Fish week wraps up, and check out the seabass!

This is my first whole fish dish. Its probably the best tasting to be honest. I had to fabricate the whole fish. Yep, meaning taking out all the guts, heart, liver and all the gooey insides AND scaling it. Note that scaling it does not mean removeing the skin. The scales are clear, so its actaully hard to tell it they are all off. You need to run you finger down the fish and make sure its smooth. this seabass was very easy to prepare and one of the few dishes we've made thats not doused with butter (giving health junkies like a me a break finally!). You simply saute some cremini mushrooms and shallots with a little olive oil, add some wine and reduce a bit. then you take your whole fish and stuff it with parsley, basily, lemon, and thyme. You then score its skin about three times (to prevent the skin from drying our and curling the fish. Then you add a little water or chicken stock to that pan, add the stuffed fish, and bake it at 350 for 30-45 min. When its done, remove the fish and with the remaning sauce, you add some chopped tomatoes, and chopped herbs (probably the ones you used to stuff the fish). cook a little and then simply pour it over the fish when it's ready to serve. today i forgot my camera, but we made fish n'chips (super healthy!) and salmon baking in parchment with gnocchi! I've never made gnocchi before! it was so fun and delicious, and chef Kahuna said mine were perfect. My fish on the other hand was under done :(. Do you guys want some of these recipes? anyhow, lots more to write about but i just got back from class and am exhausted, but i'll upload some more photos and write more tomorrow!

Grilled Salmon with Poblano Chili Sauce!

I made this tonight, its was PERFECT except that i forgot to season my rice. this actually is healthier than my previous salmon since we only used olive oil.

Poached Salmon!

I also made this tuesday. Its looks healthy, poached salmon with steamed veggies BUT its doused with hollandaise (which is made with a lot of clarified butter) and those potato gauffretts were indeeed deep fried. Honestly, kind of a boring dish but it was my first attempt at salmon.

Mussels!

I made these tuesday, it was pretty good, i overcooked my pasta slightly (i tend to do that when its freshly made. Can you believe this is an appetizer!) it was delicious though!

My pics are coming, and a great mussels recipe!

I know i promised pictures, but i got home later than expected last night and i am tech inept so i need to wait for my dad to get home and help me upload them. anyhow we made poached salmon with potato gauffrets (little waffle-shaped fried potatos) and mussels with pasta. I love mussels! so i thought i'd share the recipe (you may add pasta with the mussels, but this is often an appetizer and frnekly, i think pasta is a bit too filling for an appetizer).
40 mussels (20 per person)
4 oz. dry white wine
2 tsp. onions, spring or scallions (includes tops and bulb)
1 tsp. garlic
1 tsp. butter, with salt
1/4-tsp. bay leaf
1 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 tsp. fresh rosemary
1 tsp. freeze-dried chives
salt and pepper

Directions:


Scrub and debeard the mussels, discarding any that remain open.

Combine the wine, onions, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary and garlic and bring to a simmer.

Add mussels, cover the pot and steam until the shells open.

Remove the mussels and keep them warm while finishing the sauce.

Strain the steaming liquid, add parsley, chives, and mint and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve the sauce ladled over the mussels.
(if you interested in the nutition info its roughly per serving: calories, 150 calories and serves two)

Hey there Skinny Chef!

