Roasted Citrus-Herb Game Hen

Today I had the day off for President's day!  My parents decided to head to the gym a little later than usual and asked me to have dinner ready for them when they got back.  I saw this as a fun challenge, since I was in the mood to cook and wanted to surprise them and make dinner really nice.

I chose Giada's roasted citrus-herb game hen recipe since it seemed easy, healthy, and fresh.  A perfect meal post-gym.  

I followed the recipe almost exactly.  I doubled the recipe so there would be enough for my very hungry older brother and made some healthy vegetable side-dishes.  I started by prepping the herb-citrus rub.  I figured I'd get the fine-chopping out of the way before I broke open the wine!

Then it was time for some Menage Tois Red Blend and some snacks :)  Had to get my beautiful valentines day flowers in the pic!

I thought it was only appropriate to have some music playing... there was definitely some dancing involved.  I was home alone after all!

I had some dilemmas along the way, such as the fresh herbs not being so fresh.  I planned on substituting fresh rosemary for the mint, but the rosemary and thyme didn't smell or taste that great.  I found some parsley in the fridge so I chopped some of that up and added some dried thyme.  Also, my cornish hens were still a bit frozen as was the cauliflower I planned on roasting...gah!  No worries, just got them soaking in some water and they de-frosted pretty quickly.

I seasoned the cauliflower with Wegman's basting oil, salt, pepper, and Bragg's seasoning blend (my usual vegetable roasting method) and popped it in a 400 degree oven.

I also sliced some Roma tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant and brushed them with olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper and roasted those along with the cauliflower.

Once the vegetables and the hens were in the oven, I tidied up and set the table:

I seriously LOVE these roasted veggies!  It's like eating candy...best side-dish ever!

I took the hens out of the roasting pan to rest while I made a pan-gravy:

The chicken was very moist.  I was a little upset that the gravy didn't thicken up like I wanted it to.  It was nearing 8:00 and we were all starving, so I didn't let it simmer long enough.  It still had great flavor though!  The cauliflower was amazing:

Here's my brother's plate with a hen, vegetables, and some roasted potatoes that I whipped up for him so he could have a perfectly well-balanced plate:

I definitely had fun cooking for my family tonight!  Time to go watch Jack Bauer save the world on 24!

Lesson 55: Cuisines of Normandy & Brittany, France

I risked my life today getting to class.. well at least getting to the train station.  I woke up to blue skies and figured the roads were cleared and the day would go smoothly.  Not so.  My dad was on his way to work and realized just how bad the roads were and turned around to come home so that he could prevent my death and drive me to the train station.  Apparently some people don't have much confidence in my driving skills ;)   .. Rightfully so.  I was first to admit that there was no way I could have driven on those ice-coated roads.

So it usually takes 20 minutes to drive to the train station from my house.  Today it took about 45 minutes.  We were literally driving on a sheet of ice.  My mom saw a car sliding sideways along the road across from our street and my dad and I saw a van try and turn on the road we were driving on and drive straight through a mound of snow.  It was a very adventurous morning!  Once I finally made it to NY, it barely looked like it even snowed.  I planned on tons of snow mounds and puddles along the sidewalks and even sported my fancy rain boots!

I was glad that I made it to class today because it was our first day of regional French cuisine.  Chef Erica gave us a short, but informative lecture on the cuisines of Normandy and Brittany.  Then we began cooking the recipes for the day.  Our group divided up the recipes and got right to work.  The day went very smoothly and we even finished up early! (The first time this module!)

First, we prepared duck confit, which is a 3-part recipe that will take part over the next few lessons.  We fabricated the duck legs and coated them in a salt/herb mixture.  They are being pressed and refrigerated overnight until we begin the next step tomorrow.  

Buckwheat is a crop that is grown in this region of France, so Chef called up for crepe pans so we could make buckwheat crepes with an apple topping and fresh whipped cream as an extra treat for the day.. mmmmm!!!

