Magnifico

Fact: If you have cooked for the royal family of Scotland, Mikhail Gorbachev and Luciano Pavarotti's 60th birthday celebration, your food probably tastes pretty good.

Meet Francesco Paldera.



Chef Francesco was in from Italy this week, and a good friend of Cesare Casella, the head of the Italian Program at school. Both Chefs put on a great demonstration of traditional Italian cuisine, which included dishes from Francesco's prestigious hotel restaurant in Bari, Italy, Hotel Villa Romanazzi Carducci. Both Chefs provided a lot of insight into the history of Italian cooking, and made me kinda sad that I did not choose the Italian program at school (which would have placed me in Italy for 6 months too! I know, what was I thinking ;-) )

You will have to forgive me, while Chef Francesco spoke a good amount of English, most of his dishes he presented us were in Italian, and we only received the recipe for 2 of the the 4 he made (I guess some things are best kept as a secret...haha). Therefore, I don't know the "real" names to them. The first he made was a "lasagna" style, but the layers included onions, zucchini, tomatoes, mussels, rice, cheese, fresh herbs, all the good stuff. I'm going to try and recreate this at home based on my notes. Will keep you posted on how it turns out and then pass along the recipe!




The mussels are actually added raw and then cook while the dish is in the oven for an hour and a half. The juices from the mussels are added to moisten the dish and also help to cook the rice as well. I guess you could say this is the Italians answer to paella!

The Chef also made a lamb stuffed with capicollo (know as an Italian classic ham) and caciocavallo cheese. Two words: yummy goodness.



We also had a delicious antipasti salad with sauteed calamari, tomatoes and olives, as well as a bread cake dessert with fresh berries and cream. I am generally not a fan of sauteed calamari, but when a world class chef makes anything, you try it! And to my surprise, I loved it! Must have been all the garlic, olive oil and herbs it was marinated in!!




Grazie Francesco

PS - I have added all of the pics from this demo into my photo album :-)

Technical Difficulties

Having some problems with my camera lately in that my computer can't seem to recognize it when I plug it in. I have a few more classes and demonstrations to share with you, and hope to catch up soon! We have our level 1 final (written exam and practical in the restaurant kitchen!) on Friday, so I am going to focus on that this week. Hopefully this weekend I can figure out the issue with the camera!

Mr. Chocolate

Jacques Torres is the Dean of Pastry at the French Culinary Institute, and a world renowned chocolatier. The former Pastry Chef at Le Cirque in NYC now owns his own business and stores around Manhattan and Brooklyn, Jacques Torres Chocolates. In fact, there is even one in my neck of the woods, on 74th and Amsterdam, that I have walked by a million times but never made the connection until this week. Chef Jacques told us of plans to open up an ice cream shop in Brooklyn, which will also serve up Belgian waffles paired with creative ice cream and candy creations. In addition he has purchased an ice cream truck to bring the goodies to us in Manhattan, which will also serve up some hot chocolate creations in the winter time. Keep your eyes open!

If Jacques name is slightly familiar to you, it may be because he has been making news lately. In fact, just today the Wall Street Journal wrote an article about this famous chef who lives on his boat in the Hudson river, which you can read about here. He has also been in the news regarding a legal matter between Mr. Torres and Hershey's Chocolate. Apparently, Hershey's is unhappy with the Chefs "Champagne Kiss" chocolate, which they believe is illegally using their trademark "kisses", and feel a consumer may mistake his chocolate for theirs. Um, Hershey's, I don't know if you have ever tasted Jacques Torres chocolate, but it is 1,000 times better than your Hershey Kiss! A mistake may actually BOOST your sales!

Anyway, here is the link to the article. I think it's quite funny. And apparently, so does Jacques - next Wednesday, if you go into a Jacques Torres Chocolate store, they are offering free samples of their Champagne Kiss chocolate to let you be the judge....is there anything that would lead you to mistake it for a Hershey's Kiss???

