Chef Pro II: Week 7: American Regional, North and East

Pennsylvania, Vermont, Ohio, Maine, Massachusetts, Illinois, Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Maryland and New Hampshire were the states we studied in Week 7. Lots of seafood with clambakes, lobster rolls, she crab soup, crab cakes, the Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish influence, the Italian, Irish, Jewish, and other ethnic influences, maple from Vermont, cranberries, blueberries, apples, potatoes, beans and corn. Johnny cakes, corn cakes, baked beans, and Ben and Jerry's ice cream are all associated with this region. I did my presentation on Connecticut. As many of the other New England states there is a big emphasis on fresh seafood, particularly shellfish. The apizza, particularly white clam, is something I've never eaten but sounded very interesting. Connecticut is home of the Subway sandwich chain, Bigelow Tea Company, and Pepperidge Farms--all very familiar to me. Grinders, the hoagie type sandwich, was named for men who worked in the shipyards grinding rivets. Some classic dishes such as clam cakes, lobster rolls, and crab cakes are my favorites but the New England Boiled Dinner is not on my list of favorites. So naturally when it came time to draw slips of paper with our two dishes to prepare I drew New England Boiled Dinner. Yuk! I also drew another dish I can live without, Buffalo wings. Then we had to make a dish inspired by our particular state using beans.

Here are the dishes we made:

Buffalo chicken wings

New England boiled dinner

Manhatten clam chowder

Baked beans

Crab Puffs

Navy bean soup

Roasted corn chowder

Chicago Deep-Dish pizza

Cod cakes

Croquette potatoes

German apple pancakes

Beef potpie

Philadelphia cheese steak

Pioneer beef stew

Johnnycakes

Beet and Apple Salad with horseradish vinaigrette

Chicken with dill dumplings

Waldorf salad

Shaker-style cutlet

Summer squash noodles

Fresh corn cakes

I have been to New York, Vermont, Virginia, and Maryland and to Danbury, Connecticut (to visit a federal prison for women). I enjoyed the best crab in Maryland a few years ago but my food memories of New York and Vermont are from years ago, before I paid much attention to the concept of "regional foods". I am looking forward to a trip to New York City in the near future but this time for a food adventure. A drive through New England is also on the agenda.

We made some great food! My personal favorite was Kristin's corn cakes with a piece of cod and some type of sauce. I'm trying to get her to tell me how she made it. (see the photo) Other things I found very tasty: crab puffs by Eric, baked beans, and beet and apple salad.

I'm also including a photo of my Buffalo wings plated my way and then the classier way by Chef Kurima and a photo of the lovely boiled dinner made with pork loin.

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Chef Pro II: Week 6: International, Mediterranean

We had very interesting presentations on Greece (Eric), Lebanon (Jessica), Israel, (Patti)
Spain (Stephanie), Morocco (Kristin), Southern Italy (Lisa), Egypt (Callie), Southern France (Tela) and I did my presentation on Northern Italy. Northern Italy is made of of 8 regions and each region has its own specialties influenced by bordering countries. The region I was most familiar with is Emilia-Romagna with Ravenna, Parma, Modena, Bologna, and Rimini. I recognized two things right away--Reggio Emilia students came to the cooking school last fall and were at a Texas Chefs Association meeting where we sampled balsamic vinegar from Modena and some of their dishes. Also, when I was around ten years old my familiy went on vacation to Rimini, Italy where we had amazing dinners every night in the hotel dining room, always starting with soup. I had never tasted such delicious soup, each one with different shaped pastas. I also remember the gelato stands everywhere. I've always wanted to go back there.

