Catch up: Greek food in class and comfort food with friends!

I definitely have to get back on the workout bandwagon if I want to stay at my current weight this holiday season.  It's barely November and I am already eating comfort food like it's going out of style!

Let's start with class this week.... After a couple of weeks of uninspired meals that were just sort of "eh," our group made up for it by making a delicious Greek meal!  Instead of each team making one dish to share with the whole class, each team made only enough food for themselves.  This meant serious teamwork and organization.  I think we did really well!

Our menu included tzatziki (which I have made before), Greek Salad, Spanikopitas and the grand finale, Moussaka.  Everything came out really delicious! Greek cuisine is known for it's use of fresh vegetables, olive oil, olives, lamb/poultry, nuts, honey and filo (phyllo) dough.  We incorporated many of these ingredients into our meal this week.

The Moussaka recipe was really quite delicious.  A total comfort food which has a similarity to the Irish Shepherd's Pie.  It's basically a layered dish of (from top to bottom) Bechamel Sauce, Meat sauce and eggplant.  Something you'd want to eat on a cold night with a fire going and a nice glass of red wine.

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Speaking of comfort food, last night I had a wonderful dinner with my some (old and new) friends who are working on their culinary careers.  It was a potluck/networking/gossip session that was a total blast.  We will certainly have more of these dinners in the future!

We were asked by my friend and occasional cooking partner, Mandy to bring over something with an autumn theme so I decided a few days ago to make Chicken Pot Pie with autumn vegetables (from Anne Burrell of the Food Network).  Little did I know that it would be 95 degrees outside when I was cooking it.  Nevertheless, we all made some form of comfort food and were able to eat most of it despite the heat.  LA may not feel like it, but it is fall in our hearts.  Mandy has some great pics on her blog of everything we made. It was a feast.

It was my first time making a pie crust from scratch and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was.  I think  the most important suggestion I can make is not to handle the dough too much.  Only pulse it until it just comes together in the food processor.  Only knead it until it just looks like it's smooth. Less handling = tender, flaky crust.  I used some bits of the leftover dough to cut out leaves and make the top look pretty.  :) This recipe is a little time consuming but don't be afraid...  it is worth the effort!

What are some of your favorite fall comfort foods?  Feel free to share with me here!

Chow for Now! :)

Hey Mambo, Mambo Italiano!

Yes, you guessed it, we are learning about Italian cuisine in class this week and next!  Last night our menu included three different pizzas (including the homemade dough), marinara sauce, habanero sausage risotto, arugula and fuji apple salad and chicken parmesan.  Our group, being the advanced team, made two pizzas and the salad.  Busy busy and SOOOO fun!

Most of you are well aware of my love affair with my Breadman, the machine does all of the hard stuff (mixing and kneading) while I just take the dough and bake it.  Most people could do that with no problem.  The true art is in the kneading... You don't want to knead too much (making the dough too tough) and you don't want to knead too little (texture of the bread will not be smooth and won't stretch onto a pizza pan).  We watched Chef make one dough and then went off to work.

Our first pizza was a Ricotta Pesto pizza.  We made the dough, set it aside to rise then made a beautiful basil and pine nut pesto using a mortar and pestle (the only way to do it, according to Chef).  Next we mixed ricotta and mozzarella in equal parts and set aside.  Once the dough was done rising, we parbaked it for 12 minutes until lightly browned. We spread a little pesto mixed with olive oil on the bottom.

Then we took the remaining pesto and mixed it with the cheese mixture and dropped it in spoonfuls over the dough.

We baked it for about 6 minutes more and it was done.  Isn't it gorgeous?  It was very tasty.

Our second pizza was a Halloween themed pizza (bright orange tomatoes from the school garden, pepperoni, black olives and green onions).

