Day 48: Steak and Chicken ~ Do I Need To Say More?

It's been weeks of intense cooking in the kitchen and I am nearing the end of Cooking Basics. Each day ends with me exhausted from a great day of cooking and today is no exception.

When we arrive in the kitchen today, Chef has us measuring out the ingredients for a focaccia bread. We've made this bread a number of times now so have this down. I've begun experimenting a little and have added dry herbs of rosemary, basil and pepper to the flour. While we are waiting for the yeast to bloom we start in our next dish.

With the chicken that we had cut up, we have a boneless breast with wing attached remaining. With this we are going to barbeque. Yesterday, we made our barbeque sauce that we will be using today. To speed up the process we will sear in a pan with oil the chicken ~ skin side making sure to season with salt and pepper. This goes into the oven now at 375 F to finish cooking.

While the chicken is cooking in the oven, Chef wants us to make a starch and vegetable to serve with it. I decide to make oven baked tomatoes seasoned with rosemary and thyme (and salt and pepper to tasted) and a green pea risotto.

When the chicken has finished cooking in the oven, I cook it on the grill to finish it off with the barbeque sauce. I plate my chicken, tomato and risotto for Chef to critique.

During my preparation of the first plate, I have managed to knead, raise and roll out my dough for the focaccia. It's now in the oven baking so that it can be used for the steak sandwiches.

We are using a striploin for our steak sandwiches. To get it ready for the grill I season it with salt and pepper. The accompaniments are grilled green and red pepper, sauteed mushrooms and onions, and Swiss cheese.

I'm cooking my steak to a medium-rare on the grill trying to get some nice grill marks. This takes no time at all, but you do need to keep an eye on the steak top make sure that it doesn't over cook. It's also very important to not pierce the steak because you will release juices and this will dry the meat out. When flipping your steak you should use tongs. If you are using a fork, stick it in the fat when turning for best results.

As I build the sandwich ~ focaccia bread for the base, layering with Swiss cheese, mushrooms and onions, sliced striploin steak, grilled green and red peppers and focaccia bread for the top of my sandwich. It's an amazing sandwich. I like how the sauces from the mushroom and onion do not make the bread soggy.

Our day ends with a review of poultry and meats in preparation for our test on Monday. Homework this weekend is to study for the test and finish my project.

Day 47: Meat Week Continues

One dish I had been curious about is osso buco. I didn't know what it was nor did I know what it tasted like. I was very excited to learn that we would be making this dish today.

My preparation for the osso buco includes a fine brunoise of celery and carrot that will be used later in the sauce for the osso buco. A mirepoix of diced onions, celery and carrot and a tomato that will be braised with the osso buco and veal stock in the oven.

Osso buco made using the braising technique. As with most braising dishes, the meat is cooked for a very long time at a low heat. Osso buco is no exception. The meat used in this dish is the shank. Portion size is about an inch and half to two inches. Before we braise the shank, we dust it in seasoned flour and season it salt before it is seared on both sides in a pan with oil. The searing gives it a nice colour and also looks in moisture which helps when braising for long periods of time.

Once the shank has been seared I move it from the pan and sautee the mirepoix. After I have deglazed with red wine, I add some flour to make a roux. The flour is cooked out and I add back in the beef shank to the pan and add veal stock, a canned plum tomato, basil and thyme, covering with tin foil and place it an oven of 325 F to cook. It takes about two hours at this temperature and at that time the beef should be tender and falling off the bone. To slow cook the beef shank the oven would be set at 250 F.

When the osso buco has finished cooking, I remove it from the oven and leave the shank to rest covered in foil. The sauce is strained to remove the mirepoix. The liquid is reduced to about half and tasted to make sure that it's been seasoned properly. A gastric (red wine vinegar and sugar) is added to the reduced liquid and reduced more to achieve a thin sauce. Just before serving, I add the fine brunoise of celery and carrots to the sauce and ladle over the plated osso buco. Because the celery and carrots have been finely brunoised, it doesn't take long to cook in a hot sauce.

While the osso buco is cooking in the oven we make our chicken fricassee. I start off with the mise en place for this dish. The chicken is dusted lightly with flour and seasoned with salt and pepper. I also prepare some asparagus (the vegetable for this dish) by peeling it and julienne onions, minced garlic and slided shallots, sliced bacon, bay leaf, thyme and green apple for the white sauce. The fricassee starts off with lightly searing the seasoned chicken pieces in a pan of hot oil. It's important for this dish that you do not brown the chicken. The seared chicken is removed and I sweat the shallots, bacon, bay leaf, thyme and green apple to release their flavours. I deglaze the pan with white wine and then add some flour making a roux. When the flour has been cooked out I return the chicken to the pan and add chicken stock, cover with tin foil and place it in the oven to cook at 325 F.

I am serving asparagus and spaetzle with the chicken fricassee. While the chicken is cooking in the oven I get my vegetable and risotto going. The asparagus is peeled and I blanch it in hot salted water and cool it down in cold water, and drain. Closer to plating I will saute the asparagus in a little bit of butter and water. This will give the asparagus a light butter glaze that isn't heavy or greasy.

Spaetzle is basically a very small flour dumpling. The spaetzle mixture consists of one egg, salt, pepper, nutmeg, all purpose flour and milk. The batter is smooth and the consistency of a fish batter. To make the spaetzle you need a special tool used for making spaetzle. It has holes in it like a colander with a holder to hold the batter while allowing it to slide back and forth across the holes. Over a pot of boiling salted water the batter is dropped into the water with the spaetzle maker. When the little dough dumplings rise to the top, it is ready and can be strained from the water and I let them rest on a baking sheet. The next step for making the spaetzle for our side dish is to saute them in clarified butter giving them a bit of colour. Just before the spaetzle are removed from the heat I toss them with fresh parsley.

When the chicken is cooked through I take it out of the oven. I remove the chicken and strain the liquid that will be used to make the white sauce. The liquid is reduced, cream is added and seasoned with salt and pepper to taste.

Today we also made barbeque sauce that will be used for grilled barbecue chicken tomorrow. I've made a barbeque sauce before. However, I've never made a cooked barbeque sauce, which is what we made today. The ingredients going in to the barbeque sauce are: toasted peppercorns, caraway, cumin, mustard seed, all spice and fennel (and ground afterwards), onions, garlic, salt, pepper, Worcestershire, sun dried chili powder, paprika, brown sugar, red wine vinegar, molasses, honey and tomatoes. The sauce is cooked until it has reduced and further develop the flavours, then buzzed with the immersion blender for a smooth texture.