I know i have not posted a lot recently, mainly because i haven't had class since before thanksgiving. Monday night i have my Beef Quiz and then we have a fish and shellfish lecture as we beging fish/shellfish week. I promise i'll start taking pictures of my dishes each night becuase they truly are goregeous this quarter (as opposed to last term where it was simple stuff like rice and hollandaise). We also do a whole salmon fabication after our lecture, this could be fun, and fishy i guess. I am sorta glad to be doing fish because i love almost all seafood. Plus its super healthy, a good source of protein and omega 3's. Shrimp and oysters are also good sources of iron (oysters even have calcium, i prefer oysters to a glass of milk anyday!). Speaking of health, i feel a bit "different" when it comes to nutrition and health as opposed to the rest of the class. what i mean by "different" is that i seem to be the only person who cares maybe, or maybe iam the only person educated on it. The rest of the class will need to take a nutrtion academics class i believe in a few terms (i got out of it cause i studied it in college). I am not a crazy calorie counter but since i know a lot about nutrtion, i am mindful of the food's nutrtional value. For example, i am probably the only person in the class that thinks "why are we using clarified butter (buter with all the milk and water evaporated, basically fattier butter) when we can just as easily use canola oil?". I realize its not about nutrition, its about taste, but sometimes i just think about some dishes we make and think, "ok, this can still be delcious and be healthier". Maybe thats what I'll do with my career, open a GOOD tasting healthy resturant or write a healthier GOOD gourmet tasting cookbook. I dont remember who it was but someone once told me, you should never trust a skinny chef. I disagree. Although my chef instructors this term are a bit on the chubby side, Chef French and Woodstock were very slender and fit. People naturally come in all shapes and sizes, and their food shouldn't be judged on their pudgy-ness (or lack thereof). skinny chefs also doesn't mean they dont taste their food. Thats hogwash! all good chefs taste their food. I HATE cheese, i am even a little lactose intolerant, but i taste my dishes, even if they have cheese in them. Mind you TASTE is rather different than having it as a meal. One is meant to tickle your palatte, the other is meant to keep you full. Some the best chefs around are slender, Julia Child, my hero was fairly slender, Nigella Lawson could model, Martin Yan was pretty trim, and Gordon Ramsey is farily skinny. Dont judge a chef, or anyone for that matter, on their body. the one exception I'd be wary of is that creepy purple grimace icon from McDonalds. dude, a purple blob selling my quarter pounders? yea, ok, I'll pass on that one.

Turkey Coma

Hello everyone, not sure how many americans read this blog (not sure how many read this period but since nutritious junk for some reason gets a lot of canadian and british readers, maybe they found there way here), Happy Thanksgiving! Honestly, i dont care much for this holiday, and part of it is that stupid shopping day the day after. Black friday, as its known. I cant believe a discount on a semi-pointless item is motivation enough for some people to wake up at 3:30 am (or do they even go to bed? because i've totally stayed up until 4 before) to get to the stores at 4 and make their way through an stampede of other people just as crazy as you (or more, because they must have gotten there BEFORE you). Good lord, i enjoy shopping but not like this! Wel its done and over with. My turkey was OK, people told me it was good, i thought they were just being nice, or maybe so used to dry turkey that this was excellent according to their previous experiences. My dad forgot the stuffing and green beans in fridge back at our house, and my roulade was a teeny underdone. Ehh, whatevs. At least i dont get graded on this. I did make a fantastic roasted garlic mashed cauliflower (or "faux-tatoes" as i like to call them). I put in four cloves which was A LOT but i loved it! I didn't get to workout today which sorta pissed me off because on stressful days like this, i sorta rely on it to take my edge off. Thats ok though, since i am avoiding all malls tomorrow, i'll have plenty of time to blow off steam and maybe do some homework (believe it or not we get so many written assingments). What sorta bothers me about thanksgiving is that its like a little red carpet for all those relatives that havent seen you in a while. meaning...its like a little judgment session. What are you doing, how are you looking, what are you studying, where are you working, on and on...Its rather annoying filling people in and responding to less than nice comments. for instance, i just loved it how my dad introduces me to new people.
"this is my daughter, she took a year off school to go to Le Cordon Bleu"
First of all, this isn't a vacation, i am not taking anything off, i am more busy than i ever was in college. People can sleep their way through college and still get degrees. You defiently cannot just sleep through this! you need to be so passionate and have the energy to keep up with the rigorous demands. I dont think its for everyone. Now that I've gotten to know my classmates better, i am noticing some real chefs in rough, and some people that i really feel sorry for. Its like trying to be funny. You cant exactly fake it, and you cant fake passion, and i do think some people in the class really lack that. Its funny too because i know so many people NOT in culinary school that completely belong there, mostly their scared to take the plunge, but little do they know its a blessing for them if they just attended. I think i ll write up a post later on whether or not culinary school might be a place where you belong. hope everyone is recovering from their national day of eating and shopping.

