Our Last Supper, The Remix!!

I thought the title of this post would be more about appropriate about it being our "Last Supper", as last night was our actual last night of Culinary Foundations III. And we feasted, after we tested. We took two written finals, about 100 questions on all of the meat cuts, meat classifications, market types, vocabulary, etc. And then we got to cook for fun. It was seafood madness! Chef brought a ton of seafood for us, there was lobster, mussels, oysters, clams, scallops, salmon, and probably some other things I didn't recognize. We got one last Chef Dan demo, in which he showed us how to open oysters, clams, and how to, um, kill, a lobster. And with all this seafood, we made Cioppino! What is Cioppino you ask?? I had to ask Chef Dan too, it's basically a fish stew, that originated in San Francisco. Seems very appropriate, as we also had some sourdough baguette bread, which is fantastic soaked in the juices of the Cioppino. Last nights demo was a little more interactive as we were just cooking for the fun of it. So there was a moment when we needed to put the lobster  legs into the boiling water, and I just happened to be closest to both the lobster legs and the stoves. I went to grab the lobster, but had a quick thought of "ew, I don't want to touch it", but I'm not really that much of a girl!! So, kind of as a joke, I reached for the tongs and acted like I was going to try to pick them up with the tongs, and everyone in class laughed at me! I was only kidding guys!! Well, sort of. Lol! Isn't it funny how sometimes we can still be so squeamish about touching things. 


So as a class, we made this gorgeous dish of Cioppino. And, as it was our amazing Chef Dan's last day at the school, we wanted to do something special to celebrate the day. One of my classmates made a Philipino dish of fried bananas, yummy! And earlier in the day I made some raspberry champagne cupcakes. And as usual, I had real trouble making the butter cream frosting. I don't know why I even attempted it. I made two batches because the first one was crap. The second looked beautiful, but it was just so sugary. So I'm really hoping that we learn about frostings in our next class.....I will keep you posted!

East Meets Middle with Stir Fry and Kebabs

Tonight was bittersweet in that it was our last night of production in the Culinary Foundations III class, and the last night of a Chef Dan demo (which we have all enjoyed so much these past few weeks!). We have all shared a lot of laughs, and learned so much. I am certainly going to miss a lot about this class...the cooking nights, the class discussions, the stories, jokes, and dance moves of Chef Dan. It's been such a wonderful experience in so many ways. As we move into Baking and Pastry for our next class, I do not think we will be cooking in the manner as we have been. Though I do love baking, and I am really excited to learn about breads and muffins and chocolate, I feel I might miss the cooking of savories, and yummy sides....but there will be breads and muffins and chocolate so I think I will manage ok!

And tonight we had some really yummy sides, although I was a little too focused on one of them. We had couscous on the menu, and I love me some couscous! I decided to make an Israeli Couscous, since we had some in the kitchen, and I had never made that kind before. So I really wanted to cook it right, and wanted it to be really yummy. But I was having a hard time deciding how to season it. So I spent a little too much time babying my couscous, that I got a bit of a late start for my second dish. But that was a stir fry so I figured it would come together quickly. I plated both dishes on time, but I did miss on a few marks. Chef was happy with my pet couscous, and the ratatouille was pretty delicious, the lamb kebab was cooked well, (although slightly over spiced from my dry rub, ooops!), but I just needed to add a pinch of salt to the cucumber raita.... always the salt!

Our second dish was a stir fry with fried calamari and shrimp, an asian sauce with soy sauce, ginger, sriracha and other yummies, and some very unfortunate white rice. I did get my rice on a little late in the game, and it just wasn't done by the time I had to plate. Ah well! I was still just really happy that my couscous came out pretty :)


Plate 1 - Grilled Lamb Kebab, Israeli Couscous, Ratatouille, Cucumber Raita. Plate 2 - Fried Calamari and Shrimp, Vegetable Stir Fry with Tempura Sauce and White Rice. Enjoy!

Brussels and Spaetzel and Butternut Squash, Oh My!

We had lots to do tonight, and I was late with both my plates. But I am still really happy with my dishes. Well mostly. I started off in a funk because my classmate was kind enough to bring me my cutting board, but he sort of threw it on the table and it smashed my finger. I felt nauseous from the pain for a good while, and it was difficult to concentrate on Chef Dan's demo. But he had me laughing in no time, and then it was quickly time to get cooking! 

