Loves Cooking

A Day in LA with Janet

2011-02-20T16:44:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I went down to see my friend Janet Rorschach in Los Feliz. As you may remember in previous posts she was also one of my Chef Instructors in culinary school. She made such an impression on me that we've remained friends even after all these years.

I was in for a true LA treat. So here is my Day in LA a la Janet.

Our first destination LaMill Coffee on Silver Lake Blvd. This coffee house offers such a unique experience in the way one can enjoy coffee. They also offer a variety of teas, and have a small restaurant, which includes limited seating outside as well. The premise of their coffee - it starts with great beans and clean water. This is one of those gems that you want to share, and yet keep all to yourself. You can also see their full site here.

For those not familiar with driving in Los Angeles let me educate you - parking is a premium. There are no large parking lots where you leave your car and walk about all day. So it's a good thing I wasn't driving, parallel parking is not my thing. Janet is a pro!

After our coffee we went on the hunt for a spice shop she had heard about. We didn't have an exact location but a general idea and lo and behold we found it. It's called Spice Station. This store reminded me of an alchemy's store. Large 1 gallon jars lined the wall filled with some spices/herbs I had not experienced before. Like black limes, and habanero sugar. Well I could not resist getting 2 different salts - an Aged Balsamic Salt and a Vintage Merlot Salt. The other little spice I had to get was Tomato Powder, which I plan to use in homemade cornbread. The merlot salt I think will be a wonderful finishing salt for a grilled steak.

Onward we go! Next stop McCall's Meat and Fish Co. This is where I realized that while I joke about living in the ghetto, I really do live in the food ghetto. To walk into a butcher and see the cuts of beef both wet and dry aged, pork, chicken, veal, lamb, rabbit, quail, duck and then you see diver scallops so plump, skate that has been prepped to perfection, mussels, clams, Ahi tuna that actually made my mouth water, salmon and sea bass. The first thing that impressed me was just how clean the store was. When you walk in the store is cool and the smell is of meat, but it's such a clean scent. Nothing is wasted, the cuts are trimmed to perfection. The counters were constantly being wiped down. Each of the butchers was dressed in professional chef attire - black pants, white coats, full black aprons, and black skull caps. Janet instinctively knew I would be drooling over this place, and she was right!

What more could I possibly see? So much, and I do know that is just the tip of the iceberg. Not too far away was our next destination, a winery Silver Lake Wine. When you first walk in you are greeted politely and asked if you have been there before. Of course I answered no, and the gentleman behind the counter pointed to the first table and said These wines are from all over the various regions and are under $25. The store is then broken down by region, Calif, France, Germany, South America, New Zealand etc. The prices range on each from $10 to $100. The back wall is the holy grail wall. These are very, very nice wines. They also offer a small selection of spirits, but wine is differently their gig. In the back is a long bar where you can have a wine tasting. They offer 5 wines and they pair it with food, $20 per person. This isn't your BevMo of wines where the staff might know a bit about the wines. These folks know their stock. Doing a special dinner - go in tell them what you're having and they will match a wine to your flavor profile of dinner. How cool is that?

Ever see images from people vacations when they go to France and visit a Fromage shoppe (cheese shop)? And you think oh I would so love to experience something like that! Well you can. Head to The Cheese Store of Silverlake. I never experience a store like this. They had so many wonderful cheeses, cow cheese, goat, sheep, pasteurized, unpasteurized you name it. They even had some very decadent looking cheeses too. And while we know I cannot do dairy I do know I can do goat cheese. I just don't care for it. So I found some cheese for Derek, it was sheep's cheese with black peppercorns. Well turns out sheep's cheese doesn't bother me! I need to test this some more to be sure. This shop also offers some wonderful olive oils, including white and black truffle oil. Do not miss out on this store!

As we leave the cheese store we are on the search for a store call Cookbook. But prior to getting in the car and continuing our search we pass Gingergrass Fresh Vietnamese Cuisine and Janet asks if I'm hungry and would I like Vietnamese food? I informed her I have never had Vietnamese Food. (Well I guess that rock I've been living under is pretty heavy because I have been missing out!) The restaurant is small, but the seating is such that you not only enjoy the company you are with, you are close to your tablemates and it's almost a given that either you will ask what they are having, or they you. The ingredients are SO FRESH! I had the Beef Pho and this soup is just fantastic. Feeling under the weather, this will help what ails you. Hung over, this will perk you up. Cold and rainy it's like a bowl of sunshine. I think the phrase of the day was "Heaven in bowl!" I just could not get over how good this was. Thank you Janet for such a lovely lunch.

Last, but not least it was time to find Cookbook which is actually a local small green grocer. They also had some local baked goods from a baker in Pasadena. I picked up two italian mini baguette with prosciutto and butter. Because it tasted so good, it proof positive that simple ingredients, few of them really make for wonderful flavors.

This was just such a wonderful day! I gotta tell you, it inspired me. I hope it does you as well. While you may not want to drive out to LA to explore, then at least explore what is in your area. I am just positive you'll find a gem.

Here's to great friends, wonderful food and an experience of a lifetime. Memories are great aren't they? Now go make your own..stop reading mine ;)

Rubs and Ribs

2011-01-22T20:51:00.000-08:00

Well today I decided to do 3 racks of pork ribs with 3 different rubs. While similar, they are different. One note that I will make is that each of the rubs needed more salt. So later when I post the recipes I will post as the original recipe called for and put my adjustments in parentheses.

First each rack was trimmed a bit and the membrane removed off the back. Then I doused them in apple juice prior to applying the rub(s). I decided to put them in my smoker using apple wood chips (soaked for at least 45 minutes in warm water). The water tray in the smoker was a mixture of 50/50 apple juice and water.

**Note - I have done ribs before in my smoker and I must mention that there is a difference when you apply the rub the night before and thoroughly rub it into the meat, cover and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.

They were cooked between 225-245 degrees for 7 hours. I think I should have pulled them at 5 hours and 30 minutes and let them rest for 45 minutes rather than cook longer. The flavors were wonderful but the outside ribs, I feel, were a bit dry.

Rubs number 1 and 2 were enough to cover one full rack of ribs (about 14 ribs in a rack). Rib number 3 would have been enough to cover all 3 racks so adjust accordingly. I personally do not mind making bigger batches and saving them in airtight containers for future use. (Canning jars are perfect for this purpose)

Rub # 1
2 Tbs. Cumin
1 Tbs. Chile Powder
1 Tbs. Dry Mustard
½ tsp Kosher Salt (I would adjust to 1-2 tsp)
1 ½ tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 ½ tsp Ground Cardamom
1 ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon

Rub # 2
1 cup Sugar
4 Tbs. Celery Seed
4 Tbs. Garlic Powder
4 Tbs. Onion Powder
5 ¼ Tbs. Chili Powder
5 ¼ Tbs. Black Pepper
5 ¼ Tbs. Paprika
1 Tsp Salt (I would adjust to 1 Tbl.)

Rub # 3
2 Tbs. Paprika
2 Tbs. Onion Powder
2 Tbs. Sugar
2 tsp Celery Salt
1 tsp Garlic Powder
½ tsp Ground Black Pepper
½ tsp Cayenne, OPTIONAL if you want Spicy Ribs (This was omitted for this taste test)
(This recipe did not call for salt probably because of the celery salt. However I would add 1 tsp of salt along with the celery salt)
Rub # 1 has unique flavors due to the cardamon and cinnamon. While rub # 2 and 3 are similar # 2 has chili power while # 3 does not. Also # 2 uses celery seed, were as # 3 uses celery salt. # 2 has more black pepper than # 3 does as well.
When the ribs were pulled I allowed them to rest for 15 minutes. We each did a smell only test. No tasting yet. They were labeled on the bottom of each tray. Based on smell alone Derek chose in order - Rub # 3 as his favorite followed by #2 then # 1. I, on the other hand, chose #3, 1, 2.
Then came the taste test. I cut small chunks off and got out 6 plates, three for him and 3 for me. I put notes on the bottom indicating which rib they were. I gave him 3 plates in no particular order and asked him to rate them by taste alone. He also did the same for me.
Now as you recall based on smell only he chose 3, 2,1. However based on taste he chose 2, 1, 3. For smell I chose 3, 1, 2 and based on taste I picked 3, 2,1 which is what Derek picked on smell. What does all this mean? Not much on such a small scale, however, the nose does not always dictate the palate.
I hope that everyone plays with their food once in while. It is a lot of fun! If any of you have favorite rubs please let know what they are and next round I test them out!
Until then...

Holiday Eating Tips

2010-12-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

HOLIDAY EATING TIPS
1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Holiday spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare. You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Holiday party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple, pumpkin, mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner. Remember this motto to live by:
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well
preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate and wine in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, "WOO HOO what a ride!"
Have a great holiday season!

Thanksgiving Bread Pudding

2010-11-27T21:02:00.000-08:00

Ok so this is my own adaptation of a savory bread pudding. I made 4 individual bread puddings. The flavor was just wonderful! I took 2 of them over to my neighbors. She is one of my best critics. The craisins added a really nice sweetness to the dish. I used Rice Milk because I don't do well with milk products. It's why this take about an extra 20-30 minutes to bake properly. Also the celery leaves was so much better than the parsley I had initially planned to used. Really kept up with the flavor profile I was going for.

Turkey Sausage Bread Pudding
4 Eggs
2 Cups rice milk
1 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp ground sage
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
5-6 cups stale bread or left over rolls from thanksgiving torn into chunks.
1/2 cup left over dressing
1 lb hot turkey sausage
1/2 cup craisins
1/4 cup chopped celery leaves
1/4 cup small diced celery

Combine first 6 ingredients and mix well. Add the rolls and left over dressing and mix well. Put back into fridge. Let the rolls absorb the milk/egg mixture for at least 30 minutes. Remove casing (if any) from turkey
sausage and cook. Cut each sausage in half lengthwise and cut into 1/4 slices. Add to milk/roll mixture along with the craisin and celery/leaves.
Butter 4 10oz ramkins. Fill each one and place on cookie sheet. Place into a preheated 350 degree oven, on a rack placed in the middle of the oven. Bake for 30 minutes then rotate pan and bake for another 20-30
minutes. Remove from oven. Tops should be puffed up and nicely browned. Allow to cool for at least 15-20 minutes.
Serve warm
Before Baking

After Baking

Thai Basil Chicken with Coconut Rice

2010-11-10T16:23:00.000-08:00

This is a fabulous dish that is very easy and packs a lot of flavor!! This recipe is curtesy of Cuisine at Home.

Ingredients -

Combine for the Slurry Mixture

3/4 Cup Coconut Milk (Do not confuse coconut milk with cream of coconut.)
1/4 Cup Chicken Stock/Broth
2 Tbs. Oyster Sauce
2 Tbs Fresh Lime Juice
1 Tbs Soy Sauce
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp anchovy paste (optional)

Season: Stir-Fry in 2-4 Tbs Vegetable Oil

1 lb boneless chicken breast cut into 1-2" chunks.
1 1/2 Cup of green beans (I used the frozen petite green beans, thawed)
1 Cup red bell pepper diced
1 Tbs Garlic, minced

Stir in; Garnish with

1 cup whole or sliced basil leaves (I use a tad more as we really like the flavor)
1 jalapeno thinly sliced with seeds
1/2 Cup dry roasted peanuts, chopped (we omit these due to allergies)

Directions --

Combine all ingredients for the slurry and set aside
Season chicken with salt and pepper and then stir fry in 2 T oil over high heat for 5-8 minutes or until no longer pink. Remove and set aside. Heat 1 T oil in same pan add green beans and stir fry 1-2 minutes, add bell pepper and garlic and stir fry another 2-3 minutes. Add chicken and any juices and stir fry 1-2 min. Stir in slurry mixture and cook 2 minutes allowing sauce to thicken. Stir in basil and jalapeno and garnish with peanuts. Serve over Coconut Rice (See Below)

Coconut Rice (Start this cooking then start working on the other dish. You can turn stove down to lowest heat to keep warm)

1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 cup coconut milk
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp kosher salt (do not use table salt or you'll over salt it)
1 cup basmati or jasmine rice (rinse before adding to liquid)
Finish with 2 Tbs fresh lime juice and 1 Tbs unsalted butter.

Bring stock, coconut milk, sugar and salt to boil, add rice, cover and turn to low and let cook 15-20 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and let rest for 5 minute before stirring. Add fresh lime juice and butter and fluff.

This recipe is just wonderful!

Trip to the Eastern Seaboard

2010-05-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

So our trip to the eastern seaboard was just wonderful! My camera never came out till we got to Rockport in Cape Ann and I don’t’ know why I kept forgetting the darn thing!

We landed in Boston Saturday afternoon and went to get our rental car to head to our hotel. I cannot believe how big the Boston airport is! But getting out and to our rental car was so easy so that was one less headache.

From there it was an hour or so drive to the hotel in S. Yarmouth MA. We set up camp and headed out to just drive around and get a lay of the land. We stopped at a place called the Lobster Pot for dinner. Not being in the mood for lobster yet, I have the fisherman’s feast which consisted of shrimp, scallops, scrod with ‘chips’ and coleslaw. This was the worst meal we had on our trip but we were tired and weren’t as picky with location as we were later on. It was like going to Long John Silvers.

The next day we head out the cape and just enjoyed the drive. Along this deserted road we found a place called Moby’s and decided to stop for lunch. This is where I had my first (of three) lobster rolls. Not sure if I’m missing something here, but the lobster roll was $17, but had I order the whole 1.25 lobster and cracked it myself it was $14.99 so I was really expecting something “more”. Very disappointed. But I was not taunted. That night for dinner we found a new place, our rule is to never eat at the same restaurant twice when we travel unless forced to, called Captain Parker’s. Here we found something that intrigued us, an appy called the Sampler. We knew that arriving on the east coast would mean nothing but seafood, but we were leery about shell fish. Out here on the west coast we don’t eat the fish, ever. But we so wanted to try our first mussel/clam/oyster and this appy had 2 of each – stuffed oysters, mussels Monterey, clams marinara and 2 seafood stuffed mushrooms.

The plate is laid before us and our waiter, who must have sensed our dismay, calmly pointed what was what and how to eat them (Thank you Jimmy!). Eating this appetizer would be a huge mistake for me because it has awoken a beast that will never be sated. I was hooked!

The next day we were going to go to Martha’s Vineyards, but we found out that about 75% of all the businesses were still closed as they wouldn’t be opening until the ‘season’ which starts after Memorial Day. So we ended up going Province which is at the tip of the cape and then came back to a little community called Chatham. We heard from the locals the place to go was the Impudent Oyster. That was when I realized the mussels we had at Captain Parkers were so-so cause these were really, really good! We sat at the bar which was sunk down into the back of the dining area. The bar was made up of polished drift wood and the license plates that adorned the rim up top were ones that had washed up on shore.

Up early the next morning and found we were kind of bored with Cape Cod only because so much was closed. So we packed up our things and headed to Newport RI. What a wonderful seaport village!! And the “summer homes” will drop your jaw. We toured one of the Vanderbuilts home called The Breakers. This is me in front of it.

This was one of many homes like this and they only lived in them like 3 months of the year!! The opulence inside is staggering and to me very garish. But it was the “in thing” for the time.

My next batch of mussels was a restaurant called The Red Parrot. Well first we ordered cocktails and Derek, bless his heart, ordered a beer…called Red Parrot Ale, but I think he needs reading glasses because he ordered the Patriot Ale. The waiter looked at him and had this confused look of “wait a minute I know every beer on here and I don’t recall one called the Patriot..” He asked Derek “You mean the Red Parrot?” Derek heard “you in the Red Parrot?” said “um..isn’t’ that where we are now?” shook his head and said yes I’ll have the Patriot Ale. I’m laughing so hard because they both had this look of “Geez dumb guy.” So I had to clear that up which had them both laughing.

The mussels here were even better than the Impudent Oyster. These were the same size shell but the meat inside was so much plumper and moist! (Nom – nom – nom- nom) Weather was cold 52 degrees and windy, but we walked all over. This town is just a wonderful area to explore! Shops and food galore.

Next we drove up to Gloucester and stopped at a visitor’s center we had to been to once before when we went to New York about 4 years ago. It was closed but we remember that walking thru it was quite lovely. We headed back to the car I was behind the wheel and the car was running and before I could back out we hear “I-O” which I think was “hello?!” in Massachusettian. :) This little old lady and her husband (John) came running up to the drivers window. They asked if we were looking for someone in the visitors center and we said no were just passing thru and asked if they ran the place. They said no and asked if we wanted to see a picture book she had created of all the local coffee shops? I paused because this is just an odd question. First why would I want to and second why on earth did she have such a book. (Darn my cynical California ways!) But not wanting to be disrespectful I start nod yes but before I could finish the said “book” was thrust into my hands and she had a smile that just said how proud she was for making it. I, on the other hand was still quite confused. I looked thru a small 3 ring binder which had pieces of paper with numerous photos printed upon each page, which was then in a plastic page protector and placed in the book. (All 23 pages) No captions, text, addresses, phone numbers…nada. So we asked what the book was for? She said she and her husband just love all the different coffee shops and the area that she likes to make books of them. “But the visitor centers won’t take them. Can you imagine that? No reason not to, but they just won’t…such a waste.” She then informed us that in her car she has books on trees, shopping, beaches you name it. They asked why we were here, we told them vacation and not for anything in particular just drove up to see the area. Well John goes sprinting to his car and comes back with 4 maps. And for 20 minutes they tell us where to go, drive, see, eat…that’s when I waited for the “can we have money” question to be asked. But suddenly John steps from the car, pulls his wife back and waves his hands to shoe us off saying “Here take the maps…Go on now…off with you…go explore Cape Ann for yourself and see why we love this place so much!” They stood there arm in arm waving to us as we drove away. Just a delightful couple!

So off we went and found a lovely bed and breakfast place called Sally Webster Inn. Granted there are B&B’s all over the place, sometimes as many as 8 on one block. We looked at 3 of them and then the 4th one we loved. This was our room http://www.sallywebster.com/Estherslide.html

This town is just the quintessential small seaport village. We just adored this place. There are so many huge differences to this town verses where we live in a big city.

1 – No trucks. There are no semi-trucks (18-wheelers) allowed anywhere. The biggest truck we saw was a bread truck.

2 – No graffiti, anywhere! We even went down the docks where there is a lot of commercial equipment and none there. Not like it was painted over, there just wasn’t any.

3 – No excessive noise. I hear sirens near my house every few hours. Then the helicopters, gardeners, traffic etc. The gardeners here can only use electric lawn tools so no loud lawn blowers.

4 – No profanity. This flipped me out! The kids were all out of school on Friday and yelling and catcalling to each other. But they were yelling things like “Hey your free ice is nothing! We got free candy!” Or “You dork I totally ride better than you.” In our area it’s like listening to drunken sailors talk and that’s with the grade school kids. Matter of fact we made a u-turn in a street in an area that wasn’t labeled as no u-turn but 2 kids yelled out “That’s illegal!” Not like in Calif where they would have yelled “Hey you dumb***** you can’t do that s**t there!” Our windows were down and all we said “Ok…thanks!” and then it was like wait…first did kids just tell us something was illegal and we said thanks?! *cue music* There’s a sign post up ahead…your next stop – the Twilight Zone!

5 – BYOB to your restaurant. This stumped me till I found out that up until 2005 Rockport was a dry city. So many restaurants don’t have a liquor license. But you can bring your own bottles of wine or spirits in. Lol that was just weird.

This is a view of the coastline in Cape Cod

Homes by the Sakonnet River

The bay as you enter into Rockport Harbor

Inside Rockport Harbor

Cape Ann is built on 440 million year old granite. In the late 1800's it was quarried out on a small scale than on a much larger scale until the granite industry collaspe in 1929. Large pools that can look like ponds or lakes are actually granite holes that are now filled with water.

One of the lovely paths you take to see the various quarry holes and then you end up at the cliffs overlooking the beach and the Atlantic Ocean.

On a front porch someone had saved seashells they had found and arranged them in a painted flower pot so they looked like a bouquet of flowers.

Mirepoix

2010-03-03T21:37:00.000-08:00

Ah the essential of all that is good. Basically what it translates to is carrots, celery and onion. A 2 to 1 ratio is traditional, but if you’re like me a few extra onions will aways find their way in. But a good starting point is 1 cup of onion, 1/2 cut carrots and 1/2 cup cup cut celery. (by the way if you’re from south you wouldn’t put celery in, but rather bell pepper) So…what do you do with mirepoix?
First cut them into even pieces, small dice is best. Put them into a saute pan with a bit of olive oil some salt and pepper. Now let them slowly cook a bit, don’t rush it. Let the flavors build. Once they are tender remove from the heat. Now the wonderful decision.

Mirepoix is a great soup starter, add it to some cook rice, stuffing loves this stuff, or even put it into mashed potatoes. I’ve done this mixture and eaten it as a side dish.

Use your imagination and do not be taunted. This is one of the simplest of combinations that renders some incredible flavors.

Boeuf Bourguignon

2010-03-02T11:27:00.000-08:00

Bonjour!! (And herein ends my use of the French language)

So had some company come over so I decided to make Julia Childs boeuf bourguignon. Now before I got started I knew what the dish was “beef cooked in red wine with mushrooms and bacon” I told a few that I would doing this dish for my guests and they were all “well thank goodness you’re a chef! I could never do a dish like that.” BAH!

If you can read, you can do these dishes. The trick is to read the recipes thoroughly.

First we started with 2 appetizers. I mean you have to snacks before the main event. It's like popcorn at the movies it's simply a must!

Cucumbers with cream cheese and crab -

Along with a hot appy of sausage, mozarella cheese and green onions -

Now let’s talk cuts of beef. Julia recommends pot roast as her first choice, and chuck, sirloin tip or top round as her second. I dare say I disagree. (I can hear the gasping) I actually feel that chuck would be a better cut as a first choice. The marbling will add to the flavor and become more tender with the long cook time. The trick to good flavor with this dish is browning the meat properly.This requires that you pat the meat dry with paper towels prior to putting it in the hot oil. Then do not move it. No peeking. Just let it set for a good minute or two. You want good browning all over. It is this browning that provides a lot flavor.

I served this dish over hot buttered egg noodles. The dish can be heavy so choices of side dishes should not be heavy like risotto’s, or cheesy potato dishes. My choice, based on the season, was asparagus that I sauted in olive oil.

After a meal like this one must always serve dessert. But a cheesecake or creamy dish was out of the question. A vendor friend of mine had dropped by and given me a big bag of blood oranges.

So I knew I had to make something cool and refreshing and not heavy. The choice – blood orange sorbet, with fresh rasberries and mint.

This is such a simple dish - 3 cups of blood orange juice, 1 cup orange juice. I took just enough of the blood orange juice to dissolve 1 cup of sugar over med-high heat till dissolved. Get the remaining juice and the syrup into the fridge overnight for a good cool down. Put it all into your icecream maker for 30 minutes and put in the freezer for a couple of hours. Scoop into a beautiful wine glass, top with berries and mint.

Keep this sorbet recipe at the front of your brain. Folks we have some wonderful fruit seasons coming and you can do this sorbet with any of them. Did someone say peach…pear…grape? With a good icecream maker you could have a variety of sorbets always on hand.

Bon Appetit!! (ok ok so I lied..I had to use French to close)

Company is coming...

2010-02-27T14:04:00.000-08:00

...so of course it's time to impress. And to do that? I reach for Julia Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Jean and Roy from Washington State are on a whirl wind trip down thru Oregon, California and over to Arizona. They are now heading back and stopping our place for a bit of respite. Now don't misjudge Jean, this woman is a DYNAMO in the kitchen. And it doesn't matter one bit that the kitchen is in a trailer. She's culinary trained, owns her own business and has cooked with the best of them.

She even works to inspire young chefs and has set up a scholarship program to help new comers afford culinary school. WOW! (http://www.achefsjourney.com/)

What to cook...why boeuf bourguignon of course! So tonight I shop and tomorrow I cook.

Be sure visit on Monday for full disclosure of the menu, the laughter and the greatest of new memories.

Ode to Souffle'

2010-02-24T21:56:00.000-08:00

Oh today I got new eggs
Their shells so clean and new
I knew for sure that I would make
A dish that was my debut.

I gathered my ingredients
And strengthen my resolve
Tonight I would make a dish
And hope I had the gaul.

The soufflé I exclaimed!
And whipped up my egg whites
I browned up some bacon
Much to my delight.

More cheese! Said my hubby
I told him do not worry.
The cheese you see me adding
Will make it nice a gooey.

We watched the timer ticking
And wondered how it would taste
The smells were fantastic
I dare not use pull with haste.

Alas it was done!
And ready to devour,
We scooped it up and love it,
It was gone within an hour.

I have never made a soufflé. So over the years I was very hesitant to try one. I had heard horror stories, but I was not to be dismayed. Last September I had the privilege of meeting several of my friends from a cooking board hosted by the folks at Cuisine at Home.

One of those was Billy Cotton. He had made his first soufflé and was so pleased at his results. I told him I had not yet challenged that task. Billy informed me that was about to try his first dessert one. After talking with him I told him that while he would do his dessert one, I promised I would do my first savory one, based on the recipe he did.

When we came home I received a phone call that Billy had passed away.

But the promised was made. So I dedicate my first soufflé to Billy. I hope I did you proud! :)

My ingredients are ready -

Folding in the eggs whites -

Into the oven it goes -

Oh this was so good! Let's eat!

Vitamin Shops

2010-02-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

So while 2010 is going to be the year of the pork, it also the year I eat a bit better and put heathier stuff in my gullet.

Which brings me to my trip to the vitamin store yesterday. First if you've never been into one of these and you're going there to pick up one small item, find an employee and fast, tell them what you need. Otherwise you will wander around with the doe in the headlight look for long agonizing minutes.

I'm suppose to be taking all of these -

Good lord this is a small meal when you take into consideration all the liquid I'm going to need to get them down! Which will end up decreasing work production with all the trips to the bathroom I'm going to have to make.

Guys you're going for this little appetizer -

OoOoo look at all the blue ones! And no you can't use beer to wash them down.

There are pills, powders and liquids to pump you up, trim you down, speed up your metabolism, brighten your day, keep you focused, increase your memory, remove nausea (though I think taking all these might give me nausea). There are jars of liquid grass. GRASS! Freshly mowed and organic I'm sure. You can get bottles of chlorophyll. This is the stuff that makes plants green. At the vitamin shop it states "...called the "building block of life". Without chlorophyll there is no life..." If you're a PLANT! Eat a salad.

All kidding aside this is crazy. Vitamins are a billion dollar industry. If I took as many pills as they recommend I would have to give up a meal along with 35% of my income due to the expense. And did they go to vitamin school? Cause the girl that helped me couldn't have been more than 19 years old. I mean if I want to teach nutrition or be a dietician I have to go to 4 years of school. So if Casey really wants to tell me what vitamins I should take, she should really be asking me a few perdinent medical questions don't cha think?

So not counting synthetic vitamins, where do all these "natural" vitamins get their ingredients from? **whispers** Food

What what? Food you say? Well let's see -

Calcium from bone and dairy. (which also covers Vitamin D)

Vitamin C from Citrus

Omega 3 Fish

Vitamin B's (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9 and B12) Turkey, liver, tuna, chili peppers, lentils, bananas, potatoes just to name a few.

Iron - Bran flakes (also makes a nice coating for chicken) oatmeal, cream of wheat, steamed clams.

It all comes down to eating right. Well balanced food, fresh food, seasonal food.

Now the question...why was I there? Yep I went for supplements. I got some arctic cod liver oil for the Omega 3's because we just cannot get good decent seafood where I live without taking out a loan to afford it. I also wanted pure cranberry juice. Not that "cocktail" that you get in grocery stores which is mainly sugar.

Granted there are times when supplements are needed, but before you spend $100's in the quick fix, take a look at your diet. Wouldn't you rather have a great meal than a fist full of pills?

Superbowl!!

2010-02-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

No this isn't about the game!

This is as a big a holiday for foodies as Thanksgiving. It's the playoffs! It's the time we create munchies that are not standard but fun and filling and can go toe toe with a thrilling play in the inzone.

So my menu was Chex Mix - and the neat thing about this stuff is since it's basically cereal it's perfect for breakfast on the go, Chianti braised stuffed mushrooms, antipasta salad, spinach artichoke dip, bruschetta, fresh guacamole. We bounced from Mexico to Italy and then came back home to Red Velvet cupcakes (Thanks Deb!).

Dinner was lemon garlic marainated chicken which was grilled and served on a bed of greens with a lemon vinairgrette. (well except for Terry who someday needs to learn that Ranch dressing does not go on everything. Besides Ranch Dressing is the Californians solution to bleu cheese dressing. I truly think it went down something like this -

Chip - Pass me some of that dressing dude, that looks like it would radically go with my salad. **pours dressing** Oh man this is bogus!
Barbie - Like whatever Earl, it's like French ya know?
Chip - French or not it totally sucks! Like it's not sweet or anything.
Gayle Henderson - Here son let me fix you up something more to your liking. Out here in Santa Barbara we like to think we're refined, but we know we're just pretentious. I'll mask that classic wonderful cheese flavor with some buttermilk and mayo (yeah like that made it healthier - let's see 5g more of fat, 7mg more of cholesterol) and add some powdered garlic (yum...why not fresh again?) Oh and here in California since we put sour cream on everything we know that if we put that in our dressing soon you will use our dressing for everything and even forget sour cream is available.
Chip - Like dude that sound righteous!)

**Gayle is the creator of Ranch Dressing. Let's egg her house 'k?

Ok back to the food, the real food at least. It was topped off with some impromptu garlic bread. Folks don't buy that frozen garlic bread. Take a cube of butter, 2-3 cloves of garlic (use a garlic press to make this fast) some parsley and Parmesan cheese melt it slightly so you can spread it and broil till it's done. Delish!

All in all we ate like heffers (Moo). I really love "food days".

Salmon

2010-02-03T21:23:00.000-08:00

Ok so I'm not a big salmon fan. But I know many who are, and while I will cook it up for my husband and will eat some myself I feel the need to share with you.

Do not buy and eat farm raised salmon, ever. It has pretty much zero nutritional value other than mass and some protein. If you think you're getting those wonderful Omega 3 fats you're wrong. You're getting little to none.

Why? Well wild salmon eats krill. This is what helps it to produce within it's flesh those wonderful fats we so need. Farm raised salmon, on the other hand, never sees a krill. It's fed grain. Grain?! Never heard of salmon going on the hunt for a good bowl of oatmeal.

Wild salmon...from now on...got it? Good :)

Raw Food Party

2010-02-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

Well last night I had such a wonderful and unique experience. One of my old instructors and I are friends and last night she had a dinner party that I was invited to. Raw Food - 100% vegan.

Once more Janet Rorschach, Chef Consultant and Instructor, pulls out the plug in our lives we call normallacy and introduces us to different ways of thinking. Her home is small, but extremely welcoming. Overstuffed chairs, bookshelves filled with everything you could think of from cooking (of course) to art, to fiction, to history and more.

She goes one step further and invites an array of people, who while in the working world might not have much in common, but here are brought together for the love of the food and the person hosting. A good dose of curiosity didn't hurt either.

Our cook for the evening was Ron Gilmore a "raw foodie" for the last 8 years and his girlfriend Diachin (and I am sure I am not spelling that right). http://www.rawmanandgreengirl.com/ and
http://www.uncookingshow.com/ Here we see Ron and Janet getting things ready for the evening's festivities.

So already I was skeptical but as I said before very curious. Nothing prepared or eaten touched the stove. The dinner party was in 2 parts. You could arrive early for the instructional part or come later just for dinner. You know I was there at the beginning.

We started with miso soup that had large diced advocado in it. This was really delicious.

There was also a crudite with all the standard veggies, but also jicama, asparagus and mushrooms. It was served with a zhoug sauce which is cilantro based and a bit like a pesto. It gets its bite from habanero. It was also served with a savoy dressing that stunned me on it's flavor. It was buttery, tangy and sweet. I was already thinking of so many other things I could use it on.

