Slow Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad

We had a couple of visitors over last night for cocktail hour before dinner (my uncle and his girlfriend visiting from NY).. My mom asked me what we should serve for cocktail hour and I immediately thought of Barefoot Contessa's tomato caprese salad. This is no ordinary caprese salad... The tomatoes are slow roasted with minced garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a bit of sugar, and crushed black pepper. After roasting away in a low oven for a few hours the natural sugars of the tomatoes come out and the flavors are perfectly enhanced.

Right before our guests arrived I assembled the salad with sliced fresh mozzarella that we got from a local Italian deli and fresh basil from our "garden" (aka basil plant on the balcony). The caprese salad was a hit! I eat these tomatoes like candy and will be snacking on them and adding them to my lunch sandwiches throughout the week.

You can find the recipe here. I followed the recipe exactly, except I left the tomatoes in the oven for a bit longer (almost 3 hours!).

Father's Day Menu

I apologize for being MIA for a while! Life has been crazy busy and the commute to my internship was completely wearing me out. So, a brief update: I finished up my internship at Good Housekeeping yesterday! It was truly an amazing experience and I am so lucky to have been exposed to so many aspects of the industry. Luckily, there were plenty of television shoots while I was there that I was able to be a part of. I prepped shoots for Emeril and Guy Fieri, along with a show called "Food-ogrophy" on the Cooking Channel. I loved every minute of it!

I was extremely sad to leave! Unfortunatley there aren't any positions available at the moment, so I am now on the job search! (Wish me luck!!)

Last Sunday my mom and I organized a casual Father's Day dinner for my family. My uncle was in town from Cali, so he came along with my other uncle and aunt, 3 cousins, and grandparents.

I made sandwiches for lunch to bring on the beach with us. While on the beach, we sipped on some Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling.. so light and refreshing!

I headed back to the condo early to prep dinner and appetizers. Our appetizers were pretty basic and included gourmet cheeses, crackers, hummus, etc. I wanted to make a little something special and prepared Giada's Deviled Eggs with Crab. It was delicious! I made a few minor changes: I added in the yolks of 3 eggs to the filling and ended up filling 8 eggs instead of 6. I also sprinkled the tops with paprika (afterwards I realized old bay seasoning would have been nice!):
We had a nice spread for dinner that was not too gourmet (my family enjoys comfort food!) but still incredible. I made an Asian barbecue chicken from Food and Wine magazine. I made this earlier in the afternoon and heated it up later. I made the mistake of coating it in the toasted sesame seeds too early because when I heated it up, the sesame seeds weren't as crunchy and toasty. Woops...next time I'll make sure to coat them with the seeds a la minute!
Since these had a distinct Asian flavor and were a little spicy, I made a few extra chicken drumsticks with Emeril's barbecue sauce.
We also made a double batch of Giada's Sausage, Peppers, and Onions. We served this with toasted Italian rolls, and pasta tossed with olive oil.
My mom also made a tray of homemade mac & cheese (a healthier version that included whole wheat panko and fresh sliced tomatoes!). I think the adults liked this more than the kids! We also had a tossed salad with toasted pine nuts, craisins, croutons, heirloom cherry tomatoes, and raspberry vinaigrette.

The night ended with my mom's famous Strawberry Roll and my grandpa's favorite cake.

Savory Biscotti

I've decided I can't say goodbye to this blog quite yet! Even if I won't be blogging about my day-to-day experiences at my internship, I can still offer some great recipes and restaurant spots. So, you may have noticed a change in the header of this website. It is not longer "diaries of a culinary student", but rather "of a culinary graduate". I look forward to sharing some good eats throughout the summer and experimenting with new recipes!

Before I share a new recipe with y'all, here are some more pictures of graduation (that I stole from Miss Huggins):

Team 3.. I miss you guys!
Me with Miss Huggins herself:
For Mother's day, I decided to make this new recipe for biscotti. I saw Giada make it on Food Network yesterday and was dying to try it out! My family loves biscotti, but this is a different kind of cookie. It is savory, rather than sweet, and contains goat cheese and dried herbs. Interesting, huh? Well, it was a hit and had everybody going back for seconds! There is no better complement to a chef than for everybody to go back for seconds.. I was very pleased :)

To go along with my biscotti, I prepared a beautiful Italian lunch spread with fresh mozzerella, basil, tomatoes, roasted peppers, Italian meats, and toasted Italian bread. The perfect lunch for my little Italian family!

