All I’ve wanted this weekend is tea, ice water, soup and ice cream to soothe the fire in my throat.  Today I dragged myself out of bed to make tomato soup.  It was easy to make and allowed me to feel slightly productive.  Now all I have to worry about is the research paper I was supposed to be working on this weekend.

This picture was taken with my new photography table setup.  It came out pretty well, needs some tweaking.  But I’m happy to be able to bring better quality images to the blog from now on.

Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 28 oz can peeled whole tomatoes (I prefer San Marzano)
• olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• fresh basil
• chicken stock
• cayenne pepper
• soy milk and/or cream to finish

Method:

1. Sweat the chopped onion on low heat with olive oil and salt.
2. Toss in 2 whole cloves of garlic.
3. After the onion is translucent, add the can of tomatoes.
4. Add some chicken stock, maybe 2 cups worth.
5. Add a small cluster of basil, attached to the stem so it will be easy to remove.
6. Add some salt, pepper and cayenne to taste (cayenne adds a nice spice for sore throats).
7. Let everything simmer for 45 minutes.
8. Add some more stock if needed to thin the soup a bit.  Maybe 1/2 cup.
9. Pick out the basil, then puree the soup well (I used an immersion blender).
10. My soup was too thick at this point, so I added some soy milk and a splash of heavy cream.  You can use whatever you have- milk, soy milk, cream, chicken stock…  Thin the soup to the desired consistency.
11. Add more salt and pepper if needed.
12. Garnish with some chopped basil.

I think it’s time for another nap.

As usual, we made amazing food.  I’m wouldn’t say I’m exactly refined in the kitchen but I think I’m making slow and steady improvements.  My second practical exam went much smoother than the first one.  Though several times Chef walked by and told me to breathe.  And every time he said that I realized I was in fact holding my breath.  I don’t know how to be calm and speedy at the same time.  I need to work on my kitchen zen.

But I’m so happy to be there.  I don’t know exactly where I’ll end up after graduation but aside from my travel adventures I haven’t felt this alive in years.  Culinary school is where I’m supposed to be.

Between the weather and exams, I’ve been craving comfort foods recently.  School has made me a huge fan of soup.  And nothing goes better with soup than fresh bread.  I know bread-making is just around the corner because Chef has begun teasing us with fresh baguettes and focaccia throughout the day.  In the past two weeks we’ve made naan and cornbread, both of which I loved.  I thought I’d share the cornbread recipe with you.

Also on the menu this week was a delicious cauliflower soup.  Not something that would typically be pared with cornbread but I made them both one evening and they went surprisingly well together!  The cauliflower soup is rich with a delicate flavor, and the cornbread is one of the lighter, tastier versions I’ve tried.  You might want to make them separately.  This soup would go well with hearty artisan bread.  The cornbread goes great with chili or pork chops.

LE POTAGE DUBARRY (Cauliflower Soup)

Ingredients:

• Onions, diced
• Cauliflower, chopped
• 1 Garlic clove
• Chicken Stock
• Thyme – 1 sprig
• Parsley stem
• Cream

(You can make this recipe vegetarian or vegan by substituting vegetable stock and soy milk)

Method:

1. Sweat onions, making sure to avoid color.  Deglaze if necessary with water and/or white wine.
2. Add garlic and then chicken stock to cover the onions.
3. Add half a cauliflower, thyme and parsley stem (minimal herbs to avoid color).
4. Add more stock as needed, but remember less stock means thicker soup.
5. Simmer and reduce until the cauliflower is fork tender, remove herbs, then puree very well.
6. Strain, return to pot.
7. Finish with cream, salt, white or black pepper, and a dash of cayenne.

CORNBREAD

Ingredients:

• ½ cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons milk powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup water
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla
• ¾ cup bread flour
• 1/3 cup cornmeal
• ½ oz baking powder
• 6 tablespoons corn oil
• 1 ear corn

Method:

1. Butter and flour a baking pan.
2. Slightly roast corn in the oven.
3. Remove kernels, grind in mortar and pestle (or smash them with the bottom of a flat surface).
4. Mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately.
5. Combine wet ingredients into dry ingredients, mix.
6. Add to sheet pan.
7. Cook at 325-350 until done.