Pizza Dough


Ingredients:
1 c water @ 110-120 degrees
1 T dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 c flour plus 1/3 cupfuls later


1) Warm bowl and the liquid measuring cup by filling with warm water
2) Measure all ingredients, measuring water last.
3) Put warm water into warm bowl using a wire whisk, sprinkle in yeast and stir with wire whisk
4) Add sugar and stir to dissolve, wait a moment
5) Add salts and stir with wire whisk
6) Add 1 c of flour and stir with a wooden spoon until well blended
7) Using a wooden spoon stirring in only one direction, add 1/3 cupfuls of flour until the dough is thick enough to stick to spoon and be lifted out of the bowl.
8) Flour the counter where you will knead the dough and flour your hands.
9) Place all dough in a blob and set into the flour on the counter
10) Knead* the dough about 8 minutes until the dough is smooth, soft and elastic (like a baby's bottom)
11) Oil the dough and place in a bowl to rise (covered with a towel and set in a warm area of the kitchen)


*Kneading the dough:  PUSH away with heel of hand, FOLD in half towards you, quarter TURN to the right (push, fold, turn).  Do this until the dough is a nice smooth ball and then "tuck and spin" so it looks like this:

Let it rise until it's 2-3 times it's original size then bake as directed above.
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This dough was a little thicker and more bread-y than I typically like, but had great flavor.  One of my teammates, Carol, suggested that maybe throwing it up in the air makes the difference (we didn't try that!).  All I know is even though our pizzas were good and we were proud of our final product, my brother in law makes 'em even better.  Must be the New York Italian side of him. :)

What are your favorite toppings on pizza?  Are you a NY or Chicago pizza fan?  Please share your thoughts here!

Chow for Now!  :)

Now we're cooking! First real night of cooking in class... en Francais

If I was concerned about this class not being advanced enough for me, I realized on Tuesday night that this would not be the case.   Chef is giving our team the opportunity to choose which dishes we want to cook and is also giving us extra tasks to complete.  Definitely a challenge!

This week we learned about French cuisine, and each team made a french dish.  Our team made three dishes!  We chose to make a Cherry clafouti and an Italian plum clafouti.  The cherry one came out great.  We followed the directions to a "T" and it looked gorgeous when it came out of the oven.  Unfortunately we left out an important ingredient in the plum clafouti, ground almonds, which was a result of miscommunication with chef.  Not a big deal, we were able to mix that last ingredient in before cooking and all ended up fine.  Pictures of both are below. We also made a shallot butter sauce which was served with Group 1's potatoes.  This came out divine.

Cherry Clafouti
serves 4


2/3 c all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 c sugar
3/4 c milk
3 T heavy cream
3 T unsalted butter, melted
12 oz fresh sweet cherries,washed and pitted
confectioners' sugar for dusting


1.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and make a well in the center.  Add the eggs and whisk until smooth.  Add sugar, milk, cream and melted butter, mixing well after each addition.  Strain to remove any lumps.


2.  Butter a 6 cup ovenproof dish.  Sprinkle the cherries over the bottom, then pour in the batter.  Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until an inserted knife tip comes out of the batter clean.  Serve warm, generously dusted with confectioners' sugar.
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Clafouti is basically a flan or custard like dish with fruit in it, made in a buttered casserole dish.  This dish is typically made with cherries but any stone fruit could be used instead. The dish is finished with powdered sugar and served at room temperature.  Here are the two we made:

cherry clafouti

plum clafouti

Other dishes from class included a beautiful, fresh nicoise salad, a bright orange carrot and coriander soup, tomato and goat cheese on french bread toasts, and ratatouille.  Dishes in bold are pictured below...  All in all a fun first class and a round of applause for the students who are learning how to cook in the class as they did a great job!

Do you have any favorite french dishes?  Feel free to share with me!

Chow for now! :)

Summer vacation over - lots of food news to share!

Hello everyone, my camping trip is over and I am sorry to say that the most gourmet food I cooked was corn wrapped up in tinfoil with butter and herbs and peanut butter rice krispie treats.  Not that they weren't delicious but I just wasn't feeling gourmet last week.  Perhaps it was the 35 degree weather!  Yes, in August in Big Bear Lake it was 35 degrees at night... luckily temps rose 40 degrees during the day making for beautiful sunny, warm days spent fishing, hiking and enjoying the fresh air.  We made the usual fare: hot dogs, pork ribs, beef stew and lots of toasted marshmallows and hot chocolate to stay warm at night.  It was a fun week, but I am excited to be back in LA to start class again!

Peanut butter Rice Krispie treats!

