Kitchen passions

How paradoxically fate sometimes behaves, offering us almost poetic rhymes! For example, Helen Mirren says that she has always been and remains a Francophile. She loves everything French – language, literature, theater, painting, cuisine, landscapes … She even moved to Paris in her youth to try to become a French actress! And what do you think? She did not become a French actress, but in Lasse Hallström’s film “Spices and Passions” she became a Frenchwoman Madame Mallory, the owner of a real Michelin-star French restaurant, the worst rival and the greatest benefactor of the protagonist, an Indian emigrant and a chef from God. And you know, this modest young man in the film repeated the path of young Mirren. He also went to Paris to make a career, but returned home. And it turns out that “Spices and Passions”, of course, is a film about cuisine, dishes, the competition of two unsurpassed chefs, tastes, about what gives life a taste. But it is also about the kitchen of fate, where dishes of complex recipes are prepared.

Tomato soup with crispy bacon

Ingredients (for 2 servings)

• Bay leaf 1 pc.
• a pinch of thyme
• Two pinches of parsley
• 2 garlic cloves
• Celery stalk
• Onion – one medium onion
• One carrot
• Raw smoked brisket – 50 g
• Pinch of sugar
• 1 tablespoon (without top) wheat flour
• Butter – 30 g
• Tomato paste – 50 g
• Tomatoes in own juice – 300 g
• Chicken broth – 300 g

Method of preparation

1. Peel the onions and carrots, crush the garlic with a knife and peel. Cut the onion, carrot, celery into small cubes, chop the garlic coarsely.

2. Cut the bacon into thin strips. Add tomatoes in their own juice, thyme and broth, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, boil for 4 minutes over medium heat.

3. Remove from heat, remove thyme and bay leaf.

4. Fry the bacon in a preheated pan for 2 minutes over high heat until golden brown, remove and place on a napkin.

5. Beat the soup with a blender, strain through a sieve, put back on the fire.

6. In a pan with bacon fat, fry the carrots over high heat for 1,5 minutes. Add the onion, celery, garlic and bay leaf and cook for 1,5 more minutes over medium heat.

7. Add flour, sugar and tomato paste, fry for another 30 seconds.

8. Add butter, heat for 3 minutes over low heat, mix thoroughly, add salt to taste.

Serve sprinkled with bacon and garnish with parsley leaves. Bon Appetit!

2. Potato gratin (Baked potatoes)

Ingredients for 8-10 servings

• 4 cup of milk
• Freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 bunch of fragrant herbs
• 2 garlic cloves
• Xnumx g heavy cream
• 1 kg peeled potatoes
• Freshly ground pepper
• 115 g of grated Gruyere cheese *
• Butter
• Salt and pepper

Method of preparation

1.Preheat the oven to 190°C.

2. Take a deep baking dish, grease with oil and refrigerate.

3. In a small saucepan, combine the milk, freshly ground nutmeg, allspice and garlic and bring everything to a boil over medium heat. Then remove from heat, let the liquid cool for 5 minutes.

4. In the meantime, wash and peel the potatoes, cut them into rings no more than 6-7 mm wide. Do not wash cut potatoes. Arrange a layer of potatoes in a baking dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat until the form is complete.

5. Warm up the milk, add grated nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste, then pour in the cream. Bring to a boil. Strain the cooled mass through a sieve and fill the mold with potatoes so that it is completely covered with the mixture. Garnish the top layer of potatoes with seasonings and sprinkle grated cheese on top. Cover the form with parchment paper and foil.

6. Put in the oven and bake for 60 minutes. To determine the readiness of the dish, pierce the potatoes with a knife or a toothpick: if the potatoes lend themselves easily, you can take the dish out of the oven.

7.Remove the parchment paper and foil, put the mold back in the oven and bake until golden brown.

8. Remove the mold from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes.

The dish is ready to serve! Bon Appetit!

* Gruyere cheese can be replaced with any unleavened hard cheese.

Banana creme brulee with cardamom

Recipe from Chef Bal Arneson (www.balarneson.com)

Ingredients for 4 servings

• 2 cup of milk
• 1 st. spoonful of fennel seeds
• 6 st. spoons of sugar
• 4 banana
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 4 egg yolks

Method of preparation

1.Preheat the oven to 150°C.

2.Pour milk into a medium saucepan, place over medium heat. While stirring, gradually add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of sugar, cardamom, fennel seeds and bananas. Bring to a boil, then remove the pot from the heat, cover the pot tightly with a lid and let the mixture brew for 15-20 minutes.

3. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with 1 tbsp. a spoonful of sugar until a homogeneous mass is obtained. Strain the hot milk and then slowly pour it into the bowl in a thin stream, whisking constantly to keep the yolks from curdling. Pour the resulting mixture into a saucepan and, stirring constantly, cook for 3-5 minutes.

4. Pour the resulting mixture into 4 bowls. Place the creme brulee molds in a deep baking dish and pour hot water into it so that it reaches the middle of the small molds.

5. Put in the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes. If the creme brulee has not reached the desired consistency, leave it in the oven for another 5 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven, put the bowls on the table, let them cool at room temperature, and then put them in the refrigerator.

6. Cool the molds with ready-made creme brulee and leave in the refrigerator for 60 minutes.

7. Sprinkle 1 tsp on top of each bowl. Sahara. Melt the sugar until caramelized with a felt burner (cooking gas burner) or in the oven under the grill.

Dessert is ready to serve! Bon Appetit!