Regional Cusine - France

Glen was Mr. Mise on Thursday afternoon. Organization was his middle name. He even got an early start (below) on reducing his wine sauce!

France is a monster of a country, gastronomically speaking, and Glen was a bit nervous to take it on. With over 22 regions, no other country in the world boasts as many sophisticated restaurants, unique local markets, produces as many different varietals of quality wines, or has such an immense wealth of regional specialties as France. With over 22 regions, the French have been perfecting the art of gastronomy long before we were even a country.

Take it away Glenn!! He was all business this morning as he gave us his presentation and demonstrated a very classic Bistro Menu.

He began with a wonderful Salade Frisee Aux Lardons Et Oeuf Poche, or Salad Lyonnaise as it is called. A nice light mustard vinaigrette over frisee lettuce with a sprinkling of bacon then topped with poached eggs. (perfectly poached I must add) It was wonderful. Next he pan seared some rib-eye steaks that he covered in caramelized shallots, finishing by roasting them off in the oven. He served the steaks with a Red Wine Jus. This was a bottle of wine reduced down "au sec" with a mixture of vegetable and herbs. Then he added a few cups of veal stock and reduced it down again. (I think he spent the night in the kitchen) He strained the final liquid serving the steaks on a pool of this flavorful au jus.

Of course the perfect accompan- iment, to this steak and classic salad would be Pommes Frites!

Awesome job Glenn. We were all quite happy to have arrived in France with such a lovely meal.

We continued our day by making Coquilles St. Jacques, which are scallops baked in a wonderful sauce with wine, cream and cheese.

Definitely not a low-cal dish. We also made a Coq Au Vin, the classic chicken dish braised in red wine. A Cassoulet, which is basically a layered dish of white beans, bacon, lamb, duck confit, chicken and sausage. A pheasant casserole which is absolutely fantastic. Another team made a French onion soup and last but not least, a Tarte Tatin. Sergio took a video of Glenn and I flipping this monster of an apple dessert. As soon as I get the copy I will post it. A fantastic replay of a near disaster. This apple tart is started stove top then finished in the oven. It is inverted onto a plate to serve. (The tricky part)

Oh, and one more thing. We had french dip sandwiches that Mel made with all the leftover roast beef from the day before.

I have got to stop eating like this!

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 - 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

Nutrition and Healthy Cuisine - The Final

I am so happy that this unit is over. It has been a intense three weeks and I am so ready for a change. I decided to stay up and watch Top Chef even though I planned to be in the kitchen by 6. I got completely hooked when I found out one of the teams was doing a orange and asparagus salad! That's what I was doing for my salad. (A bit different caliber though.) Well, their salad was not received too well by the judges. Was this an omen? Should I make a last minute recipe change? I almost called my friend Jackie, who is a die hard Top Chef fan for a consult.
"Go to bed" I heard my inner voice of reason say. I listened. Besides I wasn't planning on having my salad become a sexual experience like the Top Chefs did.

Despite all my angst, the final went well. I was pleased with my Asparagus and Orange salad which was very well received by Chef.
I blanched the asparagus then chilled them in the dressing until they were nice and cold. The dressing consisted of reduced orange juice, thickened with an arrow root slurry, a mixture of balsamic and sherry wine vinegar, shallots and just a little olive oil.
I had to watch those calories!
It was refreshing and flavorful.

My main course was a simple saute of chicken scallops with sauteed mushrooms and a wine, shallot and stock reduction. I would have liked just a little butter in there but with a rich chicken stock and a splash of lemon, the flavor was great. Very clean. I attempted to tourne ( a cut that makes a seven equal sided football shape) new potatoes. They looked pretty darn good until I sauteed them in the glace de volaille and they lost their sharp edges. Oh well live and learn. Chef liked my flavors, appreciated my attempt at tourneing a potato and loved my salad.
I kept the calorie count at just over 500. (If Ryan's calculations are correct.)

Tomorrow we say good bye to Chef Parker for a couple weeks and began our unit in Baking and Pastry with Chef Thomas.
I'm so excited...in just a few short weeks I'll be a pastry angel! I hope.

