Mother's Beer Pairing

From Mother's Beer Pairing dinner. Poblano stuffed crab Rangoon.

Roasted Red Pepper, Mozzarella & Basil Stuffed Steaks with Steamed Asparagus

This was a recipe I made once before but wanted to try it again to see if the kids would enjoy it and I wanted to try on the grill.  It's an easy recipe requiring only 4 ingredients: thin flat steaks, roasted red pepers (in a jar), mozarella cheese and fresh basil.  You put the ingredients on the steak, roll it up and thread on skewers.  You can grill them or pan fry them or I guess even bake them (without the skewers).  Grilling tastes best but is most challenging to keep the ingredients sealed in the steaks. 
The only fresh mozarella I could find were little balls and they made this even more challenging. I recommend slices if you can find it fresh or even grated in a package would've been better and easier.  But I managed and they turned out very nice.  When cooking stuffed meats remember it takes longer to cook and you can easily overcook the outside with the interior still being raw so sear them and then keep them on low heat on the grill to finish cooking the inside.  The asparagus was from a steamer bag which I think was a perfect compliment to the steaks.  Of course being frozen they'll be mushier then fresh and a nice balsamic glaze would've been perfect with them. I'll try that next time. 

I'm back - New Class, New Direction

Hello everyone! 
It's been a while since my last post which is largely due to my "day job".  It's hard when what you have to do takes precedence over what you want to do.  With that said, I took last semester off but have just enrolled in a class for the summer: "Introduction to Hospitality".  Now I won't be cooking in this class but it will be a class full of information on the hotel & restaurant industry.  And anything that has to do with food or the restaurant industry just gets me excited.  So, I will do my best to keep you updated on what I learn in this class.
     I know by taking culinary classes a lot of people have been assuming I would like to be a chef.  That is not necessarily the case.  I am just enjoying learning everything about what i love - FOOD.  I love to eat it of course, learn about it, improve it, and mostly talk about it. That's what I hope to do with this blog - share with you all things food.
     Something I am also trying to do is to make more meals from scratch at home.  Being a full-time working mother of 2 and wife to 1 :) I have resorted to more than my fair share of "processed" foods for a quick fix of dinner after a long day.  The toaster oven has become my best friend and when I recently identified with a mom who said she fed her kids frozen appetizers for most of their youth, I knew it was time to make some improvements.
     It's not an every day thing and the meals are not gourmet by any means but they are not prepared by microwave and for me that's a huge improvement. 
     I recently discovered a Pampered Chef cookbook: 29 minute meals. I have made a few meals from it already: turkey gyros, lasagna casserole, Asian steak stir fry, and last nights hit - chicken sun chip bites.  My kids ate them up and have enjoyed all my meals so far - a sign that I may be on the right path. Now I just need to take pictures of these meals and share with you what I've learned.  I hope to do that soon.

Oh by the way...I got an A

Our final assignment was a written project that had to consist of a complete menu with prices of a cuisine we chose, 15 facts on the cuisine, one recipe with serving conversions and a full ingredient list.  I chose Italian as my cuisine and created a very nice menu from my own restaurant called "Vengalli's" (my maiden name). I recieved my full 50 points on this project and ended this class with a 98%.  Indeed an A.

It was a great class and a great experience.  The only area I seemed to lack in was keeping up with this blog.  This Spring I have decided to take the semester off as this is my busiest time of the year at my current job.  I hope to take more classes this summer and hopefully find an opportunity to share those experiences with you on this blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing this experience with me. Many more food adventures to come.

Bon Appétit!

The Final Class

In our last class we would have our cooking final.  The format for this final was to receive a basket of ingredients and to use them all in our dish.  We could make anything we wanted but had to use all the ingredients. We also were given a specific time that our plate had to be done and presented to the Chef.  We were all given the same protein and starch - pork and risotto rice.  I was happy to see both - they're so versatile.  What scared me in my basket was fresh whole cranberrries. I have never cooked a cranberry from it's raw state.  Luckily the CI gave me some suggestions and when he said sauce I knew that would compliment the pork so well and I was on my way.  I had one of the last times to present to the CI and that was probably the hardest part - the timing.  I had to wait to start most steps in fear I would end early and have dry or cold food to present.  I worked and worked my sauce starting with apple juice and watched as my cranberry burst open and then added vinegar and sugar and more vinegar and more sugar until I had a very sweet tart rich sauce.  I pan fried my pork, sauteed my veggies and made my risotto with mushrooms and onions.  It all turned out just as I wanted although I wish I was more creative with my sauce presentation.  I received a 95% (5 points were taken off for leaving my pork sitting out so long).  I should've put it in the fridge until I was ready to cook it.  Dang that sanitation stuff!  We all have our finished dishes out for display - I just had to take some pictures of everyone's final dish.  What a great way to end this class. 