Headlines aside, this man is good. He did a demo of "petit fours", which included a peanut butter marshmallow, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate with candied ginger, pistachio and crasins, and a chocolate basket filled with raspberry and topped with a butter cream ganache. He also made some mocha chocolate squares for us to munch on during the demo. So freaking easy to make....melted chocolate mixed with some instant coffee, spread on a sheet pan and voila! Yummy goodness!







Fun fact - Chef Torres will be hosting a birthday party this weekend for twenty five 5 year olds! What is on the agenda? These lucky kids will get to make chocolate lollipops with a famous chocolatier! Good luck, Chef!

Lucky Girl

It was not until this week that I realized how lucky I am to have so many opportunities to learn at school. This week was filled with three different Chef Demonstrations. All of them given by distinguished chefs that probably deserve an entry of their own, so below is a taste of one.

On Monday, Chef Craig Koketsu, Executive Chef of Park Avenue (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall) and Quality Meats, came and cooked for us. It was an unusual demonstration (given his Quality Meats background) in that his demonstration was on tofu. However, he made some unique and flavorful dishes that gave a lot of life to tofu (and in one he paired it with pork, so I guess that's cheating a little...haha). He kept us engaged with funny stories from his kitchen at Park Avenue, as well as explaining the challenges he faced when the school asked him to create a three course tofu demo. He has not had much experience cooking tofu, and wanted to create something that tasted good but also simple enough for a home cook to replicate (this demo was sponsored by House Foods America Corp and there were members from this organization at the demo as well). Here is what he came up with:

Spiced-Seared Tofu with Avocado, Beets & Cucumbers:



His avocado puree was really delicious - had just the right amount of spice! One tip from the Chef -instead of using lime juice in his puree, he uses powdered vitamin C because the liquid of the lime increases the oxidation time of the avocado giving it a brownish color. By using the powder, it helps to retain the bright green color.

Mabo Tofu Gnocchi:



Tofu Rice Pudding with Rhubarb, Pine Nuts & Thai Basil



Fun Fact - Chef Craig will be catering an event at Cornell University this weekend, and at the schools request he has been asked to provide a vegan dessert. He will be making the Tofu Rice Pudding for the event, less the gelatin that was in the one prepared for us.

Tough Week

This has been a really busy week for me. There has been a lot going on at school with class, tests, Chef demonstrations, and then volunteer work. This week in in class, we turned our focus to chicken, pork and beef. My regular partner has not been in class all week (hope everything is OK?!?), so I have worked with 2 different students this week. It has made things really challenging in that recently I have been trying to focus on improving my organization and efficiency. However, it's easier to do that when you are working with a partner you have developed a "system" with. It always takes a class or 2 to get used to working with someone new, so adjusting to different work styles has complicated things. Hopefully, Friday will go a little better - last night, my partner and I were the last to present our chicken dish and I'm frustrated by that. However, Chef really liked the flavor of the accompanying sauce I made (Sauce Diable), so there is a silver lining!

Roast Pork with Braised Red Cabbage:



Roast Chicken Grande Mere:




Steak Frites with Sauce Choron (bearnaise derivative):



Chef proud of his cow drawing ;-):



We also made a mustard grilled chicken with a shallot sauce, but like I said it was late by the time we plated so I did not have a chance to get a picture.

Battle Wounds

No doubt this is the first of many to come.

Last night we learned how to quarter a chicken and a duck. I handled the chicken and my partner the duck. Thankfully, I had a much better time handling this than the lobster. It's crazy how sharp a poultry boning knife is - cut through the chicken like butter. And, when you slice your finger with it, you don't feel a thing.....trust me, I know.