I was glad to get the extra practice with making crepes since I missed "crepe day" in module 2.  I definitely messed up the first couple, but wasn't too upset, since it made for a nice little snacky :)

My favorite recipe today was the "Souffles d'Alencon en Timbales" aka a Re-inflatable Cheese Souffle.  I was amazed at how these souffles re-inflated after being baked the first time.  We de-molded the egg and parmesan souffles and topped them with a mushroom cream sauce.  They immediately de-flated after the sauce was poured on top and weighed them down.  After baking them in the oven for another 10 minutes, the souffles absorbed the sauce and swelled up.  So cool!  They de-flated a bit again right before I took this picture, though..boo.

The"Cotes de Porc Normance" aka bread pork chops with apples was a very simple, yet rich and elegant French dish.  

Al and I worked on this final dish, "Homard a l'Americaine" aka Lobster in a rich tomato cream sauce.  We dispatched and cooked the lobster pieces in batches.  After removing the meat, we sauteed the lobster shells, mirepoix, garlic, tomato paste, cognac, fish stock, veal stock, white wine, madeira, dry sherry, a mix of chopped herbs, peppercorns, and saffron.  This whole mixture simmered for about an hour.  We placed this mixture in a robot coupe to puree the shells in the sauce.  This turned out a bit disastrous when the sauce splattered all over Al and Aaron..quite funny though ;)     After straining off the mixture, we added heavy cream and a roux to thicken the sauce.  We added the lobster meat back into the sauce and served it in a rice pilaf ring that Jess prepared:Note: This is actually another group's plate.. I thought it looked really pretty!

We served the plates "family-style" and enjoyed tasting all of the food at the early hour of 4:15.  We all commented that we haven't finished this early to be able to taste all of our food together in a long time.  Usually we are all rushing towards the end of class to clean up and go home.  Today was a great day!

I can't believe tomorrow's Friday already.  The snow day in the middle of the week threw me off!

Blizzard!!!

I can't believe how crazy the weather is!!!!  I had a wonderful snow day, though!  The morning was very relaxing.. spending hours watching the news and hearing about the chaos the snow has caused the tri-state area.  I made lunch and an extra-large mug of tea and watched kitchen nightmares by the fireplace with my dad.  It just made me really stressed out and not want to ever want to work in a restaurant kitchen haha.

After working out and killing my mom in rummikub (if y'all have never played it, you have to get this game.. I can play for hours), I began prepping dinner & snacks.  

The "kids" (aka my brother and mom) played outside and built a snowman while I played "mom" and slaved in the kitchen ;)    As soon as my mom came in the house and screamed "Al!!!!" I came running to her with a carrot and brussel sprouts for the snowman's nose and eyes.  Anyone sense a little role reversal??

Lately, my family has really enjoyed snacking on roasted veggies during cocktail hour.  This is a great snack because it's soo healthy and SO good!

Today, I sliced eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and tomatoes.  I brushed the slices with Wegman's basting oil and sprinkled them with salt, fresh ground pepper, and "Bragg's seasoning blend".  I roasted them in a 400 degree oven until they were golden.

I also roasted some broccoli because my dad is a little picky about vegetables.

For dinner I made "Southern Oven Un-fried Chicken" from one of Oprah's chefs.  I mixed together nonfat greek yogurt and hot sauce smothered it on some chicken legs and breasts.  I refrigerated it while I prepared the crumb coating.

I doubled the recipe and made a ton of chicken (my brother eats a lot).  Here is the original recipe:

In a large zip-lock bag combine 1 1/2 cups of crushed whole grain cereal flakes, 1 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp paprika, 2 tsp black pepper, 2 tsp hot pepper (I used cayenne).  I also added a large pinch of salt.  Add chicken pieces and shake to coat.  Lay the chicken out on a lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Place in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is done.

This chicken definitely had a kick to it, so if you don't like spicy foods eliminate the cayenne pepper and/or hot sauce.  My mom and I had our chicken over sauteed spinach.  I heated coconut oil in a large saute pan and sauteed some sliced onions.  I added minced garlic and then the spinach.  I seasoned the mixture with salt, ground pepper, nutmeg, and Bragg's seasoning blend.  This is my favorite side-dish!

