TEXAS WEEK!!

As you know, Texas is a region all on it's own. That's why we're so prideful here haha. Above we have Crab quesadillas with salsa (made my chef instructor). I didn't know if I'd like crab in a quesadilla but WOW. so good! Last week i made my own version of this recipe with bacon instead of crab.

How can you be a true texan and not like BBQ? Here is our wonderful brisket that we made. It smoked in this awesome smoker we have at school for a couple hours and then went in the oven for another couple hours. It was delicious. There were no leftovers to take home on this day obviously.

Our chef instructor told us we could do a potato salad or coleslaw so my team chose potato salad. This is a "healthier" version on the potato salad made by my teammate Brian. It was really delicious and it went perfectly with the brisket since it was a little lighter dish.

Did you know that the fruit of Texas is the grapefruit? A man from A&M actually came upon it when he created the hybrid fruit now known as the Ruby Red Grapefruit. The instructor gave us a bunch of fruit and said put whatever you want in it to make a fruit salad as long as it has grapefruit so i literally put in every fruit he gave us. It was delicious and i saved some for my lunch the next day. I'm a big fruit person. I could eat it everyday and allday. Rocky Mountain region coming up next.

MIDTERM!!!

Midterms time again...
This is quite a plate, that meat is a piece of chicken in case you couldn't tell haha. We liked its strange shape and thought we could display it well...looks like a flame kinda.. It's a little over the top, you can't really see the rest of the plate from this angle but with it is roasted potatoes, brussel sprouts and spaghetti squash.

Here's my pride and joy. It's a cucumber, tomato, and egg salad with a really awesome vinegarette. I tried my best to give the salad some height but with flat lettuce leaves it's kinda hard but all in all it was a good display.

Here's that famous cream of tomato and basil soup. Sorry you're seeing some of the same things but that's what we do for midterms. We got to pick what recipes we wanted to make that we had already discussed so this is what we picked. Overall we did a great job i think. we got a 96 and i am just fine with that!

Central Plains Week

For those of you that don't know the central plains region includes: Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, North & South Dakota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri.


Here we have our lovely rack of ribs that have been smoked for a couple hours and then slathered in BBQ sauce and put in the oven to roast. Talk about fall off the bone deliciousness. We made these "Kansas city style," which means lots of molasses as a sweetener in the sauce. They had just the right amount of tangy and sweet.




Here's our delicious completed ribs with some wonderful Mac & cheese. I'll include the recipe for the mac & cheese below because it is too good not to share. Right after I took this picture i devoured the plate in probably 2 minutes. Needless to say there were no leftovers to take home....sorry mom & dad.




Deep-dish "Chicago-style" pizza. Mmmmmm this is before i went in the oven. Chicago style pizza is supposed to have sauce on top but as you can see we neglected to do that. This pizza has pretty much anything you can think of on it, cheese, Italian sausage, pepperoni, bacon, jalapenos, green onion, white onion, morel mushrooms (very expensive by the way), fresh mozzarella, and the awesome sauce my teammate brian made. It was truly to die for!



This is the corn & wild rice cake with sauteed spinach and mushrooms underneath. This makes a great vegetarian appetizer or in our case meal because there were 2 cakes. I was shocked at how good they were. We used fresh corn kernels, cooked wild rice, onion and some cream to hold the cakes together. If any of you are of have a vegetarian in the family let me know if you want the recipe. They were amazing!

On the right you have the pork medallions with port/red wine sauce, roasted potatoes, and sauteed Brussels sprouts with mushrooms & bacon (of course we have to add the bacon). Needless to say a nice and full dinner for the evening. I'm glad one of my teammates loves Brussels sprouts as much as i do.

MAC & CHEESE RECIPE (makes 6 servings)

8 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni (or whatever pasta you prefer)

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup chicken stock to desired texture (we used chicken stock instead of milk because the milk will curdle)

1/4 cup butter

2 & 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/4 cup minced onion

2 tablespoons butter (for doting at the end)

1/2 cup bread crumbs (we used panko)

1 pinch of paprika

also: we added a pinch of cayenne and some bacon but you don't have to)

1. cook mac according to the package directions and drain.

2. in a saucepan, melt butter slowly over medium heat. Add onion and saute 2 minutes. Stir in enough flour to make a roux. Add stock and cream to roux slowly, stirring constantly. Stir in cheese and cook over low heat until cheese is melted and the sauce is a little thick. Adjust thickness with stock if too thick. Add mac to the cheese mix and stir well.

3. Sprinkle the top of the mac & cheese with breadcrumbs. Dot with butter.

4. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the mix is bubbling and the breadcrumbs are browned.

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!