• preparation

Soak the salted cod fish in cold water for 12 hours.
Cook in simmering water for 5 to 6 minutes. Let cool and clean, debone and flake the fish.

In a mixing bowl , mix the flour and water to from a paste.
add the fish, scallions, Scotch Bonnet chile, garlic, onion and seasoning.
add the egg yolks and vinegar
just before cooking, add baking soda and beaten egg whites.
Meanwhile, heat 2 inches of corn oil to 350 to 375 degrees in a heavy cast-iron pot or deep fryer. Drop the acras into it by the teaspoonful. Fry until they are light brown, turning once. When done, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
Serve the accras as soon as they are ready with lemon wedges and curried mayonnaise sauce.

• preparation

In a pot, cover the cod with water and bring to boil.
Remove the cod and drain immediately.
Cut avocado in half, remove the flesh and cut into large pieces.
Drizzle the avocado flesh with lime juice to prevent from blackening.
Place parsley in the bowl of a food processor and chop finely.
Then add the avocado, cod, garlic, a small piece of chili and chives. Mix.
Add cassava flour and oil while mixing until mixture is homogeneous.
Add salt and pepper
Refrigerate for one hour before serving

• preparation

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, lemon rind, lemon juice, capers, dill, mustard, and pepper until smooth. On a large sheet of wax paper, spread out the slices of salmon to form a rectangle. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the surface of the salmon.
Roll up the salmon tightly from one end, jelly roll style. Enclose in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Wash cucumber, dry and slice across into 1/4-inch slices.
Just before serving, slice the smoked salmon roll into -inch slices. Top each cucumber slice with a slice of salmon roll. Serve at once.

PRESENTATION
Serve this hors d'oeuvre on a tray. Arrange the cucumber and salmon rolls on the tray into two circles. Garnish center of tray with parsley or dill sprigs.

• preparation

In a medium saucepan, melt butter, stir in flour. Add milk and cream and whisk until sauce is thick and bubbly. Mix in the cheese. Blend well. Stir in egg yolks. Season to taste.
Spread mixture over a greased square dish to a thickness of 1 inch. Cool 1/2 hour.
Cut into 2-inch by 1-inch pieces. Dust in flour, dip in egg white, and roll in fresh bread crumbs.
Deep fry until brown. Serve with tomato sauce and fried parsley.

• preparation

Cook and drain spinach, pressing dry. Mix spinach with cream sauce. Spoon cream spinach over toasted muffins.
Place steamed artichoke bottoms on top of spinach. Top with the hot poached eggs. Spoon the warm hollandaise sauce over eggs.

• preparation

* Peel and cook sliced carrots until soft. Drain, and place carrot slices in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Puree in a mixer. The carrot puree should be thick.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Brush the interior of a 6-cup soufflé mold with the softened butter.
In a heavy saucepan heat the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic. Cook briefly while stirring, until onions are wilted. Stir in the flour and cornstarch. Add the milk. Cook while whisking until sauce becomes thick.
Tranfer the bubbly sauce to a large mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix in chopped basil.
Mix egg yolks, and carrot puree into the thick cream sauce. This mixture can be prepared 2 hours ahead.
Using an electric beater, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff and glossy. Do not overbeat. Gently fold into cream sauce mixture. Pour and scrape the mixture into the prepared soufflé mold.
Place on a baking sheet. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes. Serve at once.

• preparation

In a medium bowl, combine the apple, blue cheese, celery, mayonnaise, and lemon juice. Stir gently to combine. Season to taste with salt.
To assemble, mound a small spoonful of the apple mixture onto the core end of each endive leaf. Sprinkle with the hazelnuts and serve.

• preparation

Make ham rolls stuffing the egg salad in each slice. Pour liquid aspic in an 8 by 8-inch dish.
Let set until firm. Arrange stuffed ham on a platter. Decorate with avocado and egg slices.
Decorate platter with chopped aspic jelly. Refrigerate before serving.

• preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut the red pepper in half, remove seeds, and cut across into fine julienne.
Peel the tomatoes by dipping in boiling water for about 30 seconds. Transfer to cold water. Peel the pulp off the tomatoes, leaving the seeds and inside for other use.
Peel the fresh ginger. Slice into fine julienne strips.
Peel the papaya. Cut in half, remove seeds, and cut into julienne.
Peel the plantain banana. Cut across in 2-inch sections. Slice sections into julienne strips.
Remove outer skin of pineapple. Slice lengthwise, and cut into 2-inch long julienne strips.
Peel the mango. Cut into slices, and julienne strips.
In a heavy bottom medium saucepan, combine the honey and vinegar. Add the red pepper, tomatoes, ginger, papaya, banana, pineapple, and mango. Bring to boil over medium heat. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the cinnamon, curry, and lime. Simmer for 5 more minutes.
Heat the olive oil in a medium frying pan. Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper. Sauté over high heat for 30 seconds on each side. Transfer to a warm plate.
Cut each parchment sheet into large heart shapes. Place salmon in center of each parchment sheet. Top salmon with 2 heaping tablespoons of the sauce mixture. Seal the paper, and bake for about 8 minutes.
Pack the hot steaming rice in 6-oz individual round molds.
PRESENTATION
Arrange each salmon papillotte on warm plates.
Unmold rice molds on plates.

• preparation

Dice and freeze fatback. Dice the veal and pork. Heat oil in skillet. Sauté the onions. Combine meat, onion, and seasonings in a bowl. Mix cream and egg whites. Pour over meat. Refrigerate for a few hours.
Marinate artichokes in wine, brandy. Season with salt and pepper. Puree the meat with fatback. Add the pistachios and ham.
Grease a 5 cup mold and line top and bottom with pastry dough. Alternate forcemeat and artichokes ending with forcemeat.
Cover pâté with pastry. Brush with egg yolk.
Cut an opening in the center.
Bake at 350 degree for about an hour. When cold, fill the pate with sherry wine aspic.

• preparation

Snap off the woody ends of asparagus where they naturally break when you bend them or cut them off with a knife.

Boil water in a large pot or saucepan with steamer then reduce to simmer, add asparagus, cover with lid and steam asparagus until tender (about 8-10 minutes) *This will depend on your preference.

Use tongs to remove asparagus

In a small bowl, whisk balsamic vinegar, oil, red wine, dijon mustard, salt and pepper together.

Cover and set aside until ready to use.

Arrange cooked asparagus tomatoes on a large platter.

Sprinkle with feta cheese and parsley.


Drizzle with ½ the dressing and serve the remainder on the side *Can be served warm, room temperature or chilled.



????Variations & Substitutions
Tomatoes- you could use cherry tomatoes instead of grape tomatoes
Asparagus -you could use grilled or oven-roasted asparagus instead of steamed
Tarragon- fresh tarragon is ideal, but you can use dried
Feta cheese - you can use regular, light or fat-free feta or use goat cheese
Add-ins- you could also sprinkle on a little parmesan cheese and/or add red onions or green onion

• preparation

Cook and drain spinach, pressing dry. Mix spinach with cream sauce. Spoon cream spinach over toasted muffins.
Place steamed artichoke bottoms on top of spinach. Top with the hot poached eggs. Spoon the warm hollandaise sauce over eggs.

• preparation

Scrub mussels under cold running water. Heat wine in a large pot. Add mussels. Cover pot and steam for about 5 minutes, or until mussels are opened.
Strain cooking liquid through cheese cloth. Save. Remove mussels from shells. Reserve for garnish.
In a medium saucepan, add mussel broth, shallots, onion, saffron, parsley and chicken broth. Simmer for 10 minutes. Combine butter and flour to a paste.
Whip in the cooking liquid to thicken. Add cream and seasoning. Add mussels.
Saute scallops in butter and lemon juice until transparent. Dice the scallops and cooking liquid to soup together with mussels.
Heat soup and serve hot.

• preparation

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, lemon rind, lemon juice, capers, dill, mustard, and pepper until smooth. On a large sheet of wax paper, spread out the slices of salmon to form a rectangle. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the surface of the salmon.
Roll up the salmon tightly from one end, jelly roll style. Enclose in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Wash cucumber, dry and slice across into 1/4-inch slices.
Just before serving, slice the smoked salmon roll into -inch slices. Top each cucumber slice with a slice of salmon roll. Serve at once.

