You win some, you lose some

The good news is that my foot has been getting better.

The bad news is that I've gone and broke my neck. Or I pinched a nerve. Something bad mysteriously happened. All I know is that I can't turn my head and it hurts a whole lot. You win some, you lose some.

This is also my last week of my first classes. If things go according to plan I will be servesafe certified and finish Culinary 1 strong. 

What I will miss most about Culinary 1 is the lunches. I already told you about the braised lamb and the grilled salmon. We also had pork chops with chambord sauce, asparagus with hollandaise and mashed potatoes one day. We also made fried shrimp and tartar sauce. Another day we had a duo of soups. One was a leek and potato potage and the other was lobster bisque. They were both incredibly delicious. The only down side of the lobster bisque was the killing of the lobsters. I hadn't really expected to see that. Our chef said the most humane way to do it is to just chop them right in half, which is what he did. I was slightly disturbed but by the time we were done cooking, the lobster had become just ingredients to me. Oh so very tasty ingredients. 

Oh, and Happy Halloween!

I'm Learning!

Write it down! I made dinner for my husband!

I have made dinners before (usually something I can bake or put in the crockpot) but it is always for company and it is always from a recipe. Earlier this week I COOKED my husband dinner for maybe the first time ever, and I didn't even need a recipe. I have maybe made him a grilled cheese sandwich before and once I think I cooked him some eggs for breakfast, but dinner? Never. (well, I guess there was the lamb last week but the husband helped a little with that)

I made grilled chicken tacos with a fresh and warm corn, tomato and red wine vinegar onion salsa. There was also a side of black beans and queso fresco and avocado to put on top. It was delicious! I was shocked! I felt so good about it that I made desert too!

For desert I poached pears in white wine, then I stuffed the center with chopped up dates and pecans and put them in the oven. Meanwhile I made a syrup with brown sugar, water, a little wine, star anise, cloves and cinnamon. I drizzled it over the pear and done! Dessert! *I forgot to take a picture so I will recreate it and add at a later date

Next week is my last week of culinary class. I am sad. I have heard it said over and over that if you want to be a good pastry chef you need to be a good savory chef. I am determined to make that happen so I am going to try to cook at least once a week from now on. In theory, I should know how to do that now.

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So my brother had a pie party last weekend. A brilliant, filling, and then sickening idea. Just kidding, it was plain great. The rule was you had to bring pie or a beverage. I made two contributions because I am an over achiever.

All the pies!
(My pecan pie is the 1/2 eaten one)

First I made this pecan pie recipe. I was curious what a pecan pie without corn syrup would be like. Fabulous. Way better than normal which is good news for me since I am technically allergic to corn. It was very much a typical pecan pie but without the syrupy sweetness. I made a clove crust and Amaretto whipped cream which really sealed the deal. The whipped cream was more popular than the pie actually. I forgot to take a pic of this pie until it was half eaten on the pie table.

Pi pies

Next I made these apple pie cookies. I mostly wanted to make these so I could bring in pi. I had the idea to carve the numbers into the tops of the crust instead of the usual little slits you make in pies (is there a technical term for those?). It was really had to get a good picture of these cookies but you get the idea. They were really yummy too, a perfect cross between pie and a cookie. I used a cinnamon crust for these. I can't wait to make these again.

I did not use the pie crust given in the apple pie recipe. I always use a recipe from America's Test Kitchen that I found in a magazine a few years ago. I never really thought too much about the crust of a pie until I made this one. It is so delicious. I now love the crust and feel like it should really have a presence in a pie. It isn't just there to hold the filling together, it can make or break a pie. I usually pump up the volume of the crust recipe by adding a few extra spices or some secret ingredient. Making the crust has become my favorite part of making pie.

All the pies were really tasty. I was not smart though and I took too big of pieces to begin with so I did not get to sample all the pies. Now I know for next time!

Ah, Friday

It has been a rather stressful week (4 tests!) but this weekend is sure to make up for it.

First, my lovely pseudo-sisters brought me back these little beauties from Paris! Lets pretend I took the photo before I started eating them. They are wonderful and they make me happy and I haven't been sharing them with my husband.

Second, tonight my brother is having a pie party. The only point of the party is to eat pie. I'm in. I made a pecan pie this morning (which I over baked a little, oops)and I have another project in mind for this afternoon. Lets hope I can pull it off in time.

Third, we don't really have any plans this weekend. Lately this is rare. I can't wait to get appropriate amounts of sleep and get some housework done. And make macaroons, lots of adorable little french macaroons.