Last night was my first night of International Cooking at GCC.  It is being taught by Chef Greenwood (my favorite teacher from last semester) and is proving to be a fun class again.  Two students from my class last semester are taking the class, making us the "advanced" team... so instead of watching the introduction to chopping vegetables video last night, we got to make bruschetta, we caught up on each other's summers, and sampled lemon poppy seed bread that Chef's high school class made earlier that day.  Yes, it sounds like a fun way to spend a Tuesday night, but I hope to learn more this semester.  I think once we get past the introduction to cooking and kitchen safety (which some new people in the class will DEFINITELY need), we will have more fun stuff to do.  I think she will have our team help guide the other students and cook some more advanced recipes.  Works for me!

Next Tuesday we don't have class but we do have an extra credit opportunity to attend a great event at the Skirball titled: "Are Celebrity Chefs Good For Food?" - should be an interesting lecture with some great LA chefs and food fans (including Jonathan Gold of LA Weekly,  Nancy Silverton of Mozza, Ludovic Lefebvre of LudoBites and “Top Chef Masters” star Susan Feniger of Street).  I will be there!

How was your Labor Day?  Did you do anything fun?  Try any new foods?  Please feel free to share here!

Bittersweet endings...but mostly really sweet

Last night was my last night of cooking in my Culinary course.  I am sad to leave for many reasons... this class has been a place where I could guarantee "getting my cooking on" for a few hours twice a week. Although class time was ten hours a week, it went by very quickly. It was what I looked forward to doing again when I was in the hospital.  I really enjoyed my team and appreciated Chef's knowledge and opinions.  Hearing her story about how she began was inspiring and has motivated me to move forward with my own career choices.

I learned a lot in the class, even though it was technically an introduction to cooking.  I learned how to share in the kitchen (mom can attest that I've been known to "hog" the kitchen at Thanksgiving).  I learned a lot of new french terms including sautoir, chinois, batonnet, and about the early chefs who created the idea of restaurants and french classical cooking.  I took on new cooking techniques including deep frying and succeeded, even at home!  I cooked and tried foods I never prepared or ate before (duck kidney, scotch eggs) and enjoyed the process of "trying new things."

I will miss this class but my education is far from over.  As time permits, I plan on taking other courses.  I'd love to take another nutrition course because I learned a lot and unlike when I went to college the first time (ahem) , I actually did well with the science side of the course.  I guess I don't have as many distractions now as I did in 1991. :)   I am awaiting my score on my ServSafe exam which I took last week but I am confident I did well.  This will allow me to tell clients that I have a food safety certification. I would definitely like to continue taking courses where I can be challeneged and motivated to prepare the best food.  I look forward to the fall schedule coming out this summer.

Last night was the only night all semester that we were to cook on our own - no team projects at all.  We had to choose a fish recipe from our text, mise en place (prepare, chop ingredients etc) everything at home, but cook the dish in class and present a finished, attractive and tasty plate to Chef for a grade.  I chose to make Jumbo Lumb Blue Crab and Langoustine Cake with Citrus Vanilla Sauce and Rhubarb Preserves.  It's a long name, and it had many steps and ingredients.  I did a practice run at home which took two and a half hours so I was glad that I could prepare most of the sauce and chop all the ingredients at home so that the in-class preparation was not too daunting. I have to say, I was proud of the result at home and also with the cakes I made in class. 

I was also proud of my team and of the class as a whole. Every dish I tasted was really good - it shows we all wanted to to a great job for our final cooking day.

I tasted and salted and tasted again.  I ladled the citrus sauce, laid the crab cake gently in the center of the plate and spooned small amounts of rhubarb preserves along citrus band.  I wiped the edge of the dish so it was clean and attractive.  I drew a toothpick through the small circles of preserves to shape them into hearts.  The cake was crispy on the outside and soft and tasty on the inside.  This was a good great dish.  This dish could lift me from an "at home" cook to...dare I say it... a GOURMET chef. 

When I presented the dish to Chef, I had to explain what I did at home and in class and any ingredients that I substituted (for instance, I replaced the langoustine with white shrimp and in the rhubarb preserves, I used Cabernet Sauvignon instead of port wine). Chef loved the presentation.  She tasted the citrus sauce.  Sampled it again with a smile and said "Lisa you rocked the sauce."  Then she tried the preserves... Smiling wider.  Tasted the crab cake and said "Lisa, wow you really rocked this. Again. Everyone will be able to sample this one - I hope you have extra sauce."