Here is the recipe for Giada's Savory Biscotti:
-2 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat)
-3 T herbes de provence (I didn't have any so I used an Italian blend)
-1 1/2 tsp baking powder
-3/4 tsp sea salt
-1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temp)
-1/4 cup (2 oz) goat cheese (room temp)
-3 T sugar
-2 eggs, beaten

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, herbes de Provence, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and goat cheese together until smooth. Beat in the sugar and eggs. In batches, add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet. With damp hands, form the dough into a 13-inch-long, 3 1/2-inch-wide loaf. Bake until light golden, about 30 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 30 minutes.

Transfer the loaf to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut the log on the diagonal into 1/2-inch thick slices. Arrange the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake until pale golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a wire rack and cool completely, about 30 minutes.

*This would be a great Happy Hour snack! It would go wonderfully with a glass of wine!

Happy mother's day to my beautiful mommy and grandma!!!

Tomorrow I start my externship... here:

Hors D'oeuvre II

What better place to spend a rainy Monday afternoon than in the kitchen?

Today was our second (and last) day of hors d'oeuvres. Hors d'oeuvres are tough because they're a bit time consuming since you have to assemble individual bites and make them look presentable. I actually really enjoyed preparing these recipes..not to mention, it's fun to taste everyone else's bite-sized hors d'euvres.

Kim and I worked together to prepare Goat Cheese Mousse with Beet Quennelles and Buckwheat Blini with American Caviar.

The goat cheese mousse was simply a puree of goat cheese, milk, creme fraiche, roasted garlic, cumin, extra virgin olive oil, and walnut oil. There's a bit of gelatin in the mousse to help the mixture firm up and create a smooth, silky consistency. We also folded in some ground walnuts and minced chives. We topped each little mousse with a beet mixture that I made by mincing cooked beets with olive oil, canola, sherry vinegar, salt, and pepper. You definitely have to like goat cheese to enjoy this hors d'oeuvre (I LOVE goat cheese!).. The consistency was perfectly silky and the beets added a nice hint of sweetness to the tart goat cheese.
The blini were also very interesting to make. The batter was made with warm milk, yeast, sugar, buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour, and salt. After the mixture fermented and doubled in size, we added in an egg yolk and some beer. (This was all mixed up in the industrial-sized food processor to create a light, airy batter). Right before cooking the cakes, we folded in a whipped egg white. Then, we put the batter in a squeeze bottle to make it easier to create tiny "pancakes". The cakes tasted very interesting--they were light, but you could taste the beer in them (Kim and I were tempted to finish the beer.. we were good though!). They went perfectly with the accompaniements of caviar, creme fraiche, and chopped chives:

My group also made Shrimp Shao Mai Dumplings: (And unpictured Duxesses & Fois Gras Palmiers and Chicken Sate Yakitori)
At 4:00 all three groups presented their dishes. There was a lot to try today! A new class started today down the hall, so they came in our kitchen to sample our food. I'm jealous that it was their first day.. I don't want to be done with school!! I was also jealous of their crisp white uniforms... ours definitely aren't crisp or white anymore! Anyways, back to the food...

Chicken Sate with Southeast Asian Dipping Sauce:

Vegetable Confetti Pancakes with Tomatillo Salsa:

Thai Spring Rolls:

Spicy Crab Remoulade:

Smoked Salmon Parfait Shot Glasses:

Beef Sate with Peanut Dipping Sauce:

Smoked Salmon Crepes with Cream Cheese and Caviar:

Scallop and Pork Spring Rolls:

Coconut Shrimp in Puff Pastry Shells:

Tomato Mousse with Sun-Dried Tomato & Zucchini Quenelles:
We are making a sausages tomorrow which should be interesting! Then I'm having a girl's night out in the city with my sister :)

One more thing.. Kim brought in cookes from Levain Bakery for us to try. Let me just say, it was the most amazing cookie I have ever tasted. They were HUGE and cake-like with chocolate chips that are all gooey (which I don't understand because the cookie wasn't warmed up). So basically, I'm going to have to plan a trip to this bakery very soon because I need more cookies!!!!!

