Vegetarian appies at Green Cabo...and eco/green festival in Cabo San Lucas

That was a quite interesting setting for an  organic and green living festival:  an unfinished parking garage in a convention center inside a quite polluted (and polluting...) marina, next to a dolphin "concentration camp". 
But, hey! who am I to judge? Better stop before I bruise some overinflated ego.
Happily decided to be present with a little stand ...the only caveat was : only vegetarian food. Quite a surprise and a challenge for yours truly who "likes his vegetables with the peel on and his animals whole" LOL.

This is what we agreed on : 

* Roasted garlic, toasted almonds,honey,cranberries, chickpeas pate'/marinated cherry tomato/ multi grain sourdough

*Seared farmers' queso fresco/mango chutney/baked plantain

*Smokey eggplant caviar/dill + garlic yogurt/capsicum + fennel coulis/sprouted seeds + coconut+corn blini 

 presented as a trio of amuse gueules an a cute leaf shape white plate.

Here's a few pics that my new friend Alejandra, a very talented Argentinian artist from La Paz   (http://www.alejandramorante.com ), took for me, since there were no pics whatsoever taken by the event staff and/or organizers.

Overall, despite the poor organization, planning and advertising of the event , it did not go bad...not stellar, but not bad either.

I met some interesting people, 
some definitively peculiar persons and made a few new friends.

Since the whole vegetarian theme was quite of an unsuspected challenge I did not follow any recipe and went instead by pure inspiration, instinct and taste and I haven't organized my cooking and tasting notes yet.

I will post recipes of the dishes as soon as possible.

For now, 

Ciao from Los Cabos,

Emilio  : )

Porchetta! [porˈketta]

What represents a summer county party better than a shiny, juicy and fragrant porchetta being sliced hot from the oven or spit in a small Italian village square?

How can you resist that smile....

Here's Wikipedia's description :

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porchetta

and here's mine:

First, you need the perfect pig.... I personally like 30 to 40 pounds animal, because it's a lot of work to completely de bone it, as you can see in the
videos that follow.




//www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151027308566123

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151027331316123


Then you need to get ALL the scrap meat, the legs meat, the liver, handfuls of garlic, fennel seeds, salt and pepper and BUSHES, forests of rosemary and stuff the baby, tie it up and rub it with more herbs and olive oil...with care and tender love.
All this hard work will pay you back four hours later, when straight out of the oven you'll have earned the rights to the little caramelized nuggets of meat sticking out of the roast... heaven!




No need to get fancy here, that would be against the peasant nature of this venerable preparation...some good crusty bread or piadina ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piadina ) and some rustic red wine..easy, that's all you need for a great time with your friends and family and the rest of town on a summer Sunday....


A little side note:  this is a great opportunity to take a look at how organs, like lungs, work....

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151027373471123

Have fun!
Emilio

So, what happened? Where did Emilio go? Is he still alive and well in the Baja desert?
The answer is YES, still here, still longing my green woods and the Pacific rain forest.  : )
Of all the summers and the low seasons, this past one has been the slowest.
Basically business has been flat lining for the past few months and gave me a great opportunity to work on new projects, ideas, recipes for the oncoming season and...lots of fishing and archery training.
I also discovered and picked up a new obsession, the atlatl.
I will start posting regularly again next week and I'll try and get some half decent pics of my archery and atlatl passion.
For the moment it's everything kids!
Ciao,
Emilio

Fugu filet

Here's a second clip courtesy of my buddy Joe (  http://socalsalty.wordpress.com ). We where fishing...nice way to say walking,casting and getting skunked again... la Bocana in San Jose' del Cabo when we saw these local guys fishing a few puffer fish.
Once approached we started talking about recipes and the peculiar way locals have  to harvest the filet.
This makes it totally safe. here it is, caught on video for you.
A note: puffer fish is very good eating..forget sushi and urban legends; think monkfish instead!
Ah! Another thing...here too, like elsewhere in the world, if some food is remotely "weird" it's good for your...ehm...#privates  ; )
Enjoy the clip:

Surf fishing Cabo with @SoCalSalty & @CaboSurfCaster

Here's the proof that social medias are more than just a way to exchange gossip and bits of news and frivolous information.
Over the past few months I've been active on Twitter I' ve got to know a lot of interesting people involved in cooking and fishing.
In a few cases these "virtual friendships" blossomed into actual ones .
@SoCalSalty and i started planning this surf fishing outing a couple months ago and even though we thought of a lots of things, we did not take into consideration this ginormous new moon that, sure as hell, messed fishing up in a major way.
The following link is to the first installment of a series of short videos that Joe ( @SoCalSalty ) shot during these last few days, on the quest for nasty, angry and toothy CUBERA snappers, jack crevalle and the ghost of the surf itself...the mighty roosterfish!
Guiding us was Cabo born Wesley Brough ( @CaboSurfCaster ) who was featured in Dave Maynard's award winning "Fishing the Baja" network show
Here's the first clip:

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FVBmSIbs0&h=uAQELOW9_AQHnbWeLUfi2ceTqDjxUDrJVKOTjthX93406lg

Enjoy the adventures and disadventures of these jollly anglers and stick around for more.

Giulio's First 6 Strands Challah! HAHAHA!

Giulio takes one for the team.... Thanks pal         ; )

I'm back!

Hi guys...nice to be back!
Not that I ever left but I've been hiperbusy catering to a big family of 12 in a rental villa and, at the same time, doing private dinners for a few friends.
Not much to say but "Thank you" for the abundance...the dulldrums of summer are just ahead on the horizon so now it's time to go "balls to the wall" and take anything that comes our way.

Giulio and I came up with some interesting menus...even put a few neat twists on classics that our clien wanted during the stay.

Remember spending a whole afternoon coming up with countless ideas for a Caesar Salad..duh!

Here are some  pics of the ones I think are the most interesting dishes we served to Matt and his family at Fundadores in P.to Los Cabos:

 MONDAY:

Baked Portobello, truffled goat's cheese, roasted tomatoes and squash blossom stack

In the works...on the way out

Parrotfish....fresh enough?



Pan roasted parrotfish ( smells like lobster! ) with roasted garlic and garlic chips, herbed tomato coulis, "erotic" potatoes

Pappardelle with Piemontese ragu' >>> lots of porcini mushrooms, red wine ,sausage, chicken liver and  BEEF!

On Tuesday we cooked for our friend Adrienne's family at the El Zalate condos in SanJose'. You´ll find that dinner "report" and more on www.iCookCabo.blogspot.com

Back to Matt's on Wed for Pasta Night... we made a lasagna with the leftover ragu

                                                                      
 a "fancy" porky Mac'n'cheese with lots of smoked pork chops, bacon and really SHARP Cheddar and Parmigiano in it...we spread it out thin in order to make nice and crunchy and, while it was intended for the kids, the adults couldn't wait for it to cool down and be served...picture a locust invasion! HAHA!

Also freshly made spaghettini with #vongole

and the star of the evening: duck ravioli, with Port reduction, blackberries and Parmigiano

Now..the day came with a little issue...for me at leas...
as you know I am a strong supporter of catch and release, specially for sportfish and specially for billfish. The clients went fishing that day and caught a pretty decent marlin and brought it home in order have it packed and shipped back to N.Y.
Also they'd liked some for dinnner.
In order to apologize for the killing of such a noble animal, this dish had to be perfect...good wouldn't have been enough so here's what we did :

First we encrusted it in pistacchios and lightly seared it

Then we sliced it and served with a spiced up leftover Caesar dressing from the night before.
It made for very interesting contrast of textures and acidic, fatty,sweet and nutty notes

Thursday was back at El Zalate condos in SanJose for another iCook dinner.

Friday baaaaack to Fundadores for a paella evening..not ANY paella though...Lobster and Soft Shell Crabs Paella ! lights of FusionConfusion tapas like duck taquitosour tamarind sauce, shrimp&pork pot stickers with a ginger&balsa; meatball sliders with melted Provolone.
Here's a few pictures os the Paella De Luxe:

Ready for the oven

Saturday was the last night and Matt wanted something "important" to crown the week...so we went off to get some real good local lamb chops that we've encrusted in mustard, Mexiterranean herbs, sunflower seeds and pepitas and we roasted root vegetables ( the cutest baby beets in any color God makes them, radishes, multicolored carrots and potatoes

And, finally, the last push...Dessert. A combination of "Clean the fridge" crumble, Cointreau semifreddo, raspberry, red wine and rosemary compote and Warm Moltent Chocolate Cake

As they say..that's it folks  ; )  as always feel free to send me a line if you'reinterested in any of the recipes and I'll send it over to you and/or I'll post it here.