Classes have been canceled for the rest of the week!  I’m not surprised; it looks like the end of the world outside.  We had over two feet of snow this weekend and in the past 24 hours we were hit with another huge blizzard.  I’m getting a bit stir crazy.  Someone suggested I put together a Valentine’s Day dinner menu.  Perfect idea!

I’ve put together a menu I think you’ll love.  It’s not too heavy but is rich with flavor.  It’s also not super complicated.  There shouldn’t be any stress over a Valentine’s Day dinner!  On the menu is: chicken with a savory pan sauce, rice pilaf, broccoli, and chocolate mousse to finish.

1. You can make the mousse in advance and let it chill until just before dessert.
2. You can blanch the broccoli next, since you’ll finish cooking it before serving.
3. Next take care of the rice, which can be kept warm under parchment paper while you cook the chicken last.
4. You can finish the broccoli before serving dinner but make sure you time it with the chicken so that everything is served warm.

If this seems like too much, you can skip the rice or broccoli and just serve the chicken with one side.

LA POITRINE DE VOLLAILLE POELEE (Chicken with Pan Sauce)

Ingredients:

• 2-3 Chicken Breasts
• Clarified Butter
• Mushrooms, sliced
• Shallots, sliced
• Garlic
• Madeira
• Chicken Stock
• Butter

Method:

1. Wash and dry chicken breasts.  It’s fine if you want to use boneless skinless, but they’ll be much juicier if you use skin-on chicken breasts.
2. Season well with salt and pepper.
3. In a hot pan, sear both sides well in clarified butter.
4. Finish cooking in the oven in a separate pan until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
5. Using the chicken searing pan, turn the heat down and add shallots to deglaze the pan.
6. Add mushrooms, let them brown a bit and then add salt.
7. Add garlic and a little bit of Madeira. Make sure to keep scraping the brown bits off the bottom of the pan so they incorporate into the sauce.
8. Add chicken stock.  You can reduce the sauce down but don’t add too much.  You want the sauce thick enough that it coats the chicken.
9. Add seasoning if needed.
10. Finish sauce with 1 Tbsp butter.

LE RIZ PILAF

Ingredients:

• ½ cup rice
• 2 Tbsp butter
• ¼ onion, minced
• 1 ½ cup hot chicken stock
• 1 clove whole garlic
• 1 sprig thyme

Method:

• Sweat onions in butter, season with salt and pepper.
• Add rice and coat with onions.
• Add garlic, thyme and stock.
• Bring the liquid to a simmer.
• Cover with buttered parchment paper pushed directly against the rice.
• Cook 350-375 for 17 minutes.
• Re-season before serving.

LES BROCCOLIS A L’ANGLAISE (Glazed Broccoli)

Ingredients:

• Broccoli florets
• Butter
• Salt and Pepper

Method:

1. Blanch broccoli in very salty water.  When the broccoli is bright green and slightly cooked, move to an ice bath to halt the cooking process.  This can be done ahead of time.
2. Before serving, saute with butter, salt and pepper.

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

Ingredients:

• 8 oz semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 eggs
• 2 yolks
• 2 oz sugar
• 2 cups heavy cream, cold
• vanilla

Method:

1. Melt chocolate over gentle steam bath.  This can be either a double boiler or a stainless steel bowl on top of a pot of steaming water.
2. Using a mixer with the whisk attachment, mix eggs and yolks on high until they’re thicker, lighter in color and form a ribbon.  This can also be done with a hand mixer (or by hand if you’ve got biceps!)
3. Add the sugar and vanilla.
4. With a spatula, add melted chocolate to egg, mix together.
5. In a clean bowl, whip heavy cream on high speed to soft peak.
6. Fold whipped cream slowly into chocolate mixture over an ice bath.  Cover and chill before serving.