Savoy Dream Dressing
1/4 C raw Cashews (soaked for 30 minutes)

2 tablespoons lemon juice2 Tablespoons water

1 Tablespoon olive oil1 Tablespoon raw agave Nectar

1/2 Teaspoon sea Salt

Blend in high-powered blender till creamy.

Then we had "pasta" with basil pesto. The pasta was seaweed, which was soaked in water to make it tender and then again in lemon juice. I was really surprised, plesantly no less. I'm trying to find the name of the seaweed. The 'noodles' were clear and it was slightly curly. I totally forgot to get a picture of this.

Broccoli Salad with olives, of all things, really was something I didn't expect. I do believe that olives are way under-rated. But folks get brined olives not processed olives. That's why this dish was so darn good.

Next was dessert. OMG hold on to your to hats kids! Chocolate Mint Meringue Pie. So the crust was a combination of nuts, dates and a dash of cinnamon all done in the food processor. This was pressed into a spring form pan (about 8" pan) The chocolate filling was (you may want to sit
down) advocados, raw chocolate powder, mint extract, agave nectar, coconut oil all processed in a blender till smooth. This was put on top of the crust and chilled. Then for the meringue. He used the meat of 3-4 thai coconuts. The flesh is really soft like thick yogurt. A bit of vanilla and
some more agave. This went on top of the chocolate mixture and chilled some more. I was blown away at the flavor!

And again I only got one shot of the meringue going on top of the chocolate filling. I got so excited when we cut into it I forgot to grab the camera.

I must say that while Derek and I are now doing 2 vegetarian meals a week now I'm thinking about making one of them a raw meal. There are side affects folks! For one who cooks her food, eats meat and carbs...the sudden introduction to a full meal of raw veggies and nuts is,
well let's say musical and a tad painful. So it would take some getting used to.

Am I now a convert to the raw food movement? No..but I do have a better understanding of it and let's face it, I do believe it's healthy...in moderation hehe.

Eager folks listen intently as Ron describes his food and his philosophy.

Coq au Vin

2009-12-07T20:40:00.000-08:00

Ok so I have made this recipe at least 10 times now. However tonight I made it out of Julia Childs book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". OMG! After eating this meal I grabbed my old recipe and layed it on the burner and torched it.

This recipe was just wonderful. For anyone who likes to cook, even just a little, get this book!

The BEST pot roast ever!

2009-02-21T22:08:00.000-08:00

Ok so I think I have found THE best pot roast ever! It's from Ina Garten and truly is just wonderful. Important note, if you can't find chuck roast then use a meat that has a lot of marbling. This will make your meat so incredibly moist you can't believe it. I have enough sauce left over I'm making a soup tomorrow. Seriously this is a GREAT recipe!

Ingredients

1 (4 to 5-pound) prime boneless beef chuck roast, tied
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
All-purpose flour
Good olive oil
2 cups chopped carrots (4 carrots)
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
2 cups chopped celery (4 stalks) 2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 to 4 leeks) 5 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 cups good red wine, such as Burgundy
2 tablespoons Cognac or brandy
1 (28-ounce) can whole plum tomatoes in puree
1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 chicken bouillon cube
3 branches fresh thyme
2 branches fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Pat the beef dry with a paper towel. Season the roast all over with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Dredge the whole roast in flour, including the ends. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the roast and sear for 4 to 5 minutes, until nicely browned. Turn and sear the other side and then turn and sear the ends. This should take 4 to 5 minutes for each side. Remove the roast to a large plate.

Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the Dutch oven. Add the carrots, onions, celery, leeks, garlic, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper and cook over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned. Add the wine and Cognac and bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, bouillon cube, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Tie the thyme and rosemary together with kitchen string and add to the pot. Put the roast back into the pot, bring to a boil, and cover. Place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours, until the meat is fork tender or about 160 degrees F internally. Turn the heat down to 250 degrees F after about an hour to keep the sauce at a simmer.

Remove the roast to a cutting board. Remove the herb bundle and discard. Skim off as much fat as possible from the sauce. Transfer half the sauce and vegetables to a blender or a food processor fitted with the steel blade and puree until smooth. Pour the puree back into the pot, place on the stovetop over low heat, and return the sauce to a simmer. Place 2 tablespoons flour and the butter in a small bowl and mash them together with a fork. Stir into the sauce and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring until thickened. Taste for seasonings. Remove the strings from the roast, and slice the meat.

Serve warm with the sauce spooned over it.

Beef Bourbon Noodle Bowl

2009-02-19T19:39:00.000-08:00

Well it sounded intriguing. I do love soups and all the flavors they provide. This was from Cuisine at Home magazine.

I must say when it calls to marinate the beef in 1/4 cup bourbon and 1/4 cup maple syrup and 2 TBL minced garlic I had reservations. The rest of the ingredients were noodles, sweet potato, spinach and onions.

Well while it looked very nice I just could not get past the maple syrup smell. It was all I could taste. So I've decided that I'm going to marinate the meat next time in a mixture of soy and ginger beer along with the garlic. I did end up adding low sodium soy after serving and that did help.

Veggie Fried Rice

2009-02-15T20:02:00.000-08:00

I love fried rice. But when you add a lot of veggies you have a great meal.

Fried Rice (I cook my rice the day before and chill it really good before doing this recipe)

2 Tbs. canola oil

1 cup peeled, finely diced broccoli stems (from about 1-1/4 lb. broccoli)

3/4 cup finely diced carrots

3/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper

3/4 cup frozen shelled edamame

3/4 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen

4 scallions (both white and green parts), thinly sliced

2 Tbs. finely grated fresh ginger

2 large cloves garlic, minced

4 cups very cold cooked brown rice

3/4 cup finely diced Canadian bacon (4 oz.)(you could use left over chicken, pork or leave it out all together for a total vegetarian dish)

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup lower-sodium soy sauce

Heat all but 1 tsp. of the oil in a large nonstick skillet or stir-fry pan over medium-high heat. Add the broccoli stems, carrots, and bell pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables begin to soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the edamame and corn and cook until the edamame is thawed, about 1 minute. Add the scallion, ginger, and garlic and cook, stirring, until the raw garlic aroma subsides, about 1 minute. Add the rice and Canadian bacon and cook, stirring, until heated through, 3 to 5 minutes.Make a 3-inch well in the center of the rice mixture. Add the remaining 1 tsp. oil, then the eggs, and cook, stirring, until the eggs are almost fully scrambled. Stir the eggs into the rice mixture. Stir in the soy sauce and serve.

It's a group..no a gang..no no..a group.

2009-01-11T22:10:00.000-08:00

So Derek and I joined a new motorcycle group. GWRRA - CA1M.

This translate to Gold Wing Road Riders Association - Calif, Region M for SB/Riv.
This was a hoot. There was about 60 riders there. All in cow gear. No I really can't explain here, it's something you have to experience. Afterwards we all went for a great ride (see pictures under my pics).

But I began to wonder...If I was in my 20's I'd officially be in a 'gang'! However, when you're in your 40's you're in a group.

Needless to say, great group of folks, lots of beautiful bikes and miles of open road :)
Moo!!!!

Shout Out

2008-12-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

Ok I gotta give a shout out to Susie :)

Oh crap...sorry I actually did a WooHa, scared someone walking by :D

Proud ~ Sad Day

2008-06-08T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well it is official. My daughter has graduated from high school. I do not see how this can be possible.

It was just yesterday I was driving her to kindergarten, to presenting her dad on his police "motorcycle bike" to her first grade class, to go on a field trip in second grade, to praise her 3rd grade art work, to take her to a orthodontist in 4th grade, to having to explain about Santa in 5th, to see her transition to jr high in 6th, to figuring out her first locker in 7th, and the facts of life in 8th. It was just a moment ago that she had her first boyfriend in 9th, joining the yearbook staff in 10th, taking her first journalist win in a writing competition in 11th and now to graduate with high honors and awards in 12th.

And now in a few months, on m birthday to be exact, I must drive her several hundred miles away to go to college. The control freak mom must finally release control and have faith in the knowledge we did everything we could to prepare her for her next steps in life.

I am so thankful for email, text messaging and webcams.

But yet I am still sad. While her life now takes on it's own meaning, it's own direction I feel as if a part of mine dies. No longer can I check on her while she sleeping, or watch her read her book on the couch. I won't hear her laughing with her friends on the phone, or telling her to turn her music down. I've been a mom for 18 years now and quite frankly it's been the best job ever. I'm not sure what to do now. I know I'm not done being a mom, that is my job forever. But it's like I'm being forced into early retirement.

Ultimate Dinner Experience

2008-05-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

Ok folks hang on to your table and strap on the drool bibs tight. I wish I had remembered to take my camera out early, so in that aspect you shall have to indulge me in allowing me to tell the tale of food, friends and a great restaurant.

The place - The Foundry on Melrose. This restaurant is located on, well, Melrose Ave in Los Angeles. Here allow me to help you out. Click here for their site. Ok ok come back here, we're not near done yet. Before you enter, outside are small tables where folks could sit and enjoy people watching, have some great appetizers and wonderful cocktails. When you first walk in you are greeted by a lovely hostess. To your immediate right is small sunken area where on certain nights they have a jazz group that comes in. You can bet I am going back for that! To your right front is a great bar that wraps around a tad. I was so pleased to see there was not a TV in sight. I really hate going into a nice establishment to have a cocktail and can't relax because the ball game is on. Had I wanted a sports bar experience that is where I would have gone. But here, all that was heard was great music. To the left is small waiting area and then the dining room extends forward. As you continue thru the dining room you pass an open kitchen and head to back dining area outside. You would think you'd feel enclosed with the four walls extending upwards, but the entire ceiling is gone. It's a great outdoor dining area. A large rain storm had passed thru a couple of days prior so the air was chilly. But with all the heaters on I never got cool once. And to eat outside in the fresh air is a great way to enjoy food.

Derek and I arrived around 5:30 and went to the bar to have a cocktail while we waited for our fellow guests to arrive. First to arrive, Janet Rorschach. Now if you've been reading my blog you should remember who this woman is. If not, she was one of my chef instructors at culinary school. She really should right a book and put all of her experiences down in print. (that's my subtle hint to her since I know she'll read this) Next to arrive is Carey and Jeff. Carey and I were classmates in culinary school. So I ask you, is there not a better group of people to share a fantastic meal with? No way!

A bit of info on the Chef/Owner of this estabishment. Eric Greenspan. Born in Jersey come to California and shows us a passion for food the is not to be compared to many. I had the great pleasure to learn from this man as he was a chef instructor at my school. I felt cheated however because as we really started getting into the meat of cooking he was in the throes of opening this restaurant. A great article about him can be found here.

So we are now to follow the hostess to our table and as we walk by the kitchen, we hear and see Chef talking to his staff and already the energy is palpable. I know we are in for a treat! He sees us and greets us warmly.

Now you've all had a great experience at a restaurant. But I have never had service like this and I know for a fact that Chef made sure his staff was trained to his high expectations. I cannot use the term busboy. Not for these folks. So I will call them WA's - Waiter's Assistants. Because they were far better trained than your standard 'busboy' and truly acted as a extention of the waiter. Our waiter was John.

Ok so since we personally know the Chef, Janet more so than us, we were really spoiled. No..really, really spoiled. I wish I could express the grin I had on my face all the way home of just how marvelous this dinner experience was.

First to come out was a tasty bread. Unfortunately I was talking with Carey and didn't hear John's explanation. They were small pinwheels. There was a hint of sweetness and tomato. Next was a plate of fresh focaccia bread with a honey and white wine dipping sauce. Then we were presented with mini poppy seed popovers with a garlic butter. These were so tender they practically melted in your mouth.

Next to arrive was a bed of Arugula greens with shaved French Breakfast radishes and Feta cheese. Not the cheese you buy in a grocery store. This was so creamy.

You can even see 2 of the bread dishes in the back.

We are then presented with tender gnocchi nestled in fava bean puree and served in a hot cast iron pan, with shaved Parmesan cheese.

But the taste sensations did not stop there. We were further treated to Yellow Tail Sashimi. This had a tangelo sauce that I really wanted to lick off the plate. The picture is a bit blurry. I think by this time I was on taste sensation overload and loving every minute of it.

The WA's then bring out an Amuse Bouche for us. For those that do not know what this is, it is like an appetizer, typically one bite. It is designed to 'tickle your palate' and wake it up wanting more of what is to come. And for an amuse, this did not disappoint. In tall shot glasses were a smooth and creamy pea soup with an onion foam. A perfect combination of flavors, neither one competing for the other. I so wish I had gotten a picture of these. But perhaps having a few things left to rattle around in the brain memory banks makes it that much more special.

Our dinners arrive and while we have always been told we "eat with our eyes first" I had already consumed this course with my nose. You could smell the braised meats, salmon skin crisped to perfection and seared duck with it's honey gastrique before you saw it. And then you feasted with your eyes.

Derek's braised short ribs with hanger steak, and roasted fingerling pototoes.

Next we have my pan sear duck breast with carmelized peaches and carrots three ways. I have such a love for duck since going to school and no place in my area either serves it, or serves it well. That has all changed. I will drive to Los Angeles from this point on to get my duck fix.

Of course a meal like this would not be complete without having a decadent dessert, or two.

You all remember when you a kid and would sit on the porch on a hot summer day and enjoy an ice cream sandwich? It's time for the grownups to have their own.

A coffee ice cream sandwich, fresh caramel sauce, caramelize bananas and cinnamon foam. Yes you may lick the screen.

And to tantalize you fruit lovers a strawberry rhubbarb short cake.

After our great meal was complete Chef Greenspan came out to say hello and see how our meal went.

Left to Right - Jeff and Carely Cushler, Chef/Owner Eric Greenspan, myself, Derek and Janet Rorschach.

Does this man not understand that some things just cannot be describe adequately? I know I said things like, wonderful, fantastic, delicious...but they all seem so flat. It was these words and more...it was an experience. One to be savored.

Until next time...

Gnocchi

2008-03-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

Well tonight I decided to make gnocchi. Don't know what got into me. I even made a loaf of Irish Soda bread and a loaf of the 18 hour bread.

Gnocchi basically translates to dumpling or little pillow. It is made with potato and flour and then boiled for a short time.

You can use an array of sauces to accompany it. I chose to make a brown butter sage sauce.

Below is the beginning of the sauce. You cook the sauce over medium but you have to watch it or it will quickly burn.

Once you boil the gnocchi you remove it from the water and put into the sauce and toss it.

It was a wonderful dish :)

My new love - 18 hour no knead bread

2008-03-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

So I have fallen in love with this new bread...well not new per se but new to me.

It's called 18 Hour No Knead Bread. But don't let the name fool you, it actually takes about 20 hours for the rising and then another 40-50 minutes to bake it. Here's the recipe and a couple of pictures of two loaves I made.

And loaf number two I did in a french loaf pan -

It's a really a fun bread and the variations of it are going thru my mind. I plan to make a couple more loaves next weekend and add some herbs. I'll keep you posted :)

My Parents 50th Anniversary Party

2008-03-02T12:50:00.000-08:00

Well the day started out cold and drizzly and unfortunately that didn't change. But it sure beats what we are having today which is very high winds.

I was literally cooking up to 3:45 and the party started at 4pm. But we planned on serving the food at 4:45 so I was good. Lucky for me I live about 9 houses away from my sisters house.

On Friday I had prepped a lot of food. My poor fridge was stuffed.

For the meatballs I decied to make a marinara sauce and serve crisyp mini garlic crostini's.

Then it was time for the meatballs.

I also did sweet and spicy shrimp and holy cow they went fast.

I also did several cheese trays, with hard cheese, brie and medium cheese. Also 8 lbs of red and green grapes were trimmed for service.

I think on that table you can also see the stuffed cherry tomaotes and deviled egges.

We also had meat trays and were just starting to put out the chicken teriyaki skewers and meatballs.

But at the every end the whole family paused for the cameras.

We had such a wonderful time and so many friends came and said some really special things about my folks. Some flew down from up north other came from Virgina and Texas.

Left to right - My daughter Laura, myself, hubby Derek behind me, my father and my mother, next to her is my sister Shannon and her husband Chris and in front of them their two boys, Trevor and Jacob.And today...well today is clean up...and I think I'm gonna order out

Dinner Party Part Two…Size does Matter!

2007-08-17T11:22:00.001-07:00

Wow what a night!! So got the car all packed up with equipment and food and headed over to the clients house.

**Side Note – client lives 2 houses down the street. While these folks are my neighbor and I know both their first names I knew nothing about them. Boy I do now…**

My daughter and I unload all the items. The reason for taking the car was the heat was so miserable I didn’t want to make 6 trips walking back and forth and get all hot and sweaty. As I’m unpacking I realize I needed a few additional things. Hubby instantly brings the items down. (what a support group!)

Ok so I get out my notebook with my time line and I confirm with the client “Ok so appetizers at 6 and dinner at 7 correct?” She replies “Oh we decided to do appetizers at 6:30 instead…*shrugs* I guess I should have mentioned that huh? That’s not going to mess you up to much is it?” I paused already recalculating items in my head while out of my mouth is “Not a problem.”

I begin setting up my equipment and my daughter checks the place settings and get herself familiar with where everything is should she need it.

I get my 2 big pots of water to boil seeing as I need to cook 36 ravioli at once. The front two burners I have medium sized fry pans ready to start browning the chicken breasts.

What the heck? The back right pot is boiling after 7 minutes but the other one isn’t! As I’m searing the chicken breasts off the left front is browning great, but the right one is taking a bit longer. **is baffled** I check the exhaust fan to see if it’s putting too much of a draft on the flames. That’s when I lift the pan and look. I am so used to my stove top, while I have a lot of burners they all burn the same. Not so with her stove. The left rear is a small burner and right rear is a large burner. Well that explains why the water on the right rear was boiling so much faster. Twice the BTU’s will do that.

**ponders the movement outside the kitchen window, but being so dark outside can’t really see what it is…but it’s big!**

Chicken is all seared off and time to get the cream sauce started, but the only burner available is small one, since my chicken white wine reduction is on the large front burner.

I was 30 minutes behind schedule while trying to adjust for the different burners. You can bet that goes into my notes of what to check when I visit the client’s house.

Time for service! Ravioli are done and the cream sauce complete. Everything starts to fall into place…I plate 4 and my daughter starts taking out 2 at a time. She was phenomenal! I was so proud of her. I plated and she did the garnish for me. As the last plate is handed out I pull the chicken to rest for a bit. I’m going on blind faith. I am not going to second guess myself on the chicken. I made an extra one, one that was a bit, not much, plumper than the others. I slice into it…Perfection!! Oh and I wish I could send a sample of my white wine sauce to everyone. Wow it was so good.

**movement again outside..what the heck is that?!**

As my daughter clears the ravioli plates they were clean. I think one guy actually licked his clean because he loved the sauce. I begin slicing all the chicken and fanning them on the plate and drizzle with the sauce. A small green salad with pomegranate vinaigrette topped with candied walnuts. As she sets the last plate down one yahoo looks up at me and says “hey chef! This is almost as good as KFC!” no one at the table even chuckled. I just smiled and wiped the counters down. Then my daughter and I slipped into the back to rest for a bit and let them enjoy their dinner in peace.

We went back about 10 minutes later, my daughter checked water goblets and I started some light clean up. I couldn’t see the plates till she started clearing them. The first few plates come back and they were clean. The next set and the set after that and none of them had anything left. I was thrilled!

So the last thing to serve was the birthday cake. Thank goodness she went to a bakery for this because I just could not do it justice. As the cake is being serve is when I hear “So Dave tell us a joke! One of your good ones!” My first instinct is to blurt out “let’s keep it clean folks my 17 year old daughter is still serving” but at the same time my professional side of “don’t listen to conversation just do my job and only listen for things like ‘chef’ or ‘excuse me could I get some more of..’ and what not.” So the joke is told and while I didn’t hear the entire thing I knew the gist of it was a racial joke. That was when my daughter stopped smiling and did that grit your teeth and make it look like I’m smiling face. That ‘joke’ prompted a political discussion. Now we’ve all had or been part of a political discussion. But when you have a daughter in high school, who’s history class is current events and pulled over a 4.0 and nailed a panel discussion group, she’s going to know when you have no clue what you’re talking about. And she’s of that age that tact isn’t a forte. However she did bite her tongue and keep her demeanor professional.

Time to clean up. I did remember to take plenty of towels and paper towels, however neglected to take any cleaning supplies. 48 plates, 48 water/wine goblets and an assortment of silverware, counter tops, stove tops, 2 sinks and the floor. As for the cookware I brought all my own and merely rinsed them out and took them home in bus tubs to be washed there. It would have been much nicer to use my own dishes that I have for such events, however I only have service for 8, not 16.

Lessons learned – When grocery shopping put your list in order of the store. Don’t write down a few veggie/fruit items, then paper items, meat items and then more veggie/fruit items. You’ll be walking all over the store.

Look at your recipes and while you think you know them by heart, write out all the ingredients. You’ll be amazed at what you can forget.

Check all equipment to be used at the client’s house. Make sure they have fridge space to. Thank goodness my client had the forethought to clear out some space for me.

Check your own equipment. Let’s not have a repeat of the big basil frost of 2007.

When you see movement outside chances are it’s your hubby trying to peek in and see how things are going J

And above all, remember that I really do love this!

The Dinner Party Part One...

2007-08-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

Ok...so the menu is a compilation of my dishes and some things she wanted.

Appetizers - Stuffed mushrooms, with ricotta, herbs and bread crumbs. Also stuff cherry tomatoes with crab and cream cheese.

Starter - my lobster ravioli with a basil cream sauce

Main course - Pan seared chicken breasts (finished in oven) with a white wine sauce made with the pan drippings and a cold salad with pomegranate vinaigrette, sliced pears and candied walnuts.

So yesterday I did all my shopping and made the stuffing for the tomatoes and the mushrooms. Also wrote out a time line. Client calls me at 8pm to inform me that another will be joining the party and is that a problem? (thank goodness I planned for 2 extra)

Wednesday morning. Up bright and early to get a jump on a few things. Wanted to get my pasta made....but first a hearty breakfast for my family. Ok now to the pasta...oh my god..I did not just do that?! I did..seems I used all my eggs. Now I can't make the pasta. Hubby to the rescue! He jumps on his motorcycle and heads to the store to get eggs. Hubby pulls up and runs in with the eggs and not one broken! Ok let's make pasta...oh my god you are kidding me!!! How can I be out of flour?!?!?! Is this someones idea of a sick a joke!? (oh this whole thing gets so much better)My daughter is heading out the door to go to Target and offers to get the flour. Ok…breathing…I’ll clean the tomatoes and mushrooms and start the lobster filling. Every big dinner is going to have a few mishaps..just roll with it..you have plenty of time. Daughter’s home and hands me the bag with the flour in it. I put it to the side since I’m working on the lobster stuffing. Ok…lobster stuffing made, tomatoes cleaned and mushrooms are ready. Let’s make some pasta….**begins to cry this just cannot be happening** while my daughter was so gracious in going to the store she bought the wrong kind of flour. I told her I needed just plain AP flour. So now I’m off to the store to get that exchanged. I was in and out in a flash and back home before you knew it. Pasta time…oh no…ha! Actually it was pasta time and got my batches all made and they are currently resting in the fridge.

That’s when the next tragedy hit. My hubby in all his concern for the fridge being open and closed so much, in our 104 degree heat (with humidity so bad I feel like I’m breathing under water), decided to put our big industrial fridge on what is called Holiday setting. This makes it cold…real cold…so cold it has frozen and ruined all of the basil I bought. Worst part is I bought out all the basil the store had. The other grocery store in our area closed.

I’m actually pondering when I should I start drinking at this point. It’s either vodka or a stroke.

I have to go to 3 other stores in the outlaying areas to get the basil I need.

Back home with the basil. Quick check of email and to update you all. It’s the only way I can sit and breathe calmly. It’s time for me to head back in and roll out the pasta and stuff the ravioli.I’ll update you later tonight at how the cooking part went. I sincerely hope all the mishaps were here at home and not more to come.

2007-05-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

So I have my first big paying job. I use the term big paying with bit of sarcasm, but that explanation comes later.

I was told to arrive on the scene at 8am. This required that I get up at 6am, get ready and be on the road by 7am. The instructions I was given for the event was I was not to help set up the event, since no one else could do my job and if I got behind the burden would be on me. Ok fine..I'm happy not having to unpack a truck. The only thing I was to do was set up my BBQ station. This is a big company that has contracted me out, that does big events. This is one of their smaller ones, 150 people. So I arrive at 8am just as they are opening the big truck and removing 'easy ups', ice chests, bounce houses...you name it. Here comes the grill. It's a classic bricket burning unit about 4.5 feet long and 1.5 feet wide. Ok, I'm thinking this perfect as I am very familiar with bricket cooking.

I was to have 2 tables for set up and since this was my first time they got all the table cloths out for me etc.

The menu is pretty simple - grilled tequila lime chicken, mahi mahi and hot dogs for the kids. Let's talk about the meats for just a moment. I am told that the chicken is marinating in bags in the ice chests. The fish is in another ice chest and the hots in yet another. Ok so far so good..happy with the sanitation there. So I open ice chest 1 of 3 on the chicken and sure enough each bag has about 2 whole chickens that have been cut up and in the marinade. Let's check the fish, open ice chest 1 of 3 and find that the fish is in the manufacture bags. You know the ones I'm talking about the ones you get at Costco or Smart and Final? The each have about 8 pieces of fish. The problem is they are all still frozen solid. Not marinating! So I am given 2 dish tubs (I pray they are clean) to place the fish in and pour the marinade over them. Let's hope they thaw. The morning is very cool. Let's check the hot dogs shall we? Yep 1 ice chest with 3 boxes of Hoffy Hot Dogs. Big thick hot dogs....frozen. At this point I'm seeing tragedy. Ok let's get that grill going asap. They bring out my bags of Mesquite and my bag of apple wood, as they said chips, for the smoking flavor. They give me a bucket to soak said chips. A metal bucket like you use to bob for apples. Ok...where to get water....oh there's a hose WAY over there. Bless my husband! He worked all night and still came with me to help. He's off to get the water..I open the bag of mesquite and get that into the grill and FIRE IN THE HOLE!

Hey they just took one of my tables. So I am now down to 1 table. Which has a steam box, 2 tubs of frozen fish, my water and marinades.

For those that don't know, mesquite pops and crackles a lot! My grill is under a giant acorn tree. Hubby is back with the water and I get the wood chips bag open. Oh my god!! These are not wood chips they are wood logs!!! I'm not kidding they are whole logs! About 6" in diameter and 1 1/2 feet long. I have 30 minutes to get them soaked??? I toss them into the bucket...like it's even going to help.

BBQ is hot and it's now 10:30am. Food service is at noon so I'm right on time. I want to get the chicken started since it's whole pieces with bone in and will take a while. Might as well get one of those "wood chips" in here.

I ask for sanitation gloves, soap and water. I mean come on I'm working with fish, chicken and beef here. They look at me like I grew a third eyeball. I explain I would not compromise on sanitation and if they could not provide what I needed then I could not cook up the food. Next thing I know I have a water bottle (5 gallon) next to me, several sets of tongs and a box of gloves and a container of that soap you can use that doesn't have to be rinsed off. Ok..that'll do. I open the first bag of chicken and realize that these were not cleaned prior to going into the marinade. There are feathers, and blood clots still attached and all the fat. (yep makes me nauseous too) I do some quick tidy up on the meat cuts and move on. The fire is so hot because those damn logs burn that way. They give me an Ortho Sprayer to keep the fire down. This is gonna be fun.

11am the first batch of chicken is coming off the grill. Fish is still in the tub frozen solid but covered in the marinade. Can't figure out what good that's doing...and then I get the announcement from one of the staff "Um..I guess there was a miscommunication..food service is starting at 11 instead of noon so if there's anything you can do to hurry it up...?" I literally just looked at her and blinked. No there is nothing I can do. I mean I guess I could go over and ask the fish to thaw faster and ask the chicken to clean itself. I just said "I'll see what I can do" and meandered back to the grill.

Oh the hot dogs were so much fun to cook on the grill. As you will see in the photo's the grill was so warped. Hot dogs love to roll.

So at the end of the my part, cook the meat. I clean the grill and it's cleaner that what I recieved it in I might add, and go to the person in charge and say 'well all clean. We're taking off now.' She asks "Did you take the cinders out?" Um..and put them where? "In the tub with the wood chips." You mean the wood logs..and no I did not. So are you ready for this...I take the logs out, leaving the water in there since these things need to be snuffed out. She tells me to dump the water out. Ok...water and with a shovel I take the hot ash and cinders and put them in a bucket. She looks at it and then looks around and see the big water bottle on the table I was using. And fills a pan with it and pours it over the hot coals. So why did she ask me to dump the water out I have no clue.

Ok coals are out and time for me to go home. I have 1 hour to get home to see my daughter off to prom. Then I have to get cleaned for a dinner party.

Hubby and I head to the car. I look down and see that my chef coat has a big burned hole in it. So does my under shirt. My husbands sweat shirt also have a hole burned through the sleeve.

So between the gas, extra time they required I be there while they set up and I sat by, a ruined chef coat a ruined sweatshirt, I figure this job ended up costing me more to work it.

I will end with a positive note. It was great experience. I know that if I had to, I could easily pull off a BBQ for 150 including all the side dishes.

Are you kidding me with this?

Making due with what I have.

And the Academy Award Goes to...

2007-02-07T09:42:00.000-08:00

ME!!!

Yes me! I was selected to work with Wolfgang Puck for 5 days at the Academy Awards!!

I am so excited!!

I know I haven't posted much about what's been going on. Most days are the same, we prep one day and cook and serve the next. I do have some amusing antidotes to share and will as soon as I have a spare hour or so :)

Day 8 and 9 of APCA – The Entrees Delight!

2007-01-19T11:18:00.000-08:00

Well Day 8 marked a lot of prepping and we took our written test. We will be serving 4 entrees and one dessert. Our menu will be as follows –

Duck Confit Ravioli with Sautéed Arugula, Caramelized Cipollini Onions and Parsley Pesto

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Duck Confit, Braised Arugula and a Light Duck Broth

Cedar Planked Salmon with Creamy White Rose Potatoes and Fennel Confit and Emulsion

Roasted Salmon with Green Curry Foam and Sautéed Kabocha Squash

Strawberry Semifreddo

My group was Dwayne and Gabby and we were in charge of the roasted salmon. The down side was the green curry foam. The classes before us used all the curry paste so I had to make a batch from scratch. Ever do this? Well you don’t want to, it’s long and tedious, although you can control the heat much easier. It entails chopping up galangal (which is a lot like ginger), a lot of garlic, cilantro, Thai chilies, lemon grass, lime zest, toasted coriander seeds and cumin seeds then ground to a powder, Kaffir lime leaves and a lot of shallots. All of this is done on a mince and then it’s put into a robo coup (industrial food processor) where it’s pasted. Well to a certain point. Then you have to take it out and put it into a mortar a pestle and pounded even further. My arm got a work out. Gabby got on the fish, although we had decided she would to the squash, Dwayne just seems to do his own thing no matter how many times you tell him to something else (see day 9). I was very impressed with Gabby, she really stepped up. She got the fish all prepped – skinned and deboned, and sliced into 3 oz portions. I even had time to get the curry sauce made which is coconut milk, lime juice and curry paste heated up to just incorporate the flavors. Then it’s removed from the stove and cream is added, you adjust your curry to make it hotter if you like and then strain it off.

Dwayne, as I mentioned, decided to do the squash. Now I don’t know how many of you know what a Kabocha squash is, but it’s about the size of a honeydew melon and has a tough blue-ish green skin on it. So he has to skin it, clean it and dice it to medium. This is where the frustration sets in. I know he wants to do it, but when it takes him the same time it takes me to do the curry paste to clean 1 squash, well something has to be done. Gabby got her fish finished and started helping him and I can see him getting frustrated because he wants to do this on his own like we did our stuff. But the team will suffer for it and I really don’t want to be here all night waiting for him to do the squash. Gabby was really good with him and got him chatting which he seems very happy to do. Ok squash is all cleaned and needs to be cooked off. Great…he left the pans on the stove with the burners on so these babies are HOT! I told him “Don’t put the squash in those pans till they come down a bit in temperature or the squash will burn….” And off they go into the pan anyways. Yep they burned. We had to pick out all the burned pieces.

