Thursday, November 22, 2012

A Hawthorne Thanksgiving. Part 3. Rosie Finished Her Gateau.


The Hawthorne Thanksgiving.  Part 1.  The Crepes.
The Hawthorne Thanksgiving.  Part 2.  The Carrots.
Today, Wednesday, Part 3,
 I prepared the broccoli
and mushroom layers,
made the custard,
assembled the gateau,
and baked it.

This was the change this year.
I made the gateau on Wednesday, not Thursday.
I think this is better.
Takes a lot off of me on Thanksgiving Day,
and the custard only improves by the set.


 It is Wednesday.
The day before Thanksgiving.
 Rosie is working on lots of stuff.
Forefront is Julia's Gateau.

Yesterday, I did the carrots and dill.
 Today, I'm doing the broccoli.

Peel.
 Cut the florets.

 Drop into salted, boiling water.


 Bring up to a boil.
About 2 - 2 1/2 minutes.

 Immerse immediately into ice water.
This stops the cooking and sets the beautiful bright green color.
Drain when cool.
Refrigerate.

 Take a pound of mushrooms
and put 'em in the processor.

 Process.

 
Take a handful of the mushrooms at a time.
Wrap in a towel and ...

... squeeze away.




Mushrooms have a lot of liquid in them.

Squeeze away.










One pound of mushrooms yielded 1 cup of liquid.
I'm saving the mushroom juice too.
That will go into my mushroom and giblet gravy.


Take two shallots.


Mince them.

Add to hot oil and butter combo.

Add in shrooms.

Cook away for several minutes, stirring,
until the pieces separate.
This is officially mushroom duxelles now.

Chop the broccoli florets.

Next, I made the custard sauce:
1 8-oz. package cream cheese
6 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper
nutmeg
Process until smooth.








Custard is ready.

And I'm ready to assemble.
Crepes -  check.
Custard  -  check.
Carrots  -  check.
Broccoli  -  check.
Mushroom duxelles  -  check.
2 cups Swiss cheese  -  check.

Butter your dish and put a buttered wax paper circle on the bottom.
Fit in the first crepe, good side on the outside.


Four layers overlapping.
Then another four layers of crepes.
Leave the overhang.

Spread in 1/4 of the grated cheese.

Press in the carrot mixture.

Top with 1/3 of the cheese.

Ladle in custard to cover.

Top with a crepe.

Add the mushroom duxelles.

Ladle in the custard to cover.

Top with another crepe.

Add 1/2 the cheese.

Add in the broccoli.


Add the rest of the cheese.
Add the remaining custard.

Pull the overhang over top.

Top with another crepe.
Put a buttered piece of wax paper on top.

Cover with foil.

This goes into a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.
At one hour, kick it up to 400 degrees
and cook 45 minutes more.
Internal temperature of 160 degrees.





 Let rest for15 minutes, to let the custard settle.





 Then invert.

 Perfection!


 Absolutely beautiful.
 And now, I'm done for the day
and can enjoy my champagne.





 I'm so excited.
Can't wait to cut into this Thanksgiving Day!

I left the room.
My first mistake.

I left Mr. Hawthorne in the kitchen,
My second mistake.

I left Mr. Hawthorne with one of the Hawthornelets friends
who was possibly herbally-challenged.
My third mistake.

 I came back into the kitchen
and a THIRD of my gateau had been consumed!

 Oh. My. God.
 Heads will roll!

Look what they did to my gateau!!!
It's not even Thanksgiving.

I can see the headlines now:
Colington Woman Snaps Thanksgiving Eve.
Rosie Hawthorne, noted blogger and aspiring chef,
apparently lost it late Wednesday evening,
overcome by the stress of the holidays
and the absolute obtuseness of her spouse.
Ms. Hawthorne was found aimlessly wandering
 the streets of Colington Harbour,
disheveled, with blood on her hands,
wielding her razor-sharp Kiwi knives,
muttering incomprehensibly,
"Gateau.  Kill.  Crepes. Kill.
Three days of work.  Kill.
Broccoli.  Kill.
Carrots and dill.  Kill.
Mushroom duxelles.  Kill.
Gateau.  Kill.
JULIAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"

Ms. Hawthorne is currently restrained and under observation
in the psych ward of the Outer Banks Hospital.
Your prayers and thoughts for her speedy recovery are welcomed.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Stay tuned for the rest of the Hawthorne Holiday,
blogged from Rosie's cozy, padded cell at Crazy Central.

7 comments:

Lori K said...

Just enough left for me!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Oh no he di'int!!! It does look like an irresistible dish for the herbally challenged though.

Anonymous said...

A beautiful gateau. So much work. Shame on those miscreants who got into that before the big day. SHAME!

Marilyn said...

I still can't believe he did that! That is a culinary crime! My condolences, dear. Let the punishment fit the crime.

SweetPhyl said...

Mr. Hawthorne, "NO GATEAU FOR YOU!!!" This is unforgivable. He'd be eatin' outside with Junior, if it were my three days of hard work that he'd violated! Looks damn delicious, anyhoo.

Anonymous said...

I can send BS to beat him up, if you want...

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Anony, not necessary. I beat him up enough.

Interestingly enough, and something I hesitate to disclose, there has been a past issue with a gateau.
It was not pretty. XKT can offer insight. It's still too soon for me to talk about it.