French Class Recipes
All recipes by Chef Carlo Cavallo, Sonoma-Meritage Restaurant & Oyster Bar

Soupe Glacé à la Tomate—chilled tomato soup with crème fraîche
Serves four

2 lbs of ripe tomatoes peeled and seeded
2 cups of chicken stock
4 Tablespoons EV olive oil
2 Tablespoons of aged red wine vinegar
1 clove of garlic minced
4 Tablespoons of crème fraiche
1 bunch of basil julienne
Salt & Pepper

In a food processor add the tomato, chicken stock, oil, vinegar, garlic. Puree for two minutes salt and pepper to taste. Chill till service and garnish with crème fresh and fresh basil

Salade Niçoise—seared ahi tuna served over French and wax beans, potato, egg, heirloom tomato,
and avocado with cabernet dressing
Serves four

6 oz field greens
1lb Ahi tuna
4 hard boiled eggs, quarters
2 yukon gold potatoes, boiled sliced
4oz wax beans, blanched
4 oz green beans, blanched
2 avocado’s, sliced
2 large ripe heirloom tomato’s, sliced
½ cup of EV olive oil
¼ cup of aged red vinegar
4 Tablespoons Olive tapenade
1 bunch of chervil chopped
2 tablespoons of Dijon grain mustard

Salt and pepper the ahi tuna, sear rare on all sides in a hot sauté pan with a little olive oil. Remove from heat. Slice against the grain, in ¼ inch thick slices
In a mixing bowl combine the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, and chervil. .

On four plates, arrange the eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, avocado, drizzle with about ½ the dressing. Toss the greens with remainder of the dressing and divide onto the plates. Place the sliced tuna around the greens and top each slice with some tapenade for garnish.

Poulet Farci aux Champignons et Sauce Champagne-estragon—mushroom-stuffed chicken breast with champagne-tarragon sauce
Serves four

4 large chicken breasts, pounded thin
8 oz of sautéed champignon mushrooms, rough chopped
3 oz of goat cheese
1 bunch of fresh tarragon leaves
1 cup of champagne
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
3 tablespoon of olive oil
Flour for dredging

Preheat oven 400 in a mixing bowl combine the mushrooms and goat cheese. Place two tablespoons of mushroom mixture in center of chicken breast and fold like an omelet and toothpick to close. Salt and pepper the breasts, dredge in flour.

In a sauté pan heat the oil on high, place the breasts, brown two minutes on each side, add ½ the champagne and place in oven for ten minutes. Remove from the oven, remove breast from sauté pan. Deglaze pan with remaining champagne, add Dijon mustard and tarragon reduce volume by half, salt and pepper to taste the sauce and spoon over the breasts and serve

Crêpes Soufflées aux Citron- framboises—lemon crêpes with raspberry coulis
Serves four

For Crepes:
8 oz Milk
8 oz water
6 oz flour
4 eggs

Preparing the crepes:
Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and combine until smooth. Strain the batter through a sieve and let rest for 15 minutes. Grease a crepe pan with butter on medium heat ladle the batter into the pan and cook until the edges start to look dry. Turn the crepe once and continue to cook. Remove from pan set aside.

For the Filling:
4 eggs, separated
2 egg yolks
1 Tablespoon flour
1 Tablespoon of lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon chopped fine
4 oz of sugar

Preparing the filling:
Whip the 6 egg yolks with 2 oz sugar till they are creamy, add the flour, lemon juice, lemon zest mixing continuously. Whip the eggs whites with remaining sugar and fold into the egg yolk batter.

Rasberry coulis
3 baskets of raspberries
1//2 cup of white wine
2 tablespoons of sugar

For the Coulis:
Put all the ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil reduce volume by half, puree and pass through a sieve

Finishing the crepes:
Preheat an oven to 400 degrees
Grease a baking dish with butter, place two tablespoons of filling in the crepes and fold like an omelet, place on the baking dish, repeat. Put the crepes in the oven for 5 minutes or until they start to puff from the soufflé. Place the crepes on serving dish and top raspberry coulis and powdered sugar

Quiche aux oignons—onion and bacon tart

Pastry Dough:
2 cups flour
¾ cup (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2inch cubes
2 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons iced water

1 large yellow onion
2 leeks, white and light green parts, chopped (about 2 cups)
4 Tablespoons of butter
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
3 oz bacon
nutmeg
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 pound Gruyere cheese, grated (about 1 1/3 cups)

In a large food processor, combine the flour with butter, egg, salt and 1 tablespoon of the water. Mix lightly using a pulsing method, until pastry forms peasized pieces. You should the pastry should be moist enough to begin to stick together. If the pastry is too dry, add up to 2 more tablespoons of water.
Turn the pastry dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, dust with flour, and knead it until the pastry is smooth, about 3 to 4 times. Transfer to a plastic bag and form pastry into a disk. Refrigerate a minimum of 30 minutes, or as long as 3 days.

In a skillet over low heat add the olive oil and butter, bacon, leeks and onions salt and pepper, and saute until soft 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and arrange the rack in the middle of the oven. On a generously floured surface, roll pastry from center out, lifting pastry, turning it slightly, and occasionally flipping to prevent sticking. Roll pastry to 1/8inch thickness. Lightly butter and flour a 12 inch pie pan and line with pastry, leaving about 1/4inch overhang for shrinkage. Pinch up excess pastry to form a rim. Prick the bottom all over with a fork.
Line pastry with a sheet of parchment or aluminum foil larger than the pan, and fill with pie weights, rice, or beans. Bake about 20 minutes, until the edges begin to color. Remove the paper and weights, and spread the mustard over the bottom of the pastry. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

In a bowl, beat the eggs lightly with the milk, nutmeg. Stir in onion mixture and cheese. Pour the custard into the pie shell to within 1/4inch of the top of the crust. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until custard puffs. Allow to cool 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm or room temperature.