Two braised dishes and a barbecue sauce today. Homework? I'm tired and don't know how much I'll get done tonight.

Day 46: Practice Makes Perfect With Chicken Supreme

We're back after the long weekend and are cutting up a chicken that will be used this week. Today Chef wants us to prepare stuffed Chicken Supreme with two pureed vegetable, plus another vegetable and risotto. The background for the dish today is timing. Our task is to make sure that all items are timed so that they will be completed at the same time and plated hot for serving.

Chef goes through a demo of all the components to our dish. Explaining each ingredient for every part of our dish and how to cook each. With this information we are ready to begin our chicken supreme served with vegetables and starch. Chef also wants us to make a rye bread including additional herbs as an option.

First up is making the dough for the rye, proofing it, forming it, proofing it and then baking it.

As we will need a chicken supreme for our dish, I need to cut up a chicken and debone a half breast and remove part of the wing. The idea of cutting up your own chicken is cost effective and menu planning. The chicken breasts can be used for a chicken supreme dish, while the other pieces can be used for other dishes (which we will be preparing this week).

With our deboned chicken breast we want to stuff it with farce (stuffing). To make the farce I saute onions, mushrooms, spinach, garlic and thyme seasoning with salt and pepper. I allow the farce to cool before adding half the chicken meat from a leg of chicken. The farce is processed to a smooth texture and stuffed in to the chicken breast. I made a pocket in the chicken breast by cutting into it from the wing bone area. The chicken is seasoned with salt and pepper and seared in a hot pan with oil, skin side down, to achieve a nice brown colour. To finish cooking the chicken it is put in the oven at a temperature of 375 F.

The vegetables and risotto are started so that they finish at the same time as the chicken supreme. I'm kept on my toes today trying to get everything done at the same time. I manage to not be the last person to plate and present my plate to Chef!

Too tired for homework tonight!

Day 45: Victoria Day ~ No School Today

It's Victoria Day and there is no school today.

Be back tomorrow!

Day 44: Veggie Test and Black Box Day

I can tell you that the tests aren't as easy as we think they are. You do need to review and read your course text book. If you're wondering... I did study and did do well on my test. With our tests done and marked, we move back into the kitchen.

There was an assortment of goodies that we could choose from in the "black box". I chose some wonton wrapers with which I made fried wontons filled with a cream cheese mixture. To the cream cheese mixture I added an egg to help with the binding and additional spices and a minced thai chili pepper for some heat. I also made a dipping sauce using honey and red wine vinegar as a base.

There was some pork tenderloin in the black box and with this I made pork cutletts. The cutletts were seasoned before I breaded them with a dusting of flour, then egg, and last panko crumbs. I fried these in about an inch of oil in a saute pan and hit them with a sprinkle of salt when there were done.

Day 43: Chicken, Chicken...

We are using the remaining chicken today. The first dish is a chicken cutlet with risotto and carrots. A chicken leg needs to be deboned and flatten with a mallet. We've set up a breading station of flour, egg, and panko crumbs. Before breading the chicken, I season with salt and pepper. The chicken is pan fried to a nice brown colour and crispy texture.

I'm also making a sweet pea risotto, carrots and a mushroom sauce to be served with the chicken cutlet.

Our next dish is a poached chicken roulade. To make chicken roulade, I pound half a boneless breast of chicken to flatten it and season with salt and pepper. The farce is placed at one end and I roll the chicken in to a log. Cling wrap is used to wrap the log and the ends are twisted. I wrap the stuffed chicken again with tin foil and twist the ends. In a pot of boiling water I simmer the chicken until it's done to a temperature of 157 F. The chicken when removed will finish cooking to a temperature of 160 F.

The dish will be served with tourne cucumbers and a sour cream sauce. Plating will be done in a french classical style... and for my friend (you know who you are) I will be adding chives as a garnish.

Day 42: How to Cut Up A Chicken

I am butchering a chicken today. The chicken will be cut in to four pieces ~ two boneless chicken breasts and two chicken legs. Chef does a demonstration on how to butcher the chicken for those of us that were not in class the day before. I butcher my chicken and then get my mise en place for my dishes ready. With the remaining carcasses from the chickens that have been butchered, we make chicken stock.

For my first dish, I am making a stuffed chicken supreme with tourney potatoes and ratatouille. For the stuffing I am using swiss chard, onion, and mushroom and half a chicken leg (meat only). I've sauteed the vegetables and grind them with the chicken meat in the robo coup. The farce (stuffing) is piped into the chicken breast. The chicken is seared in a pan skin side and then turn over and placed in the oven to finish cooking.

Chef wants us to practice our knife skills and the tourne technique, so we are making tourne potatoes to go with our chicken supreme. Tourne is a cut that has seven sides and is the shape of a football. The other vegetables for my dish are string beans and julienne carrots. The ends of the carrots and beans in my dish are cut on an angle.

Chef would like to see a ratatouille and a cream sauce as well. Ratatouille is a fairly easy dish to make and I dice up eggplant, green and red peppers, onions and tomatoes and cook them in a pot. The cream sauce is made by first sauteeing a mirepoix of diced onions and celery, season with salt and pepper and make sure that it doesn't brown. I deglaze the pan with white wine before adding chicken stock. I strain the mirepoix and let the liquid reduce to half in the pan before adding cream to it.

If you're interested in learning how to cut up a chicken check out this video. Cutting up your own chicken will save you money. You'll also be able to make your own chicken stock too.

Day 41: Missing in Action

I was missing in action in the kitchen today... But the class must go on.

Today they made stuffed pork loin with a red onion jam. I have some gastric at home and will make the red onion jam. I was told it was good on toast and I'm sure it will be good with other dishes too.

Day 40: Potato Salad With Smoked Salmon

My day in the kitchen starts off with gathering the ingredients for a french bread. Today we are stuffing our french bread and Chef has given us cream cheese, chili peppers, cheddar cheese and sage. I spread out my ingredients so that they would show through in my bread. The fresh sage was a great tasting addition with the cheddar cheese.