Goodnight

Nutrition and Healthy Cuisine- More Barley, Falafels and Tahini Sauce

This was our last day of Nutritional and Healthy Cuisine. It has been nice to learn a few techniques to create flavorable dishes with less fat and calories. We made a stir fried Barley pilaf that was quite tasty.
We also made a Jerk chicken and Falafels with a
yogurt Tahini Sauce. It was a mellow day with
plenty of time to begin our mise en place for tomorrow's final. It's like a weekly routine now.

Our mission, if we choose to take it, is to create a dish, complete with starch, vegetable and a side salad that is under 550 calories.
I have been playing around with a few different menus and let me tell you, it is not an easy task to keep a complete meal at this caloric level that is worth eating.

We get a ingredient box that doesn't make me jump for joy. Maybe a jumping jack at best.
Chicken, again! Cabbage, again!
Another report with recipes and caloric breakdowns.
Help. Ryan.
Is it cheating that you help me? I helped you for years.
What would Doug say? (WWDS)

Goodnight

Nutriton and Healthy Cuisine - Barley, Soba and Hearty Greens

Chef took away our butter today. We are now, after months of sauteing in oils and finishing our sauces with butter, having to develop flavor with out too much fat. We will rely on reduced stocks, wine, juices, herbs and spices.
We began without as much as a reflection on fusion and jumped right into Nutritional Cooking.
We arrived this morning to a wonderful vegetable stock that Chef had made for us to work with. We began with a barley salad. (above) Cooking this grain in the stock helped to give it some flavor. We roasted some cipollini onions to add to the barley along with some leeks. We steeped some currants, chili's and orange juice together then added it to some curry, lemon juice and honey. All this was tossed with the barley and left to marinate for awhile.
The next dish we made was a soba noodle salad. We used an arrowroot slurry with stock to thicken this dressing. This enabled us to cut back on much of the oils normally used. This Asian flavored dressing (soy, ginger, lime, garlic) was tossed with the noodles, a scattering of sauteed shitakes and blanched snow peas to create a very nice chilled salad.
The last recipe we prepared was a warm salad using beet greens, radicchio, arugula and spinach. The dressing again was thickened with an arrowroot slurry incorporated with orange and pomegranate juice to from vinaigrette. Only one tablespoon of oil was used. Flavorful and healthy!
What a concept. It does take more planning and prep to use this stock and slurry method. Especially if you want to have a cold salad like the soba noodles. A good a flavorful stock takes time, but once you have some on hand, the possibilities are endless. Thanks Chef.

Goodnight.

Essential Skills 3 - The Final: Meat, Fish & Poultry

For today's final we prepared four different dishes, complete with starch and vegetable. In the previous finals we prepared recipes that we had made in class. Today, however, three of the four dishes were ones we had never made in class. We were given the recipes for these dishes ahead of time, so of course I did a dry run at home, and, once again, the Traina's graciously offered to be official tasters.

Jimmy Allen says he going to start a tasting blog.


The four dishes I made today were Veal Marsala, Salmon En Papillote, Apricot and Bourbon Grilled Chicken, and Pork Chimichurri Kabobs.
I was pretty excited about my Chimichurrri sauce. I had a spice blend that I bought on my recent trip to Argentina, so I brought it in today and added it to my sauce. I had made a batch Monday night for dinner and received rave reviews. I knew I needed practice on the grill since this is one thing I never do. This has always been my husband's domain. I tried to get him to give me a grilling lesson, but I realized that after 30 years on the BBQ, perfection can't be taught in a night. He said it was a "sense." I needed something more concrete than that. I tried recruiting my good friend Terry (The BBQ Queen) but she was at the Keith Urban Concert. (Terry, I can't believe you chose Keith Urban over me!)
I had to go it alone. I resorted to my book and the clock. I poked it every few minutes and prayed a quick confession for all the times I yelled at Eric for overcooking the meat.
I think I got lucky. My pork and chicken were both cooked perfectly. I served the pork over rice with some grilled squash and black beans. I made some couscous with sauteed carrots and onions, and some green beans with butter and toasted almonds to accompany the chicken.

