Gordon Ramsay...the real story! By: Helen

            I am so excited!! We did something this time that we have never done before!!  Our first time! You always remember your first time!!! Ready? Amber and I made our very first Soufflé!!! I know!!  Super exciting right? We were so nervous about whether or not it would work.... wait till you see it!!! Best cooking moment EVER!! But, I guess we should start at the beginning...

So here we are taking on the recipes of renowned Chef Gordon Ramsay, the feisty, no-nonsense Hell's Kitchen chef with the highest standards and the worst potty mouth! So we were excited to produce some top quality foods. We decided to tackle Scallops because anyone who watches that show knows how particular he is about cooking scallops correctly. So off I went on my shopping spree looking for nice big scallops and from store to store to store.....I found none! So disappointing!! This was one of those moments when I wanted to live in a city with all the ingredients I need at my finger tips....but a quick phone call later we changed our menu to crab cakes! (Of course we had to buy canned crab meat because finding fresh crab is also not easy in a small town so already we were compromised by our ingredients!) Now we were already behind schedule because I worked till five and Amber took advantage of her day off to get some relaxation time (much needed when you have a newborn and toddler) so by the time we got started our diners knew they were in for a late supper.  Luckily we are used to this because punctuality has never been our strong suit!! This week we also welcomed back our guest judge Terrel who, as always, was more than excited to help us out!

The Book:

Gordon Ramsay’s World Kitchen

By: Gordon Ramsay

Our Menu:

Maryland Crab Cakes Pg. 229

Fish Pie with Leeks and Shrimp Pg. 112

Lemon Soufflé Pg. 27

The Undertaking:

         So I got to work on the fish pie as it needed oven time and Amber began the crab cakes. All was going well until Amber said “oh no!” Well something we have learned working together is that one of us doesn't always read to the end of the recipes and accidentally poured in ALL the bread crumbs instead of just a couple tablespoons...no biggie we thought except when it came time to taste them we realized it was an unfortunate mistake because the breadcrumbs soaked up the flavor and then there wasn't a crispy coating which would have probably changed the results a little.... but what can you do we are learning as we go! Also I may add, when making crab cakes it is vital to have proper chilling time. This helps in holding the shape when frying them up and as a result of our late start time we did have to cheat on the chilling which is why our appetizer wasn't quite as picturesque as the ones in the book.

Now some of you know that I spent some time overseas in my youth and while I was living in England I worked in an upscale fish restaurant and had my first ever fish pie.....and it was incredible!! I have since then salivated at the mere thought of this dish so I was excited for Gordon Ramsay's authentic English Fish Pie!! Now we also had an ingredient issue with this meal because we could not find smoked haddock anywhere. The closest we found was smoked salmon which had a different texture so we didn't want to change the idea of the pie so we left it out. Darn this small town! I was in charge of this recipe so I got to work making the béchamel sauce, sautéing the leeks and poaching the fish. There are a few steps to this pie but they are not difficult and they don't take too long. The coolest step was making the potato topping. I got to use Amber's new ricer which I have never used before and it was awesome! It made the potatoes smooth and easy to cream together with butter and milk!! Amber and I are always looking for new kitchen gadgets and if you don't have a ricer we highly recommend getting one! Your kids will love it and you can get them to help out in the kitchen even if they will make a mess! Now I will pause right here to let you know that pre-teen Parker was NOT looking forward to this meal at all! It had all the things she dislikes most, fish and shellfish, and she was staring at us the whole time dreading the thought of what she was going to have to eat!  Because of this, her scores were predictably her lowest scores yet.  What may be a surprise is that up until a few years ago she wasn't a picky eater at all... in fact I made some crazy casseroles and she always ate them up enthusiastically!!! Oh.... the angst of growing up!!