Beef, its whats for dinner, but not tomorrow!

ahh, so last week was poultry, this week is all about beef! since most of you know from nutiritious junk, i am not big on beef. I like filet mignon and a good burger from time to time, but i dont tend to crave it like i do with shrimp and lobster. We saw a video all about the extensive parts of the cow and cuts that are servable from it. seeing that carcas hung up gave me the willies, i am not vegetarian now, but i do feel a bit guitly for the poor old cow. Cow are kinda cute, especially the one with earings on the babybell cheeses. anyhow, so i made hungarian goulash with chuck yesterday and the class as a whole roasted a huge rib eye. I admit, it was bloody but yes, delcious. i think today its just sauteed steak but beef week is cut short because of the turkey day weekend. I'll be in charge this year of the meal (its about time, i havent cooked for others since starting culinary school!) and i'll post some pictures from my spread. I am going to be a little untradtional, since my family, is indeed a little untradtional. I actually wont be spending it with most of my family, the only member will be my dad since my sister is having it a her husband's grandmothers house, and most of my family lives in Israel/Australia/Beligum and anywhere besides the US. anywho, ill post some stories of thanksgiving past tomorrow in between my basting the turkey. Stay tuned!

Wrap up of poulty week and thanksgiving!

So on friday we said our goodbuys to poultry as we begn beef on monday. I mad a delicious Coq au Vin that with chicken pieces that marinated overnight in burgundy wine! ah they were so beautifully purple! then we seared them off in a deep pan and flambeed them with some brandy! They were nice and mighty drunk but so delicious, the meat litterally fell off the bone! We also learned how to make Chicken roulade and i was so nervous mine would fall apart on me but it turned out great and Chef Kahuna loved it. It was served with a port wine sauce which nearly broke down on my when i served it. Its strnage, my meats have all been fantastic, but my sauces always break down on me. grrrr.... very frustrating, but i hear that pan sauces are indeed the most difficult thing to master (its very much a chemistry understanding of heat, and thickening, other stuff on that chem nature which i never warmed up to at school).
Anyhow, on nutritious junk i posted so thanksgiving recipes and thought i'd continue posting them here, so enjoy them!

Healthier cornbread stuffing

1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 Tbsp. snipped fresh parsley (2 tsp. dried)
1 tsp. ground sage
1 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
2 packages (12 oz. each) unseasoned cornbread stuffing cubes
3 cups chicken stock (fat-free/low salt)
1/2 cup egg substitute (or 4 egg whites)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a medium nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Add the celery and onions. Cook over medium heat until tender. Stir in herbs, seasoning and spices. Lightly spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray. Place the cornbread cubes in casserole. Add onion and celery mixture, 2 cups of broth and egg substitute. Gently toss. Drizzle with remaining broth to moisten bread thoroughly; gently toss again to mix well. Bake uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes or until heated through.
nutritional analysis per serving: 135 calories, 1 gram fat

Cranberry Chutney
Ever notice how cranberry sauce is like a sugar mine? this one is low in sugar and big on flavor! But it is a rather tart chutney, so if its sweet your after, you can add more splenda or honey.
1 cup raw cranberries
1 cup water
2 tablespoons Splenda®
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ cup finely chopped onion
¼ cup finely chopped celery
1 medium apple, peeled and chopped
Directions:

Simmer all ingredients except apple in saucepan for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add chopped apple and cook for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.
Cool. Serve as an accompaniment to turkey, fish, or pork.

per 1/4 cup serving: 30 calories, no fat, 2.5 g fiber

the Bird!
Orange-Sage Roasted Turkey

1 (15-lb.) fresh or frozen turkey, thawed
Cooking spray
1/2 cup chopped fresh sage
2 Tbsp. grated orange rind
1 1/8 tsp. salt, divided
1 1/4 cups fresh orange juice (about 3 oranges), divided
2 Tbsp. honey, divided
1 orange, quartered
1 Tbsp. cornstarch

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Remove and discard giblets and neck from turkey. Rinse turkey with cold water; pat dry. Trim excess fat. Starting at neck cavity, loosen skin from breast and drumsticks by inserting fingers, gently pushing between skin and meat. Lift wing tips up and over back; tuck under turkey (kinda like doing a full nelson on a turkey ;).

3. Place turkey on the rack of a broiler pan or roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Combine the sage, rind and 1 teaspoon salt. Rub sage mixture under skin and inside the cavity. Combine 1/4 cup juice and 1 tablespoon honey; pour over turkey. Place orange quarters inside body cavity.