Lesson 102: Hors D'oeuvre I

I believe everyone has a case of "senior-itis"... Chef told us it's common for classes to start slacking at the point of the program. We're done with our practical exam and only have 5 lessons less until graduation.. so I think we are all ready to be done and have our externships on our mind.

However, when I think about only having 5 classes left, it makes me really sad! I can honestly say that these past 6 months have been the most exciting, challenging, exhausting, and FUN months of my life. I think back to orientation day when I was first introduced to my 15 classmates and stepped into kitchen 1401 for the very first time. I was a bundle of nerves and was super shy. Now I can walk into the kitchen with confidence and enjoy four hours of cooking every day with my classmates that have become my friends. Yea, there are occasional fights and lash-outs and also some tears shed from time to time.. but 9 times out of 10 we're laughing together and working as a team to cook our hearts out.

Today we may have been a bit slower than usual and lost our sense of timing, but I think today was just a fluke day (and it's Friday..) and we'll be back to our hard-working selves on Monday! Even though we presented our food a bit late and did not put as much time in our presentation, the food was still delicious. Each group made 5 different hors d'oevres that were packed with flavor and could be enjoyed in just one or two bites.

Nora and I worked together to make these Curried Lamb Phyllo Triangles:

These were made with ground lamb, onion, garlic, tomato, curry powder, cayenne, veal stock, yogurt, scallion, lemon juice, and fresh mint. After this mixture cooled, we assembled the phyllo triangles.

Nora and I also prepared the Braised Manila Clams with Sausage and White Beans:
We braised the clams in wine, shallots, and thyme. Then, we cooked up some Italian sausage, shallot, garlic, sage, and white beans. We pureed this mixture to top the baby clams.

My group also prepared these other 3 hors d'oevres:
Beef Empanadas:
Vegetable Pakora Fritters with Tamarind Chuntney:
Spicy Shrimp Fritters:
The following plates were made by the other groups in the class.

Mussles with Orange-Saffron Sauce:

Mushroom Phyllo Triangles:
Shrimp Toasts:
Chorizo and Tomato Phyllo Triangles:
Fried Oysters:
Risotto Croquettes with Fontina Cheese:
Coconut Shrimp with Tamarind Dipping Sauce:
Not Pictured: Indian Potato Samosas, Cod Fritters, and Crispy Duck Wontons with Coconut-Soy Dipping Sauce

This was a really tough week for all of us. Hopefully we'll all rest up this weekend so we're ready for our very last week of lessons!

Lesson 68: Asian Breads, Soups, & Condiments

When I think of "fresh baked bread", I definitely don't think of Asian cuisine. When I saw bread on today's Asian menu I was a bit skeptical, yet curious to try out a new baking technique. As soon as I reviewed the recipes, I realized we would not be using an oven for the "baking".

It made sense that in China they would use a quicker technique to cook the bread, such as pan-frying or deep-frying. Like stir-frying, these techniques take less time so that it is more plausible to feed the large population.

We made 2 types of dough today. The first dough consisted of Chapati flour (a very fine whole wheat flour), cake flour, salt, ghee, and water. We rolled the dough out into small, flat circles, sprinkled on some salt and Nigella seed, then seared them on a griddle to cook the Chapati. We used the tiniest rolling pins to roll out the small pieces of dough. I felt like I was baking a cake to pop into my Easy Bake Oven or just forming some pretend food with play-doh. Then I have to remind myself that I am now a professional and I must not get side-tracked into thinking this is all fun and games ;)

We also fried some of the dough circles to form Poori. The poori puffed up in the oil to form a light, airy, flaky bread:

When I took a cooking class in Italy with my sister we made something similar to this except with pizza dough. When we fried the dough "disks" it puffed up just like the Poori. We topped the fried dough with marina, parmesan, and basil. This was quite possibly the best thing I ever ate. I believe I'll have to make it sometime soon.. my mouth is watering thinking about it!