After the presentations we were given our assignments for the night.
When I saw our assignments I thought, "This is getting to be a lot of fun!" Seems like this week was the first time I didn't feel a slight sense of panic when we got our packet of assignments for the night. I realized I could make anything on the list of 18 dishes, however when I glanced at the list and saw the following there were a couple dishes I had never eaten.
falafel
kibbeh
dolmas
hummus
paella
ratatouille
mousakka
meatballs
Spanish tortilla
tabbouli

saltimbocca
Moroccan chicken
arancini
risotto
gnocchi
cassoulet
babaganoush

Chef Kurima had us all draw two slips of papers, one with an "easy" dish and one with a difficult dish. I was hoping I wouldn't draw paella or saltimbocca, things I had never eaten or made, so guess what--I drew paella and hummus. Hummus is easy and I've made it many times but paella was a different story. I managed to make the paella but lose the packet of saffron I was holding in my hand. Still can't figure out where it ended up. I used turmeric because I thought it would give it the same yellow color. When I tasted the paella I was surprised to find that I loved it! We also had to make an individual dish of a stuffed item representing our country. That was easy for Italy, home of ravioli, tortelli, tortellini, canneloni, mannicotti, etc. I wanted to made a dessert so I tried chocolate stuffed ravioli using a common truffle filling (cream and chocolate) and making the pasta by hand. I had forgotten a lot of the instructions for making the pasta dough but with Chef' Kurima's help ended up with good dough. She also showed me how to use the ravioli press and I was able to make 2 dozen ravioli. I fried them in oil and dusted them in confectioners sugar. Very tasty!What I'm really starting to love about culinary school is the opportunity to try new things and learn how to make things I would have never thought I would like. For example, Callie made saltimbocca with chicken. It looked OK but when I tasted it I loved it. Thin chicken, sage leaves, proscuitto and fontina cheese, dusted with flour and cooked quickly in hot olive oil. I also tried cassoulet for the first time. Very complex mixture of flavors and wonderful. Can't wait to try it. The gnocchi Lisa made was also a treat and I plan to attempt that soon. There were some dishes I have eaten and can live without, such as kibbeh and dolmas--just not my taste. All in all, it was an adventure and we had some outstanding food to sample at the end.

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Student Supper Club: February 13, 2009

A few of us had been meeting at our homes outside of class and mentioned it to Chef Kurima. She suggested opening it up to all the Chef Pro II and Pastry Pro I students. That sounded fine to me and the others so we planned to try meeting every other month at the school and alternating months at our homes. We have already met at my house, Lisa Wright's and Ray Burhart's and I am hosting the March meeting. Our first official "Student Supper Club" meeting was on February 13, 2009. Chef Kurima sent an invitation out to all the students and has started a Facebook group for the culinary school with announcements. The theme was Mardi Gras and everyone was asked to bring a dish representative of Mardi Gras and wine, if desired. Spouses/partners were also invited. Students brought some wonderful food. We had boudain balls from Jessica, crab/spinach dip from former student Penni, banana bread pudding with bourbon sauce from Lisa, catfish po-boys with a very good sauce from Eric, and some deviled eggs, fried pickles, and a grits/greens dish from Chef Kurima. I made jambalaya and muffalettas. We sampled various wines, enjoyed one anothers' delicious dishes and the relaxing environment (no evaluations of our food). Chef Kurima worked hard to make several dishes and her efforts are greatly appreciated. Her husband, Jay, was so nice to help us with the clean-up. I look forward to more supper club meetings!

The next one is planned for March 13 and will be centered on Asian food. I plan to have a sushi table where people can make their own sushi. I'll also make some.

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Chef Pro II: Week 5: International Cuisine, Asia

Asian food is hard to cover in a few hours. So many countries, so many foods. We had reports on Eastern China, known for stinky tofu, congee and red cooking, Vietnam, with its French, Chinese, and Indian influences, Southern India, which unlike Northern India, does not focus on spicy foods. Japan, China, Singapore, Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia were also presented. We discussed the common elements among the Asian countries which include unusual spices and herbs which are not only used to season foods but thought to have medicinal purposes. Current research is confirming the health benefits of ingredients used in Asian foods--ginger, cumin, turmeric, peppers, are all thought to improve or prevent certain diseases. Rice was common in all the countries we discussed as well.