Ciao, for now,

Emilio

 

Easter dinner in Palmilla

Here's the menu of last week's dinner we catered in Palmilla Estates, Los Cabos.

Botanas, Snacks: coconut shark ceviche;

sesame breaded chicken fingers with saffron aioli and tamarind sauce
Appetizer: grilled local baby octopus with lavander cauliflower puree and warm pork belly vinaigrette

Salad: shaved asparagus, tender green fava beans, mixed tender lettuces,aged sheep's cheese, citronette
First course: gnocchi with artisanal ricotta, prosciutto, arugula and oven roasted tomatoes
Second course: loin of yellowtail(hamachi) with chickpeas and spinach stew

Dessert:individual coconut custard tarts.

As always, recipes to follow..... 

Ciao,

Emilio.

Eat local, eat fresh

As you all know I live, fish and cook in Baja California Sur, a hilly peninsula surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez. Between the bounty of our waters and the year around crops of our farms we're blessed with an obscene abundance of fresh, local seasonal and mostly organic ingredients.
Where am I going with this? Out for a stroll with Tony, my dog, earlier this morning I was snooping around restaurants alleyways ( a bad, long time habit that's hard to kill..) and, by a good downtown restaurant with a great rep, saw an empty box of scallops, from China. That got me thinking and kind of pissed me off more than a bit.
We live in scallop central and, to top it off, we're in the middle of scallops season, which means LOTS of FRESH, local scallops from just up the peninsula! And that reminded me that most of the restaurant and hotels in town sell frozen New Zealand lamb, when there's tons of very good, local lamb or an "organic" restaurant using frozen Asian fish for its fish'n'chips ( maybe if it comes from the local supermarket, in their book it can be considered "local"? ) and so on and on and on till when I got home and on Twitter my friend and chef Emanuele shared this post by Mark Bittman which I'd like to share with you here:

A Letter that all Chefs (and Anyone Who Eats) Need to Read

10|25|11

I’ve known George Faison for 25 years or more; he was a co-founder of D’Artagnan and is now a co-owner of Debragga and Spitler, a New York meat wholesaler that’s been doing business since 1924, and a main supplier to many of the city’s best restaurants. This is a letter George sent late last week to a well-known chef, and one he’ll be sending to others. (It’s worth noting, if for no other reason than to answer the inevitable question, which I asked myself, that George doesn’t only sell naturally-raised meats – he sells industrially-produced stuff as well. But he’s on a campaign to persuade the chefs who insist that’s what they want to change their minds, and I know he’d like to supply only the right stuff.) I’ve changed nothing except misspellings.

---

Hey Chefs:
This note explains my thinking about why I believe that you should be pursuing clean agricultural ingredients as standard practice in your restaurants.
Our food supply system is broken. Badly. 80 percent of the U.S. beef production is controlled by four industrially producing companies. Three of these companies also process 60 percent of the nation’s pork.[1] Too much chemical fertilizer and pesticides are used to produce our crops. The variety of crops produced around the world has diminished dramatically in the last 60 years. There are now nearly 5,000,000 fewer American farmers since the 1930s.
Yes, this industrial structure has significantly lowered the monetary cost of the food we consume. But this is misleading. While the amount of money we spend on food has declined, the quality and nutrition supplied by this food has deteriorated. As a country, about one third of all adults are obese, and since 1980, the incidence of obesity has tripled among children ages 2-19.[2]
In 1960, we spent 18 percent of our take home pay on food and 5 percent on health care. Now we spend 9 percent of our take home pay on food and upwards of 17 percent on health care. According to Michael Pollan, during his Oprah interview in February, “We spend less of our money on food than any other people at any other time on this earth.” What’s wrong with this picture?
People have gotten used to eating cheap food and it is killing them. There is little flavor and little nutrition and we eat more and more, because so much of it has been engineered to trigger consumption (salt and sugar have been proven to be addictive, like nicotine in cigarettes).
Regarding meat and poultry, here is what drives me to promote naturally raised meats.
By clean I mean the following:
1. Antibiotic free: Over 70 percent of the antibiotics used in this country are fed to the animals we eat. 70 percent! The practice is banned in Europe. The antibiotics are fed to animals housed in Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). They are so densely housed that they get sick. The producer gives them feed treated with antibiotics so they won’t get sick. Hogs are crammed into concrete and metal pens with grates that allow the excrement to fall through. Chickens are packed into closed houses where the lights are turned on four times each day to make them eat more often. Conditions like these would make any animal sick.
The key problem when antibiotics are overused is that it can lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It is a great threat to our country’s health. In fact, there is an antibiotic-resistant Staph bacteria called MRSA that is definitely impacting employees working on hog CAFOs. According to the CDC, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that in 2007, 18,650 people died of MRSA, whereas approximately 16,000 died of AIDS. Additionally, JAMA reported that MRSA was also responsible for upward of 94,000 life threatening illnesses.[3]


