What we learned in culinary school this week - Week 23 (The End)

Monday's review was a bit different than the previous ones. Instead of having to make specific dishes, we were given trays with various types of produce, plus a protein to work with. We got different ingredients to work with and had to come up with our own dishes.

For my protein I got Italian Bronzino, which I love. It's small enough to work with easily and I was happy with my results.

Such a pretty fish.

Grilled Bronzino with Salsa Verde.

NOM NOM NOM.

Tuesday we covered Jam and Canning with Jessica Koslow of Sqirl. A few things I learned:

The lids of canning jars should not be reused due to a loss of suction that could allow mold into subsequent jars of jam. Jars last fifteen months in the pantry and a year in the fridge once opened. If you're using spices in your jam toast them first to get the essential oils. And use a satchel - herbs and dried spices can turn brown when cooked.

I'm not really a jam person, partly again because I don't need to can my produce, but it was an interesting procedure. It was a lot of work, especially if you're doing it on your own. Loved Jessica's big copper jam pot, which reminds me - for canning you don't really use the usual kitchen tools, so if you're getting into this there's going to be a certain investment needed up front.

We got Sqirl jars.

Wednesday Chef did something really different. She had brought in a bunch of packages of varying size, all wrapped in brown paper, none of which we could even begin to guess at what they were. Once we started opening them, we really got a surprise. Unlike the uniformly high quality ingredients we're used to using, these "ingredients" ran the gamut from junk food (a package of hot dogs, a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos) to just plain bizarre - a pack of gum, a package of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix and a small packet of red pepper flakes like you get with pizza deliveries...and that last one is the one I ended up with. Then we were turned loose with the same idea as Monday, except we had to incorporate our "mystery ingredients" into our three courses of dishes. Some of the results were absolutely amazing. Here's what I managed with my red pepper flakes:

My tray.

Greens with Red Pepper Goat Cheese and Vinaigrette.

Red Pepper and Pineapple Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
with Roasted Radishes.

Hot Chocolate Pudding.

Thursday we were rewarded with a mystery field trip. We didn't know where we were going, we were just told to dress comfortably and bring cash. This is where we ended up:

This place is in San Gabriel at the corner of Valley Boulevard and Del Mar. And at the risk of sounding culturally insensitive, it was freaking insane.

Actually, at first it was pretty cool. The cleavers in a box at a child's eye-level should have been a red flag. I just thought some of the signs were hilarious.

And who wouldn't want a good swordfish drink to wash down the sherded coconut?

Chef was leading us around and finally announced we were headed for the seafood section. I was stoked. It started well enough.

Then we got to the tanks. Which were crowded and filthy. And the turtles. Yes, turtles. Live ones, in a box.

We have a big pond at my apartment complex, with koi and turtles. The turtles at my apartment have no idea how good they have it. I wanted to grab these guys and run away with them and turn them loose at home with our resident turtles. Not sure how the management company would feel about that.

After shopping Chef took us to lunch at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. We had fun, the food was great, and I had a Tiger Beer. Hadn't had one before and I'm not much of a beer person, but I liked it and would have it again.

Friday we graduated and that's for another post. We didn't really want to leave, and I've enjoyed having the weekly schedule/ structure after being off work for so long.

Even though we were assured that

it sure felt like the end of an amazing and wonderfully exhausting journey. But hey, we got another cake out of the deal, so win. And in the words of the master, "Bon Appetit!"

What we learned in culinary school this week - Weeks 21-22

Reviews!

This has been exhausting, especially since I don't like having things sprung on me. I like to be able to study and be prepared for tests, but that's not how it's done around here. But I survived. Here are pictures of various dishes I made during these two weeks of reviews.

What our assignments look like:

Get to work!

Herb Veloute with Biscuits.

Filet in a Red Wine Reduction Sauce. At this point
I can do reduction sauces in my sleep.

Pasta.

More marching orders!

Braised Beef with Risotto.

Ricotta Ravioli. This was unbelievably good.
The ricotta was sooo creamy.

Seafood Stew.

Airplane Chicken.

Chicken Pot Pie.

Coq Au Vin with Gratin Potatoes.

Meatballs with Polenta.

Overhead shot! It was really a pretty dish.

Pork with Black Beans, Rice and Slaw.

Get on it, people!

Arugula Salad.

I was out sick when we did Pizza, so I needed some
help. It turned out okay, I guess.

Grilled Salmon with Salsa Verde.

We celebrated Friday the 13th with a course in the basics of fermentation, presented by Ernest Miller of Rancho La Merced Provisions. Not my area of interest, but the instructor was great and it was fun. Living in L.A., I don't need to grow or preserve my own food (we have farmer's markets on practically every corner) but if you lived in a rural area and did grow your own, this would be an invaluable skill.

We made Sauerkraut and Giardiniera.

Supplies. Many, many supplies.

Next week, sadly, is our last week. More reviews, jam and canning, a field trip and then graduation day! Hard to believe. It went so fast.

The Salmon Cake

I'm going to post what we learned the past two weeks (lots of reviews) over the weekend, but I thought this deserved its own post.

Toward the end of the day today we were called into the other kitchen (the one we don't usually use) so the owner of the school could address us. Then we were presented with this cake:

The funny thing is that after yesterday's class, we were watching the school's pastry chef (who is amazing and will be the instructor for my upcoming Baking & Pastry Program) work on decorating this cake. We were told she was doing it for someone's birthday and of course we fell for it. We got a kick out of it when we found out it was actually for us!