It's funny how I cut myself last night not by quartering the chicken, but by cleaning my boning knife. It was about 30 minutes into class, and let me tell you, the blood was flowing. The wound itself is kind of deep - my chef came over and took a look at it and then asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital for stitches. I'm sorry but there was no freaking way I was going to leave class!!!! So, one of the assistants took me to the first aid station for band aids and a finger guard that covers the bandage and allows me to continue cooking. Unfortunately, within a minute the blood was oozing out of the bottom of the guard. So, I wrapped my finger in paper towel too to help stop the bleeding. The timing was good because Chef was about to demo the Duck L'Orange. This gave me time to try to get the finger to stop bleeding. However, 20 minutes later, it still had not stopped. Chef then had his other assistant take me back to first aid to get it properly bandaged. When we took off the old bandage, I got a look at how deep it was. Should I have gone to the hospital? Maybe, but I was going to gauge that by whether or not the bleeding stopped. Again, the chef asked me if I wanted to go get stitches and I just looked at him and said, "NO, I want to cook my duck!!!" So, they got out a spray that was a blood coagulant and antiseptic and it was like magic. The bleeding almost instantly stopped, I was bandaged up, new finger guard applied, and I was back on my way to helping my partner cook our duck! Woo hoo!!!

So, the night continued on. We made a Duck L'Orange and a Chicken Chasseur. Here are some pics (of dinner and my finger! None of the wound itself, though. I just bandaged it up about and hour ago with some surgical tape strips and forgot to take a picture. Not that you really care to see it either! But yeah, it is a lot bigger than I remember from last night! However, I think had I gone to the hospital, they would have done the same thing. Not sure it would have required a stitch).

Back in the game!



My chicken:



Duck legs and carcass simmering in aromatics which was later used as the basis for the sauce:



Duck breasts searing:



My final plated Duck L'Orange (which was also my dinner - yummy!)



Chicken breasts searing:



My final plated Chicken Chasseur:

The Great Fish Finale

We finished our fish lessons this week with a fine night of shellfish. We made mussels in a shallot and white wine sauce, scallops and lobsters. The night was going along great - mussels were yummy, and fresh baguettes were brought up from the bread kitchen. The scallops were even better, and I'm excited to make this one at home soon. Then the evening hit a snag. Lobster. I was initially excited for this, as this was going to be our dinner as well. That was until chef demonstrated how he wanted us to kill our lobsters. No, not just drop them in a pot of boiling liquid, but first stab it in the head with a 9 inch chefs knife, and then follow the cut down the face between the eyes. My partner got our lobsters and put one on my cutting board. As the guy moved around in front of me and looking at me, I just couldn't. I thought it would be like filleting the fish, but there is a big difference when it is brought to you already dead. So, after a few minutes of trying to get up the courage, I had to ask a fellow classmate to "do the deed" for me while I looked the other way. Let's hope this dish is not on the midterm!

Anyway, here are some pics of the other dishes of the night.

Mussels Mariniere



Scallops with Parsley Coulis



And the highlight of the evening - our own raw bar!



Shrimp cocktail, oysters and clams. Not sure if you can tell by the picture, but this raw bar had us work for our food in that none of the oysters or clams were shucked. We had to open them all ourselves to learn the process. It was tricky but I got a handful open! I found the clams much more difficult - it's a good thing I prefer oysters!

My first shucked oyster:



We also made a couple of broths as a class to cook the shellfish in. One of them includes sauteing the lobster bodies and this can be used as a foundation for lobster bisque.





Tonight, we are moving onto chicken and duck. Hopefully none of them come walking into the classroom!

Frankie the Flounder

Last Wednesday, we continued on our journey of fish. The night was filled with gutting, filleting, prepping and cooking flat fish. In this case it was a flounder, and of course, mine was given a name - Frankie!



I discovered that flatfish are much easier to fillet. I think just because of their shape. With the round fish (bass, trout, salmon, etc), I think it takes a little more skill to follow the contour of their body with the knife.

Frankie (and his brother who my partner filleted) turned himself into 2 nice dishes for the evening. Lots of breading and frying, but luckily we were not forced into eating it for dinner and were still brought a "healthier" family meal alternative.

The first dish my partner and I prepared was a bread crumb coated flounder with two sauces. I have to admit, I feel kind of bad for my partner because I totally took over the cooking on Wednesday. It was not intentional, but I am trying to improve my multi-tasking and speed for which we complete our dishes. On Monday we were often one the the last to finish, and I was not happy about that. So my goal on Wednesday was to be more efficient.