My dad and brother had some leftover mushroom risotto from yesterday's class and some frozen corn with their chicken (plus some extra onions from our spinach mixture).  

I'm hoping I'll be able to make it to class alright tomorrow.  The weather is still pretty bad..we even lost power for a few minutes.  Thankfully it came back on because I am in the middle of watching "The Time Traveler's Wife" for the second time.  It's a great love story, but the book is 1 billion times better!

Lesson 54: Last day of plating design

I was telling my mom a few weeks ago how sometimes I go to school and I can't believe that this is all real.  I feel like I'm playing make-believe, getting dressed up in a costume with a silly cap and ugly checkered pants.  Then, I grab my "toy" tools and play in a kitchen for a few hours.  I think, "did I just really take a train to NYC, walk to the top of a building in the center of Manhattan, and cook for four hours?!" Yep, this is my life now.. and I'm loving every minute of it!

I waited until this morning to blog about yesterday's class because I had a very strong feeling that today would be a snow day.. I was right! :)

After reviewing the menu for the day and going over all of the recipes, we all got right to work.  We prepped for all three courses and were planning on plating our appetizer course at 2:45.  That definitely didn't happen..   Class was more chaotic than it should've been because the recipes really weren't that hard.  The thing that threw us off was the lack of pans and space to actually cook.  I was squished at the stove with the 3 other boys as we all slowly stirred our risottos.  Risotto is a timely dish, since you have to keep gradually adding stock and constantly stir for about 20 minutes.  Needless to say, we all burned ourselves several times while reaching over the hot pans and trying to get the stock in our pans with the burning hot ladle.  Usually when I get burned I kind of ignore it and forget that it happened.  I was too busy thinking about all of the other things we had to get done.  It wasn't until I got on the train to go home and my hands were on fire, that I realized I had tiny burns and cuts all over my hands.  Ugh..welcome to culinary school!   

Anyways, I finally finished my risotto and plated it to present to Chef Erica.  She looked at my plate and asked, "is it perfect?".  I prayed that it was and said "umm.. I hope so?"  She tasted it and said it was excellent.. great texture and flavor (yes!)   

I quickly dumped the rest of the risotto into a container (and shoved some spoonfuls in my mouth) and cleaned up so we could start cooking the second course.

Yet again, stove space was an issue so we had to all take turns at the stove searing off our top round of lamb.  This took a lot of time, since we also had to let the meat rest and make a pan sauce.

We finally got the dish plated.  Here is the Top Round of Lamb with a Dijon-Horseradish Sauce, Fondant Potatoes, and Sauteed Spaghetti Squash:

We showed Chef Erica to get her approval and continued to shove the food in containers (and in our mouths) and get prepped to cook the final course.

I honestly did not think we would get this course done.  It was nearing 4:30, the kitchen was a mess and we all had to cook a tournedo of beef and pan sauce.  Surprisingly enough, we did get it done and plated!  Unfortunately, because of the time issue we did not get a picture.  Actually, I forgot my camera so all of these pics are courtesy to my buddy Matt :)  Thanks, Matt!!

The dish was: Tournedos of Beef with Truffle Sauce, Pommes Anna, and Peas & Haricot Vert.

We really hustled to clean up the kitchen and get out of there by 5.  We all worked really hard and got it all done!  It was a difficult day..when I got home I felt like I could barely talk because I was so tired.  I will definitely appreciate this snow day today!!

Lesson 53: Advanced Cooking Techniques/ Plating Design

Today we had yet another new chef instructor.  Chef Erica will be our chef for the rest of module 3.  It is always interesting the first day with a new chef because they have a new set of rules and a complete different way of running class.  During the first couple of days of the module each group either completely prepared or prepped one specific dish of the day.  Today, Chef Erica told us that we would all be prepping, preparing, and plating all dishes.  I knew we would have to use our time wisely to get all of these dishes done in time.

