Mother's Day: Cuisine Solutions - FiveLeaf

By JULIETTE ROSSANT You've returned home from a trip to find the refrigerator empty and an important guest (your mom?) is coming for dinner. What do you do? Skip take-out, and dig in your freezer for Thomas Keller's "Mac and Cheese" or Poached Lobster Tails with Orzo and Lobster Sauce with Mascarpone Cheese. Cuisine Solutions is re-launching its FiveLeaf series of frozen sous-vide dishes and Super Chef tried the lot. The once frozen lobster came out of its plastic pouch piping hot, firm, fresh-tasting, and succulent. The orzo that accompanied it was a bit stuck together, but with gentle fork pressure it separated and into its lush sauce of marscapone, tarragon and lobster stock. It is a rich meal that only needs vegetables and a salad – picked up at a farm stand on the way home. Would mom appreciate all the work? Sure, you'll be mixing that salad and preparing the asparagus. FiveLeaf uses sous-vide technology, which means that the lobster, sauce and pasta are vacuum sealed and then slowly cooked in water at very low temperatures. It is the same cooking technique used by the Thomas in his restaurants. The difference is that the food is flash frozen and then reheated at home. Reheating means, you boil a large pot of water, turn the heat off and put in the packets. Cover the pot and the food heats from frozen to service in 12 minutes. The other offerings are Charlie Trotter's Lamb Sirloins with Apricot Sauce, Daniel Boulud's Braised Beef Short Ribs with Red Wine Reduction Sauce, and Mark Miller's Barbeque Pork Ribs with Tamarind Sauce. The ribs are heated by placing them in a hot oven for 15 to 22 minutes (depending on whether they are frozen or not) so that the sauce is caramelized and the ribs are heated through. These are for serious garlic lovers. The FiveLeaf dishes have nothing to do with cook-in-bag frozen vegetables or microwave-safe food. Most French supermarkets sell sous-vide versions of famous chef's dishes that are perfect when you want to eat home but still have substantial and luxurious meal you might have in a restaurant. Now all you have to do is buy in advance! Previous articles: Mother's Day: Mary Poppins in the Kitchen Mother's Day: Perry's Mother's Day: Finding Betty Crocker [Products & Endorsements - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, Mother's Day --> back to Super Chef