Make this dessert beautiful for Valentine’s Day.  The best way to do this is to use a piping bag with a large star attachment.  If you don’t have a piping bag, just use a spatula to smooth the mousse out.  In class we made thin little cookies molded into cups to hold the mousse.  Email me if you’d like the recipe!  You can also serve this in wine or martini glasses or sundae cups. You can top it with little broken pieces of chocolate.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

There are two types of stock: white and brown.  The main differences between them is that the bones and vegetables are roasted when making brown stock, and tomato paste is an ingredient.  Both should be made with raw bones, a detail I’ve noticed is missing from many recipes.  You want raw bones because the prized ingredient in stock is collagen, a natural protein found in animals. Collagen is used to make gelatin, which is then used to make an assortment of commercial products from marshmallows to jello and some low-fat yogurts.  This gelatinous material is what gives homemade stock the thick, rich flavor found in many restaurant sauces.  Not only do commercial stocks lack collagen, they are often full of salt and even sugar.  Real stock should be salt free, so you have the option to season your dishes to the desired level.

Stock pots come in a variety of sizes; mine holds eight quarts, which is kind of small.  Stock isn’t difficult to make but it takes time.  You might as well make it in large batches.

I made chicken stock this weekend.  I bought three whole chickens, broke them down, and used the carcasses in the stock.  The next day I used the dark meat for coq au vin, which you can make following the exact recipe I posted for beef bourguignon.  Just swap out the beef chuck for legs and thighs.

Anyway, for chicken stock you need:

• Raw chicken bones, enough to fill your stockpot halfway
• Cold water
• Mirepoix, at least 1/2 – 2/3 as much as bones
• Bouquet Garni (bay leaf, fresh thyme, fresh parsley)
• Whole peppercorns

1. Start by getting your Mise en Place together:  Chop the vegetables, have the herbs ready, and clean up the chicken bones.  It’s fine if they have some meat on them but try to remove as much fat as possible. Fat adds an unpleasant flavor.
2. Add the bones to your stock pot and cover them with cold water, by about 2 inches.   The water absolutely must be cold.  Cold water helps release the collagen.  Hot water cooked the bones on the outside and seals in the good stuff.
3. Slowly bring the stock to a boil and then immediately bring it down to a low simmer.
4. Using a ladle or large spoon, skim the foam and fat that rises to the surface.  You want to skim as much as possible before adding the other ingredients.
5. When the water evaporates down below the bones, add more water to cover them again.
6. Add mirepoix, peppercorns and loose bouquet garni. NO SALT.
7. Simmer for at least 3-4 hours.  8-12 hours is optimal.  Check periodically to make sure the stock is still at a gentle simmer, but you can go about your business while it’s cooking.
8. Strain the stock 1 or 2 times through a fine mesh strainer.  Before putting it in the fridge, cool in an ice bath.
9. Once the stock is cold, any residual fat will rise to the surface and you can skim it off.   It will make things easier if you finish cooling the stock overnight in one large container before dividing into smaller containers.

Stock can stay in the fridge for a few days but will stay in the freezer for months.  I use small disposable Tupperware containers that are portioned out.  I like using cup and half-cup containers, personally.

Give this a try!  It will seriously improve the quality of sauces, stews and side dishes such as rice pilaf.  It’s the perfect activity for a lazy weekend.  You can be especially creative on a snow-filled Sunday:

More importantly, I learned about food!  Among other things we made puff pastry, grilled fish, coq au vin, melting hot chocolate cake, decadent mashed potatoes… and started learning about food costing, which may be a challenge for me.  I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that I haven’t touched math in at least 10 years.  It’s a shame because I used to be pretty good at it.  Now, my head spins while trying to figure out how to put the numbers together.  I know what I’ll be studying this weekend.

And it may be an extra long weekend!  We’re supposedly in for a blizzard.  I stopped by the grocery store to pick up ingredients for stock and I’ve never seen so much madness.

During these chilly winter months, I can’t get enough soup. It’s warm, comforting, and simple to make.  I thought that in honor of this week’s blizzard I’d offer up a yummy version of potato leek soup.  In Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child states “Leek and potato soup smells good, tastes good, and is simplicity itself to make.”  I love Julia and I like her recipe, but I really really like this recipe.  Again, I highly recommend using homemade stock.  It’s easy to make and the results are dramatically different.  Real chicken stock contains collagen (gelatin) from the bird, which gives a richness and thickening power to recipes that cannot be replicated by store-bought products.

