Hello Bovine

Beef. My experience in handling, cooking, and eating beef is very limited. I don’t understand people who say they can eat steak all day every day (gag) because I have the occasional burger every quarter and eat a filet mignon once a year, on my birthday.  I am ashamed to admit that I also request it well done. Yes go ahead and gasp, shake your head, tsk, judge me.  I just can’t handle the rawness, the texture of the uncooked meat, chewing it and chewing and wondering when the heck it’s going to finally disintegrate in my mouth. Did I also mention the blood? Anyways, I digress. As a food lover I’m an equal opportunity cook so bring it on beef.

On the menu: Beef Bourguignon with spaetzle
                            Braised stuffed vegetables (tomatoes & peppers)
                            Roast beef w/ jus
                            Steak tartare

I don’t know much about cuts of meat but I do know that marbling is tres bon.   Tender cuts like filet mignon don’t have too much flavor – you need the fat. For last night’s dishes we used sirloin. 

Beef Bourguignon

Beef Bourguignon is a stew prepared with braised beef in red wine, traditionally Burgundy. Will Merlot do? Sure. For best flavor marinate beef (cut up in not too small pieces or it will cook too fast and become nice and tough) and your mire poix, as well as: thyme, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns, a splash of vinegar and olive oil and slice of orange if you feel like it, overnight.   When you’re ready to cook drain mixture and pick out your meat. It’s time to sear. Sear over very high heat. If you lose temperature, which you will because the meat will be cold, remove meat, drain and repeat.  You don’t want to boil your meat! In a seperate pot clarify your marinade sans mire poix.  Blood will coagulate and foam up, which you get to skim!  Not clarifying your marinade will result in gritty sauce. Blach. 

Got a nice color on your meat? Add some tomato paste and cook (~ a tablespoon depending on how much you’re making) then toasted flour. (toast the same way you would nuts) Not too little, not too much. Let it cook then add mire poix , give it a stir and add marinade.  Bring to a boil and add a little veal stock to cover the meat completely. If you have no veal stock you can use chicken stock or beef boullion. Cover, turn heat on low and finish in the oven, starting at 325 and turning it down from there.  How long do you cook it? A long time. Check for doneness by 1.) tasting the meat or 2.) squeezing it together – if it seperates it’s done.  Remove meat and mix up with whatever garnish you’d like – caramelized pearl onions, sauteed mushrooms, bacon – and cover.  Strain your sauce, then mix with meat and garnish.  Ready to serve with boiled potatoes, pasta, rice or….spaetzle!!!

In Germany we’d have spaetzle cooked in butter with bacon, cheese, onions, etc. Yummy! I never realized how easy they are to make though.  Nine ounces of flour, 5 eggs, a little nutmeg, salt, love, and if the dough needs moisture, a splash of water or cream. In the mixer it goes – you want a firm dough.  In a pan bring water to a low boil and place whatever perforated contraption (colander is the only thing I can think of in my kitchen) you can find on top. With a spatula type tool press the dough through the holes by a back and forth motion across the surface so you’ll end up with little dough raindrops in your water.  Cook for a minute or two but not longer and throw in a hot pan with butter. Get a nice color, season and serve with your Beef Bourguignon.  Your mouth will be happy, I promise. 

Let’s stuff some vegetables

I’m a huge fan of stuffed anything because it makes for a nice presentation and is great for individual servings, especially at a party. Take whatever vegetable you want to stuff, making sure to think about the cooking time. If you want to stuff potatoes pre-cook them since they take a while to cook; if you cook everything at once they won’t be done but your stuffing will be. Hollow out your vegetables of choice (tomatoes and peppers in our case). Mix ground meat, chopped onion, garlic and parsley.   You need fat for flavor and to bind it all together so mix leftover crusty bread with cream to make a nice paste.  Add to meat and season, then dig in and start mixing with your hands.  Need more fat? Some shredded cheese can go in too. Take a nice amount and stuff your vegetables and sprinkle with cheese on top.  In the pan add some fortified chicken stock (chicken stock and tomato paste) and cook until done, starting at 400 and dropping the temperature until it’s done.  Cooked rice should go in your stuffing too but last night we forgot to add it. I liked it without the rice but my friend observed that it was very ‘meatbally’ this way, and it kind of was.