Every day we have been preparing one appetizer and two entrees.  We immediately began prepping the appetizer: Roasted Vegetable "Stacks", Parmesan Fricco, and Micro-greens with a Beet Vinaigrette:

For the stacks, we roasted eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash.  We layered the vegetables with softened goat cheese and baked them in small ramekins.  We reduced fresh beet juice for a vinaigrette to drizzle on the side of the plate.  Check out all of the awesome layers of this stack:

After our appetizer was plated, we immediately cleaned up and continued prepping for the next course: Roulade of Magret with Spinach and Fois Gras, Braised Cippolini Onions, and Soft Polenta.  We butterflied the duck breasts and rolled them up with blanched spinach and seared strips of fois gras.  We wrapped each duck-roll with caul fat (for extra flavor since we removed the thick layer of skin).

Next up on the menu was a Flat-Iron Steak with Bordelaise Sauce, Porcini-Salsify Puree, and Sauteed Endive.  We each sauteed our own steak and made a pan sauce with a reduced red wine mixture (with herbs, peppercorns, and shallots) and veal stock.  We finished the sauce with whole butter and small bits of bone marrow.  

You may be wondering what salsify is, because I was wondering the same thing before I walked into the kitchen.  It basically looks like a black carrot, but has a white flesh.  I'm not sure what it tastes like on its own (I am assuming similar to a carrot or parsnip), but I was not crazy about the puree.  The mushroom flavor was very pungent, which I didn't like too much in a puree form.    It was also very difficult to plate this dish because there wasn't much color in any of the components of the dish.  We were very tight on time, so we weren't able to think of a solution or have time to chop up some herbs to throw on the dish.  Here is my plate.. it doesn't look too bad I guess:

Overall, today was very hectic, yet I feel like I learned a lot.  I'd rather work extra hard and be able to do more cooking and get more out of the class.  

Tomorrow is our last day of plating design and we have some great dishes on the menu!  Later in the week we will begin French regional cuisine.  Should be interesting!  Word is we're getting another snow storm tomorrow night though!

Lessons 51-52: Plating Design II

On Thursday and Friday our class was taught by Chef James.  We originally thought he would be our permanent chef for module 3, but we were informed that he was only a fill-in until Chef Erica came back from Vietnam and resumed her position as our module 3 chef.

This was our first time being taught by Chef James and I was pleasantly surprised as he energetically entered our kitchen on Wednesday, shouting out orders for our mise en place.  It was only 12:30 and usually the instructors have us sit and listen to a lecture before we begin any real prepping or cooking.  He had us off to a good start before the class even begun!

I really enjoyed the way the classes were organized on Thursday and Friday.  As opposed to Wednesday's class, each group would mise en place a different recipe, but we would all prepare and plate every single recipe.  On Wednesday, I felt like I had no idea what went into the other recipes, but during these past days I felt that I was a part of everything.  Chef James also showed us some interesting plate designs and demonstrated new techniques.

The dishes we prepared on Thursday included Arctic Char with a Citrus Salad and Fines Herb Oil:

Quail with Sweetbread Stuffing, Fois Gras Bread Pudding, Macerated Cranberries, and Butternut Squash Puree:

Venison Medallions with Chestnut Red Wine Reduction, Butternut Squash Pine Nut Relish, and Wild Mushroom Gratin:

All of the dishes were wonderful!  At the end of class Chef told us all what each team should plan on mise en place'ing for Friday's class.

On Friday we arrived in kitchen 1401 ready to prepare today's recipes.  There was very little lecture, so we all got right to work and everything went very smoothly.  My group prepared the short ribs and immediately began trimming the fat and silver skin from the meat and searing it off in saute pans.  After adding the meat to a mixture of caramelized mirepoix, red wine, herbs, and spices, we let the short ribs slowly cook in the oven for the remainder of class.