Everyone is finished and kitchen is clean. Tomorrow we serve. Our kitchen seems so much calmer and organized now that it ever did. I am very pleased!

Day 9 brings us our service day. We are all so prepared we ask Chef if we can serve at 7:30 instead of 8:30. She said if you are all ready go for it!

WooHoo!! We get our station set up. It’s decided that Dwayne will heat the squash, Gabby will cook off the fish. I’ll do the curry foam and plate. Here is how it’s suppose to go –

Chef – Order In – 5 Roasted Salmon

Gabby only to call back (this is to avoid confusion) – 5 Roasted Salmon

Me to Gabby – 5 plates out. (I came up with the game plan of when Chef orders in we pull the plates and leave them stacked. When Chef calls for pick up I will pull the plates from the stack out on the line for plating. This way when Chef asks how many we have on deck we just count the pile and ones the laid out)

At this time Gabby is start cooking the fish. I measure out for sauce, but do not heat it yet. I wait for Chef to call for Pick up. When Chef says Pick up Dwayne is to start heating the squash, I start on the foam.

Chef – Pick up 5 Roasted Salmon

Me to call back– Pick up 5 Roasted Salmon

Ok now in 2 minutes we should be plating 5 salmon, garnishing, and wiping them down.

But what really happened was –

Chef – Order In – 5 Roasted Salmon

Gabby and Dwayne – 5 Roasted Salmon

Gabby starts her fish, I get my sauce ready and Dwayne is cooking his squash. “Dwayne remember you don’t start cooking until Chef calls for pick up. Otherwise those are going to get way over-done.” He says Ok...but doesn’t turn the flame down and keeps on cooking.

Chef – Pick up 5 Roasted Salmon

Me and Dwayne – Pick up 5 Roasted Salmon

I take the plates and line them up. I know I have about 3 minutes before she wants them up. I start the curry sauce heating up slowly. Dwayne is putting the squash on the plates. “Um…Dwayne? The fish is still cooking and we’re not ready to plate yet. These will get cold sitting on the plates.” At this moment Chef walks over and tells Dwayne “Dwayne when you plate the squash I want it higher on the plate. Not in the very center. Understand?” He responds with yes he does. She also tells him “Don’t start cooking till I call order in got it?” He says Yes Chef understood. Ok...good.

Next time she calls in it’s the same thing. *sigh* She tells him again to put the squash higher on the plate or closer to the edge. He says ok. But again on the next set he does the same thing. Gabby and I are beside ourselves with frustration. At this point Chef says Ok have him put the squash on but don’t do anything else with the plate. I want to inspect at each stage. Yes Chef. So we have 7 plates for pick up now, all with squash in the center of the plate. Chef tells him to fix it. He uses his fingers to push the squash up the plate. Chef tells him no, take it off, rinse the plate and redo it as it leaves a big oily smear that will take too much critical time for the plater to wipe off. I’m not sure if the message ever got through to him.

All in all tonight’s service was one of the smoothest ones yet. We even gave ourselves a round of applause. I hope that each we time we do this we just get better and better.

Now tomorrow night will be interesting. We doing a lot of discussion on what we want on our tasting menu. Bring your popcorn this is going to be a good round of fun!

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 6 and 7 of APCA

2007-01-18T12:10:00.000-08:00

Well on Day 6 we prepped for Day 7 which is service. We did a 4 course service –

Chilled Pea Soup with Pearl Onion Tartlets

Seared Foie Gras (Duck Liver) with Vanilla Confiture of Pears, Grilled Brioche, Forelle Pear Chips with a Banyuls Vinegar reduction

Pan-Roasted Squab (lol pigeon. I think it’s so funny that when it poops on your car it’s a pigeon but when you cook it up and eat it, it’s a squab) with Glazed Cherry Gastrique and Squab Demi-Glace with Grilled Mushrooms and Wild Rice

Profiteroles plate with Chocolate Ice Cream and Hazelnut Mousse, Chocolate Sauce, Jimica Reduction Sauce and Strawberry Glaze

Pumpkin Tiramisu

So the Chef gives our lecture of what is what, history on some of the items, techniques to be used….and then the confusion.

Chef – Does anyone know if yams are smooth or chunky?

Dead Quite

Chef – Anyone at all?

Me – Well doesn’t depend on how you’re using them?

Chef – Well yes, but most of the time yams are smooth.

At this point everyone is reading their recipes because we didn’t see yams in any of them and we all figure she’s going to start giving us a new recipe to add to our service. She does this a lot so we were prepared. Paper was out pens were poised…and then…

Chef – A good way to remember, Yams are smooth and Marmalades are chunky.

That gave us pause….DING!!! Chef do you means Jams?

Chef – Yes

Oh good lord. Now that, that mystery is solved. Everyone in their books wrote down “Yams should be smooth”.

My task for this meal was the Tiramisu. But I had no team. It was just me. Great, one of the weakest bakers in the class and I’m soloing dessert. This should be entertaining. I ask her if she wants me to do a double batch since the recipe makes enough for a serving of about 15. She said “Yes make 2”. Ok I’m on it. Um... “where are the lady fingers at?” I have to what?!?! Ok…breathing…I have to make the lady fingers. Sure that’s something I do a lot of in my spare time. If you’ve never made these..don’t!! Go to Trader Joes or whatever local store you have and BUY THEM! Let me give a glimpse. In one mixer you have 12 egg yolks and some sugar and whipping till ribbons form. Next in another mixer you have 12 egg white whipping to frothy and adding a lot of corn starch and a bit more sugar. Then you get to put these 2 things into a big bowl and fold them together. Not too much..because you still have to fold in your flour. Ok now don’t do what I did. My first tray I actually piped them out into ‘fingers’ and let them bake. They got beautiful color but dried out why too much. Clean my station so I can start on the pumpkin filling. Chef has arrived – “Where is the other batch?” Oh I was able to put both batches into the same mixer Chef. “No the other batch.” That was 2 batches. I made a double and combined them. “I said do 2”. Now at this moment I must have that look of “Are you nuts?!” on my face because I just wasn’t getting it. I did do 2 batches. So seems we have a bit of a communication problem. Seems when she said 2 she meant 2 double batches. DOH!

So I had to go back and get the mixers and start everything again. This threw a major wrench in my timing. I have to get these baked off and cooled so I have the tiramisu assembled and chilled for tomorrow. And I still have to bake Amaretti Cookie topping. But now I’m so far behind that will have to wait till tomorrow. It’s on to assembling the desserts. I have to give a major shout out to Lynndy and Carey who stepped in and helped me by doing my dishes for me. That small gesture helped so very much. Thank you guys!!!!

The night is over, 3 tiramisu’s in the walk-in ready for service.

Day 7 brings us our day of service. We have Andy, Edgar and Gabby on the entrée station. Carey and Johnny on Foie Gras, Lynndy and Eddie on Pea Soup, Janette and Dwayne on profiteroles. Chef will call Order In for each dish. Here’s where I get totally confused. She will ‘order in’ the entrée, then in about 5-8 minutes do a ‘pick-up’ of said item. However for the Foie gras, soup and desserts she will just do an order in and want them plated immediately. Then there’s ‘On Deck’ issue. She only does this with the entrée item and will ask “How many on deck?” Now we didn’t cover this during the ‘briefing’ so we are all clueless. She then explains that on deck means how many do they have total. Total being all those on order and all those on pick-up. Well they weren’t organized to count them out. Not because of lack of trying but because they didn’t know she was going to ask total counts. Took about 15-20 minutes to get that ironed out. The other stations seemed to run very smoothly. Even me. I was so nervous but all went very well. The profiteroles had a couple of snags. I don’t think the two of them were communicating as much so I stepped in to help out where they needed me. I think everyone needs to work on communication. Each cook on the line needs to talk to the ones next to them etc.

I was very happy with the nights service. I believe the food was outstanding and reviews from those enjoying the cuisine said it was great. Can’t argue with happy customers.

Tomorrow we being prepping for yet another night of service. Looks like we’ll be having 4 entrees and 1 dessert. This should be interesting!

Until Then!...

Day 4 of APCA – The Volcano Erupts!

2007-01-15T11:24:00.000-08:00

Well today we prepped for Fridays service. Our menu for Friday will be –

Duck Salad with Fig, Honey, Mizuna, Kumquats and Gorgonzola

Baked Herbed Goat Cheese Salad with Arugula

Braised Pork Cheeks/Shanks with Gremolada, Risottoa alla Milanese and Sautéed Broccoli Raab

Italian Rice Balls

Apple Tarte Tatin with Caramel Sauce with Vanilla Ice Cream

So once again I was on salads. But at least this is a warm salad and we’ll have to cook the duck breasts. My partner this time was my dear one Eddie. And because we were the lucky winners of doing salads we got the wonderful task of taking down the duck stock.

Everything was going fine until, what will later be referred to as the Red and Andy incident. So Eddie and I finish our stuff and drop the stock. We also had to put up another batch of stock. So we got that going. It was time to start doing a lot of dishes. (Yes I see you nodding…you can see the writing on the wall with this one eh?) So I get one batch done and then go back to the stock to finish some work on it. I turn to look at the dish station to see if anyone is there so I can go get my next batch done. No one there but a crap load of dishes on dropped off. I grit my teeth. I take a few smaller things over because there is no room whatsoever for anything else because of the mound there. And what are they? All the dishes from Andy that he used to make his ice-cream, and sauces and whatever else he had to do. I leave them. Eddie and Edgar are now at the sink doing other dishes and end up doing Andy’s. (Who also dropped off all night on the last prep night and last service night, but I kept my mouth shut) Well no more…Andy comes walking over with yet another load of dishes and drops them off and walks away. Oh hell no!! “Andy!...come here a sec..” He comes walking over and I say “Hey how about saying Thank you to Eddie and Edgar for doing your dishes you keep leaving here?” And here is what follows (Keep in mind he was already in a pouty pissy mood because he was on the dessert station. He hates doing desserts with a passion!) –

Andy – I didn’t ask them too!!!

Me – I didn’t say you did, but you keep leaving them here and everyone has been doing them.

Andy – Well they don’t’ have to! I’m busy and don’t have time right now!

Me (and my voice is going up as he’s walking away) – Well you better make time! Everyone else here has done their dishes and they are just as busy! You haven’t done one dish since this class started and it’s time you act like a man! Your mother doesn’t work here. You have to be accountable and responsible!

Andy – I have caramel sauce on the stove that I have to deal with!

Me – Well take it off the stove and act like a man and do your share. Don’t start one thing if you can’t finish another. If you bring dishes you do dishes. If you can’t do them leave them at your station and bring them when you can. You have so much crap here no one else can do their stuff.

Andy – Leave me alone I don’t have time for this!

Ok well let’s just say what I wanted to do was pull his arse over to the sink by his ear and treat him like the petulant child he was acting. About 30 minutes later Chef asks to speak with me. I’m surprised it took her that long to do it. She asked me what happened and I told her. I also explained we’ve had problems with him a lot in BPT and that Chef True had to speak with him twice for his attitude. I apologized to Chef for the outburst in her class and promised it would never happen again. She said that from this point on she would have him put his dishes in a lexan (big plastic container) and have him take them over all at once and do his own. And that for safety reasons yelling is not permitted as someone might be cooking with something hot or cutting something and get distracted and look away towards the commotion and get hurt. I explained that I to totally understood and again promised it would never happen again.

So another 20 minutes goes by and Andy is doing his typical pouting. The rest of the class is out eating the left overs and he’s in the kitchen thowing things around and acting like he’s the only one cleaning. I’m like ‘whatever dude get over it’. I go up to Chef and tell her “Chef, while I don’t care if Andy hates me or is pouty with me, it’s not fair to the rest of the class. I will go and apologize to him.” She looks at me and says Thank you Red I appreciate that. So off I go to eat crow pie. Andy is in the walk-in and I go in and say “Hey I need to talk to you…I…” but before I can finish he looks at me and says “I don’t have time you. I really don’t want to talk to you at all.” Ok I expected this and continue on “Andy you do have time. I came to apologize to you. I should not have yelled at you and I’m sorry. It was not right to make it public. I should have spoken to you directly or to the chef. I’m sorry..” But again before I can finish he’s still pissy “Who cares, I don’t have time for this. I have more important things do you. I’m disgusted with you.” You could have knocked me over with a feather!! Disgusted? Son I’m 20 years your senior. You can be pissy me with all you like, but when someone comes to apologize to you the least you can be is respectful. Ass. Chef is aware of it and I’m over it. I’ll be cordial and business like with him tomorrow during service.

The other issue I ended up talking to Chef about (well it was going to be me a Lynndy but it ended up being me haha) was our new student has a very bad hygiene problem. He reeks basically. I know that cannot be sanitary. It’s also very hard to work next to him because you can’t breathe. Chef said she’d see what she could do but it’s a very hard subject to broach. Well find a way chef please!!

Tomorrow is service. Should be an interesting night. Until Then!

Day 3 of APCA – First night of Restaurant Service

2007-01-15T10:44:00.000-08:00

Well tonight we had our first night of full service. For most of us it was our first time working in what is a restaurant style kitchen. We had a few things to do on our station that we didn’t do last night to ensure freshness. One was to cut the citrus supremes. This where you cut the skin from the oranges, grapefruit etc down to the meat of the fruit. Then you cut in between the layers do give you a slice that no pith or skin on it. Dwayne wanted to do these since it had been a while and he didn’t remember. Ok sounds good. But I can’t get started on the vinaigrette until that is done because I need the left over juice for it. So while he’s doing that I set up our station and get plates ready, spoons and whatever else I think we’ll need. He has one orange done. Time for me to step in. I don’t want to be rude but we have a deadline. I decide to be diplomatic. “Hey Dwayne I know you want to do these, but it’s not fair for you to have to do them all yourself here let me help.” I’m finishing up an orange and he says “Do you want to me to cut the mint?” “Sure! It needs to be chiffonade.” He says ok and starts. Chef calls me over to observe something and when I come back I see the mint in the cup. Chopped up in hunks. Not chiffonade which is very thin strips. I pick up the cup and go to ask chef if we can still use them, because I don’t like to waste food, and she looks it and looks at me and says “No, go do that over you did it wrong.” I smile and say “Well Dwayne did this but I’ll go redo it Chef straight away.” I think she hates me. But that’s ok.

What a night. Chef calls out “10 salads on the fly”. I have no clue what she means, she hasn’t explained the lingo to us. So I call back “10 Salads Chef” and just start making the darn things. Since none of the other students had come in yet I assumed “on the fly” meant get them ready ahead of time. Ok 10 salads are on the line for pick up. The other students start filing in. I look at their faces and their starch white uniform jackets and instantly remember the third day of class when I was in PCA I and came to this same event. Seems like years ago.

But that wonderful dream like euphoria is quickly dashed when the Chef starts with “Order in! 5 pork chops!” “Red – Pick up 5 salads!” Now I’m thinking..sure go ahead…I have 10 up here. Then I pause and rethink this. She knows I have 10 up here. But why wouldn’t she ‘Order-in’ for me. Why pick up? I am clueless so just start making 5 more. Which as soon as I complete she calls it out again. Woman! Just tell me how many you want over all and I’ll make em! I’m so glad I never said that out loud. I really think she would have hurt me if I did. As I said this Chef instructor is a no nonsense instructor.

Plates are going up and out as fast as they were made. I started acting as the front of the house and delivering deserts. My salads were all done and even had a few extra. After I delivered the deserts I came back and checked in with all the stations to make sure no one else needed help or need me to act a runner. I was the only one not busy with a task. Dwayne went over to do dishes. I checked in with the grill station to see if they needed anything. Chef was standing there too and she turned and looked at me and said “no they are fine”….Oooo kkkk. I checked with back prep station, they said they were good. So I went out to the front and started clearing dishes and bringing them back to the wash station. I figured at least I’m not standing around doing nothing. I couldn’t clean much because all the stations were still in use. Chef calls out “Red come back here please” in a tone that was something akin to “do not move or breathe unless I give you permission”…yes Chef. Which puts me at my station standing there. I feel very unproductive, but it’s what she wants. Needless to say I am not feeling any bonding going on. I’m not sure if I’m suppose to, but I always felt at ease with my other instructors.

The night is over and it’s time to start cleaning up. This goes pretty well. Chef calls us over and says “You guy did good.” But in my head I heard “Meh…you did ok.” I’m still more amazed at all of us working together and not killing each other.

Tomorrow we prep for Fridays service. So it will pretty much be, prep/serve and prep/serve. I guess some weeks we’ll have 3 nights of service and others 2 or maybe do a couple of big services that take 2 days prep. Time will tell!

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 2 of APCA – Let us Prep

2007-01-15T10:09:00.000-08:00

So I can this class is going to be a whirl wind of activity. Today we prepped out for tomorrow’s first day of service.

Our Menu is as follows –

Roasted Beet Salad with Baby Arugula, Citrus, Mint and Chevre

Grilled Pork Chops with Caraway Braised Cabbage, Yukon Gold Potatoes in Warm Vinaigrette and Onion Marmalade

Chocolate Souffle Cake with Mascarpone Ice Cream

I was on the pantry station so the salad was mine. My teammate was the new guy that just joined us – Dwayne. He’s a very nice guy. A bit slow, but we’ve been updated to his condition. The Chef writes things out on a big white board and the first item was the salad. It read as follows –

Roasted Beet Salad with the red and yellow beets. – Red & Dwayne

Ok pretty explanatory. She did ask if everyone knew was Chevre is. For those that didn’t she explained it was ‘goat cheese’. Everyone nods and makes a note in their book. Ok fine…but then one student raises his hand and has the other hand on his face under his chin looking ever so intent while he asked, “Chef? What’s a Dwayne?” I did the laugh snort thing and turned back to look at him and realized he was serious. So I said “A ‘dwayne’ is the man sitting next to you.” He sort of blinks like I was the one joking now. Then I said “See where it says Red and Dwayne? Well I’m Red and he’s Dwayne so we’ll be doing the salad.” Everyone laughs and the class continues on.

Before we get started our team was also in charge of cooking the pigs head and feet that came over from CCT. (A flash back is go back in the blog to the picture of me holding the pigs head) So I get that started and then we begin prepping out for the rest of salad. Dwayne says he’ll roast the beets. Ok sounds good. I get everything else ready. Once all of our stuff is done I offer to help out at other stations. They’re basically all ready to go I work on getting the kitchen clean. It’s amazing how the class is working together. Before this point all of our dishes were pretty much us doing them ourselves, with the exception of the few times we would work in groups. Now everything we do, we do as a team to bring an entire meal together for the rest of the students.

So far things seem to be very calm and organized. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Until Then!...

Day 1 – APCA – The Tone is Set

2007-01-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

Well tonight marked our first night in APCA. Our new Chef instructor is Chef Mena. She comes to us with a lot of experience. Not only has she worked for a renowned chef – Wolfgang Puck, but she also has a lot of catering experience and has taught every phase of class this school has to offer. She seems very strict which I love! She has openly said that if she asks us to do a small dice and she sees a medium dice, she’ll have us start over. Our tests will not be structured but pop quizzes. She feels that by not knowing when our tests will be, it will force us to review everyday, thus keeping the information readily available. I only have one problem with this is I work full time, then the 2 hour commute. The only time I have to review is on the weekends. I’ll have to wait and see how this plays out.

The afternoon class was finishing up their first night of lecture when I arrived. The chef was telling them “It’s amazing how 2 pages in your text book turns into 5 hours of lecture…” We were also told that the first night of class is all lecture no cooking. Yeah well I also believe in always being prepared so I came with all my stuff and gear.

We didn’t get started on our lectures until almost 7pm. The newbies were in the dining hall with us and they had to get their introductions. Now why on earth they couldn’t do it in their labs I have no clue. We had ours in our lab. But because of that our Chef had to wait before she could start on ours. So I’m thinking ok it’s gonna be a long night of lectures…but at 8:45 she told us to start pulling all the leftover items out of the walk-ins and get cooking. Everyone was like “Huh?!” I knew this was a test. She wanted to see several things – Who was working with whom, who did what, creativity etc. We ended up cooking a lot of different things. I got a whole bunch of mushrooms and sautéed them in butter and then added red wine and thyme and reduced them quickly. I must say, yummy. ‘A’ did some steaks, Eddie and Lynndy did pan seared chicken breasts, Wayne (He’s our new guy. He was in class B and decided to move over to our class. Jury is out on him) did eggs with peppers. She didn’t want us all doing the same thing, so I called out I was doing sautéed mushrooms. Sure as anything, 2 didn’t listen and asked me what I was doing. So I told them directly and damn if they still didn’t do another form of sautéed mushrooms. Arg.

I’m happy we got to eat. I was starving! Tomorrow we begin prepping for Pork Chop night. I so remember going to my first Pork Chop night and now here I am preparing for it. The dynamics of our personalities will come out a lot more in this class than any other I believe because we do not do anything individual. Everything we do we do as a team. And some are not team players. Bring it on! Be sure to wear your safety belts kids!

Until Tomorrow!...

Ending Days of BPT

2007-01-09T11:35:00.000-08:00

What a ride this has been. The last week of BPT was divided by the week long Christmas break. I personally would have rather pushed through it. To me the momentum was there and it was best to keep it up. It was so hard for me to go home and not have to rush, rush, rush. Then to come back and have it be finals and right back the grind. Very hard.

So the last couple of days we did our plated desserts. This was comprised of ice creams we had made. We had three groups and each group was in charge of an ice cream. And then it was the responsibility of one person on that team to do the ice cream while the others were working on other items. Yes yours truly was in charge of our ice cream, cinnamon ice cream and I was very excited to be making it. I had never used a fancy ice cream maker (chills that stuff down in about 7 minutes). So off I go and I’m cooking the eggs and cream and all the yummy stuff. And BAM out of no where my cream curdles. Son of a B@*$*&! This is a long process and I had to pitch it all, re-gather all the ingredients and start over. And this concoction has to chill completely before it goes into the ice cream machine. DOH! Yes I got it done and it was delish!

We also made 3 sauces to garnish our plates – Raspberry Coulis, Caramel and Crème Anglaise. Added to this was chocolate chip cookies, flourless chocolate cake, nut lace cookies, free-form apple tart, pavlava with fresh berries and tuiles cookies. Everyone had their tasks. I cannot figure out why our chocolate chip cookies looked like round golf balls even after they were baked. If you dropped one, it bounced. I’m not kidding, it bounced! All in all the dessert plates came out pretty nice. It was fun to learn how to plate them and the correct way to serve ice cream on a plate. There is a reason why you have a cookie with it. To put the ice cream on so it doesn’t melt and run all over the plate before it’s served. Who knew!

The next day we got to decorate the cakes we baked on the first day of BPT. Our butter cakes. We made 2 types of frosting, butter cream and shortening cream. The butter cream is mainly used to frost the cake and the shortening one to color and use for decorating. I do not have a flare for this. I don’t eat a lot of cakes and when I do I don’t even frost them. I even have just about every tip you could imagine. Not because I bought them, no, but rather my dear mother-in-law who passed away 4 years ago was an avid cake decorator and my father-in-law graciously gave me all of her equipment. I can only hope that rather than doing the Chef proud I did Marcella proud. My design? A martini glass complete with a green olive. I just did some scalloping around the edges and the base and wrote the word ‘Cheers’ on the top and did some different frosting in different colors to look like confetti. It was pretty cute. I wish I had had my camera with me.

Next day through us straight into finals. For the first day we mainly did prep for presentation the next day. With the exception of the dinner rolls. Those we did and presented the first night. I don’t know what it is. We all make our dough, we all put it into the proofer and mine rises 3 times faster than anyone else. Mine was proofed in 35 minutes and everyone else took about 50 minutes. My rolls were ‘ok’. Not great. I make them at home much better but I don’t use a proofer at home. And, let’s be honest, when it’s finals things sometimes don’t get checked as often as they should because you get so focused on all the different tasks that have to be done. I got everything else done and it’s all packaged up and in the walk-in for assembly the next day.

Last day of finals! We have to assemble our Boston Cream Pie, Lemon Tart and our Crème Brulees. I have to laugh at the Boston Cream. My Ganache, unlike my fellow students decided it didn’t want to pour nicely over the top of the cake, but rather set up as it was pouring. Most of my fellow students ganache didn’t set up at all but ran as the cake was cut. I had the most fun with the Lemon Tart and the meringue. I love piping that stuff out into fun patterns and torching it. I must say it looked rather pretty.

The Crème Brulee I decided to use raw sugar rather than the refined white sugar. I got much better results on the torching and crispy crust. Last but not least we had product identification. I don’t feel real confident about this. And I know the written final there were a few questions that I knew the answers to the minute I handed in the test with the wrong answer. Most finals I feel pretty good over all. This is the only time I’m leary. But we shall see.

I start phase 4 now. APCA – Advanced Professional Culinary Arts. This is the last leg and should be one of the most challenging. I can’t wait!!

Until then!...

Christmas Break

2006-12-28T13:21:00.000-08:00

**We're sorry but the blogger you are trying to read is on Christmas break and enjoying every second she can. Please return later to catch up on the latest entries of Loves Cooking**

:)

Day 9 and 10 of BPT – It’s all a blur now…

2006-12-21T14:24:00.000-08:00

We’ve done so much baking I’m having troubles keeping it all straight. Ok let’s see..

On the first day of baking the Chef assigned to us… no no cannot do that again. I’ve got to stay focused.

Ok day 9 we had a big pizza fest. Three groups, 6 pizza’s each – 3 thin and 3 Chicago style. That’s a lot of pizza folks! I’m not sure what everyone else did but our group did the following

Thin # 1 – Pesto with Prosciutto and Mozzarella

Thin # 2 – Tomato base with cherry tomatoes roasted in EVO and balsamic vinegar and garlic slices, fresh basil and Mozzarella.

Thin # 3 – Base was carmalized onions, roasted garlic and Gorgonzola cheese.

Chicago # 1 – Cheese, tomato base, green peppers, mushrooms, pepperoni and onions.

Chicago # 2 – Cheese – Mozzarella and Parmesan and pepperoni’s.

Chicago # 3 – A margarita style pizza, fresh tomatoes, cheese and basil

One of the other teams made a buffalo chicken pizza that oh my lord made my mouth water (and burn) even after I had eaten several pieces of our pizza. I ended up eating 6.5 pieces of pizza that night.

And if that wasn’t enough we also baked off our Ciabatta (Italian for ‘slipper’) bread. We each made a large loaf of this bread and I ended up bringing 2 loaves to my office to share. I have so much bread at home!

On day 10 we switched gears a bit and while still baking went over to the sweet side once more. It was a day of Croissants, fruit-filled Danishes, cake doughnuts and blueberry muffins. Since there were 4 in our group we each took and item and went to work. Well sort of. The dough for the Danishes and Croissants had to thaw a bit. So I worked on the blueberry muffins. Not a big fan of muffins and no fan at all of fruit. I must say they came out very good. ‘J’ worked on the doughnuts. We coated some in chocolate, some in cinnamon sugar. Chef made a point of saying ‘do not over-work the dough or they will be tough’. Ours were a little tough, but hey it was his first time making this dough. At least they weren’t as tough as one of the other groups chef said. Next up Danish time. What fun!! We made pinwheel shapes, fold overs, window panes, inverted pinwheels and a lot more. They were do tasty. Ok so I don’t like fruit, but the jam wasn’t too bad. The dough far outshone the jam and even chef said “These are the best I’ve had in 2 terms.” Woo Hoo’s to Carey she was in charge of the Danish dough. It’s Croissant time. Our dough is ready and let’s roll these bad boys out up and over. They get baked off and while a beautiful color the chef said they were slightly under cooked. I’m trying to think of how we could have cooked them longer without them getting too dark. I shall have to ponder this or ask Chef about it tomorrow.

Tomorrow is cookie night and ice-cream night along with prepping for our Plated Desert Presentation set for Friday. That’s when we’ll use the Truffles we made way early on in the program.

Until Then!!....

Day 8 of BPT – Finishing up the Breads

2006-12-19T12:11:00.000-08:00

Well tonight was fun. We made Rosemary Foccacia bread, dinner rolls, poolish starter, and pizza dough. This was definitely one of those days to hurry up and wait. We, our group (well not the group as assigned by Chef but the 4 of us who regularly hang together Lynndy, Eddie, Carey and myself), took an hour break in the library because we had everything done and had to wait on the dinner roll dough to double in size. So we read up on recipes, did some vacation planning for Lynndy (snickers) and talked about muffins and the best type of butter to use. (I wish you could see how hard I’m laughing but there is just no way to explain inside jokes. And you probably wonder then why post them, well it’s my blog and it’s for my memories and it makes me laugh.)

So it’s time for the dinner rolls to be punched down, formed up and allow to rise yet again. Forming them was neat because you can get pretty creative. We did the standard round ones, but then we did knots, braids, I did rounds with slashes to create different affects. I saw on a poster where an egg dough was used to make the shape of a grape cluster. I asked Chef if that would work with the dough we used and he said it should. So since it’s on the finals I’m going to attempt it.

Tonight was the first night, in BPT, I feel as if I touched my ‘inner baker’. I have found that while I don’t enjoy making cakes, I do like the tarts and breads. Tomorrow we’re doing croissant dough and sweet tart dough. Maybe it’s because the things we’re making that I enjoy are things you really have a hands on approach with. You’re forming things, arranging things etc. Whereas a cake you mix it up, pour it into a pan and let it bake. We get to decorate our butter cakes we made when we return from Christmas break so that part will be hands on.

The Foccacia was so delicious. I could have eaten more but was worried about over stuffing. Carey made a wonderful dipping sauce to go with ours (we did this item in teams of 2) with balsamic, red pepper flakes, olive oil and garlic. You just can’t get any better than that. Of course I had to eat more. I’d never be able to survive on the Atkins diet. Bring me my Carbs!

I can’t wait for tomorrow – Pizza!! We’re in teams of 2 and we’re making 3 pizza’s. Carey and I have decided on – Pesto Pizza with Prosciutto and Mozzarella, Red Onions with cherry tomatoes sautéed in balsamic vinegar and basil, and the third not too sure yet will wait to see what strikes us. She and I have both been to Rome and know how the traditional Rome style pizza should be. No more than 4 toppings and that includes the cheese. Crust should be thin…well check out the very first post on this blog. I believe the recipe is there and trust me, it is a winner!

Not much else for tonight so will update tomorrow after the pizza party!

Until Tomorrow!...

Day in the Life

2006-12-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

Well today was the day I helped out at the school. Our Chefs for today were Chef Knight and Chef Deshay. As you might recall Chef Knight was my first instructor in PCA I. Chef Deshay teaches the class I’m in now but in the afternoons.

On the tasting menu for the potential newibes –

Black Olive Tapanade on toasted baguette
Green Olive Tapanade on fried polenta
Stuffed Dates wrapped in bacon
Peppermint Cream stuffed profiteroles

We had 3 students helping out, myself, Tiny and Olivia. Tiny is in APCA (4th term) and Olivia is in the same session I am in but in the afternoon class.

I was in charge of the black olive Tapanade, Tiny the green and Olivia did the stuff dates. Everything was pretty much made for them. They just had to assemble them. I think it would have been more fun if they had to make the Tapanade but since over 35 showed up that might have been tough. Not to mention the fact they haven’t had any of the safety lectures on how to use the equipment.

There was one issue in which the polenta just wouldn’t cooperate. Chef Knight asked me “Red to remember how to make Polenta?!” I told her of course and she said get on it and make me 2 batches fast! Ok…no pressure here…off I got to PCA II to make polenta. Oh thank heavens it came out perfectly! I would have hated to let the chef down.

The surreal part was as I was walking around checking in on the newbies to see how they were doing or if they had questions a couple of times I would hear “Chef can you look at this?” …”Chef is this right?”…and I kept walking on by until one of them touched my arm and goes “Chef?” I laughed and apologized for not answering sooner, but see those folks up there wearing the black? Those are the ‘Chefs’, I’m a student but I do appreciate the honorific. The cute part was when one woman asked me “So do they always have a sous chef to help prep and do the dishes?”, when I was taking her dirty dishes to the sink. I’m going to hell for this but looked at her and “Yes..yes they do.” I knew if I told her the horror stories of what we went thru she’d run screaming into the night never to be seen again except on those rare nights when the moon is full we’ll hear her cackling “wash em…wash em..”

