PICA: Adventures in Culinary School part 6
Midterms in a month! ARGH!
I'm pumped for a catering opportunity that I've signed up for - a bunch of us in the class are going to be helping out with the Sea Wheeze marathon! Since it's a morning meal and throughout the day thing during the event, we have to start prep at 3 in the morning! Oh man... but that's the way the industry works, haha. It'll be really cool to do that I think, and great experience too.
Chef Bernard has us turning veggies all the time. It's good practice and with the way our class is going he seems to think we all need it for the midterm exam... gulp. But have to do it to learn!
Food has been pretty heavy the past week it seems. We're doing a lot of high carb or winter dishes, and since it's still late summer it's all sitting quite heavily in our bellies... but sadly the sun is setting earlier and I'm not quite enjoying my way back home anymore :( Getting dark by the time I get home!
[Moroccan Couscous with Lamb Navarin, turned vegetables, and hachi]
I would have liked more pine nuts and currants in the couscous, but the recipe was pretty good otherwise. Very hearty lamb stew and I couldn't quite polish off my plate... afterwards I think the couscous was just expanding even more in my stomach or something as I felt progressively more full. Eeps.
[Veal Sausage with Spaetzle, onion sauce, tomato coulis, turned vegetables]
We made the veal sausages in class, which was super nice and then even better getting to eat the product of our labour haha. The veal seasoning is really nice, and now that we all know how to do it, I may try out doing it at home. I actually liked the spaetzle, and it was pretty simple to make.
[Cassoulet with roast pork, duck confit, lamb sausage, pork belly, navy beans]
Oh geez this dish was a total killer. Super heavy, I only managed like half. Really rustic and just full of proteins. It was good but really heavy! And all that duck fat.
[Salad with horseradish and tarragon mayonnaise, chicken and shrimp mousse]
I didn't quite like the mousse. I don't know what it was, but cooking in the ballontine I found just was... kinda watery. The mayonnaise was good though I would have liked a stronger horseradish taste.
[Pasta day! Fettuccine with tomato sauce, and ravioli with garlic and chili sauce]
Fun day, despite some blowups in the kitchen. But yay pasta! Hahaha.
[Sweetbreads with pommes dauphine and vegetables]
Okay the sweetbreads weren't as bad as I imagined. They were kind of mushy but overall the taste wasn't so awful. I wasn't sold on the presentation and plating of this dish, as the phyllo pastry just kind of wasn't doing it for me, and I didn't really enjoy our pommes dauphine that much. I think it was just kind of starchy and shallow in flavour and despite having a kickass sauce I just wasn't too into eating that day since we had the chicken livers and sweetbreads...
[Chicken livers with raspberry frisée]
Yeah some people like chicken livers, and I am not one of those people. I didn't mind the mushy texture, but the taste just wasn't something I found enjoyable. What was good was that I got to learn how to cook the livers, and also see how the use of the acid in the raspberry vinaigrette really helped to cut through the taste and temper the strength of the livers.
[Scallops on potato and zucchini pancakes with red pepper and spinach coulis and seasonal vegetables]
Really yummy but I need to work on my scallops! They were a little on the overcooked side (we are supposed to aim for medium rare) and thus were closer to medium well-well done sadly. OH WELL, learning process!
[Potato-encrusted smoked sablefish with scallion oil and fennel salad]
The smoked sablefish was SOOOO good. This dish was delicious, and if I have the resources I would make it again. The smoky fish was perfectly complemented by the chutney and then fennel really drew everything together and added a lot of texture.
I think this week so far on Mis en Place is going well and I'm showing Chef Bernard that I'm fairly competent and a good sport in the kitchen. Also it seems like we're relaxing a bit more in the kitchen and it's a little more lively with chatting. Or so I hope.
AHHH so many tests and stuff coming up! I hope I can pull off the studying and do well! >__<
I'm pumped for a catering opportunity that I've signed up for - a bunch of us in the class are going to be helping out with the Sea Wheeze marathon! Since it's a morning meal and throughout the day thing during the event, we have to start prep at 3 in the morning! Oh man... but that's the way the industry works, haha. It'll be really cool to do that I think, and great experience too.
Chef Bernard has us turning veggies all the time. It's good practice and with the way our class is going he seems to think we all need it for the midterm exam... gulp. But have to do it to learn!
Food has been pretty heavy the past week it seems. We're doing a lot of high carb or winter dishes, and since it's still late summer it's all sitting quite heavily in our bellies... but sadly the sun is setting earlier and I'm not quite enjoying my way back home anymore :( Getting dark by the time I get home!
[Moroccan Couscous with Lamb Navarin, turned vegetables, and hachi]
I would have liked more pine nuts and currants in the couscous, but the recipe was pretty good otherwise. Very hearty lamb stew and I couldn't quite polish off my plate... afterwards I think the couscous was just expanding even more in my stomach or something as I felt progressively more full. Eeps.
[Veal Sausage with Spaetzle, onion sauce, tomato coulis, turned vegetables]
We made the veal sausages in class, which was super nice and then even better getting to eat the product of our labour haha. The veal seasoning is really nice, and now that we all know how to do it, I may try out doing it at home. I actually liked the spaetzle, and it was pretty simple to make.
[Cassoulet with roast pork, duck confit, lamb sausage, pork belly, navy beans]
Oh geez this dish was a total killer. Super heavy, I only managed like half. Really rustic and just full of proteins. It was good but really heavy! And all that duck fat.
[Salad with horseradish and tarragon mayonnaise, chicken and shrimp mousse]
I didn't quite like the mousse. I don't know what it was, but cooking in the ballontine I found just was... kinda watery. The mayonnaise was good though I would have liked a stronger horseradish taste.
[Pasta day! Fettuccine with tomato sauce, and ravioli with garlic and chili sauce]
Fun day, despite some blowups in the kitchen. But yay pasta! Hahaha.
[Sweetbreads with pommes dauphine and vegetables]
Okay the sweetbreads weren't as bad as I imagined. They were kind of mushy but overall the taste wasn't so awful. I wasn't sold on the presentation and plating of this dish, as the phyllo pastry just kind of wasn't doing it for me, and I didn't really enjoy our pommes dauphine that much. I think it was just kind of starchy and shallow in flavour and despite having a kickass sauce I just wasn't too into eating that day since we had the chicken livers and sweetbreads...
[Chicken livers with raspberry frisée]
Yeah some people like chicken livers, and I am not one of those people. I didn't mind the mushy texture, but the taste just wasn't something I found enjoyable. What was good was that I got to learn how to cook the livers, and also see how the use of the acid in the raspberry vinaigrette really helped to cut through the taste and temper the strength of the livers.
[Scallops on potato and zucchini pancakes with red pepper and spinach coulis and seasonal vegetables]
Really yummy but I need to work on my scallops! They were a little on the overcooked side (we are supposed to aim for medium rare) and thus were closer to medium well-well done sadly. OH WELL, learning process!
[Potato-encrusted smoked sablefish with scallion oil and fennel salad]
The smoked sablefish was SOOOO good. This dish was delicious, and if I have the resources I would make it again. The smoky fish was perfectly complemented by the chutney and then fennel really drew everything together and added a lot of texture.
I think this week so far on Mis en Place is going well and I'm showing Chef Bernard that I'm fairly competent and a good sport in the kitchen. Also it seems like we're relaxing a bit more in the kitchen and it's a little more lively with chatting. Or so I hope.
AHHH so many tests and stuff coming up! I hope I can pull off the studying and do well! >__<