This week’s dish does not come from a cook book, but a memoir. I found the recipe in “The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry” by Kathleen Flinn (p.200). It is one woman’s journey through every level of Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. The author is a journalist by trade, but followed a life long dream of culinary exploration and greatness (she was encouraged by the love of her life) after being downsized from her corporate job. The book is really well written. I laughed, cried, and for lack of nothing less cliched- I was inspired. Through her writing, one can easily imagine yourself studying in Paris. Her descriptions of the food, the chefs, new friends, and local merchants lead one towards also wanting to walk in her shoes. The book is divided into sections based on the three different courses one must complete in order to receive a diploma. Every chapter ends with a recipe. I want to cook most of them in the next year. However for tomorrow night we will choose only one. In french, we are making Filet de Bar au Lait de Coco et Epices Douces. In english, Sea Bass with Coconut Milk and Oriental Spice Sauce. I will let you know how it goes.  

So we made it through week one. My review is late, because Thursday we make the second dish.

I made Chicken-Peanut Stew from “Discovery of a Continent: Foods, Flavors, and Inspirations from Africa” by Marcus Samuelssom (see currently reading, p.147). The recipe requires onions, carrots, two scotch bonnet chilies, fresh ginger, bay leaves, chicken, peanuts, tomatoes, potatoes and spinach.  I could not find scotch bonnet peppers, so I substituted with habaneras. I have a friend who is Jamaican, and that is what he suggested. I was really impressed by the spicy flavor that they added. It was not just hot. I plan on cooking with them again. The recipe required that we toast the peanuts, blended them into a paste, and then add them to the stew. We also boiled the vegetables and pureed them. Everything was added into the same pot.

The final result was good- but not great. I felt as though there was something missing from the recipe. I felt it needed more salt, and a little pepper to help with the spice flavor. In addition, the peanut flavor could of been much stronger. I would add more of them. The directions told us to serve over rice. However, we ignored that advice because there are potatoes in the recipe. Both my husband and I agree that the rice would of complimented the dish.