SIFE Lunch

When word got around that I was taking culinary classes, those who also liked to cook came up with the idea of cooking up a meal for the SIFE Staff (where I work).  We decided on Mexican and planned the menu to feed about 40 people.  We made everything from chicken tortilla soup, a taco bar with chicken and beef, baked chimichangas, cheese enchiladas and all the fixins including guacamole, mango salsa, sour cream and lots of cheese.  Oh and there was dessert too - flourless chocolate lime cake with Margarita whipped cream and Liz made her famous carrot cake.There were 3 of us who primarily did the cooking - me, Bruce & Kirk.  Then we had help from a few sous chefs and lots of people to help clean up afterward.  Between all the planning, many trips to the food store, the prep and cleaning it was a lot of work but well worth it as it turned out to be a great experience for all - those who cooked and of course those who ate.  We were asked to do this again with another cuisine and I'm sure in due time we probably will. 

Here's some pics of our buffet line with all our homemade food.

Class #12: Fish

In this class we would be preparing fish.  We received a whole talapia filet and learned how to filet it into servable portions. As I wanted to try all different cuisines, this time I went with an Asian/Thai flair and prepared my fish by pan frying it and serving it with orzo pasta cooked in coconut milk with ginger.  I sauteed carrots and threw those in and added basil for extra thai flavor.  The flavor turned out very well.  The only thing I wish I had done better was presentation. I started with the orzo on the side but wish I had stacked the dish a little more putting the orzo in the center, fish criss-crossed on top, the veggies on top and the sauces drizzled over all of it. Luckily my Chef Instructor was pleased with the flavor as well and gave me an A and I ended up with a great dinner that night. 

Class # 11: Veal

Well, I really let time slip away and did not blog as consistently as I had planned.  This is in no way a reflection of my passion for food and cooking. I have just had a lot going on in the last few months in addition to the normal day-to-day stuff.


We are down to me summarizing the final 3 classes.

In class #10 it was all about Veal.  In lab we were told we could prepared our veal any way but needed to make a complete plate with a starch and vegetables. I wanted to do a different cuisine than what I've done so far so went Italian and made Veal Parmesan with linguine and sauteed green beans.  It turned out very well - meat cooked perfectly and my sauce turned out very tasty.  It turned out to be an eye-pleasing plate as well.  I got my full 25 points and walked away from the Chef Instructor very proud.

Class #10: BEEF - it's what's for dinner

Today's class was all about Beef.  The new thing about class would be that we each give a 2 minute presentation about what we read from our book on the current subject.  This was the Chef's way of getting us to read our book each week.  It worked and I read and took some notes to read in class about Beef.  I talked about Kobe beef and why it is so expensive.  It is beef mainly raised in Japan and they feed them a specialized diet which includes beer and give the cows massages to relax them producing better beef.  Bizarre, huh? Now you know next time you see Kobe beef on a menu why it is expensive.

Anyway, we were then given our assignment for today.  We would be preparing a sirloin steak medium (140 degrees).  We would also have to make risotto to go with the steak, which would be my 2nd time to make this in class so I wasn't worried at all. And then I learned we would be having partners.  Ugh.  I didn't want a partner.  I like cooking alone.  And my partner would be a guy in the class who I didn't know and didn't talk much.  Double ugh. 

So off we went and started our plan.  We actually worked well together and decided to go with a vegetable medly of Zucchini and Squash and my partner had an idea of baking them with oil and cheese.  He said his Grandma makes them this way. I wanted something a little more and suggested balsamic vinegar.  Unfortunately I couldn't find any.  My partner suggested red wine vinegar.  I didn't like this idea - I really wanted balsamic as I knew it has sugar in it which when cooked carmelizes a little bit and would be great on these veggies. I passed on the vinegar but then minutes later he showed up with the red vinegar. I decided to let him go for it since he had complete control over this side dish. I took control over the risotto as I knew you have to constantly stir it and constantly add liquid to it.  We both took control over the meat and really babyied it to get the perfect temperature.  We were so worried that our thermometers were not working right and our temps were off but I kept saying "take it off when your gut tells you". I don't know where that cooking intuition came from but I just knew we'd know when we'd know. I also knew meat keeps cooking a little more after you take it off the heat so a few less degrees would be just fine.

So, we took the meat off, put the risotto in a ramekin and then got our vegetables out of the oven. Our veggies looked dull.  Very limp and dull. I was not impressed and knew the Chef wouldn't be either but we had no choice but to serve it up.  To the Chef's table we went.  He cut into our meat and was pleased - cooked to the right temp.  He then tasted our veggies and....uh oh...oh no, he is making an awful face and..oh no, into the trash he spits them out.  "That tastes funky he says.  Did you taste them?". You ever watch those cooking shows and the judges ask "Did you taste this" and you think how could you forget to taste your own food?  NOW I KNOW.  You just do - when up against the clock you usually don't have time to taste and if you do you certainly don't have time to adjust - so I guess it's better if you don't know.