Roast beef au jus

Never been a fan. If your cut of meat has no fat, wrap it in pork back fat. Yes, back fat. Good luck finding it. In France the butcher will gladly wrap your cut of meat in back fat, and make a pretty pattern while he’s at it.  Since you’ll probably have a hard time locating back fat you can buy a cut of meat with fat on it.  Insert small cloves of garlic into the meat, add sprigs of thyme on top and tie it nice and tight.  Tying the meat is crucial because it helps perserve moisture and all that lovely juice.   Season well and sear on all sides in clarified butter. Pan goes into the oven on low heat for a long time. Remember to baste baste baste! When it’s done (and that means medium rare), let it rest for 1/3 of the time you cook it. Slice thinly and serve with jus. I’m glad I had it but I don’t foresee many roast beef sandwiches in my future.

And then there’s tartare

I can’t help but picture Genghis Khan sliding a big steak under his saddle and riding around for hours before deciding it’s tender enough to break for lunch. You know the myth, right? Like tuna tartare, steak tartare is raw. Cut lean meat into small little cubes – or if you happen to own a meat grinder, throw it in there – but NEVER ever use  ground meat from the store. Yuck. Last night Chef Patrice mixed ground meat, 2 egg yolks, chopped parsley, capers, cornichons (little spicy French gherkins), chopped red onion, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire, salt & pepper and a dash of Tabasco. Serve on top of toasted French bread.  In France it’s served with fries, yes, FRENCH fries! Apparently the hot-cold contrast creates an unbevlievably delicious flavor explosion in your mouth.  Uh-huh. None of that happened in my mouth last night and the first thing my mind registered was capers, followed by mustard, followed by “oh my God I’m eating raw meat, raw ground  meat”!!!

Well?

Last night’s class was very informative and a little challenging because for once I was not thrilled about the ingredient we were going to be cooking and eating. But if I am to follow my own rule (rule: taste everything before declaring whether you hate it or not), I have to at least know what something tastes like before making up my mind on whether I like it or not. Even if it’s raw, even if it’s not aesthetically pleasing.  I learned that I still will never enjoy eating a massive, bleeding steak. I also learned that I do in fact love beef, when it’s cooked.

Fun with Poultry

The first thing I think of when I hear ‘poultry’ is chicken. Followed by ’boring’, ‘generic’, ‘unadventurous’, ’safe’,  ’yaaaawwwn’. I know, I’m terrible.   With all the chicken breast/white meat propaganda out there, it’s easy to forget the many other cousins in the poultry category. There is turkey of course, duck, goose, quail, and squab. Squab? The French call it pigeon. But don’t worry, it’s farm raised!

On the menue: Perfectly roasted chicken
                               Chicken roulade stuffed with roasted bell pepper
                               Leg of chicken – poached – with ‘sauce supreme’ (veloute)
                               Braised stuffed boneless quail
                               Roasted squab

Chicken parts

Cutting a whole chicken into pieces is not as hard as you’d think. I was a little intimidated since the last time I can remember doing this is well, never.  Damn you convenience! So easy though, and kind of fun too.  Grab your chicken, turn it on the side for easier handling. Make incision on the top of the leg, cut skin, then just kind of maneuver your way all the way down to the bone, cutting through.  To cut the breast remove the skin first, it’s easier to see what you’re doing this way. Find the wishbone and make two slits on both sides. Now just cut out the breast by following the natural curve of the chicken’s body. Nice and neat. Remove fat, cartilage and other nasty little bits and ta-da! You now have your $7.99 a pound chicken breast for a dollar or so.  

What to do with the chicken parts you just cut up? The legs are removed of skin, deboned (it doesn’t have to be pretty for what they’ll be turned into) and ground up for a mousse. The breast will be pounded thinly for easy rolling (roulade=roll) that will be stuffed with the aforementioned mousse, roasted bell peppers and spinach. The caracass? Cut up for jus for your roulade or stock.

Dark meat is your friend

Since  a chicken only has two legs, grab another chicken and practice cutting it up so you have two legs to poach.  Submerge legs in cold stock so it cooks slowly.   Add thyme, celery, grilled onions, bay leaves - whatever you want to season with – and cook for about 20-25 minutes.  Chicken breasts don’t have enough fat for poaching so stick to legs/thighs/drumsticks. Once legs are done cooking remove skin.  In hot stock add cold roux and whisk, adding cream, salt and pepper and if something doesn’t taste right – a little butter always helps.  You have your veloute. Throw your legs back in let the flavors meld together, then serve over riz pilaf.