Tickled pink.  Proud and happy.  And I am sure she was happy too, knowing she took part in my education.  I probably wouldn't have tried preparing this dish six months ago.  Ah, maybe I would have but I don't think I would have been so meticulous.

The finished product:

So here's to chef and my other educators - thank you for an amazing sixteen weeks.  I look forward to working with you again.

What will I do with an extra 10 hours a week?  Probably cook.

Chow for now!  :)

Following a dream!

Well, I'm sorry I've been out of touch - I had my first exam yesterday in Nutrition class (did well, I think!), My sister's baby shower is this weekend, lots of family and friends in town... therefore lots of cleaning and "getting ready." I almost considered not going to my cooking class tonight. Almost. And once I was there I thought man, this could've been one of the most perfect nights to skip class - we were told we were going to be making brown stock (been there, done that). That's it. But that wasn't it at all. While the stock was bubbling...we got to hear about our Chef/professor's life!


Chef D has had an interesting career - starting in college when she was getting her degree to teach Home Ec (she knew she wanted to teach since she was a little girl) she babysat for spending money. The parents of the kids she watched asked her to start cooking for the family each night. Here she was a Jewish 20 year old from NY who was asked by her wealthy Mexican employers to cook them dinners every night (and Mexican dinners at that). Of course she said yes, but she had a lot to learn. And they let her practice and learn on the job, perfecting and learning about items beyond tacos (which until then she had only had at Taco Bell).

Fast forward to graduation, she got her degree and as luck would have it she also got a job pretty quickly teaching Home Ec at the high school level. All was well and good until the economy began to turn (sound familiar?) and she was handed a pink slip. While waiting in line at unemployment (pre-online/mail-based unemployment filing) she began thinking about other possible jobs she could do. She did some research (in the want ads - again, no internet) and found that there was an agency hiring private chefs for wealthy Beverly Hills clients. Without giving too much away, let's just say she cooked for very wealthy residents of LA who loved her and her food. She cooked for families, she cooked for the staff of families, she cooked for small and large parties. She did this until she could get another teaching job then realized she could do both at once and make a ton of money! So she did.

Since the earlier years, she has continued doing what she enjoys: a full time teaching gig (at both the high school and college level) along with running a part time catering business. She travels all over the world in her free time to taste food from every culture, she spends as much time in France and Napa taking classes and as I can tell from attending her class, truly enjoys what she does and wants everyone in her class to love this as much as she does.

Since my layoff I have had to spend a lot of time soul searching to figure out what was next for me. For some people, choosing a career (or careers) is easy - it could start for someone as a 6 year old playing "teacher" in a friend’s house, or at age 11 singing in to a toothbrush in front of a mirror. For others of us, and I would say for the majority of us, it is an evolving process.

Over my 36 years I have wanted to be a teacher, a veterinarian, a physical therapist, a personal assistant, a dog masseuse, a dog trainer, a therapist, and probably others that I don't even remember. But right now I want to be a chef. I will be a chef. I am inspired by my professor and by chefs on tv, and by one of the students who showed us his carving technique and by anyone else following their dreams.

It is so important to follow your dreams. If you are in a job you don't like anymore, take the time to explore other options. You don't have to be unhappy.  It will take a lot of time, a lot of money and some soul searching but it is NEVER too late.

Have you ever changed your career (and surprised everyone around you)? Or were you the little girl or boy singing into your toothbrush?  Share your story - I'd love to hear it! 

Chow for now! :)

You say Endive, I say "On-deeve"

Class started last night with a very informative (and very old school) video from circa 1980 about how endive is cultivated.  I had little knowledge of the process before and just assumed that it was done the way other lettuces are done - seeds are plantecd and eventually the lettuces grow like crazy, you pick them and eat them with a nice balsamic vinaigrette.  I gave little thought to the fact that endive is actually is predominantly white in color and I didn't think about why that is.

Endive actually comes from the chicory root (those who have frequented New Orleans surely have tried the famous coffee which is flavored with chicory - used to cut the edge of the bitter coffee grounds).  Farms plant chicory seeds and once the leaves have matured, the green tops are cut and discarded and the roots are pulled from the ground and brought into an indoor location where they are kept at high humidity and mild temperatures and given doses of hydroponic-based water/fertilizer solution.  Since they are grown inside without sunlight, the vegetable is mostly white in color!  Eventually the roots begin sprouting little white leaves (see picture from http://www.endive.com/ below):

The plants stay inside for the full growth period then they are picked and sorted into three grades based on size (baby, standard and extra) ans sent to market.  The chicory roots can only grow one endive plant before being recycled as high grade cattle feed.