Commodity cattle that are fed hormones are moved to a feedlot after as little as 9 months. There, they are given antibiotic-laced feed to keep them healthy while they adjust to a largely grain diet (that’s like you moving from a salad-based diet to an all-cheese diet overnight). These cattle are intensely fed for 75-100 days. Very efficient. Very cheap.
Naturally raised cattle are on pasture for 16-20 months before transferring to a low density feedlot where they are fed a mixed diet (dried grass/grain for 200 days in a naturally raised, clean program; 400 days for a wagyu program). It takes a lot longer to raise clean, healthy cattle, and this is why they cost more. But they taste a lot better and they marble better. Our naturally raised, clean beef program typically grades over 20 percent Prime, and that’s a lot more than commodity at 1.5 percent.
But the impact of hormones in our food system is becoming increasingly controversial. The practice is banned in Europe. The use of hormones in our food supply has been linked to the earlier onset of menstruation in young women in western societies over the last 40 years. (These dates coincide with the introduction of hormones as an additive/growth stimulant in dairy and beef cattle.) The issue with earlier onset of menstruation is that it is associated with a vastly greater incidence of cancer in women, breast and cervical.[4] That is just one reason why many of our retail customers are ordering DeBragga’s grass fed or naturally raised beef.
So why does this matter to you? Maybe it doesn’t. But from where I sit, I see more and more of our chef/restaurateurs making the switch to naturally raised meats and poultry for the reasons I describe above, and more (like animal welfare, for example). We know that a greater and greater number of our clients, especially in New York City, are looking for these ingredients, even expecting us to be offering them. As an industry, restaurants are on the cutting edge. Not just in culinary technique and quality, or décor and service, but in the quality and production standards used to make the ingredients in our recipes.
Yes, naturally and humanely raised meats cost more. Maybe you can counter the higher monetary cost by offering smaller portions. Or expect chefs to charge more money for it.
I do not think the solution to our food supply problem is to use poorer quality ingredients because they cost less money. In the long run, the true cost of these meats is so much higher.
George

---

[1] Hendrickson, Mary and William Heffernan. “Concentration of Agricultural Markets.” Department of Rural Sociology, University of Missouri. April 2007.
[2] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[3] Journal of the American Medical Association, October 17, 2007.
[4] Sellman, Sherrill, “The problem with precocious puberty,” Nexus Magazine, Vol 11, 3, April – May 2004.

Interesting, right?

 Till the next time,

Buon appetito and tight lines,

Emilio

Making gnocchi is boring

Ok, I started with all my best intentions and I was ready to make 4 pounds of gnocchi...but motivation faded rather soon and I got stuck with a couple pounds of riced potatoes.
Don't believe the overpaid tv and overly famous chefs when they tell you that making gnocchi is "fun" and "entertaining" for the whole family...it's not, it's tedious and boring, and repetitive and monotonous and...where was I'
Yes, the potatoes...

I added a couple tins of tuna in water (well drained), a couple eggs, s&p and half a cup of A.P.flour.
Mixed it up nicely and started rolling it out on a floured table top... and that's when I thought to start taking pics..

So, roll'em up, 1 inch diameter,cut it with a plastic spatula in 4 inch bits, roll in flour, then egg, then in bread crumbs...I don't use panko because I feel retarded using Japanese bread when I have bags of dry bread in the pantry.

Once your soon to be croquettes are breaded, fry them in a blend of butter and vegetable oil, till nice and golden on all sides.

Frying in butter and corn oil...

