It was Tuesday night.  Tuesday nights have always been nice and quiet, overall. Usually, I stay home, cook a nice dinner, and watch a little t.v. with my boys. It’s rather normal and uneventful, which is nice sometimes.

That all changed four weeks ago.

If you’ve been following my posts about cooking class at Edom Bakery, you know that I don’t consider what I’ve been doing the past four Tuesday nights uneventful.  It’s been fun!  I’ve learned so much from Chef Jackson, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know the other students.

This week, we made what is now one of my favorite meals! Salmon en Papillote! Here is how we did it:

First, fold a sheet of parchment paper in half. Just as you did in elementary school, cut a large heart shape from the paper.

Then we placed julienne strips of carrot, zucchini, and yellow squash in a little stack on one side of the heart, followed by a fillet of salmon which we had marinated in lemon juice, white wine, and a bit of salt and pepper. I believe we also sprinkled it with a bit of Greek seasoning.   On top of the salmon fillet, we placed a bit of garlic infused butter; perhaps about a teaspoon.

Then Chef Jackson showed us how to fold over the heart, and then folded up the edges all around the heart to make a pouch. We then baked it for about 15 minutes on a cookie sheet.

This dish is served by tearing open the paper packet with two forks so you can enjoy the aroma as the steam escapes. It is such a light dish; the fish is moist and flaky, steamed in the packet.  The veggies are still a bit crisp and have the flavor of the marinade and garlic butter in them. It’s heavenly!

Before I took this cooking class, I thought I didn’t like salmon.  🙂  It just turns out that I had never had fresh, well-prepared salmon until now.

We also made hollandaise, a mother sauce, and from it we made two small sauces, bearnaise and cheron.  They were all quite creamy and unique in their own ways.  Wouldn’t you like to know how to make hollandaise sauce so you can have Eggs Benedict for breakfast? Well, here you are:

Hollandaise Sauce

8 egg yolks

4 TBS fresh lemon juice

2 dashes Tabasco sauce, or 2 tsp of ground cayenne

4 sticks of butter (one pound)

Directions:

Place yolks, lemon juice, and Tabasco sauce in blender jar.

Melt butter in a small sauce pan.

While blending the egg yolk mixture, pour hot butter in a steady stream into the blender jar, and mix well.

If you have a large family, this will be a good amount of sauce for you. If there are just three or four for breakfast, you might want to halve it.

So, go buy some good English muffins, poach some eggs, cook some Canadian bacon, and make your Eggs Benedict. Won’t that be a nice change from Fruit Loops?  🙂

“Learn to cook–try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!”
— Julia Child (My Life in France)