 

Mousse

And not the dessert kind. I always get weirded out a little when I think of mousse made out of chicken or veal, or any animal period. Especially when it looks so pretty and pink thanks to lots and lots of cream.   The ‘traditional’ i.e. excrutiantingly painful long process of making a mousse involves lots of arm action and passing it through a gadget called a ‘tieme’ (no idea on spelling, try saying it in a French accent and decipher the spelling that way) that is large and looks like a sieve used for panning gold.  The other more modern option is a food processor. Whatever method you choose keeping it cold cold cold is crucial so when you finally add your cream (after salt, pepper, truffle oil, porcini dust or whatever you choose to season with) the protein and cream can emulsify. Add cream slowly and just how much depends on the temperature of your mixture. If it’s too warm it will be soft and runny and will not withstand too much liquid so add just enough so that your mousse ends up firm. 

After pounding breasts between two sheets of plastic wrap (with the flat part of the meat tenderizer, you’re not tenderizing the breast, just creating more surface area), season with salt and pepper and spread a layer of mousse first so it binds whatever else you decide to put on top. Last night we went with roasted red bell pepper and sauteed spinach (cooled).  Use your imagination, get creative with how you want it to look when you cut up your roulade.  Roll tightly in plastic wrap.   You can go crazy with the plastic wrap to make it as tight as possible so it ends up looking like a little sausage.  Tie at the ends and submerge in simmering water for about 20 minutes. You know it’s done when it’s firm and you can see the butter seperating from the cream.

To serve with your roulade make a simple jus from the carcass. Chop it up first, sear bones in some fat and caramelize your pan.  Add a drop of water, scrub your pan with a wooden spoon to get some more of that burnt deliciousness and re-caramelize.  Deglaze with white wine, throw in your mire poix, a little tomato paste, stock. Cook and strain and pour over roulade. Delicious, I promise.

Let’s roast a chicken

Season the inside of the chicken with lots of salt, pepper, and stuff  in as many things as possible including: garlic, thyme, celery, rosemary, onions, shallots, carrots.  If that won’t flavor your chicken nothing will.  Tie the chicken up because it actually does make a difference in the way it cooks. It forces the breasts upward retaining moisture and flavor.  I suggest googling the process because it is a little difficult to explain without a proper demonstration.  Sear your chicken in a hot pan, first on each side then the back.  Salt the outside and pop in a 400 degree oven for 5-10 minutes depending on the size of your chicken.  Start turning down the heat basting along the way and finishing at around 325.  No need to mutilate your chicken with a thermometer to see if it’s done – just stab it instead, right under the wing where you are less likely to do any cosmetic damage and hold over a plate and see if the juices run clear.  You’ve got yourself a roasted chicken.   Was it good? Yes. Was it missing anything? Butter.

Quail is so good, so delicate and has barely any bones to deal with. It is very little, and pretty cute so you might feel a little weird about handling quail.  We stuffed ours with a duck pate that was conveniently prepared for us (just like on t.v.), seasoned it and seared it the same way as the chicken.  Stuck it in the oven for about 12 minutes and it was done.  Next time I might stuff it with something other than duck pate because at 10 pm it was a little heavy.  My quail looked like it got stuck doing some kind of cheerleading move but was still very good.

The other birds

We call it squab, the French call it what it is - pigeon.   You can treat it like duck and since it has no salmonella it should be served medium rare to medium.  Unlike chicken and quail squab comes with all its insides and feet, so get ready to clean and mutilate.  Remove all organs, cut its neck, wash the inside and cut the foot so only the middle ‘toe’ is left, making for a nice presentation.  Season, sear like the other birds and pop in the oven. Check for doneness, but this time the liquid should look like cooked blood. Make a jus and serve.  Am I fan of squab? No.  It wasn’t gamy necessarily but it just looked so gamy.  A cross between duck and beef. 

Well?

Our team cooked everything but the squab.  We were so busy having fun with poultry that come 10:30 we were still at school eating and complimenting ourselves on a job well done. 

Feeling saucy!

I’m not going to lie. Last night’s class on sauces required a lot of concentration. So many sauces to cover, so little time. Sauce, from the Latin word salsus, means salted because sauces were used to cover up rancid food, especially meat. (mmm, yummy) Since we don’t consume rotten food anymore there’s no need to disguise anything and sauces today are used for flavor and moisture, and are there to complement a dish.

