Caulfield Harvest 'n' Graze Festival 05.02.2012

Fantastic day shared with My Other Kitchen, Jane and Foodie Trail

Life & Style The Age 04/02/2012

26/10/2011

Sandra contributes to the Shabby Chef cookbook Duclos Bridget and Lehmann Anthony, Mix 101.1, from Pinguin books Australia  

 

Great Weekend !!!! Vegemite, foie gras and Champagne macarons were a success !!!

See you next year. Thanks for Laura and Samantha for the organisation.

Chateau Cuisine specialises in regional French cookery classes.

Holding regular classes several times a month, you can learn from owner and founder Sandra, how to perfect macarons, souffles, pastries, croquembouche and desserts. The 7 week course focuses on French and Swiss Regional cooking, introducing you to the most traditional French recipes from a selection of seasonal menus.

Sandra takes pride in ensuring each student's cooking experience is a “hands on experience", and makes it easy to replicate the dishes at home. Just read all the happy testimonials from past students on the website.

But don’t just read about, visit www.chateaucuisine.com.au, and book a class for yourself, or visit Chateau Cuisine at Paris to Provence and book a series of classes as a Christmas present. 

CWA BAYSIDE

COMBINED COOKING & GARDENING EVENT

7.15pm sharp on Thursday 4^th August

to be held at the Hampton Senior Citizens Centre

14 Service Street, Hampton

Three Great Presenters!

SANDRA BERNARD arrived in Australia from Lausanne, and worked as a chef in a French cafe. Sandra is married to a French man, and maintains strong links with France and Switzerland. She has a passion for food and shares her excitement in the art of French cooking, through her business Chateau Cuisine, which she established to enable others to experience the true taste of French gourmet and home style cooking. Her classes include Pastry (Croquembouche, desserts), La Cuisine de l’Hiver, French regional, Souffles, Macarons and children’s French cooking classes. Sandra will teach us knife skills (Brunoise, Julienne, Paysanne) using winter produce from the garden. http://www.chateaucuisine.com.au/

The gardening section of the evening is on growing vegetables and herbs in the Bayside area. Two presenters from Bunnings Mentone – Kerrie (Gardening Manager) and Anna (Community Services Manager) – will lead us in an informative talk, followed by question and answer time.

If you would like to practice chopping then please bring along your knives, chopping board, apron & a selection of winter produce – take home and make a delicious soup!

What a great evening... I really enjoyed it. Nice ladies. Thanks Penny !!!

GOOD FOOD AND WINE SHOW MELBOURNE 2011

met Manu Feildel on Friday 03/06/2011. I still waiting for the Dance !!!!

Written by Alicia W

 

How does a petit morsel of perfectly packaged meringue-based instill fear in the best of cooks?  It is with trepidation and excitement that we congregated at the Bayside commercial kitchen for a morning of baking… les macaron.  I’ve had the fortune of tasting the coveted macarons from many patisseries including the famed of Ladurée, Fauchon, Sadaharu Aioki and Pierre Hermes.  So I know what I wanted from today’s session - a journey for the eye, visuals of delicate smooth domes to the all important ‘foot’; and for the taste buds - a crunchy shell encasing light melt-in-your-mouth gooey interiors.  Not too much to ask for?

 

Classes are run by Sandra Bernard of Chateau Cuisine, originally from the French-speaking city of Lausanne, Switzerland.  Sandra has been sharing her French home style cooking, initially as a chef in a French café and now teaching techniques and secrets to enthusiastic students.  Sandra reveals: “The inspiration of the cuisine in all the classes comes from an appreciation of the French regions with taking each season into account.”

 

Our group of 10 enthusiastic home-pastry-chefs/foodies paired up and were assigned a flavour of focus.  Sandra presented a brief history of macarons and the unique styles of the French against the Italian versions.  The Italian meringue incorporates sugar syrup into its mixture whereas the French would beat the sugar and egg whites until soft peaks formed.  And this was our first “pressure point”.  Sandra demonstrated that the egg white and sugar mixture needed to be sufficiently beaten and mixed,  with the common trick that the stiff peaks held their form even when tipped upside down.  Colouring of the macarons also occurred at this stage and it was interesting to learn that any ‘foreign’ ingredients added to the mixture may adversely affect the sensitive meringue mixture.  As such, the macaron shells are usually coloured but not flavoured, and that the batch of macaron chocolat may not rise as well as the others due to the foreign chocolate powder incorporated into the meringue mixture.  And for the secret to the smooth domes?  Allowing the piped meringue mixture to rest at least 15-20 minutes – until the surface has hardened slightly, forming a ‘skin’.  Another advocate of the ‘patience is a virtue’ adage.

 

The class was littered with questions for Sandra, obviously wanting to recreate the magical macarons seen so commonly around many shops and cafes these days.  Sandra readily responded with an obvious depth of understanding of how these simple biscuits worked:

 

*Age egg whites at room temperature for at least 24 hours prior to baking to reduce the moisture content; ensure all ingredients are at room temperature.

*Always fold egg whites into flour mixture to retain maximum air content

*Sprinkle any decorations on the macaron shells as you leave it to rest. 

 

Piping the macarons was also an art in itself.  I found the most accurately shaped macarons were from keeping the tip fixed and slightly above the tray, then twist the contents out as it forms a small circle (not swirling it around as one may imagine!). 

 

The buttercream filling were prepared as the trays laden with macarons were left to rest, and later, baked.  Another little known fact, macaron shells can actually be frozen and used up to 2-3 weeks later (after allowing it to fully defrost) without any difference in taste.  In fact, many patisseries actually leave the baked macaron shells for a few days before they are for sale in the shops.

 

The ultimate test came as a hungry swarm of bees were keen to see the results of a hard morning’s work.  Firstly, there were feet!  To test if the macarons were done, gently lift the macaron from the tray.  It should feel solid when lifted, and not ‘wobbly’.  And the final results speak for itself:  smooth round domes, the "footed" edge, a crunchy shell and moist interiors.  All in just one morning!

 

The class was thoroughly interesting and a great way for beginners to overcome any macaron jitters.  It was definitely a hands-on interactive experience and there was opportunities for one-on-one guidance if required. 

 

Go with plenty of questions and leave with enough tasty macarons and the confidence to experiment further at home! 

 

The Art of Making Macarons run by Chateau Cuisine for more info you can go to www.chateaucuisine.com.au

Sandra Bernard - Chateau Cuisine + Adrian ZUMBO - ZUMBO Patisserie

Dans ce podcast spécial du SBS Food Journey Festival nous parlons à Sandra Bernard de Château Cuisine et au chef patissier Adriano Zumbo de Zumbo Patisserie à Sydney

Adriano Zumbo and Sandra Bernard at our Stand K 19, SBS food Journey Festival Friday 04/03/2011

Bayside Leader 01/03/2011