The video was provided to our Chef by California Vegetable Specialties and you can see step by step pictures of the process as well as learn more about the history of this delicate lettuce on their website.

Hopefully this makes you think about how other fruits and vegetables are grown and cultivated. There is a wealth of information online and when you visit your local farmer's markets, talk to the farmers - they will love to tell you their stories.

Happy St Patrick's Day to you all!

Chow for now. :)

Who knew I liked lamb?

After many years of saying to my mom "I really don't like lamb, I don't like it.  It's gamey, I hate the smell.  Mint jelly is gross." and mom replying "You don't know what you are missing!" I have finally figured out that mom was right, AGAIN!  Last night, among the many recipes that were cooked at class, teams one and two made lamb shish kebab with mint pesto.  Wow - it was really good!  Lamb was marinated in a mint pesto (recipes below) for about 45 minutes then was skewered with green pepper and onion and grilled.  The kebobs came out delicious and not overly gamey or minty! I was pretty proud of all the teams last night - we made some good stuff.

On the menu (as we were still working on marinades/pestos) was fennel slaw with pistachio pesto which was pretty good, mushroom duxelle stuffed tomatoes (really delicious and would have been even better with summery ripe tomatoes instead of hard-ish winter tomatoes),  pasta with sundried tomato/parmesan/cream sauce, dijonaisse chicken breast (a decadent chicken breast recipe with a dijon/mayo/parmesan topping), and finally, our team made a cheese torta (cream cheese, goat cheese and garlic, whipped in the food processor then layered with a home made sun dried tomato pesto in a springform pan and refirgerated).  We didn't get to taste the final product as it needs to refrigerate over night.  We will eat it Thursday when we have a CHEESE presentation (I am not eating all day Thursday in preparation!).  I will take pictures!

Some of these recipes had summery ingredients... do you have a favorite summer recipe or ingredient that you are getting excited for?  Spring is just around the corner! 

Here is the kebab recipe.  Enjoy and chow for now! :)

Mint Pesto
yields 9.5 oz

Ingredients:
1/2 t salt
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 oz pine nuts
1 oz parmesan cheese, grated
2 oz mint leaves, fresh
1/2 t chile flakes
4 fl oz olive oil
TT pepper

Procedure:
We used a mortar and pestle.  If you want to go this route, put salt and garlic in the mortar and use the pestle to pound the garlic until it's very soft.  Add pine nuts and pound until blended.  add cheese and pound until well mixed.  Add mint leaves and chile flakes and pound some more.  Put mixture into a bowl and slowly stir in olive oil until well mixed.  Add a little pepper to taste.

OR
If you want to use a food processor, combine all ingredients into the bowl of the processor and blend until a smooth paste.

Lamb Shish Kebab
Yields 16 skewers with 4 cubes of lamb on each

Ingredients
5 lb of Lamb (leg or shoulder, boneless, trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes)
6 medium onions cut into 1 inch squares
6 green bell peppers cut into 1 inch squares
16 skewers, soaked in wataer for about 1/2 hour.

Procedure: Grill or broil
1. Marinate the lamb in mint pesto for one hour
2. Place cubes of lamb on each skewer, then a piece of onion and bell pepper, alternating the vegetables and lamb (4 pieces of lamb per skewer).  Grill or broil to desired doneness.

Vegetarians need not apply

I want to start  off by saying have absolutely nothing against vegetarians (some of my best friends are vegetarians!) and I completely understand wanting to go meat free in this day of corporations buffing up every animal from chicken to swine with corn corn and more corn and hormones and salt water and whatever else.  But I am not sure how one can attend culinary school without being open to trying foods you don't normally eat. 

My team had a big discussion tonight about foods we like/dislike.  For instance, one of my team members doesn't like watermelon, but she tried the balsamic watermelon amuse bouche that we made. She still didn't like it but she TRIED it.  We also have a vegetarian on our team, but she's not in the culinary program, rather is getting a pre-requisite for her MS in nutrition so I give her a pass.  It made me wonder about people who may be vegan, vegetarian, hate orange foods, whatever... how difficult it would be to go through culinary school without tasting everything you cook!  So curious!

