Dishes & Verrines

Yesterday I went to one of my favorite craft supply stores, Archivers, and was feeling very creative.

If your household is anything like mine, we always have dishes in some state of either washed or not, in our dishwasher.  I decided to make it easy and fun for us (okay, really me!), by creating a little magnet with arrows to point to either Clean or Dirty.  Here's what I made:

  



Here it is on the dishwasher

 

Dishes are clean!  I guess I better unload the dishwasher...


Do you know what a Verrine is?  I heard of it for the first time on our PBS station on TV, the other evening. 

"A verrine is an appetizer or dessert that consists of a number of components layered artfully in a small glass. (The word verrine refers to the glass itself; literally it means "protective glass.") Intriguingly composed, they're a study in textures, flavors, colors and temperatures. A beautiful glass might be filled with a layer of mushroom flan, sautéed wild mushrooms, a julienne of prosciutto, parsley gelée, wild mushroom emulsion and topped with a potato and prosciutto galette. Another will have clementine and mint syrup, fresh clementines and a gingerbread "crumble." American chefs are just starting to catch on to the verrine. But in France it's a culinary trend that's captured just about everyone's imagination — including home cooks."  *Taken from Serious Eats

 



Don't these look yummy?!  I am going to try the one that the chef, Hubert Keller, made.  It was a dessert version that he created in one huge glass.  It was beautiful to look at and I'm sure tasted just as wonderful!  His website doesn't have the recipe yet (sorry!), but here's what I remember him using for the layers, starting from the bottom up -

pecans
shortbread round (soaked in coffee)
chocolate mousse
raspherries
whipped cream
small pieces of chopped chocolate
strawberries
and then he continued to layer, ending with whipped cream on the top, more raspberries and a drizzle of chocolate syrup

Can you say stomach ache?!  In the best kind of way, though, of course!

I think it'll be fun to make cute servings in the individual glasses, true to the verrine!

Here are some other ideas:  http://www.easy-french-food.com/verrines.html

Have a happy, sunny day!