My final grade and some other things on my mind....

Ok, so now that Intro II is officially over and i am finally on break, i'll have some time to catch up with what's been brewing in the kitchen at school thus far. Well I did ok on my written portion of the exam, in which we were provided a scantron similar to the exams in college classes. I scorred 89% on it, not bad. then there was the "notebook". I dont know if i mentioned the notebook before but its basically ALL the recipes, notes, handouts, and additional readings we collect for the class. It needs to be SUPER organized, all homeworks and notes MUST be types, there needs to be a table of conetents as well as a sectional table of contents (therefore it needs appropriate dividers), o yes, and every paper must be in a plastic sheet protector. Dude i swear, its like evidence of an OCD patient. O yes, and did i forget to mention the most time-consuming part of all this, every page must be numbered. and since i cant write on the plastic covers, i stick numbered labeles on each and every page, front to back. right well, anyhow apparently i am not OCD enough cause i got a 71 (out of 100) points for that. On my chicken trussing (you know, when you tie the chicken legs together with butcher twine) and fabrication, i got 100 and suprisingly on my fish fabrication, i got 100 as well. I was a bit shocken because i had to fillet a flat fish, a sole, and those are tricky. Have any of you actuall seen a whole sole? they look like tile fish, they swim sorta up and down, as opposed to round fish like salmon or sea bass that swim side to side and resemble goldfish crackers in shape. On my actual cooking, i was pretty pleased with my grade. Not a single dish scored below 90 and the only harsh comments were that my mahi mahi appetizer was slightly undercooked and that my cubes of carrots in my consomme were not perfectly uniform. Minor things really, so in the end, i got a 94 in the class leaving me with an A. Yay! i was extra happy especially after seeing that a lot of my peers got C's and D's. Only a select few got A's and thankfully, they were those that i truly see as potentially successful chefs in the making. So now i go from being super busy to, um, less so. I might have a few catering gigs for the holidays which will be nice cause i could certainly use the extra cash. but other than that, i'll be home alone since my dad will be in Israel. I was offered to go as its been a tradition to visit my mom (who's buried there) since she died Dec 28 in 2000. but I've been to Israel numerous times, i dont have many breaks from school, and i am already rather burned out and dont know if i can handle the VERY long distance trip. Anyhow, i am hoping to also catch up on nutritious junk and there's a chance me and tanya from iateapie will be doing a podcast about healthy meal ideas. To the right is the shrimp gumbo i made last week, btw. For the few readers that i visit this site, thank you, and i promise more stimulating posts to come!

finals, day 1!

Gah i am pissed! first of all, i wrote up this long post detailing how my first day of cooking finals went and like the dork i am, hit backspace and poof! i jeeze i just got back from class and and i am too tired to gab all about it after JUST writing about it, so i'll fill you in about it tomorrow, for now heres the shrimp gumbo i made on laste thursday (do you people still want recipes???)

Stuffed leg!

One of our chefs didnt make it on tuesday so the sub demo-ed this dish which is rather tricky because you have to debone the leg and thigh, stuff it, with dried apricots, and roll it up and pray it wont break apart. Mine wouldn't get done too! its easy to undercook it and everyone knows raw chicken is no good. alas, it was alright in the end.

Review week

I apologize for not updating recently. Ive been very busy aside from school as I am currently finishing up my UCLA application. I plan to go to to their acting program after I am done at the Le Cordon Bleu so i need to get my application in by friday. I am very nervous, i got rejected the first time (before i attended U.C. Santa Barbara) so i am crossing my fingers they'll let me in.
Anyhow, friday was "Fried Chicken Friday". Our class made a fried chicken dinner served family style with the classic biscuits, gravy, greens, and black eyes peas to accompany the fried chicken. I thought it would be fun but to be honest, i realize how much i like cooking by myself. Not to say that i dont work well with people, in fact i love working and cooking with people. but a lot of times i find myself wanting more control over situations and its hard when other team member disregard your suggestions and you end up with a less than perfect product. anyhow, i cant say i really like southern style food all that much, but i did get to sample some food from the hawaiian buffet the student from the international cooking class were having. Next week is the last week before finals, so we will be doing a mixture of dishes that will encompass all the meats we've learned about. I think i truly have new respect/love for pork now. its lean, tasty, and suprsingly, fairly cheap compared to other meats I like. I am also really liking the Chefs this term. I miss chef woodstock and i visit him often and bring him food i've made sometime, but these new chefs are closer to my age so i feel a bit more relaxed with them (as opposed to chef woodstock who was about my fathers age).
The class is a lot smaller than what it was when we first started, many switch to a different class and some dropped. I was hoping to have more close knit friends, but i can say that I am that close to anybody in the class simply because they are very different from me. O well, i love the friends I have outside of school who are great and always ready and willing to try ANYTHING i make.

veal scaloppini!

