We used: oven, bowls, scale, knives, pots and the stovetop.
Week one of our final. We started making a White Chocolate Mousse Raspberry Torte. I was really nervous! We had a frozen raspberry insert, white chocolate mousse, pate décor, and a Emmanuel Sponge with cherries and pistachios. This is the first time I have made all of these elements on my own. I think I did pretty good. If I do say so myself. We used: oven, bowls, scale, knives, pots and the stovetop.
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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.
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.
I thought this week would be a repeat of last week. I was happy to be wrong. We made a poblano & corn soup, achiote rice, tres leche cake, lemon chess pie, lamb with cilantro pesto and jalapeno preserves, empanadas (pork) and gazpacho. My favorite dish was the lamb. I was supposed to be filled with the cilantro pesto. However by the time I removed the big fat pockets, it was not suitable for pounding and rolling. Instead, I cut it into cubes and marinated it in the spice blend. I served it with the two sauces on the side. WOW, it was so good! The spice in the lamb worked perfectly with the sweetness of the jalapeno preserves and the saltiness of the pesto. My chess pie did not have time to set-up properly, but it was fantastic. We were missing a few people this week, so Chef Craig jumped in and made the calabacitas con maize. Roasted in the oven, they were perfect.
This week was all about flavor! I have eaten almost all of these dishes, but I have never made any of them. The standouts were: LBJ Pedernales Chili, Crab Quesadillas with green chili chutney and pork flautas. The green chili chutney was the most interesting. It contained an entire cup of sugar. As a result it got hard like candy. It was delicious! I am not a big fan of crab, but the quesadillas were really good. Because of the dough, there were more like an empanada. On the second day I made Caldo De Res-a beef soup garnished with corn on the cob. It seemed strange, but was not only good but beautiful. One last thing, the rub for the pork was really good. It gave the pork a great, rich deep red color to the pork.
This was a really great week! We made some great salads and side dishes. The standouts were the oven smoked ribs, steak fries (oven "fried"), 2 types of oven roasted green beans, and 2 types of chocolate pudding cake. The fries really tasted as if they had been deep fried. The ribs were super spicy, possibly to spicy for the average person. But I really like them. We only had one bean dish to make, but Chef Craig had some Chinese long beans and he had me roast them as well. MMMMM!! Then Chef had me make two versions of the pudding cake. One followed the menu, the other Chef had me adjust the flour and add nuts. It tasted like the richest brownie ever. That is one of the things I really like about Chef Craig, he always encourages us to find our own way. Great week!
Sadly, this week was a bust. The hoods in kitchen were not functioning. We could not cook anything.
Objective- Finish the south on a high note!
Recipes- Hoppin John Salad w/ pecan vin., Pulled Pork (smoke first, oven finish), "Firecracker" slaw (add jalep.), Potato Salad, Vidalia Onion Tart w/ roasted tomato sauce and green basil oil, Grits and Banana Pudding Equipment Used- Tart pan, stove, oven, rolling pin, bowls, pans and scale What I learned/Personal Observations- No matter what, I still don't grits!! Only a small slice of the tart is needed. It is very rich. Warm Banana pudding is truly an acquired taste. |
AuthorKimberly-baker and food history enthusiast! Archives
March 2015
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