Regional Cooking of Europe - Italy

This is Mookie. One morning chef came in the kitchen and told us all that he had an epiphany during the night and dubbed Ron , which is his birth name, Mookie. No one has called him Ron since. He says he is over 18 but I've yet to see his drivers licence. In fact now that I think about it, I have never seen him drive. Mookie challenges me to no end. If he isn't sticking a hand in one of my pictures thinking it is funny for the 100th time then he is scooping or shoveling, depending on the dish, food into his mouth in a way that would make any mother cringe. I tell him it's not so cute anymore but he's dead set on eating like it's his first meal in weeks. Maybe months. It's amazing the amount of food this little sprite can put away.

Mookie wrapped up the unit on Italy with some Sicilian fare. He marinated some olives with peppers, red onions, cauliflower, and carrots, then grilled some swordfish which he served with a sauce of fresh mint , capers, lemon juice and parsley that he had made earlier. A bit short of a demonstration though the fish was very tasty. The olive mixture was also quite nice and would get even better as it marinated.






To the rescue Chef Doug, who is the pastry and Baking Chef that is in the kitchen next door. (Remember, serious but with laughing eyes-a little mysterious?)

Chef Doug gave us a lesson on how to cook the perfect pizza. He had made the dough the night before and had it all ready for us to create our own personal pizza's.
We had a whole
smorgasbord of toppings to choose from and after assembling our pizza we baked them in Chef Doug's ovens to achieve a perfect crust. It was great pizza. It's amazing what the right oven can do.


The taste made me yearn for Italy.



It was a wonderful end to a busy week. A Friday pizza day. After class a few of us went and saw the new Indiana Jones movie. I still managed to find room for popcorn.


Goodnight.

Regional Cuisine of Europe - Italy

Jestynn was up again this morning for her second presentation with more Italian cookery. In her usual style of short and sweet, she made a White Lasagna with Shrimp that had a nice bechamel sauce and layers of cheese, and a pepper stew.

She kept it simple and was finished quickly. I loved that she brought in her mothers corning ware casserole dish. Boy did that bring back memories!
While we waited for her lasagna to bake chef put together another lasagna with a Bolognese sauce. He assembled them in a narrow terrine alternating the meat sauce with the bechamel sauce.





He then gave us a demonstration on making fresh buffalo mozzarella. You start with the curd and heat it in water until all the whey is gone and you have this soft mass. You lift it out of the hot water oil and gently roll it into a ball then drop it into ice water to set. It was delicious with a little olive oil, salt, and ground pepper.

I spent the rest of the day making butternut squash ravioli. A true labor of love. Some of the other dishes that people worked on were linguine with clams, lasagna and another variation of chicken Marsala. We hosted the daily school luncheon and before I could get my act together to take a picture of the dishes everything was pretty much gone.

Oh well. It all looked nice.
Pizza tomorrow.
Goodnight.

Regional Cuisines of Europe - Itlay

Nicholas A. Olla. Now that's Italian. Cute as a button, the nicest guy in the class and also one with class. (He even listens to opera and is one of the few men rather than boys in the kitchen that does dishes- thank you Nick!) I found out today that he used to work for Air Italia until post 911 then decided to follow his passion and become a chef. He put on a slide show of some personal pictures he had of a trip he took to Italy that were fantastic. Enthusiastic about this cuisine and knowledgeable. He made some Potato Gnocchi with a Liomone sauce that was to die for. He used his homemade Limoncello in the sauce. Seems it takes a few months to really mature so I think he'll have to give me some of his so I can make it at home.

He carefully mixed the grated potatoes with the eggs and cheese. Then he added the flour in slowly until it was just thee right consistency to roll .
After we feasted on Gnocchi's chef made a Veal Scaloppine with Lemon and Fennel and a Chicken Saltimbocca, which translates as "jump in the mouth". That's how good it is!
You pound out a chicken breast then layer it with sage leaves, thinly sliced prosciutto and some Parmesan cheese., You saute the rolled breast then finish it off in the oven. Meanwhile, back in the pan you create a wonderful sauce with shallots, Marsala, mushrooms and butter. The veal was also a saute then finished with a pan sauce of white wine, stock, a little lemon and of course - butter.