There are five traditional mother sauces (and a variety of offspring):

• Hollandaise (shiver) – yolks, clarified butter
• Tomato sauce – self-explanatory
• Veloute – stock thickened or bound by a roux to make gravy
• Bechamel – roux with milk
• Brown sauce – made from roasted veal bones

On the menu: Mornay sauce - mac & cheese
                            Bernaise & steak
                            Bordelaise 
                            Chablisienne – fish w/ cream sauce
                            Gastrique – duck a l’orange
                            Apple tart w/ caramel sauce & creme Anglaise

Let’s get saucy

Perhaps a course in French would serve me well.   We had made mornay before, which is bechamel with cheese. Delicious. Can’t go wrong with mac and cheese, especially when the pasta shape is orecchiette, cute little ears. Tomato sauce was also easy but I did learn a new term: concasse, meaning roughly chopped. Concasse is what your tomato ‘sauce’ is until you refine it. (with a food mill or food processor) My excuse that I like my sauce chunky won’t work anymore, I better start refining it.

Brown sauce is veal stock (or any other meat stock but it’s usually veal) and sauce espagnole, which involves tomato paste, maybe a roux, and vegetables depending on who is making it. I think demi-glace belongs in there somewhere too but it got really confusing really fast and the best I can do is Wikipedia’s “a rich brown sauce in French cuisine used by itself or as a base for other sauces.” Feel free to correct me, I won’t be offended.

Next up were the two Bs, bearnaise and bordelaise. Bearnaise I could care less for, bordelaise I love.   Bearnaise’s  mother is Hollandaise. Bearnaise is yolks, clarified butter, and a vinegar and fresh tarragon reduction instead of the lemon found in Hollandaise. It does taste better than Hollandaise, but it’s still part of the same overwhelmingly eggy family.  Bordelaise on the other hand, made with Bordeaux wine (my favorite) is deeeelicious. Wine, onion, carrot, garlic, bacon, thyme reduction that is so flavorful and aromatic you can drink it on it’s own. Chef Brian seared a little of the steak he was going to serve it with and added it to the sauce for even more flavor. A little tomato product, some stock and you’re done. If you’re going to eat steak, this is what you want to eat it with. It does not overwhelm, it only enhances.

Chablisienne  sauce accompanied the fish.  In a buttered sautee pan went slices of delicate shallot, white flaky fish, more butter and white wine. Simmer for a bit, then add fish fume (fish stock) or skip it since you most likely won’t have it and just stick with the wine. Smother fish with a buttered cartouche (parchment paper circle) and pop in a 300-325 degree oven.  When it’s almost done take it out the fisth but leave your liquid in the pan. You have braised your fish. The difference between braising and poaching is that when you braise something, you use the left over liquid whereas with poaching you do not. Reduce liquid, add cream, season, add some butter just because and a fresh herb for color.  Pour over fish and serve. Very delicate and subtle.

Gastrique for the duck a l’orange is slightly more complicated. It’s a baby of brown sauce, sweet and sour and served with fatty meat like pork or duck to cut the fat. First boil your orange zest twice to get rid of the bitterness.  You can use any tart fruit for a gastrique but orange just works so well so why would you? Please no peaches or strawberries. Boil a little water with sugar until brown but not burnt and add some sherry vinegar. You need acid and balsamic is just too sweet. Add orange juice and zest and reduce. Add a little brown sauce/brown stock slowly, count to ten and serve with duck confit. What is confit you ask? A fatty piece of meat like duck leg rubbed with Kosher salt, fresh thyme, pepper corns, garlic, bay leaves and soaked in rendered duck fat overnight. Then cooked in the mixture at 250 until it falls off the bone.

Onto the sweet stuff

Apple tart is the easiest dessert to make. Take some puff pastry (my friend Stephanie can make it for you and save you the anguish of turning, folding, turning, folding dough for hours), slice apples and arrange in a pretty pattern and bake ‘until it’s done’. How done? Is the crust golden, are the apples cooked? Then it’s done!  To accompany the apple tart – caramel sauce and creme Anglaise, or English cream, i.e. custard!!!!!!

You might have heard of food shortages under Communism which I can assure you from a firsthand experience, were all true.  Things like eggs, milk, everything really, were rationed. Vanilla, cinnamon, and ingredients we take for granted, I’m pretty sure could only be found on the black market. So we Romanians had to get resourceful. While most culture have some kind of caramel dessert based on cooked sugar, I’m pretty sure no one calls it “economic cake”. Use your imagination, the ingredient list is short. Well last night I had no problem when it came to the caramel sauce because I was familiar with making caramel for the aforementioned cake.  A little water, lots of sugar, bring to boil until it starts to cook and turn brown. Swirl around and you have caramel. Add cream, stir, and you have caramel sauce. Orange zest for some flavor? Sure!