Needless to say even with perfect risotto and steak we bombed on our veggie side dish and got a 22 out of 25.  Triple Ugh. It was a team effort so I don't feel anyone is to blame and we did all learn something from this and that is - red wine vinegar does not taste good drizzled on veggies and baked - it is NOT the same as balsamic, not even close. Trust me, don't try this at home.

Class #9: Sandwiches

In this week's class we would be preparing sandwiches as well as a side dish for a complete plate. We would draw out of a hat for our category of how we would prepare our sandwich.  The categories were: grilled, panini pressed, open faced and stacked (layered).  None of these scared me and I was pleased when I drew grilled as I planned to go beyond the basic grilled cheese sandwich.  Once I learned there was sliced turkey in the fridge in our lab kitchen I thought a nice pesto would go great on a grilled sandwich.  I also decided a nice spinach salad on the side would pair with it nicely .  So I began my mise en place.  Do you know what "Mise en place" means?  It translates to "Everything in its place".  It's what Chefs do before they begin to actually cook their meal.  They prep all their ingredients first and stay organized as they go.  They peel, chop, and measure out ingredients before starting a single cooking step.  It helps keep the cooking process stay on track so you can dump the ingredients in as needed instead of say, burning your butter as you're still chopping an onion.  It's a process I'm gradually trying to adapt as I'm not an organized neat cook but I want to be and this process helps and makes me feel more like a chef each time I set out my little bowls of ingredients.


Anyway, back to sandwiches.  I was on the search for pine nuts and couldn't find any and almost ditched the pesto idea when I saw sunflower seeds.  I thought this would work as all I really needed was an oily seed/nut ingredient to process with oil, basil & parmesan cheese - yup, that's all there is to pesto.  So, with my turkey, cheese & pesto grilled sandwich I decided to make a spinach salad with bacon vinegarette.  This is a salad my friend, Joy, had introduced me to a long time ago and I've made it once before and thought it would pair so well with my sandwich.  The salad starts by frying up some bacon, getting it nice & crispy.  Then pour your bacon drippings in a bowl and you'll whisk in syrup (yes, pancake syrup) & balsamic vinegar to taste. I just played with portions until I felt it was just right - sweet with a tang.  It's sooo good - you really must try this flavor combo.  Once my sandwich was grilled to perfection I tossed my spinach with the vinegarette knowing I had to do this at the very last second as the spinach wilts SO quickly.  Chef was pleased as I got a 25 out of 25!  YES!  I was very, very happy and enjoyed eating my work.  Hats off the to the Chef...that would be me in this case. ;)

NOTE: The portion I actually served was much larger but I forgot to take a picture until after the Chef and I had tried it!

Class #8: Eggs - I "crack".....

Even though this class is over, I am still going to post what happened in each class as though it hasn't been weeks since my last post.  I don't think the time is relevant but I do want to be consistent in my posts so you have something new to read and keep coming back.  :)

With that said, let me tell you about Class #8, which was all about eggs.  For this class we learned we would have to cook eggs in 4 ways: over easy, over hard, sunny side up and poached.  With our poached egg we would make eggs benedict making hollandaise sauce by scratch. We would also need to create a side dish to go with it of our own choosing. 

It all sounds so easy, right?  Make 4 eggs, a sauce, a side....BUT let me tell you, eggs is where I cracked (pun intended). It ended up being my least successful class and left me doubting this whole cooking thing.  It started with the Chef giving us a presentation of how the 4 eggs should look and be prepared.  This gave us an idea of what consistency we were looking for in the final presentation.  After that we were on our own.  I thought I'd start with a sunny side up egg and if I screwed it up I could make it my over hard egg.  Well, I did screw it up and that's where I started to lose confidence.  I turned it into my over hard egg but wasn't pleased. I moved on to the over easy egg which basically means you have to flip the egg over (without breaking it) and end up with a very jiggly egg indicating over easy.  I cooked it a little too long and ended up with over medium.  The Chef confirmed this as he was walking by - so my first do-over.  My 2nd attempt worked out fine - phew!  Then I moved on to sunny side up.  I didn't cook it long enough on my first attempt as the Chef checked it out it still had slimy white parts - my second do-over.  My next attempt failed as I broke the yolk when flipping.  Grrrr!  This was not going well.  FINALLY, I completed all my eggs.  I had my sunny side up egg showing it's pretty golden egg on top - perfectly cooked.  Then my over hard which is the yolk broken and all the egg cooked through (not scrambled).  My over easy was flipped and jiggly and my poached egg was pretty too.  A poached egg gets dropped in simmering water that has vinegar in it (this keeps the whites all together) and the yolk is not cooked through.  So I let my eggs sit to the side for the teacher to view them.  
Here's where I really went wrong.  I decided to make fried potatoes for my side. To start this side dish I sauteed some leeks in butter.  I then added my thinly sliced potatoes which actually made my leeks turn into, as the Chef would later call them, "Burnt Bits". I actually like the crispy onions that carmelize on potatoes and thought that's what I had done, but not so.  The Chef let me know what I called "Carmelized" was indeed "Burnt".  So, if that wasn't enough as I served my egg and poured the hollandaise sauce on top it occured to me that my egg was now cold as I left it to the side with the other eggs. I should've put it in the warming oven so the Chef would be served a nice warm egg.  To sum it up, I ended up with a 20 out of 25 on this dish - a B!  I was devastated - so disappointed in myself.  I let myself down more than the Chef, knowing I could've done better.  Luckily my disappointment only lasted a week and by next Monday's Lab I was out of my funk and ready to learn more - no more burnt bits from me!