LE POTAGE JULIENNE DARBLAY

Ingredients:

• Butter
• 2 Leeks, white part only
• Chicken Stock (vegetable stock is ok if you want a vegetarian soup)
• 1/2 – 3/4 of an Idaho potato, peeled and sliced
• Chives
• Bouquet Garni (Parsley, Thyme, Bay Leaf)
• 1 Garlic clove
• Cream
• Optional garnish: julienned carrots, celery and leeks  (I recommend adding them for texture)

Method:

1. Julienne the carrots, celery and leeks if using for garnish.
2. Sweat the julienned vegetables until tender. Add salt.
3. In a separate pot, sweat 2 diced leeks in some butter.  Add salt!
4. Add stock to cover the leeks by an inch or two.
5. Add potato slices and simmer.  Add some more stock if necessary to cover them, but don’t add too much or the soup will be thin.
6. Once the potatoes are thoroughly cooked, ladle into a blender.
7. Add 1 clove of garlic, chives, loose bouquet garni.
8. Puree very well and then strain the soup through a fine mesh strainer.  Return to the stove.
9. Add salt, pepper, cream and butter.
10. Garnish with carrots, celery, leeks and chopped chives.

Stay warm!

We’re making three or four technique heavy recipes per day.  I now have a binder containing fifty recipes.  Fifty!  In a month!  When I’m not at school I’m practicing techniques (the knife skills need a LOT of work), reading, writing papers, typing up notes and recipes… it’s time consuming, to say the least.  My desire to cook and clean at home has diminished for obvious reasons.  I’m still working on finding the proper balance between my personal and culinary worlds.  Sometimes they feel like two entirely separate universes.

I’m sharing my favorite sweet and savory dishes from the past week.  On the savory side, I’m offering up a beef bourguignon recipe that knocks the socks off every other version I’ve tried.  Like most of the my culinary school recipes, this one relies heavily on technique.  I can give you the ingredients, but if they’re not used properly the results won’t necessarily be special.

On the sweet side… poached French meringues on crème anglaise, topped with caramel.  It’s a light dessert that plays with texture and temperature.  School is definitely turning me into a sweets person.  When I eat out I’m typically too full at the end of the main course to order dessert.  But the desserts we’ve been making are fun and have that perfect level of sweetness.  I’ve enjoy making them so much that a few times I’ve wondered if perhaps I belong in the pastry program!

LE BOEUF A LA BOURGUIGNONNE

This recipe is all about glazing and deglazing.  In the culinary world, glazing means using high heat to create brown bits on the bottom of the pan.  To deglaze, a liquid is added to the pan and then the bits are loosened and scraped off with a wood spoon, incorporating them into the ingredients.  Most of the flavor in this dish comes from the glaze.  We used beef chuck, cut into approximately 2 bite pieces (it shrinks down when you cook it, so be generous).  Don’t use any other cut than chuck if you want the best results.

We used veal stock.  Beef stock would work just fine but I wouldn’t recommend making this with store-bought product.  If you don’t want to save up bones for stock, you can actually buy beef and veal bones at some higher end grocery stores such as Whole Foods.  Or call your local butcher.  It’s worth it if you want restaurant quality taste at home.

We used clarified butter, which is butter with the milk solids removed.  It’s incredibly easy and fast to make, tastes delicious, and won’t burn at a high heat. I won’t go into details about how to clarify butter right now, but there are plenty of tutorials online.  It stays good in the fridge for months, so clarify in large batches.

You need a large pot that can go from stove top to oven.  I haven’t offered up many ingredient quantities here because we didn’t use them in school.  When making this recipe, think logically about how much stew your pot can hold, the amount of beef you want to serve, add a similar quantity of mirepoix, and eye everything else out.  Taste taste taste!