For our potato salad we roasted the potatoes in the oven with their skins on. We pick small potatoes that were cut in half for use with the salad. Celery, onion, fresh dill, red pepper and green pepper were small diced and added to the potatoes. The smoked salmon was cut in a chiffonade and added. We made our own mayonnaise for the salad. Everything was mixed together and seasoned to taste.

Our last dish of the day was tortellini that we stuffed with a mixture of spinach, onion and ricotta cheese. The spinach and onions were sauteed and then added to the ricotta cheese. The pasta for the tortellini was made the same way that we've made it for linguine pasta. But this time we utilized the sheet of pasta and cut out circles with our ring moulds. A teaspoon of the ricotta mixture was placed on the pasta circle and folded in half and sealed with an egg wash on the edges. We pulled the ends together and pasted them together with more egg wash. The tortellini were put in salted hot boiling water. When they floated to the top, they were ready.

A simple tomato sauce was made for the tortellini. Onions, garlic, small diced carrots, and celery were sauteed and then tomatoes were added and seasoned with salt, pepper and sugar. The sauce was buzzed with the immersion blender to make it smooth.

Day 39: Potatoes, Potatoes and More Potatoes

Chef has declared this potato day. All recipes consist of the main ingredient ~ potato. We made four dishes today ~ scalloped potatoes, gnocchi, Pomme William, and Anna potatoes.

Since we are working on four recipes, time management is key. First off Chef has us boiling three potatoes in salted water ~ two for Pomme William and one for gnocchi. While the potatoes are cooking away, we peel and slice two potatoes for the scalloped potatoes dish.

Scalloped potatoes are layers of thinly sliced potato and onion covered with a béchamel sauce, baked in a casserole dish in the oven at about 400 F. For the scalloped potatoes made today, we sweat the onions in a pan. Between each layer of onion and potato, I season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. To make the béchamel sauce, milk is heated and infused with a two cloves and a bay leaf. To the milk I add a blond roux (butter and flour), stirring it until it thickens slightly. The béchamel sauce is poured over the layered potato and onion and put in the oven to cook.

When the boiled potatoes are ready, they are peeled and riced. With the one potato that has been riced we make our gnocchi by adding one egg and season with salt, pepper and and nutmeg and mix it all together adding flour until we get a light dough. The dough is rolled out in to long ropes and cut in to one inch lengths. With the back of a fork, each piece is lightly rolled to form rough looking shell. The gnocchi is placed in boiling water. When it floats to the to the top of the water it is ready to be served with some sauce or pan fried until it becomes lightly browned. We choose to pan fry the gnocchi in some oil and after browning toss with chopped parsley and plate for Chef.

Working with two riced potatoes we make a classic french dish called Pomme William. The rice potatoes are mixed with an egg and seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg. With the potato mixture I moulded a portion of it to the shape of a large pear, a small pear and an orange and dipped them in an egg mixture and then coat with panko crumbs. At this point they are ready for the deep fryer at 375 F. The Pomme William is cooked for a few minutes ~ enough to brown ~ and removed from the oil and seasoned with salt.

Our last potato dish is Anna potatoes. This a fairly easy dish to prepare and cook. With a potato we make paper thin slices and layer the slices in frying pay by overlapping them while forming a circle. Each layer is seasoned with salt and pepper and clarified butter ~ two or three layers is fine. The potatoes are cook on the stove until the bottom becomes browned and then put the oven to finish cooking. Before plating and serving the potatoes, the pan is placed in the salamander (broiler) to brown the top of the Anna potatoes.

Chef wants us to work on our project tonight ~ it's due in a couple of weeks.

Day 38: Puttanesca, Ravioli, and Double Baked

We are back to eating dinner at breakfast. Chef has listed for us to make today are puttanesca, ravioli, and double baked potato. Since the first two are pasta dishes, we measure out the ingredients to make fresh pasta. The meals are inexpensive to make and very easy ~ especially the first pasta. The pasta dough is mixed and will be left to sit and then made in to linguine pasta and sheet pasta.

The first thing that Chef has us do this morning is put the potatoes in the oven for the double baked potato. They are washed, and coated with oil and salt and put in to a 400 F oven to bake.

Because we are making a ravioli we are making the filling ahead of time so that it can cool. The filling for the ravioli is onions, mushroom, spinach, ricotta and some shredded Swiss cheese. The onions, mushroom and spinach are sauteed in butter and then put in the Robot Coupe to be minced. When the mixture has cooled we add the mixed ricotta and Swiss cheese and then mix again thoroughly and set aside for when we make our ravioli.

For the puttanesca sauce I prepared my mise en place (ingredients) ~ whole black olives, whole anchovy, whole capers, chopped canned tomato, sliced garlic, and chopped parsley. This is a very quick dish to make before making the sauce, I add the fresh linguine pasta to a pot of boiling salted water. I next add olive oil to a sauce pan to heat and add the olives and whole anchovy and let this cook for a bit before adding the tomatoes and sliced garlic and some of the tomato juice from the canned tomatoes and let it simmer to reduce. I add a couple of pinches of sugar and a pinch of pepper to the sauce but no salt because there is plenty of salt from the olives, capers and anchovy. The linguine that has been cooking for about five minutes is ready to be added to the puttanesca sauce and plated. Very quick and very inexpensive.

We're moving pretty quickly today and with one meal completed we work on our mise en place for the ravioli sauce ~ a cream based sauce. The onions are sliced, sun-dried tomatoes slice, red and green pepper diced, and the garlic sliced. I make the cream sauce by sauteing the onions in butter and season with salt and pepper, add the green and red pepper and deglaze the pan with white wine. Next I add the sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and cream and heat through and set aside for later.

Now that the filling has cooled for the ravioli, we start working on our sheet pasta. We make enough pasta for about five large ravioli and get them stuffed with about a tablespoon of filling. To a pot of boiling water I add my stuffed ravioli and get back to my cream sauce and cook it until it has reduced and ready for plating. When the ravioli floats to the top of the boiling water, I know that it is almost cooked. A few more minutes and I'm ready to plate and serve to Chef.

