Re: Simple Soup (Mirepoix and Sliced Turkey)

Here's a quick soup I made within a few minutes. My wife was the taster and she said that the soup was full of flavor..:-)
So here's what I did.  I thawed my chicken stock in a saucepan.  While the stock was thawing, I put my mirepoix in a sauté pan and sautéed until tender but not too soft.  I poured my boiling stock into the sauté pan with my mirepoix.  Added some salt, white pepper, garlic powder, sliced turkey, and a tad bit of oregano.

Re: Bread Making Day

So we were getting low on bread and I decided to make one loaf, and a few clover rolls instead of two loaves.  Again, I've found that it's a tad healthier to make wheat sandwhich bread as opposed to white, so I used half the dough for the loaf and half portioned out to make about five clover rolls.  Here's a few pics for your viewing pleasure. 

Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf proofed in pan and and ready for the oven.

Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf after baking.

Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf cooling on rack.

Whole Wheat Clover Rolls in cupcake pan, proofed and ready for oven.

Whole Wheat Clover Roll cooling on rack after baking.

Whole Wheat Products (loaf of bread and clover rolls) cooling on rack after being baked.

One day I'm sure they'll come up with a way for you to smell via the web ;-)  Until next time...which may be sooner than later.  Keep on chewing.

Re: Overdose on Chocolate (Chocolate Mousse and Chocolate Molten Cake

Yes indeed, I'm back again.  So, I have to get ready for work, but I just had to make this entry about the two extremely tasty chocolate treats I made.


First up is the Chocolate Lava Cake.  It was quick and painless actually.  Just had to get all your mise en place together and start to making.

Chocolate Molten Cake inside a ramekin just after baking...only baked for about 13 minutes.

Here it is on a saucer (I have to get better plates) topped with fresh whipped cream.

This Chocolate Molten Cake tasted really good.  I did tweak this recipe a little by adding just a bit more sugar (for sweetness) and butter (for a moister cake).

Next up is the velvety Chocolate Mousse.  Now this one, I've actually made before.  The second to last week of my Baking and Pastry I course, we were able to make this and I have to admit, it was good in class, but it was much better here at home.  This recipe was from one of my culinary textbooks (On Baking...or you can also find it in On Cooking) that we use in some of my courses.

Just melting the chocolate bars (Bakers Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bars) with some unsalted butter.

Whipping the Egg Whites to firm peaks.

 

Finished product. 

 

Most people probably chill their mousse prior to serving, but I didn't bother because I had to taste it prior to leaving for work.  I did infact put some in the refridgerator for chilling. :-)  This chocolate mousse came out extremely light and velvety...just like I wanted.  Being able to use your own judgement to increase, or decrease the amount of an ingredient is crucial to understanding how your taste and texture will turn out. I aimed for a tad sweeter and lighter mousse by adding more whipped cream, more egg whites and just a tad bit more butter and sugar.

Our chocolate loving house will have to do a few more exercises to work of these two treats.  Who cares...it's all well worth it in the end ;-)  Keep chewing...

Re: HAPPY BIRTHDAY (Strawberry scratch cake for my daughter's 1st birthday)

I know, I know, it's been a while.  See, I've mainly been using this site for coursework, uploading pictures of food items that I prepare in class.  I remember making a few posts about things I've done outside of class (which tends to be much more food items) yet, I didn't continue that.  Well, I've decided to start back on that path as well as anything I produce in class.  Hopefully I can keep up.

So for this post, we have a nice strawberry cake, with a strawberry filling, and strawberry icing.  Yeah, so you've heard of Death by Chocolate...I'd have to call this one Death by Strawberry.  I enjoyed making it.  I searched for a few days for the perfect recipe to use as my daughters first birthday cake.  I came upon a few and I eventually saw one that stuck out, tried it (made 6 cupcakes with the batter) and my wife and I both agreed that it was a keeper.  I did tweak the recipe a little.  I used a little more strawberry puree in the cake batter as well as the icing.  Little butter here and there, little more egg yolk, etc.  Overall, I think the cake came out wonderful.  I was even able to practice my piping skills on this one...which made it even more fun.  I'd have to admit, it's not the most beautiful work in the world, but for my first cake, I believe it turned out pretty darn good.

Here are a few pictures of the process (after baking to finished).

Cake Cooling

Cake top cut for for flat surface.

Strawberry filling applied to bottom cake.

 

Top  cake put in place and circle on top to press cake down.  I then put the cake into the refrigerator so that the filling could set.

Strawberry butter cream frosting applied after filling finished setting.

I made a white/vanilla butter cream frosting to use on the base and top edge piping using a # 224 drop flower tip.

The HAPPY BIRTHDAY NINA applied with a #5 plain tip.

Strawberry filling close-up.



I really can't wait until the next time I make a cake and practice my piping skills.  As I said before, it's not the best, but it's pretty darn good and I'm feeling on top of the world. :-)  Did I mention...the taste was absolutely WONDERFUL!



FYI

Recipe's that I tweaked came from:  Cake, Strawberry Feeling, Frosting:  I can make butter cream on my own :-)

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...