Our assignment for the evening was to prepare dishes we were assigned by table and to create a stir fry inspired by the country we studies. In my case I studied Singapore. Singapore was a mystery to me until I remembered the Anthony Bourdain episode I watched several months ago. I had recorded that episode because I was interested in a dish called Hainanese Chicken Rice, and I did make it once time. It is one of the national dishes of Singapore and involves cooking the chicken in simmering water, plunging it into ice water briefly to separate the skin from the meat. The chicken is served with spicy chili dipping sauce and dark soy accompanied by rice which was cooked in the chicken broth. Very good dish. I found out a lot more about Singpore including the various influences from Indonesia and India. Another dish I've had but never thought much about the origin of, was Nasi Goreng. Nasi goreng is a rice dish with a very spicy kick from the red pepper and also includes ginger, turmeric and tamarind paste.

The assigned dishes for our table included: Cold sesame noodles (China), Tom Yum Pa (Laos),

Samosas (India) and we could participate in a sushi station set up by Chef Kurima if we had time.

I made the noodles, Martha did the samosas, and Stephanie made the soup. For my individual stir fry I made a version of Nasi Goreng with cabbage, tofu, tomatoes, onions, zucchini, tamarind paste, ginger, soy sauce and hot pepper. It was very spicy and tasty, good enough that I will definitely make it again. My sesame noodles were simple but flavorful. I made two types--one with a peanut butter based sauce and the other with a tahini based sauce. Both were good but I preferred the peanut butter base for the texture more than the taste. The tahini based sauce would quickly thicken up whereas the other stayed perfect.

Other dishes made by classmates included: Singapore noodles (my personal favorite--rice noodles with shrimp and chicken, curry, basil and many other spices), various meat filled dumplings, incuding Japanese gyoza, pho bo from Vietnam, green curry, vegetable pancakes from Korea to name a few. Our recipe packet included several other recipes, one of which was for okonomiyaki, savory Japanese pancakes. I would have loved to be assigned that dish. In Japan there are restaurants which have nothing but okonomiyaki and you sit at a table with a griddle set in the middle where you cook the pancake with various vegetables and meats. It's served with a sweet and savory soy sauce and of all things, mayonnaise. Sounds weird but so good. I've made this at home but it never tastes like it did in Japan.

My sesame noodle dish was easy to prepare so I had time to help Martha with the samosas. I rolled the dough out for 24 dumplings and it reminded me of the time I made homemade pot stickers (not very good--too thick dough). I also had a few minutes to try out the sushi station. It was so much fun to roll a couple maki rolls and make a couple hand rolls. I hope we can have more time to experiment with sushi later.

At the end we all sampled the 11 assigned dishes and the 11 individual stir frys. Imagine being faced with 22 dishes on a buffet at 10:00 PM and trying to decide what to eat. Sad thing is I wasn't hungry since we had been treated to a delicious meal earlier in the evening--pork roast, tabouli and some lentils. I did try a few things, some delicious, some strange and a few very strange. I definitely plan to learn how to make more foods from the Asian countries, particularly India, Indonesia, and Thailand.

The sushi photos are practice dishes I made at home last week.

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Chef Pro II: Week 4: International Cuisine, Europe

We are studying countries around the world, starting with Europe. Students drew names of countries at the beginning of the semester. For Europe I had Austria. I have actually been to Austria, once as a child while traveling from Germany to Italy. The mountain roads were scary to us as children and I recall my parents mentioning my brother getting sick in Innsbrook, Austria from the winding roads. I was also in Austria in 2005, passing through on the way to Germany from Switzerland. We stopped at a huge rest stop that looked more like a shopping mall with a giant food court. Very fancy. Although

I didn't eat in Austria I ate plenty in Germany, much of the same type of food--Weiner Schnitzel, bratwurst, apple desserts. I ate bratwurst every day and it was delicious and much tastier than what I've had in the US. I order Wiener Schnitzel several times as well and enjoyed different variations and sauces. For the calss project, I learned more than I already knew about the cuisine of Austria. In summary, they have a widely varied cuisine due to influences from bordering countries such as Hungary, Germany, and Italy and from pre-WWI when Austria covered much more land than it currently does. The most familiar foods are Wiener Schnitzel, Tafelspitz (boiled beef), Sacher Torte, Linzertorte, and Apfelstrudel (apple studel) but Austria has many types of pork dishes, dumplings, goulash, and game dishes. They also eat a lot of potatoes. In fact, it seems that all the countries presented, Ireland, Holland, Sweden, England, Belgium, Germany, Yugoslavia, Northern France, Hungary, and Norway enjoy potatoes. Given that fact we were all assigned to make an individual dish using potatoes as the main ingredient.

