The (last) baking session : omelette norvégienne

In baking, there is nothing I like more than getting adventurous so for our last sweet saturday, I tried a dessert I never made before and which my French friend Laurent calls a little nightmare. The omelette norvégienne is basically a "génoise" imbibed with a syrup flavored with Grand Marnier or Cointreau, covered with vanilla ice cream then a layer of meringue. It's very easy to make but it must be served at last minute as the cake has to be put into hot oven to become slightly golden and then you serve it flambé with Grand Marnier in front of your guests.

we nibbled little things while waiting for everybody to be there

I made white menus to introduce the lonely star of the evening
and here it comes....But I could already tell there was a little problem...
I asked Laurent to "flamber" the omelette
bon..ok....it is "flambing" but underneath the vanilla ice cream was completely melt...Eh oui, my mistake was to have spread the ice cream on the "génoise" instead of just unmolding it. It would have stayed frozen at its heart.

still....the mixture of flavors was nice and instead of saying mas helado por favor, more ice cream please, we just said mas salsa de vainilla, more vanilla sauce

We spent a pleasant evening talking mainly about food while finishing the fluid omelette. Laurent (above, sitting next to his wife Pascale) who is French kept talking very passionately about foie gras and the inimitable flavor of potatoes sautées in duck's fat to Pilar who's a vegetarian except when it comes to jamon serrano. Alejandra (last on right, above) is an Italian chef who's also very passionate when she talks about her cooking. I was wrecked last saturday but now I know how to prepare a good Rossini or Bellini cocktail, just in case....

Monchéri suggested we should carry on the sweet saturdays...We'll see !

Wish you a good start of the week !