After they all assembled their appetizers they took their platters to the main dining hall to enjoy them. This also affords the recruiters an opportunity to get them signed up and committed. Unfortunately for us it means it’s time to clean the kitchen. And that means just the 3 of us get to clean the lab that 30+ people just dirtied. Oh the joy! And true to form there’s always someone who doesn’t pull their weight and that was Olivia. Tiny ended up doing all the dishes, I wiped and scrubbed the lab and she was no where to be seen. At least this wasn’t a shock to me hahaha!

It was a fun day and it was enjoyable to talk with the potential new students. I know of one gentleman who is already signed up and due to start in January. They all had a lot of questions and that excited energy I remember so well before I started. I hope to see their faces in January.

On Monday in class we’re making our pizza dough, dinner rolls, the poolish starter for Ciabiatta bread and Rosemary Foccacia bread. What a good day that will be :)

Until Then!...

Day 7 of BPT – All those in favor of Bread say ‘Aye!’ AYE!

2006-12-19T10:41:00.000-08:00

Tonight marked another night of bread and you’ll no complaints from me. We made our Italian Batards (2 loaves), Brioche loaf, Brioche a Tete and Stickybuns.

Stickybuns…think Homer Simpson…now say it…AaaaahHhhhh Stickybuns (with a bit of drool on the corner of your mouth.) That’s the affect these things have. Your mouth starts drooling long before you make the caramel or the brown sugar cinnamon butter. Even now I’m very close to shorting out my keyboard. I know that when I tell folks of stickybuns they instantly think of the place in the mall that sells those big fluffy cinnamon buns with the cream cheese icing. These are not the same. These are very, well, sticky and have a caramel topping. We did some with pecans and others with no nuts.

My Brioche loaf came out very good but my a Tete had a slight mishap. An a Tete is baked in what looks to be a large fluted muffin pan. It holds about one pound of dough. You then make a small mound on the top like a knob with about 2 ounces of the dough. Well mine was going great and rising just fine, then it went into the oven…ah the smell was fantastic; time to pull it out and check it. Um… Houston we have a situation. My knob has risen and cooked up and in between 2 of the bars on the rack above it. Sadly enough it must be sacrificed.

The Italian Batards were very different. You start with ‘biga’ (pronounced bee-ga)which is a starter for your dough and it’s made the day before. In the traditional way the bread for the new day was started with a bit of the unsalted starter taken from yesterday’s bread making. No new dry or cake yeast is added, just a cup or so of the biga. So you take this starter and add it to flour, water and butter and get it well incorporated and let it to the rise thing. It’s a very rustic bread and I think the perfect match to a beef stew. Well at least today it is since that’s what I’m having with it for lunch.

Baking bread is just a fun experience. As I’ve said before you really must give it a try!

Tomorrow I’m working at the school for the “Day in a Life” session. This is where potential new students get to come for the day and experience a cooking session. I’m looking forward to it. I remember mine very well.

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 6 of BPT – Bread, Fire and Drama

2006-12-15T14:32:00.000-08:00

Where to begin? Sometimes it best to start in the middle, go the end and back the beginning.

Let’s do that –

The Middle - Yes we had a small fire in our kitchen last night. Nothing major, Chef acted in swift fashion and had everything under control in no time. What happened was we had the flat ovens on (pizza ovens) for our French Baguettes which were currently rising in the proofer. In the mean time we all made a batch of Rye bread which also had to rise but there wasn’t enough room in the proofers so Chef said we could put them on top of the flat ovens on a rack. Which we all did. And so did the class before us. I mention this because I feel this is where the mishap started. The afternoon class had pushed the wooden pizza peels back to make room for bowls of bread. Then comes our class and we push them back farther. Since these ovens are rather tall no one noticed the vents way in the back where the very hot air is escaping. Next thing you know there’s flames and about 10 pizza peels are totally ruined. Chef never got flustered and took command of the situation. We didn’t even have to use the fire extinguisher. (See side note at the bottom on this) We were back in production in no time. I’m just glad we’re not making pizza tomorrow because we low on peels now. I was disappointed in one student who made the comment “It’s ok Chef we’ll make sure they know it’s your fault haha”. That to me was uncalled for. Chef True was in NO way at fault. This was due to a compilation of a lot of errors throughout the day and was just an accident. But to throw your instructor under a bus like that was downright rude. At first I wasn’t going to blog this event because I didn’t want to bring more light to it. However, after that comment and knowing how the buzz will get around the school I figured at least there’d be a public statement here.

Side Note – As I mentioned about the fire it was funny and surreal to me because the day before the Chef left the lab to go make some copies. Every time a chef leaves the kitchen (at least in PCA I and II) the chefs will say “I’ll be right back, don’t burn the down the kitchen while I’m gone.” Kind of like telling an actor moments before going up on stage “Break a leg!” That got me to thinking...gee if we had a big fire the overhead system would go off, but if we did have a spot fire where is the fire extinguisher? I did a quick look around and didn’t see one. Oh come on the kitchen HAS to have one. It does but it’s not visible to the students from their stations. It’s on a pillar on the side that faces the chef instructor. So when the chef asked if someone would get the extinguisher just in case, no one knew where it was. But I did! I’m glad we didn’t need it.

The End - The drama started with two students, both of which are ‘moody’ but in different conflicting ways. E is lack-a-dazy and A is a brooder. In the mean time I should mention I was the sous chef for the evening, which translated to ‘Mom’. These two were both coming to me a different intervals E – “A is so overly moody tonight. I can’t stand his attitude!” A – “E is lazy and not doing her share. I’m sick of it!” and so on throughout the night. I had had enough. Then one of the gals was putting plates away and lost control and ending up dropping a couple that shattered in her hands and on the ground. Next thing I hear is 3 of the guys going “OoOoOoOoOo!!!” and that’s when I went into Mom mode. “Close it! We’re not in 3rd grade and this isn’t a play ground! More importantly how about asking if Janette is ok?” Right after that, within a minute, I hear E yelling at A “I have had enough of you!! Knock it off! Get out of my face and stop talking to me or about me behind my back you ass!” That’s when I had to separate them “Both of you quit it now!” and if that wasn’t enough a couple of our other fellow students thought it was funny “OoOoOOo you guys are in trouble now…” so I decided to remind them they had jobs to do and got out the list of chores. These same folks were still in the processing of getting all their stuff finished up and true to form the main 4 were doing all the cleaning again. So I told chef that since Carey and Eddie had done their chores I was not going to let them continue cleaning because they were done and had nothing else to do, and, that others could just do theirs when they were done and I would stay and make sure they got done. Chef agreed. I really wish he’d let me be the sous chef each night only because I have no problem ensuring things are done and if he needs someone to be ‘the bad guy’ I’ll do it. At least this way I could help ensure things are fair with regards to cleaning and chores. Sheesh. This was, by far, the oddest night we’ve had.

The Beginning – The bread was so much fun. I love making bread. Everything about it to me is enjoyable. The smell of the yeast and flour while you mix/knead it. Waiting for it to rise and peeking at it and seeing it getting bigger. (which makes one very happy because you know your yeast is working) Forming it and of course baking it off.

We made French Baguettes, Russian Rye and made biga for Italian Batard and Brioche. The Brioche we will make a loaf of Brioche bread and use the remainder for Sticky Buns tomorrow.

The baguettes were just delish and my daughter has already eaten a half a loaf of the rye. I can see me making a few more of these and giving these away as gifts in food baskets. Oh to have spare time to do such wonderful tasks. Lol! The really nice thing about bread is you don’t have to sit and watch it, well except for the baking part. You can do many other things while waiting for it to rise. People always use the excuse not to make bread “because it takes so long and uses up most of my day.” Well yeah..but if you’re at home plan that day to be laundry day. Make some dough, let it rise, do a load of towels, then fold, punch down dough let it rise, get a load of colors in, hang them up all the while with the TV on and catching up on your favorite TiVo’d shows. There’s always a way. I can’t tell you when the last time was I used my bread machine. The last 2 loaves bread I made I did from scratch. I used to use my bread machine a lot. But all your bread ends up a big square. Bread is a great form of expression and a good way to get a work out.

If you’ve never made bread before at least try it. Find a simple recipe and go for it. It is well worth it. You cannot compare fresh baked bread with anything else. It stands on its own merit of warm, delicious goodness!

I’m looking forward to tomorrow because I’ve never made sticky buns from scratch before.

Day 3 and 4 of BPT – Tarts, Custards and Pies – Oh My!

2006-12-13T14:43:00.000-08:00

I’m really starting to dig on this baking thing. On Day 3 we made tarts and a lot of them. Well for me it was a lot, it was only 4. Lemon Curd, Chocolate Ganache, Fruit with Vanilla Cream and a Jam with Crumb topping.

The lemon curd took a while for it to cook up and as it did the smell just kept intensifying. I wanted to just put a spoon in it and eat it right there. Now we didn’t assemble this tart today as the curd has to be to completely cold thru. The fruit tart was a lot of fun. I have always seen these in the bakery windows and on display and marveled at how colorful and tasty they looked but had never eaten one. I so wish my digital camera worked better because it was beautiful! The crumb tart everyone used raspberry jam so I went in other direction and used apricot. I love it on my toast and/or bagel so it’s gotta be good in a tart. The ganache tart was a chocolate piece of heaven. I’m really looking forward to assembling the lemon curd one because we will be making Italian Meringue to go on the top and then we torch it.

We also assembled and put the ganache topping on our Boston Cream Pies and let them set up. We’ll present those tomorrow. This was interesting. Apparently the Genoise cakes are so dry and unappetizing that after you cut them in the half and put the cream on you brush them with sugar water (simple syrup). I’m thinking why not use a cake that is more tasty then? Now of course hindsight for me is 20/20. I cut my cake in half, and I was one of the lucky few whose cake didn’t fall as it was baking. It was a very nice and uniform height. I coat the top half and set it aside and now the bottom half goes onto the cake stand, for easy rotation and I begin dipping the brush into the syrup and coat the bottom half of my cake. Next the cream is gently spread on top. Time to coat the top half of my cake and create a ‘sandwich’ of cream. Rut Oh. Seems I was not paying attention and every time I dipped my brush into the syrup and lifted it, it dripped all over the top part of my cake. Well can’t hurt if the cake is as a dry as they say right? Next is the crumb coat. This is a trick I wish I had known years ago!! Would have saved me a lot of frustration. You take a small amount of your frosting, glaze etc and smear it all over the top and sides. You’ll still see the cake through the crumb, it’s just to seal the crumbs to keep them from flaking off while you’re frosting. You let this set in fridge and then when you frost or coat it, it goes a lot smoother. After that chills thoroughly the top coat goes on and it looks so smooth and creamy. That goes back in the walk in until tomorrow so it has time to set up.

I like these tarts so much, particularly the fruit tart that I plan to make these for neighbors. The hardest part will be finding the freshest of fruits.

Side Bar – Learned the coolest way to peel a kiwi! I’ve always cut the top and bottom off and used a paring knife. This gives your then sliced kiwi an octagon or hexagon shape. Well no more! Take a spoon that cups the side nicely. Cut off the 2 ends and slide the spoon between the skin and flesh and slowly turn it around the kiwi. This will remove the skin and keep the kiwi with a nice round shape. How cool is that?!

Day four has us doing apples galore! I must say the smell in that lab was heavenly. All that sugar, browned butter, cinnamon and apples. Our agenda included presenting our Boston cream pies, lemon curd tarts, making an apple pie, 2 apple tarts, 2 baked apples, and a batch of apple sauce.

We got our lemon curd tarts out and placed them into the oven for about 5 minutes to get the curd to set up an bit. These went back into the walkin to allow to fully chill. Next was our dough(s) for our pies and tarts since this too has to chill for a while. While that’s happening we get started on our baked apples and apple sauce. I do like baked apples but I had never done them in the oven (cringe). I cheated and did them in the microwave…ok ok don’t stone me! That was before I started really cooking. These were done in a cast iron skillet with brown sugar and browned butter. I would have added raisins but we didn’t have any. Once done they were tender and very flavorful. Browning the butter before putting it on the apples adds a whole new layer of flavor.

I also presented my Boston cream pie. Yeah…remember that simple syrup that drizzled all over the top of my cake. Well turns out you can put too much on. Haha!

Time for Apple Pie. We used Granny Smith apples and the pies were the small 5” pie tins. In a normal pie I would have mixed apple types to give it texture as some will get really soft and others with be tender but still have some resistance to them. I like the mixture of flavors as well, sweet, sour etc. They are then brushed with an egg wash mixture and we had the option of leaving it as is, putting cinnamon/sugar on them. I chose to use raw sugar. I like the way it bakes up on the top. Our tarts were kind of the same way. We used Fiji apples for these and they were open ‘free form’ tarts. You took your dough and rolled it out about 1/8” thick in a 6-7” circle. Place the apple mixture, which was diced apples and spices and then roll the outer edges of the dough and crimp along the sides. The apples will still be visible in the middle. (This picture is not of my tart but an example only obtained from google)
But my favorite thing for the evening was the lemon tart. First we made our meringue. We take our egg whites and put them into the mixer with a bit of cream of tartar to act as a binder. Next on the cooktop we took 1 cup of sugar and about 1 ounce of water (enough to make it look like wet sand) and allowed that to come to a boil and reach a temperature of 240°. Next this is very slowly drizzled into the mixer down the side trying not to let it hit the whip attachment. All this does is fling cooked sugar all over the side of your mixing bowl and create a mess. (side note – this happen, the mess part, to me when making our dough for our tarts. My flour came out of the parchment paper in big KaBoom and I had flour everywhere) Keeping your mixer on high let this whip up till the bowl is cool to the touch. They will not form stiff peaks like most probably expect when you whip egg whites stiff and then rain in granulated sugar and whip again. This is much more creamy. It is then put on top of the cooled tart and you can use your spoon to dollop it and form peaks or you can use a pastry bag. This is the option I chose and made a lovely pattern with ridges and peaks and then torched it to turn the edges a nice toast color. I really didn’t want to cut in to it for presentation. I even made a small one for a fellow student in another class. These are fun and whenever I can I like to use the pastry bags. You can get so creative with these things.

My mother in law loved to make apple pies and cakes and so when she passed I inherited her cake decorating items. I’ll need to get new bags but my gosh this woman had so many different tips. I’m going to have to play with them and see what all they can do.

I don't think Chef True is 100%. He didn't look to well last night and seems to be very sluggish. I'm hoping he's not coming down with something. It'd best for him to stay at home and now and get some rest rather than wear himself down further run down and then really be out sick.

But you know how men are.."I'm fine! No really I'll be ok. I'm taking my vitamin C *slight cough* don't worry about it. I can handle it.." And then BAM they're laid up for 4 days whimpering and snotting and "I don't feel good..this sucks..." Not to mention the fact that if you're sick stay away from others and keep your cooties to yourself thank you very much. You might be just fine and that's all well and good, but when I get something like this it's never minor. So for all those reading this...if you're feeling sick or ill STAY HOME!!

Ok well that was a fun soap box :)

Tomorrow we’re doing custards. So Until Then!...

Day 2 of BPT – Let them Eat Cake!

2006-12-11T14:40:00.000-08:00

Well tonight we made 4 cakes. From scratch!! No I’m serious…stop laughing. No they weren’t my usual cakes of add 2 eggs, ¼ cup of oil, ½ water and mix well. Or my favorite standby – ¼ cup of water and microwave it for a couple of minutes Hahaha!!

So our cake festival began with a Butter cake. This was then cooled and frozen and will be decorated later on in the course. (that should be a fun experience) We also made an ‘angel’ food cake that will go towards our Boston Cream pie we’ll be doing on Monday. Next up was an Almond Financier. This is a buttery almond tort and stop the taste bud overload but it’s good. We also did a flourless chocolate cake. Considering how much chocolate goes into this thing it’s not overly sweet. My daughter loved it! Hubby is devouring the tort and I’m already sugared out.

Flourless Chocolate Cake –

10 oz dark chocolate (chopped)
10 oz butter cubed
10 eggs separated
6 oz sugar
Powdered sugar for dusting

Coat the bottom of a 10” cake pan with cooking spray. Place parchment paper in the bottom and coat again with cooking spray. (Be sure the paper only lines the inner circle and does not come up on the sides or it will bake into your cake). Set aside

Combine the chocolate and butter in bowl. Place over a saucepan with simmering water and gently melt them together. The bowl should not touch the water in the pan. Also the water should be simmering NOT boiling.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and 3 oz of sugar together until well combined. Whisk in the chocolate mixture and set aside.

In a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites till foamy and soft peaks form. Add in the remaining 3 oz of sugar and mix until all the sugar is incorporated and the whites form soft glossy peaks.

Gently fold in the whites into the chocolate mixture. Pour into pan and bake at 325° for 40 minutes to 1 hour. When ready the cake should start to crack on top, but still wobble in the center. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack. Once cool loosen the sides of the cake with a sharp paring knife or an offset spatula before un-molding onto a cardboard round or a serving plate. Dust with powdered sugar just prior to serving.

Almond Financier –

3 oz toasted almonds
6 oz butter
½ vanilla bean, split and scraped
5 oz egg whites
6 oz powdered sugar
¾ C. Pastry flour sifted

Coat the bottom of an 8” cake pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper and spray again with cooking spray.

Combine butter and vanilla bean in a 1 quart stock pot and cook until butter is brown. Do this over a low heat to ensure the vanilla has enough time to release its flavor.

In a food processor combine the nuts and powdered sugar and grind till fine. In a large bowl whisk in the nut mixture and egg whites. Once incorporated gradually whisk in the flour. Once flour is incorporated gradually add in the vanilla butter. Let the batter rest for about 20 minutes. Pour into cake pan and bake at 325° for about 30 minutes. A cake tester inserted into the middle should come out clean. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

This is great served with a favorite coffee or tea.

Our group consisted of Carey, Lynndy, Eddie and myself. Me being the weak link in this group because of lack of experience. But interestingly enough our group had all of our cakes in the oven, baked and out cooling while the other group had only just put two cakes in the oven and still had 2 to start. So we went over to APCA and had dinner oxtail pie which was very good.

This is one part of the course however that we cannot rush. I don’t care how efficient we work you cannot make something rise or bake faster. The key here will be “what takes more time and which item do I start now?” It might be better to take the longer item and save it for the end because of all the components that have to be done. Whereas some would rush to get that done but then can’t multitask out other items. I’m worried about one of our students as he seems to get more despondent with each class. He doesn’t know how to slow himself down or appreciate the finer details of cooking and plating. I’m hoping he can pull it together soon.

Well that’s about it for today. Monday we’re making Tarts.

Until Then…

Day 1 of BPT – We’re Making “Brownies” (wink wink)

2006-12-08T13:43:00.000-08:00

Oh… I guess we really are making brownies. Tonight was our first night of baking. Let me just say this kitchen lab we’re in is going to smell really really good for the next few weeks.

First up was tasting a lot of different chocolates and learning how it’s produced, various by-products and amount of butter and cocoa contained therein. There were the nibs which are the purest essence of chocolate. They are the cocoa bean without it’s shell. They are not sweet and they are very crunchy. I’m thinking salad topping but not sure what kind of salad. There were several types of bitter chocolate and bitter sweet chocolate which were good. One had a very tangy taste at the end. Another was very earthy flavored.

It is safe to say that chocolates can be like wines. Many varieties, some rare and all an acquired taste.

Side Note – I don’t like chocolate as much as I used to. They say our tastes change about every 7 years but I didn’t think I’d lose my taste for chocolate. I can eat a few bites and I’m good for a long while. I don’t even eat candy much anymore. I looked in my desk drawer and sure enough there was a bag of candy from last Christmas still in there. A few years ago that would haven’t lasted a day let alone a year!

Tonight we made 3 dishes as a team and 1 dish individual. The 3 team dishes were brownies, white chocolate ganache and dark chocolate ganache. The individual dish was vanilla cream. The brownies came out very good. But I must be honest in that I do prefer the box mix you get from the store. I have tasted these brownies when I was in PCA I and II and BPT brought some over to share and I tasted ours. To me the sugar never quite dissolves and they’re grainy to me. I may have to experiment with this recipe later.

Hahaha I just re-read the sentence. Listen to me…all gun shy about baking and already I want to experiment with a baking recipe. I love this class!

Now for the ganache. Ok ganache is chocolate, be it white, milk or dark that is melted with cream and other flavorings like liqueurs etc. This is then chilled and you use about ½ teaspoon of it and roll it into a ball. Then you coat it with something. The heat from you hands as you roll it (briefly) will allow the toppings to stick. For the dark chocolate we used dark cocoa powder. But for the white we got a little creative. Our group chose toasted macadamia nuts and toasted almonds. But for our third (everyone else did 2) we took some coconut and mixed it with Grand Marnier (distilled essence of oranges) and orange zest. Then we toasted it. Oh my but this was so good!! No I don’t think you get the gist of what I’m saying..this was really, really good. I’m very proud of this. Eddie had the idea for a flavored coconut instead of just plain. That triggered my brain into the additives. The rest is ganache history (smile). I don’t have pictures to post because we haven’t presented yet. We’re making them and holding them over till day 13 when we do a big presentation. I’ll be sure to get pictures then.

The vanilla cream was a new experience for me. My idea of vanilla cream is the cook and serve vanilla pudding. Ha! This class is going to cause me to go out and spend a lot of money I can tell. I want to go out and buy a lot of equipment as well as quality ingredients.

We got our grades back from the week prior as well as our finals.

I was stunned. Shocked actually, at my end results. Chef looks at me and says “I must congratulate you..” and proceeds to shake my hand “You got the highest grade in the class. As a matter of fact you’re my highest grade student yet.” You could have knocked me over with a feather. My final written was 106%, that combined with my practical’s and product ID made my overall grade a 98.86%. I think I drove home with a grin on my face the entire way. My goal now is to maintain the momentum which will prove to be a real challenge but I look forward to it.

Tomorrow we’re making a flourless chocolate cake, butter cake which will be frozen till cake decorating day and I believe our Boston cream pie.

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 15 of CCT – The Last Supper…

2006-12-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

Well tonight marked our last night of finals. We presented the Terrine, Pork Rillet, Goat Cheese Moussculini, all the tarts and canapés including our mystery one which was the South Western Chicken in phyllo dough.

What ride!! I really wish this course was longer. I had a lot of fun doing these dishes, even the salads and sandwiches because we expanded on presentation. We all just throw our salads in a bowl at home or on a plate never giving a thought to how they look. But if you took the time you’d be amazed at how you make a salad appear. Even taking the time to put a sandwich on a plate a certain way or the angles at which you cut it. All of these simple details can take an ordinary dish and make it look wonderful.

We should get our grades back regarding our finals. The written, product ID, practical’s as well as the weeks before work. I’m never confident going into these things. I always feel like there are tons I’m forgetting. I will never work as fast as some, nor as slow as others. I usually feel like I’m in a race against myself which is the wrong approach. I need to get that race connotation out of my head. This is food, you can’t rush good food. Well you can and that’s what fast food is and that is not a place I want to be. I am always so glad of the Chef’s critiques. It gives me perspective.

Tomorrow we start our baking course! I will officially be in BPT – Baking, Pastry Technique. I’m very excited to be starting this part of the curriculum because it is SO out of my element. My idea of baking cookies is to get that yellow tube of cookie dough from the store. Even then I’ve gotten so lazy at it now I get the pre-formed/cut dough. Each time we start a new session I get so nervous about what will be expected and how will I do. This time is even more so because of the baking portion. Not to mention on the second day of baking, ‘cake day’, our Chef will be gone and we’ll have a substitute Chef. So not only are we baking but my comfort zone has been breached. Chef True is going on a mini vacation. I actually hope he has a fantastic time.

That about wraps up CCT. I did go and get a book on Hors d’oeuvres and Canapés. I’m looking forward to trying some of these out. I am hoping to get pictures of our final presentation but I did not have my camera and I’m waiting to see if one of my classmates is actually going to send them.

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 14 of CCT – Day Two of Finals – The Good, The Bad, The What the Hell?

2006-12-06T13:11:00.000-08:00

Ok so we’re all waiting in the main dining hall for Chef who will issue our written exam. I’d rather have a root canal. *breathe*

And we’re off…Ok so far the questions seem pretty straight forward. There were a couple I drew a total blank on and of course remembered them AFTER I had turned in my test. A few were extra credit questions. Like what does FIFO mean? I immediately think “Fee Fi Fo Fum…” and you know the minute something like that gets in your head you’re doomed. You’ll never think of the answer then. But I tried…hhmm FIFO… Federal Insurance…no no…get your mind way from work..it’s cooking related you dolt. The Jeopardy music is playing in the back on my mind. Sorry Alex no clue. The correct response should have been “What is First In, First Out” DOH!

See why I hate tests? Oh but there is so much more…off to the class room for yet another test. Here’s your sheet, now go identify those 20 random objects, herbs, cheeses and liquids. Feel free to feel, sniff and taste. (Yeah taste…riiight - already I start having flash backs to the cheese incident.) Some are easy, and yet others very tricky. I must make a note to review the proper names of things. I can see me now doing my externship asking someone to pass me “Hole-ly spoon thing” rather than perforated spoon. There were, I recall, 4 items we could taste – Marscapone cheese, kirsch (which I thought was the crappy vodka we use to cook with. I mean seriously folks, how I am to sample what I am cooking with when it’s a lower grade than lighter fluid?! And what about the saying ‘If you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it?), dextrose (which I thought was powdered sugar) and duck fat. (I wonder how many people did the taste test on that one haha. No I didn’t, I smelled it and knew what it was)

So it’s time for the Good – One of my partners is Eddie. YEAH!! Ok the panic feeling is ebbing away. I now that secure feeling of having a teammate I can rely on.

The Bad – There’s only 3 in our team, the other two teams have 4. So we have extra effort we have to put into getting things done. However I look at this as a challenge.

The What the Hell? – We found out that last night when we did the two salads and sandwiches and got out at 9:30?... well turns out the rest of the class didn’t leave till 11pm. So we’re like WTH? It was 2 salads and a sandwich and a cheese platter. Also it wasn’t like they had to do a lot of clean up. We cleaned that entire kitchen before we left. The sinks, the walk-ins (hell we even re-wrapped everything), the counters (not in use), the cages. So all they would have had to do was clean their section and their dishes. We’re still doing the math. If all dishes must be turned in by 10pm no later (as is the way with finals) that gives you 1 hour to clean up. And it’s not like they had to clean the kitchen or do any of their nightly duties as we did them.

Karma comes a knockin! You know what they say, you put out bad vibes you get them back. Case in point, tonight it was us that didn’t leave till 11pm. Because we were one down we didn’t get our terrine as early as I would have liked. And you can’t rush something in the oven. It’ll reach that 165° when it’s damn good and ready. 10:45 DING! It’s ready. Luckily we had everything clean and ready so we just had to put the finishing touches on it – a brick. (yes a brick to weigh it down and make it flat) In the walk-in and we’re on our way.

Tomorrow we do our presentation. Oh I forgot to mention one of the items – Mystery Canapé. Chef we can use any ingredients. (Never give me that much leeway – evil smirk) The only thing that keeps me in check is this a team production and while as joke I’d take a few ding points to make something totally outlandish I won’t jeopardize my teammates.

I’m going to go look for decorations for our presentation. And remember, if anyone here in my office presses charges for me pilfering things off their desk I ‘was with you’ the entire time!

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 13 of CCT – First Day of Finals

2006-12-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

I wasn’t too concerned about today. I had fun making all the food the first time around so the second time was just as entertaining.

I still have a huge problem when the Chef says ‘NO TALKING’ and even writes it out on the white board. I sense he did that just for me. I don’t talk to fellow students during the testing, wouldn’t want to get them into trouble. But I always talk to myself..outloud…where others can hear. Bad habit. Oh lord my lips are moving as I type this. I need help.

So tonight we made Composed Cobb Salad with Roquefort dressing, Caesar Salad, Croque Monsieur with Frisee Salad, Cheese Platter and an Oyster Presentation. Pretty light night. The longest thing to actually prepare is the Cobb salad as you have to boil your eggs, cook your bacon and chicken. You think… hey whip out 3 pans and knock it out. Not so easy, we have 1 burner. It’s like a French cook top. So you can only cook one item at a time. We probably could have pulled out more cook tops, but space is limited. All in all it worked out fine.

It never ceases to amaze me how much I enjoy doing all this. Yes the drive is tedious and with traffic or construction it’s down right brutal, but I still love it. I wish I could load up video of our class and our instructor(s). It would make a better reality TV show than Hell’s Kitchen.

All is presented and we started to clean up. By we I meant the 4 of us who finished. Yes the usual 4. Carey, Eddie, Lynndy and myself. So we kept cleaning until Chef said we could stop and those of us whose stations were clean and all dishes complete could leave. It’s 9:30!! HHmm should I point that out? NO! We gather our things and leave….it’s 9:30!!! I will actually get home in time to see my family before they all head off to bed. What a treat.

Tomorrow we have our written test and start our prep work for our team presentations. I have double trepidation. 1 – I hate taking tests, and 2 – Don’t know who my team is yet.

Let’s us all think good Mojo!

Until Tomorrow!!

Day 12 of CCT – Pass the Cheese!

2006-12-06T11:13:00.000-08:00

Well tonight marked our last night of CCT. Next up is 3 days of finals. (oh joy) We tasted so many different types of cheese. Some were just delicious and others made you want to hurl on the spot. There was one cheese and for the life of me I cannot remember the name, but if I do I will be sure to append this blog and give the warning to all, that, the Chef’s comment was ‘If you can get past the smell …’ however he did not say “you’ll love the flavor” he just waited and watched. As he waited and watched he had this inner smirk that was just bubbling to come out. But lo! We have our first victim and by then everyone had put the sample into their mouth and never in your life have you seen 11 grown adults try and spit into a trash can as fast as they did. It tasted as bad, if not worse, than the smell. Very ammonia-y. If there truly are those that enjoy this cheese, they probably need to have to their tongues scraped because they are not tasting this like we do.

Then we had to make a cheese plate as if we were making it for a party of 2. Easy enough. He wanted variety of soft cheese, medium and hard along with some of the traditional accompaniments. So I got out a plate and grabbed some cheese, dates, figs, pears etc and just arranged them. But then I got out the wooden board to make my formal presentation. I was amazed at how many presented their cheese platter on the actual dinner plate.

After that we didn’t do much else. We did get to go over to APCA for their dinner presentation. I got to enjoy a nice bowl of Lobster Bisque. They also served sweetmeats, which I will admit I was hesitant, but ended up really enjoying them. Rabbit was also on the menu but I didn’t see any of it ready by the time we headed back to class.

The rest of the evening was spent reviewing notes. We have finals starting Monday, with individual courses being the first day. Day 2 and 3 of testing is Team Prep and Team Presentation, respectively.

Little concerned about what the teams will be like. Because when your grade is on the line you want things done right. If I do get some of the slackers in my group I’ll have no hesitation about taking the reins and dictating who will do what.

Until then!....

Day 10 and 11 of CCT – Canapés, Oysters and Caviar

2006-12-01T11:57:00.000-08:00

So day 10 was the day we presented all of our canapés. (Picture below) This was such fun! The puff pastry for the smoke duck mousse came out beautifully! I’m going to try and use my puff pastry on Saturday for a desert type snack for a party I’m having. I hope it rises as nice as “E’s” dough did. Everyone one of our dishes came out so tasty. The ceviche in the cucumber cups was so good. I had never had it in the cucumber cups before, just the individual serving spoons. The cucumber added such a nice flavor. I enjoyed this class so much I went and bought the same book the Chef had for us to look at for examples and inspiration. Yes they’re time consuming and sometimes tedious, but they are so worth it. Sure beats cheese whiz on a ritz cracker Hahaha.