Skillz

I realize that what I consider to be major accomplishments in school right now are things that normal people do on a daily basis in their homes because it is what normal people do. Normal people can cut things up without incident. Normal people can saute vegetables without breaking into cold sweats. Normal people will also know when these vegetables are done cooking. Normal people can grill a piece of fish. I don't know how I missed obtaining the basic skill of cooking, even cooking simply. If you watch How I Met Your Mother, this is one of my (many) gaps in knowledge.

I really shouldn't be so excited and feel so proud that I grilled a piece of fish today but I do. I have never grilled anything except a cheese sandwich before. But, I also can now fillet and skin that fish. Not everyone can do that (right?).

The culinary course I am in now has stepped it up a notch. There is a whole lot less cutting going on and now more cooking. I know how to make stocks and sauces (with fancy french names). I know what it means to sweat vegetables. I can tie, cut and de-bone a chicken. But what I am most proud of is that I made dinner on Sunday.

In class last week our instructor showed us how to  make braised lamb and I wrote down every step so that I could try it at home.

For braised lamb you want something like a shoulder, something a little more on the tough side and with lots of connective tissue. You also need a large pan or dutch oven that you can bake. Lightly season the meat with some kosher salt. The first step is to sear the meat to a nice brown color on all sides, getting a good carmelization in the pan. Set the meat aside.

Cut up a couple onions and shallots in a medium dice. Heat them up in a little oil and then cover the pan to sweat the vegetables until they are translucent. Add minced garlic (about 10 cloves). Cook for another minute. Then add a small can of tomato paste and mix in with the veggies. Once that has been well incorporated add some flour (about 3/4 cup). Gently mix in the flour and cook for a minute or two. Then add 4 roma tomatoes, halved and slice thin. Cover and cook for another minute to release the juices. Make a bouquet garni with some thyme, black peppercorns and a bay leaf. Throw the meat and the veggie mixture into the pan with the bouquet garni and bake for about 2 1/2 hours with a cover on. I started out at 350 and reduced to 325 after about an hour.

Mean while blanch some green beans and cut up some turnips, carrots and potatoes. I used 4 of each and a bunch of green beans. You could add more if you want to go heavy on the vegetables. Steam the potatoes in one pan and the carrots and turnips in another (add salt to the potatoes and sugar to the other). We steamed ours by making a parchment paper cover. Set the veggies aside.

Right before the lamb is done, saute the potatoes in a little oil. Saute the carrots and turnips in a little oil with some sugar to make kind of a little glaze. Throw the green beans in for a minute towards the end just to heat them back up.

When the lamb and all the vegetables are done, put them all in a large bowl and gently mix to combine them. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Eat and enjoy!

When the chef made this in class and we all got to eat it, our class was ridiculously happy. It made my day. It is perfect for these damp, cold fall days and I can't wait to do it again.

This is what we call the...

Muppet show!

This weekend I got to exercise my decorating skill. Our godson turned five last week and he requested Muppet cupcakes for his birthday party. The Muppet Show was a big part of my childhood so I was happy to help. His mom and I did some research to see how this could be done. We ended up dividing the labor, she made the cupcakes and I decorated. It worked out well since she also needed to prepare lunch for the other guests and also entertain people.

I have never really attempted anything like this. I used fondant to make some of the faces or embellishments like  glasses or Fozzie's hat. My friend bought candy eyes so that part was all done for me. I did change Kermit's,,
Miss Piggy and Gonzo's eyes a little to try to make them look a little more accurate. Some were dipped in white chocolate ganache that was colored and some that we wanted more texture for I used buttercream. I used a Jim Henson book for reference and I did a google image search for muppet cupcakes which came up with some amazing results! I made Kermit, Miss Piggy, Bunson, Beaker, Rolf, Fozzie, Gonzo, Scooter and Animal with varying levels of success. Beaker and Fozzie were my favorites. Overall, I was happy and so was the birthday boy. He ate Beaker.

I couldn't handle eating any of them so I had a plain cupcake.

I'm excited to try something like this again. Fondant is very fun to work with. Trying to mix the correct colors was my favorite part.

Mise En Place

For the first week (at least) of class the instructor kept referring to mise en place and I had no idea what he was talking about. I'm not sure if he explained it and I wasn't paying attention, or more likely he didn't explain it ever and hoped we would just figure it out. He does that. He is a very brief man.

Mise en place for cupcake fail

Mise en place means everything in its place. I have never been great at having everything ready before I start a recipe. I'm not even good at reading all the way through a recipe before I start. I was making cupcakes yesterday morning and I thought I might as well give it a try. Turns out, it is super nice and handy to have everything ready to go. I like it!

