MID-ATLANTIC WEEK: Day 2

We're still the the mid-atlantic for this post. I have class 2 days a week so from now on you'll see a day 1 and day 2. This is day 2. We made braised short ribs, rice pilaf, glazed carrots, and sauteed spinach. I again, ate well on this night. The ribs were so soft and fell right off the bone. I had the pleasure of making the ribs. I was scared at first because i didn't want to mess up the main part of the dish but i'm glad i tackled it and did a good job. As Julia Child says "Don't be afraid."

Here's the infamous Waldorf Salad. It was so good. I ate all of mine plus another plate. It has red grapes, celery, green apples, mayo, lemo juice, walnuts, and cranberries. I didn't think i'd like the celery in it but it gives it a nice earthly tone and helps cut down the acid from the apples and lemon juice. Very tasty Salad!

Here we have the Vichyssoise. It's so fun to say it. Normally this soup is served chilled but here in American, we like our soups hot. Just a little bit of trivia for you about this soup, it was invented by Chef Louis Diat at the Ritz Carleton Hotel in New York City. It is a leek and potato based soup. It was also very yummy!

HERE'S THE WHOLE SPREAD. AS YOU CAN SEE, WE HAVE QUITE A NICE DINNER IN CLASS. IT'S A FULL 3 COURSE MEAL. MY PARENTS ARE ALWAYS HAPPY WHEN I BRING LEFT OVERS HOME WITH ME.

Here's one of my teammates Brian enjoying his ribs. We all chowed down! I can clearly see that my attempts to lose weight are just not going to happen when i'm eating like this 2 nights out of the week. oh well!

MID-ATLANTIC WEEK: Day 1

This week we focused on the Mid-Atlantic Region of America. We made "Shaker-Style" Turkey Cutlets & gravy with mashed potatoes, green beans, and spaghetti squash. Let's just say i ate very well on this night. The turkey wasn't dry and the gravy...one word WOW! It truly was a very delicious and amazing dish.





Next we have my personal favorite, Cream of Tomato and Basil Soup. I had the pleasure of making this and i had a lot of fun. I don't usually care for tomato soup but this recipe was edited by our chef and the tweaks her made to it made the whole thing absolutely yummy! I'll attach the recipe below because it is definately too good to not share with you.

Here we have another yummy salad... can you see why i say this is my favorite part of the class. You truly get to be creative with you veggies. It's an egg, cucumber and tomato salad with a very great vinegarette that has green onion garlic olive oil, and red wine vinegar. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

HERE'S THE WHOLE SPREAD. I TRIED TO BE DRAMATIC AND DO IT THE PICTURE AT A WEIRD ANGLE BUT I DON'T THINK I DID IT QUITE RIGHT.

Cream of tomato and basil soup:

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion

2 carrots, unpeeled & chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 3 cloves)

4 lb. tomatoes coarsely chopped (about 5 large)

1 1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon sherry win vinegar (this gives it a little kick)

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

3 cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup heavy cream

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and carrots and saute for about 10 minutes, until very tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, basil, chicken stock, salt, and pepper and stir well. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tomatoes are very tender. Puree the soup in a blender until very smooth. Add the cream to the coup. Reheat the soup over low hear just until hot. Add the sherry wine vinegar and serve with basil lease and/or croutons for garnish.

American Cuisine: New England

NEW ENGLAND WEEK!!!!

How do you feel about corned beef? I wasn't too sure how i felt until we made this dish. It's called New England Boiled Dinner. My dad loves corned beef and cabbage (which is underneath the beef holding it up) and he also loves horseradish. We made horseradish sauce which is what is on top of the beef. It was a pretty tasty dish!

Next, of course, is the Clam Chowder. I've never made it before so i was thrilled to try it. It actually turned out really good. I had to take some home with me I liked it so much. I loved the bacon garnish on top also. As i always say, "Everything is better with bacon."

Here is the Mesclun salad with tomatoes, red onion, and zucchini. The dressing was a very delicious vinegarette. Salads are probably my favorite thing to make because you get to shape and compose them however you want. I really liked the tomato petals. This semester is going to be so fun. My instructor is amazing and i have a really great team to work with.

FINAL EXAM!!!

For my final exam i had to cook Chicken Chardonnay, broccoli hollandaise, glazed carrots, and rissole potatoes. I have made all these things before in class so i tried not to nervous. The chicken was simple, you just saute it to give it some color and then put it in one of those alluminum pie pans and finish it in the oven. The sauce is super easy too, it's mushrooms, onions, butter and some heavy cream and flour to thicken it. Thankfully the hollandaise i got on my first try. Last time i made hollandaise it took me 3 times to get it right. The carrots are super easy also. You just saute the carrots with butter and then add some chicken stock and sugar and just before you take them off add honey or maple syrup whatever you prefer. The potatoes were good too. You cut them into cubes and saute them with butter so they get a little color and then just put the pan and everything in the over and finish cooking them until they're tender. Overall i had a good final. I got a 93. See everyone next quarter...I'll be taking American cuisine so it should be very exciting!

Week 9:BRAISING & STEWING

This week we worked on braising and stewing. Here's one of the side dishes that went along with our pot roast. Potato pancakes...I've never made or had these before so i pretty excited to do it. I love potatoes, i love pancakes, and now i love potato pancakes hehe. One word of advice though: Don't grate you potato ahead of time...it was get all reddish and nasty and it doesn't help you save any time. Oh and be careful when grating..i learned that one!

This is the Coq au Vin...doesn't look too appetizing from this picture but let me tell you....YUMMY! I had never made this either so it was awesome to be able to make it. The chicken got so tender and juicy it literally fell off the bone. It was so delicious.

How many of you have seen Julie & Julia the movie? You know in the movie how she's trying to make that dish..Beef Tip Bourgenonne...Well here it is. Also never made this before so it was fun. It's gota a very rich red wine flavor hence the name. The meat was very tender and juicy. Turned out very well.

Last but not least...The Yankee Pot Roast with glazed carrots, potato pancake, and sauted snow peas. This was by far my favorite. Probably because i felt it was a complete meal and not a big bowl of meat hehe. Our gravy turned out a little too thin but other than that it was very yummy. All in all week 9 was a success and i got to learn how to make a lot of things i didn't know before.

Week 8: SAUTEING

Here's a picture of Chef Pierre Demoing how to make the Chicken Chardonnay. We each had to make this but didn't really have a recipe so it was important to pay attention

Here's where the week got amazing. We got to work with a top sirloin. We were all surprised when we saw that PRIME stamp on the meat. Guess the Art Institute finally decided not to be cheap this time. It was delicious.




Here's my attempt at the Chicken Chardonnay. It was really delicious. I'm not much of a mushroom person but the sauce totally made it. I definitely will be cooking this for my family in the near future. I LOVED IT!

Here's our Southern Fried Chicken, Sauteed Green Beans & red peppers, and risolle potatoes (basically a cubed potatoes sauteed in butter and sprinkled with parsley) It was also very yummy!

AND THE GRAND FINALE....
Here's the yummy prime top sirloin with garlic mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, and sauteed Brussels sprouts. Mmm...We had a left over plate of this (We have to plate everything for 4 but only had 3 people in our group that day) so i took it home to my dad and he gobbled it all up.

Week 7: ROASTING!

Week 7 was roasting week. We're finally making it into the menus where we don't have to eat dinner because we're cooking it in class. We made Roasted Sirloin, stuffed tomatoes, pommes anna (basically a big hasbrown but the potatoes are in slices and layered in the saute pan), broccoli hollandaise, winter squash soup, and of course dessert...chocolate mousse (pictured above)....Mmmm!