Tonight we worked on our chopping again, and also made a very nice meal.  Started with the amuse bouche and an amazing salad of baby greens, candied walnuts (which we made ourselves), dried cranberries, chevre (goat cheese), asian pears and a balsamic vinaigrette.  We also worked on marinades and dry rubs and made a marinaded chicken thigh dish and a really nice dry rub for pork loin (or tenderloin).  The pork recipe is below.  The best hint I can give you is keep your eye on the temperature of the pork.  You don't want underdone OR overdone pork.  It is no bueno.

Cumin Roasted Pork Loin with Apples and Onions

1 lb pork loin, trimmed of fat
1T cumin, ground
1/2 t curry powder
1t salt
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 oz butter
4 oz onions, medium dice
1/2 t garlic, minced
1 medium apple, medium dice
2 oz white wine
2 oz chicken stock

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine cumin, curry, salt and pepper and rub the pork with the mixture.

Heat butter in a saucepan and saute the pork over medium heat until well bronwed on all sides.  Remove the pan from the heat, transfer the pork to a parchment paper lined sheet pan and roast in the oven until cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 145 degrees.*

While the loin is roasting, reheat the saute pan, adding butter and saute the onions and garlic until transparent.  Add the apples and saute until tender.  Deglaze the pan with the wine and stock.  Bring to a biol and adjust the seasonings as necessary.

Let the meat rest at 10 minutes.  Slice the pork (1/4") and serve on a bed of onions, apples and sauce.

* If you use tenderloin, you will probably only need to cook it in the oven for 10 minutes after browning in the pan.

Do you have a favorite marinade or dry rub recipe that you use often?  Any thoughts on attending culinary school on a special diet?

Chow for now.  :)

Small dice, large dice, pont neuf, oh my!

For any of you culinary people out there, you know that my title for this post refers to slicing and dicing - specially named cuts in the culinary world.  Last night we practiced small dice, medium dice, brunois, pont neuf, batonnet, and julienne cuts on onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes.  Pictures of all of these cuts can be found here.  they really are beautiful when you get them right... which will take me LOTS of practice!

We also learned about the chiffonade cut. This cut is typicaly done with basil. This cut required rolling the leaves like a cigar then making thinly sliced cuts along the length of the "cigar" resulting in thin shreds that look pretty and can be used as a garnish, in soups and sauces, etc.  I've actually done this cut before but I just love it and wanted to share. Here is a great "step by step" for doing the chiffonade cut if you want to try it at home.  You can try this cut on any leafy herbs (basil and mint!) and lettuces.

We carmelized onions to be used in an egg, spicy sausage and carmelized onion scramble (dinner!), and made a delicious, garlicy pesto by hand, using a mortar and pestle.  We made deep fried potatoes and used the pesto to make a flavored mayonnaise for dipping those fries.  All in all, another somewhat unhealthy night of cooking but great skills were learned.  I learned the importance of holding your knife and your fingers in such a way when slicing that minimizes the chances of cutting yourself.  Also, just how difficult it is to make a "perfect" slice or cut. 

Our basil pesto recipe is as follows:

1/8 tsp salt
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 T shredded parmesan cheese
1 T pignoli (pine) nuts
1 T olive oil
1-2 T basil (chiffonade)

In a mortar, put salt and garlic and pound until garlic looks wet.  Add nuts and pound until paste-like.  Add basil and pound until basil has been chopped up fine.  Add cheese and pound in until mixed.  Finally stir in olive oil until well mixed. 

You can make larger batches of this recipe to use on bruschetta, pasta, on chicken, salmon, turkey sandwiches, etc.  This is a universal saiuce and can be used in many ways.  You can also substitute walnuts instead of pignoli nuts if you prefer.

Chow for now! :)

I'm about to gain some serious weight....