We had some amazing ingredients tonight....butternut squash, hazelnuts, Brussel sprouts, veal cutlets, and some very beautiful racks of lamb. I started on the items that took the longest to cook, as we had to roast the butternut squash, and puree it with a russet potato. And who knew that you can roast hazelnuts and then roll them in a wet towel to take the bitter tasting shells off?! Those were a nice snack! But they were actually used in a breadcrumb mixture for the rack of lamb. Delicious! And I have never made Brussel sprouts before, so I was excited to make those, and was even more excited when I tasted them. Yum! And chef was very pleased too. Yay!


And the one thing I was even more excited to make was the Spaetzel! I think Chef Dan is brilliant for suggesting we make Spaetzel instead of the Potato Anna (again).  I think the Spaetzel is my favorite thing I have made in culinary school thus far. It was just different and fun to make. And you can do so much with it. Chef Dan gave us creative freedom to come up with our own additions to the Spaetzel, as it's basically just a plain 'ole noodle, but with the right additions, its delicious and fun to eat. He did suggest we do caramelized onions to add to it, but I did not like that idea. I asked what he thought of a browned butter sauce, and he basically said No, he didn't want "burnt butter". Ok, so I was worried about that. But I did do a very lightly browned butter sauce with garlic and chopped mushrooms, and he liked it! Whew! 


Now, my rack of lamb had an unfortunate evening. It basically didn't cook. I coated it beautifully with our hazelnut and mustard breadcrumb mixture, and left it in the oven for what I thought would be plenty of time - which made me late for plating, because I thought better late than serve undercooked lamb. But she was still pretty much raw. And everyone else seemed to have the same issue with theirs, so that made me feel somewhat better. 


And there was a lot of other little things going on, we made a Veal Cordon Bleu in which we pounded out veal cutlets, lightly coated with mustard, added a layer of ham and gruyere cheese, then rolled it up like a little burrito (or cigar as Chef Dan was demonstrating!), coated it with breadcrumbs, quickly fried it, then finished it in the oven. Whew! And then my Mushroom Supreme Sauce came out pretty darn Supreme! It was definitely one of my better sauces. Or at least my favorite in flavor, maybe because it's one of the few sauces that isn't so rich with veal stock, and it has mushrooms - my favorite. All in all tonight was a great night of cooking, but it came with some sad news. We learned that our favorite Chef Dan will be leaving the school after our class ends in just two more weeks. I feel fortunate to have him as our chef, and hope that he is happy to have us as his very last class at CCA.


Plate 1 - Roasted Rack of Lamb with Demi Glaze, Brussel Sprouts and Butternut Squash Potato Puree. Plate 2 - Veal Cordon Bleu with Mushroom Sauce Supreme, Garlic Mushroom Spaetzel, and Brussel Sprouts and Carrots. Enjoy!

"Little Meats" Tacos of Inspiration

Last night Chef Dan had us cracking up at his antics and quirky moves. I mean I was in tears laughing! We had a great discussion on plating and timeliness. Chef told us that we really need to work on our timing, and that normally with the younger students he can more easily put them in a corner and they will react. But since we are an older group, that doesn't really work. We each have our own ways of doing things, and usually have something to say about anything. And he went on to do a pretty hilarious imitation of us. Chef Dan is an inspiration. He makes me want to work harder and do better, while having a really fun time doing it.


Tonight was a cooking night and we made a lot of little fun things. On the menu was, drum roll please....Carnitas!!! Carnitas literally means "Little Meats". And there was nothing "little" about the flavor of these babies. Chef Dan pretty much made them for us, since they take about 4 hours to fully cook, he put the seasonings and braising liquid together last night, and we simply finished them tonight. And since we had somewhat of a simple night, chef showed us how to do some neat little garnishes to add to our plates. He showed us how to make fried basil leaves, an onion brulee ( a blackened onion that you fan out on the plate), and he showed us how to make those fancy little football shapes that you see on shows like Top Chef, called Quenelles. 

And tonight I finally got a perfect score on a dish, on my grilled rib eye. Yay!!! I would have gotten a perfect score on my Carnitas dish too if I had only added more salt to the salsa. Bummer. But that's what cooking is, it's about the details. 

Plate 1 - Grilled Rib Eye Club Steak with Maitre d Hotel Butter and Marchand Du Vin Sauce,  Roasted Potato Slices and Seasonal Vegetables. Plate 2 - Pork Carnitas with Black Beans, Salsa Cruda and Avocado Quenelle. Enjoy!