On 12/27/2013 I got to do something a lot of professional chefs have never done. I helped to prepare a meal for the James Beard House. Chef Clair was asked to prepare the New Years Eve meal for a fund raiser. Well when the sign-up sheet was posted, my name was the first on the list. We prepped a stuffed rabbit thigh. First we cut and soaked the foie gras, then we blanched the swiss chard and de-boned the rabbit thighs. We wrapped the foie gras in the chard and stuffed the thigh then it was wrapped with caul fat. The part I played was small, but it was an incredible honor!!!
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Christmas this year was a simple quiet one. There were only five of us, but it was fun and festive! My gift to myself was a Japanese grater!!!
Last day- we made two kinds of fish (flat/round), two kinds of vegetables and a sauce. For our flat fish we used fluke. I have never had fluke before. I poached it and paired it with sautéed Brussels sprouts. I shaved the sprouts and seasoned them with chopped garlic, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and cinnamon. My sauce was made with fish stock, butter, lemon and sage. Our round fish was catfish. I fried the catfish. I seasoned that with a mix of breadcrumbs, cornmeal, salt and cinnamon. Cinnamon works great with all kinds of things. I paired the catfish with sautéed turnip bottoms, carrots and leeks. Chef Craig said that I had the best poached fish of the class. I got docked three points on my sprouts. He like the taste and texture, but I should have paired the flavors of the fish and sprouts a little more. I LOVED this class. I will miss cooking on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. It was well worth my lack of sleep for the past 11 weeks.
I'm not sure if there was a theme to this workshop. We made sandwiches. I know, culinary school and you made sandwiches? Well these were no ordinary sandwiches. Chef Craig roasted cranberries in the oven. I blended some of the cranberries with mascarpone, black pepper, orange zest and thyme. We used that as a base/spread. From there, some of the sandwiches were filled with pear and chicken. We also made a blend of other cheeses, put them on French bread (made by the bread class), brushed them with butter and fresh basil and toasted them. We filled those sandwiches with tomato, apple and chicken. The humble sandwich, elevated for the afternoon.
This was an interesting week. Why? Because we cooked spam. I've never had spam before. To my surprise, I liked it. We also Char Siu( BBQ pork loin), Mussels in coconut broth( Thai ), Red Lentil Soup w/ Walla Walla marmalade, Halibut w/ warm apple and cherry compote, Daikon cakes, Ahi Poke, Spam Musubi (Sushi style ), Saimin ( clear broth w/ somen noodles and kamabobo), calamari salad and Pineapple fritters. Everything was really good. My favorites were the Halibut and the Daikon cakes. I did double the amount of cherries in the compote. It needed it.
California cuisine-lots of flavor, very rich. This week we set things up catering style. We did all of the prep work on Tuesday and finished and plated on Wednesday. So basically, on Tuesday I chopped and chopped. But is was worth it. We made two soups, cream od garlic and chilled avocado and cucumber. I loved the garlic, the avocado, not so much. It would make a great face cream! We also made scallops, duck breast, chicken breast, penne pasta and a fantastic polenta dish. The polenta had montery ack cheese and roasted poblano peppers. I think the garlic soup and the polenta were my favorite dishes of the week.
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AuthorKimberly-baker and food history enthusiast! Archives
March 2015
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