February Meeting

This month's meeting grew by two people. There were eight of us total. Quite a few budding young chefs in one kitchen! It makes me wish my house had a larger kitchen. But that definitely won't be happening anytime soon.

The meeting started off with a discussion. I posed the question, "What is sustainable food?" There were many good answers. Someone chimed in and said, "It's food that sustains you," yes... but not quite what I had in mind. We got to talking about how sustainable food is raised in a manner that is healthy for the environment, for people, treats animals humanely, and provides a fair wage to the workers and farmers.

Vivi brought up how she'd seen a documentary about the food industry, including genetically modified crops and the not-so-wonderful corporation Monsanto. I, too, had seen this documentary a few years ago. It's called "The Future of Food," very interesting and definitely a worthwhile watch.

Chester bemoaned the fact that we would not be cooking any meat. He mentioned how his family has six chickens in their freezer that they had raised and killed themselves (that's the type of local and sustainable I'm talking about!) I promise that in the future we will do a meeting that focuses on learning about factory farms, industrialization of meat, and how to eat meat in a way that is healthier for the environment and the people eating it. Of course we'll also cook it! (Here's one type of meat that I do like.)

Once we began cooking, everything was a little chaotic. The vinaigrette was made first. The kumquats were sliced and seeded (a rather tedious job). There was lot's of washing vegetables, cutting, slicing, zesting, peeling, and mixing.

Vinaigrette, chopped mint, fennel greens, blood and navel oranges, olives, and fennel

On to the gruyère soufflé. As Deborah Madison put it, "Few dishes are as dramatic as a soufflé. The whole dish swells like an enormous inhalation -- then, within moments of serving, collapses." Everyone was eager to help make the soufflé. First the eggs were separated and the cheese grated. The milk was heated with the aromatics (bay leaf, thyme, onion slices). The roux was made (flour cooked in butter) and once the milk steeped to absorb the flavors of the aromatics it was added to the roux to make a béchamel (basic white sauce). In went some salt, pepper, cayenne, nutmeg and fresh thyme. The heat was turned off. The bright yellow egg yolks were added and then the gruyère. The egg whites were beaten (by hand!) until they became light and fluffy, forming firm peaks. The egg whites were carefully folded into the egg yolk mixture and poured into the prepared pan. It was time for the heat of the oven to work its magic.

Into the oven

Out of the oven!

While all this was going on, the kumquats were poaching in a syrup of sugar, water and a whole vanilla bean. The aroma was incredibly enticing.

While the soufflé baked, the salad was tossed. Everything in it was locally grown.

Salad Ingredients:

• 2 blood oranges
• 1 navel orange
• 1 head butter lettuce
• 2 tablespoons chopped fennel greens
• 10 small mint leaves
• 1 small fennel bulb
• 12 oil-cured black olives
  

Everyone did an amazing job with the soufflé. When it came out of the oven it was golden brown, high and mighty, and all puffed up like a king. We all sat down at the table to eat. The soufflé was a big hit, and there wasn't even a crumb left over (we probably could have eaten two soufflés). Everyone ate the salad -- fennel, oranges and all (who says kids/teens don't have sophisticated tastes!) The kumquats came out yummy as well. Unfortunately I forgot to plan something to eat them over, oops.