...till nicely golden on all side  : )

Take them out, roll them on a lenght of kitchen paper and serve them.

I served mine with a Mexican salsa verde, the raw one that, I think, has a little more zest than the cooked version...but you can use whatever you want; thinking about it a good spicy tomato sauce or a Puttanesca sauce would be quite good too...

Beet "zuppetta" with vanilla & basil gelato, balsamic and black pepper

I was going through folder of older pictures and found this dessert that I totally forgot about.
I love it..it's a little "out there", but be open and give it a try.

At the restaurant we made our own gelato, but what you can do, in a pinch, is to blend a handful of basil leaves with a couple spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream ( the richer and the fatter the better ), mix it in the rest of the pint and put it back in the freezer, till the end of the dinner.

The other prep you'll have to do ahead is to reduce the vinegar by placing 2 cups of balsamic into a skillet and reduce it to at least 50% over low heat.

Now, for the beet zuppetta, just peel your beet (s), diced them somewhat small and blend them with a bit of lemon juice and sugar adding a tiny bit of water if the blender screams for it.

That's it...just pour the beet in a glass, cup or bowl, scoop some gelato on it, drizzle with the reduction and add a basil leaf, touch of freshly ground black pepper and very few sea salt crystals.

Enjoy.

Lavender pork fillet

Spring is here and so is fresh, tender arugula...a great pairing to many proteins.

To me, when it comes to mea, nothing scream "SPRIIING" like this little pork number...

Sorry...this time I couldn't wait....

Very easy: Place equal amounts of lavender seeds and sea salt in a mortar and grind.
Use the "lavender salt" to rub your room temperature pork fillet ( I like to use the points, or tips, called solomillo in Spanish ).
Heat a skillet, preferibly cast iron, and drizzle with just a few drops of vegetable oil.
When it's HOT, sear the meat on every side and finish in the oven till pale pink ( 145° ) if you " dare" or 165° if you like to "play it safe".
Even faster: sliice the pork in one inch thick medallions and skip the oven part...
As the meat is ready, slice it in medallions and place it over a bed of tender spring arugula and drizzle with the very best olive oil you can put your hands on..  ; )
Same more sea salt and perhaps a tiny squeeze of lemon and I¿you'll thank me.
Another great side for this would be a pretty clean and simple cauliflower puree ( you'll find it somewhere in the blog, looking for the label...).
The wine...I'd say a lighter, crispier red or white like a good Traminer would cut it really really well....
Cheers!

Just a little note on the temp: Trichinosis is today pretty much absent from US and Canada pork.
More info here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis

In defense of "pastasciutta"

Here's a little piece on artisanal pasta from my other blog  www.iCookCabo.blogspot.com :

The kneading of flour and water was perhaps one of man's first actions if you look back through his history. The first bread was simply dough made from flour and water without yeast: even today, among some primitive populations, the use of yeast is completely unknown. However, all cultures have known the art of kneading, even if they have not all used the same ingredients, which are usually chosen according to what is available locally: the flour of various cereals either mixed with water alone or enriched with eggs and perhaps oil, and so on.Pasta casalinga ( home made pasta ), or so called fresh pasta, now generally means egg pasta; it contains one egg for every 2 1/2 ounces of American all-purpose white flour and is extremely nutritious. Why not indulge in it every now and then in order to rediscover forgotten aromas and flavours especially since you can acquire readily through purveyors like us?Some have objected that home-made pasta is a food that is hardly suitable for the sedentary life of modern man because it contains too many calories: in fact a normal plate of pastasciutta contains about 360 calories, most of which are derived from carbohydrates, with only a few coming from protein.The most up to date nutritional science has now accertained that pasta is not fattening if it's properly seasoned and and included in a correct and well balanced diet. Indeed, it is advisable to introduce pasta into the daily diet because wheat flour, especially "natural" wheat flour that has not been treated chemically during refining and that has been cultivated using natural fertilizers, contains minerals salts and many important vitamines including some from B and E groups. Moreover, pasta made with one egg ( or more ) every2 1/2 ounces of flour has considerable nutritional value. If soft -grain wheat flour is less rich in proteins than the hard-grain durum wheat flour used in making industrial pastas, the deficiency is largely compensated by the nutritious substances contained in the eggs: albumin, other proteins of animal origin, and fatty substances.After the above considerations, it is easy to realize how important this food is in our diet. If one also considers that fresh pasta is mainly seasoned with foods that are also very nourishing - cheeses and other such ingredients- or that it may be stuffed with succulent meat, fish and vegetable fillings, one can definitively conclude that it has great chances of becoming a dish with unmatchable flavour, within everyone's means and ready to satisfy even the fussiest and most refined palates.

