Cooking Practical
I’m so incredibly impressed with the excellent skills the students have gained in only 15 days! Precise knife cuts, deliciously prepared food made with passion. I’m truly blessed to have enjoyed the opportunity to educate such wonderful students this semester! I may need to grow a mustache to match my wonderful, new coffee cup!
Vegetable Soup
Risotto a la Parmigiana
Poached Asparagus with Sauce Hollandaise
Sautéed Chicken Breast with Sauce Supreme
Croquette Potatoes
I remember researching classical potato preparations to prepare for the CMC exam and served Pommes Robert (mashed potato w egg yolk) cakes twice during the exam. I added a little crispy bacon. I’d forgotten how delicious, crispy & creamy croquette potatoes are. These were a huge success with my students, we made a variety of shapes.
carefully frying round potato croquette ‘balls’ in hot oil
the traditional shape of croquettes-we used Panko
Breakfast 101
An amazing day with my fantastic students preparing omelettes, granola, quiche, corned beef hash, breakfast sausage patties, Eggs Benedict and more…
so rich and creamy, Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise
poached eggs in acidulated water
Homemade breakfast sausages… yum
Quiche Lorraine
Lamb stew day…
I really enjoy cooking nutritious, delicious, one pot meals like Irish Lamb stew. There is no caramelization so the lamb cubes are simply ‘stiffened’ in a little oil and stewed slowly in water for hours. Vegetables such as carrots, celery, onions, leeks are added in stages with bay leaf and thyme; diced potatoes thicken this hearty meal. Absolutely delicious!
a hearty bowl of Irish lamb stew we made in class.
simmering slowly for three hours so that the stew meat is ‘spoon’ tender.
Making pasta & macaroni
forming pasta dough seems somewhat of a miracle to me… like digging up potatoes or sunchokes. I love when the fettucine noodles come charging out of the pasta maker and how beautiful the small mounds or pasta look on a floured cutting board.
We made a sauce with lightly caramelized pancetta, shallots, garlic, whole butter and a splash of the water we boiled the pasta in… and plenty of freshly grated cheese (I’ve been loving dried ricotta salata lately)
a few of my superstar Rowan students making their pasta dough
I always get excited when the pasta comes out…. amazing!
absolutely delcious
what’s that saying… happy students = happy instructor???
Compound Butter
The culinary students had a great time in class preparing compound butter to serve with grilled meats we prepared in class. We flavored diced, softened, whole butter with fresh herbs, crushed pepper, citrus juices and salt-then rolled and chilled.
Each chef prepared their own, signature compound butter.
Fresh rosemary, thyme, lemon and black pepper compound butter on flank steak.
Sauce Hollandaise
I’m a huge fan of cooking with the Leading Sauces (I remember these as being called the Mother Sauces) and then preparing small sauces for each particular dish on the menu. Hollandaise is considered a leading sauce but prepared quite differently than the other roux thickened sauces. Hollandaise sauce is amazing with asparagus, poached eggs, salmon, oysters, etc…
Start with a reduction of shallots, crushed black peppercorns and vinegar to sec, cool and add egg yolks; carefully whisk over a double boiler to soft peaks
Slowly and carefully add clarified butter to the whipped egg yolks, creating an emulsion. The final sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon…. finish by straining through cheese cloth and seasoning with salt, cayenne and fresh lemon juice
Amazingly delicious!
start with a reduction of shallots, crushed black peppercorns and vinegar to sec, cool and add egg yolks; carefully whisk over a double boiler to soft peaks
Roasting and Grilling Meat
My students are meat lovers, we had a great class marinating and grilling flank steak, roasting strip loins and pork loins etc…. now to get them to love seafood!
marinating flank steak
grilling (beautiful cross hatch marks)
resting the steak and adding creamy, compound butter
delicious, contemporary, sliced steak dinner… yum!
sliced, succulent pork roast
basting steak au poivre with garlic and rosemary infused oil
sliced, roasted strip loin steak
Consommé 101
I remember a standing joke at the CIA that CMC stood for ‘can’t make Consommé ’…. well that certainly is not the case, in fact it’s one of the competencies often evaluated during the exam. I recently taught my Rowan class to prepare delicious, chicken Consommé, delicate, delicious with ‘punch’… (that was a word used to describe a properly prepared Consommé years ago in the Pro Chef!
mixing frothed egg whites with aromatics and ground chicken to form the raft
developing the raft
with julienne vegetables, before skimming the fat
Sole Vin Blanc & Sole Meuniere
I love the scene in the movie, ‘Cooking with Julia’ where Julia is served, Sole Meuniere, tableside… butter sizzling-it’s such a ‘Chef scene’!