PRESENTATION
Serve this hors d'oeuvre on a tray. Arrange the cucumber and salmon rolls on the tray into two circles. Garnish center of tray with parsley or dill sprigs.

• preparation

Scrub and debeard mussels. In a large kettle, combine parsley, white wine, and shallots, and bring to a boil. Steam the mussels in the boiling liquid until opened. Drain and save the cooking stock. Remove only top shells of mussels and discard.
Arrange mussels in ovenproof serving casserole. Strain cooking liquid through cheese cloth. Pour in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
In a small saucepan, melt butter, and add flour to make roux. Stir roux in stock and whisk to thicken. Add the saffron. Pour a little sauce into egg yolks. Mix well and stir into remaining sauce.
Heat sauce but do not boil. Season to taste with salt, pepper.
Do not add salt since the mussel stock is salty. Pour sauce over the hot mussels. Serve immediately.

• preparation

Cut the passion fruit in halves. Remove pulp. In a large bowl, combine pulp with the boiling water. Set aside for 10 minutes. Strain the juice through a fine strainer. Add the sugar to the juice. Stir to dissolve. Add cinnamon and vanilla.
Chill the mixture before freezing in the ice cream maker. When the sorbet is thick and smooth, spoon in a decorative mold or individual molds.Freeze.
Unmold on plates.
Spoon raspberry coulis on the platter. Decorate with sliced bananas

RASPBERRY COULIS
Puree raspberries with sugar and lemon juice in a blender. Pour mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl.
Coulis keeps 2 to 3 days, covered and chilled.

• preparation

In the mixing bowl of an electric mixer, combine the egg whites with cream of tartar and vinegar and beat at high speed until soft peaks form, about 1 minute.
Continue beating, and gradually add the sugar. Beat until very stiff, about 2 minutes. Add coloring and continue beating for 5 minutes at medium speed. Spoon the meringue mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch plain tube.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pipe 3/4- to 1-inch drops onto prepared baking sheet; after each drop is piped by squeezing the bag, release from squeezing, and pull straight up with the bag to create the very fine curled tip on each drop. Bake until drops are hard to the touch but not browned, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Repeat to use all meringue. Meringue drops may be made a day ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl, or the top of a double boiler, set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally. Stir in the oil until well combined. Dip the bottom of each cooled meringue drop into the melted chocolate; stick two together if desired. Turn upside down on a cooling rack, and let chocolate harden. This can take up to 50 minutes at room temperature or just freeze on parchment paper for 5 minutes. Serve.

• preparation

Brush the inside of the soufflé dishes with soft butter. Lightly sprinkle with sugar and rotate dishes so the sugar evenly coats the surface. Refrigerate until needed.
In a medium bowl, combine cocoa and chocolate. In a small pan, combine light cream with water, and bring to a boil. Pour into bowl of chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Set aside.
In a small pan, combine sugar with water. Bring to a boil, and heat to the soft- ball stage, or 250 degrees on the candy thermometer. Meanwhile, using an electric mixer fitted with a whisk, whip egg whites until fluffy.
Slowly add hot sugar to the egg whites, pouring it down the side of the bowl as the whites whip. Whisk egg whites to soft peaks; do not overbeat. Add warm chocolate mixture to beaten egg whites.
Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in until thoroughly combined. Spoon or pipe into soufflé molds.
Refrigerate, uncovered, up to 24 hours ahead of serving.
To serve, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Allow soufflés to come to room temperature, 15 to 20 minutes. Place on a baking sheet, and bake until risen, 6 to 8 minutes. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar before serving. Serve immediately.

• preparation

Preheat to 425°F. Combine 1/2 cup sugar if using canned apricots (or 3/4 cup sugar if using fresh apricots) and 2 tablespoons water in heavy small saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves.
Increase heat and boil without stirring until syrup is deep amber, about 8 minutes.
Add butter and cream (mixture will bubble vigorously). Stir over low heat until any caramel bits are dissolved. Immediately pour caramel into nonstick 10-inch-diameter ovenproof skillet; swirl to cover bottom of skillet. Carefully place apricot halves, rounded side down, tightly together atop caramel.
Roll out puff pastry sheet on lightly floured surface to 12 1/2-inch square.
Using 12-inch tart pan bottom or platter as guide, cut pastry into 12-inch round. Place puff pastry round atop apricots in skillet.
Gently press down pastry around apricots at edge of skillet.
Bake tart until pastry is puffed and deep golden, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven; cool 1 minute.
Cut around edge of pastry to loosen. Place large rimmed platter atop skillet.
Using oven mitts as aid, hold skillet and platter tightly together and invert, allowing tart and syrup to fall onto platter.
Carefully lift off skillet. Rearrange any apricots that may have become dislodged. Serve warm.