With two plates behind us we start working on our twice baked potatoes. We've shredded some extra old cheddar cheese that will be mixed in to the potato. Cooked broccoli florets are to be added to the mash potato mixture too. We each take a potato and slice it on top length wise and scoop out the flesh of the potato. The flesh is mashed and mixed with heated milk and butter, and the extra old cheddar and cooked broccoli florets. The potato mixture is put back in to the shell of the potato, and topped with some shredded cheddar cheese. I add some broccoli florets to the top to give it some colour. The potatoes are placed back in the oven to be double baked. When the cheese has melted it is now ready to be plated and served. Some of us put the baked potato under the broiler to give the cheese a crusty texture.

Taking a break from homework tonight ~ it's Tuesday!

Day 37: Two Rices ~ Pilaf and Risotto.

Today we started off with a test on stocks, sauces and soups. As with all our written tests there are 100 questions ~ true or false, multiple choice, and short answers. It was a tough test and I think everyone in the class did well.

We made two types of rice dishes today ~ a rice pilaf and a risotto. We decided on a pilaf to start so we diced up some onions, red peppers, green peppers, and carrots. For the rice pilaf we are using par boiled rice. This is a very quick and easy dish to make. In a sauce pan add butter, onions and season with salt and pepper. Next I add the red peppers, green peppers and carrots. When the vegetables are tender, the rice is ready to be added. It is stirred around to coat with butter and add water enough to cover the rice by about an inch. The rice is left to simmer on the stove covered until done. This is a vegetable rice pilaf which can be served as a starter or a side dish. Chef wants us to think about garnishes for our plates as I get mine ready for chef to taste and critique. I work on a carrot with my peeler to see what I come up with and create a little rosette that I can use for part of my garnish that includes dill and (yes!) chives.

After break we work on our next rice ~ a mushroom risotto. Onions are caramelized in a pan with butter and oil. Before adding the mushrooms I deglaze the pan with white wine. Now the aborrio rice is ready to add to the pan. I mix the rice to coat with the butter and oil before I add a few ladles of hot veal stock. I keep stirring the rice mixture adding more stock when the liquid has reduced by half. I keep repeating until the rice is cooked and then add some Parmesan cheese. The risotto should be loose and spread when plated. After plating I shave a bit of Parmesan on top of the risotto and it's ready to be served to Chef. This isn't the best dish I've plated I must confess. The serving size is too large ~ there are three servings on my dish! Should we make this dish again, I'll have to re-think my plating for sure.

Homework is to do more work on my business plan project. I'll have to look up my recipes and get them ready for costing and prep.

Day 36: Hollandaise Sauce ~ Not Bernaise Sauce

A few weeks ago I watched an episode of Top Chef Canada. The contestants were asked to make a hollandaise sauce. At least two of the chefs decided to add thyme to the hollandaise to give it a bit extra. The extra added up to being a bernaise sauce and not the hollandaise sauce (which is a leading sauce) that was required.

We are making a real breakfast and today Chef has us making eggs benedict. This is my favourite breakfast ~ there has been only one time when it was made perfect ~ all others have been okay or not good at all.

Before we get started on eggs benedict, we make a potato bread. Yeast is set to bloom in warm water and a potato is boiled until soft then peeled. The potato is riced with a ricer and added to the dry ingredients of bread flour, rice flour, milk powder, sugar, and salt and optional ingredients of rosemary, thyme, pepper, Thai green chili pepper and cheddar cheese. To the dry I mix in the yeast and water and an egg. I kneaded then leave to proof in a warm spot.

When the dough for the potato bread had proofed, the dough is divided and I formed them in to small bread pans then leave to proof again. Once they doubled in size, they were put in to a 400 F oven. Potato bread is so light and moist because of the extra moisture from the boiled potato. This is one bread I will not have a problem eating a lot of.

For the eggs benedict we make the hollandaise sauce first. It's really easy to make. I have always thought that it was complicated to make. Chef demonstrates the steps for making the hollandaise sauce. The first thing that you do need to do is clarify some butter. I get the task of clarifying butter for half the class to use. To clarify butter you need to heat the butter so that the the liquid and solid in it will separate. The solid is removed by skimming from the top. Clarified butter is also referred to as ghee.

An egg yolk seasoned with salt and white pepper (Chef likes black pepper and this is what we use) is whisk over a bain marie (warm water bath). To the whisked egg yolk, lemon juice and clarified butter is added until a smooth creamy texture is achieved. The hollandaise sauce is covered with saran wrap lying directly on top and set aside to be used later.

We are not using an English muffin (which is traditionally used) for our eggs benedict. Instead we make a potato pancake for the base layer. A raw potato is shredded and seasoned with salt and pepper and a few drops of lemon juice to keep the potato from oxidizing. I added a little bit of minced Thai green chili. The shredded potato is made in to a patty and cooked in oil until cooked on the inside and crisp on the outside. Salt The finished potato pancake is seasoned with salt and set aside. Canadian back bacon is fried in a saute pan being careful to not burn.

In hot salted water (160 F to 180 F) and a tablespoon of vinegar I poached an egg. An egg is carefully dropped in to the hot water being careful not to break the yolk. The poached egg should be soft and should be checked on throughout cooking to make sure that it has not been overcooked. I plated the eggs benedict starting with the base layer of potato pancake, Canadian back bacon, poached egg, and hollandaise sauce.

Class ended today with a visit to a kitchen supply store. I picked up a pan that I can use to make Genoise cake (sponge cake) or cinnamon rolls at home.

Homework this weekend is to study for our test on stocks, sauces and soups.

Day 35: Black Box Without the Box

Another fun filled day in the kitchen! Chef tells us that we will be making polenta with a salad and macaroni and cheese. I've never had polenta let alone eaten it. All I know about polenta is that it is made with cornmeal. That you can buy it in the grocery store ~ I've seen it in the shape of a sausage in a yellow wrapper.

We start the day off with making the polenta because we need it to set before we will be using it. Polenta is made by cooking one part cornmeal to approximately three to four parts hot water. Our polenta will be infused with a few ingredients to give it flavour. We have added onion, Thai chili pepper, garlic, bacon all finely chopped. I've also added corn, salt, pepper, basil, oregano and thyme. I sauteed these and then added the cornmeal and water mixing until I got a smooth creamy texture. The polenta mixture was poured in to a loaf mold to set in the refrigerator to be used later to make a salad with.