4. Insert meat thermometer into meaty part of thigh, making sure not to touch bone. Bake at 325 degrees for three hours or until meat thermometer registers 180 degrees. Cover turkey loosely with foil, and let stand for 10 minutes. This is very important, if you dont let it stand the juices will escape and you'll end up with a very dry bird. throw away the skin and orange wedges. Remove turkey from pan, reserving pan drippings for sauce put the turkey on a platter; keep warm.

5. To make the sauce, pour reserved pan drippings into a zip-top plastic bag. Seal bag; snip off one corner of bag. Drain drippings into a medium saucepan, stopping before the fat layer reaches the opening; discard fat. (You should have about 2/3 cup drippings; add enough water or fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth to make up the difference, if necessary).

6. Add 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup juice, and 1 tablespoon honey to drippings in pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer one minute. Combine 1/2 cup juice and cornstarch in a small bowl; add to drippings mixture. Bring to a boil, and cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Serve sauce with turkey.

Makes 16 servings (serving size: 5 ounces turkey and 2 tablespoons sauce). Nutritional values per serving: 261 calories 7g fat 41g protein

Stewed Cinnamon Apples!
nice as a side dish to turkey or as dessert with son whipped cream or nonfat frozen yogurt!
6 cups chopped peeled Granny Smith apples (about 2 lbs.)
1/4 cup splenda (about 7 packets if your cheap like me and steal them from starbucks)
1/4 cup apple juice
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. salt
Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a large, heavy saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-low heat 45 minutes or until apple is tender, stirring occasionally. Let stand five minutes.

Makes eight servings (serving size: 1/4 cup). Nutritional values per serving: 90 calories, 0g fat

Apricot glazed brussle sprouts!
I adapted this from the "A Veggie Venture" website. she used apricot perserves, i just substituted the sugar free smuckers version
Salted water to cover
1 1/2 pounds fresh Brussels sprouts, trimmed and X'd

GLAZE:
1/2 cup fruit preserves, apricot or peach (you may use the real thing, i used the smuckers sugar free and it works just fine)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
8 ounces canned sliced water chestnuts, drained and sliced into matchsticks

TOPPING:
1 tablespoon toasted nuts (almonds or pecans would be nice)

Bring the water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add sprouts, cover and adjust heat to maintain a slow simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes or until Brussels sprouts are fully cooked but still bright green. Drain and return to the hot saucepan.

Meanwhile, bring the glaze ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour over hot, cooked sprouts and stir to coat well. [You could pause for a few minutes here but cover to keep the sprouts hot.] Transfer to a serving dish. Top with toasted nuts.

Serves about 10 Per Serving: 80 Cal 3 g Protein; 1 g Tot Fat 4 g Fiber

Grilling and the social scene!

So we did our gilled chicken yesterday, learning how to do it properly (cause most people completely mess it up) and making the perfect grill marks. It was served on a bed of rice pilaf with a red pepper coulis (a roasted red pepper sauce). My sauce broke down on me and was too thin, but Chef Kahuna said my chicken was emitting juices (a GOOD SIGN, its the opposite of a dry chicken which can taste like chalk). Today we do duck which is a darker meat than chicken and has a LOT of skin, so much so we took piece off to render it down into huge pots full of pure cholestorol! Wonder why ducks float? yep its that thick layer of fat that surronds their skin. Tomorrow i need to make Coq Au Vin and write an essay on its origin (would you like me to post that as well, do any of you even care?).
I realized i havent talked much about the social scene in class. Well, i notice now its really not that much different from the people that were in my dorms in college. Sure they take night classes, but a lot of them are younger than me (like 18 or 19) and still after two things, booze and drugs. this makes me sad, i thought I might find people with different interests than the college crowd i was used to. and incase you didnt notice, those two things are not really my scene. dont get me wrong. i've smoked a doobie here and there (although NEVER ciggaretes, sorry, its just that I saw my mom die in the respitory intensive care unit and the hospital and that just did it for me), and its not like i dont enjoy alcohol. I do, but i dont like getting drunk or sick. I went to the biggest party school in west coast so i had to take care of a lot of drunk people and i never want to go through the embarassment of someone doing that for me. I think good food and exercise is my drug. Believe nothing gets me off like a good block of rich chocolate and nice run. so i am noticing that i am gravitating towards the older people and even the chefs which this term are very young (under 30!). anyway, my carpool is honking and i need to sharpen my knives. hopefully i'll have time to write if i get let out early! thanks guys for reading!