• preparation

Have ready a large bowl of ice and cold water. In a 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan simmer 1/2 cup Armagnac (being careful not to let ignite) until reduced by about half. Stir in cream and milk and bring mixture to a simmer.
In a bowl whisk together yolks and sugar. Add hot milk mixture to yolk mixture in a slow stream, whisking. Transfer mixture to cleaned saucepan and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until slightly thickened and a thermometer registers 170°F (do not let boil). Pour custard through a fine sieve into a metal bowl set in ice water. Stir in remaining tablespoon Armagnac and cool custard completely.
Freeze custard in an ice-cream maker. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden. Armagnac ice cream may be made 1 week ahead.

• preparation

1. Heat the sugar alone in a stainless-steel saucepan over medium heat. Cook without stirring until it melts and caramelizes.
2. Gradually add the butter then the cream, mixing vigorously with a whisk to avoid lumps.
3. When the preparation is homogeneous, continue cooking for 5 minutes and remove from the heat. The caramel is still liquid but it will harden as it cools.
4. Pour into a small jam jar and let cool. Store in the refrigerator.

Variations: For a chocolate caramel cream, add a few squares of chocolate.

• preparation

The Cocoa and Almond Sponge Cake

Start beating the egg-whites and when it forms peaks add the sugar and keep beating until fluffy. Then the yolks, beat until homogeneous
Mix together the ground almonds, the flour and the cocoa then blend them into the meringue delicately
Spread this mixture over 2 sheets of baking paper, shape 2 squares a bit larger than 16x16 cm and put in a preheated oven (medium heat) for 7-10 minutes (according to your oven). Then leave to cool down for 5 minutes, remove from the baking paper (turn them upside down), reserve.

The Praliné Feuillantine (Crispy Praline)
Warm up the praline paste over a hot water bath, add the chocolate, stir until completely melted.
Crush the crèpes dentelles (or the corn flakes or even crispy rice), and mix them into the praline paste and chocolate.
Spread this mixture over a sheet of baking paper, try to shape a square 16x16 cm... Place in the freezer right away.

The Chocolate Mousse :
Hydrate the gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes. Melt the chocolate over a warm water bath. Heat up the 50 gr cream and add the gelatin (drained), stir until dissolved, then blend the cream into the chocolate, mix until homogeneous. We get a ganache. Leave to cool down, until it reaches about 30°C/86°F.
Place the yolks and the whole egg in a large bowl (glass or metal). Then prepare the syrup, gather the water and sugar in a pan and heat it up until it reaches 115°C/239°F, pour it right away in a thin stream over the eggs, whipping all the time until it reaches the room temperature. We get a smooth mousse. Blend delicately this mousse into the ganache. Then prepare the whipped cream with the 350 gr cream and fold it delicately as well into the previous mixture.

The Chocolate Glaze :
Hydrate the gelatin in cold water for about 5 minutes.
In a pan bring to the boil the water and sugar. Add the cocoa powder, mix until homogeneous. Add the gelatin (drained), mix until dissolved, then add the cream. Reserve (we want to use it below 30°C/86°F).

The Assembly :

Place one square of sponge cake in the middle of the cake frame. Place over it the crispy praline (still frozen). Then pour the chocolate mousse almost to the top.Place the second square of sponge cake, press a bit then cover with the rest of mousse to the top. Level with a large spatula. Put right away in the freezer for about 2 or 3 hours. This step will help to remove the cake from the cake frame and to set quickly the chocolate glaze.
Remove the cake from the freezer, and delicately from the cake frame.
Place the cake on a shelf and pour the chocolate glaze over it and leveling the top with a large spatula.

When the glaze is completely set, decorate as you want, here with some macaroons. Leave it at room temperature for 1 hour in order to defrost and then serve right away.