The other dough we made was a Chinese Scallion Bread. This dough was very simple and was made with flour, baking powder, salt, and water. The dough was coated with toasted sesame oil and scallions before it was strategically rolled up and pan-fried. The result was a flaky, layered, sesame-flavored bread:

While our dough was resting, everybody in the class kept busy making different soups and chutneys (because we needed something to dip our bread in!!). I made a miso soup, which was very simple. It started out with a Dashi broth infused with Kombu and Bonito flakes. What are bonito flakes you ask? They're made from Tuna and smell like fish food... not very pleasant! However, once the broth was mixed with miso and some tofu and scallions were added in, it was a delicious Asian soup.

I also made a spicy tomato chutney with tomato concasse, ginger, garlic, jalepenos, spicy Thai peppers, and a spice blend (fennel seed, mustard seed, cumin).

The presentation for our dishes was not as important today, so I didn't take a lot of pictures. We were messily dipping the different breads in all of the chutneys and soup (that were served right from the pot).

The other dishes we made today included Indian Dal Soup, Chinese Hot & Sour Soup, Thai Chicken & Coconut Soup, Chinese Corn Soup, Tamarind Chutney, Coconut Chutney, Mint & Cilantro Chutney, Mango Chutney, and (the only soup I got a picture of) Thai Hot and Sour Soup with Prawns:

Lesson 63: Chicken Livers!

Have I mentioned how much I love Italian cuisine??? I don't want this week to end! I've eaten more this week at school than any other week and have truly enjoyed everything!

Today's recipes were from the Central Region of Italy. I immediately got to work preparing a batch of pasta dough for our group. Once that was out of the way, I made a very interesting first-course. Honestly, the two recipes I worked on today were the ones I liked the least when reviewing the recipes before class. But, I went into class today feeling very laid back and ready to attack whatever is thrown at me. I didn't request to work on any specific recipes, so I got the last two that the other group members didn't want to work on: chicken liver crostini and artichokes with peas and prosciutto (artichokes are really good, but a pain to trim!) I saw this is a fun an unique challenge. I was going to make chicken livers and make it delicious!

Not only did this crostini have livers in it, but I hated just about every other ingredient that went in it, including anchovies and capers...ugh. I began by sauteing some chopped onions. I added the livers to the pan and got a nice sear on them. Next, I added some white wine and let it reduce out. I then added tomato paste, chicken stock, finely chopped anchovies and capers, and fresh thyme. I let the mixture simmer for a while and pureed it into a smooth, pasty sauce.

The brown mixture didn't look too appealing, but I grabbed a spoon and winced while I tried a bite. It was not bad! I spread some on crostini and added sauteed mushrooms to some of them:

The mushrooms really balanced out the "liver" flavor of the crostini and I actually loved it! Don't get me wrong, I would not go grab a bowl of chicken liver puree and slurp it down, but I did enjoy 2 of these little crostini! I can now add chicken livers to the list of foods I have tried since entering culinary school!

I was able to serve my crostini right away as an antipasto. After cleaning up a bit, I got right to work on my next dish: Carciofi coi Piselli. Like I said, artichokes are a pain in the butt to trim. I'm happy I got some practice on them though just in case I have to prepare them for my final exam! After you trim artichokes it is key to get them right into some acid water so that they don't turn brown! I prepared the artichokes by sauteing them in olive oil with some onions, prosciutto, peas and chicken stock. This was a very nice side-dish!

Other dishes of the day included Triglie All'Anconetana: Red mullet marinated in lemon juice, garlic, and rosemary, then coated in breadcrumbs and wrapped with prosciutto before baked:

Tagliatelle con Ragu Bolognese: This ragu was insanely good! I also love thick cut fresh pasta. We hand cut this pasta by rolling up the sheets of pasta dough and cutting about 1/2 inch strips.

