Culinary School Week 7

Due to the holiday it was cram everything into one day of school week. It was roasted chicken with pan gravy, stuffed tomatoes with duxelles, Savoyard potatoes, roasted top sirloin with au jus lie, sauteed green beans and garlic mash potatoes. That was all in one night. There was suppose to be a few other items but we did not have the ingredients for them.

The chicken was simple. Nothing I haven't done before. I used my usual butter under the skin to keep it moist while cooking. I used the spices the school had.
1/4 tsp of paprika
1/8tsp  of rosemary, more like a 1/2 of fresh
1/8 tsp of thyme, more like 1/2 tsp. I did it the Mist way and pulled each leaf off the sprig
I mix all that in to soft butter about 4 tsp and put it all under the skin.

Just before I throw it into the oven I sprinkle it with salt, pepper and a little more paprika over the top of the chicken. Gives it a good color. This time I happened to throw in  the cavity half an onion and the rest of the sprigs of thyme and rosemary. The chicken came out really moist.

Tomato Duxelles is basically sauteed mushrooms and onions with salt and pepper stuffed into a tomato that has been parboiled to get rid of the skin and the seeds taken out. I personally, would have added some bread crumbs to make the stuffing a little thicker, but we did not have any.

Below are this weeks photos. If you want any of the other recipes. Just ask. I am always happy to give them out.

Happy Eating

Food demonstration

I have been asked to do a food demonstration for the complex I live in. I am excited and nervous all in the same bit. I get to prove that I am a professional, finally but in the same breath its been a long while since I have done any public speaking.

I chose to do a simple recipe.  Scones.  I will post the recipe in a bit. Its late and I have a promise to keep to my son in the morning before I do my last day at Mist.  Anyways, its at the end of March. So I have time to prepare for it.  Maybe now I will start getting people asking for cakes and treats. I have some good things coming just working out the bugs before I post them up.

Happy Eating

Chicken Wontons

This was something I learned from a dear friend who is no longer with us. He originally did this with just ranch and cheese. It was a hit at all the parties.

Its wontons that have been baked with shredded chicken in them. I used my own set of spices. I think this time I used a little ranch dressing, BBQ3000, chipolte powder, paprika, and garlic powder. I then put a blend of Italian cheeses over it and stuck it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. Until I can see that the cheese was melted.

My kids loved it.
Here is  what it looked like. Not so pretty because it was the last one I could grab before the family ate them .


Happy Eating.

Culinary School week 6

It was breakfast this week! Stuffed full of good food each night. We did Fritattas, Omlets, Quiche, Pancakes, French Toast, Scrambled Eggs, Eggs Benedict, Fried Eggs, Hasbrowns, Scones and Crepes.

If you want any of these recipes ask me, I will be more than happy to give them out. It was a lot of fun making food that I will use every weekend while feeding my kids and my husband. I learned a couple different ways to make food that I would not have thought to use.  One of the ingredients we did was honey in the french toast. It was a side thing from the recipe that we were given to put in the bowl. My partner said it was something she adds to help  brown the toast and give it a sweeter flavor. We stuffed the crepes with a sweet filling. Using what we had, we used ricotta cheese, sugar, heavy cream and some flavoring. It came out great. Crepes can be sweet or savory. Our omlet we stuffed with red swiss chard, mushrooms and feta cheese. It gave it a nice bite. There are so many endless possiblities with breakfast its crazy.  I am having a blast in school.

Thank you to all who read me and follow me. I only ask that any posts in response are relavent to what I am writing about. Not ad for some automobile equipment or such. I am looking forward to sharing my school experience with you.

Pasta Carbonara

This is one  we did in the past. It calls for double cream sauce, which takes a bit of time to make. There is a short cut to it though and it comes out just as good. You can pair a lot of different ingredients with this. The stand by is bacon. I have used mushrooms in it and chicken too. The bacon gives it part of the flavor.
4 oz  bacon diced
2 tablespoon  onion diced
1 egg
3 table spoon Parmesan cheese , grated
1 table spoon of salt
1/4 ground black pepper
4 oz of pasta
1/2 cup double cream sauce

Cook the bacon until it is crispy. About 5 minutes.  Then add the onions and cook them in the bacon grease.  Cook the onions just until they begin to caramelize. (turn brown) Remove bacon and onions and set aside. Bring a large pan of water to a boil. Add salt to the water. Then cook the pasta. Cook til it is al dente. About 10 minutes.While the pasta is cooking in a bowl lightly beat an egg and stir in the Parmesan cheese. Here is where you can substitute 1 cup of heavy cream for the double cream sauce. Mix together. When the pasta is done. Drain. Add a little of the bacon grease to keep the pasta from sticking together.  Then quickly add the egg mixture with the cheese. Stir until combined. Return to the heat for 1 minute or less. This is so the sauce  thickens. Also add the bacon and onion back into the pasta mixture. Serve immediately. This can be kept cold and slowly reheated, if done with the heavy cream. It does not reheat well with the double cream sauce.