I made a vinaigrette for the salad. The ingredients used are three parts apple cider vinegar (you can use red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, white vinegar, etc. instead if you like) to one part olive oil, minced garlic, minced Thai chili pepper, lime zest, lime juice, salt, pepper, honey, maple syrup, Dijon mustard (which is an emulsifier), fish sauce, and sesame seeds. Mix them all together and you get your dressing for the salad. Salad today is a spinach salad. We set this aside for later too. It will give the vinaigrette time for the flavours to mingle.

Chef has decided that we will be having macaroni and cheese for breakfast today. It's a pretty easy dish to create. We are adding caramelized onions, with about half a Thai chili pepper minced and minced garlic seasoned with salt and pepper, deglazed with white wine.

In a sauce pan we are making a roux ~ which is usually one part flour and one part butter (or fat). This is the thickening agent that will be used for the cheese sauce. The roux is tempered with hot milk which is the liquid used for the cheese sauce. I used a separate bowl to temper the roux using a whisk to combine to a smooth texture before adding to the milk which has already been seasoned with salt and pepper and a bay leaf. The milk mixture was cooked until it started to thicken. This is usually when it coats the back of a wooden spoon. With the stove off, grated cheddar cheese is added to the milk mixture. The cheese sauce should not be too thick or too thin.

The pasta is cooked to al dente in salted water, drained and added to the cheese sauce and checked for proper seasoning. At this point you can add some more salt and pepper if needed. The sauteed onions and cooked macaroni is mixed together with the cheese sauce and poured in to a casserole dish. The macaroni and cheese is topped with bread crumbs that have been mixed with melted butter and finely chopped parsley and baked in a 450 F oven. When the top is browned, it is ready to serve.

The polenta has set and we are cutting shapes to be pan fried in oil until crispy. With polenta you have to be careful when turning it over during cooking because it is very soft and can break apart easily. Using a spatula the polenta is turned over when it has browned on the bottom and separates from the pan easily. Do not try scrapping it off the bottom ~ because, one: it is not ready, two, because it will break. When the polenta is cooked and draining on a paper towel to remove some of the oil, I hit it with some salt. I start plating my polenta. The spinach is layered on a serving plate and sprinkled with my vinaigrette and topped with my polenta. This is a very good appetizer or starter.

When I was cooking the polenta in oil, the corn from the polenta started to pop. This was happening to four of us who decided to put corn in our polenta. Note to self: No more corn when cooking in enough oil to fry and not saute.

After a little break Chef gives us a black box. There isn't a real black box. The black box is a list of ingredients that we must use in making a dish. We don't know what the ingredients are before hand and must make the dish on the fly in a certain amount of time.

The ingredients in the black box are pasta, spinach, and cream. Chef requires that we complete the dish in 45 minutes ~ this includes plating and ready for Chef to taste and critique. This test is about process and  time management.

With the black box ingredients I am making the lemon dill cream pasta dish that I had already made this week. I get started on making the pasta dough because it has to rest for a bit in saran wrap. Next I start on my mise en place for my sauce ~ sliced onions, leeks, garlic, red pepper, and spinach. The pasta machine I'm using isn't working to well, so I get to break open a new one. I'm having trouble with that one, so Chef gives me a hand. Chef finally gets it going and hands it over to me to finish rolling and then cutting  in to linguine. I leave the linguine to hang and dry while I start sauteing the onions and leeks seasoning with salt and pepper. My pot of salted water is boiling and I add my pasta. Fresh pasta takes about five minutes to cook. I continue sauteing with adding my garlic and red pepper. I deglaze with white wine and add my spinach. I added cream pan and waited for it to reduce before adding in my pasta. I gave it all a good toss and then plated it on a hot plate for Chef to taste and critique.

I had a very busy day with no time to stop. I did not eat my breakfast of macaroni and cheese nor my  polenta and spinach salad. My macaroni went home for later and I offered the salad to a colleague in the advance class.

I need to put more work on my project. Maybe I'll work on the recipes and plan out my mise en place.

Day 34: Three Soups ~ Three Different Tastes

Today we made three different soups ~ all very yummy! Thank you Chef for showing me how easy it is to make these soups.

Our first soup of the day is a mushroom soup. I've never made a mushroom soup and discovered that it was so easy that I will make this soup more often. I think I'll experiment using different types of mushrooms too. There are so many kinds available to us.

Soup usually starts off with sweating (cooking until the onions are clear) some chopped onions in a soup pot with oil making sure to season with salt and pepper. Celery is added next and before adding the mushrooms I deglaze with some white wine. The onion, celery and mushroom is cooked until the mushrooms have become soft. Water is added to cover the mushrooms plus some and set to simmer on the stove. As always Chef likes us to plate everything we make. While the soup is simmering away I prepare my garnish of mushrooms by sauteing them in a pan to be used later when I plate my soup. When the soup has developed and the liquid has reduced I buzz it with the immersion blender to get as smooth a texture as I can. My mushroom soup is a bit thick so I thin it out with some water. When I reach the right thickness for the soup, I add cream and continue seasoning until the right flavour is achieved. We get to taste Chef's soup and work to make our soup taste the same. Ready for plating I ladle the soup carefully in to a warm bowl and garnish with the sauteed mushrooms topped with broccoli sprouts.

Soup number two is a leek and potato soup. I've made this soup before but using chicken stock. For a vegetarian soup, I am using water for my liquid. For the leek and potato soup today, the leeks do not have very much white to them so we are adding a quarter of an onion (the onions are very large). The leeks are sliced thin, the onions  and potato are cut/diced small to allow for quicker cooking. I start the soup off with onions and leeks sweating in a pot with oil ~ seasoned with salt and pepper. I deglaze with some white wine to loosen some of the bits on the pot. Diced potatoes are added and water to cover the potatoes and then some left to simmer on the stove. While the soup was simmering, I worked on my garnish. I made some fried leek rings, a few potato chips and a Parmesan tulle. When the potatoes were cooked through and the liquid reduced, I buzzed it with the immersion blender to get a nice smooth texture. It's a little thick so I add some water and then cream and served it up in a warm bowl garnished with my potato chips, Parmesan tulle and fried leek rings.