I am familiar with creme Anglaise because I ate a lot of it (and I mean a lot) when I went to college in England. We were actually best friends. Poured over any dessert, creme Anglaise, or custard, is decadent, silky, smooth.  Four egg yolks get whipped with about a 1/3 of a cup of sugar. Whip whip whip. In a pot bring a cup of half & half to temperature and throw in some orange zest and split vanilla bean. Temper your eggs with the mixture and cook custard over a double boiler until it starts to thicken  and coats the back of a spoon. (wooden of course!!) Love.

Well?

We were in the mood for dessert and made the apple tart with caramel sauce and creme Anglaise.  The apple tart was in the oven while my friend Beth started on the creme Anglaise. I was busy chatting away and eating apples while my caramel was cooking and threw in milk instead of cream. Oops, start all over. Chef Brian looked at me wondering why I wasn’t able to distinguish milk from cream. (this girl is used to skim, anything that doesn’t look watery is cream to me) Second attempt was a success and the creme sauce was really good. Better than Chef Brian’s, who couldn’t find his cream in time and let his cramel cook a second too long. Dessert was served and it was goooood. Rich complex flavors but still very light. You know how apple pie a la mode can be a little stodgy sometimes? Make apple tart with creme Anglaise instead.

The Incredible Edible Egg

After missing last week’s potato class (devastated) I was really excited about egg class. Eggs are pretty amazing  – they’re delicious on their own fried, poached, scrambled or hard boiled, and are also great binders in baked goods and sauces because of the lecithin in yolks.  Full of protein and fat they are a nutritiously rich and cheap compared to other proteins.

On the menu: Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise
                             Omelette
                             Scrambled eggs
                             Deviled eggs
                             Creme brulee

Creme brulee

Custard is dairy bound by eggs and one egg will bind one cup of just about any liquid – cream, milk or stock.  A good standard custard is 2 eggs to 1 cup of milk. For last night’s creme brulee Chef Brian used 8 yolks to 2 cups of cream. 

Beat sugar and yolks until sugar is dissolved. Heat cream and flavor with orange zest (or whatever zest you want), vanilla bean, splash of rum.  Temper eggs by slowly adding your flavored cream. Strain, pour into creme brulee molds (ramekins work too but they are deeper and lack the surface area creme brulee molds have) and place on baking tray that has been lined with paper towels. Once you place it in the oven, pour water in to create a water bath that will keep everything nice and moist. It is imperative that you bake  low and slow so 275-300 max for about an hour.  Once you’ve got a nice jiggle, creme brulee is done. Remove from water immediately to stop cooking and place in fridge. Ready to brulee, i.e. burn? Cover surface area with lots and lots of sugar, get out your torch and start burning. 

Poaching

An egg, not animals.  There are some people who are hard core about their Eggs Benedict (my husband) and will hardly ever order anything else at brunch. Personally I have never been a fan but that doesn’t mean I won’t try it! Poaching an egg is sliding a whole egg into simmering water infused with some sort of acid like vinegar or lemon juice (to help stiffen egg whites). Drop it in, let it float around and cook and gently scoop it out.   Hollandaise, the wonderful sauce that accompanies eggs Benedict, smells fear.  The killers of Hollandaise: too hot, too cold, too thick, too thin. Uh-huh.  Well then.  Hollandaise is apparently easier to make in big batches using 20-40 eggs. Last night we used 3 egg yolks. Start whipping egg yolks, whip whip whip. Add about a tablespoon of warm water. Whip. Whip over double boiler. Whip on the counter. Whip on the toilet. Back to double boiler. Can you see the bottom of the bowl yet? Once you do you can start adding hot clarified butter one tiny ladle at a time, or about 1/4 cup total. Back on double boiler, back off, constantly whipping. Keep adding butter. Too thick? Add a little warm water. Don’t stop whipping! Add salt, cayenne and lemon juice. How much? No one knows, you have to taste of course. When you start to smell cooked eggs, it’s done.  Toast your English muffin with lots of buttah, plop your bacon/ham or protein of choice on there, your poached egg and ladle some Hollandaise sauce on top.