Okay!!! It is time!! The exciting finish to our cooking day! Soufflé time!! So surprisingly soufflés are not hard to make. We did have to go buy some ramekins because I only had small ones and Amber didn't have any but I didn't mind because I use mine all the time and it is a great excuse to make soufflé again! So we started by buttering and sugaring our ramekins and setting them in the cooler till we needed them. An interesting instruction is to butter them with upward strokes which I can only assume is to help the soufflé rise because it is such a light dessert the strokes must offer some sort of directional aid (this of course is just my uneducated guess, but it sounds good!). Then it was whip this, fold that, and viola!! Soufflé!!

The Results:

Maryland Crab Cakes

We were slightly disappointed in a couple aspects of this dish. First in that there was no sauce included in the recipe. It only called for mayonnaise on the side which is boring so Amber whipped up her special dill sauce and I made a caper sirrachi mayo so that our guest had some options. Second, none of our diners thought the cakes had much flavor. Now I believe this was for two reasons: the fact that we didn't have fresh crab and the fact that the extra breadcrumbs soaked up some of the flavor. I think this recipe is worth a do-over when we can get fresh crab from the city.

“Tasty, mildly pleasant flavors” - Amber's Man

“Light, fluffy, not much crab flavor” - Helen's Bob

“Cakes seemed bland, required sauces” - Guest Judge Terrel

“I don't like the crab!” - Pre-teen Parker

Score: 2.5/5

Fish Pie with Leeks and Shrimp

So this went over well with many of our guests. It was warm and comforting and most everyone agreed they would eat it again. Terrel even took some home for breakfast (strange but true!).  We would like to see what it would have tasted like with the addition of the smoked fish. It also may be worth a redo to see what depth of flavor it adds to the meal. I did find it under-seasoned so perhaps that would have helped.

“Delicious! I loved it!” - Amber's Man

“Great flavor, well balanced, hearty.” - Helen's Bob

“Subtle fish flavor, it would be really good with smoked fish.” - Guest Judge Terrel

“Horrible!!  Worse than crab! Bleh!!” - Pre-teen Parker (who covered it in ketchup in hopes of getting dessert!)

Score: 3/5

  

Lemon Soufflé

This was so exciting to watch cook. We watched Masterchef last season when they were anxiously waiting for their soufflés to cook and this felt just like that!! When we took them out of the oven and they were all so fluffy and gorgeous it was a fabulous "Helen and Amber" moment!!

“Looks good!  It tastes great!” - Amber's Man

“A 5 all around!” - Helen's Bob

“So smooth and not too sweet! It melts in your mouth!” - Guest Judge Terrel

“Okay I guess... maybe in a different flavor!” - Pre-teen Parker

Score: 4/5

The kids reactions: 

Our dinner ended at 11pm and our fantastic kids did great! There was not one meltdown and we are so very happy about that! Here is what they thought of the meal:

Jaxon and Seth: the only component of the appetizer my boys liked was eating the raw lemon wedge but Jaxon absolutely loved the fish pie and ate two helpings!  The Soufflé was a big hit with both of them!! (Not surprising considering they eat raw lemons!)

Emmersyn and Carter: Both kids liked the crab and ate it all (including Carter eating some lemon rind...oops!) and both loved the fish pie, Emmersyn thought the shrimp was worth an enthusiastic 10! The soufflé, I am proud to say, got the score of infinity!!

Our final thoughts:

I thought the crab was bland...but I will try this recipe and other recipes out of this book again. I think it is important to use fresh ingredients to get the right flavors.  I am excited to see what other things the book has to offer! The fish pie was also slightly too mild for me and I have made my own version with no recipe that tasted as good as this one. I do think the smoked fish is the key ingredient. Of course I loved the soufflé and I will make it again and again! It makes me feel like a superstar!

Amber agrees that the crab cakes needed sauce for flavor. The pie she thought was really good but needed the addition of salt and pepper to compensate for the missing Haddock. It was frustrating for her to look store to store to store trying to find some especially since she is used to living in the city where this would have been a lot easier to shop for. Dessert was so good, super light, really refreshing lemon flavor. In her closing thoughts Amber enthusiastically says........WE MADE SOUFFLE!!!!