 So, here you see....cold poached egg with pan fried potatoes & burnt bits.  :)

Class #7: ACF Meeting

Where in the world have I been? It's been weeks, I know.  And since my last post I have moved into a new house and been buried with work and just trying to keep up with everything.  It seems the blog is where I dropped the ball. I'm still going to class regularly and trying to maintain my A, so let me try to catch you up on all I've been doing in the last few classes before the semester ends! 

I left off with Class #7.  Here is what happened in that class on Monday, November 1st:

     I went to class as usual tonight and thought it was odd when no one else was showing up and class was starting in a few minutes.  I had to keep checking my phone to make sure it was the right date and time and I didn’t forget something.  Just then our teacher showed up as he teaches a class right before ours with four fellow classmates behind him and said “I see you all didn’t get the email - we’re meeting at the Country Club tonight”.  I was surprised and excited – I’ve wanted to go to the Country Club where our teacher is the Executive Chef.  So we drove to the other end of town to meet the rest of the students at Twin Oaks Country Club where the monthly ACF (American Culinary Federation) Meeting was being held tonight.  This was a rare opportunity for us to be a guest at one of these meetings and to go instead of our normal class (which tonight was a relief for most as our lab assignment was going to be breaking down chickens).  We not only got to miss out on cutting up chickens, but we’d be eating some delicious & creative dishes created by the Twin Oaks staff.

     ACF Members were present at the meeting as well as guests from all over including Big Cedar Lodge who we had the opportunity to meet and visit with for a few minutes.  The meeting began with a reading of the minutes.  Then we got to watch presentations by the Twin Oaks Chefs showing us a salad, appetizer, entrée & dessert all prepared table side.  The first presentation was the salad which had pears and apples and candied pecans with cayenne pepper which was a nice touch of heat with the sweet. The appetizer prepared was a sweet potato pancake with pulled pork and julienned apples on top with a beet gastrique and sage whip cream (which had us all intrigued). It was topped with a fried sage leaf.  For the entrée the Chef prepared a beef stew with tomatoes and burgundy wine and mirepoix vegetables on top.  The dessert was cleverly created with dried ice so ice cream could be made table side.  Pumpkin ice cream was paired with chocolate ravioli filled with blueberries & cream cheese. 

     They kept mentioning samples and that we’d get to taste the dishes but I really didn’t think we get but a bite of each. I was very pleasantly surprised when around the corner were all the dishes prepared buffet style and we were told we could help ourselves.  The buffet also included fresh rolls with honey butter and roasted potatoes.  My favorite dish was the appetizer – I just loved the combination of flavors with the pork and that sage whipped cream.  The entrée was my 2^nd favorite as I thought the meat was cooked to perfection and the sauce had such an earthiness to it that was perfect for their Fall menu.  

     I’ve experienced table side dishes before including a Caesar salad and steak Diane but I’ve never had a whole meal served table side nor been served an appetizer or dessert in this way.  I was impressed to learn these new dishes and some creative food combinations such as the sage & whipped cream. I plan to whip this one up at home in my own kitchen.

Of course with any great meal comes clean up but even this was a good learning experience as we got to see how an organized kitchen looks and operates.  I thought the whole experience was a great opportunity and I am grateful that we were invited to participate. 

Next week's class is eggs, at least that's what we're hoping and that we don't have to break down those chickens that we missed doing tonight!

Class #6: Mystery Starch

**Class date - October 4th**
Tonight's class started with our 2nd exam.  This one was a little tougher as all the questions were multiple choice instead of matching like the last exam.  I think I missed one or two but won't find out for 2 weeks as we don't have class next week due to the fall break. 