Deviled eggs

To achieve the perfect hard boiled egg boiling time should be 12 minutes. After done boiling immerse eggs in ice water to stop cooking process and achieve a beautiful yellow yolk, no green ring in sight.  Slice in half, remove yolks and mix with mustard, mayo, dash of lemon juice, S&P, cayenne, splashes of cream to make it nice and smooth, and are you ready? A drizzle of honey. Yes, honey.  Now pipe into egg whites. Lovely.

Omelettes & scrambled eggs

There are two ways to make omelettes, the French way and the American way.  I think most of us familiar with Julia Child know that the French way includes a stainless steel pan (or cast iron, or whatever just not non-stick) and a fork.  To season a pan heat it up, add lots of oil, heat oil and pour out. Let pan cool.  Since metal is porous it will hold the oil and will be seasoned.  An omelette is cooked over high heat so the proteins constrict and bind together. Scrambled eggs are cooked over low heat so the eggs get nice and fluffy and custard like. 

Since omelettes need to be cooked on high heat your fat should be clarified butter because whole butter has a lower smoke point and will burn.  Add 2-3 beaten eggs and start shaking your pan and almost scrambling the eggs with your fork (don’t worry about scratching your pan – it’s not non-stick!). About thirty seconds or so and you’re almost done. Add your cheese, herbs, veggies (never raw protein) and pop under the broiler so the top can cook too.  Another 1-2 minutes and you’ve got your omelette.  Grab the pan like a dagger, (kind of upside down) tip onto plate and gently fold the omelette three way onto your plate. Ta-da! You’re done. Same for American style except you’re using a spatula and non-stick pan and you’re nicer to your omelette. Cook it gently, tuck the sides in, no vigorous pan shaking.

Scrambled eggs should be cooked on low low LOW heat or else they turn into rocks, which (ahem) explains so much.  For about 30 minutes or so Chef Brian’s assistant, Mike, moved and sloshed around beaten eggs in a bowl over a double boiler. It.took.forever. I suggest reading the paper/a book while doing this. The results? Creamy, custardy eggs cooked with no fat! Will I do this at home next time I’m starving? Um, no. However, I WILL turn my heat down, waaaay down.

Well then?

For the sake of time and hunger we decided on the Eggs Benedict. Poaching our eggs?  No problem. But since we had the water boiling so hard we did lose some egg white mass. Searing the Canadian bacon? Easy. Toasting our English muffins? Psh! Hollandaise? Disastrous.  We whisked. We added salt. We, ok I, added way too much cayenne (sorry guys!). Tried to fix it with lemon juice. More water, clarified butter. Sadly, nothing was going to help this poor excuse of a sauce.  Chef Brian tried to save it but his magic wasn’t enough. Hungry and defeated he told us we had to start all over. Nooooooooooooooooo!!! (insert curse words here)

New bowl, new whisk, more eggs.  I whisked until my arm was numb but stayed away from the cayenne and had my partners and Chef Brian take charge of the seasoning.  The end result? Hollandaise.  Did I like it? Sure. Will I eat Eggs Benedict at brunch any time soon? I’ll probably just stick with omelettes.

Glorious Grains

When I think of grains I usually think pasta, bread, and cereals. I tend to forget about the others like corn, rice, barley, quinoa, and apparently lentils.  Lentils are a type of pulse and a pulse is “an annual leguminous crop yielding from one to twelve grains or seeds of variable size, shape, and color within a pod.” (thank you Wikipedia). 

On the menu:  Corn bread
                            Risotto with sauteed scallops with pea sauce
                            French lentils
                            Riz Pilaf
                            Soft polenta with mixed herbs
                            Couscous with cumin

Old friends

I think most people are comfortable cooking grains because they’re pretty easy to work with. Chef Patrice Olivon, who teaches the Tuesday class, started off with cornbread, couscous and soft polenta. I have probably made all of these a hundred times but not like this. Into the cornbread went fresh roasted corn then whipped egg whites (French meringue) folded into the batter at the end, making it light and fluffy.  Always seperate your eggs and add them this way according to Chef Patrice, even if the recipe doesn’t call for it. 

Next up the couscous.  The ratio for cooking couscous is 1 cup couscous to 1 cup liquid. Instead of following the directions on the box/package do this instead: season with cumin before cooking, mix salt, olive oil and warm water and add to the couscous. Cover and let sit. Fluff after 5 minutes or more and add some butter and you’re done. 