Our last soup of the day was a clam chowder. Chef gave us one large clam to use as a garnish. I was pretty big ~ I'm use to seeing and eating Boston clams which are much smaller. For the clam chowder we each used a can of clams in their juice. There are a number of ingredients for this soup ~ diced onion, minced garlic, diced celery, diced green pepper, diced red pepper, yellow corn, small slices of bacon and diced potato. As with the other soups, we start off by sweating some diced onions in a pot with oil and season with salt and pepper followed by garlic, celery, red pepper, green pepper. A splash of white wine is added to deglaze the pot. Bacon is added and cooked to render some of the fat out. We do not want a crisp bacon for this soup. To add some thickness to the soup, we need to make a roux. The roux is made with flour added to the ingredients that are already in the pot. You need to make sure you cook out the flour because you do not want a flour taste to your soup. The last items to add to the pot are the diced potatoes, milk and the large clam. The soup is left to simmer and when the clam opens the soup will be ready. Chef told us that it would take about five minutes for the clam to open up. I think it took about 10 minutes. I didn't season my soup too much more because there is salt in the bacon and salt in the water from the clams. For plating of the soup I placed the large clam on top and sprinkled some chopped chives and small diced red pepper on top and place a Parmesans tulle next to the clam with some chives.

It was a busy day of making soups. No homework for me tonight, I'm going to see a movie. I need some R and R after a hard day in the kitchen.

Day 33: Viva Italia!

Today it was all about Italian food. Our recipes for today: focaccia bread, stuffed meat balls, fresh pasta, tomato sauce, and a lemon dill cream sauce.

We started out by measuring out the ingredients for a focaccia bread. Today's focaccia bread is served with our pasta. It's a simple focaccia bread with an oil and coarse salt topping.

Working in a kitchen making different dishes is all about time management. Because bread needs yeast ~ we need to wait for the yeast to bloom. While that is happening, we can work on our mise en place for the pasta dishes that we will be preparing today ~ spaghetti and meatballs and lemon dill pasta. Our mise en place for the first dish was onions, red pepper, green pepper and garlic. For our second dish it was garlic, lemon zest, and garlic.

After the yeast bloomed we make our dough for the focaccia bread and let it rise to double it's size. While we waited for the dough to rise, we started making our first sauce ~ tomato sauce. We saute our onions in oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, add the peppers (red and green) and herbs such as thyme and basil to build the flavours for the sauce. We also added other optional enhancers such as Worcestershire and  balmai (sarachia). Next we add some canned tomatoes and their juice and continued to season adding sugar, salt and pepper. The sugar helps to cut the acid taste that you get from the tomatoes. When all ingredients have been incorporated, the sauce is left to simmer on the stove.

We are back to the focaccia dough that has now rise and spread it out on a small baking sheet. We do not want this focaccia dough to rise in the baking, so we punch it down with our finger tips. After we have done this we brush oil over the top and sprinkle sea salt all over and put it in the oven to bake at 375 F.

In a hot sauce pan with oil we saute onions and season with fresh thyme, salt and pepper. When the onions become soft we hit the pan with some white wine to deglaze (which removes the brown bits from the pan) and let it cool to be used later for making the meatballs.

We're ready to make the pasta and measure out some flour, salt and oil. To the flour and salt we mix in oil and two eggs ~ mix and knead the dough until we get the right texture for pasta. Once the dough is ready we wrap it in saran wrap and let it sit for a bit before we roll it out in a pasta machine.

It's time to make the stuffed meatballs. We are using a mixture of pork and beef to make our meatballs. The stuffing is cream cheese and shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese. The meatballs are a fair size ~ smaller than a tennis ball and bigger than a golf ball. For a regular serving, we would plate about three meatballs. Mine are kind of large and I'll likely plate one for Chef to taste and critique. The meatballs are put in the oven to cook at 350 F turning halfway through cooking.

The tomato sauce should be just about ready now and we get the immersion blender and give it a good buzz to break down all the ingredients in to a smooth sauce. It takes a few minutes to do this and the pot of tomato sauce is back at the stove to use later.

Getting back to the pasta dough, we set up the pasta roller and roll the pasta starting with the largest thickness (number one). With each pass through the rollers, we decrease the thickness by one for five passes in total. After the fifth pass we are ready to cut the pasta. With the first serving (half the pasta dough made) we put the dough through the linguine rollers and hang the pasta to dry on a pasta dryer. Next we run the second serving of dough through the angle hair rollers and put the pasta to dry until we are ready to use for our dishes.

Everything is just about ready and Chef wants us to plate the lemon dill pastas and then the paghetti and meatballs. To a pot of boiling water seasoned with salt we add our angle hair pasta. For the lemon dill pasta, in a large sauce we add butter and saute the garlic and lemon zest, deglaze with white wine and add cream. We leave the sauce to reduce by about half. When the sauce has reduced and the pasta is al dente, the pasta is tossed in to be mixed with the sauce. The pasta is plated on a warm plate with a few slices of focaccia.

Up next is spaghetti and meatballs. First we add our linguine pasta to a pot of hot boiling water seasoned with salt. To a sauce pan we add our meatballs (enough for one serving) and tomato sauce and heat through. When the pasta is ready we plate the pasta (on a warm plate), top with meatballs (in my case one meatball) and tomato sauce with a few slices of focaccia bread for Chef to taste and critique.

One thing that Chef likes us to keep in mind is that when serving hot food, that it should be served on a warm plate. The warm plate helps in keep the food being served hot. A cold plate will cool down hot food too quickly... and cold food does not taste very good at all! Unless it's pizza the next morning ;-)

It was a busy day in the kitchen and there were lots of dishes, pots and pans to clean up. We were kept busy from beginning to end. No time for eating any of our dishes at school today. Still not getting use to eating dinner meals at breakfast time anyway ~ and I'm good to wait until I get home.

Thinking about homework tonight and testing out how to cost out my recipes. Need to put some work in to the project as the weeks are beginning to rush by quickly.

Day 32: Breakfast of Champions

It was a quick day in the kitchen today learning how to make the perfect stir fry served with rice. For the stir fry we jullienned vegetables that were left over from this week ~ an assortment of red and green peppers, mushrooms, onions, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, and green beans.

For today's dish ~ a breakfast of champions ~ I made half a cup of uncooked par boiled rice. The ratio for cooking this rice is two parts water to one part rice. Rice doubles in size and for half a cup of uncooked rice we get one cup of cooked rice. To give the rice a bit of flavouring, we added ginger and a pinch of saffron to the rice.