Day 11 opens with us having to shuck oysters. This was a totally new experience for me and how folks enter contests and shuck over 2 dozen in just a few minutes is beyond me. Either that or I had bionic oysters. Those sucker are hard. They say if you have to fight for your food you appreciate it more, and that could not be more true for oysters. You truly earn you meal then. I’m not a big fan of them but I always try everything we make. So I slurped one down raw. Basically it tasted like you swallowed a bit of salt water. I wasn’t sure if you’re suppose to chew them so I opted for the let’s not chew and find out what’s inside method. So then a couple of folks fried some off. One was fried with a seasoned cornmeal batter. I tried one, that, I did not like, at all. Ok next round was Carey’s she added Tabasco to her batter. Now we’re making a bit of progress. I love Tabasco! Let’s sample shall we…ok well that didn’t help like I thought it would. “Red you need cocktail sauce on it..” Hey if it’ll help I’ll try it. Lord it’s worse…as I look for a place to relieve my mouth of the offending morsel inside. But Carey is determined I try yet another one this time with just lemon juice. I know I had that look on my face of “Why do you hate me suddenly?” but she just started squeezing lemon and shoving it in my hand. Ok here go…hhmm…hey this isn’t so bad but it needs a little something…of course! Salt! So a lot of salt and lemon and I can enjoy fried oysters. Oh and the batter has to be spicy.

So the other thing we presented was caviar. No not beluga (at like $125 an ounce) but California’s finest ($12.95 a pound). Kidding on that part of course. So we had to make bilini’s to serve our caviar on along with the traditional condiments. Ours included hard boiled egg (white and yolks separated) that were passed thru a sieve. Minced sweet onions, lemon wedges and fines herbs. The mixed up for our group was communication. One person started the batter, another went got the ingredients to do the same. So got that straighten out. “A” said he’d make the batter, “G” got on the sauce for something, I got the eggs boiled and pushed through the sieve. The batter is where we got WAY behind. First step was to mix the flour and yeast (activated) and put it in the proofer for 30 minutes, pull it out, mix in the next set of ingredients and back in the proofer for an hour. So stage one (30 min) goes by and 30 minutes after that I see our batter hasn’t been touched. He totally forgot about it. So it’s now been in the proofer for an hour. It still has to have the second set of ingredients put in and back in for another hour. It’s now 8:40! Needless to say I was very agitated over that and let him know. So I ended up finishing our dough and cooking it off.
The bilini’s are done, and it’s time to assemble. We piped on a bit of crème fraiche, then a topped it with a bit of caviar and garnished with a thin slice of green onion. So everyone had to try one. They all hated it. Even made them I’m going to throw up face. But I’m telling you true they were NOT that bad. As a matter of fact I finished off the plate. I loved them!! Who knew! Cheap caviar makes me happy. I thought they had a great flavor because everything blends so well. I only put a touch of onion and a small squeeze of lemon on them and scarfed them down. I was disappointed that the 2 other teams finished up first and took theirs over to the other classes because I would have eaten theirs too.

Tomorrow we learn more about catering and we’re doing a cheese presentation. I’m not big on cheese. I’m more of a glass of wine, a bit of brie and I’m happy. But who knows, didn’t think I’d like the caviar either.

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 9 of CCT – Canapés and Oppsie’

2006-11-29T13:39:00.000-08:00

Let’s open this segment with what kind of day it is. Today is Wednesday and I shall be posting about what we did last night. But first I allow you a small glimpse into my world.

The day begins with the alarm going off. Fall out of bed (no don’t worry this wasn’t a problem this is an every day occurrence) and head to the bathroom. Go through all the rituals and it’s time to get dressed. Now I’m going to share with you something personal. As I’m getting dressed from my nice hot shower I like to use some powder. I use 2 acutally, one is body powder and the other is foot powder. I wear my shoes for a very long time (8am till 1am do the math it’s a long time) and if you’ve ever had a case of athletes foot you know how miserable it is. So as I’m getting all powdered up and now putting on my socks I realize I’ve powdered my body with my foot my powder and my feet with my body powder. *Sigh* Yep…it’s one of those days.

So on to last night and our canapé prep. All went pretty well. Since there were different ones we were prepping for we each took one and created it. We had a few issues –

1 - On the Onion Bacon Tarts I noticed a small mise cup of balsamic vinegar still sitting on the table. “A” was working on this. “A..what’s this vinegar for?” “Oh no..that was for the onion and bacon *sigh*” I’m like “Ok just checking” well an hour goes by we’re working on other things and cleaning up and I notice that vinegar is still sitting there. “Um..A..this vinegar is still here…” “Yeah…” “Are you going to add it to the mixture?” “Do you think we should?” “Yes I think we should! That’s flavor and the Chef is going to notice is there is no balsamic flavor.” He sighs and slumps off to get a pan because it’s going to all have to be reheated to distribute the vinegar. Wait…it get so much better!! When he’s done it’s about 1 cup of bacon and onion. I use that order because the main ingredient in the cup was bacon. But the canapé is Onion / bacon tart. I asked about that too “I used the 4 ounces of onion it called for…” was his response. 4 ounces… “Where did you get 4 ounces? The recipe calls for 4 onions.” DOH! Well it’s 10pm by now and there is no way he’s going to be able to caramelize 4 onions in time. He’s promised that will be the first thing he does when gets into class. I’m worried because the flavor is going to be way off. But we’ll see what we can do.

2 – Ceviche this is fish and herbs and peppers all mixed with lemon and lime juice. It marinates overnight to allow the citrus to cook the fish. Sounds simple enough. “G” was in charge of making this. She dices and chops and I end up helping out because my stuff is all done so I cut her onions and juice the lemons and limes. I go to do some dishes and come back and she’s stirring everything together. As I come back to the station she asks “Red how does this look? I don’t want to take a bite to try it though.” Ok well one you wouldn’t until the fish is cooked. But the bigger issue was “G? Where’s the fish?” Yep seems that ingredient was forgotten. She finds the fish, I help her chop it up and she stirs some more and asks me again how does it look? Looks great…add the citrus juice and mix it all up. “Oh yeah!” Ok so that’s all fixed.

3 – We had to make puff pastry. If you’ve ever used puff pastries and love those flaky layers, you have to make it! If nothing else do it at least once so you appreciate all the work that goes into this dough. I know you can buy it a Trader Joes for $5, but trust me the effort is worth it. Well if you’re anyone but me. Out of our group my dough was, well interesting. I’m obviously not a dough gal. At least not yet. This dough is going to be used in one of our recipes. Thank goodness that one recipe of this dough is more than enough. Because if we had to rely on each of us, well mine would have been the weakest link. It was Puff Pastry Fear Factor style :). I will take it home and see what happens to it when it’s cooked. Might be an interesting science experiment. Or end up looking like a re-run of I Love Lucy.

Well tomorrow night we assemble all these little bite sized snacks and present. May the cooking gods have mercy on our souls.

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 6, 7 and 8 of CCT

2006-11-28T14:11:00.000-08:00

Well sorry for the tardiness of my blog but since this term is very laid back I haven’t had much to post. That combined with a 4 day weekend – YEAH BABY!!

We’ve done several things, but most are done and then put into the refrigerator for days until it’s ready to have something else done to it.

For example on day 6 we started our gravlax. This is a salt cured, unsmoked, side of salmon. Yeah it’s still in the refrigerator and that was done back before the long weekend. We also rinsed all the ducks for smoking, made some oven dried tomatoes and presented our Pate and Pork Terrine.

Note – The tomatoes…well let’s say that you took a tomato and threw it into a fire pit till it was black and ash…that’s what we ended up having. I don’t know why they were done the way they were done. The oven was set at 250, I would have had it at 225 and I wouldn’t have had the fan on, or if so, I would have reduced the heat to 200.

Note – I don’t care how pretty it looks presented on a wood board Pate is still nasty.

So you can see how much the pace of this session (CCT) differs from the last one (PCA-II).

On day 7 we got kinda busy. We made salads and a lot of them.

Mizuna Salad with Prosciutto, Citrus and Sherry Vinaigrette
Radicchio and Endive Salad with Goat Cheese, Pear and Champagne Vinaigrette
Composed Cobb Salad with Roquefort Dressing
Warm Duck Confit Salad with Frisee, Apples, and Pomegranate Molasses

Interesting how ‘salad’ day just happened to be on the day before Thanksgiving. I said this before in another post, I am really enjoying duck. Ok so I should also say that our teams duck confit was more like duck jerky. We were to warm the duck in duck fat, add the pomegranate vinaigrette and let it caramelize a bit. Well ours caramelized within seconds. Of course we weren’t watching it assuming it was going to take several minutes. As for flavor no one could touch us!! Of course even though no one could touch us you could at least chew theirs within a reasonable time frame.

My favorite of the night was the Radicchio salad. This was just so refreshing with the cheese and pears.

On the Eighth day of Cooking Class our Chef did bring to us….8 separate dishes, 7 freaky salads, 6 odd prep courses, FIVE Forcedmeat snacks!!, 4 smoked meats, 3 edible sausages, 2 grinding methods and 1 whole hog fabrication!!

Ok sorry the 12 days of Christmas was playing and I decided to get in the mood. Where was I? Oh yes day 8. After tonight I can officially say I know how to make a sandwich. (shrugs) So on the menu for this evening was a Caesar Salad in which we made the dressing and croutons. We also served –

Reuben Sandwich with Braised Sauerkraut, Russian Dressing, and Coleslaw.
Croque Monsieur with Frisee, Radish and Cornichon Salad
Italian Submarine with Mediterranean Oven-Dried Tomato/Potato Salad (yes these are the same oven dried tomatoes)

I love corned beef so the Reuben I was looking forward to. That was until they insisted we use the traditional bread, being Rye. *gag*

Croque Monsiuer is basically a ham sandwich. The bread is toasted, the ham and cheese is layered on and put back into the oven to melt. Once out it is then topped with other piece of bread and then Mornay sauce is smeared over the top and chives sprinkled for garnish. I was very hesitant about this one, but not one to allow anything we make to go un-tasted (and yes I did taste the pate) I took a bite. Not bad, the Mornay sauce does add something. However the ham was very sweet and ham (in my opinion) should never be sweet. I don’t even put glaze on my ham when I bake them. (Jean from C@H is going to slap me silly I’m sure over this comment hahaha) I think I’d make these again but instead of ham I’d use beef or turkey.

Italian Sub…what can I say it’s a sub. Pile on some meat, tomatoes, lettuce, onions and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic and it’s dinner, or lunch, or whatever meal you’re making.

I had this question once before so I’ll specify here – Cornichons are those little sweet pickles.

Tomorrow we begin all the prep work for our appetizer presentation on Thursday to the rest of the school. We will be prepping the following –

Gravlax and Herbed Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches
Warm Gruyere and Roasted Ham Profiteroles
Savory Bacon, Onion and Saint Agur Tartlets
Snapper Ceviche in Cucumber Cups
Vol-au-vents with Smoked Duck Mousse

Will be a busy night with all the prep but I know our group, we’ll have it knocked out in no time at all.

Until Tomorrow!...

King Crab Cakes

2006-11-28T11:33:00.000-08:00

Ok so I promised pictures of these. Now keep in mind these we did not do in class. These were done at home. I had made King Crab legs for dinner the night before and we had a lot of meat left over. So not being one to waste good stuff like crab I decided to make these cakes. They were served with a spring mix salad which was dressed a homemade lemon vinaigrette. I chose lemon because the crab was very sweet and the greens were mild so we need some tartness to balance things out.

The recipe for the cakes was -
1 lb crab meat shredded
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 egg beaten
1 Tbl Mayonnaise
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
1 Tbl Old Bay Seafood Seasoning
2 bunches of green onions (green and light green parts only)
Butter to finish
S & P to taste

Now for the bread crumbs I used a stale baquette and broke it up into very small pieces and did not use the crust. I then added about another 1/4 cup of regular bread crumbs because my crab was so moist I needed the extra binder.

Combine all the ingredients and mix well. I formed mine into patties that were each 1/3 cup and about 1/2 inch thick. I allowed these to chill in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes.

In a big fry pan I added Olive Oil and Canola Oil so that it would come 1/3 of the way up on the patties. I fried them till golden brown on both sides, but only did 4 at a time so that they would fry and not end up steaming themselves. I placed them onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and finished them off in a 350 degree oven till hot all the way through. (About 10-15 minutes) Once removed I added 1/2 Tbl of slice butter on the top to melt.

You can go one extra step if you choose but since I did not have any Panko Bread crumbs I omitted this step. Before browning, dip cakes into flour (making sure to pat off any extra), then into an egg wash, and then into Panko Bread Crumbs. Cook the same as above. This will add an extra crunchy texture. For those that like crunchy on the inside, add a can of rinsed chopped water chesnuts. You may need to ajust your bread crumbs to compensate for the extra moisture.

Enjoy!

Day 4 and 5 of CCT – Does this fat make me look fat?

2006-11-21T13:08:00.000-08:00

It’s all about preserving in fat.

On Day 4 we fabricated 2 ducks. Ducks are a very interesting bird. First they don’t have any ‘white’ meat only dark meat. Also they’re very, very fatty. So it’s best to render this stuff out. But this ‘stuff’ makes some tasty ways to cook duck – Duck Confit.

We also made Pork Rillettes. This is pork butt that is braised for a long period of time to allow the meat to become very tender so it can be shredded easily. This seasoned meat is then packed into a ramekin. Meanwhile you’ve been rendering pork fat in another pan taking care not to brown it. You just want to extract all the fatty goodness out. The ramekins are then topped off with the liquid fat sealing out the air. The meat by itself, covered with plastic wrap would last maybe a week in the refrigerator. But covered in the fat it will last 3-4 times as long. When you’re ready to use it you simply skim off the fat and you have a nice pork ‘paste’ you can spread on crostinis.

Our brine injected pork loins were ready for trussing and then placed into the smoker to be hot smoked for a few hours. Smelling it made me hungry. It’s like standing outside and whiffing someone else who’s bbq’ing in your neighborhood. No matter if you’ve just eaten a huge meal, you smell that and you salivate.

Last but not least we started the first process of our Bread and Butter pickles. My dad used to make these only I recall we did them with zucchini instead of cucumbers. So they are still in the fridge awaiting phase two. We just cut the cucumbers and onions up, tossed them in kosher salt and then put them in a perforated pan and covered them with ice and plastic wrap. The brine solution was cooked up and stored till Monday.

The dynamics of the class now is very different. Not only is the pace a lot slower but there is a lot of team projects. So far nothing has been individual. This can cause problems if you teammate(s) and you do not gel. We’ve always made a point of when team work had to be done; we knew who we could rely on and who we wanted to work with. Hey, we’re paying the tuition this shouldn’t be a problem. We all know that out in the real world things don’t work out that way. But then in the real world I’m being paid to do a job or work with whomever and I shall do so. But when I’m paying…different story.

The ‘snafu’ is Chef divides us up into 3 groups. So we don’t know who we’re working with. Needless to say this can cause a lot of anxiety among a few of us. We also have one student that is starting to concern me and not sure how I should address it. Lately he’s become very aggressive and he’s always touching the younger students. On the shoulder, or the wrist. Never mean like just a finger brush here or there. He did it to me once or twice and I told him to never touch me again. He’s also recently out of prison. Spent 8 years locked away. He is not allowed to carry his knives home. He must leave his knife bag at the school and pick it up just before walking into class – a violation of his parole if he doesn’t. I had to correct him this week, as he was in my group, because he was doing a procedure wrong. He usually laughs and jokes around me a lot but this time he just glared at me and then walked away. I don’t feel I can talk to the Chef instructor about this because, to be honest, he turned 3 shades whiter when this student introduced himself and mention he was an ex-con. May have to take this to the director.

Day 5 brought us back to the duck and the pork.

From Day 4 being on a Friday we had a lot of the class projects that normally would have been for tomorrow being done today. Its ok we were up the challenge. Well let’s say Eddie was. Lol this guy is just “get it done” mentality. He took it upon himself to get the projects finished up so the teams could focus on the ones they had to do. Eddie rinsed the whole ducks we were brining. He also washed off the dry rub from the duck quarters and got them drying for our duck confit. Sounds simple but it was a lot of duck.

For the team production we made Pork Terrine with Dried Cherries and Pistachios and Goat Cheese Mousseline with Nicoise Olive Tapanade.

I have to say the jury is out on the pork terrine. I just cannot see this dish as being tasty. Pork, cherries and pistachios just don’t do it for me. But I’ll reserve judgement till I try it. Tonight we just precooked it and then it has to set up in the walkin overnight. We’ll present it tomorrow.

The Goat Cheese dish looks like it’ll be very tasty. I love the olive tapanade. This one is sitting up as well and will be presented tomorrow so I’ll let know how they all taste.

The only ‘nasty’ dish we made was the chicken liver pate. Now I know some love this tasty ‘treat’ but not I. Also the chicken livers needed to be soaked a lot longer than 10 minutes in milk. No matter how long they were to soak I’m not a fan.

Tonight that same student from the other night became aggressive yet again. I approached him because looking at all pork terrines in the oven his group didn’t have theirs done correctly. Meaning it wasn’t covered in foil or in a deep enough water bath. Since it was their entire team that would fail I thought I’d be nice and mention it. He made his hands into fists and put them knuckles down on the counter and leaned forward (totally over posturing) and told me “Stay out it, it doesn’t concern you.” I’m like WHAT THE HELL was that?! So I’m going to make a call to the director tomorrow and just make them aware of the situation. I don’t like the thought of coming to school and not feeling like I’m in a safe environment. I’m going to talk to a couple of other students and see if they’d be willing to talk to the director as well.

It’s a short week due to the holidays. Yeah a 4 day weekend for me from work and school!! Let’s see Thursday is Thanksgiving, busy making pies and helping with dinner. So that’s not a true day off of relaxation. But I have Friday! No wait…I’ll be cooking a full dinner myself for my family and father in law. This way I don’t have to take my parents leftovers since I’ll be making my own. Fine I’ll relax on Saturday. Shoot can’t do that I have to get ready for my daughters birthday party over at my sisters house. (My sister has the perfect home for entertaining if you were wondering) Ok that leaves Sunday, the ultimate relaxation day. DOH! Can’t do that either, will be over at my sisters to clean up as there is no way I’ll let her do any cleaning. It’s our mess. But after that my husband and I are going out to dinner with some friends who live about 2 hours away. And we’re going to take the motorcycle. (I’m hoping for cold weather because if it’s cold enough I get to wear my Christmas present – riding leathers) So that leaves us with…Arg! I’m out of days off! Oh well it’ll all be fun – family, good food, celebrations and friends. Can’t get much better than that.

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 3 of CCT – I’m going to explode!

2006-11-17T12:31:00.000-08:00

No one person should ever eat as much sausage as I did tonight.

Let me further add that along with not eating as much sausage as I did last night I should have also not eaten 2 pieces of chocolate cake from the other class.

Let me further add to that of not then going home and having a vodka gimlet and a bag of potato chips.

**whimpers and looks for the pepto bismol**

So all that sausage we made up the day before got cooked off tonight. We smoked the kielbasa, poached the brats in beer and then finished them off on the grill. Others were sautéed and poached in other liquids. Then we made a sausage board (just typing the word sausage is making me nauseous) of all the sausages with various mustards, grilled onions and peppers, a few pickles and some bread.

We may have lost another student. She was out on Wednesday and last night and we were told will not be there on Friday so she’s 3 days down. Supposedly after 3 days you’re dropped, but we’ve seen that change so will wait till Monday and find out.

This class has a whole different dynamic to it. We’re not able to work with the people we want to. Chef breaks us into the groups he wants. So for the musketeers it’s hard because we want to work together and can’t. I am positive that our previous chef’s and our current chef had a long powwow about who’s who in the class and who works and who doesn’t or who needs more help. Thus our chef has put a strong student in each group. I can work with just about anyone, you find their strengths and expand upon that. You have to accept people for who they are. If they don’t work like you do, you have to let it go and find out how to get them work within the parameters you set. Some get very frustrated with others, this is probably just due to lack of experience working with a wide variety of personalities. I also have years of managerial experience so I use that to my advantage.

There is a song called Accentuate the Positive by Johnny Mercer and the lyrics are perfect –

You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between

At least the sausage fest is complete. Now we’re off to make salads, appetizers and sandwiches.

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 2 of CCT – Who wants Sausage?

2006-11-16T14:34:00.000-08:00

‘Cause we have a lot of it, Kielbasa, Chorizo, Bratwurst, Breakfast, Boudin Blanc, Hot Italian and Country Style Crepinettes.

Pretty neat getting to use a lot of new equipment. The grinder then the buffalo chopper, which was missing a piece it had a hard time chopping the chunks of chuck let alone a whole buffalo. Then the sausage stuffer, which took 4 people to operate. Oh how I wish I had pictures. See we didn’t have any clamps to secure it to the table, so one person had to really hold it down. For our group that was Johnny, and good thing cause that was hard. Then one person had to hold the casings while the meat was pumped into them, and that was Abbie. Next our sausage stuffer was missing a piece so someone had to put their finger over this hole to keep the meat from squishing out, that was Gabby and finally we had to have someone crank the device to pump the meat and that was me – yes my arms are sore.

This class is so 180 degrees from our last class. I mean I know there are days that can be laid back, but if this class gets any more laid back we’ll end up in last week.

We lost another student so now we are 12. Seems odd when I look back on the very first day.

Tomorrow we begin smoking some of the sausages and cooking up a few others. I sure hope things pick up a bit.

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 1 of CCT – Here Piggy Piggy!

2006-11-15T12:48:00.000-08:00

Well today marks our first day in CCT. Today we got to fabricate an entire pig. (Babe) Our new Chef Instructor is Chef Colin True.

I will include photos, but be warned they may be considered gruesome for some (wonders how many people stopped reading the blog at this point and instantly scrolled down…)

Not much on recipe preparation. We removed the head (I got to do that – so cool!) and then fab’ed out the hocks, hams, bacon, belly for bacon, tenderloins etc. Nothing gets wasted. I ended up de-boning a lot of the parts. I just really got into this task and wouldn’t mind doing a whole on my own if I’m ever afforded the opportunity.

Tomorrow we will start grinding up the meat for sausages. We began the brine for the hams and the rub for bacon. The hams will brine for seven days and the bacon takes a long time as well to dry. I’ve never made sausage so looking forward to it.

The newbies arrived today as well. They’re so cute in their new shiny white coats. But wait…why is their knife kit so much thicker than ours…? So I grabbed one as they were walking by “Hey come here for a sec. I want to see what’s in your knife kit and since you’re freshman you have to comply” whoa she did! Well come to find out they have all the pastry stuff in their bags we didn’t get in ours. Tips for piping, piping bag, pasta wheel, veggie/fruit peeler, pizza cutter even a zester. Well if that didn’t get our goat up and before you could even raise the other eyebrow Carrie was on it. Turns out we can buy the extra stuff and I will admit at a pretty good price. I’ve added so much other stuff to my bag it’s already quite full. We did find out the tuition was raised, but not sure by how much as it’s no longer on their site.

Our school has also just opened another one in Sacramento California and in 3 years one will be opening in Oregon.

Well that’s about it for tonight.

Until Tomorrow!...

Here is Babe - note the very big knives in the back.

I got to remove the head. Yes it still had its teeth and you can see the tongue.

Babe is then held and cut into the needed primals so we can start making hams, roasts etc.

Eddie looks thrilled, Lynndy I think is just happy we didn't have to kill it, Abbie I think had as much fun as I did :)

Day 29 of PCA II – Last Day of Proteins

2006-11-14T11:37:00.000-08:00

Wow I cannot believe this course is coming to a close. I look back on all the meats we’ve fabricated and all the dishes we’ve prepared and I’m amazed. Tonight we did Miso Soup, Tempura and the pan seared duck breast with plum gastrique and roasted plums.

Everything came out very good. I was so happy that this time I didn’t over ‘pan sear’ the duck breast. Last one had a lot of color on it….ok ok I’ll be honest it was blackened duck breast. But this time it was a beautiful golden brown. It actually look edible. I wasn’t happy with the tempura. The dough, once fried, didn’t have that crunchy texture. It looked beautiful and tasted great, just missing that element of what makes tempura – tempura.

I am extremely pleased to announce I passed with a A!! Yes I’ll take the big WooHaa!

Oh forgot some drama from last week…let’s tune in shall we…?

~~As the Kitchen Burns~~

This episode opens with Carrie at the sink station finishing up some of her dishes. Denise “Red” approaches to do the same…we hear the whispering…

Carrie “So how’d you do?”
Red “Pretty good. I think I….what the hell is this?!?!” Red raises her voice in the shock of what she sees in the sink.
Carrie “No clue but that was here when I came over”
Red “Oh hell no this is just wrong! Chef!?”

As Chef Rorschach approaches Red shows her the parchment paper left in the sink (ok not a biggie) and on the paper is about 6 cloves of sliced garlic (wasteful yes, but not major) but then there in the middle is well over 4 ounces of butter in a perfect brick. Chef Rorschach was not happy and wanted Chef Romero to see it as well. Talk about wasteful!

At the end of the evening everyone is lectured on what it means to take that extra step, or 30 seconds and wrap up food and label it and put it away. The affects of cost management and how you pass that cost on to your consumers, not to mention how disappointed she was in whoever did it. Chef Romero even added on that he would have more respect for the person who did it to just own up to it. (No one moves) He also stated that he’s failed people on their finals for this type of behavior. That if he had seen it that person would get a zero for the day.

So class is wrapped up, we are told goodnight and everyone starts the slow migration to the door. Chef Rorschach calls out “E may we see you please after class?” Chef didn’t sound too ‘friendly or chatty’ when she asked. My guess is E is the one who left the butter. I think a lot of people tend to forget there are cameras everywhere and they see and hear all.

And thus ends this episode of As the Kitchen Burns. ~~~

So tomorrow I begin CCT – Cold Cuisine Techniques

The course run down is – An introduction to the fundamentals of cold cuisine and the unique aspects of the professional cold cuisine kitchen. Students start the course by fabricating an entire pig and utilize all parts of the animal. Students will learn about curing, brining, smoking, drying, ageing and sausage making as well as other finished products using the pork. We will provide the entire school with bacon, pancetta, ham, sausages (fresh and dry), hocks, Canadian bacon, ribs in an effort to illustrate both self-sufficiency and product management. Students will learn about pates, terrines, duck and duck products (confit and foie gras), salads, sandwiches, canapés, old appetizers, oysters, gravlax, caviar and chesses. Students will plan and execute an hors d’oeuvre presentation in the dining room of the school.

Well the only thing I was disappointed to hear was no sushi.

The cool thing is we get a whole pig tonight! Woot!

We lost another classmate so now we’re down to 13 from our 21. Which is good because our new lab is very small. I’m anxious to meet our new Chef Instructor and see how ‘measures’ up hehehe. I’ve heard good things about him. So…

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 25, 26, 27, 28 of PCA II – Finals Day 1 – 2 – 3 and 4

2006-11-13T11:30:00.000-08:00

Wow I had no idea one could actually be this busy.

Ok so I’m behind a few days. Let’s do the run down shall we?

Day 1 of testing – Fabricate a chicken and fabricate a halibut.

Pan Seared Chicken Breast, with Polenta and Brussel Sprouts

Sautéed Halibut with Potato/Artichoke Gratin and Spring Onions

I think I did ok on this night. I had a hard time getting those darn potatoes to cook up. My production schedule had to be completely flipped flopped. But I got everything out and on time.

I should first explain the rules. First up – NO TALKING at all, unless it’s to ask “Are you done with that chinios?” this type of thing. You must ensure you have all your ingredients. Once they put the box away there is no going back to it. When you come into the kitchen you’re to set up your station (which we do every night anyway) and make sure you have the items you’ll need. I try to make sure I have everything. Even spoons for tasting. I don’t want anything to take me away from my station and my cooking. Well I guess the no talking rule starts the minute you walk into the lab. DOH!

Day 2 of Testing – Fabricate red snapper

Pan Seared Snapper with Mélange of Baby Vegetables and Fish Consommé. The only thing about this dish is the consommé takes a bit of time, but it has to be clear…very clear. And when I do the chicken consommé it’s fine, but when I do the fish it clouds up.

Along with this dish we also did Salmon En Papillote (See Day 12 of PCA II) which is a dish I just love. Well not the fish, or rather not the fish they provide. I do this type of dish often with Talipia or Catfish. You can make anything this way and there is such a range of things to add! This dish would be great for a dinner party because you could have several types of fish, various toppers from peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes etc. Then everyone can top their own with the things they like, wrap them up, write their name on it and then just throw them all in the oven. Fun way to get kids to eat different things too.

Day 3 of Testing – Grill 2 New York Steaks with the following sauces – Béarnaise and Bordelaise. Also 2 sides – sautéed broccolini and smashed red bliss potatoes with caramelized shallots.

This night just totally came together for me. We almost had a snafu in that they removed the grill from our lab which left PCA I with the only grill for now. So we’re suppose to grill our steaks for grill marks and finish in the oven. Sure no prob…except that PCA I is doing their finals and tonight they’re doing grilled vegetables. Ok so that’s going to be a bit crowded. Chef told us to pan sear our steaks and then finish them in the oven for our final. I wasn’t happy with this, the recipe is for Grilled Steaks, not pan seared. Besides I was hungry and wanted that grilled steak darn it! Ok fine…I begin by starting my sauces and then hear Chef call out “If you want to grill off your steaks you may do so, so long as it is within the next hour.” YES!! I thought ok put everything here on hold I want to get over and get those done and I can then hold them till I’m ready to fire them. And I don’t want to have to wait for anyone…so off I go and they look beautiful! I get back to my station, finish off my sauces and my side dishes are just at the point where I can toss my steaks in the oven and finish them off. I hear the sizzle of a lot of cast iron pans and kinda look behind me. All but 2 others are pan searing their steaks. I was shocked. I figured everyone would want to get right on that. The recipe is “grilled steaks”.

Day 4 of Testing – Braised Lamb Shank, Bouillabaisse with Rouille and Pork Schnitzel

Interesting choice of items here, none of them taste good together (wonder if they did that on purpose?) The lamb shank had to get on first since it really needs 5-6 hours not the 3 hours it was given. My pork was partly frozen and then once thawed had a huge line of silver skin and gristle that I had to trim out. Not that this matters, but as I was pounding out this piece of pork for my nice schnitzel a pattern started. And Viola! My schnitzel is now in the shape of a butterfly. I so wish I could say it was on purpose.

**Rewind** - Before the grilled steak day I went to a kitchen supply store and bought one of those silicone whisks. Since I knew we’d be making Bearnaise sauce and I didn’t want to it to turn gray from over whipping the silicone whisk would be my ticket. If you haven’t bought one of these yet DO SO!! This was fantastic! It even shortened the time of whisking on the egg yolks. Needless to say I was impressed. ~~~We now return you to your blog reading….~~~

My Bouillabaisse came out pretty good, but all of the shell fish was opened so I wasn’t happy about cooking them up. Even after pinching them closed they’d pop open. So I had to head to the walk in for more clams. I think the flavor was ok, except to me adding Pernod ruins it. I believe you get enough of the ‘licorice’ flavor from the fennel. I believe it would be better flavored with a good white wine. But what do I know, I’m a student (wink).

It’s now 9:45pm and I’ve decided to pull my lamb shank. I wish I had had more time to braise it, but at least the Chefs are sympathetic to this and understand that they won’t be as tender as they could be.

Combine a week of finals with 2 days of being out of my office at manager retreat meetings and training seminars and hopefully you’ll understand and forgive my late posting.

Monday is our last day of testing in PCA II. It’s bitter sweet actually. I am looking forward to moving on and learning new things, but at the same time I shall miss Chef Romero and Chef Rorschach. I have very much enjoyed their company and class. The bit of good news (well for me its fantastic news) is that it looks as if we might get Chef Rorschach back in PCA IV. Can I get a big WooHaa! Finally an opportunity to pick her brain as this class is 3 days of lectures, 1 day of prep and 1 day of cooking. We’ll get the history of foods, techniques etc. I am THRILLED!

Still not sure who we will be getting for PCA III but I should find out Monday evening.