Most cultures have some kind of cornmeal dish and ”polenta” is just the Italian word for it. For the love of God do not pay $4 for a tube that says “polenta” on it, just buy the $1 bag of cornmeal.  For soft polenta the ratio is 1 cup polenta to 4 cups liquid and for the best flavor it should be stock.  Bring to a boil and whisk in the cornmeal. Taste it, is it cooked? (depends on if you have instant or the regular 20 minute kind) When cooked add chopped herbs, grated cheese of choice and at the end finish with butter.  What’s great about polenta is that it makes for creative leftovers.  Pour in some kind of rectangular shaped dish and pop in the fridge. Next day you can cut it up in fun shapes, saute in butter and serve with tomato sauce. Fancy.

Why are French lentils better?

Because you don’t have to soak them overnight! French lentils are smaller and can be overcooked a little without turning into mush like regular lentils.  If you want to live dangerously (and unless you’re buying lentils in bulk) you really don’t have to pick through them despite what it says on the back of the bag/box. Sweat an onion, add some bacon, add lentils and enough chicken stock to cover and let simmer.  A surprising complex range of flavors for such a simple dish and perfectly paired with the cornbread.  Rustic is tres chic right now.

Rice

Oh how I cringe cooking rice.  I just.can.not.get.it.right. I follow all the rules – the water to rice ratio, temperature, lid/no lid but still – I either turn it into mush or burn the bottom of the pot. Riz (rice) pilaf is the “convenient rice”. It’s what all French restaurants have on hand because it can be served all day and all night and it tastes the same.  Sweat an onion, add rice and make sure each grain is coated in fat, then add stock. The ratio for long grain rice is 1 cup rice to 1 1/2 cup stock/water. Basmati rice is thirstier and needs more liquid, around 2 cups. Make a cartouche (circle of parchment paper placed on top of food) and smother your rice before popping it in the oven for 20 minutes or so to finish.  Easy!

Risotto is usually made with arborio or some other starchy rice to obtain that nice creamy quality sans cream.   If you plan on adding anything to your risotto, cook it seperately and add at the end.  Sweat onion, garlic, add rice and coat with fat, then deglaze with white wine, stock or water.  Plan on giving your arm a good work out because you will be stirring for the next twenty minutes or so while adding stock. Stir, stock. Stir, stock. Fun! Combine vegetables of choice and rice, add a generous amount of parmesan and butter and you have creamy, delicious risotto.

To accompany our risotto Chef Patrice prepped some beautiful and surprisingly large scallops. Season right before cooking so not to lose moisture and sear in a hot pan with a little fat. But you can’t have naked scallops! Blanch peas, throw in blender, salt and add stock. Add cream at the end if you’re feeling decadent. Pour over scallops & risotto and get ready for a party in your mouth.

Well?

Our group decided to make all of the dishes except the lentils. The Riz pilaf came out a little crunchy but kind of fun to chew on and the couscous was in dire need of salt.  The polenta was heavenly and satisfying. The risotto with scallops and pea sauce was not salty enough for Chef Patrice despite the mass amount of salt I added and parmesan. The buttery melt-in-your-mouth scallops with pea sauce made it all just perfect. The cornbread was  fluffy and sweet and some of the best cornbread I’ve ever had if I do say so myself.  Not everything came out perfect but we cooked with confidence and with no (major) blunders, although I did look away for one minute while roasting le mais and almost made popcorn. 

Fungi

Portabella, oyster, shiitake, crimini, button – I love ‘em all.  Not everyone likes mushrooms (because of  the whole ‘texture’ thing) and I can respect that. Sort of.

On the menu: mushrooms and greens.

Mushrooms 1o1

The most important thing to remember when cooking with mushrooms is not to wash them. Mushrooms are about 65% water so washing them results in…soggy (and bitter) mushrooms. Wipe away dirt with a towel, paper towel, or whatever is handy.  In class we don’t even bother to do that. 

Some of the best dishes are the simplest ones, like roasted portabella caps. Drizzle of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, salt, some herbs and you’ve got a hearty vegetarian entree or side dish.  Or ragout (basically a stew sans meat), last night a  mix of thick cut bacon in butter (yes you read that right), halved or quartered mushrooms sauteed in butter, diced potatoes, thyme, salt and pepper. Smothered with parchment paper and  into the oven for 10 minutes or so. Simple, rustic and delicious.