For the sauce I minced some ginger and garlic and sauteed it in butter. I began building the flavours of the sauce by adding salt and pepper, and a pinch of allspice. Next I added coconut milk and a whole Thai chili pepper sliced, followed by about half a litre of chicken stock and let it simmer to reduce the sauce by about half.


I forgot to take a photo of my plating before
Chef tasted the components of my dish.

I started the stir fry with sauteing onions first, then adding an assortment of julienned (thin sliced strips) vegetables. The stir fry was seasoned with salt, pepper, allspice, worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, and soy sauce.

When the rice was done and the stir fry cooked to al dente, I cooked a few shrimp (peeled with tails left on and seasoned with salt) in the coconut sauce. The stir fry was placed over the rice with the shrimp and coconut sauce on top.

This dish was so delishous! The shrimp was cooked perfectly. Shrimp when cooked properly should look like an open "C". Overcooked shrimp will look liken an "O". I loved the flavour of the coconut milk and the heat from the Thai red pepper. I was pretty happy about this dish ~ Chef commented that I had cooked the rice and shrimp perfectly.

It was a short day in the kitchen as we moved to the classroom to discuss our food business plan project. Chef helped us with the requirements of the project and surveyed the class to find out what our projects were going to be about. There is lots to do for this project ~ we are required to cost out each of our dishes/recipes as well as complete a two day preparation plan.

Homework this weekend will be to work on my project and make rye bread. I purchased some flax seeds and sunflower seeds to add to the rye bread.

Day 31: French Onion Soup au Gratin!

We are making french onion au gratin soup today. The veal stock that we began making on Monday is to be used for the soup. Veal stock is the best for a french onion soup. Our mise en place for the french onion soup is two onions, thinly sliced. We caramelize the onions in butter and oil (oil helps with the smoke point) and season with season with salt and pepper. When the onions are just about done we hit the sauce pan with a splash of sherry creating a burst of flames. When the alcohol has evaporated, I add three or four ladles of veal stock. I simmer the soup of onions until it reduces by half. I fill the soup bowl with onion soup, french bread, shredded mozzarella, and cover it with a slice of Swiss cheese and top with grated Parmesan cheese. The soup is put under the broiler for the cheese to bubble and then brown. As usual we get to eat what we make ~ french onion soup au gratin at 9:30 a.m. in the morning!

Ratatouille is a quick recipe that can be eaten as a side, a starter or part of a dish such as pasta. The mise en place for this dish was equal size cuts of eggplant, onion, zucchini and tomato.

We had a few eggplants left and chef had us making breaded eggplant. We had a breading station that consisted of flour, egg, and panko crumbs (white bread crumbs). The eggplant was sliced rounds of half an inch thickness and sprinkled with salt then put through the breading station. Oil was heated for the eggplant to be deep fried. When the eggplant was taken out of the oil, it was hit with a light sprinkle of salt. These breaded slices of eggplant were so good and so much better than using bread crumbs (typical bread crumbs include the crust). We all worked together in making this dish with everyone either working on preparing, cooking, or eating.

Another vegetable side we made and our last dish of the day was sauteed mushrooms. Very easy to make and build the flavours. We first cut the mushrooms in quarters and then sauteed them in butter and oil, with salt and pepper cooking them to a nice colour of brown. When we reached the desired colour of brown for the mushrooms, we give them a splash of sherry and continued to cook them until the liquid has evaporated. This is a great side for a steak and very inexpensive to make.

Homework tonight is to print off what I have completed on my business plan project.

Day 30: Four in One

Today we worked on four recipes in one day. We arrive in our class to the aroma of the veal stock that had been simmer all night. The stock is ready to use and we drain off a huge amount to be vented (cooled down using bottled of frozen water immersed in the veal stock) and then stored in our refrigerator for use later.

Chef begins our day with gathering the ingredients for a french bread. After we have kneaded the dough for the french bread we leave it in the oven to proof so that we can start on the next recipe ~ Pho Bo. During our first week in the kitchen we made a french bread that was stuffed with prosciutto, basil, sun dried tomatoes and feta cheese.

Pho is an easy soup to make. We use rice noodles which need to be soaked in hot water to rehydrate. The base of the soup is the veal stock that we had simmering overnight. To make our soup we add to one litre of stock minced lemon grass, minced garlic, minced ginger, tofu, (two) whole Thai peppers, Thai basil and thinly sliced onions. We season the soup with salt and pepper to taste also adding soy sauce, oyster sauce, honey, five spice to bring the flavour of a pho bo soup. When all ingredients are simmered and flavoured properly to match what Chef has made, we begin plating our soup. For starters I have warmed a bowl ~ to the bowl I add rice noodles, and four thinly sliced pieces of beef flank steak. The hot soup is poured over the beef and rice noodles. The heat from the soup cooks the beef and I decorate with a few sprigs of Thai basil and the chili peppers ready for Chef to sample and provide a critique.

Our french bread has proofed and we are ready to roll it out to the shape of a baguette and leave it to rise before putting it in to a 375 F oven to bake. We will be using a few slices from the baguette our french onion soup tomorrow.

After we have had our soup, we start on the next soup ~ a mint green pea soup. We are using a chicken stock for this soup as the base. In a pot with butter we add the small diced onions and start building the flavours with pepper and salt to taste. Next we add sliced leeks, sliced garlic and sliced ginger sweating these with the onions and then add a small bunch of mint leaves and frozen green peas. Chicken stock is added to the pot to just cover the green peas and is simmered for about five minutes to develop the flavours of the soup. The peas should not be over cooked because you want a bright green colour for the soup. After approximately five minutes, the soup will need to be buzzed (broken down) with an immersion blender and strained. If the soup is too thin ~ cooked over the stove to reduce and thicken. During this process, tasting and seasoning is required to acquire the right taste and texture as demonstrated by Chef.

With two soups and a bread completed we finish off with glazed root vegetables. We use carrots and parsnips for this side dish. The vegetables are cut coarsely and then par boiled in salted water. When they are tender, but a little al dente, they are ready to be put in to a sauce pan with clarified butter. Clarified butter is used because it has a higher smoking point. To the root vegetables, we add a pinch or two of cumin, salt and pepper to taste and some honey to create the glaze on the vegetables. The vegetables are sauteed. When finished they will have nice colour and a caramelized glaze which comes from the honey and butter as well as the sugar that is released from the vegetables.