The other dishes we plated included Sea Scallops with a Grapefruit Citrus Salad:

Roasted Poussin with Pureed Potatoes and Carrots Vichy:

Short Ribs over Roasted Pepper & Garlic Polenta and Sweet & Sour Turnips:

We had a little difficulty with the presentation of the short ribs because we realized the polenta and the carrot & turnip puree were the same color.  One important part of plating is making sure there there is a contrast of colors on the plate, so we tried to think of a solution to bring out a different color.  Chef found some extra red peppers, so we roasted them (plus a head of garlic) to add to the polenta (hoping for a red-ish color).  Ironically, we ended up forming the exact same color as the puree, so only one side-dish was used for every plate.

These past two days have been great and I definitely learned a lot, but I must confess I am a little relieved to get a new chef instructor on Monday.  Chef James was an amazing instructor and really knew his stuff, but he was just too good looking (and now I pray he never finds this blog), so I was extremely nervous these past couple of days.  I found myself really afraid to ask questions and just freezing up when he was watching me chop or cook.  I wasn't going to confess this on my public blog, but I thought it was really funny and there is no way the other girls in class weren't experiencing the same thing I was.  I mean, come on... he was CUTE (and had amazing knife skills)!  Too bad he's married... and has a baby... :(  One can only dream! 

I hope everybody survives the blizzard this weekend!  I am not very happy about it ruining all of my weekend plans!  My mom and I have a serious rummikub tournament planned for tomorrow, though!

Lesson 50: Plating Design

Today was our first official day of Module 3!  It's kind of crazy that we're already almost half-way through the program and are no longer cooking "rookies".  It is always a surprise who the next chef-instructor will be, but today we had an extra special surprise.  We were all expecting Chef James to be our new instructor, but in walked Chef Allen!  Remember Chef Allen from Module 1?!  I haven't seen him since I presented my cream of broccoli soup and medium diced potatoes to him on the last day of the module, so we were all excited to see him walk through the door armed with a bottle of fantastik anti-bacterial spray :)

There couldn't have been a better chef to give us an introduction to plating design than Chef Allen.  He has had a lot of experience with food styling for magazines, catering, and food media.  He taught us all about balance, colors, textures, height, garnish, and overall presentation.  Everybody eats with their eyes first, so food presentation is more important than it sounds.  I made sure to absorb all of the information he gave us, since I know it will be especially important for my future career in food media.  

I have always loved plating dishes, mostly because I want people to react when they see the food I make even before they taste it.  At home, I daydream about creative ways to plate dishes.  I even go so far as to criss-cross wraps and sandwiches for lunch and garnish them with a fresh basil leaf.  Sounds nerdy, but food is my way to express myself.. it's my form of art.

Today, each table had a different plate to prepare and present.  We had to plate each portion using our own creativity and the basic plating rules that we were taught.  My table made tuna carpaccio with horseradish mayonaisse, microgreens, and fried capers.  We started out by pounding out the sushi-grade tuna into paper-thin sheets.  We had a lot of laughs as we pounded away, making a beat with each pound.  I believe that laughing in the kitchen is so important!  Cooking is clearly all of our passions and we are here doing what we love, so we might as well have fun with it, right?

It was finally time to plate our dishes.  My group plated 13 servings of tuna.  It was fun experimenting with different designs and placements.  I found it a bit difficult placing the horseradish mayo on the tuna so that it doesn't look messy or globbed on.  The mayonnaise was thick, so even when we used a squirt bottle, it wasn't coming out smoothly.  Here is one of the plates I presented.  I think it looks like a shield:

I really liked this one that [the other] Allison presented:

We collaborated our ideas and presented this last dish together:

Isn't the tuna rose pretty??!

Team 2 prepared and presented sea scallops with parsnip sauce, braised cabbage chiffonade, and pommes maxime.  I wish I could have taken a picture of every plate, but posting every single plate would have taken me hours!!   So, I posted the ones that stood out to me:

Team 3 prepared halibut with a warm vinaigrette:

I'm excited to get more practice in the next few classes with plating design.  I wonder who our chef for tomorrow will be--Chef James or another surprise??  We will see.....