Class was really fantastic tonight because we finally got to COOK!  Last week we were split up into teams of four, or in our (Team 3's) case, five chefs.   Typically an executive chef, sous-chef, prep cook and dishwasher makes up a team.  Each team gets an oven, a microwave, a prep table and we all share the various kitchen tools and supplies.  Tonight was OBVIOUSLY our first night in the kitchen. I didn't see anyone running with knives but it was definitely a free for all.    I really had no idea how well our team would work together (four woman, one man, age range 18 to 50-something, many different ethnicities and backgrounds) but I was very proud of our outcome. I felt like we all put a ton of work in and did a nice job together.  It can be hard to give up control in the kitchen so this is a new goal for me

In each class going forward, Chef Debbie will lecture a bit, set up a demo and then send us in to the kitchen to fend for ourselves.  Each team gets a total score of up to 5 points based on certain criteria set for each dish we make.  Although she didn't tell us, I am 99% sure we got all 5 points.  We rocked.

Now...to go back to the beginning of class.... today's lesson was quickbreads.  Chef showed us how to prepare an amazing coffee cake layered with apples and cinnamon.  Then she gave us a bunch of recipes - went over each one and sent each team on their way with one recipe to create for a grade. Our team got the "Country Biscuits" recipe.  I think they tasted good, but I would probably add more green onion.  For all the pretty colors and textures, there wasn't the punch of flavor I would have expected.

Country Biscuits

2.5 lbs of all purpose (AP) flour
3/4 oz salt
2 oz sugar
2 oz baking powder
14 oz unsalted butter, cold, 1/4 in dice
24 oz whole milk
3/4 c cheddar cheese, sharp, grated
2T green onion, thinly sliced
1T dried thyme [our team used dill as the kitchen was out of thyme]

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees 
• Sift the dry ingredients together making sure they are evenly blended 
• Combine the butter with teh dry ingredients, cheese, onions and thyme. The mixture should look  mealy; do not overmix. 
• Add milk and stir until mixture is just holding together. 
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surfacel knead until it forms one mass, approximately 5-6 kneadings.  If dough is too dry, add milk as needed until the dough holds together. 
• Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/2 in.  Cut with a floured bscuit cutter and place the biscuits on a parchment lined sheet pan. 
• Bake until tops are light brown, sides are almost white and the interiors are still moist (approx 10-15 minutes).  Cool and eat!

At the end of class we all got to sample each team's product: blueberry muffins, lemon poppy seed muffins, cream scones and apple sour cream coffee cake.  I may be biased but I think our biscuits came out close to the top when comparing every one of the quickbreads to it.  This is a feat for me because I am NOT a baker.  I guess this is what teamwork is all about!

Team 3's biscuits - came out pretty good - what do you think?

In class we also talked a bit about Chino Farm (or Chino Nojo)  Here's a review.  This farm supplies some of the most amazing west coast restaurants with their produce (Alice Waters' Chez Panisse for one).  Chef nearly drooled when telling the class about the experience so now I want to go visit.  It's not to far down in Rancho Santa Fe.  Anyone up for a road trip?!

My bed is caling out to me.   Chow for now!  :)

Outstanding in the Field

Class tonight was short as Chef Debbie was sick with a cold and needed to go home and sleep (she works a full day at Glendale HS followed by 5-10 pm with us college students two nights a week - she had to be exhausted!!)

However, we did go over some safety hints...  For instance it's an old wives tale and a VERY WRONG old wives tale that you put butter on a burn.  Please don't ever put butter on a burn.  Cold water only.  And don't pop a blister if it forms.  It's there for a reason.  Also my favorite hint - if you are in a heated argument with another chef - please put any instruments (especially sharp ones) down before continuing...

We handed in our homework from Tuesday: "tell me about your most memorable restaurant experience."  I talked to Chef after class about mine.

It was June of 2009, just shortly after I was laid off from my job and I was getting ready for around 5 weeks of travels to San Francisco, Half Moon Bay, Boston, Western MA and CT.  I figured I should try and see everyone I can because who knew when I'd be able to afford to travel again!

The weekend in Half Moon Bay was a great kick off to my adventures in travel.  My sister Jenn, her husband, Nat and I decided to drive up to Northern Cal to try out an Outstanding in the Field  event. It is truly an amazing organization - I hope you will click on the link and check it out.  Every year around the first day of spring they send out to their followers, and post to their website a schedule of their "roving farm dinners."  Their mission (taken directly from their website) is: "to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who create it."  That is it in a nutshell and oh, what an experience!!