So after our exam we headed straight to the kitchen and this time we drew out of hat the starch we would be preparing.  There were 14 different types to choose from which meant no partners this time.  We were on our own!  I was excited.  Yes, it's nice to collaborate with someone but it's a lot nicer to do your own thing.  Some of the types of starches that we could end up with were: Pasta dough, fettucini carbonara, risotto, potato lyonnaise, bulgar wheat, thai rice stir fry, spaetzle, etc.  I ended up with risotto milanese and I was very happy.  I felt like I had a little advantage because I've made risotto before and knew what the end product should be.  Of course we weren't just making risotto.  We'd also have to make a protein with it and vegetables.  Luckily I had done my homework and made sure I had a chicken recipe ready on my Droid should I need to access it in the kitchen.  I had planned for a lemon chicken so when I got the risotto I knew chicken picatta would be a perfect dish.  Once I found capers in the class kitchen pantry I was set. 

I spent a lot of time with my risotto as it takes quite a bit of stirring.  Basically risotto is arborio rice (which is an italian white rice) and you start by sauteeing the rice in butter and then add a little wine and reduce it.  Then you keep gradually adding chicken broth a little at a time until it evaporates as you keep stirring it constantly.  You keep adding broth until the rice is cooked and soft.  As we had to prepare everything to time out just right I took the rice off the heat a little early in fear that it would overcook and be mushy.  I then sauteed my chicken in butter and oil after I breaded it lightly in salted flour.  I removed the chicken from the pan and then made my sauce.  I used chicken broth to loosen up the bits and deglaze my plan.  I then squeezed the juice from one lemon and added capers and butter.  A quick taste and YUM - this sauce was delicious.  I love the tartness of the capers.  The only thing that had me worried was the timing. I knew I could have this all done very quickly but the CI wasn't ready to sample our dishes just yet. I had to figure out how to make sure all the components were still hot by the time I served it to him. It was a challenge but I re-heated my risotto again and added the final ingredients - parmesan cheese and butter. A vegetable selection had me stumped as I first started with a bag of broccoli but couldn't figure out how to make it work with my dish.  So I was thrilled when I discovered some asparagus.  I quickly sauteed some in chicken broth and a little of the caper juice. Once that finished cooking I warmed up the sauce again and was pleased that everything was at the same temperature. I then plated my dish.  Risotto in the middle, chicken on the side of the risotto, the asparagus on the side and the sauce poured on top.  The only thing I wish I done differently is present this in a deeper dish so the sauce didn't run as much since it was a very thin sauce. But aesthetically, a very eye-pleasing dish.

I think my CI was pleased too as he said it was very good and gave me 25 points out of 25 for this lab - an A!  The only thing, believe it or not, was the risotto could've been cooked more.  The CI said it had a little bite to it but he still thought it was tasty and looked good. I was very proud of this dish and proud that I did it all on my own.  I wish you all could have tasted it - it was very, very good.  :)

There is no class next week due to the holiday break, but the week after that is our cutting skills midterm exam.  So I'll be practicing my cutting in the meantime. . .

Class #5: Mystery Soup

**written on Monday, Oct 4**
Sorry for the late blog post.  Another crazy week but I do want to tell you about last week's class before I take tonight's class.  One of the first thing's the CI shared with us was that he started a new food blog that consists of recipes and experiences and such. I find it so coincindental that just two weeks ago I told him I had started a food blog and asked for permission to take pictures during class.  He thought it was cool that I had a blog and so how funny that within two weeks he has one of his own.  He says he hopes to have a website within 3 years.  I think I'll take a little credit for his new social media outlet.  :)

So, last week was all about soup.  There were 8 soups to draw from out of a hat to determine which we would be making during class.  The only one I didn't care to draw was split pea and luckily I didn't.  I got Roasted Poblano Pepper & Corn Chowder.  I was excited about this one becuase it used ingredients I've never used before. 
I actually got to be in charge of roasting the peppers and this meant putting them directly on the gas heat and as the CI said "let them toast like marshmallows where they get black".  I did just that and then wrapped them in plastic wrap which steams them and makes it easier to peel off the skin.  We peeled them, cut them and took all the seeds out.  The CI made a point to tell us "Don't rinse them in water because you'll rinse away your flavor".  Glad he told us this as your instinct is to wash off the burnt skin bits but he said a little of that will add some flavor to the dish.  We diced the peppers and added that along with onions and corn and then some cream to our broth. We pureed all the ingredients until it was a soup like chowder consistency.  For our garnish we made a lime sour cream that my partner made a lattice design with and added some parsley. 
Well, you would've thought that was the only thing we would have to make for our soup entree but no, the CI likes us to just "whip something up" on the side.  I think it's what he's usually in the mood for - to taste test a hundred times. This time he asked us to make a bread/muffin/biscuit and our own preserves to go on.  Preserves?  From scratch, not out of a jar?  Yup, from scratch...oh, boy, this made me nervous.  Of course he was happy to help us through it once we decided on an idea with flavors that would match our soup.  I immediately thought of sweet to balance our heat so I suggested a peach (since the kitchen didn't have mangos) lime preserve.  The CI really helped us with the balance of sugar and vinegar to our cut up peaches and fresh lime juice.  The final result was soooo super sweet but preserves usually are and the CI was pleased. My partner loved it so much and said I could have the rest of the soup, which was perfect for me because I really liked our soup. It had just a touch of heat to it - not too much and I think it was pretty tasty.
We got to sample everyone's soup this time and one team made the shrimp bisque and it was my favorite - so rich and delish.  I'll have to try that one at home.