No homework for me tonight. I will put more work in to my business plan project later this week.

Day 29: Stocks and Soups

The week begins with a huge veal stock. Chef has us working on browning veal bones in the oven and cutting up the mire poix of onions, carrots, and celery and left over leeks from one of her night classes. After the veal bones were browned, they were put in the stock pot. The mire poix was sauteed in the pans over the stove and then also put in to the stock pot. A sachet was made of leeks and thyme then put in to the stock pot. We poured cold water in the stock pot about three to four inches below the top of the pot and put the heat on for it to cook for at least six to eight hours. We are going to simmer the stock over night which should give us a great tasting stock.
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Our first soup was a minestrone. To prepare the ingredients for the soup, we practiced our dice cuts. We were asked to mince about a quarter of an onion, small dice red and green pepper, zucchini, carrots, and chiffonade some nappa cabbage, and par boil some pasta.

To begin making the soup, I started with defrosting a litre of chicken stock for the soup. To a saute pan, I started building the flavours for the soup first with adding some butter and then sauteing the onions and seasoning with salt and pepper. To this I added the green and red peppers next and then the carrots and zucchini, canned plum tomato, kidney beans and chickpeas. I added some seasoning of thyme and more salt and pepper as needed. For more flavour building, I added bahmi (a siracha sauce), Worcestershire, and honey and then added the chicken stock. With all the ingredients simmering together, I checked for balance of flavour and added salt, pepper, honey or more bahmi. I tasted Chefs' soup to compare with mine until I got my soup to the same flavour match. Just before plating my soup in a heated bowl, I added the nappa cabbage and presented it to Chef to taste. A cold soup does not taste the same as a hot soup. A cold soup (or cold food) will not provide the true taste of a dish. Heat brings out the flavour and the salt in foods. You should never season a cold plate that is mean to be served hot because you may over salt it. Chef said that it was a pretty good soup, but needed a little more salt.

After taking a break and having a bowl of our soup, we made spanakopita. Spanakopita is a phyllo pastry made with a savoury or sweet filling. We made a savoury spanakopita with an Indian influence. I made a vegetarian pastry by combining onions, carrots, green and red peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, chickpeas, curry powder, turmeric, honey, salt and pepper to taste. I found the phyllo dough hard to work with as it can break easily if handled too much. Each thin layer must be brushed with butter. The filling was wrapped in phyllo in the shape of a triangle then baked in the oven at 425 F.

I am no longer the sous chef and very happy that I have already done my week. At the end of clean up we were sent to the classroom to write out the recipe for the veal stock and the minestrone soup.

I am taking the day off from homework.

Day 28: Good Day Food Day

Fun day of plating today. We plated our chocolate mousse deserts made yesterday. To compliment the desert, Chef showed us how to work with the sugar to create designs for plating. Chef also showed us how to make caramel and tulle. All of these techniques were options to use in plating our deserts.

For my desert I used sugar work, blueberry coulis, strawberries, and mint leaves. I tend to work free hand when coming up with a design for my plate. Because we started with a sugar work demonstration I decided to start with this method first. I began by drizzling the sugar on to parchment paper making random patterns. I like to use freehand to see what I come up with and work from there. By stretching the sugar I made sugar strings that looked like floss. From this an idea came to me to make little berries with mint leaves on top. This idea came to me because there were no more raspberries left for me to use. I used my hands to shape the berries to their final shape.

What I didn't know at the beginning of the day was that we would be graded on our food technique and plating. The technique included taste and texture of the Genoise cake, chocolate mousse, and coulis. The plating was marked on composition of the pulled sugar designs, placement of chocolate mousse and accompaniments (i.e. coulis, fruit, pulled sugar). I felt that my plate was simple yet pleasing to the eye. In addition to being marked on our work, we were all invited to taste each other's chocolate mousse to get our palates use to different textures. A mousse is suppose to light and airy and melt in your mouth.

After we had eaten our deserts, we made another ~ crepes with flambe bananas.

Crepes are actually very easy to make but also very time consuming. A crepe is a thin version of a pancake. However, in making a crepe you do not add baking powder. I was having a bit of a problem making the crepes ~ swirling the crepe mixture on the pan evenly. Chef came over and gave me a few pointers on how I could do this easily. Chef told me to pour the mixture at the twelve o'clock and swirl it  clockwise to cover the pan evenly and quickly. With a thin layer of batter, it cooks very fast, so you have to move quickly when spreading the mixture. Rolling the crepe came much easier. For the filling we made flambe bananas using butter, honey and some sherry. Sherry is what gave it the flambe (fire). Chef also wanted us to plate our desert using caramel that we had made. To make the caramel, we added cream to the leftover sugar that was used for the sugar work in our chocolate mousse plate.

It was a fun day today with plating and making these delicious deserts. I'm looking forward to more plating and cooking.

Day 27: Doing It Again ~ Chocolate Mousse Desert!

We are making the chocolate mousse desert in class today. We are practicing our techniques by making the Genoise cake (sponge cake) ~ which is used for the base of the desert. The chocolate mousse will be used to fill the desert. The blueberry coulis will be used in plating the desert. We will be marked on our deserts at some point in our ten weeks in the kitchen.

I made two preparations of the chocolate mousse desert ~ one with a small ring and the other with the larger ring. I took the larger one home to practice on my plating technique.

After we prepared our chocolate desert mousse for plating tomorrow Chef got us started on making a breakfast. We made a poached egg, sauteed spinach and potato ham and onion hash. The potato and ham were diced and the onion sliced. To the poaching water we added a spoon of vinegar. This helps in keeping the egg together. To finish off the dish, we sauteed spinach with garlic and butter. I plated the potato with spinach on top and on top of the spinach the soft poached egg.

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the potato egg, spinach and poached egg I had made at school. I made it at home without the sauteed spinach. My plating didn't look as nice as what I did at school, but it still taste good.

I make a variation of the dish made at school. At home I diced potato and ham and fried them with onions. I put them in a casserole dish and added scrambled egg. I made a frittata with some of the same ingredients used at school. It was very yummy!

I passed on homework tonight.