Ban Mi meatballs; the bread is inside... DOH! : )

Just wrap them up in lettuce, paint them red with Sriracha and eat eat eat eat eat....

Calling all pork lovers with a foot fetish...

What did you think? Dirty minds you...
Just messing around with some pig trotters the other day and came up with this...purely experimental for now, but I think it's worth sharing!

Pig's trotter and fava beans terrine

I started by boiling dry fava beans till "al dente" .
While this was going on, I was slowly boiling a pig trotter in lightly salted water, covered, along with a good splash of cider vinegar and onion, some garlic cloves, a couple ribs of celery, couple carrots ,all roughly chopped.

After a couple hours, I drained the meat and the vegs and added the drained fava beans to the pig stock and cookes a little longer until done.

In the while I picked and chopped the meat, rind and cartilage.

Drained the favas, again, and added the bones of the trotters to the stock and let reduce by more than half, slowly and uncovered.

Time to get it all together:
In a skillet I warmed up equal parts of vinegar and stock, a couple cloves, a few berrie of allspice, a sliced jalapeño pepper, salt and sugar.

When all this started boiling I poured it over the meat and vegs, along with some fresh cilantro and thinly sliced red onion.

I let it pickle for a while, waiting for it to cool down.

Once cold, the fava beans and the reduce fatty, sticky stock went in too and I transferred everything to a mold

which I wrapped with film and set to chill overnight in the cooler.

The next day, yesterday, I just took it out, carefully scored the edges with a knife and inverted it onto a plate.  GOOD!

We'll have it today at lunch, sided by a fresh garden salad to fight back the guilt trip....

Try it and let me know....

Excited! The dawn of a new project

After a little tooling around with the idea of a return  to clean, proper Italian food, my friend and now partner Giulio and I came up with iCook ( Twitter handle @iCook_Cabo).

This logo, thet I consider brilliant, is the brainchild of my virtual friend Phil Googins, and avid angler as well...
thank you.
I hope to meet him soon and put him on some nice roosterfish...fly only, of course  :  )

The successful CookAndTheFly private dinners and catering operation couldn't reach the local middle class and most of the year round residents so, in order to do just that, we came up with this simple idea: let's get back to basis and cook beautifully simple, clean and honest, authentic Italian food and make it affordable to all.
Good food doen´t have to be expensive..it has to be prepared with love and passion and with great local, seasonal and hence fresh ingredients. We live in Southern Baja and the bounties of the sea and of the fertile valleys just North of Cabo are a source of igredients that is hard to beat.

What follows is the link to a sample menu, something to give you guys an idea of what we do:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/373508989346413/doc/373574629339849/

As things evolve I will post recipes and pictures of some of these dishes as well.

As some of you know already I am always ready to take on a new challenge...I think it's in my nature and I believe that's also the reason why I chosed to chase large open water fish with a fly rod instead of just chucking a piece of bait out there and wait.

I hope I'll have the pleasure to cook for some of you if/when you´ll come down to Los Cabos.

Till then: "Petri Heil!"

Orange pudding

Really good and aromatic pudding/flan.... and super easy to make.

Start with making caramel in a pan...1 cup of sugar + a tiny splash of water...let cook till golden, over med/low heat and pour the caramel into 4 individual molds or into a 6" round one.

Beat 5 eggs with 374 cups of sugar till frothy and pale.
Now, carefully, incorporate  the juice of 3 oranges, a generous teaspoonful of grated orange zest and   a good splash Grand Marnier.

Place the mold (s) in a baking sheet filled with lukewarm water up to 2/3 of the mold and bake for 45 to 60 minutes in a 150°C oven.
 To check if it's ready, stick ( can't come up with a better word...) a toothpick in it ; if it comes out CLEAN it's ready.

Let cool and serve ...

 Note : The onein the pic has been cut out of a rectangular mold with a ring mold and flipped upside down onto the plate.

Cook at home: cooking from the heart