Intro to Culinary Arts II !

so yesterday was the first day of Intoduction to Culinary Arts II. The biggest difference between this class and my last on is that we will be learning to work with protiens like poultry, fish, beef, lamb, etc. Plus, we serve complete dishes (each must have a protein, starch, and vegetable) and in between a certain time window (to mimic what its like to turn out plates on time for when you work at a resturant). My new chef is kinda laid back, hes huge, like the green giant, but soft spoken so a friendly giant. He graduated from the same culinary school but 7 years ago. The first day we had a little lecture about poultry (next week is beef, than fish...) and we had to "fabricate" two chickens and truss them. Fabrication is merely butchering off the breasts, wings, thighs, drunsticks, etc. Trussing is putting it under arrest, or just tying it's legs together and then binding it at its neck so its all compacted together. Today we only need to produce one dish: herb roasted chicken, with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, pan gravy, and zuchinni and squash tournes. My potatos were out of this world, but it seemed like forever until mychicken would get done. You have to test it's temperature and it needs to be at least 165 degrees. Mine kept reading 140 or 150. But my time limit was nearing so i just busted it out of the oven, carved it nicely, and served it. My new chef, lets call him Chef Kahuna (cause he looks kinda hawaiian), said my gravy was not emulsified enough, but that my chicken was perfect, juicy, moist, and flavorful. woo hoo. He also busted my for chewing gum during class, o well., i am not perfect, but i need to get the garlicy taste out of my mouth from my mashed potato tasting! well tomorrow's menu is grilled chicken with rice pilaf, red bell pepper couli, green beans, and tortilla soup. Going with a south of the border theme i see....

"Deep Cleaning" and my final grade!

So today we basically chillaxed (its chill and relax, incase you thought it was some sort of typo which i am infamous of doing) and cleaned the labs (the kitchens, we call them labs i guess to make it seem more scientific) and had a one on one with our instructor. I was so happy! Chef Woodstock said, "I think you doing pretty darn well, i did think you conomme was very salty but overall you did just fine. On cooking i got a 91, an 88 on the "notebook", 97 on performance, and overall all i got a solid "A" for the term as i averaged out a 93.3. I was happy, some people did slightly better, most got away with a b, and i did over hear some C's, but honestly its from students who i think really alck the heart for this. its the kids that miss class, smoke and drink a lot, and fairly young. Ehh, i dont want to be one to judge, i got loads of C's in college and a select few in high school algebra. But i am very happy that i am content with my grade. i think i tried, i think i deserved it, no more (i am devoted, but this isn't the only thing in my life), no less. Perfetly seasoned! anyhow, monday is intro II !! Eeek! new instructors and meats! I cant only hope I'll do just as well. Sit tight readers (if there are any, i really am begining to doubt people read this), we've only just begun!

ALL DONE!

Woo hoo! today was my last day of finals! tomorrow we get our "exit interviews" where the chefs tell us our grade while the rest of the class cleans the bottoms of the pots and pans (exciting, no?). Anyhow, I am fairly pleased with my cooking. Yesterday was the most difficult day but i finished with an hour to spare! in fact, the chef came by as i was cleaning up and told me to go take a break or get some coffee because i worked so hard. I could barely believe it! was he that impressed at how i managed to finished everything so quickly or was he seeing through my aching body as i was dying to crawl into bed and catch up on much deprived sleep? anyhow, took it as a complement. Today was short but tricky, I had to make Pommes Lyonaise (1/2 in sliced potatos that are fried and served with fried onions), a fine herb omlette, sauteed spinach, and Girodoine (Hollandaise mixed with dijon mustard). The catch, this all needed to be presented at once. its tricky cause the omlette will begin to cook itself if it lays around for too long and the spinach will wilt if it does too. Also, you need 100% attenetion when you work on a hollandaise (not good for multitasking). I worked on my onions for the Lyonaise first, concetrating on browning them and NOT burning them (the biggest mistake people tend to make on this dish). Then i fried the potato medalions and set those aside with a bowl on top to lock in the heat. I next worked my wisk at the hollandaise (although thanks god i caught up with a further along in the program student yesterday that told me the key is to move the wisk side to side, not around). The sauteed spinach was what i did next (it took litterally 30 seconds becuase longer can make it change color, and then devoted another 30 seconds to my omlette. TADA! fini! and i believe i was the second dish turned in of the night. I am a natural multitasker, in fact, its rare i find myself doing only one thing at a time. Even when i eat, i need to be reading or even watching tv, or talking on the phone, or something! Perhaps the one exception is driving, but i am prone to do my friend check ups while in bumper to bumper traffic. Well tomorrow i get me grade and on monday, sadly, no more Chef French and Chef Woodstock. I'll really miss them and i am a little nervous about getting new chefs. SO Intro I (the name of the class i just took) is done and monday i begin Intro 2 which is more focused on meats and fish and other interesting things (becuase this class was uber basic). Yay! i cant wait to eat those dishes cause i am sick and tired of rice pilaf and potatos!