Ingredients:

• Beef chuck
• Clarified butter
• Mirepoix (diced onions, celery and carrots)
• Flour
• Burgundy
• Tomato Paste
• Brown stock
• Garlic
• Fresh Thyme
• Lardon (diced bacon)
• Mushrooms
• Pearl Onions

Method:

1. Trim excess fat from the beef chuck and cut into smaller pieces.
2. Season both sides of meat well with salt and pepper.
3. In a very hot pan, add enough clarified butter to coat the bottom and sear both sides of the meat well.  Don’t be afraid of burning the meat if you’re not used to searing.  This is one of the most important steps.  If the pan doesn’t sizzle, remove the meat and let it get hotter.  You want a dark brown color on both sides.  Don’t flip the meat back and forth a lot.  Just be patient.
4. Remove the meat and set it aside.  There should be a nice brown glaze on the bottom of the pan.
5. Turn down the heat a bit and add mirepoix and salt.  Salt will release the liquids from the mirepoix and you can use that liquid to deglaze the pan.  You’re not trying to caramelize the vegetables yet, just sweat them.
6. Once that pan is deglazed and the mirepoix has a nice coating of glaze, add 2-3 tablespoons of flour to coat mirepoix.
7. Turn the heat back up and incorporate the flour to caramelize the mirepoix.
8. Turn the heat down, add ¼ cup burgundy to deglaze and scrape all of those bits off again.
9. Add tomato paste to glaze; turn up the heat.
10. Deglaze one final time with burgundy, adding enough liquid to partially cover mirepoix.
11. Add brown stock to cover mirepoix.
12. Add thyme and 4 cloves or garlic.
13. Add beef back to pot.
14. Season well and add more stock as needed, bringing to a simmer.  You want the liquid to cover the meat, maybe 3/4 of the way up the pot.
15. Make a lid for the pot out of parchment paper.  Carefully push the parchment directly against the stew.  This will allow the ingredients to steam and cook in the oven without loosing too much liquid.
16. Add to oven at 325 degrees for at least one hour.  The longer it cooks, the softer the meat will be.  2 hours should do the trick.
17. While the stew is cooking, saute button mushrooms, diced bacon and pearl onions.  Using separate pans will prevent the bacon flavor from overwhelming the mushrooms and onions.  Use clarified butter, salt, and perhaps even a bit of stock while sauteing.
18. Carefully strain the mirepoix out of the sauce, reserving the meat.  This is the most tedious step.  Use tongs since the meat will be hot.  Discard the mirepoix.
19. Thicken the sauce with a roux if necessary; add meat back to the pot.  Adjust the seasoning if needed.  Don’t be shy with the salt.
20. Add in the mushrooms, bacon and pearl onions.  Tada!

And now for something sweet…

L’ILE FLOTANTE AU CARAMEL

This recipes uses French meringues, which are cold meringues whipped to a stiff peak.  It also uses crème anglaise, which is the base of vanilla ice cream in sauce form.  The caramel on top is simple to make and should be done at the last second.  As I mentioned before, what I love most about this dessert is that it plays with texture and temperature.  The crème anglaise is served cold in a shallow bowl, the room temperature meringues are soft like marshmallows and sit in the liquid.  Caramel and toasted almonds lay on top, creating a nice crunch.  Everything is light.  In my mind, it’s the perfect dessert.

Ingredients:

• French meringue (equal parts by weight- sugar & egg whites.  For this recipe use 6 whites and 6 oz sugar)
• Poaching liquid (2 parts milk to 1 part water)
• Crème anglaise (see below)
• Caramel (recipe below)
• Toasted, sliced almonds

Method:

1. Using a flat-sided, non-reactive saucepan (preferably stainless steel),  bring poaching liquid to a simmer.  Don’t let the milk get too hot or it will souffle the eggs.  Fill the saucepan 3/4 of the way up.
2. Using a mixer on high speed, whip the egg whites.  When they start to lighten in color and thicken a bit, switch to medium speed and add a bit of sugar.  Add around a tablespoon of sugar at a time to the egg whites until the reach a stiff peak.  Don’t over-whip and don’t let them sit too long or they will start to deflate.
3. Shape meringue with two large silver spoons into quenelle (think football shape).
4. Gently drop the meringues into the liquid and poach 4-5 minutes per side, 3-4 meringues at a time.  When they’re finished poaching they should have the soft, bouncy feel of a marshmallow.
5. Serve warm on top of 2 ½ – 3 oz cold crème anglaise (see below).
6. Drizzle with caramel at the last second (see below).
7. Top with toasted almonds.

CREME ANGLAISE

This recipe is the base for super yummy vanilla ice cream.  For the purposes of this recipe it is served as a sauce.  Use real vanilla beans, not extract.

