for part 1 of this Alsatian meal, featuring foie gras and escargot in vol-au-vents and see the Food & Wine of Alsace Class 3 Part 1
Munster Valley Pie
The next thing on our Alsatian menu was ‘Munster Valley Pie‘, a pork pie done Alsace-style with Munster cheese and licoricey tarragon.
Alsace-style Pork Pie
- for the pork pie, we started off by making the pastry crust. Here the butter is being cut into the flour. Then the mixture was processed, and once ‘smooth’, an egg added through the feeding tube, followed by a few drops of cold water. The processor was stopped once the dough had formed into a ball.
cutting the butter into the flour for the pie pastry
- the next step in making the pork pie was to prepare the filling, starting with pork tenderloin cut into small cubes…
this is what Chef Eric says is finely diced pork
- bread crumbs were mixed with the diced pork…
Bread crumbs for the pork pie
- to the bread crumbs and pork were added a quarter cup of Madeira, milk, tarragon, diced boiled potatoes, Munster cheese, fried onion, garlic, egg and spices
1/4 cup of Madeira wine was added to the pork & breadcrumb mix
- after being refrigerated for at least 10 minutes, the pastry was rolled out in two pieces. The larger bottom portion was draped over the pie pan, and then filled with the pork mixture.
the pork mixture in placed into the pastry-lined pie plate
- the smaller top portion of pastry was placed on top of the pork pie and a neat trick: a rolling pin was applied along the edge of the pie plate to trim off the excess pastry.
trimming the pastry crust by pressing down hard on the edge with a rolling pin
- the Munster Valley pork pie was brushed with egg yolk, decorated and then baked.
Munster Valley Pork Pie straight out of the oven
- the wine selected to go with the pork pie was a well-aged Pinot Noir from the Alsace region.
$80 Pinot Noir to go with the Pork Pie
- the wine selected to go with the pork pie was a well-aged (2002) Pinot Noir from the Alsace region. Like the Foie Gras we had in the first part of this meal, this $80 bottle of wine isn’t likely to grace my table any time soon but I really enjoyed it, especially with the pork pie. It started off ’stinky’ of truffles and earth, with soft Madeira notes but tasted and smelled waaaay better after a bite or two of the pork pie.
back label of the Pinot Noir Wine
Seafood Sylvaner Choucroute
Choucroute is the French version of sauerkraut, very popular in the German-influenced Alsace region where cabbage grows all winter long. Chef Eric’s version had masses of different fish and seafoods, wine, onions, and potatoes in a wine cream sauce. This dish requires what the French call ‘mise en place’, where all of the many ingredients were prepared ahead. Once everything was ready the final dishes were assembled.
- juniper berries were the surprise ingredient in the choucroute
Juniper Berries were the surprise ingredient in the choucroute
- the juniper berries were sauteed with onions, garlic and a few bay leaves…
Onions, juniper berries and bay leaves
- the choucroute and wine were combined with the onion mixture, and then smoked herring was placed on top to keep both warm while the rest of the dish was prepped
the smoked herring and sauerkraut being kept warm
- browning the white fish fillets
- the salmon fillets were also browned
- the ‘mise en place’, where all of the ingredients have prepared ahead and are now ready to assemble.
the ‘mise en place‘ set up for the final preparation of the Seafood Sauerkraut
- puff pastry toppers were made from the excess dough left over from the ‘vol-au-vents‘ used for the escargot appetizer from part 1 of this third class
Puff Pastry Toppers for the Seafood Choucroute
- the finished Seafood Sylvaner Choucroute, served with the Sylvaner wine that also accompanied our escargot appetizer
Dessert for this banquet was Fromage Blanc Tart. Within a fabulous crust was a rich fromage blanc/crème fraîche/egg filling. Again, not too sweet seems to be the keyword for most of the French desserts.
White Fromage Tart
With it we had another essential French experience: Eau-de-Vie Poire Williams.
Eau-de-Vie Poire Williams
For the intro to our 2nd class of Alsatian cuisine: https://blogs.ubc.ca/albatz/2012/12/12/ubc-food-wine-of-alsace-class-2-part-1/
For the intro to our 1st class of Alsatian cuisine:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/albatz/2012/10/19/the-food-wine-of-alsace-ubc-class-1-part-1/