The Aftermath of Practicals

In my January 17 post I mentioned something about washing dishes - part of the glamor of attending culinary school. Today we had our practicals for Veg, Starch & Protein Cookery. I'm not sure why one plate and a dessert would generate so many dishes - but it did. This picture only gives a glimpse of the accumulated bowls, pans and other equipment required for today's test. Anna worked at the dish washing station for an extended period before this picture was taken (so did I and I have dish pan hands to prove it) and a number of other people were concurrently washing dishes at other sinks - cleanup was longer today than any other class all quarter . . . we even had so many dishes piled up that we expanded into a work area next to the sinks (no, Jonah did not create that mess by himself!)

My own plate had some issues and chef gently pointed out its failures as well as suggested a number of alternatives to my choosen ingredients and the way I presented them. He liked my dessert (a Blueberry Mango Crisp with cinnamon dusted vanilla ice cream) so my practical ended up on a positive note (chef finished my dessert - a true compliment).

This was our last lab for this class and a special thanks to Jennifer (our Lab Assistant) who scrounged up some blueberries for me after I discovered that I had left mine at home.

Infused (and confused?)

Our current assignment for Soups and Sauces was to create an infused oil. I just happened to have some grapeseed oil in the pantry - however its age was unknown (most likely several years old) although it had never been opened.

I was surprised at the color of the oil, I thought it would be clear like canola. I also thought its taste would be very bland, it wasn't, and in spite of its color it was not as fruity as olive oil. After some thought about garlic and roasted garlic infusions, I finally decided on simply using a dry Italian herb mix that consisted of oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme and cracked rosemary. I heated one cup of the grapeseed oil to 150 degrees F and dumped about one and a half tablespoons of the herb mix into the warm oil. After a few days, I strained the oil and did some taste tests of my infused oil with some plain bread. I also tried adding some freshly grated parmesan cheese, black pepper and some more of the herb mix on a plate.

My initial tasting left me with two impressions, either the amount of time was too short for the infusion and/or the amount of dried herbs needs to be significantly increased. On to plan B.

Goodbye old friend

At about 8:25 AM, my Waring Model 11CM10 lost one of its blades while grinding some coffee beans. This little machine was probably older than most of my classmates as it has been around for a long time. It will be missed at least until I get a replacement later today.

My friend Mary points out that "You might be a foodie if . . .

you fill your bath tub up with carp and whitefish to make your own gefilte fish for Passover."

You might be a foodie if

I have asked a number of people to describe a "foodie" and I think I will start adding their comments at the end of each post.

For example, Nichole suggests, "You might be a foodie if . . .

you have cooked anything with a foil wrapped brick.

the employees at Sur La Table, Penzeys Spices and Whole Foods ask YOU how to use their products.

you have 3 kinds of yeast in your refrigerator and 11 varieties of vinegar in your cupboard.

you actually prefer getting a blender for anniversary - provided its a Vita-Mix Pro 500.

you have taken your "Food Lover's Companion" to the beach.

you have tried to smuggle a beginning-to-smell raw milk cheese through U.S. customs.

if you plot lunch at breakfast, dinner at lunch and dream about breakfast!"

The practical plan

I think fruit may showing up as a salad item and incorporated in some sort of "unconventional" fruit crisp for dessert. The dessert will need to bake and cool a bit so it will probably be the first item in the work queue. However, I'm still searching for an appropriate dressing for a composed fruit salad. This part of the plan is still a bit uncertain.

Looks like my experiments with roasting roma tomatoes are going to lead toward a barley risotto with roasted tomatoes. I ran across a little video on Eatdrinkordie.com starring Top Chef's Tom Colicchio which led to the idea of roasted tomato barley risotto. I like the flavor profile, the color added by the roasted tomatoes as well as the subtle overtones from the garlic is which roasted along with the tomatoes.

I'll probably use an apple cider marinade on the pork while the tomatoes roast and the dessert bakes although that time span may not allow much flavor infusion from the marinade. I think I'll probably pan sear the whole piece of pork and let it finish in the oven while the rest of the menu is completed. When it comes out and is resting, I have some left over Australian syrah and/or a Washington state cabernet blend to reduce as a pan sauce

My braising efforts with Belgian endive have produced somewhat uneven results as it is a bit delicate when braised. As things currently stand, I think braised fennel will most likely make the plate along side of the barley risotto.

Creative Avoidance

Chef gave us an outline for our Practical in two weeks with an assignment for developing our plate based on the outline. So another series of trips to the grocery stores has yielded some Belgian endive and fennel to braise, another pommelo to test plus some Roma tomatoes to roast. I'm currently inclined to choose sea bass as my protein but I would like to find some fillets for experiments before I get too far along in this process.

Meanwhile, I continue to find creative ways which are helping me to avoid dealing with this next challenge in a couple weeks. For example, a new dish for me (Lasagne Bolognese with Spinach) should be coming out of the oven in about 20 minutes. We had a Foundation class share its bolognese sauce a couple of weeks ago during lab. That experience brought back some memories of my own Foundation class and has been in the back of my mind to find another way to use that sauce. So while I researching ideas for our Practical I ran across this recipe. The dish has a small amount of tomato paste in it but no other forms of tomatoes. Thus it is not as "saucy" as most lasagnas and its texture is also a little different. (My food critic thought it had good flavor but guessed that it would be a little dry when reheated.)

I also uploaded Turbo Tax this afternoon and did a quick run through of my 2009 taxes. What does that have to do with culinary school?? The American Opportunity Credit for 2009 (and 2010) is a tax credit for undergraduate college expenses. What a great deal for the culinary students at Metro!

40 cloves and counting

Last Thursday we had an extensive menu in class which included "Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic." I do not remember how it turned out in class Thursday so I thought I would give it a try the next day. I served it with some non-instant couscous flavored with some Meyer lemons and zest. I didn't get the couscous steamed very well so that part of our meal was so so at best. The chicken was just OK (my food critic described the taste as "a little dark") - I might try this again when the weather is a little more conducive for grilling the chicken before it gets braised. Also I think I may have been a little heavy on the amount of oil used to brown the chicken and the garlic cloves. So I see another 40 cloves in my future.

Yes, it was me

Yes that wonderful aroma of steaks on the 'barbie at 7:00 PM was created by me grilling USDA Prime rib eyes on my charcoal-fired Weber last night in the dark. Yes I know that the outside temperature was 20 degrees but the wind was non-existent so it only felt like 20 degrees. Yes I served those steaks with some Bearnaise sauce (the kind of Bearnaise Chef would say is for a "leetle girl") and Chef's creamed spinach. The steaks and spinach were pretty tasty. You know, sometimes in winter you just have to say, "What the heck." One of these days I'm going to make a real Bearnaise . . .

Damn it, Chef

First, it was "illegal" Chef bread. Now, the list has grown to include oatmeal cookies. I'm not much of a fan for cookies, especially any cookie with fruit in it. The recipe was modified to eliminate the raisins and dates - I substituted craisins, toasted pecans and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Damn.

Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde

Our menu today certainly wasn't one of my favorites for the quarter. Yet if I had to "sign up" for more sessions on this menu, I would be first in line. Today's menu is one of the reasons why I'm in school - to expand my culinary horizon beyond the the everyday type of things we tend to cook. Veggie burgers - I don't think so - but Brian's burger was really good and showed how someone with some skills and imagination can take some rather mundane ingredients and make them literally sing.

We had chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes with a side dish of quinoa pilaf for dinner - maybe I'm making some progress - who knows?