One more day…the time does fly.

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 25 of PCA II – And the Mystery Box Is…

2006-11-07T11:05:00.000-08:00

Well chicken of course! We each brought in a whole chicken to practice our fabrication. Then we had to take that chicken and cook it anyway we chose. We only had to make one plate.

My dish? –

Oven Roasted Chicken Breast with Sage Dressing and Sautéed Spinach. I am so wanting Thanksgiving to get here! I took an orange and cut in half and used ½ of the fruit of it in my dressing and the other half I mixed into some butter and drizzled over the sautéed spinach. I also made a pan sauce with chicken stock and sage. Very tasty dish.

We had some pretty neat things come out of this. Carrie made a balsamic chicken dish that I swear made my mouth water. Eddie’s fried chicken had a crackly skin on it that looked just yummy!

I wish I had time to see more dishes but only got to really see the ones around me.

Oh then there was the other dish. Yet another fish dish. I cannot fathom why we do so much fish in this class. The only reason I can see for it is there are so many different types of fish – flat, round, shell, mollusks etc…but come on enough fish! I am a better swimmer though I bet. Tonights fish – Skate which is a member of the Ray family. We also made what looked like ravioli’s but without my book in front of me I cannot remember the true name. These were stuffed with mashed potatoes and some of the black olive tapenade. They are then boiled and tossed into a pan of browned butter. There were ok.

Tomorrow we start finals. I am very nervous about these. The first night we have our written test, knife cut test and 2 full dishes.

Pan Seared Chicken Breast with Polenta and Brussel Sprouts and a Mustard Pan Sauce
~and~
Sautéed Halibut with Potato/Artichoke Gratin, Spring Onions and Fines Herbs Beurre Blanc

The only good thing is there is no demo so once we do our test we can head into the kitchen and start cooking. I AM SO NERVOUS!!! I feel like I’m back in high school and it’s test day and everything you’ve studied for just leaves your mind…what’s a chicken? How do you sauté again?

If you are reading this blog at 6pm PST please think good mojo my way. (Gads I hope I don’t have to cook that up too…haha)

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 24 of PCA II – Oh My Cod! – The Revenge

2006-11-06T12:49:00.000-08:00

Tonight was bad. Oh lordy that’s an understatement if there ever was one. First off we only had 10 people show up for class. So we broke ourselves into 2 groups of 5. Odd numbers in groups always tends to throw people off. This is because some things are done in the group of 5 and others were to be in groups of 2 so there’s that odd man out. We managed pretty good with out group. 2 of our strong students that would have been on our line were gone. So Eddie and I stepped up. He kept the food prep going and I checked up on all the team players.

We cooked (if you can call it that) up Salt Cod. Let’s start with the preparation of this fish. It has to be soaked for a minimum of 48 hours in water that is changed every 12 hours. When you open the lid to change the water you are instantly greeted with a wave of odor and not a pleasant one. I like fish, but this about made me gag.

But wait there’s more. It’s like leather. We had to boil the first batch in milk to help draw more of the impurities out. If something has impurities that need to come out before eating it, it shouldn’t be eaten.

The other problem we ran in to was the mixer issue. Ours was broken and unfortunately during the mixing process the paddle kept scraping the bottom on the bowl. Our dish was more gray than a US Navy battleship. We got high marks on presentation, but since they wouldn’t taste it much because of the concern for metal shavings lower marks on that. (We live in S. Calif Los Angeles area…don’t we inhale more metal shavings than eat?)

Then we cooked up yet more and made fried fish balls. I wish I could think of a good reason to do this. I would have a really hard time cooking anything like this for anyone. I would feel it is my moral obligation to keep their palate away from such things. Oh I know what you’re thinking…it might be a delicacy for them, an old family favorite. Time to educate them on new delicacies.

The only 2 things we made that I like were the black olive tapenade and the green olive one. These were served on baguettes that were toasted and rubbed with fresh garlic.

We were done pretty early 9pm. So we cleaned some stuff and talked about our finals.

Mid-Terms coming! Heaven help me!

Until Then…

Side Bar - Not cooking related

2006-11-05T21:00:00.000-08:00

I am in so much hot water.

No I mean literally. Ok so we have this closet in my laundry room. It used to hold the hot water heater. This was before we even moved into the house - 12 years ago. Well we recently redid this small room. Basically new flooring, new paint. Nothing too serious. Well in this closet I've always just had misc. items, but never organized. That all changed today. I pulled all the crap out and got it all set up and ready to go back in nice and tidy like. Hhmm..what is this copper tube? Why does it have a valve on it..."Honey?" "Yes?" "Can you come get rid of this copper thing in the closet in the laundry room?" "Now?" "Yes or tomorrow. I just want to organize this closet and I've pulled everything out.." "Ok"

So here he comes, my little handy man hero. He looks it over, nods a bit and heads to the garage to get the tool(s) he needs. A few moments later he comes back in gets down to the task. I'm ironing my uniforms in the same room and making sure I keep out of his way and ready to hand him any one of the 18 tools he's brought in. A little rustling noise and then I hear "Oh crap!" followed by the sound of water escaping quickly. I ask "Was that still hooked up?" "No it might be the extra water in the pipe that's been under pressure all this time...and the tube is pretty long..." water is still gushing out "..sh*t" My brain is telling me to keep quiet but my mouth just HAS to ask the question "Honey why didn't you check to see if it was still hooked up to water with that valve thingy that was on it?" I get the look and "The valve was stuck!" and again I hear myself asking a question "You only tried to open it with your fingers, not a pair a pliers?" Then I hear "Oh dammit! if that tube has fallen thru I'll have to go under the house." Now where this tube is and where the entrance is to go under the house you'll understand why I left the laundry room at that moment. (I have to admit I was laughing at this point but I couldn't let him see or hear me)

He comes walking down the hall asking me for money because now he has to run to the hardware store. I just hand him some small bills and of course ask if there is anything I can do? He just shakes his head and mutters as he's walking out the door. He comes back a few minutes later with what he needs.
Of course we're dealing with us so it's not an easy fix. 30 minutes later he believes it's fixed. I am so hopeful. I've even entertain the thought that I'll check it every day and even if I see it leaking I'll just leave a big towel there and never tell him.

I will sure think long and hard before coming up with any other tasks. :)

Day 23 of PCA II – Oh My Cod!!

2006-11-03T14:02:00.000-08:00

Ok let’s get this out of the way because it’s a fast episode –

~~As the Kitchen Burns~~

The issue our team had with the dishes the other night…? Well that same person, for whatever reason (but me think she doth protest too much) left the class before it got started. She stayed and watched the fabrication but that was it. Hold on to your hats kiddos – we had NO dish dropoffs yesterday! Not one. Holy cow it was so pleasant it was almost surreal. The other sink had one person they’re dealing with who drops off. But our side…oh it was wonderful!

~~

Ok so cod…what a big fish that was. We got a big lingcod but at least the head was gone and the innards were removed. We had to remove the filets on both sides and cut them down to small chunks for fish and chips. Lucky for us our ‘chips’ were already sliced for us. We got those fried up and held (I added salt and pepper to ours. 1 – my partner Eddie peppers his fries and 2 – just another flavor aspect) Now for the cod, batter is made and up we go to the fryers. We served them in the paper cones too with malt vinegar and tartar sauce. These were so good!! That batter came out so crispy and golden brown. I wish I could have brought some home. But ate it there. Besides it wouldn’t have been as good reheated. I love fish and chips.

Next we did fried calamari. Ok I knew going in I didn’t care for this dish, but I was so fascinated with the squid it didn’t matter. We had to clean these little buggers and I found it fun. (sick huh?) You have to remove the beak, the pull the head from the body. On the body part you have to skin it, pull out the cartilage and squeeze out the innards. Then you cut the tentacles from the head. I could have cleaned a lot more than I did. I wonder why something like this are more enjoyable than others? We sliced the body into rings and put them all into buttermilk for a good soak. Now comes the interesting choice of batter. I have never used this product before – phyllo dough. We unrolled the dough and put it into a 200° oven to let it dry out, but not brown. You keep taking it out and removing the part that is totally dry and put the moist pieces back in. Then you crumble them all up. (funny how it looks like fish food flakes…) So you take the squid out of the buttermilk and dredge it in flour (we added cayenne to ours) then another quick dip into the buttermilk and then they’re put into the phyllo dough flakes and immediately placed into a deep fryer till golden brown. These came out look delicious and even chef said I did a very nice job. (poor guy was deep fried out since he pulled a double shift and ended up tasting a lot of fish and chips and fried calamari) So while I knew I didn’t like this dish, I chalked it up to the fact I had a bad experience with it. Years ago I tried it and it was so rubbery I couldn’t chew it and I ended up getting sick on it as well. (or possibly something else I ate that night) So I figure if it’s good enough for chef it’s good enough for me. Here I go!! Dip into the cocktail sauce and into the mouth…cocktail sauce is great – tangy, spicy but not too spicy…oh very nice crust on these, crunchy goodness there…and there’s the squid…ok…and…nope this is not going well…and out it comes into my hand to be tossed in the trash. It’s gotta be a texture thing because there really isn’t any strong squid flavor. I guess I’ll stick to cleaning them. At least I can get some small measure of fun out of the darn things.

That’s all we did tonight. We were done by 9pm but then they found more catfish for us to fabricate. Good practice. Then Eddie and I had to change the water in the lexans that had the skate (another fish) in it. Skate is part of the ray family. And they stink. Holy cow did they stink and to think we get to cut them up and eat them…joy(?).

Well tomorrow we’re doing ..hhmm my notes are 4 pages shrunk down from 8 so it’s going to be a lot…heaven help me. Why do have us do a lot on Fridays I’ll never know. Don’t they realize we’re trying to wind down from the week? Sheesh! Hehehe that’s ok, I love a good challenge. Gets us ready for finals – NEXT WEEK!!

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 22 of PCA II – Southern Comfort Food

2006-11-02T15:04:00.000-08:00

I loved everything we made tonight! Fried Catfish with Black-Eyed Peas and Collard Greens, Shrimp Gumbo and Crawdad (Crawfish) Etouffee’.

So I have to tell you about my first experience with collard greens. This night not being it. I don’t know where I was but I got to try them and thought wow these are really good, I must do these at home. We had recently come back from Italy and I found I loved cooked spinach, which I had never had till I went there. So off to the store I go and I find them. Took me a bit because I didn’t know just how large the leaves were. I even had to ask someone to make sure I was grabbing the right thing. So armed with my new veggie I head home to prepare dinner. Grocery stores really need to put better labels on fruits and vegetables. Labels like “Denise, collard greens are not like spinach. Please cook them a lot longer.” I could not understand why these things came out so tough! Gads you could floss your teeth with the fibers. But that wasn’t enough, they have a really boring flavor and all I did was boil them in a very low amount of water I might add. Needless to say I looked up a recipe for collard greens.

Tonight we cooked them with ham hocks, Tabasco and garlic. Yeah I can feel my mouth start watering too.

The Black-Eyed peas had all the traditional yummies in them. Bacon, onion, garlic, thyme, ham and of course fresh peas. Remember it’s good luck to eat these on New Years Day…you have to eat at least 365 of them on that day to bring you good luck throughout the year.

These two dishes were served with fried catfish. Ok so it wasn’t so much fun fabricating them, but once those filets were dredged in flour, cornmeal and a lot of spices the fun started. My taste buds were practically giddy at this point.

Next up Gumbo! I think I’ve had gumbo maybe 3 times in my life. I don’t know why it’s called gumbo (sounds like a name of a character on Gumby who’s hocked up on steroids) but it’s just like stew, only a bit spicier.

The fun dish, in a sick sort of demented way, was the Crawfish Etouffee’. Yes the crawfish were alive. Yes they climbed out of the bowl and often ‘went on the lamb’. (Hhmm maybe the next class should do their braised lamb shanks the same day they do the Etouffee’ then the crawfish can really go on the lamb) I ended up cooking 12 pounds of crawfish, this is the equivalent of 4 very large mixing bowls of feisty critters who fight back. I treated them with respect and didn’t shake them around to make them move and made sure my water was at a full rolling boil before dropping them to their fate. Some filled the pot with the crawfish and their water temperature dropped so they didn’t die as fast as they should have. I only put about a dozen in at a time so the boiling point kept at a constant and thus their death would be quick. Now prepping these guys once cooked was an Olympic event. We had our line of 4 and Eddie and Edgar began the tedious process of pulling off the tails and extracting the tail meat. (think of tiny lobsters) I tried a few and failed miserably. I ruined more of the meat than I extracted. I cleaned the shrimp instead. Those I can quick.

The Etouffee’ has an interesting flavor. It’s first made by browning the flour, then with the browned flour make a dark roux. Then the shrimp stock is added and it should be a lot like cream of tomato soup, this is reduced to nappe’ (remember nappe is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon), the crawfish are then added, test for seasoning and serve with rice. So let’s talk about what went wrong with this dish. I think they had the amount of flour/roux to shrimp stock really out of whack. When each of us added our stock and started whisking it was instantly the consistency of wet cement. (note we were to add 2 oz of clarified butter with 2 oz of browned flour and 8 oz of shrimp stock) We ended up needing to add another 8 ounces of stock to each of our recipes. Even after the extra stock was added and the texture was to the correct consistency, it still had a grainy texture to me. Like flour that wasn’t dissolved completely. The crawfish were good though!

All in all a hearty night for food. Tomorrow is Fish n Chips and Calamari (ick).

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 21 of PCA II – Fryday

2006-11-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

Well tonight was…let me preface this by saying there’s gonna be a new kid in town. More details in a bit.

Tonight mark the beginning of us frying things and utilizing the deep fryer. I love all things deep fried. Whoever invented this device should get a prize. It makes everything good. Even Butterfinger candy bars make for a tasty treat.

So we did tempura – Shrimp and assorted vegetables and we also did Miso Soup. These two dishes were individual dishes. Our spring rolls and lumpia rolls were a team effort.

I had no idea how fast and easy miso soup is. You first have to make Dashi, which is the base for it. It is also the base for the Tentsuyu sauce we serve with the tempura. Ok get ready – You take a piece of kombu ( which is seaweed) and place it into a stock pot with cold water. You bring the water up to temperature, but DO NOT let it boil as it will ruin the flavor. Remove from the heat and add the katsuo bushi (dried bonito flakes) and let it steep for 10 minutes. Strain and the dashi is done. To turn this into Miso blend in the white or red miso (soy bean paste – white is available in the spring and red fall/winter) through a chinois to taste. Add soy sauce, mirin (Japanese equivalent of sherry), some firm tofu and reconstituted makame (seaweed that is more edible than that of the kombu). Bring up to temperature, but again do not boil or even let get to a simmer. Just hot. Garnish it with sliced green onions. When I was adding the bushi I wondered how fishy this dish would taste because they were very odorous. There is a mild fish flavor, which I think you could control by lowering the steeping time or the amount added. But a very nice soup.

Tempura is fun. Of course there were like 3 of us up at the fryers at a time. We were to dredge our items in cornstarch, then the batter, then fry till light in color. Sounds simple right? I cannot understand how each of us forgot to batter some of the items. Do you have any idea how nasty corn starched dredged, fried veggies are? So there I am at the fryer, Chef is standing on the other side watching us. I take my piece of squash (with no batter) and slowly lower into the hot oil. Holding it to let the ‘batter’ set up so it won’t fall to the bottom and stick. Chef casually asks “Aren’t we battering these things guys?” We’re all like “yes chef” while we continue to stand there watching the items cook. I look to my left and right and then down and all of us just put stuff in the fryer with no batter. We all mutter, pull them out, plot them off, put them in the batter and start over. Then the next piece goes in, which we did remember to batter and the next. Get to the 5th piece and the batter step flies from our minds. Needless to say we got them all done – correctly.

I love spring rolls and egg rolls. I didn’t understand why we did the spring and lumpia as they’re basically the same just one is long and thinner. The chili sauce that was served with it was a sinus cleaner which means it was GREAT!

And now for the soap – As the Kitchen Burns. We begin this episode with the class forming the teams…

Well we got 2 extra added to our team because one of ours was out. Not everyone has the energy level Carrie or I do, and I totally accept that. She and I both have learned to work around it assigning tasks that we know each of the others can handle. I’m beginning to look at this as not only school but a job. You’re going to have good students/employees and bad ones. I just have a big problem with liars. We had one student who knew she wasn’t the caliber we were and offered to do whatever we needed done, just let her know. Ok great. So we had her chopping and dicing etc. It got to a lull where we’re looking at the production schedule and deciding what to fire first, how will it time with the other dishes. She offers to take my dishes to the sink and get them done for me. I said “Wow thank you so much that would be a huge help!” and it would be…or would have been had she done them. She was gone for 15-20 minutes and silly me, I assumed she was over there doing dishes. I have no idea what she was doing. About 5 minutes after that I go to the sink to wash my knife. I look over and in horror see all my dishes sitting there. Carrie came over to do her knife and saw the look on my face and asked what was up so I explained. She yells for her to get over to the sink. She comes over and we ask “Did you do the dishes like you said you were going to?” “Yeah I got all of them done.” I looked at her and said “No you didn’t! Those are mine!” She replies with “No those are everyone’s.” What the hell? “NO those are mine, you laid them down and didn’t do anything with them! That’s my trash bowl because my production waste is still in it. She just mumbles “I’ll do them later…” and walks away. Livid doesn’t begin to describe the emotion I was feeling. Turns out quite a few others feel the same way about her. 8 people came up to me and commented about how she spends more time doing nothing and trying to look busy and they’re fed up with it and her lies about how hard she works and what all she’s done. She’s been seen doing drop offs all this time. Why no one called her on it till now is beyond me, but I will if I see it. She will never make it in the real world. She’ll be fired within a week. Here she might get away with it because she’s paying tuition like the rest of us, but out no one will pay her to screw off. Liars never win in the end. They get stuck in their own web of deceit.

Chef said he’s preparing us for the ‘world out there’ and he wants us to communicate more and if it means fight a little then so be it. (now I don’t think he meant literally fight, but communicate firmly if necessary our points to other team members) So, I shall. I have kept my mouth shut till this point and retained a professional attitude in that I will not cause waves, I’ll concentrate on my tasks. But now if my tasks are being jeopardized by the actions of another (or lack of action) then I shall do or say what needs to be done.

So lesson – Don’t ever lie to me I’ll call you on it and make an example of you.

Well tomorrow we’re making Gumbo and we get to cook up some Crawdads!

Until Then…Oh and stay tune for more drama…this stuff could get good!

Day 20 of PCA II – Aflac! Duck Season!

2006-10-31T14:19:00.000-08:00

We did two duck dishes this evening. I’ve never cooked duck before so a lot of learning for me this evening.

Our first dish was Pan Roasted Breast of Duck with Spiced Butternut Squash, Roasted Plums, Plum Gastrique and Duck Glace. (Yeah say that 3 times fast) I knew duck was a very fatty poultry but had no clue how fatty. If you’re doing the duck breast you need to render the fat out first. After 2 duck breasts for the first dish I think I had enough fat in the bottom of that pan to fill milk jug. This was my favorite of the two dishes because the roasted plums were very tasty. Like Chef Rorschach said “Duck loves fruit” and she was right. The butternut squash had a really good flavor and the ‘spicy’ from the cloves and cinnamon were a nice contrast to the sweet plum sauce. The flavors complimented each other very well. If you get a good sear on the skin it’s very good!

Our second dish was Tea-Smoked Duck Breast with Kabocha Squash Puree, Gingered Tangerines and Tangerine Gastrique with Arugula. To me this recipe was a disaster. (Eddie, my partner this week will tell you it was the first one because I so totally over browned…ok ok…burned the duck breasts) Our tangerine gastrique came out good on flavor…if you like chewing it. We kept adding water to thin it out but to no avail. Eddie had a wonderful idea and drizzled some on parchment paper and put it in the fridge to chill and then we inverted them on the plate for height. It looked great! That is until they started melting from the heat of the duck Hahaha. Ok A+ for effort. The tea smoke was, shall we say aromatic. 7 bain maries filling the air with concentrated smoke even with the exhaust fans going full mill can make ones nose start to twitch. The smoke added a very nice subtle flavor to the duck. The tangerines would not have been my first choice of fruit to use and to me the flavor was not as delicate as the plum. It over powered the flavor of the duck and on this dish the duck was the show.

Chef didn’t like either recipe for the squash because it had us roasting both and mashing them up. The texture is just not pleasant. She wants them to change the recipe and I hope they do. My preference would have been to dice them up in 1 inch cubes and pan sauté them in butter with the spices or with just butter.

Duck has an interesting flavor. Not something I’m opposed to which kind of surprised me.

Then came the controversy. Lol I think we have more drama in our class that of a soap opera. We were each asked to bring in a box of cascade powered dishwashing soap. Our class would be scouring all the pots and pans. Ok I’m not opposed to this, that’s part of ‘working in a kitchen’. What I am opposed to is, there are 3 classes that use these pots and pans, Class A, B and C. We are in C. However, class A nor B was asked to purchase any cascade at their expense nor are they being asked to clean any of the pots and pans. I can’t tell you how many times we come in to a messy kitchen yet they walk in to a pristine one because we do what we are supposed to do. I don’t much care for double standards. Everybody should be held accountable! If you’re not prepared to make all students do something equally then don’t single out one class. Our tuitions are not cheap, yet the students have to pay for cleaning supplies? And later this week we have to each bring in a chicken to fabricate. This is the thorn in my side. The school, based on my tuition should provide me with any and all needed supplies contusive to learning. Chef told Carrie that “…the director, who is a clean freak, has certain high standards and expects us all to meet them. He is also technically your boss…” at this I thought Carrie was going to lose it. She looked at chef and said “…he is not my boss. I don’t pay my boss to come to work. We are his boss because without students he doesn’t have a job or a school.” Carrie is a very intelligent woman and very opinionated. I just love her! She is a no nonsense type of woman and does not tolerate idiocy.

I realize that Chef was only trying to take the initiative to ‘do the right thing’ and got a ear full because of it. To her she just saw a job that needed to get done and decided she’d do it hoping that the rest of us would rally behind her. I think that if we had the same chef instructors throughout the entire course that would happen. You feel a loyalty and sense of pride. But for some they just want to come in, cook and leave. For others we bond with our classmates and our teachers. I have the highest respect for Chef Rorschach. And because it’s her I’ll bust my hump and get things done. I take great pride in most of my classmates and my instructors. And lo to anyone who disrespects them in anyway.

But tomorrow we’re doing Tempura! How’s that for a topic change…no segway just out there Haha. I love tempura! I hope they have extra shrimp because I’m going to be hungry tonight.

Until tomorrow!....

Day 19 of PCA II – Game Hens and Pork Tenderloins

2006-10-31T11:30:00.000-08:00

We learned the art of Poele’ Roasting (Roasting in something’s own juices and basting) and regular roasting.

Tonight we did Poele’ Roasted Game Hens and Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Duxelle. The game hens I found to be blasé. While we browned the skin a bit, roasting covered doesn’t allow for the skin to get golden brown. They end up look pasty. Not something very appetizing looking to me. They were also stuffed with a mixture of bread cubes, sautéed apples and seasonings. I love stuffing and dressing. But I prefer to have them mixed together for a good texture. Not all gummy or all dried.

The pork tenderloin was good. The Duxelle was made by another class. While it is a mixture without a lot of moisture I think I would have added something to pump it up a bit. Mushrooms sautéed in butter, wine with shallots are bland. I will have to experiment with this one and see what I can come up with.

We lost another classmate tonight, Jay. He finally got into the morning class that he’s been trying to get into since he started but it was too full. We’re now 14 from our original 21. He was one of the chefs favorites in our last class. Not so much this class. I will say the Chef Instructors treat us all with the same level of professionalism no matter what our backgrounds or educations. Very refreshing. I am concerned that one of the students is trying to take advantage of one of the chef instructors. He’s a smart guy so he’s probably already very aware. I hate girls who do the “Oh woE is mE” ploy to get what they want. Or they cry for attention. Several of us have discussed this at some depth to try and figure out why she does it. It’s not going to make her grades any higher. She’ll get the same certificate as the rest of us. *shrug* There is not figuring some people out. It also amazes us how this person can look so incredibly busy doing absolutely nothing until the very last second and then gets noticed and has made herself look like she’s working all alone and working so hard and the rest of us hadn’t done a thing.

It’s very interesting when I read cooking magazines now. I remember reading them 1 year ago and when they’d describe a technique I’d have to read it a couple of times to get the gist of it. Now I read them and they’ll say something ‘truss the chicken’ ok don’t have to read that just do it. Or to make a pan sauce…don’t need this paragraph move on. I believe I’ll get a lot more out of my magazines and cookbooks because so much is clearer. Perhaps recipes I was intimidated to try before will jump off the page and say “You can do this with ease!”

It’s very hard to believe that PCA II is winding down and we’ll be off to CCT (Cold Prep) and then baking. (called PCA III) I’m not feeling as excited to move on this time. When I was going from PCA I to to PCA II I was ecstatic! I could not wait to get in the new kitchen and really start pouring it on. But from what I gather of PCA III it’s very slow and methodical. What I hope to get out of it is attention to detail and more on presentation ideas. I hope we get another Chef Instructor who allows us to stretch out a bit and challenges us. We’ve gotten a bit spoiled here in PCA II.

A few of us went out Friday to relax. We ended up at a sports bar (Big Wangs hahahaha) and had a good time. It’s really nice to have folks to relax with after class so when you complain they’re right there with you nodding in total understanding.

We’ve all come a long way from that first day.

Monday we do insurance..I mean Aflac!...no I mean duck.

Until then!...

Day 18 of PCA II – Jimmy Buffet!! No just our Buffet :)

2006-10-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

Well tonight was our buffet and I think it went fantastic! It was 10 times better than the other buffet we went to of the same class. Our flavors were off the hook. I only got a few pictures of us prepping and of our guests.

We even made Jamaican Tea. This stuff is addicting! I have never had it before and I swear I drank a gallon. I made the cornbread and churros and then helped out where needed and kept myself in the back of the house. There were a lot of folks that came last night which was good to see, especially because they get to see what we do. I wish they’d let them come in early and watch us prep so they have a really good idea of what goes into one of these events, because they just see the end results.

Kudo’s to Lynndy and her world famous hushpuppies (wink wink nudge nudge)! They went like hotcakes. Carrie made fresh tortillas. I filled one up with the carnitas, talk about flavor. Marcella made sopa’s. I had never had one of these, they’re really good. And Johnny made Indian fry bread. We really had a lot of different dishes going on and it was nice because it wasn’t just everything listed in the book. We got to branch out a bit. We branched out so much that our Carnitas which should have been beef became pork. I’m not sure how that happened but they tasted great so I didn’t care.

I also brought in decorations for the tables. Forgot to get a picture of those. I got small white candles and put 4 jalapeno chilies around the edge and then 4 red chilies in a star pattern around the candle. I then took a red checker table cloth and cut large squares of them and put the white plates with the candles and chilies on top of that. I also brought in caramels to spread out on the tables. I think they looked really good. At least this way the tables weren’t big empty blocks of wood. The serving table long red table cloths on with round red checkered ones on top of that. Then the chaffing dishes went on top of those.

The only confusing issue for the night was the servers who made certain dishes were up front serving. But we didn’t have a meeting before we got started so none of us runners knew where the extra food was. So when someone called out “I need more ribs” we had no idea what oven they were in. We had 9 ovens to check. Of course it’s always the last one you look in. And then..well why would you keep looking which of course makes it the last one…

I hope the Chefs were proud, they seemed to be. We’re learning more and more about flavor. I use a lot of salt when eating food and I now know why. Food you buy in a restaurant is rarely seasoned. They just cook up the ingredients and throw them out to the customers. But in quality restaurants the chefs taste everything before it goes out and add salt or pepper or whatever is needed for the dish. When I eat food that we’ve prepared and properly season I don’t need to add salt.

One kind of scary incident was when Scott was eating a piece of the fry bread and cut his tongue pretty good on it. Now how we don’t know as there shouldn’t have been anything sharp in the bread, but whatever it was did a number on him. I’m just very happy (in an odd sort of way) that it happened to ‘one of us’ than to one of our guests. That would have been a nightmare, particularly if it had been one of the kids. I hope the Chefs reiterate how important it is to keep your station(s) clean and neat.

We’re down to the last week of actual cooking and learning new stuff and then the following week (first week in Nov.) is our finals for PCA II. Can you believe that?! It seems like yesterday I started this blog not almost 12 weeks ago.

Tomorrow is stuffed pork tenderloin and game hens. Sounds delish!

Until tomorrow!...

Chef Romero checks for proper temperatures. Chef Rorschach (back ground) ensure students are on task.

The doors open and the fun begins.

The 'back of the house'. Oh boys will be boys. Here we have from left to right - Andy, Eddie, Scott and Edgar.

Our guests are enjoying a good meal.

Day 17 of PCA II – Buffet Prep

2006-10-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

Wow seems like only yesterday I was posting about our buffet in PCA I when we did all the egg dishes. Yet here we are prep’ing for ours.

On the menu is – Carnitas, Sopas, Indian Fry Bread, BBQ Beans, Refried Beans, BBQ Ribs, Onion Rings, Hushpuppies, Mac n Cheese, fresh made tortillas, Spanish rice, fresh salsa, guacamole and churros. The evening went very well. We were each given a task(s) and we all got done in a good time.

I think Chef Romero was frustrated this evening because our boxes were not filled with the ingredients we needed. Granted we changed things up a bit, but there wasn’t the correct stuff in them even if we had gone with the menu in the book. But I think we’ll make him proud.

Chef Romero let Lynndy and I work on cornbread. This wasn’t on the menu but we think it’ll add a nice flavor. We decided to make Jalapeno Cheddar Cheese Cornbread. This may have been the dish that pushed Chef over the edge. We needed cheese, about 5 cups of it. Well the folks on the Mac n Cheese dish used all the cheese they were given. So when I ask for cheese I was told to go get the extra from the Mac team. Well they didn’t have any. Chef says “Are you kidding me?” I’m thinking..um no wouldn’t kid you sir. But I kept my mouth shut and he indicated he would go check. Well on prep night everything is Chef this and Chef that, they’re pulled every which way but loose. And it’s only because we want to do it right because it reflects on us as a class, but also on our instructors – who we’re very proud of. So it’s in us to do well. So as he’s making his way to check on cheese he gets stopped like 5 times and works his way back to our station. Of course I only have 3 small things to worry about so my mood is still really good and high energy and my mouth opens (now my brain is say shut the hell up and let him tell you when he’s good and ready…but my mouth..well) “Hey Chef where’s the good cheese? You can’t get too distracted from the cheese.” Well I’m glad laser beams don’t shoot out of eyes for real like they do in the movies or I’d be toast. I truly meant it to be light hearted and fun, but wow did it get taken the wrong way. I just stayed out of the way from that point on.

Chef Rorschach and I worked on the Churros. I’ve eaten them a million times at the fairs and such but have never made them. It’s a fun sticky dough. I can’t wait to fry them up and cover em with sugar.

I don’t have any guests coming I gave my tickets to Eddie. So I’m hoping the chefs put me in the back again so those with family and friends can be out front and shine and showoff.

I’ll post pictures tomorrow of our event.

Until then!...

Day 16 of PCA II – Roasting

2006-10-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

For me this was a very interesting night because it answered a question I always had about roasts in general. We did a flayed leg of lamb roast. Now I’m not a big fan of lamb but this tasted very good. But on to what I learned. No one is allowed to comment, text, email or post to me the following “You didn’t know that?!”

So I used to always buy a rolled roast- beef. I would season it very well, and cook it up nicely but to me the only flavorful part was the outside edges. My mother-in-law used to make small slits in her roasts and stuff garlic down inside, which I started doing. It helped a bit, but again only that meat what was near the garlic had any flavor.

Outcomes this leg of lamb, boneless, wrapped in twine like my beef roasts come. Well darn if the Chef didn’t take all that twine off, open that puppy up and butterfly it out to make it even. He then scored it inside and smeared the seasoning mixture all over it. Then tucked the sides in and rolled it back into shape, trussed it up and then roasted it. Talk about day and night in flavor! All I could think about was this weekend getting a roast and playing around with some seasonings and having fun with it.