The veal Marsala came together fairly quickly. I sauteed a mix of mushrooms before making the pan sauce and served it with pureed potatoes, and a julienne of carrots and zucchini.

The Salmon E Papillote was the simplest to prepare and the one recipe we had made in class. A mix of julienned vegetables, stock and herb butter baked in a parchment pouch. This I served with rice. It did get a bit hectic at times and I was a little worried about the time, but eventually it all came together.
I felt good about my dishes as I presented them.
It seemed chef liked them as well. I received full points on all four of them along with some nice comments. Coming from a chef of his caliber, I savored every word.

Goodnight.

Essential Skills 2 - The Final: Vegetables, Potatoes, Grains and Pasta

I was ready. I had all my recipes down. I practiced them over the weekend and decided how I was going to present and created my time line. Despite all my efforts to prepare, I was still up most of the night with crazy food dreams.

These were the dishes I had to prepare.

1 portion of Rice Pilaf.
4 portions of Duchesse
1 portion Roesti Potatoes
1 portion of Roasted Tomato, Onion and Goat Cheese Frittatini
1 Grilled Portobella Mushroom
1 portion of Deep Fried potatoes of my choice.
1 portion of Beer Battered Onion Rings.

I had about 2 1/2 hours. Let the games begin.

Sharing the grill, and deep fryer got a little tricky. I opted to wait until the very end to fry and was the lastt to use the grill. I wanted my mushroom to marinate as long as possible.
I followed my time line pretty well and presented my dishes as I finished them. I really had fun. I served the grilled Portobella over some simple greens tossed with olive oil , salt and pepper and a drizzle of reduced balsamic over the top. My Frittatini was served over greens as well but I used a basil vinaigrette. I had roasted some extra tomato rounds and used them for a garnish. Both dishes turned out nice. My pilaf was perfect. I garnished it with a few toasted almonds. The Roesti went slow. It was hard to get the flame right with the fans going so browning evenly was challenging. My Duchesse potatoes looked like cousins instead of identical twins so I got a point taken off. I made shoestring potatoes (yes, hand cut,) that came out great and finally my onion rings that could of used another minute in the deep fryer. Another point taken off. I guess I got a little excited to finish and got impatient. All in all I was quite happy with my points and comments.
48 out of 50.
Not bad.
Chef is going to Las Vegas to judge a food competition for three day so tomorrow we will have a substitute to star us off with Meat Cookery!
I am definitely ready for some protein.

Goodnight.

Essential Skills 2 - Spaetzle and Orzo

This morning started with my third written final. I am a pro at test taking now. I still read the chapters twice, and fill out my workbook, but I don't spend the day before at Pete's re-reading the text and stressing out. My husband says I'm settling in.

The test went quickly and we moved right into making spaetzle. In Austria, Germany and Switzerland, spaetzle is a traditional accompaniment to roasted meats and game stews.


Like a small dumpling, these was very interesting to make. You pour the sticky batter (water, flour,egg and salt) into the grater like spaetzle maker and press it through with a plastic pastry spatula. Little droplets of batter fall through into simmering water and cook to form tiny dumplings. They float to the surface when done. We shocked them and then dried them a bit before sauteing them in butter and glace de viande.

We also made some orzo pasta with creamed leeks and Parmesan cheese. Another comfort food.
Quite easy to
put together, you just boil up orzo, which is a small oval shaped pasta. While that is cooking, saute your sliced leeks in a little butter then cook them until tender in chicken stock. Add some cream. Reduce down a bit, then mix in the Parmesan cheese.
A great side dish.

We are preparing 7 recipes for the final on Monday and were able to start gathering some supplies and begin our mise en place.

I know what I will be doing this weekend. I think my husband is pretty tired of pasta and potatoes but I do need to practice. Even Jim is starting to get full.

Goodnight.

Essential Skills 2 - Pasta

I like pasta for breakfast. It's comforting. Like oatmeal but with much more flavor. Maybe I just prefer savory to sweet in the morning, anyways, it's nice to not have to worry about making breakfast in the morning before I leave.