Ribollita: A hearty bean and vegetable soup served with garlic tuscan bread. YUM (A perfect rainy day dish)

Arista di Maiale con Rosemarino: A loin of pork rubbed with rosemary and garlic and roasted in the oven with white wine.

Yet another delicious day. I felt uncomfortably full on my train ride home and had really bad aches in my back.. I have to work on my posture.. or get a massage.

Ummmm more SNOW in the forecast?!?!?!?! You have GOT to be kidding me!

Lesson 59: Boeuf Bourguignon-- Bon Appetit!!

Today was our last day of regional French cuisine.  What better way to end this section of the module than to make the classical French dish, Boeuf Bourguignon.  I obviously love the movie Julie and Julia (part of my inspiration for this blog) and I have been dying to make this dish ever since I saw it.

Jessica and I immediately got to work prepping the ingredients and getting our mis en place together.  The recipe we followed was much like any other recipe you may have seen, starting with searing the beef cubes and then adding onions, carrots, tomato paste, garlic, burgundy wine, veal stock and a sachet d'epices (herbs wrapped in cheesecloth).  The mixture simmers for hours until the beef is tender.

We use only the best wine at culinary school:

Considering how much wine we use in this recipe (32 oz), I would think using a better wine would make a huge difference.  

While the stew was simmering, I shocked and peeled pearl onions and glazed them in butter and sugar.  I also sauteed mushrooms.  These were both added to the Stew at the very end, along with a shot of Marc de Bourgogne (kind of a mixture between brandy and wine?).  

The other members of the group got working on the gratin of shrimp.  There were several components to this dish, starting with making a shrimp stock:

From the stock, they made a veloute (shrimp stock whisked into a blonde roux).  Then, they made the gratin mixture with sauteed shrimp, shitake mushrooms, tomatoes, Marc de Bourgogne, heavy cream, and the shrimp veloute.

Chef Erica gave us an extra recipe to try that is very popular in the Burgundy region: Oeufs en Meurette.  We each prepared this individually.  It's nice to have one recipe during class to prepare and plate on your own.  This dish is very interesting and unlike anything I've ever tried before.  I knew I would love it as she was explaining it.

I started off by making the sauce.  I rendered bacon lardons and reserved them for plating.  In the rendered bacon fat, I caramelized a small amount of mirepoix.  Then, I added about a cup of red wine.  I let that reduce by about 3/4.  Next, I added a ladleful of veal stock.  I thickened the stock with a very small amount of beurre manie (kneaded butter and flour).  While my sauce was cooking, I made a croute by toasting a circle of bread in clarified butter.  I also poached an egg.  It is very interesting how every chef has taught us a different way of poaching eggs.  This method was by far my favorite.  I made a whirlpool in my poaching liquid (with a little white vinegar) and gently dropped my egg in the center:

The egg whites stay in tact and it came out perfect!

Here's how we plated this dish:  I spooned a puddle of the red wine sauce in the center of my plate.  I placed my toasted croute in the center and topped it with the poached egg.  I scattered the reserve bacon around the croute.  A simple garnish of chopped chives added the perfect touch.

Seriously, this was amazing.  I loved breaking into the yolk and getting the perfect bite of egg, crunchy toast, salty bacon, and syrupy sauce.   All of the flavors were perfect together!  Like I said, it was unlike any egg dish I have ever tried!

Around 4:15, we started rounding up all of the dishes and plating them for presentation.  Here is the finished shrimp gratin:

It was delicious!  Very creamy and rich!

We also prepared a Salade Lyonnaise, which is frisee topped with a warm vinaigrette, poached eggs, bacon lardons, and croutons:

We also had Brains-of-the-Silk Weaver.  I ate BRAINS!!!!    

Just kidding..  It was just a simple cheese spread made with farmer's cheese (kind of like ricotta or cottage cheese) and herbs.  We spread it on croutes and toasted them in the oven:

Here's our finished Boeuf Bourguignon (Julia Child style--in the Le Crueset pot):

And plated up:

I got home and tried to teach my mom how to say "Boeuf Bourguignon" because she pronounced it "Boing-ing-yon".  Oh, mom..

Overall it was a great day!!  

Booooon Appetit!!