We also did a roast chicken with stuffing and roasted vegetables. These there done separately and I must say the parsnips were really good. It included carrots, parsnips, onions, sweet potatoes and a beet that was roasted in foil to avoid turning everything wine color. Ok as for the beet. I’m trying to Google search farms near nuclear power plants. Every beet I have ever seen has been the size of about 2 golf balls. These suckers were the size over stuff softballs – not baseballs but softballs. They were flippin huge! Let’s put it another way. One half of one of these freak vegetables would have fed a family of 4 and gave them leftovers! The chicken came very well. I love a good roasted chicken.

Our roasted lamb came out a bit overcooked. But it sure looked better than some of the others that were still bleeding. I was really pleased with the flavor. We served salt roasted fingerling potatoes along side of it. I felt the dish was missing something. Can’t quite put my finger on it, other than ‘greens’. The star of the show was the roasted lamb, but I don’t think the potatoes were an enhancement. Since I have so little experience with lamb I really can’t input an idea or thought here. The rub we put on it was a mixture of Dijon mustard, garlic, onion, olive oil.

Tomorrow is prep day. The ONLY nice thing about this is no dishes to present, just a lot of work to do. Gotta bring the energy tomorrow! I’m hoping to change their minds about a few of the recipes. The hush puppies have GOT to go. I would love to see dishes with big bold flavors. Had I know we had the option of changing it I would have been thinking about an entire menu. But I didn’t know of it till Friday and my brain was fried by then. They needed the ideas because in case they have to order anything special they’d have time. But we’ll see what happens.

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 15 PCA II – Let’s eat the fluffy white thing! Lamb Day has arrived.

2006-10-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

Today we cooked lamb. We did two braised dishes, Lamb Shank Provencal (a garnish of sautéed onions, diced tomatoes, garlic and balsamic vinegar.) I wish I had my camera because it was a very lovely dish. Our other dish was Lamb Daube with Pappardelle (a shape of pasta).

The night went by relatively quickly. A lot of time was spent waiting for our meat to braise. We got it all done within 2 hours, but for meat to properly braise it should have gone for a couple of hours more.

This week we are also getting ready for our big buffet on Thursday. It’s a TexMex cuisine theme which makes me question why we’re doing Macaroni and Cheese, Hush Puppies and Onion Rings. We’ve decided to add homemade tortillas and churo’s. Now if only we can tell them to omit the country themed food.

Not much to report tonight so it’s a short read for you. However, someone wanted the recipes for the Dim Sum we did a few nights back. It’s a lot of stuff to type up on here so let me know your email address and I’ll email them to you. But don’t post your email addresses in the comment lines or you’ll get a lot of spam.

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 14 of PCA II – Curry Time

2006-10-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

This was a good night. We again worked in teams of 5 for our curry dishes, but solo for the Coq au Vin dish.

Our last team of 5 included Emma, but she was out on Friday so we got Jay. Of course I had to pop off with my big mouth “Come on over to the ladies team Jay and we’ll teach you how to cook!” Of course the whole class did the OOOoOoooOOoo. Hahaha. I must say I was concerned about him joining our group and wondered how his arrogance would mesh with us. We were all pleasantly surprised. He pulled his weight, and got the message right off that we all check with each other on flavor, ideas etc. Made for a good team.

Tonight we made Yellow Curry, Green Curry and a totally 180 dish to the curry, Coq au Vin (Chicken that has been marinated in red wine and spices) and then is braised and topped with a pan sauce made from the marinade. Oh this was funny… the Chef was demo’ing this dish. Brown your onions and mushrooms, remove and set aside, then brown the chicken and remove and set aside. Then add ¼ cup brandy and reduce. Of course brandy + flame = Flambe and we all know this. Even those leaning on the edge of the stove looking over as the Chef pulled the pan off the stove, poured the brandy in and put it back over the flame. While it was funny as hell, it wasn’t funny…no..no..it was. That flame must have shot up 3 feet and common sense should have told the 2 gals to step back. We’ve done flambe’ foods before, we know the end result – Whoosh! One gal stepped back while feeling for her eyebrows. I think that’s where I lost it. Ok so maybe it wasn’t funny but I laughed like hell.

The curry came really, really good. The green was nice and spicy and yellow had that deep rich curry flavor. We served it with Raita and Naan (a flat bread normally used as the main utensil). I’ve only had a form of curry, nothing like what we made Friday evening. We wrapped it all up and packaged it to eat later, but more soon than later. We had another tailgate party, only this time at one of the students house. I won’t get into whom because they may not want it known. I don’t know about them but I laughed so much that night. It’s nice to have others who understand what it’s like to go through culinary school to talk with and laugh with outside the school. We all go home and talk with our families about what happened that night and they listen politely but just don’t understand why you got so upset when your hollandaise broke. To them it’s just a sauce no biggie. But to us it was a lot of work.

I also found out I’m show impaired. Not that this has anything to do with cooking, just thought it should be noted. I have the least amount of shoes to everyone. I think I have 9 pair total and my favorites are my chef shoes because they’re comfortable. It almost gave Carrie a heart attack. I might have pushed her over the edge with my comment of “I buy all my shoes at Payless”. Thank goodness that curry was hot and kept her heart going.

Next week we being our Lamb Fabrication along with our big banquet on Thursday. So I’ll assume that Tuesday and Wednesday we’ll be making the dishes for that banquet. Again I’m not bringing any family as the drive is just too long. I think the only thing I’ll bring them out for, if they do anything, is our graduation.

Here is a picture of our Curry dishes. Yes you can smell them from there.

Until Tomorrow!...

Dim Sum Platter

2006-10-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the Dim Sum Platter. Does this look yummy or what?! Everything was made from scratch. Well except the sesame seeds. I got those out of a bag. But we toasted them!

Day 13 of PCA II – Dim Sum

2006-10-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

What a fun night! The only thing I was familiar with was the pot stickers so everything was fun, fresh and new. But I jump ahead. The menu for tonight was –

Pot Stickers, Shu Mai, Har Gau and Cha Shao Bao

For those who don’t know what these things are

Pot Stickers – Won Ton wrappers filled with a mixture of meat and veggies and sauce. Ours was chicken, Chinese cabbage and scallions. These are then folded like a taco and crimped on the edges. They are browned in peanut oil on the bottom and then steamed to cook thru. Very yummy and served with a spicy soy mixture.

Shu Mai – Using the Won Ton wrappers again they are crimp to form small bowls. They are then filled with a pork and shrimp mixture. These are steamed only. I couldn’t eat enough of these.

Har Gau – Very pretty looking. The dough is made from wheat starch and looks a lot like fondant. A shrimp filling is then added and they are folded to resemble a purse. They are then steamed until the dough becomes translucent and you can see the beautiful pink shrimp inside.

Cha Shao Bao – First you make a bread dough. This is then formed into small rounds that you flatten out a bit. You then add a chopped pork mixture that has a wonderful sweet and spicy glaze. A small amount of this is added to the center and the dough is then closed over the top and sealed to form a round ball. These are placed into the steamer till the dough becomes firm. We then took some of the glaze and brushed it over the top and put them in the oven for a couple of minutes to finish them off. Holy cow these were delicious!

This night we did a groups of 5. Everyone in our group did so well. We had 4 dishes and then all the sauces. So Emma made all the sauces, I was in charge of pot stickers, Carrie did the Shu Mai, Abbie the Har Gau, Lynndy the Cha Shao Bao. So we all made our fillings and got them chilled and then we all help assemble each item.

Our creative sides all came out. Abbie made some fruit and onion garnishes. I sliced up some won ton wrappers and put them in the fryer for something crunchy and I also took the extra ginger, sliced it thin, put it in boiling sugar water for 30 minutes then covered them in sugar and finished them in the oven for candied ginger.

Next it was time to put everything on a platter and present. We did such an awesome job!! Our platter was beautiful and very nicely arranged. I hope to have a picture of it soon.

One of the groups had a melt down. I don’t have all the details but one of the people of that group was in tears. I don’t think it was because of the stress but rather something(s) that was said during the course of the evening by one of her team-mates to the other members. It really amazes me how as the class goes on the true personalities of people show. You can only hide yourself for so long and act the part you wish others to believe. But as you get tired, worn down and the days/nights go on your guard slips and the real you peeks out. I would love to be the quiet one, just here to learn type of person but I know I couldn’t hold that for more than an hour. I am who I am. But some came in with one persona when they started and now I start to see another persona. Not everyone is like this. But I would say there are at least 4 who put on airs so people will think of them in a certain way. Maybe it’s my age, maybe it’s my parents raising me to like who I am that I have never felt the need to be someone I’m not.

They were not kidding when they said this is the portion of the program that will make or break you.

But the best part for now is – Tomorrow is Friday! We’re making curry and we’re going to have a tailgate party and enjoy our food and look forward to the weekend.

Until Tomorrow!...

Day 12 of PCA II – Salmon Run

2006-10-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

Tonight we started off by taking a test. Chef Romero made a point last week of telling us that he wants a lot more detail in the answers. Some of us had given a lot of details and others not so much. Thank goodness I’m detail oriented.

Well one of the questions this week was “How many filets does a salmon have?” I know the answer is 2, but how to make that detailed…spell it out two? I found that question to be lacking in it’s own detail. So I gave the following – The Salmon is classified as a round fish thus providing 2 filets.

We also got our tests back from last week. I got an 11.9 out of 12 so can’t complain. We also got our weekly grades and I went from a B to an A, but still feel out of balance. Last week I really felt out of whack and this week I’m still feeling it. I don’t think I’m the only one and I have a great partner so I know that’s not it. My biorhythms must out of sync.

I was looking over what we have for finals and if I complained about PCA I and doing potato dishes, well karma is back and said you thought that was bad?

Day One – Written exam, equipment ID, primal cuts, sub-primal cuts, fabricate a chicken then prepare – Sautéed chicken breast with polenta, sautéed brussel sprouts with a mustard pan sauce. Also fabricate a halibut and prepare – sautéed halibut with potato/artichoke gratin with spring onions and fine herbs beurre blanc.

Day Two – Fabricate snapper and prepare Seared Snapper with Mélange of baby spring vegetables and fish consommé. Fabricate salmon and prepare – Salmon en Papillote with fingerling potatoes, fennel, olives and tear drop tomatoes.

Day Three – Grill 2 New York steaks to medium and medium rare. Serve with 2 sauces – béarnaise and bordelaise. Also serve with them red bliss smashed red potatoes and spicy broccolini with garlic.

Day Four – Lamb Shank Provencal, Bouillabaisse with Rouille and Pork Schnitzel

Day Five – Everything to be served like a meal – First course is Miso soup, second course is shrimp and vegetable tempura with tentusya sauce, third course pan roasted duck breast with spiced butternut squash, roasted plums and plum gastrique.

I hate finals. I'm all stressed out about them and they're not for a few more weeks. And there is nothing anyone can say or do that will make me look forward to them. Haha.

Anyway tonight we did Salmon again, poached and in a bag. I’ve done ‘en papillote’ many times before. Basically means “in paper” and it’s where you take your fish, chicken etc with your vegetables, sauces etc and fold the paper around it to make a pocket. You place these on a sheet pan and let them bake for the time needed. Nice thing about this dish is everything is in the bag so the only dishes you have is the plate you put them on and the cutting board you used to prep the veggies. The poached salmon to me was just nasty. It had no flavor to speak of even though the poaching liquid wasn’t just plain water. We took water, carrots, onions, bay leaf, pepper corns, salt and lemon juice and let that boil for 30 minutes. Strained it off and poached our salmon in that liquid (blech). Then that liquid was reduced and mounted with butter and poured over the salmon. It was served on a bit of water cress that was tossed with a form of tartar sauce. At the end of class Chef Rorschach suggested this be served chilled. And after having tasted it and went yuck I know she’s right. The salmon flavor would come out more if it was chilled vs. warm from the bland poaching liquid.

We also fabricated chicken tonight; it was a nice refresher before finals. Odd thing is I enjoy doing this task.

Our class is now 15 from the 21. I think I mentioned that before but it’s a different feel now that some of the dead weight is gone. But the class is clearly divided into 3 groups. There are 5 of us in one group and I’d like to say we’re pretty tight and work very well together. Then there is a small group of those that need more help or are being carried. This isn’t a bad thing if they’re learning and retaining. The hard part is when some continually question what we’re doing when they have their recipes right in front of them and can read them. I sort of snapped at one the other day because I was concentrating on what I was doing and double checking all my steps and I kept hearing “Red…Red…hey Red” I looked up and snapped “What?!” They then asked me to come help and I had to tell them “I can’t right now I have to finish what I’m doing first.” I felt bad because I pride myself on always being available to help anyone at anytime. Not just here at school but in life. So I felt like I let them down. But then I had to realize I’m there paying like they are to learn and gain experience. I’m not the Chef Instructor. It’s a hard line for me because I will always stop what I am doing to help someone else first. Then there is another group that I can’t quite put my finger on. I don’t want to use the word prima donna, but it’s the best description I can give. They do their own thing when they want and disregard anyone else. I have a very low tolerance for arrogance. I can only hope that get a good dose of humility and soon.

Tomorrow we’re doing a whole bunch of little dishes. Four to be exact and they sound like a lot of fun – Cha Shao Bao (Pork Buns), Shu Mai, Pot Stickers with Dipping Sauce and Har Gau. No clue what these things are but the Pot Stickers so can’t wait. It’s all done in teams of 4 so since there are four dishes we’ll each do one.

Until Tomorrow!....

Day 11 of PCA II – A Very Off Day

2006-10-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

Tonight was sluggish. I think over 1/2 us were just dogged tired and it showed. We only had 2 dishes to prepare and they basically cooked themselves, not to mention the fact that one of the dishes we did in a team of four.

So tonight was – Pot au Feu (Translation Pot on the Fire) and Beef Goulash with Spaetzle in Brown Butter, Candied Lemon Zest and Crème Fraiche. The Pot au Feu we did in teams of four.

The Pot au Feu is made with stocks, cooked veal bone (in cheesecloth to retain the marrow) short ribs, and veggies. The short ribs and bones are removed and the broth is strained of the mirepox, then the baby carrots, turnips etc are added back into the mixture to cook.

While we got this dish out, we didn’t exactly wow the Chefs. I think because we were all so tired (all for various reasons, felt like a Thursday to me) we lacked focus and none of us took the reins to lead the other 3. On Thursday we have another team dish and I’m going to suggest one person be in charge and direct the rest of us to tasks. Also no one should leave to go to the bathroom or take a break without checking in with the team-mates first. That happened tonight twice and when you’re down even one person everything feels off balance and it’s harder to recover.

Our presentation on this dish bombed. While it was a rustic dish by ingredients it ended up being just piled in the platter with no rhyme or reason and looked messy. But because it was already thrown on it would have been harder to re-arrange. Both Chefs made note of it. So did I and it won’t happen again.

The goulash was an individual dish. This was beef round that we diced into small pieces, browned and then put back in the pot with veal stock and spices and let braise for 2 hours. It actually needed to be braised about an hour more but our class time isn’t sufficient for braising and the Chefs took that into consideration. We put the goulash onto spaetzle. Spaetzle (Shpeht-sehl) is a lot like funnel cake. Whereas funnel cake is pancake batter poured through a funnel into hot oil, spaetzle is pancake batter drizzled into boiling water. We ladled ours into the water via a steaming tray. The holes in the steam tray help control the size of the spaetzle. They ended up looking like sperm. Yeah we’re all so immature and tired we had a lot of fun with that. The spaetzle is then put into a sauté pan that has browned butter and they are in turn browned a little. On top of the goulash is the candied lemon zest, crème fraiche and then a bit of lemon syrup. This confused me. I had never heard of putting candied lemon zest or lemon syrup on goulash. But I figured ‘Hey I haven’t heard of a lot of stuff so try it first’. Which I did, and it was nasty. Think of lemon drops how they’re sweet and sour, and now melt them down and pour them over braised beef in wine and veal stock with this wonderful rich flavor. Gag.

Tonight was an off night for all. For me it was also off because I didn’t like anything I was cooking. And it’s really hard to pour your energy into stuff you don’t like, and your family won’t like. For example the clam chowder from a while back. I can’t stand the stuff but my husband loves it. So it was no problem to me to make it extra good. I knew someone would enjoy it. But tonight’s dishes to me were time wasters. I don’t feel I learned anything. Maybe that’s the crux. I always try and get the most out of the lessons, even it’s not till the next day when my brain can focus. But even after sleeping on it I cannot think of one thing I learned yesterday.

Well tomorrow is a different day and you won’t believe what we’re preparing – FISH!
Salmon to be exact. And you just know we’ll have to fabricate the little buggers.

Until tomorrow!...

Day 10 of PCA II – Beef is just Good!

2006-10-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

I love beef. I really feel sorry for vegetarians on beef day. But I’m very happy for me cause I get more beef.

This evening brought us back to the grill for New York Steaks and Filet Mignon. The NY steaks were great but the filets were iffy. They are not my favorite cut of beef and they take a long time to get cooked just right because they are so thick.

Now let’s talk sauces. We served with the NY steaks Bordelaise. This sauce is made my reducing veal stock and adding shallots that have been sautéed in red wine. Right at the end you add fresh veal bone marrow. You let the marrow melt into the sauce. Now I know what you’re thinking…”Oh gawd…bone marrow? The pure fat from INSIDE the bones?” Yes that is exactly what you do. But when it melts into the stock it creates a very rich intensely flavored sauce. At the very end before service you mount this with butter to give a glossy sheen and yet another layer of flavor. This is one of those sauces you had better serve the dish with bread so it can all be mopped up.

The second sauce was for the filets, Béarnaise. In a nut shell it’s Hollandaise with tarragon added. I didn’t care for this sauce because to me it had way to much vinegar flavor still left in it. We were told not to reduce the shallot/tarragon/vinegar mixture as much to allow for more flavor but I think it over powered the flavor of any other flavors in the sauce.

The other dish we prepared was a Steakhouse Salad. This was made with heirloom tomatoes, arugula, fried shallots and our house vinaigrette. I call it house vinaigrette because it’s the same one we’ve been making since PCA I. It’s very tasty though.

My partner this week is Carrie. This woman is focused and very fun to have for a partner. I grilled all 4 of our NY’s and she grilled all 4 of our filets and while the other was grilling we were able to continue our dishes and get things done.

The Béarnaise sauce was a single dish. Meaning we were to each prepare our own since it’s on our finals. Well we did and we didn’t. I started the yolks and whipped them for a while and then she did. Then I went back to whipping while she added the butter and then we switched. So it’s not like one of us did all the work, we both did but put it into one bowl to save on time and dishes. Then we separated it out and seasoned accordingly. Darn if we both didn’t more salt. Now I’m a salt freak and it tasted fine to me. But then I don’t like this sauce so if crap was salty enough this was good.

Very fun night. I enjoy grilling. It would have been a lot better if they gave us a beer to drink while standing at the hot grill.

Until Tomorrow…

Day 9 PCA II – Cheese Burger, Cheese Burger, Cheese Burger (old Saturday Night Live reference)

2006-10-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

For being such a simple night we were busy! On the menu was pan seared ribeye steaks and grilled hamburgers. The steaks were easy as they were already fabricated and in cryovac bags. The hamburgers we ground ourselves. Well half of the class worked on the hamburger meat the other half worked on peeling, slicing and blanching the French fries…er…steak fries. I was on the latter. Once the potatoes were done we got to see a fabrication of where we cut the ribeyes from.

Then it was time to grill the burgers. These things where thick! And I think the part that bothered me the most was; we had to cook one medium and one well. I’m sorry anytime I have ground meat I want it cooked well. I do not want any pink meat in my hamburger. (luckily we get to take them home and I’ll just cook it up a bit more to fix that) Oh let me give you a GREAT tip on how to make your hamburgers taste FANTASTIC! If you like bacon on your burgers get that bacon cooked up nice an crispy. Pour off some of the bacon fat, but keep it, and just leave enough to coat the bottom of the skillet. Then take your mayo and smear it on the buns and then place them mayo side down into the skillet till they are golden brown. Then flip them to give them a little glossy color on the other side. This makes such a difference in the flavor!

Before we started the burgers I was sent on the task on taking burger orders from all the Chef Instructors. I had to sell my soul to Chef Greenspan to get some bleu cheese for my burger. But it was worth it. I also had the task of cooking my 2 burgers from presentation along with 4 other burgers for the Chefs. Eddy volunteered to help me out, he’s hellacool. So between the two of us we got 8 burgers knocked out. Then it was time to present. We had to get ours ready and of course by the time we were done all the fries were gone, but luckily we didn’t get dinged for that. Carrie and Lindsey saw Eddy and I getting our burgers ready and said “You guys haven’t presented yet?” “Nope I replied…” and before we could say another word they took the Chef Burgers from us and said you guys get your stuff done we’ll finish up these for you. What a TEAM!!!! So bless them they made up all the custom orders for the Chefs so Eddy and I could get our food up for grading.

I mean everything seemed so simple but it amazes me still how time can get away from you. But it was such a fun night.

After all was done a few of us decided to have a tailgate party. We walked to the local store (lol we had like 5 minutes to spare) and bought (well Carrie bought and snacks too) the beers and munchies. She and Lindsey were smart, they wrapped their burgers in foil and kept them warm in the oven so they could enjoy them with the beer. So there we all sat in my car drinking a beer, laughing, talking smack and here comes the security guard. Well we’re not drinking in ‘public’ but we are on ‘private property’ Ok everyone look normal! Which in turns makes us look guilty as hell. We decide it’s time to move on. No no not end the party but move the car. Great so now we’re drinking and driving and have open containers in the car. I’m going to hell. We only moved up one level and what a view! We were on the top of the structure now looking at the LA skyline. Very lovely since there was no more rain.

Anyway it was a great way to close out a busy week.

On Monday we’re whipping up New York Steaks and Filet Mignon…YUM!

Until Then….

Day 8 of PCA II – The Fish – She is Back

2006-10-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight was Albacore night and these suckers were BIG. I would like to personally thank Chef Romero for fabricating that monstrosity for us and going further to fabricate the pieces we would be searing. We also cooked up a nice Bouillabaisse.

So we had Seared Tuna with Forbidden Rice, Maui Onion Confit and Pineapple and Mango Salsa. Add to that our Bouillabaisse with Shrimp, Mussels, Clams, Diver Scallops, Snapper and Lobster with toasted baguette with Rouille on the side. While only two dishes there were several components that had to be done separately that caused some slow down. The rice had to cook for quite a while, then everything had to be chopped up for the confit and salsa. The peppers had to be roasted for the rouille and then everything pureed together. Shell fish had to be cleaned and steamed and held. But it all came together nicely.

I finally got to play with a mold. No not that stuff you see in your fridge a lot. The metal molds you can form your food with. While simple in design it can really make a difference in presentation. Of course you have to have the right foods to use in the mold. (my favorite mold is the ones for jello shooters…but that will have to be another class)
That’s the other nice part of school. You get introduced not only to different foods and cooking techniques but also devices. I had never used, or seen a food mill until doing this school or a pasta machine, fillet knife, chiniois, china cap, a spider and a lot of other things.

Oh I forgot to tell you, the word of the day is Schmutz. This is Chef Rorschach’s word for dirty spots, smudges, spice flakes, basically anything that should be wiped off or away. And DO NOT make her do the Schmutz Walk. You had better make darn sure your area is clean or she’ll find the stuff for you and then some. I cannot stress enough how important cleanliness is. Thank goodness they’re watching for cross contamination and general messes because some just are not use to paying attention to so many details. I think many of us take time for granted and use short cuts. I’m glad I have 4 different cutting boards at home that I can set up easily for various items. I wish I had that luxury at school.

There are nights as I’m driving home I wonder – what have I learned today? Everything happens so fast you don’t really have time to reflect. You’re much too busy remembering the Chef demo’s, reading the recipes and preparing the food. It’s usually not until the weekends as I’m preparing dinner that I find myself doing things differently. Then other things start coming to mind and I have many “Ah-Ha” moments. By Sunday I’m amazed at how much I actually retained. It gets even more fun when folks at work ask me questions about a recipe or food and dole out the advice with calm assertiveness. I never realized how many questions people have about food but never ask because they never knew anyone to ask. But now that they all know I’m going to culinary school it’s “Denise how do I..?” or “Denise what should I…?” and “Denise do you have any suggestions…?” and so forth. The hardest part is when I have to stop talking about food, recipes and school.

Sidebar – I’m starting to develop a twitch from my drive home. Every other night as I’m bee-bopping home I get the CHP, Sheriff or PD right behind me and they light me up. My adrenaline starts going, instantly I’m sweating and of course I’m looking at my speedometer thinking “67 mph is a bad thing?” and just as I start to merge right they zip past me after someone else. Now while I’m really glad they’re not after me I think I’ve had 5 years taken off my life because of this. The other night I, somehow, got in the middle of a pursuit. Next thing I know I’ve got the bad guy right in front of me, 2 CHP’s up my rear and one on either side. Instantly you think “Lights, sirens merge to the right and get out of their way..” but I can’t because well one is there. So, do I brake, maintain speed, back off…I have no clue. I’m just praying they don’t have a spike strip up there waiting for him and get me too, or that he’s already been spiked and is about to loose control of his car and get me in the process. Lucky for me Mr. Assailant decides to get off the freeway and off they all go and I get to continue on my merry way. With enough stomach acid to eat through nails and will probably be constipated for a week.

Nothing much out of the ordinary happened tonight. But I do have a few pictures to share.

The Seared Tuna

The Bouillabaisse

Here is Chef Rorschach. As you recall she subbed one day during our first class. She’s a kick.

This is Chef Romero. He got really mad when I tried to take his picture and told me to get back to my station.

I hope to get more pictures of different things. It's so hard to remember to take the camera out of my pocket. Chef Rorschach was kind enough to remind me each time she tasted a dish "Which one do you want me to taste so I don't ruin your picture?" That's when I go Oh yeah I have a camera!

Until Tomorrow...

PS- Chef Romero wasn’t really mad about the picture, he actually posed for that shot. He’s been razzing me because of what I posted a while back about the music bugging me. So it was my turn. (evil smile) He is really a great guy with a wealth of information and seems to have a lot of patience. I'd say that's a pretty good thing with us. He has a way of explaining things so they make sense and everything comes together.

Day 7 of PCA II – Send in the executioner…

2006-10-12T11:46:00.000-07:00

First off tonight was just fun. We did 3 totally different dishes all of which were new to me. The grilling part wasn’t new as I BBQ and grill weekly.

On our menu for this evening –

Grilled Lobster Tail
Grilled Pizza with Pesto, Prosciutto and Buffalo Mozzarella
Grilled Quail with Israeli Couscous with Pomegranate Molasses, Pomegranate seeds and mint.

We first made our pizza dough so it would have time to rise. Luckily this wasn’t new to me as we make pizza often. So while that is rising and doing it’s thang we must begin to fabricate our lobster(s). Some of us got two (super big grin). Yes they were alive. We only had 2 students who were squeamish about it. One looked sick when the chef demo’d the procedure for killing it. Basically you take a big knife jam into his head and pull down which in turn cuts his head in half. The thing that freaked everyone out was they keep moving. Their brain is destroyed so they are dead. The claws and tail are then twisted off and put into boiling water. The heads we kept for a lobster stock we’re making for our Bouillabaisse we’re making tomorrow.

While those are boiling we get our pesto ready. (Well some do, Chef had extra for her demo she offered and I snagged it for our team – Booyah!)

Ok lobster is done let’s grill these tails up. The claw meat is also being reserved for the Bouillabaisse. This was a very simple dish, minus the killing spree. Onto the grill they go, get some nice grill marks, plate em up and drizzle clarified butter over the top. Oh lord we eat good tonight!

Lobster is out of the way so let’s marinate some quail. Holy cow these guys are TINY. They’ve been deboned for us which was a treat. Only the leg and wing bones remain. These were covered in the pomegranate molasses and grilled for a few minutes and then finished up in the oven. Our couscous is cooking up nicely. If you’ve never had Israeli couscous think of tapioca pudding. Those little ball things. Oh and for reverence if you go to Israel you’ll find they have no idea what you’re talking about. There is no “Israeli Couscous” over there they’ve never heard of it before. I have no clue how it got the name. So the couscous is mounded on the plate, arugula is then placed on top and the quail is split down the breast bone and then the pieces are criss-crossed on top. A bit of the molasses is drizzled around the edges and fresh pomegranate seeds on dropped on top. It really is a pretty plate. I have a picture below but can’t figure out why their so blurry. I’ve taken pictures with before that are fine, but I’ll work on it.

Next up is our pizza. My partner’s dough didn’t rise real well so we split mine. The dough is pulled out and thinned a bit and then brushed with olive oil and placed on a hot grill. Unfortunately our grill was white hot so our dough got some real good color on one side. (yeah we had to scrape a little of the black off) So when I flipped it I had reduced the heat a bit. Next it’s smeared with the pesto, topped with the prosciutto and mozzarella and then popped into the oven to melt the cheese. When it comes out fresh parmesan is graded on top. This was served with a salad from Frisee lettuce and cherry tomatoes.

Ok I’m a pizza snob. Well I am since going to Italy and eating their pizza. I will not eat any American pizza again. No more Pizza Hut, Pappa John’s, Domino’s for me. So I will say this grilled pizza was really, really good. I love trying new sauces on pizza instead of the traditional red sauce and what a better replacement than freshly made basil pesto?! The only thing I would have done different was instead of the fresh garlic in the sauce I would have put roasted garlic instead. If you have an indoor grill on your stove make this dish. You could do it outside on your barbeque, and I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I wouldn’t recommend a briquette barbeque. I think the olive oil would cause too much smoking and give the dough a smokey flavor rather than a grilled flavor.

So there you have it. We were minus Chef Romero tonight and will for the week as he’s helping out in PCA-1. I went over there tonight to clean the grill we used and I don’t think those newbies knew what hit them. It was quiet a church in there. It’s good to get focused. Even though it’s only been a little over a week since I myself was in that class it was felt weird going back over there like it had been years since I was in PCA I.

I think our class is finally starting to work better as a team. We’re communicating better and this is due to mising out the way we are. We’re fine tuning our space to maximize efficiency without making everything a mess. Consolidation works very well. I mean if you’re both making couscous, for example, use one pot and each of you take turns monitoring it and tasting it, when you agree on the consistency et al present it. Now you only have 1 pot to clean instead of 2. This of course only works well if you have a partner you can work well with and trust with the food. And there will be times you can’t do this, but learning to adapt and quickly is very helpful.

We still have a couple that like to drop their dishes off at a station and then walk around like their doing stuff, but don’t really do anything but walk from one station to another or stop and talk with the chefs to kill time. It’s just frustrating because those of us that get our plates presented and are washing our dishes in between and washing our stations down now have to do their stuff too, because we have extra time. I don’t mind wiping the fascia down, or the walk-in doors and stuff that just gets messy by all of us. That’s part of the job. But to have to clean the personal stuff of another to me isn’t fair. They should have to do their own. If you take it to the sink you wash it. If you can’t then store it at your station until you have time to do it.

That’s all for this evening. Tomorrow night we’re back to fabricating fish. It’s chicken of the sea! Mr. Charlie himself…ladies and gentlemen we give you Albacore!

Until Tomorrow…

Grilled Quail with Pomegranate Molasses and Israeli Couscous.

Day 6 of PCA II – The Salmon are Running!

2006-10-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

Well today we did Salmon. Ours was farm raised and we were provided with the information on the difference between farm raised and wild caught. I’m always for wild caught.

Tonight we fabricated the salmon and made –

Grill Salmon with Maitre D’Hotel Butter, Peas and Mashed White Potatoes with Roasted Garlic ~and ~ Sautéed Salmon Cakes with Whole Grain Mustard Emulsion and Frisee Salad with Vinaigrette.

