July 7, 2011 - PAELLA

Finally!!!  So this is the first seafood dish that we've been able to make.  Yes, it may not be totally seafood, but it's not chicken, or beef.  Seeing as I love seafood, and really enjoyed making this dish because of it, I'm happy to say that the first time I saw Paella was on the Food Network and it was AWESOME...well, I hope it at least tasted as good as it looked.  The one we made (pictured below) not only looks good, but it also tasted good.

Paella - Long Grain Rice, Onions, Bell Peppers, Tomatoes, Green Peas, Sausage, Scallops, Mussels, Calamari, and Saffron



Moving on, here's the nice little salad that I'm sure would cost around $12-$15 at some high end restaurants...smh.  It's spinach, with a few wedges of tomato, green beans and a bit of bleu cheese and topped with a simple vinaigrette.  Really good salad...and my eyes are opening up to the differences and easiness of salad making and salad dressing making.

Spinach, Green Beans, Tomatoes, Bleu Cheese Salad with Vinaigrete

Overall nice meal.  I would like to add, that scallops (when prepared the correct way...as those in this dish were) are extremely tasty.  As a future chef, I won't put out there the two seafood restaurants that I've tried scallops and they both seemed to cook them to an unfinished state...which in my opinion was gross in texture and taste.  The scallops in this dish was fully cooked, texture was the same throughout.  Until Baking...keep chewing.

June 30 , 2011 - Quantity Food Production 1

Okay, so as you saw, in our previous class, we didn't really have an entree.  In this class, we only had an entree.  Believe me when I say, this was one of the tastiest dishes that we've produced.  I'm still weighing in on that myself, but hey, it may not look too good (it is a peasants dish), but the taste and textures from the vegetables and protein (chicken) were nicely matched.

Coq Au Vin with Duchess Potatoes and Cauliflower with Mornay Sauce.

This dish comprised of different vegetables like garlic, pearl onions, carrots, and a few herbs as well as mushrooms(fresh) and BACON.  If you haven't noticed...I really love bacon.  The chicken braised with all of the yummy goodness that you see in the picture.  The cauliflower was simply boiled (no, not steamed this week) and the potatoes were first cooked (boiled) and added a few ingredients and actually used a pastry bag and star tip to get that nice look.

I reproduced this dish from memory the other day, and as picky of an eater my wife is, she actually enjoyed it...or maybe it's just because I made it (she did go back for seconds).  I suppose I'll never know. ;-)

Until next time, keep smelling, tasting and chewing.  

June 23, 2011 - Quantity Food Production I

Going into this class, I just knew that it would be a drag.  Little did I know that Salads and Soups would almost be one of the best classes to date.  During this class, we got to showcase some of our cutting skills from dicing, chopping and mencing various vegetables and even bacon ;-).

Panzanella (Tuscan Bread Salad)

This salad was AWESOME.  The fresh vegetables (Red Onions, Bell Peppers, Tomatoes, etc. with the toasted Bread (cubed) and and tossed in a vinaigrette dressing.


If any of you know me, Clam chowder is without a doubt MY favorite soup (yeah it's a chowder).  I really enjoyed making this one.  I had no idea how easy it is to make and am certain to make this one often when the weather get's lower than 65 degrees ;-)

New England Clam Chowder



Overall I really didn't think a salad and soup would be pleasing to eat without an entree, but, sence we made enough for everyone to sample, all of the different salads and soups were placed where each of us got to taste it.  I'll admit now that the chowder (for obvious reasons) stood out to me as well as the Panzanella.

Back Left: German Potato Salad (Taste was AWESOME)

Front Left: Panzanella

Right Side:  Grilled Vegetable Salad with Aioli

Middle:  Clam Chowder and I believe the Cheddar Lentil Soup

That's all I have for this post.  Stay tuned for more...