Ingredients:

• 3 Yolks
• 2 ½ oz sugar
• 1 Vanilla bean
• 1 cup whole milk

Method:

1. Add milk to stainless steel pot (aluminum and copper are bad for dairy.  Non-stick will also work in this situation).
2. Scrape vanilla bean, removing seeds.
3. Add seeds and bean to milk.
4. Simmer.
5. Whisk sugar into egg yolks.
6. Slowly temper milk into yolks, stirring (this prevents the eggs from cooking).
7. Add the mixture back into pot.
8. Using wood spoon, heat and stir mixture until it coats the back of the spoon.  Something similar to the consistency of heavy whipping cream.
9. Strain into clean bowl, chill over ice.  Don’t skip this step.  If you want to hurry up the chilling process, move the crème anglaise into the fridge.

Caramel

Make this at the last second, while the meringue is poaching.  You don’t want to let it sit too long or the sauce will harden.

Use 25% water to caramel.  For example, use 8 oz of sugar and 2 oz of water.  Add to a small saucepan, mix the sugar into the water with your fingers to make sure everything is coated.  Make sure the sides of the saucepan are free of sugar granules.  Use medium heat to bring the mixture to a simmer.  Do NOT stir or the sugar will crystallize.  When the color starts turning brown, remove from the heat and it will continue cooking to the right consistency.  After it has cooled slightly and thickened up, use a wood spoon handle to drizzle thin lines of caramel over the poached meringue.

Serve in a shallow bowl, 1 meringue to a bowl.  Sauce on the bottom, caramel and almonds on top.

“LA SALADE D’ORANGE ET ZESTES CONFITS”

We’re supposed to write the names of our French recipes in all caps because capitalized French words don’t require funny accents over the letters.  Cool, eh?

Ingredients:

• Oranges
• Simple Syrup

Method:

1. Remove zest and pith from oranges
2. Julienne zest
3. Triple blanch zest
4. Cook zest for 10-15 minutes in simple syrup
5. Slice oranges, top with zest and drizzled syrup

The long version:

Take 2 oranges.  Slice both ends off, and carefully peel each orange from top to bottom with a paring knife, removing as much pith (white, bitter stuff) as possible.  Maintain the round sides of the orange as you angle the knife downward.  Don’t throw the skins away!  You need the zest.  Technically, you can get it before peeling the orange by use a vegetable peeler but where’s the fun in that?  This way gives you more control over the shape.

Use the paring knife to remove the rest of the white pith from the zest.  Once you have pretty orange chunks, slice the zest julienne style.  You want it very thin like angle hair pasta.

Next, add the zest to a pot of cold water and bring it to a boil.  Blanch for one minute, then drain with a fine mesh strainer.  Repeat this procedure two more times.

Create a simple syrup from 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water, bringing them to a boil in a medium sauce pot.  Don’t stir, just let the sugar melt and the syrup will form itself.  Once it’s at a nice consistency where the syrup coats the back of a spoon while hot, add the zest and let it cook for 10-15 minutes.  Scoop the zest out of the pot onto a plate and let it stiffen up while you plate the rest of the salad.

Make sure you’ve removed all the pith and then slice the oranges and arrange them in a circle on a plate, layering one over the other.  Artfully place the candied zest in a circle on top of the oranges and then drizzle with simple syrup.

Impress your guests!

Update:

I made this tonight and took a picture, but the quality of the photo isn’t great.  It tastes good!

Several readers inquired as to whether my classmates are really as competitive as I made them out to be.  Truthfully, the atmosphere in the kitchen isn’t competitive; it’s disorganized and frantic.  We’re still learning where things are located and trying to complete several new recipes every day.  We have 2 1/2 hours to make everything, but the time vanishes in the blink of an eye.  In that time we have to get our mise en place together, cook, clean up everything and have the room ready for lunch with benches, drinks and silverware.  In addition to making our own plates we usually have to make one or two trays up for school employees and guests.  There aren’t always enough burners, since we often need to use more than one at a time.  There also aren’t always enough tools for everyone.  It’s a mad race to the finish line and sometimes we bump into each other along the way.  But I honestly like everyone I’ve spent time getting to know.  There are all kinds of personalities and some of us work better together than others.  I think in time we’ll evolve into a well-oiled machine, but for now things are a bit messy.