I think I am still most impressed with the little things. It’s amazing how a small thing can just make a dish come alive. For these two dishes it was the butter. I am so going to begin to incorporate hotel butter in more foods. They are so easy! Just take your butter and add things to it that you use in your dishes. Our butter tonight contain parsley, a bit of lemon juice and some of the soy mixture we used on the grilled salmon and fresh garlic. It’s also nice to note that your butters don’t have to be only ‘savory’ butters but you can make sweet ones too. Add a bit of brown sugar and cinnamon, or almond extract. Talk about a happy bagel. With two sticks of butter you could made 4 different hotel butters. (Of course if you have a bigger family or event you’ll need more) What a nice treat to have in your fridge to top off a dish.

I have also started saving the bottles my dressings come in. I refuse to buy it any more. It is so easy to make a vinaigrette and so much cheaper. I bought one the other day my Marie Calendar’s Blue Cheese Vinaigrette. Very tasty and I could so make it for 1/3 of the cost. Save your cash!

I’m not a big salmon ‘fan’. It’s a long story, but of course it’s my blog so I will share. Years ago my husband and I had a very large salt water aquarium. We started off with the small fish to condition the tank and then went on to create a reef system. Did that for while and then decided we wanted the big boys. So we shifted gears and went with a predator tank – a shark, lion fish, eagle ray. Well they had to eat and we had to ‘hand’ feed them (we used long tongs.) What did they eat? Well gold fish was the first option, but the darn things don’t live very long in salt water and these guys were not the greatest of hunters, and it was cruel to the gold fish. So it was time for salmon. We’d buy a whole salmon frozen and then spend the day in the kitchen with a hack saw cutting it up into little chunks and individually wrapping them up. There were salmon bits everywhere. Thus my aversion to salmon, it just brings back memories of all the years we’d prepare the fish food.

My car still has a slight fish odor. I have several fabric softener sheets lying about to help.

Tomorrow we’re doing our lobsters for recipes later on. Yes they are alive. We won’t be using the meat tomorrow as we’re doing quail and grilled pizza. I think everyone is happy to get away from the fish for a while. But then it’s right back into the fish with Albacore on Thursday.

Our class size is shrinking. We lost Alexandra (Jay’s wife also called Princess). And there is talk of us losing one more whose schedule is just too hectic to do all the things she needs to do. And yet another wants to move to the morning class. That would put us at 15 from our original 21. That sounds a bit more manageable.

Until Tomorrow!

Pictures from the Dishes of Day 5 of PCA-II.

2006-10-10T13:22:00.000-07:00

This is the Snapper Dish. The picture doesn't do it justice because of the flash and the stainless steel counter.

Here are the scallops. I wish they came out clearer.

Day 5 of PCA II – Is it possible to get seasick from cooking fish?

2006-10-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

Yes we’re still doing fish. I really shouldn’t complain. I like fish. My dad got me eating fish at a young age and so I’ve been exposed to many different kinds. I guess it’s like when I use to work at a restaurant called Bobby McGee’s. They were known for their prime rib, but being part of the staff we got to eat dinner and whatever was left over from the night. So we ate a lot of prime rib and to this day, I don’t care for prime rib as much anymore. At least with the fish it’s all different. Halibut, snapper some scallops thrown in for good measure.

Tonight we prepared –

Sautéed Snapper with Mélange of Baby Vegetables and Fish Consommé – This recipes name has a lot of those ‘ things in it. Must be fancy food. As far as the fish recipe goes - of all the ones we’ve prepared thus far, this was my favorite. First we had to fabricate the snapper. I’m starting to get the feel for cutting out the fillets. Not that I want to make a career out of it, and I’m still not great at it, but I’m at a point where I can muddle through pretty good and not panic. It also included whole baby carrots, baby turnips, baby zucchini, baby queen squash, green onions and 2 cherry tomatoes. The fish is cooked with the skin on and is first seared in clarified butter to get it nice and crackly. It is placed on top of the sautéed vegetables and then the fish consommé is spooned around it. A really beautiful dish with all the colors. Oh and the fish consommé? I was leery about this over powering the dish with ‘fish’ flavor, which to me should always be subtle. This was really good. Very light and complimented the fish and vegetables without overpowering them.

Next on our agenda was Coquilles St. Jacques with Scallop Roe Beurre Blanc –

I sure hope I don’t ruin this dish for anyone. First I have no clue who or what Coquilles are but they seem to come from France. St. Jacques is a tower in France and all that remains of the church of Saint-Jacques-la-Boucherie. It was dedicated to Saint James and the church itself was demolished in 1797. Don’t say I never taught you anything on this blog.

The scallops we had to clean up a bit first. Not bad really as I had expected we were going to have to shuck them ourselves. But, they already came opened on the half shell. With their ‘roe’ attached. Now there is some debate as to what the ‘roe’ is. We were told it was the scallops’ liver. I have heard others say it’s the tongue. I think these folks are wrong because this thing cannot separate itself from the other part(s) it’s attached to, to work as a tongue. Roe is the ripe egg masses, the large egg sack in fish. In the case of the scallop both sexes can produce roe because scallops are hermaphroditic. They can change their sexes. (wow you all are getting a lot of interesting stuff here!) Red roe means the scallop is currently female, and white is male.

Ok the recipe. Well we took the muscle portion (the part most of us eat) and clean them up. Then we sliced off the roe which resembles red, wet mayonnaise, it smears real easy. Two of these were added to 6 ounces of butter to make – Roe Butter for our Roe Beurre Blanc sauce. This sauce is first prepared by adding a small amount of cream, wine and shallots to a pan and reducing to au sec. Then it is strained and the roe butter is added to slowly incorporate into the cream. This is the part where I couldn’t even taste it. It’s a mental thing that I will have to challenge and get past, but for now – no. I’m not eating mashed up raw egg sack in creamed butter. But it is very pretty. The scallops are seared in clarified butter on both sides. They are then put back into the cleaned half shell and the Roe Beurre Blanc is spooned around them. (3 scallops to a shell) The shell is then placed on a plate on top of rock salt and topped with chives. This was an appetizer dish.

All in all it was a good night. I got to fillet an extra snapper and they had left over and a halibut that needed to be filleted as well. I jumped on this because anything they say is going to be on the final and you can get extra practice on it DO IT!

It’s now 11:05pm and time to gather our belongings and head home. For some of us the drive is longer. This can be good and bad. Good because it gives me time to reflect on the evenings events. I go over in head the comments the Chef Instructors gave us to help commit it to memory.

It’s about 11:15 and I’ve exited the parking structure, my window is down because I have to use a key fob to get out. I leave and turn onto Sunset and roll up my window because it is a bit chilly out. (I love fall and winter!) As I get on the freeway and begin the sojourn home I realize I drive through a lot of different areas of Los Angeles. I’ve smelled a bakery at night cooking what smells like brownies. I’ve past through an area that smells like they’re roasting sunflower seeds…but what is that smell I smell right now? It’s a smelly smell. The kind of smell that smells..well smelly. It’s not a skunk, they have a very unique pungent odor. It’s close to that smell when you wonder if someone is cleaning a septic tank or the sewer is backed up. But that can’t be at this late hour. Whatever it is, it is getting stronger. Wow really strong…jesus what the hell is that smell?? I roll down the window to see if A it’ll clear it out B see if it’s coming from outside. Well I can’t tell, driving at 65 with the window down and being cold I can’t smell anything. Roll up the window and BAM…oh good lord it’s in the car! (Now remember that movie where the babysitter has just put the small child to bed and starts getting crank calls and then on the last call the police are involved and call her back and are yelling “The call is coming from inside the house!! Get out! Get out!” but she can’t because it’s too late…DING! You can now picture the look of horror on my face) Seems while I was fabricating that last halibut, whose entrails were quite odorous, a, shall we say, dollop of yack dropped onto my shoe. But wait, there’s more…as we all get into our cars we strip down to the bear comfy zone. Our nasty towels and aprons and hats are all tossed into a pile in our cars. Um..I don’t have a trunk, I have a hatchback. Can you fully appreciate my pain now? There is NO PLACE FOR THE STENCH TO GO! Chef Rorschach kindly told us during fish week to go to the store and get lemons or tomato juice to soak our hands in when we get home to remove the fish smell. I have that long drive with fish gut smells coming from my shoe, and the towels in the back and now my hands stink, I have no lemons in my car and I believe the fish smell has now permeated into the steering wheel. JOY. Wonder how I take this steering wheel off to soak in the sink with lemon. (note to self – wear gloves!)

Everyone was asking about why no music was played tonight. I had to fess up and say it was my fault. I had posted on here about how some of the music drove me insane. What I should have posted was how I can tune it out as well. I guess the Chef Instructors took it to heart. I’M SORRY! Please bring back the music. It makes the others so happy. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one. (OOooOO that sounded so philosophical. I wonder who said that first)

Tomorrow we’re doing Salmon. Cakes and grilled. I can hardly wait to grind up the salmon. The carnage and shrapnel should be quite fun to watch. I’ll remember to check my shoes before getting into the car AND I’m bringing with a baggie to put my dirty stuff into.

Until Tomorrow!

Day 4 of PCA II – Let’s go Fishing!

2006-10-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

Well tonight we got to fabricate a fish, Halibut to be exact. Now I cannot tell you how many times I have eaten halibut. I’ve eaten the steaks, fish taco’s the fillets you name it. But I have never seen this ugly fish up close and personal. Even my dad who used to go deep sea fishing would bring home these tasty critters but they already fillet and ready for us to enjoy. These fish are UGLY. They’re flat fish so they swim sideways. The bottom side is white or creamy color and while they started with 2 eyes on either side of their head, evolution said “wow this is stupid because he’s looking at the ground a lot and his enemies are up there” and moved it up to the top. And they’re real close together. The top part is darker in color, this helps with camouflaging him and helping him to absorb a bit of heat of the suns rays. (A tan is the last thing this guys needs)

Good points – he doesn’t smell as he is very fresh. There are some that think all fish smell bad, which prose’s the question if they smell bad when they’re fresh what do they smell like when they are bad – good?

He’s not very big only about 6 pounds. So it’s not like those giants you see on the fishing cattle boats that weigh in at 45 pounds. Yeah I can see slapping that on my 2 foot by 1 foot cutting board.

Bad points – He’s not been cleaned, at all.

I mean he’s not been cleaned inside either. Joy.

Time to eviscerate the body. This is an interesting experience for all of us. Find the spine make a small incision the length of the body, make a slice above the tail (don’t remove it you’ll need it later), make a slice behind the gills, turn Fred over and do the same on the other side. Now turn him back and begin long strokes down the length of his body keeping your knife flat against the bones and exerting a bit of pressure. (This is where if you don’t have a sharp knife you are SOL) Continue your cut all the way down to the bottom and cut away the fillet. One down and 3 to go. After you get the other fillet off the front it’s that magically moment time, snap his neck and pull away from the body and the entrails should follow. It was here that I decided to smell my fish. Very clean smell and the fish seem really clean and WHOA!! That smell isn’t fresh. I think I just singed my nose hairs what the hell is that? Oh it’s his guts. Man those are some rancid things. My partner sees my reaction and laughs. I told him be sure to smell your fish because the Chef wants to see us smell everything (evil smirk begins to form on my face). As he leans over I notice he’s heading right for the entrails first and BAM yep there it is, he snaps his head back and gets this disgusted look on his face. I just chuckle and said “told you”.

The back side fillets are a bit thinner but I manage to get my two. Hhmm…they sure don’t look like the ones I buy in the store.

Tonight’s dishes are –

Sauteed Halibut with Potato and Artichoke Gratin, Spring Onions and Fines Herbes Buerre Blanc

~~

Sauteed Halibut with Fava Beans, Green Garlic, Caperberries and Aioli

I am happy to report no one got sick pulling guts out of the fish. I wondered about a couple of them but they mustered thru it. Took guts (hahaha).

We will be following a fish theme for the next few days which will include Snapper, Trout, Lobster, Scallops, Shrimp and a big ‘ol Tuna (sorry Charlie).

Ok this next part may offend some people, but please understand it is not meant in a mean context. It was a stressful situation and I just reacted –

I didn't tell you about my experience driving home the other night. As I'm humming along I look up in my rearview mirror and see a mass. I'm like "what the heck is that?" I look in my side mirror and again just a mass but I can't figure it out. It wasn't until it was a bit closer I realize it was a large SUV with no lights on and we're getting ready to head up Kellog Hill which can be dangerous enough as it is. It's time to don my Super Good Samaritan Suit. I let the SUV pass me on the left and I begin honking my horn. My horn that basically whispers out "hello? can you hear me?" What I needed was a can of air that goes "HEY BUDDY!!". Took me forever to get their attention. It was two middle aged Asian women. The passenger has that look on her face of "omg we're going to be killed by an angry white chef!" I give her the signal to roll down her window, the cranking motion. We don't even roll down our windows this way anymore but by god it's still the signal we use. They roll down their windows and I start yelling "LIGHTS!! Your LIGHTS are off!!" She yells back "What?" "YOUR LIGHTS ARE OFF!!" "What??" Ok I get it they're Asian - new tactic "YOUR RIGHTS!! YOUR RIGHTS ARE OFF" while making the light flash symbol with my hand. Still no communication. So I begin flashing my lights and that's when it dawns on them and they get their lights turned on. WHEW. That was just too much excitement for me after the day I already had. I see them up ahead of me, how I have no clue since we were doing 80 while I was yelling at them, turn their lights off again but right back on. I could hear the conversation in the car the passenger slapping the other woman on the arm “How could not see our rights were not on?!” And the driver looking over “With all these rights on the freeway it’s bright enough so I did not notice.” Passenger “Bah turn your rights off right now you see how dark it is!” at which point she does and it is dark, but that’s because they’re going up the hill at that moment and there a lot less lights.

There is a lot of action on my freeways at midnight. I know why I’m up so late but some I can’t figure out. ‘Tis one of the mysteries that will go unsolved. I wonder if any of them are reviewing recipes in their heads or even thinking of recipes. I wonder if they have dreams of sautéing onions and deglazing pans. Or nightmares about forgetting to turn an oven on or if that’s just me? I wonder if when they go to work the next day and their boss asks them to do something, if they too respond with “Yes Chef!” and watch their boss stare at them like they’ve lost their mind. Do they eat lunch the next day and close their eyes and try and guess the ingredients? They embaraass their family with always thinking out loud at grocery stores or restaurants with “You know what would make this better?” or “Oh this isn’t that hard to make.” Some poor woman in the grocery store asked me a question and my daughter told her to run for her life. The question was “What do you do with avocados besides makes guacamole?” 15 minutes later the woman has that glassy eye look small children get when you try and explain to them for longer than a minute how to do something. I stopped talking and can sense my daughter behind me mouthing the words to the woman “I warned you…”

I don’t think I’ll ever stop thinking of food and how to prepare it or of things I wish to learn. I am more excited that at this stage in my life I have yet another thing to be passionate about.

Until Tomorrow!

Day 3 of PCA II – Pork the Other White Meat

2006-10-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well I got all my dishes done – Yeah! But I feel like I got my arse handed to me on a serving plate – Boo! The only saving grace was it wasn’t just me, we all felt it tonight.

Now while cooking a ‘dinner’ isn’t a big deal…I mean heck I do it all the time. Let’s talk about the big wrenches that get thrown into the cogs. We are in teams, so a few of our dishes are prepared together. Ok so far not too bad. We have 6 burners between the 2 of us. Ok I can hang with that…what do you mean I have to cook up 12 things at once?! I only get 3 burners! Breathing…let’s evaluate this. I need 16 oz veal stock for one dish and another 16 oz for a second dish that’s 2 pots and they both have to reduce. Ok use a slightly bigger pot to account for extra evaporation and put all 32 ounces into one pot. Yes one less pot. Ok I have to caramelize a lot of onions for 3 different dishes and so does my partner. Well let’s just take all of them into one big fry pan and ‘get her done’.

Now while all this seems simple enough, the confusion starts because you don’t what you can combine even after you read the recipes for the tenth time. It’s not until you see the chef demo it that you begin to get a bigger picture of what’s going to happen for the night. Then you have to watch the chef demo both recipes (tick tock tick tock). Of course by that time you’re so clustered and can’t figure out which end of the knife is which. So you go back to your station and confer with your partner, who has that same dazed look on his face and you can see he is hoping beyond hope that I have it all under control. HA!

The second issue comes from mise-ing out. If you remember 1 group gets the proteins, another the veggies etc. Well when you get recipes that have a LOT of ingredients and often times similar ones the chaos is rampant. Then you come back to your station after handing out the stuff you were assigned to do only to find all these little black cups of liquid all over and no clue what they are, must less what they are for. See before when we each mised out our own items we’d put them at our station in a way that made sense to each of us. Now we’re picking them up, sniffing them trying to determine if it’s red wine, sherry or white wine. Then there are herbs everywhere. Everyone as their handing stuff out yells out what the things are, but hell at this point no one is listening. We’re all so focused on getting our stuff handed out and yelling what our stuff is I can’t listen to them yelling about their stuff – sheesh!

It’s now 7:45pm and we have to have all our dishes out by 10:15pm. I believe I heard 3 brains snap, one is whimpering at their station and the rest of us just stand there with this little bit of drool running out of the corner of our mouths. At that moment is when Chef Romero yells out “Ok let’s get on that bread pudding! I want that in the oven in 15 minutes – GO!” Everyone shakes the cobwebs out, wipes the drool of their face and gets moving.

On the menu for this evening we have –

Roquefort stuffed pork chops with savory kale bread pudding and a mushroom ragout. Also we will be presenting seared brined pork chops with a veal reduction sauce, and caramelized sweet potatoes with romesco sauce and braised kale.

The dishes were very good flavor wise. I wasn’t sure about the savory bread pudding with the kale but I was pleasantly surprised. I wonder if my family would like it. I would have to say probably not only because of the texture. Now the romesco was something that will get added to my favorites. What wonderful flavors. I’ve already pondered putting that on chicken and then grilling it and the when served add a bit of fresh to the top.

Here’s the recipe –

4 oz Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 large or 2 small Ancho Chilies
2 Tbl Almonds
1 oz bread (French would be perfect about 2 slices ½ inch thick or a baguette 4 slices about ¾ inch thick.)
1 clove garlic
2 plum tomatoes
1 tsp parsley
Lemon juice, as needed (we only need ½)
Kosher salt, as needed

Heat oil in large sauté pan. Toast the chilies in the oil and set aside (be sure to cut the top stem portion off but leave the seeds intact). Using the same pan toast the bread and set aside. Next add the almonds and toast those making sure not to burn them. In a food processor grind the nuts, garlic and bread to a coarse meal. Add the chilies and grind till fully incorporated. Add the tomatoes and parsley and pulse again till fully incorporated. If you need more moisture begin to add a bit of your lemon juice. Now with the machine running slowly drizzle in the oil to emulsify. You may have to scrape down the sides once or twice. Continue adding the oil to the desire consistency. It will be thick. Add a bit more lemon and salt.

Got all my dishes out and pretty good marks. But it took the entire allotted time to do them. I always try and shoot for 15 minutes before they’re due but that did not happen. And not just me, almost all of us. I think another part of the problem is music. Once we get started the chef will put music on for us. How nice right? Well sometimes it’s this head banger hard rock music that makes me want to SCREAM! And then you look up at some of the younger kids in the class and they’re poppin their heads to the beat. Then the music may shift and be jazz and now I’m happy. I don’t mind the music it helps to break the tension, but they need to find a happy medium for all of us and I’m not how to address this.

I have redone my recipes a bit differently. When they give us our addendums it’s really screwy how they look. On the first page will be each dish and its ingredients. Then on the next couple of pages will the directions. So you’re going from the front to back constantly. I made copies of mine, reduced them and cut them up. Now they are all on one page with recipe name and below that ingredients and off to the right the directions. I’m hoping that helps with the organization. I’ll let you know.

Wish me luck. Tomorrow we’re filleting Halibut! It’s time to go fishing!

Until Tomorrow!

Day 2 of PCA II – This Little Piggy went to the Market…

2006-10-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

This is one heck of a quarter. Tonight’s menu was Schnitzel, no you’re thinking Schnauzer that’s the cute dog with the mustache. It’s Schnitzel, no now you’re thinking Strudel that’s the one tasty pastry. Schnitzel is German for cutlet. We each got a pork tenderloin that we had to remove the ‘silver skin’, that tough membrane that protects the juicy goodness inside, and then cut 1/3 off to use for our Schnitzel. The other 2/3 was used for a sautéed pork tenderloin.

So first up Pork Schnitzel a la Holstein with a Traditional Garnish and Brown Butter.

The traditional garnish was a Gremolata made with anchovies, lemon zest and capers.
The pork was pounded out thin and then dredged in flour, dipped in egg and then into panko bread crumbs. It was then fried in a mixture of oil and butter. In another pan we melted about 3 ounces of butter and browned it. We also foamed it for presentation. This was a relatively simple dish. The cutlet was placed on the plate and topped with the gremolata. Then the butter foam was placed around it in small peaks, then a bit of the browned butter was drizzled over the cutlet. I took it up to Chef Romero for reviews. He criticizes in such a way you learn a lot. However this time I was floored. He tasted it and then tasted again and just looked at me and very seriously said “Take this to Chef Greenspan right now.” My face must have fallen to the floor. Why? Why must I take it to him I pondered and figured maybe Greenspan was an expert at Schnitzel and he would be the one to tell me what was wrong. I picked up my plate with what to be a very sad dejected look, because Chef Romero said “Red…it’s for him to eat” I stopped and looked and replied “Chef Greenspan is going to eat my Schnitzel?” He just nodded. I headed out of the class over to Chef Greenspan class and walked up and said “Hi Chef here’s your Schnitzel.” He smiled and said “So you made the best one eh? He only sends over the good ones. Hey nice foam!” I was speechless! As I came back into the classroom I had that stupid grin on my face.

That grin lasted all of 3 seconds because it’s time to fire off the next dish and it has a lot of components!

Next up is – Sautéed Pork Tenderloin with Salsify Puree, Sautéed Apples and Golden Raisins and Calvados Pan Sauce. (Calvados is an apple liqueur)

Stay with me here, because since I’m going to type this really really fast I expect you to read it even faster to get an idea of what it was like…and…GO!

Peel the Salsify and get it simmering in the milk and cream. Make sure to not get it too hot or it’ll boil over and milk burn is icky. Ok now get pork tenderloin marinating, it has to set in the marinade for 30 minutes. Ok that’s in the fridge, get started on the Cider Jus because we need this to make the pan sauce. This is going to take a bit. Caramelize the onions, deglaze, add stock and cider and let it reduce…come on…reduce! Check the salsify almost tender but something is amis that I can’t quite put my finger on. It’ll come to me. Cider jus is reducing, let’s start on the apples. These are peeled, cored, sliced and then browned in oil with salt and pepper. Once that’s done we add the Calvados – FLAME ON! Oh yeah…as everyone reflects back to PCA I and the Crepes Suzette and remembers their eyebrows fondly. Add the raisins and pull of the heat. Get the pork out of the fridge and get that pan hot. Let’s sear this baby! The happy sizzle noises start and we get seared on all sides and the end. Pop that bad boy onto a sizzle plate and get him into a 400° oven. WooHoo Salsify is tender, something still odd about this, but I get it over to the blender and whirl that stuff around and pour it back into my pan….ok found the problem. Seems when the person did the measuring for the salsify for everyone they didn’t exactly measure correctly. So my salsify that should have the consistency of mashed potatoes has the consistency of cream soup. Well this isn’t going to present nice at all being runny all over the plate and too late to start more. It’s time for ‘Recovery Mission’ (insert Mission Impossible theme music here) – Your mission Red is to take your liquid salsify and turn it into something consumable. You have 7 minutes to do this and you can choose 3 members from your kitchen utensils. This tape will self destruct in 10 seconds. (well if you wouldn’t mind just throwing it away because if I go up in a puff of smoke they’ll think something is burning and then you’ll just get more questions and…well…you get the gist) So over to my stove I go. I put the salsify on and get the heat back up and use a whisk to help move it all around and let it simmer and reduce. By whisking it I keep tension and allow the moisture to evaporate quicker than if I just let it simmer on its own.

While that’s reducing I get started on my pan sauce because my cider jus is reduced perfectly. I stain the jus into a clean pan, bring it back to a simmer, add Calvados and Dijon mustard and let it get to the perfect consistency and turn the flame off. Take out my tenderloin and let it rest, check the salsify and it’s coming along very nicely. I add the butter to my pan sauce to finish it off, slice my tenderloin. Let’s plate it up! A bit of salsify, lay out thin slices of the pork in front, put the apples and raisins around. Then take the pan sauce and dribble a bit around the dish and drape a couple of small spoonfuls over the pork itself. What a wonderful dish.

Yes I carry a camera with me and yes I forget to use it every time!!! ARG!!!

This dish is one I would definitely make again at home. Looking at all I am learning I wish I knew then what I have learned now when I redid my kitchen. I would have spent the extra money and gotten a convection oven. But that won’t stop me from having fun!

Tomorrow night is one of those nights someone will crack. Probably me. We have several dishes to prepare along with the fact that each dish has like 5 components and veggies. I wonder if I could drink the liqueurs….

Oh you thought we were done didn’t you? No, no you can’t leave yet. See we had to prep a couple of things for tomorrow. We had to take a rack of pork and fabricate our pork chops. Normally as this is done you end up with nice ribs and some nice chops. But we kept the ribs attached and Frenched them for a pretty presentation. But first we got to remove the chine bone(half of the back bone). Yeah you all don’t get the chine bone and if you did you’d never buy your meat from that butcher ever again. Removing this thing is a B*tch. We had to do 1 rack per 2 students. Guess who got to do the one for me and my partner. Yeah – moi. At least my partner (Edgar) is a great partner. He didn’t just sit there and watch like some of the other partners did. First because I was working on it and it was getting late, I was behind on a few dishes. Without a word he just came over and picked them up and did them for me. THANK YOU!! As my arm began throbbing from hacking at this thing with a clever that has the edge of a butter knife he came over and said let me help and he went at it for a while. Between the two of us we got it done. Then we had to trim the meat from between the ribs and clean them of all meat and sinew. This takes a while. So he started at one end and I at the other. We got our pork chops fabricated, 2 larger ones for stuffing and 2 thinner ones for marinating. Now it’s time to clean up and it’s 5 till 11pm and there is shrapnel everywhere! It looks like a bad scene out of a ‘B’ horror movie. Hahahaha!

So everything is done, kitchen is clean and chops are ready for tomorrow. Now you can breathe and close out this blog (smiles).

Until Tomorrow!

Day 1 of PCA II – 0-60 MPH in a blink of an eye!

2006-10-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

Well as you can see the number will change and we begin at day 1. We have two new chef instructors – Chef Romero and Chef Rorschach. Chef Romero is the head chef of the academy. He talks softly, walks around often giving input and tips. He’s only been in the culinary field for about 6 years but has such knowledge for what he does. He said after graduating from culinary school he was fortunate enough to hook up with the right people for his externship and rose very quickly in the culinary world.

Chef Rorschach was one of the chefs that substituted for us when Chef Richardson was out sick for a couple of days. She is a stickler for details and she is the one that has such a passion for students to learn and get as much as they possibly can out of their experience. What an interesting pair these two make. The mood in the class is so drastically different. You can see the other students get that focused look in their face and we’re all smiling like “Yeah now this is what we’re talking about!”

They even had us Mise out differently. Before we all grabbed our lists and went off and got our stuff. Well this time they divided us into groups – Protein, Fresh, Dry. One section of the class got all the meats, the next section got the wines and cheeses, yet another for herbs etc. It was so organized! As you’re passing out stuff to others you come back and find you station filled with goodies.

So our first night was Sautéed Chicken Breast with Polenta, Sautéed Brussels Sprouts and Mustard Pan Sauce. Well we first had to learn how to cut up a whole chicken. I’ve never done this. I buy my chicken already cut up. I’m lazy and figure my time is worth something hehehe. So if I buy a chicken whole I cook it whole. We had to remove the legs with the thighs and include the ‘oyster’ meat from the back. Then we had to separate the thigh from the leg. One thigh we had to French and the other de-bone. We then had to French both legs as well. For those not familiar with this technique you scrape the meat from the bone done a bit and cut off the ‘knob’ from the end. It’s for presentation only. Next was to remove both breasts. One would be a boneless ‘Supreme’ and the other we left the first wing joint still attached and Frenched that one as well. We kept the two breasts for our dishes that evening.

I’m a big multi-tasker. The problem I have in kitchen is multi-tasking while sharing a small space and having to share a stove. I can cook 15 dishes at once but when I have to do it on 4 burners, share a small refrigerator and have 2 feet of counter space I have to stop and refocus. Tonight I intend to really stand at my station and restructure my mind.

So while we’re cutting up our chicken I start my chicken stock reducing, get my water boiling for my shocking of Brussels sprouts (keep in mind I only get for burners) I start my bacon rendering so I can get that done and off the stove, but I also have to start heating my stock/milk for my polenta (I am now at four burners) I still have to sear my chicken breasts and pan fry my sprouts. This is all while sharing a space and knocking elbow both on the right and left side. It’s a good thing I really like my fellow students.

Sprouts are done, but water stays where it is. It was easier to keep 1 pot and share it and let everyone get their sprouts done. Bacon is rendered but I need the pan for later so stow it below. Get my next pan on to sear the chicken. And then get the chicken into the oven.

(Flash Back – Early days on PCA I and the lasagna and why it took twice as long to cook. One word – Convection)

I was calculating 30 minutes to cook the 2 chicken breasts. Well it took about 5 minutes. Long and short I get everything plated – Polenta first, chicken on top, sprouts around, sprinkle with the bits and the pan sauce. This making 2 plates will take some getting use to. My flavor was very good, my polenta wasn’t as thick as it should be. I’ll keep learning. I have never made polenta except in the first class and it was so gross. This stuff was pretty darn good.

This class will definitely keep me on my toes. I have made notes on everything the Chefs said and will type them up along with the recipes over to help memorize them. And tonight was a slow night according to all the past students. All I can say is Wow!!

Until Tomorrow…

Day 30 – The Giants Win the Pennant!! The Giants Win the Pennant!!

2006-10-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

Oh sorry got so excited about it being my last day in PCA-1 I lost all control.

Well tonight marked a mile stone for all of us. We are now heading to PCA-II which is meats. It was a fun night and bitter sweet. I think we’re all excited and nervous since we’re going on to something new and yet leaving our comfort zone.

As we finished up our 2 recipes – New England Clam Chowder and Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage, Chefs began gathering our final reviews. Chef Knight gave each of us a nice card with words of thanks and support. I thought it was such a nice touch and very considerate of her to do so. I mean let’s face it, we were not an easy bunch.

Then it was time for final grades. Drum roll please (tatatatatatatata) I got an A!! I was very pleased to see that. I thought I missed a lot more on my final written test, but I only missed 3 questions for a total of 4 points. (One of the questions was worth 2 points)

We also celebrated a birthday. Scott turned a whopping 32!! I swear 3 gray hairs popped out as we watched…he’s SOOOooOOOoo old now. (grins)

Tomorrow we go from 0 – 60. We begin working with meats. First up will be Chicken. The interesting part I’ve noticed, as I look through the first couple of days, is we are doing complete meals. No longer are we making what would be deemed 4 different side dishes, but rather a protein a starch and a veggie. Now is when we start to eat real food. Well so long as it’s consumable Hahaha! Our Chef Instructors seem tougher as well. Now we have to relearn how to do things and do them their way. I can’t wait!

The cutest thing will be going into the ‘holding cell’ (This is where we sit and wait till we can enter the labs. It’s like a big dining room but with office like chairs and tables on wheels) and wait with our fellow classmates and watch the confused looking newbies come in. Tonight is their first night to start PCA-I. I remember my first day very well and one individual who has just been a wealth of information, Thank You Tiny, and I hope that I can pass that along to another newbie.

We officially lost 2 students – Chris and Anthony. Interestingly enough our dish problem went way down too. Our predictions are during PCA2 we’ll lose at least 4 more. Only because they barely kept up during the first section. Right now I like everyone in our class. They all want to be here and everyone tries really hard.

Now I just need to learn how to properly sharpen my knives. I want to get that filet knife razor sharp.

Until tomorrow!!

Our Group Picture. This is our last day in the PCA-I Kitchen. Are we good looking or what?!