Happy Eating

Fresh Tomato Sauce

This was something that we paired with Gnocchi. But it is good for most items. It simple and you taste the fresh tomatoes in it.

2oz of Clarified Butter
8oz  onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
48oz Tomato Concasse ( tomatoes that have no skin or seeds) about 10-14 Roma tomatoes
4 oz  tomato paste
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon Basil
1 tablespoon Parsley
( I added) 1 I teaspoon fresh thyme
and 2 teaspoons of sugar to cut the acid

chop the garlic and onions put them in the pan with the butter. You want to sweat them. Cook them so the onions are translucent. Then add the  tomatoes. Make sure you have taken off the skin and taken the seeds out. Chop them in to pieces. They will break down as you cook them. Then add the tomato paste. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Then add herbs and sugar. Cook about 10 minutes more. You may add more sugar if needed. It will appear chunky. You can blend it smooth if desired.

Croquette Potatoes

 This was one of the recipes that we did in class last week. Its almost like a tater tot. I liked it. Im not usually the potato fan, so it takes a lot for me to like something with potatoes that isn't sweet potatoes.

1 lb Potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 ea egg yolk
1 oz butter
Salt and Pepper to taste
Standard Breading procedure ( which is egg and bread crumbs)

Peel, wash, and quarter potatoes. Place them in  cold salt water. Bring to boil and simmer for 25 minutes. Cook til they are tender.
Drain and dry them. You can dry them by putting them in the oven or back in the pan on very low heat for a few minutes. Run though a ricer ( or smash them so there is no lumps) Add egg, and season with salt and pepper. You can either squeeze them through a pastry bag or roll them into little balls. Let them cool off. Then bread them. Deep fry them or pan fry them in oil until golden brown


Enjoy.
Happy Eating

Culinary School Week 5

This was our grain week. We did a lot with potatoes and rice. Although potatoes are not my favorite food, I was able to successfully pull of the dishes. I did find that I liked some of the potatoes. If you want the recipes please ask me. Its getting closer to us doing actual dishes. Breakfast and eggs so definitely good food will be coming from there. Despite some of the group challenges. It all came out ok.

Super bowl platter

I did a simple treat platter for my neighbors party. It was chocolate covered walnut turtles and  raspberry chocolate cake balls. I shaped some of them like footballs for the occasion.

Culinary School Week 4

This is a partial week. I had hurt my back so I did not make night 2 of the class. It was vegetable week. I got to do one of two favorite dishes. We did Cauliflower au Gratin, Tempura, Sauteed Green beans, and a clean out the walk in soup. That happened to be potato and leek soup.  This next week will be short too because of Midterms. Our mid terms is having to make mayo and Hollandiase. Then we are going into Potatoes.  So here are this weeks photos. The sweet and sour sauce I used for the tempura is below.

Happy Eating

Sweet and Sour Sauce
1 c pineapple juice
3tblspn white wine vinegar
2 tblspn soy sauce
2 tblspn brown sugar
2 tblspn tomato sauce
1 tblspn corn starch

Combine the juice, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and tomato sauce in a small pan. Stir over low heat until sugar has dissolved. Your going to want to reduce this down to half. Blend in the cornstarch and stir constantly until sauce thickens. Simmer for 2 mintues.

Tinkerbell cake

This was a cake I did for a client. They loved the cake. I thought it could have been better. I did find out that it is very hard to draw on butter cream frosting. It didn't help that earlier in the week I had chopped part of my thumb while in class. I was a little shaky making the cake.  So here it is. Its a yellow cake with a simple butter cream frosting.

Culinary School Week 3

Hey all,
I can't believe its almost mid terms. This last week we were working on sauces. Made some pretty good good. I got to make my own mayonnaise and hollandiase sauce. I only have a few pictures to share. I will try to get better at taking more photos for your viewing pleasure.
We did a Parmesan Cheese Pudding that we paired with a tomato sauce and a salsa verde. When we ate it, the first food that came to mind was lasagna. Seems weird to make it, but really good tasting. I will post the recipes tomorrow when I get a few minutes.

Happy eating

The pictures are of Parmesan cheese pudding w/tomato sauce and salsa verde, deviled eggs, and spicy carrot soup