Day three of finals!

so i did day two last night. as you saw in my preveious post, a lot of dishes bu simple one, today is the tricky one. Well yesterday was ok, i think. its very strange in the kitchen as we are not allowed to talk. I first got my potatos boiling for the pommes duchess, and then got my white roux working for my bechemel. the bechemel just needs 10-15 min to simmer so during that time i got my carrots cooking for the glazed carrots. i turned in my bechemel first, and by that time my carrots were ready so i turned them in next. so i got to work on my blanched broccoli. i think i may have left them in for too long, but i tried a few and they were ok, but maybe to mushy for the chefs standards. I then proceeded to braising endives because that can take 30 min. in that time i got the food mill going for the duchess. it was tough because i assembled the food mill wrong! any how i got it to work and piped my little roses of potato on the sheet pan. So while that was in the oven i got the pilaf going. I pulled it off with time to spare, but i am not sure i did fantastic, ok, but not perfect. anyhow, after we finished, we had 40 min of prep for today's menu which is super complicated. Iam nervous about the carbonara, the eggs always curdle on me! and the french onion soup my turn out a bust, it has before. anyhow, i'll let you know how it goes, hopefully we'll get out early...

Finals Day two!

So after completing the written portion of the final and our knife cuts, we were given the weeks menu and time for prep for today. tonight i have to make the following
-Blanched broccoli
-Braised Endives
-Glazed carrots (oblique cut)
- Bechemel sauce
- rice pilaf
-Pommes Duchess (basically mashed potatoes piped into little roses and baked, gorgeous but honestly taste kinda strange)

fairly simple and easy, but then again,i have no clue how much time they will give us to present all these. tomorrow is really tough, i have the following:
-pasta carbonara (i need to make the pasta too)
-cream of tomato soup
-French Onion soup
-Chicken Consomme
-Rissoto Quatre Fromagio (three cheese risotto)

those all take a lot of time and can be messed up if neglected. we'll see, i am so nervous....

Some Recipes I need to memorize!

again, i apologize if you guys are bored with this, but i need to memorize these as we aren't allowed to have our recipe cards during the exam. anyhow, here is the recipe for Pasta Bolognese:
1/2 tbl butter (of course to be healthy, i'd only use olive oil if i were making this at home for myslef)
1/2 tbl olive oil
1 oz ham
2oz each of onion, celery, and carrot (aka, mirepoix)
2 oz mushrooms
2 oz each of ground beef, pork, and veal (once again, i'd just use lean ground beef, tofu, chicken or turkey)
1 garlic glove
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup stock
2 cups tomato sauce
1 bouquet garni (celery, leek leaf, bay leaf, and parsley wraped in a string)
salt/pepper

Heat butter/olive oil in a sauce pan, add ham and mirepoix and sweat unitl carmelized. set aside
Brown the mushrooms in the remaining fat and set aside
Add the ground meats and saute until brown, add the garlic and saute unitl aromatic
Deglaze the wine and reduce until almost dry (aka, au sec)
Add the stock, tomato sauce, bouquet garni, and ham/mirepoix/mushrooms that were set aside earlier.
Cover and simmer for 45 min and season.

you may use any noodle you'd like, it works weel with shiritaki noodles as well!

just spitting out some info!