This week we learned how to properly butcher a chicken, made a few new salads, mayonnaise (finally something I’m comfortable with!), strawberry tarts, and spent two full days getting a crash course in food safety.  We were also served an amazingly delicious 3 course meal by the Phase II students.  I was in awe of their skill and the fact that I’ll be able to do that in 4-5 months.

All I’ll say about the food safety class is that it may be awhile before I can eat sushi without seeing certain images in my head.  Oh, and if you have to take a food safety certification exam, don’t go crazy at the Ice Cream Social (also courtesy of Phase II).  By the time our exam started, half of us were falling asleep.  But it was soooo worth it.  Strawberry balsamic ice cream, salted caramel ice cream, champagne sorbet… there was so much goodness in one room.

The strawberry tarts we made were to die for.  Chef provided the apricot glaze since we were already taking on quite a bit.  We made the tart shell and custard, prepped the berries and pieced the whole thing together.

The tart shell we used was made from a dough called Pate Sucree.  The dough is easy to make and perfect for an assortment of sweet treats.  All of our baking recipes use weight instead of quantity measurements.  Depending on how the flour is packed, a cup can weigh anywhere from 4.5 to 5 oz.  Baking is a science.  I recommend getting a good digital kitchen scale if you want consistent results.  The professional kitchen is all about consistency.  That’s what keeps customers coming back!

Pate Sucree

• 12 oz All Purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 oz sugar
• 8 oz butter, softened
• 1 egg
• lemon zest (around 1 lemon’s worth of zest)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine the dry ingredients.  Use a bench scraper to blend the butter into the dry ingredients.  Briefly whisk the egg in a bowl before adding it to the dough.  Finish with the vanilla.  You don’t need to kneed the dough as you would with bread.  Think more of folding the dough in half and pushing down on it.  The final touch is something the French called “fraisage” which involves taking small handfuls of the dough and pushing it along the table to really get any remaining bits of butter combined.  Round the dough into a ball and thin it out to around an inch thick and then rest the dough in the fridge for at least 45 minutes or for an entire day.  The dough can stay in the fridge for 7-10 days (the sugar acts as a preservative).

Creme Patisserie (Pastry Cream)

• 2 cups cream or whole milk
• 5 oz sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 1.5 oz cornstarch
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Reserving around 1/2 cup, simmer the cream in a medium-sized saucepan, preferably one with a heavy bottom to avoid scorching.
2. In a separate bowl, slowly whisk the cornstarch into the yolks, making sure to avoid lumps.  Whisk the sugar into the yolks.  During this process, you can thin out the mixture with the reserved cream.
3. Add a bit of the simmered cream to the egg mixture while whisking (this is known as tempering).  If you add it too quickly you will cook the eggs.
4. Once the cream and egg are combined, return them to the saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil.  Whisk constantly to keep the mixture smooth.  It will smell starchy at first and you’ll know it’s ready when the starchy flavor is gone and it’s thick, shiny and very sweet.
5. Strain the custard through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl.  Straining will remove the chalaza (the little white part attached to the yolk which toughens during the cooking process.  Add the vanilla.  Voila.

We used 4 inch tart shells.  Cook the shell for around 12-15 minutes at 375 degrees, or until it’s done.   To make the strawberry tart, fill the shell halfway with pastry cream.  Slice the strawberries in half and arrange them in the tart with the point facing upward.  You want strawberries that are around the same size and you want to fill up as much space as possible so you don’t see much of the custard.  Finish by generously brushing the strawberries with a hot apricot glaze.

It’s YUMMY.

If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to writing my paper!

We’re assigned a new workspace in the kitchen every day at random, 3 to a table.  I quickly learned that some students are good at working together and others won’t hesitate to grab your equipment if it gets them ahead.  My sautoir, which I initialed and set on a burner, was moved to a different burner when I wasn’t looking.  When three of us were rolling out dough, we suddenly found ourselves with only one rolling pin. It was frustrating, but I realized this is how it is and I’m going to have to assert myself.  Everyone is nervous and not necessarily on their best behavior.  At culinary school you have to stay alert at all times if you want to get things done efficiently.  And no complaining.