The detail was boggling. The "scales" were made with a plastic straw cut in half:

Then we cut into it:

Just like a real salmon!

I'm really looking forward to Baking & Pastry now. Not that I wasn't before, but that is just so damn cool.

No, not Lord Flasheart, NOOOOO...RIP Rik Mayall

He may be best remembered by American audiences of a certain age and sensibility as part of The Young Ones, a subversive British comedy that could be found on MTV back in the ancient times when MTV was actually cool, but for Brit comedy lovers like myself, Rik Mayall will always be the fabulously outrageous and fabulous Lord Flasheart of the Blackadder universe.

One of my favorite lines ever: Flasheart explaining to Blackadder and crew how to treat their fighter planes like they treat a woman:

Flasheart: "Get inside her five times a day, and take her to heaven and back!"

Mayall was 56 and is survived by his wife and three children.

Food Service - Farm Box LA

Last Thursday evening the school hosted a private event by Farm Box LA, a fresh produce home delivery service. A couple of vendors from our Santa Monica Farmers Market field trip were there, Harry's Berries and Weiser Family Farms.

I volunteered to help work the event and along with a classmate was assigned to prepare and serve Zucchini Spaghetti with Tomatoes and Basil. This recipe, along with the others served, was included in a small booklet distributed at the event.

They got a good crowd and the food turned out great. As deceptively simple as the zucchini spaghetti was, it was a big hit with the guests. I lost count of how many batches we made. And the cherry tomatoes from Harry's Berries were to die for. I could have eaten an entire basket of them.

Zucchini Spaghetti Central.

Man your battle stations!

Zucchini Spaghetti with Tomatoes and Basil.
It was really good.

From Weiser Family Farms: Lakers Taters, so
named because of their purple and gold coloring.

FOOD SERVICE WIN #2!!!

Aka Family and Friends Pop-up Dinner #2.

This time around we got to have some input into the menu. We drew for our assignments and I was thrilled to draw dessert. We then voted on what kind of cuisine we wanted to combine with our classical French training. The winner was California.

One of the other students on Team Dessert came up with the idea of an orange creme brulee, then we thought it would be awesome to use fresh lavender in the brulee sugar. We ran it by Chef, who thought it was too many competing flavors in one dish. What she did do is suggest we go the traditional route of serving madeleine cookies along with the brulees and incorporating the lavender into that. I was especially excited about make creme brulees because it's one of my Mom's favorites, but unfortunately she wasn't able to make it. I'd been trying to set up getting her over here for this since the February pop-up, but there was a mixup in communications and a few other issues, but other than that everything went well.

Thursday we tried a trio of madeleine recipes, finding one that was far and away the best, then made our cookies. We then turned to calculating out brulee recipe for 50 guests. It turned out we had the exact amount, which we were thrilled about. You can make creme brulees ahead of time, but they have to be sealed up tight and refrigerated, then torched at time of serving. We also made lavender sugared candied orange peels for the garnish. In addition, Chef has lavender plants at home and brought a truckload of them for us.

Menu

Belini Three Ways - Buckwheat Trout, Blue Corn Crab, 

Classic Belini with Lobster

Domaine du Tariquet, Classic Cotes de Gasgogne

Baby Arugula, Goat Cheese, Apricot and Almond Salad

Domaine due Tariquet, Classic Cotes de Gasgogne

Braised Beef with Carrot Garlic Puree and Beet Chips

Hahn Pinot Noir

Orange Flower Creme Brulee with Lavender Madeleine

Stumptown Coffee

A fraction of what we made.

Lavender sugar in progress.

Here, have a few madeleine cookies.

Braised beef, ready to go.

The table is set!

Belinis. My brother isn't a seafood eater, but he
ate these and liked them.

The most beautiful dessert in the world! It was
such a beautiful plate. It couldn't have turned
out better!

I wish we could do one of these every week.

And now reviews/finals/graduation looms.

What we learned in culinary school this week - Week 20

We getting close to the end! (boo!!!)

Monday was a holiday, so school. Tuesday and Wednesday we covered the cuisine of India, then Thursday and Friday we prepped for our final (sob!) food service, another pop-up dinner for family and friends. After that it's a couple weeks of reviews, then we cover fermentation and jams/canning toward the end. We're even taking over the other kitchen several days a week for most of the rest of the program.

I'm not the biggest fan of Indian food, so you'll have to pardon my lack of enthusiasm for this topic.

Stews are big in Northern India, but stocks aren't used in Indian food. Meat is stewed in water until the meat falls off the bones. Common spices in Indian food include curry, turmeric, cardamom, cayenne, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, saffron and cumin.

Fermentation is big - they will pickle any type of vegetable. And despite cows being sacred, they will consume milk and milk products, including yogurt. And while cows are rarely consumed, seafood, chicken, goats and sheep are acceptable.

Gobi Sabzi (Cauliflower with Ginger, Green
Chilis and Spices).

Carrot Halva with Pistachios.

Saag Paneer.

Triangular Potato Samosas with Yogurt-Mint Chutney.

Tandoori Chicken with Sizzling Onion and Ginger.

Cucumber Coconut Chutney. Seemed like an odd
combination when I was putting it all together,
but it was really good and refreshing.

Kalhapuri Lamb.

Paratha (Pan Fried Flatbread). Probably my
favorite of all the Indian dishes we made. Also,
you an fill it with anything.

Shrimp Cooked with Coconut Milk.

Rice Pudding with Dessert Spice Mixture. Very,
very sweet, but good.

Next up: Our very successful pop-up dinner!