Actually I made cupcakes twice this week. The first time I used a new recipe. I'm not sure why. It all went fine and the cupcakes looked great but then they sank when I took them out of the oven. They tasted great but looked terrible. The recipe seemed suspect to begin with, it had tons of sugar and very little flour. And a lot of milk too.

After that fail I went with my go-to cupcake cookbook. It is a vegan cupcake book I got when I made 500 vegan cupcakes for a wedding last summer. I'm not vegan so when I use these recipes for me I use real butter and milk and they turn out fantastic. The hair salon we go to changed ownership, one of the awesome stylists bought it and gave it a make over so to celebrate I wanted to bring cupcakes. Hair-O-Smith is an 80's themed salon and dance studio (and everyone there is totally rad, you should go to there). They made the floor pink and black so I thought I would reflect that in the cupcakes. I made pink and chocolate marble cakes. I didn't taste them but they looked super cute!

 For the frosting I made a simple vanilla bean buttercream. I tried to make pink and black swirls but it was really hard to get a true black. They ended up looking more purple. Oh well. They were well received so I am happy about that.

In other news I cut myself yesterday but on a transformer toy at work. AND, I have my first practical exam next week. I will have a time limit and several knife cuts to perform. I should probably practice this weekend. Anyone have any veggies they need cut up rather small?

Blah

I actually did some baking this week and I managed to take zero pictures. Fail.

I am in two bookclubs, because I like people and I like books. One of the bookclubs (and I promise I love you both equally) does a potluck of sorts when we meet. Everyone brings a dish to share, the hostess makes a main dish. Usually the hostess will tell everyone what she is making and occasionally the rest of us will tell what we are bringing. More often it is a complete surprise. We never know if there will be repeats or if anything will really go together. Somehow it all works out, it is always a fantastic meal.

I hosted this month and we read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. I made a savory pumpkin pie and a chicken pot pie. There was also a variety of cheese and crackers, pickled green beans, beets and okra, tiny cupcakes, pumpkin cookies, tuna and veggie dip, and custard pie. All delicious. Wish bookclub happened more than once a month.

I got more skills in school today that I can't wait to bust out. I made mayonaise for the first time and learn how to tie up a chicken. I also learned how to cut that chicken all apart, with or without bones. I actually really want to buy a whole chicken now and cut it up. I really, really do.

Tomorrow I will again me battling my nemesis, the tourne. I have to tourne a turnip, carrot and potato for homework. And then maybe I'll make cupcakes.

Take That Veggies!

I julienned the crap out of some vegetables this week. Carrots, zucchini, celery, leeks, green pepper and scallions all went down without much of a fight. Are you sick of my cut up vegetable pictures yet? I'll try to add some variety this weekend. I can now also paysanne and make a basket out of a lemon (which I'm sure has a french name too but I wasn't paying attention). I was able to tourne some carrots and even got a "looking good" from my instructor (which is the highest level of praise we have heard so far). All while not cutting myself. Winner.

Strangely, I'm actually starting to enjoy cutting things up all thin and tiny. I have even started looking at knives in the kitchen stores. I feel fiercely protective over the precious knives in my kit. I would never have expected this. I'm a little bummed that this will probably be my only class where I get to cut stuff up. But I am happy to be in a program where I don't have to kill a lobster or deal with raw meat. I would much rather be making gingerbread houses and pies. I'll just cut up more stuff at home. Plus the culinary students seem kind of intense. You can definitely tell who is in which program.

In other news, I signed up for another food swap this weekend and I'm not sure what to make. I have a ton of canned goods but I can't bear to part with them and I certainly am not up to canning more. I'm all canned out for the season.

Victim #5

Oh, the French. Who's french idea was it to make 1/4 of a potato look like a football?

Today I learned a new form of torture. It is called tourne. It is the act of turning a vegetable into a tiny football (they also come in medium and large). It caused five students to cut themselves in class today. I was number 3.

My potato on top
Chef's on the bottom

What is really funny is that last night I had a dream that I cut myself but it was so small that I questioned whether or not I had to admit that it happened. That is exactly what happened in class. I nicked myself as I was cutting and I though, "Phew! That was close!" A few minutes later I noticed a small red mark on my hand. I assumed it was pen since I had just been taking notes with a red pen. When I smudged it off and it returned I had to admit the truth. My time had come. The second day of practicing knife skills.

Also, I am not so good at this particular cut. Luckily no one else was either. My chef instructor looks like he is slicing through butter when he does it. I look like I am hacking through cement. I can only imagine what will happen when I have to do this to a carrot.