I've got to stop eating like this.

Goodnight.

Regional Cuisines of Asia - India

Johnny Cakes. J.C. Johnny Costco. I think that John, pretty much has the most nicknames of anyone in the class. He has a cloud of drama that surrounds him, though just enough to be fun, or funny, or made fun of, depending on he day. We all love him. I think.
John's demonstration ended our unit on Asia with a bang. One of the best presentations to date, he gave a nice sampling and a great overview of Indian cuisine. The first dish he made was a rice dish with chicken called Hyderabad Biryani . A kind of a layered chicken casserole with basmati rice, chicken and a wonderful array of spices taken from a masala dabba, which is an Indian spice box that evidently every Indian household has. Next he made a salad of cucumbers and shredded carrot that he dressed with lemon juice and a little seasoning. He demonstrated how to make an Indian flat bread called chapati.

A Punjabi ( northern India) style bread that is grilled on a flat iron pan. It kinda puffed up as it cooked - like a tortilla.
The last thing he made was a

traditional Indian desserts which was made from ground nuts, milk and sugar served over rice vermicelli noodles and rose syrup called Falooda. Very different.

As our class made Naan, Tandoori chicken and and array of chutneys, the whole school took on the scent of India.


An aroma of spice.
Goodnight.

Regional Cuisines of Asia - Vietnam

Jestynn was on stage first thing Friday morning. In her usual style of swiftness and efficiency, she took us through a speech on Vietnam's cuisine then demonstrated three dishes.

Jestynn is the quietest member of our class. She seemingly keeps to herself, but, with a knowing smile that is nothing short of beautiful, she doesn't miss a beat.

She began by making a chicken dish with cellophane noodles, a very traditional dish that was flavorful and peppery. I think by the time I got my camera out Mookie had eaten it all. He is fork ready for every tasting and a true bottomless pit. Half the pictures I take have to be deleted because they have his hand in them trying to get at the food. I'm tempted to write to Miss Manners for advice.

Back to Jestynn. Next she made a Pickled Carrot and Daikon Salad. Refreshing and a good accompaniment to the Spicy River Prawns. Simple and
delicious.

Like I said, quick and efficient. She did a wonderful job. It was perfect because Jestynn was the only one presenting from this country so Chef had quite a few dishes to demo and for us to make.


He jumped right in and made a Pho soup. The broth was incredible. I have tried to make this at home and can never get the flavor as intense and favorable as it is in the restaurants. Well, today I learned a little trick of using a 1/2 veal stock and 1/2 chicken stock to create this wonderful broth. Which is basically a double stock. After combining the stocks you produce this broth basically by adding to it, charred onions and ginger, blanched oxtail-type bones and an array of seasonings such as star anise, cinnamon, fish sauce and duong phen,which is like a rock candy.
We served it with all the garnishes. We also made fresh spring rolls, and a Clay Pot Cat Fish.






















What a way to end a week.
Goodnight

Regional Cuisines of Asia - Japan

Meet Sergio. Handsome, friendly with a great sense of humor. He has a nickname for everyone in the class and is always teasing me because I move my mouth funny when I'm concentrating. I know I do it because my family teases me all the time at home. Whether or not I'm sewing or knitting, cooking or doing dishes, or working on the computer, whenever I concentrate intently or get lost in thought I do this thing with my mouth. Leave it to Serge to point it out to me - daily. Look at him - he just loves to have fun.
Lawyer turning chef, he is someone who is doing what he loves.

Anyway, Serge began by making Tori Naba Udon. He had made the noodles from scratch the night before. We were all duly impressed. After the water finally boiled his demo got underway. He put the soup together and it was wonderful. (Though we are all still digesting the noodles.)
He moved over to the deep fryer and pumped out Tokunatsu which is a deep fried pork dish.
Another hit.
















He ended with a Japanese style hamburger which was also very tasty. Hambaagu it was called. I thought he was messing with us until I came home and looked it up.

Chef stepped in to demonstrate some sushi rice and sent us all off to get everything ready for the sushi making extravaganza.
After we had all our fixings ready, he gave us a demo on hand rolling with a bamboo mat.