Here's a pic of our soup.  Next week - starches. 

Class #4: Potato Soup

With deboning a chicken and making Coq au Vin and a very crazy busy week I have found myself about to take class #5 tomorrow and have yet to tell you about class #4!  Soooo let me do that now.

To start off we learned about the 5 mother sauces, which are:

1. Veloute' - Sauce with light stock & roux (fat & flour)
2. Bechamel - Sauce with milk & roux
3. Tomato - Sauce with tomatoes
4. Hollandaise - Sauce with eggs, lemon juice and oil
5. Espagnole - Sauce with tomatoes, stock & roux

So after our CI expressed his disappointment that no one read the book this week (I hate disappointing the CI but I did debone a chicken - doesn't that count?) he did an overview of the chapter on Stocks & Sauces.  We watched a video on each of the 5 mother sauces being made and learned all about the types of stocks and the difference between that and broth. Broth is clarified stock.  Stock is where you get all the flavoring from either vegetables, chicken and/or beef.  We learned about mirepoix which is 50% onions, 25% celery and 25% carrots.  We then learned about deglazing (using liquid to take bits off bottom of pan), carmelizing (cooking natural sugars out of food) and what goes in a sachet (peppercorns, bay leaf, parsley, garlic & thyme). 

I actually found myself a bit intimidated as the chef gave us our class assignment: make Potato Soup and a bread of our choice.  No instructions, no recipe, no CI does it first and we copy - just make vegetable stock and make potato soup from it. I know, I know - it's just soup but it's a soup I've never made before and have to present to my CI who will taste it and tell me his opinion on it.  After getting new partners to work with you could tell most of the class was a bit inimidated so he promised he would help us in the kitchen and he did.  We made our vegetable stock using our leftover pieces of veggies that we practiced our 8 cuts on.  Then we covered that with water and added our sachet to make the stock.  We then strained that to have our veggie broth as our base for our potato soup.  My partner diced up potatoes as I fried up some bacon for our garnish.  We were doing fine with the CI's help to guide us along.  What's funny is the first time he came over he said we were going to starve him to death on how little we were making so we chopped up a bunch more potatoes and I guess we got carried away because we ended up at the end with soooo many veggies that we had to throw out. That wasn't good, but our potato soup actually turned out okay after we added buttermilk and half & half and then got to use an emulsifier to puree our soup.  With some dashes of salt & pepper it was actually started to taste pretty decent.  We served it in cute ramekins and garnished with bacon bits, cheddar cheese & green onions and some toasted bread to go along with it.  We got lucky on the bread as the baking class before us had plenty of extra loaves laying around for us to use. Overall we got a good review with some small tweaks for improvement but our CI was pleased with our product being our first potato soup we both ever made.

Next week (I guess that would be tomorrow) we draw out of hat a type of soup that we have to make from scratch.  There are 7 different ones to choose from.  I just hope I don't end up getting split pea soup...blech.  My husband will get all those leftovers FOR SURE. 

New Recipe

Coq au Vin Blanc

Recipe from: Rachel Ray Magazine

Taste Rating: 9 out of 10

Execution Rating: 8
Learned: The flavor of Pinot Grigio instead of Moscato
as my white cooking wine

So from the thighs and breasts of the chicken I cut up I decided to make Coq au Vin (Chicken with White Wine).  I have three different recipes for this dish - one that is very amateurish and turns out more to be more like country smothered chicken, one that is a little more advanced using white wine and one that is from my simple french cook book and uses red wine.  I decided to go with the white wine version.  I didn't take pictures along the way so I am providing the recipe for this one to help explain the process and to share a very good recipe with you that is worth trying.