We rolled out our pasta and turned it into fettuccine and raviolis. This was all quite labor intensive. We used a large hand cranked past machine, carefully feeding our dough through it and bringing the rollers closer together after each feed, until we reached the desired thickness.
We then attached the fettuccine cutter and fed the flattened pasta sheets through this cutter to create our ribbons . We formed the raviolis by hand with sheets of very thin pasta. A true labor of love.

Our filling for the ravioli was a mixture of goat cheese, Parmesan cheese and fresh basil.
Chef, using a very quick and simple technique, created fettuccine Alfredo right in the pan. He tossed the cooked pasta, which only took a very short time to cook, with a little pasta water, Parmesan cheese and butter.
It was delicious.
The raviolis were carefully boiled (more like a simmer) and then served with a variation of the classic Alfredo. (Adding cream and omitting the pasta water



We took a break to preview the Garde-Manger Banquet that another class was putting on. It was incredible. Chef told us to take a good look because he expected us to take what we saw to a new level.

Nothing like a little pressure. It's hard to believe that we will be putting on a banquet like this in just a month! I get to invite 10 people. Who wants to come??


























Tomorrow is the written final, a few last pasta recipes, and setting up for for our practical on Monday. My days are starting to blur together.

Goodnight.

Essential Skills 2 - Potatoes, Grains

Comfortably back in my kitchen with my partner Laurie we continued with potato recipes and attempted our first grain recipe - Quinoa. (keen-wa). Quinoa is an interesting grain, which was a common food of the Incas. Although not botanically a true grain, it's tiny seeds are treated as such. Gluten free and increasing in popularity these days it is marketed as the world's "super grain" because the seeds form a complete protein and contain important vitamins and minerals as well as carbohydrates and fats. (Yes, I'm a nerd who actually reads the text book.) It is basically cooked similar to rice. Sautéed then allowed to steam.

The next recipe was Duchesse Potatoes. These were so fun to make. It is basically a mashed potato with some eggs and then piped into a conical shape. These are traditionally served with chateaubriand or used for a buffet.
We will have to make these for our next practical test on Monday. Mine were not the most uniform shapes so, once again, I had the Traina's over for dinner to practice and once again, I forgot to heat their plates! They are tough.

The next recipe was Roesti Potatoes, which was a type of Potato pie, hash brown style, stuffed with caramelized onions and fried stove top. We all practiced out flipping technique. Plate on top, flip pan and plate over, slide pie back into pan. I didn’t hear any plate shattering.




Finally we made some potato pancakes that were absolutely delicious. I have a good friend named Virginia, (are you out there) who in my mind makes the best potato pancakes ever. (Actually, everything she makes is the best)



Her recipe was passed down to her from her Lithuanian Grandma. I think the ones I made today might hold a candle to hers. Maybe. We just might have to have a pancake cook off!!

Goodnight.

Essential Skills 2 - Potatoes

I switched from my morning class to the afternoon class just for today. It was a good experience to be with a different class and a different chef. I thoroughly enjoyed Chef Udo's style and personality, and enjoyed seeing a few people I had met in the Serve Safe class. I also came away with a new appreciation of my class when it comes do doing dishes.

One potato, two potato, three potatoes.....Did you know that there are 7,000 different varieties of potatoes in this world? I see maybe 10 different types in the produce markets around here. Where are the other 6990? I recently took a trip to Argentina (via Taylor-Made Tours; see my links) and came across these beautiful wild potatoes in a cooking class.

I'm straying.....back to class.

We learned which types of potatoes worked best for the various cooking methods. Your "mealy" (also known as starchy) potatoes have a high starch content and thick skin. They are low in sugar and are best for baking, deep frying and mashing. Your "waxy" potatoes (fingerlings, Yukon gold’s, reds) have a low starch content and are better for steaming boiling and roasting. They are too glutinous for mashed and contain too much moisture for deep frying.

With that said... we took some russets and made Gratin Dauphinoise. You really can't go wrong cream and Gruyere. We then put together a nice grilled potatoes salad using red potatoes and dressing it with basil vinaigrette. Next some classic Lyonnais potatoes (fried potatoes and onions), little steamed tourners with parsley and butter and finally some French fries.

Tomorrow...

…four potatoes, five potatoes, six potatoes more.

Goodnight.