We also were assigned tables and each table was given various dishes to prepare. We were to prepare an individual serving for presentation and then enough for all the students to taste.

Our table was assigned English Fish & Chips, Torchespop (Belgium Potato Soup), and Apple Noodle Kugel. I ended up making the soup and a potato casserole. My soup was a little thick but otherwise OK, the fish and chips was not plated very well so Chef Kurima demonstrated ways we could have improved our plating. Very big improvement just by cutting the fish into 3 pieces, stacking them, moving things around and eliminating the vinegar dish. The apple noodle kugel was tasty but a little runny, however Chef liked that we sprinkled salt on top.

At the end of class we tasted everyones' food. Just imagine tasting 11 potato dishes, meat, desserts, soup, and all the things you see in the bottom photos at 10:00 PM! Being an enthusiastic eater myself I enjoyed many of the items and ate heartily. I even brought several things home to share with the family and had Lisa's Weiner Schnitzel and Stephanie's delicious potatoes au gratin the next day for lunch. Thanks Stephanie! We tasted wine after class, a very nice ending to our hard work, and it was nearly 11:00 PM when we left. I learned why I don't make too many foods from the countries we studied--way too heavy! I am looking forward to next week when we study the foods of Asia. I hope I get to make some sushi.

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Chef Pro II: Lab hours: Sunday Brunch

This was the second lab I completed for Chef Pro II. We have to complete 28 hours in either event preparation or working during a Sunday brunch event. Sunday brunches are open to the public and include an omelet station, soup, salad, an entree prepared by the students and desserts.

The cost is $16.18 for adults and $6.44 for children.

I started out the day very impressively by cutting my finger when attempting to cut an onion in half. It was a superficial cut but embarrasing nonetheless. I was assigned to prepare one of the soups, a lasagna soup. Someone had already browned Italian sausage and I chopped up onions, carrots, gathered up other ingredients, browned them and added white stock and stewed tomatoes and pasta. The soup was very tasty.

I was assiged to the line, specifically preparing the grilled pork and the Cajun Shrimp and Grits entrees. Ray, Lisa, and Tela were also working the line with Chef Jordan Ray, a graduate of the school, and Michael, a CP III student, supervising and expediting.

Left: Cajun Shrimp & Grits, Right: Grilled Pork Chop

Left: Breakfast pasta, Right: Pepita and Mushroom Pesto stuffed chicken breast

I think we all did a good job overall and it was not as stressful as working the line was when I started CP I. In fact I was pleasantly surprised to find that the entire day was not as stressful as any previoius lab I've worked. I think I'm finally getting comfortable in that kitchen, know my way around enough to get by and have more confidence. I had a great time until we had to do all the dishes. There's something about the clean-up that justs wears us all out--young and old.

Lasagna Soup

Brown; stir in

1 lb ground Italian sausage

2 cups onion, chopped

1 cup carrot, diced

2 cups button mushrooms, sliced

2 T minced garlic

Add; stir in:

4 cups white stock (chicken)

1 can chopped Italian-style stewed tomatoes (14.5 oz)

1 cup malfada or campanelle pasta

2 cups fresh spinach, chopped

Serve soup over; garnish with:

1 cup diced mozzarella

1/4 cup Parmesan, shredded

4 t thinly sliced fresh basil

Brown sausage in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and carrot, saute 3 minutes. Stir in mushrooms and garlic, and saute another 3 minutes.

Add broth and tomatoes; bring to boil. Stir in pasta and simmer until cooked, about 10 minutes. Add spinach and cook about 1 minute.

To serve, place cubes of cheese in each serving bowl, then ladle soup over to melt. Garnish with Parmesan and basil.

309 Calories per cup

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