And then there was strudel

Who doesn’t love warm goodness wrapped in a flaky parcel? Anything, be it protein, fruit or vegetables, that goes in a strudel should be cooked first or else it will throw off moisture and make it soggy. Chef Brian made the mushrooms sing for us first. In a very hot stainless steel pan went whole button mushrooms and by God, they sang. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t very impressed with this trick. A quick way to brown your mushrooms and show off to your guests/spouse/friends. Next some salt, the remainder of the mushrooms and of course, butter.  The mixture was cooled and then mixed with generous amounts of goat cheese. And then, the phyllo came out. The thought of having to work with delicate, fragile and sensitive phyllo at 10 pm made me break out in a cold sweat. Three sheets seperated by clarified butter, or ghee, (although traditional ghee used in Indian cooking comes from water buffalo) saw a glob of mushroom-goat mixture and was folded burrito style. All exposed phyllo must be brushed with clarified butter since it dries up and crumbles so fast you won’t know what happened unless it’s kept nice and moist. Accompanying the strudel: beurre blanc or emulsified butter sauce and balsamic vinegar.  The beurre blanc starts with a lot of white wine, roasted garlic, white wine vinegar, thyme, shallots. A little cream and then lots of butter whipped in. 

Oh yeah, and greens too

The winter greens included Napa cabbage, Belgian endive and radicchio wilted in butter with julienned carrots, turnip and mushrooms.  I am not going to lie, the radicchio was horrible.  I have never tasted anything more bitter in my life (and I thought grapefruit was bad!).  I think I prefer it raw. The grilled Caesar salad was much much better. Who knew you could grill lettuce? I almost never eat Caesar salad but Chef Brian changed my mind. The usual egg yolk, dijon mustard, garlic, lemon juice, anchovies, worcestershire, olive oil, parmesan, and s&p combo tossed with grilled Romaine was surprisingly light and refreshing. 

Well?

For the sake of time and to quiet our hunger asap, my team decided on the Caesar and strudel.  The Caesar dressing started out fine until two of us decided we had to practice chopping anchovies and almost ruined our dressing and our taste buds.  Warning: 2 anchovies is all you need for an ample amount of Caesar dressing.  Chef Brian came to the rescue and we ate the best Caesar salad of our lives last night.  By the time we got our hands on the phyllo though it resembled the pages of a hundred year old book.  The atmosphere was tense at our station as I wrapped the strudel into the ugliest and fattest burrito I have ever seen. Ten long minutes in the convection oven and we had hot, golden, cheesy mushroom goodness on our plates. We did not skimp on the goat cheese or mushrooms. Flaky and flavorful. So simple to make. I fear phyllo no more.

Source: Dining and Dishing

Les Vegetables

*NOTE: I am blogging from my iPhone in Atlanta airport so this will be the condensed version of last night’s class.

The third class of Culinary Techniques 101 focused on vegetables. But how can you possibly cover all there is about this massive (and my favorite) food group in three and a half hours? Well you can’t, but I still managed to leave class last night feeling confident enough to whip up some Mornay sauce with perfectly cooked broccoli this weekend. (Apparently I have been over cooking my broccoli. And green beans. Also Brussels sprouts…)

Roux

Roux is equal parts fat and flour used to thicken food. The longer you cook roux, like for gumbo, the less binding power it has. Stir, stir your roux, add COLD milk and voilà – you have Bechamel, one of the “mother sauces”. The rule is this: warm roux gets cold liquid, cold roux gets warm liquid. Otherwise the fat separates and you get a big mess. Add cheese to your Bechamel (along with thyme, bay leaf, s&p) and you’ve got Mornay. Yum.

Killing my vegetables softly

I have been over cooking my vegtables big time. Chef Brian under cooked, cooked to perfection, and over cooked hericot verts, or French green beans that actually came from Peru. The over cooked samples we tasted last is how mine usually taste. Oops. Salt the heck out of some boiling water then throw them in. Do not fear the salt, it helps keep the color vibrant. Make sure you have a bowl of ice water ready to shock them and stop the cooking process. Cook vegetables one minute short of perfection. Then serve the broccoli with Mornay sauce and kiss Kraft goodbye.

Other highlights included killer Brussels sprouts with bacon, Ratatouille and roasted beet salad. A butternut squash purée had the consistency of pastry cream and looked like vomit and after a few spoonfulls I thought I would do just that. Too creamy, too smooth.

The best part about last night (besides the food) was that we managed to stay on time and everything we made went onto plates first, not the table or floor.