3 Tbsp EVOO                                                                            4 sprigs of thyme

1 lb boneless chicken breast, cut into 2” pieces                     2 cups chicken broth

1 lb bones chicken thighs, cut into 2”pieces                           2 cups dry white wine

2 Tbsp flour, plus more for dredging                                        ½ cup heavy cream

4 slices of bacon, chopped                                                       8 slices of break

1 lb of frozen pearl onions (about 2 cups)                               2 garlic cloves

  *(I used sliced onions)                                                           Butter for spreading

1 bay leaf                                                                                  Parsley for garnish

Heat 2 tbsp of EVOO, in a large skillet over med-high heat.  Season the chicken with salt & pepper, dredge in flour & add to the pan in single layer; do not crowd the meat.  Cook the chicken until browned about 4-5 minutes on each side.

While the chicken is working, heat a large Dutch oven or deep skillet over med-high heat with the remaining EVOO. When the oil is hot, add the bacon & cook until crisp, about 5 mins.  Remove the bacon with slotted spoon & drain on paper towels.  Pour off a little bacon fat, leaving a thin layer in dutch oven.  Add the onions, thyme (whole sprigs), mushrooms & bay leaf.  Cook until onions have a little color and mushrooms are tender, 7-8 mins.  Add 2 tbsp flour to dutch oven and cook for 2 mins.  Deglaze with chicken broth and cook for 5 mins.

Over high heat add the wine to the cooked chicken in skillet and scrape up bits.  Reduce the liquid for 5 mins, then add the chicken & wine to the broth & vegetables in dutch oven; stir to combine.  Stir in the cream, lower heat to a simmer & reduce sauce for about 5 mins.

Toast your bread and rub garlic across the hot toast and butter lightly (oops...I obviously buttered heavy as you see it in the picture). Cut slices of toast corner to corner.  Remove the bay leaf & thyme from sauce.  To serve, fan toast triangles across plate, lining up points and top with chicken & sauce. Top with bacon & parsley.

I followed the recipe exactly except I added a bit of cornstarch at the end to thicken it up a little more and I used sliced onions instead of frozen since I couldn't find them.  The final result was a total success as the kids even ate it and my husband praised me multiple times while eating it. With 2 cups of wine and bacon I knew it was going to be good. :)  If I would change anything it would proabably be the presentation, it just didn't show quite as good as it tastes.If you do try it, please share pictures and your process. I would love to hear how you did.

Homework: Breaking down a chicken

Since our CI broke down a whole chicken in lab last week I thought I would give it a try myself.  With my $4 whole chicken and my filet knife I went for it.  I had my husband take pictures along the way but I decided not to post many of them because well honestly, it wasn't pretty.  My technique at this point is a bit brutal and with chicken juice and guts going everywhere I was just so grateful I didn't video tape it.  My end result was pretty good though as I ended up with the right parts and they looked like how you would get them at the store (sort of): thighs, legs, breasts (including tenderloins) and wings. 
A quick summary with the pictures I did keep:
To start I cut the wings off:

Then I cut the legs off with thighs attached as it's easier to separate them when they're off the chicken.  What you're looking for is the fat line that separates the thigh from the leg and cut that line to separate them.

Here I have my wings, legs and thighs and a pile of all the excess fat (yum). 

Then I took the back of the chicken off, just sort of pulled it and put this in a pot to make stock for soup.  Then I turned the chicken breast side up and cut down the middle. I was supposed to cut out the wishbone first and somehow mine broke in the process, so no wishes for me.  Cutting the breasts was probably the easiest part since I wasn't dealing with bones and could really see what I was doing.  I learned from class that under the breasts are the tenderloins which are often used to make chicken tenders.  I separated those and saved them for later.  The parts I would be using tonight were the breasts and thighs.

So the whole process is not too difficult but I'm not gonna lie - its freaking messy.  Next time I think I'll dry my chicken out more with paper towels to help reduce some of the liquid. 

I will tackle this again since this was very cost efficient and I used every part of the chicken making two meals and still have some leftover.  I also need to try again to take better pictures to share.  My next post will show you the delicious meal I made with the boneless thighs & breasts. 

Class #3 - Finally we get to cook!

Last night was my 3rd night of class and we finally got to cook & use our knives!  I was so nervous in class today as we had our first exam and would be in the kitchen for the first time.  The exam turned out to be easier than I expected and I think I did really well as it was only word associations.  Phew!  Then we watched a video on types of cuts.  The main cut we would do in our lab today was Julienne, which is 1/8 x 1/8 x 2 inches.  Did you know each type of cut has a precise measure?   I didn't until this class.