We were all were on our own to
create our sushi masterpieces.


Goodnight

Regional Cuisines of Asia - Japan

I basically pulled an all nighter to get my report finished and typed up, along with the recipes and power point presentation finished,which went much faster the second time, and everything prepped and organized for my demo. I had visited Sumika's a few times for "'research" and they had given me some of their imported charcoal to use for my yakitori demonstration. Coincidentally enough this restaurant was reviewed in the paper on Sunday. I think when I went asking questions they must of thought I was with the paper and really bent over backwards to help me out. Or, they are really just very nice. Anyways, I came home that night with binchoutan charcoal, imported from Japan and a new understanding of yakitori cooking along with the lingering taste of a delicious meal. Check out the article on Sumika. Or, their website.

Their chef had showed me how to light the coals over the flame to get them ready and when they were glowing I transferred them to a little hibachi I had set up on the grill. It is a fairly smokeless charcoal with a very subtle flavor. I grilled some chicken skewers that I basted in a yakitori sauce.
I also made some little spinach bundles that I served with a toasted sesame dressing. (Horenso No Goma Ae) Very traditional. I then used the charcoal to grill a piece of sea bass that I had marinated in a miso glaze overnight, along with a couple of Nori cakes that I made from sticky rice.
My presentation went ok except I got a little confused during the miso soup demo. How can you blow miso soup? I think I was a little tired and not thinking as clear as I was on Monday,
Anyway, it's over and done. One nice thing is that now I get to hang back for the next three weeks and just watch everyone else. I can also start working on my menu for the over all final that will be at the end of June.
Chef demonstrated a Sukiyaki for us which we all made together later in the kitchen and prepared some ingredients for sushi making the next day.
I came home from school and took a nice long nap, woke up and went up to San Francisco to see Carlos Santana. What a day. No seats at the Fillmore. I think I fell asleep standing up.

Goodnight.

Regional Cuisines of Asia - Thailand

Laurie went next with more Thai cuisine. She was very prepared, showing some interesting slides of life in Thailand, including a video of a street vendor making some type of a sweet dessert, and demonstrating some delicious dishes that were quite different from mine. She began with a Spicy Jasmine Rice. Stirred frying the chilies, garlic, ginger and shallots together before putting it all together in the steamer.
Next she made a Thai Cucumber Salad. A nice refreshing salad to counteract the heat from the other dishes. She sauteed up some Thai style eggplant that was delicious then grilled a pork kebab that had been marinating overnight in some lemongrass, fish sauce, chilies, coconut milk and some other various ingredients. We were served a wonderful little sampling.
Great job Laurie.




Chef took over and made a coconut and chicken soup and some ribbon noodles with a rad-na sauce.
We prepared another assortment of dishes which included a delicious Thai Seafood Salad (above). Once again the neighbors joined us for lunch. Classes are eating well at PCI this week.
Goodnight

Regional Cuisines of Asia - Thailand

I spent all weekend learning how to do a power point presentation, (thank you Matt Maxson), practicing Thai recipes and going out to Japanese restaurants for dinner.

I put together a nice Thai menu compliments of Joyce Jue, a wonderful cook, teacher and author that I have been lucky enough to take classes from over the years. I used all her recipes for my dishes and loved learning how to navigate my way through a power point program.
Some things never change. I have never liked speaking in front of a group and I still don't. After my slide show on Thailand I began the demonstration and once behind the stove I felt much better. Pictured above are the chilies I used for my dishes and below the Kaffir lime (rind only) and leaves that I used for the curry paste. Jim Traina (taster extraordinaire) bought me a kaffir lime tree for my birthday a few years back, so I had the fresh leaves and lime on hand.





I began with a Lemongrass soup, then made a glass noodle salad, Scallops in a Red Curry Sauce, and finished with Mangoes over sticky rice and coconut milk for dessert.
Whew. One presentation down and one to go!


After I finished, Chef demonstrated a Pad Thai and a Massaman Curry with Chicken.
Another feast.
I came home, went for a run, then took a long hot shower. I still smell like fish sauce.

Goodnight.