With that said, I gave my partner the option of which sauce he wanted to make - the remoulade or the red pepper coulis. I actually thought he was going to choose the coulis since we have never done that before, but he choose the remoulade. I was actually happy about this - it is mayo based and my tired whisking arm was in no mood to make a mayo :-)

Anyway, the red pepper coulis sauce has some down time while it simmers on the stove for about 20 minutes, so after I got that going, I started on the rest of this dish. I made a waffle potato basket and then breaded and fried the fish. The breading is a 3 step process (technically called l'anglaise) which includes first dipping the fish in flour, then an egg mixture and then breadcrumbs. While I was frying away, my partner made the cucumber shell for the remoulade and finished off the coulis by pureeing in the blender.

Here was our finished plate - and I'm very happy to report that we finished in the first half of the pack! Such and improvement! We were also told that everything was cooked and seasoned perfectly, with the exception of adding more herbs in the remoulade next time. I also tasted this dish and thought it was good too. The red pepper coulis is a yummy sauce for fried fish!



Next up was the Bonne Femme, or a braised flounder with mushrooms, white wine, shallots and cream sauce. The only thing I was not happy about with this dish is that to allow us to practice those football shaped potatoes, my partner and I each had to do one - as you can see they came out completely different sizes and made an otherwise nice presentation look funny. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Easter Dinner

Nate and I teamed up and cooked Easter dinner in Connecticut on Sunday. The menu included a clementine glazed ham and carrots, twice baked potatoes, green beans with toasted almonds, fresh raisin walnut bread and a tossed salad with strawberries, gorgonzola cheese and a sherry walnut vinaigrette. I had never cooked a fresh ham before, and it was a lot of fun!

Fillet O' Fish

I'm not talking about the one you can get at McDonald's.

Last night, we started working with some real protein - Fish! From now on, we will be making 2 complete dished per night that include the protein, vegetables, sauces, garnishes, and in some cases a starch. This also means that our family meals will be scaled down, as we are expected to eat what we make for dinner.

Yesterdays dishes were a poisson "en papillote" and "a la grenobloise". The papillote is a method where the fish is cooked in sealed parchment paper with it's garnishes. A little white wine is added - when the wine cooks in the oven, the steam it gives off will make the parchment puff up. For service, the dish is served to the customer in that way and then opened at the table to release the aromas. The tricky part to this dish is learning the timing, since you can't see the fish to check to see if it is done before serving.

Before I get into the dishes, I would like to share that I filleted my very first fish last night! I was definitely apprehensive, yet quite surprised that this did not send me running to the nearest trash can to get sick! My partner handled the trout, and I the sea bass. I immediately named my guy Sammy the sea bass. Poor little Sammy, I bet he had no idea what life had in store for him. The fish was already gutted, but still had the gills which I had to remove. Then I was off to fillet him, skin him, and prep him for the first dish of the evening. Below are a couple pics. I could not take too many because my hands were often gross and slimy and my camera asked to not get involved. While my fist attempt at this was definitely not a smooth cut, the chef overall was pleased with us since many of us had never done anything like this before.

Smiling Sammy:



Sammy fillet:



"Sammy" en Papillote:







Trout a la Grenobloise:



(I know, totally unappetizing. I cooked it too long and burned the skin. Should be nice and crisp):



It was a fun night. Monday we will be doing more fish dishes before moving onto shellfish. One final note about last nights class - I ended up providing the class with a nice fire demonstration. The sauce on the trout is a brown butter sauce, which at the end you add citrus juices and fruit. When my partner poured the citrus in the entire pan went up in flames about three feet high. I was surprised I did not panic. I just moved the pan off the flame and it started to come down a little and then I heard our Chef's assistant say to him "she's OK". Those words totally put me at ease, and slowly the flame went out. Chef said the flavoring of our sauce was really good. I attribute that to my flambe ;-)