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.
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