I loved every second. I was constantly moving on adrenaline and ready to learn from each success or mistake.  Chef expects a lot of us.  He is very kind and humorous, yet won’t hesitate to give our hands a light smack and bark “NO!” if he sees the knife being used improperly.  In addition to school protocol, this week I learned proper knife skills, knife cuts, kitchen equipment, la soupe a l’oignon (French onion soup), pate brisee (a versatile dough which we used for an amazingly decadent quiche lorraine), stock, and several salads and vinaigrettes.  Sounds simple enough, but some challenges for me are relearning techniques I considered myself already familiar with, precision, and speed.  A dice is expected to be perfectly square.  I have over 20 pages of notes already, with 3 chapters of reading per night.  It’s important to practice what we’ve learned at home.

Last night I prepared la soupe a l’oignon, something I failed at miserably on the first day and and succeeded at on the second.  Like risotto, it requires patience and attention, but the ingredients are simple and the final product is delicious.  I’m offering a lot of technique detail here. Like many recipes we will learn, it’s all in the technique.  We aren’t given many measurements, unless we’re baking.  It’s about smelling, tasting and seeing.

When made correctly, French onion soup can be the perfect meal.  It’s hits all of your senses:

• Sweet: Onions
• Sour: Wine
• Salty: Salt
• Bitter: Fond

Fond is the concentration of juices, drippings, and bits of food on the bottom of the pan.  Fond (aka glaze) is the key to making good sauces.  You deglaze the pan by adding liquid and then scraping the bits off the bottom.

When making this soup, think 1 onion per person.  Yellow onions have the most flavor, but any variety will work.  As with many French recipes, the soup is seasoned with a Bouquet Garni- fresh parsley, thyme & a bay leaf tied together with butcher’s twine or a cheesecloth.

French Onion Soup

These amounts are approximate.

• 2 onions
• 2 Tbsp butter
• White wine (we used chardonnay) for deglazing
• 2-3 Cups of Chicken Stock
• Bouquet Garni
• Optional: small baguette, sliced
• Optional: Gruyere cheese, grated

Method

• Sweat the onions.  First you want to slice the onions in half, remove the outer layer and then slice into thin semicircles.  To sweat the onions, add them to the pan with some butter and a sprinkle of salt on low heat.  Stir periodically with a wood spoon.  Sweating removes all water and leaves the onions sweet with condensed flavor.  Salt pulls water out of ingredients and will speed up the process.  You cannot caramelize them until the water has been removed.  This will take around 20 minutes.
• Caramelize the onions.  Turn up the heat.  We used a stainless steel sautoir (straight side pan).  I used a Le Cruset at home which worked just as well.  Basically you need a non-stick surface that will develop fond which you continuously deglaze with wine and then water.  This is what gives the onions their caramelized brown color.  It will also add bitterness, which will balance the sweetness of the onions.  Don’t over stir.  Let them sit, brown on the bottom, and then deglaze with around 1/4 of wine.  After deglazing with wine, switch to water so the wine flavor won’t overpower.   Don’t rush.  Think of the deep brown color of onion soup.  This is the color you’re working toward.  If you add stock too soon, your soup will be too sweet.  You want a lot of fond.  Stir, leave the onions alone until you see a nice fond developing, deglaze, stir.  It will take some time.
• Add liquids and simmer.  Begin adding hot chicken stock, one or two cups at a time.  Once the stock has been added, add your bouquet garni.   Let the soup simmer for awhile.  Season with salt and pepper as needed.  You can either serve it in warm bowls at this point, or finish it restaurant style:
• Ladle soup into crocks, top with 2 thinly sliced pieces of toasted baguette, and then a large handful of Gruyere.  Put the crocks under the broiler until brown and bubbly on top.  Serve!

The entry rules are simple.  Leave a comment here telling me your best kitchen tip!  It can be anything related to cooking, kitchen cleaning, products… whatever you think others might find useful.  And make sure to submit the comment with your name and real email address (it will be hidden) so I know where to send the prize!

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A winner will be selected at random.  The contest will remain open until Friday.  Good luck!

Update:  The contest is now over.  Congratulations, Jessica!