So to our kitchen lab we went with our partners and our assignment: use dark chicken meat to cook a dish any way we'd like with julienne cut carrots and celery and add a starch to our plates.  Our Chef Instructor (CI) rattled off a bunch of dishes we could prepare.  I do not know many recipes by heart - okay, I don't really know any by heart.  I am a glued-to-my-recipe-kinda girl.  But luckily my partner knew a chicken recipe she liked with oyster & soy sauce. We decided to go for it.  Hunting down everything in this new kitchen was the hardest part.  After getting all our ingredients and pots & pans we were ready to start cooking.  We each julienned our carrots and celery.  Then we diced up some garlic and onions.  We each deboned our chicken pieces which is much easier when you have a sharp filet knife (highly recommended).  My partner started the chicken and I started the rice.  We settled for jasmine rice since we couldn't find minute rice.  It is starchier and produced much more than we anticipated.  We thought our rice was going to be a do-over but we salvaged it when we fried it up with an egg and some green onions.  I sauteed the veggies and we ended with a great looking dish.  Our final product ended up being on the salty side and this was confirmed by our CI as he tasted our final product.  Have him critique our dish was just like being on one of the Food Network Challenge shows as we awaited his verdict. 

Before we cooked, our CI gave us a demo of deboning a whole chicken: Wings first, then legs, then back, then breast.  I so have to try this at home and knowing that buying whole chickens is much cheaper than buying parts - I will likely be doing this often to save money and do my homework.

It was so awesome to cook a full meal and then I got to be the MOD (Manager on Duty) and got to delegate the assignments for clean up.  That was fun.  I like being in charge.  Overall, I just enjoyed the whole class. I'm hoping next time I can see more dishes others make and maybe sample a few.  I love to see what others come up with.  And next time I have to bring home leftovers for my husband!  I discovered the take out boxes after I devoured my salty but yummy Oriental Oyster Chicken.  

So next class we'll be learning the 5 mother sauces and get new partners.  I can't wait! In the meantime I'll be doing homework to practice - something with chicken or at the least julienned.  :)

Homework Assignment: Practice Cutting

Since I did not have class this Monday due to the Holiday, I decided to use the time off to do my homework assignment - to practice cutting with my knives.  I began my homework with 5 pounds of onions and a goal of onion soup and decided to slice them all. 

I remembered reading in my book that leaving one end of the onion in tact helps keep the onion together when slicing.  This helped quite a bit but I still felt awkward in my cutting as it took me a long time and my slices were not all uniform in size.  Lacking confidence I refered again to my book and read the part on the proper way to hold a knife - three fingers wrapped around the bottom with the top of the blade in between your thumb and fore finger.   Wait a minute?  I've been holding my knife wrong?  I have all my fingers wrapped around the handle - does this really make a difference?  So I tried it as the book suggested and yes, it really makes a difference.  I felt more control with the knife and finished up the last of my onions wishing I had 5 more pounds to slice with this new found knowledge. 

     With my 5 pounds of sliced onions I began to make my soup.  I added some bacon in for flavor and sauteed my onions keeping the pot covered.  As they started softening I took the cover off and let them carmelize.  I then added some white wine (Moscato of course as this is what I always have on hand) and then one can of chicken broth and one can of beef broth.  Lots of salt and pepper and a little thyme and that was it.  I toasted some bread with butter and melted cheese on top and I was set to enjoy. 

     So what did I learn from doing my homework assignment?

I learned the proper way to hold a knife - which right there is worth the cost of tuition.  I learned that the best flavoring for onion soup is apple cider instead of wine.  Wine is fine but my favorite onion soup was when I used cider as the liquid to deglaze the pan.  I learned that onions always reduce when cooked so if you think you have too many onions you likely don't - cook more.  And I learned that this assignment made me love onions even more.  I'm off to buy another 5 pounds and keep practicing my homework.

2nd Day of Class

Monday was my 2nd day of my Intro to Cooking Class.  Unfortunately we did not get to spend time in the kitchen as there was a lot to cover in lecture, but I did learn a lot and was given my first homework assignment: to practice my cutting skills. 
     The first 30 minutes we watched a video of Charlie Trotter (very famous chef, author of cookbooks and host on a PBS cooking show).  He gave an inspirational speech on professionalism in the "world of food" as he put it.  I enjoyed hearing him speak and share inspiration on what he loves.
     The remaining time of class we went over the first few chapters in our book - the first chapter was on the history of cuisines and the chefs who started them.  From there we hit some main points on nutrition, safety & sanitation.  We then dove in to the chapter on recipes & menus and then learned about recipe conversion and food cost per plate. This required some math and following a formula that had me scratching my head a bit but I think I'll catch on after I thoroughly read the chapter.  He then went over what the knives in our knife set are each meant for and the safety involved.  He shared a story about a girl who cut her fingers on the first day of class because she wasn't paying attention while cleaning her knife.  I fear this will be me.    
     We did go to the kitchen at the very end for another tour and to ask any questions as next time we will spend most of the time in the kitchen. 
     We don't have class next week due to the holiday and I'm going to miss it.  I really have learned so much already.  I will definitely be doing my homework and hope to share my progress along the way.  Did you know I never knew the right way to cut onion!?  Oh so much to learn....
Til next class.