The photo behind my blog name at top was taken at the event.  So you can see just how amazing the location was.  Chef Mourad Lahlou of Aziza in San Francisco, cooked his delicious Moroccan food using mostly BBQ grills set up under tents.  For Northern California it was actually pretty warm so I commend the waitstaff and the "back of the house" for doing such a great job in such warm weather.  We sampled local wine and fresh fish and delicious, freshly picked cherries.  The menu is shown below:

We had a great time with a bunch of people we hadn't met before and some of us at the tables even ate the eyes of the whole grilled rock fish!  Not I! Some food pics are below.  I truly hope I can do this again this year.  It's so important to eat locally and understand where your food comes from.  If you can find one of these events in your neighborhood I HIGHLY recommend attending.  It's expensive but SO worth it. 

Chow for now!

two for two!

I made it through all my first day jitters and was able to add not one, but both of my classes at GCC today!!

This morning's class was a nutrition course which will probably be pretty good.  The professor has a strong science background so it may be a great deal of "triglycerides" and chemical makeup of food but I think it will really help to know the science behind the food that we eat.  It will give me more knowledge to share with clients, especially those with special diets.  I think the professor has very strong feelings about nutrition...could make for some great debates about vegan vs Atkins vs diet pills!

After my morning class, I took Murphy for a run at the dog park because I knew that he would otherwise sneer at me after spending a total of 11 hours out of the house this morning and this evening.  He had his fun, met a few cute bitches and we headed back home.

Tonight I attended my first Beginning Food Prep course with a professor that I hope I can some day call my foodie friend.  She is going to be a hoot to attend class with (good thing, it's 5 hours a night, two nights a week - I better like her!).  We covered an array of topics tonight from butter (very important ingredient!), measurement conversion (16 Tbls = 1 c) to Michelin restaurants to food inspirations (Noel Robuchon, Julia Child - "Bon Appetit!", the entire Food Channel family) to bucket lists!  She is fun, funny and inspiring and I think she will be  a tough critic and will whip us all in to shape. 

When I have completed this course I should be able to execute all the basic knife cuts, prepare different stocks, prepare the five mother sauces, describe and demonstrate broiling, grilling, baking, sauteing, deep frying, poaching, boiling, braising, etc. plus a ton more. 

I will also have to demonstrate the cutting up of a chicken into 8 pieces.  It brings me back to frog dissection in HS biology.  But will be WAY more fun (and way more tasty!)!!

I am also really excited about our mid-semester field trip - not sure where we are going but if it is food related - I AM IN!

Tomorrow I have to pick up some more school supplies - notecards for all the definitions I'm going to need to memorize, a binder and dividers for all the handouts from Prep class and I will need to source out some inexpensive used textbooks.

Also a tidbit for those in the LA area - Eagle Rock Italian Bakery & Deli makes really delicious cookies - you should stop by if you are in the area.

Chow for now. :)

school of life

I decided to get this blog going as a result of big time pressure from family, friends and fellow bloggers (thanks Ellen!). I'd like to spread my culinary knowledge as I take cooking and nutrition classes and start my personal chef business!

Up until today, my food-related education came from the "school of life:" reading lots of cook books , watching Ina, Bobby and Giada on The Food Channel to the extent where they invaded my dreams, and taking an occasional Hip Cooks class in LA.

Tomorrow, I begin a new food adventure when I start classes in the culinary program at Glendale Community College. I am picturing my first day to be similar to the first day of school when I was 13... i'll wear a new outfit, hope that someone nice talks to me, and pray I don't answer incorrectly when a teacher asks me a question! Attending classes with students half my age...should add a whole other layer of craziness!

I was unable to formally register for classes, as all were full by the time I was able to login and register online. Lucky for me I had a great meeting with the director of the Culinary department. He was convinced I'd be able to get into the classes that I'd like just by meeting with each of the three professors a few minutes before each class begins. We shall see. I plan on taking a production/skills course (part lecture, part kitchen work - learning how to wield a knife, and braise, saute and roast just about anything), a nutrition course (to help me cook for LA-based dieters of all kinds) and a food safety and sanitation course (to prove to all that I will not leave raw chicken breast out of the fridge for 8 hours).

I went to Target today to buy a 5 subject notebook and some pens. My stomach has butterflies already. Wish me luck!