As it turned out , the only affordable crustacean to make my butter, was fresh shrimp from Madagascar.   Not as exotic, but nevertheless, after grinding up the carapaces and peelings with hot butter, I will get the same colour and practically the same flavour!

Found the sole at the fish market at Alesia, but headed back up to Rue Daguerre for the oysters from Ile de Oleron on the Atlantic coast. My last stops were at the green grocer, the cheese shop, and lastly the foie gras store, before I could finally make it home.

No rest for this already somewhat weary cook, I grabbed my apron to start  the cream puffs, and creme Chiboust( creme Saint Honoré).  That done, I rolled out and baked the puff pastry, with its ring of cream puff dough, that rose to a magnificent height.

Making the creme Chiboust is fairly time consuming too, and not for the uninitiated in pastry making. While it was cooling, it was time to dip the filled creme puffs in melted caramelised sugar, first the tops, then the bottoms, (without burning yourself) before nesting them on top of the puff pastry base.

By the time I had finished the gateau Saint Honoré, it was close to 7.  I then headed straight into making the  stock, and the crawfish mousseline.  After the shrimp butter was made, I started filleting the sole.

Struck as I was with this out of the blue malaise, I quickly downed some juice for sugar and a piece of chèvre.  Though somewhat better, the fatigue persisted and that is when I was kindly  persuaded to just put off my feast to the following night.

Even a few sips of wine loss my interest, so opening the champagne would just have to wait.  At that point a plain boiled potato seemed to be the comfort of choice.

By mornings time, I was fortunately renewed so I could attend a brunch a good friend had offered to do.  It was really nice to have someone else cook for me for a change, and the perfectly executed and delicious soufflés were as lovely to look at as to eat!

Fortified with the soufflés and a pretty fruit salad, I felt completely restored to tackle my postponed feast.   As most components were made and just needing to be cooked, it was really pretty relaxed putting the final touches in place.

With my guest keen on learning how to do the potatoes Dauphine and my daughter helping along, it all went smoothly and on time.  The best moment is just sitting down in the candlelight, sipping the champagne and  knowing all is done!

As usual, there were lessons to be learned the hard way.   I am going to have to be much better organised and do whatever prep work I can do ahead.  I will certainly consult my son on the best ways to achieve this without comprising quality.

As much as I am a sticker to buying my seafood the day I need it, the fillets were just fine waiting another day.   So, maybe I can get away with buying everything I need the day before, and do nothing but cook the day of my feast.

I don’t think I will change to a simpler menu, because I really like to treat myself to these special dishes, and besides I been doing it all along for so many years.  Perhaps the best idea, would be to have a another strong armed sous chef at my side!

Since organisation is not one my talents, I would like to know how you, my faithful readers, who have more skill in this area than me, do it chez vous!   All suggestions welcome!