I was supposed to beat mine down a lot finer (i thought it was TOO thin, but i guess not thin enough). I was a bit embarrassed with this actually. My risotto was overcooked (and if you remember when i first learned how to make risotto i nailed it everytime). My sauce was excellent though...

Veal meatballs!

I dont eat veal because i;ve heard about how they slaughter it (or rather how its kept BEFORE slaughter) but i tried the artichokes in this and they were very good. I would defiently make these at home with some other type of lean meat

Lamb chops!

here's the pictures of the lamb chops i promised. they turned out great! i love mustard and a coated it with plenty of dijon!

Veal, Lamb, and Pork, O My!

Yep, this week its all about the three "other" meats. On monday we had a written quiz on seafood and fish, then a practical where we simply needed to fabricate a chicken and cook off on of the breasts however we liked it. THEN, and this is where i got kinda sick, Chef Kahuna fabricated a WHOLE lamb carcas! Its huge! and it looked so much like a live lamb (minus skin and head of course) that i really lost all taste for lamb. I am not a vegetarian or one of those peta activsits but i cant say i dont feel for the animal. Most of the guys in the class were in awe of this giant lamb. Anyhow, today we cooked it. We made lamb chops (I'll load those pictures up tomorrow)and lamb kabobs. My Chef said i did a good job on both which is great, but i couldn't eat it. So i went into the baking II class next door and traded my chops for chocolate truffles! I cant wait till baking II (next term will be baking I, then baking II). tomorrow is veal meatballs, and dont think i'll eat veal either, i just dont think its that good and i do have a problem with it being a baby cow. anyhow, i am exhausted as i just got back home from class but i will load those pictures (and would u like the recipe for the lamb as well?)

This weeks recipes!

I know, people are itching for the fabulous recipes of the food i made this week. So here are a few. Mind you, i figured most of you are somewhat health concious so i took the liberty of sub-ing some of my own ingredients for the massive amounts of butter that these recipes call for. but if you have no problem with butter, you may simply use it (i put my suggestions next to the "butter" on the ingredient list)

Poached Salmon in Court Bouillon (pictured)
(serves 1)
4 cups water
3 tbs white wine vinegar
1ea onion, sliced
1/2ea carrot, peeled and sliced
1/2 ea celery rib
1/4 tsp crushed peppercorns
1 thyme sprig
1 parsley sprig
1 bay leaf
5-6oz fillet of salmon
2 tbs salt

Bring all of the ingredients (expcept the salmon) to a simmer in a pot. Once simmered simply add the salmon and allow it to poach for about 15 min or until flesh is firm. (in the picture, it has hollandaise draped over it. i personally dont like hollandaise but if you do, its nothing but clarified butter, a little water, lemon juice, egg yolk and cayenne pepper mixed VERY rapidly over a simmering pot of water. A lot of elbow grease for a sauce that i think tastes like spicy rubber).

BlCKENED fISH
1 salmon fillet (cleaned and skinned)
1/2 t vegtable oil (i prefer oliver oil)
Blackening Seasoning
1 tsp each of Ancho chili powder, paprika, ground oregano, ground thyme
1/2tsp ea of onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, black pepper, white pepper, and salt

Coat the fish with the seasoning and on a VERY HOT pan (coated with the oil) "blacken" the fish on both side for about 4 min per side and finish off in the oven for about 5 min. Its important you place the fish on a VERY hot pan when you fist put it in otherwise it WILL stick. This rule actually applies so all protein, even eggs.

Roasted Poblano Chili Sauce
2 Poblano chilis, raosted, peeled and seeded, the purreed
2 oz onion, lightly carmelized (we carmelized them in butter, i would us olive oil if making this at home)
a litte "touch of cream" (you dont NEED this, i prefer it without but its part of the standard recipe)
salt and pepper to taste

carmelize onions in oil, and purred pepper and strain. transfer strained liquid to another small sautee pan (ad cream here if you wish) and let it reduce a little. season accordingly.