One of the first things we learned at culinary school was how to make stock. Its very simple, but actually has a detailed prep and a good stock can make other good things, but a bad stock can equal a bad soup, bad rice, bad sauce, bad risotto, etc. You get the picture and how there are 7 key pricples to makeing stock and imust know them backwards and forwards. so here is is!
1) Start with COLD WATER: it allows the protiens to coagulate and evenly rise to the surface
2) Simmer NEVER BOIL: Once the impurites rise to the top, a boiling stock will emulsify it and we dont want that to happen
3) SKIM FREQUENTLY: This is to remove the impurites and excess fat that can cloud the stock (if you want to actually attempt to make stock, use a good strainer or even a coffee filter will to the trick)
4) Strain carefully: Its important this is done CAREFULLY because to quickly will emulsify the fat and allos them to actully go through the strainer.
5)Cool Quickly-its also vital a stock be cool quickly because it has a large amount of protien and this can spoil
6) Store Properly: its crucial to store stock in plastic containers (but this is more of a school policy because part of this step according to my notes is to label it so another class doesn't use it)
7) Degrease: There might me a fat cap floating at the top but leave it because it helps the preservation of the stocck but remove it before use. Reomove the fat BEFORE reheating the stock because it will be much harder to remove when warm.

So thats it, the seven principles. and if you want to take a stab at making your own just know the very simple ratio to stock makeing: 100% water, 50% bones (if chicken stock, use chicken bones, if fish stock use fish bones...etc), and 10% mirepoix (which has its own ratio of 50% onion, 25% celery, and 25% carrot). You also need to add a "sache" which is a bayleaf, parsley sprig, thyme, peppercorns, one clove, and sometimes, garlic, wrapped in a cheese cloth into a little sack. Just dont forget to take it out one your done (a kid in my class forgot to take it out in one of his soups and he put it in the blender! ekk!).
I know its so much easier to go buy a box or can of stock, but beleive me the flavor will be very different and make everthing that will derive fromt eh stock taste spectacular!

Finals!!!!!

so resturant day went, ok. no i'll admit it, it was a bit sucky. I enjoyed being fed by another group, but my team must have been a collection of the slowest learners in class. I was also the only girl, so they were really "rough" on our food (as in when i suggested we pipe the whipped cream on the mousse, they basically plopped it on, forgetting that mousse is very delicate!). They also were not being very helpful, a lot of standing around when i was like..."well do somthing! clean dishes at least so we have some space to work!". Anyhow, we however got another teams food and i am glad we did (cause the guys on my team completely overdid the steaks!). It was a mexican themed resturant with shrimp ceviche with tortilla chips and spicey beef empanadas as an appetizer, some sort of stuffed chicked (i am sure if your Mexican you might know the exact name, forgive me), and flan for dessert. I was stuffed, and i dont care much for flan, so i has some of the dessert my carpool's team made which was a plaintain egg roll with caramel syrup!
Anyhow, final begin monday and basically the first day is a the written test and kinife cuts where we need to produce the precise cuts they ask of us. I am most worried about this because its very hard to get thme uniform and i am pretty sure they'll ask us to work with carrots which are a lot hard to cut than potatos.
Tues-thurs is the cooking tests, which i am less nervous about.
anyhow, i was udying earlier todya when i realized that re-typing some of the info will help me retain it, and i think some of you might really find this info useful and interesting. so i'll post some recipes and info i need to memorize in hopes you guys will be somewhat interested....

Resturant Day and Finals Week!

We've mostly been doing review dishes for the final. It lasts a week! the first day is mostly written work (what i am most worried about cause its math conversions and ratios) and knife cuts. Tuesday-thursday is cooking. We get the menus each of us needs to make on each day. Everyone cooks somehting different on a different day so we cant "cheat" (reminds me of the exams they gave in college, you know the A, B, C etc). Friday we get our scores and we "deep clean" which is the cleaning of all the bottoms of the pans and pots, burners, ovens etc. this can get messy. Anyhow, tomorrow is the resturant day. we decided to name our restaurant "Basta" which means "enough" in Italian. I came up with it cause i remember when i went to Italy with a friend of mine, her father told me if there is any italian i must know going in, its "basta" because people will keep on piling food on your plate even after your stuffed. Chef Woodstock was actually out sick monday and tuesday. Its werid but i missed him a little and my dishes were definetly not great those days. Plus, i hated the sub who completely massacred my confidence by saying nothing positive about any of my dishes. But he was back yesterday and i nailed my review of ratatouille and i made hollandiase which is probably the most difficult thing to do with a little help. Anyhow, i am currently waiting for my carpool and i think i hear the honk, so i'll catch you up later!