Carrot, Beet and Basil Salad

On very rare occasions, I throw something together on my own that is not only edible but something I want to share. This carrot, beet and basil salad came together right before my weeklong trip to Nagshead when I had these ingredients on hand and figured why not put them together? It is naturally sweet, has lots of crunch and doesn't require much heat making it perfect for summer.

Carrot, Beet and Basil Salad
3 beets, peeled and diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 white onion, diced
1/2 c. basil, torn or chopped roughly
1-2 tbsp. creme fraiche (optional, I had it on hand)
salt to taste (not much for me personally)

It's easy enough to assemble. Dice the onions first and while preparing everything else, steam them lightly to remove some of their bite. Everything else stays raw. Combine ingredients in a bowl and toss to combine.

Grilled London Broil and Vegetables with Peanut Butter and Jelly Claufoutis

I headed home to Virginia for Father's Day to "surprise" my Dad and gave him his choice of meals from my culinary school binder. Naturally he chose the section I found the least appealing - grilling. I enjoy how grilled food tastes; I just can't can't take the heat!

Rather than using a grill pan, we used an outdoor grill. It was less hot, but I found grilling outdoors harder as it made getting the correct grid marks near impossible since you have to keep the grill covered to maintain a steady temperature. This drove my inner perfectionist crazy. There also was the slight problem of no real light being present at 9:30 pm and the meat ending up slightly overcooked. In spite of how I felt, Dad was very happy with his meal, which is all that matters.

I was much happier with the clafoutis I made for dessert than our main course. I followed the basic recipe provided by ICE using grapes and beat a tablespoon or so of peanut butter into the batter. It tasted like a perfectly mashed down peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich from my childhood. Yum. This dessert never gets old!

Fine Cooking I: Week 5 (or the end)

Week 5 covered French Crudités (Vegetable Salads), Sauce Mayonnaise and Variations, Greek Court Bouillon (apparently this is BS), Grilling and Broiling Techniques for Proteins and Vegetables, Marinades, Tenderizing and Flambéing Technique.

We all prepped, chopped, assembled, grilled, carved and flambéed to create the meal below.

Vegetable Salad Plate
We were all assigned different salad recipes. This week the recipes were only ingredients - we had to figure out the proportions on our own. It was intimidating in theory, but actually was not so bad. I wouldn't have felt remotely comfortable in this situation the first week.

The salads included guacamole two ways, jicama, potato, fennel, green/watercress, beet, red cabbage and cucumber. One of the guacuamole's included the green curry paste and it was DELICIOUSLY spicy. I need to find that paste. Our group made the green/watercress salad with a delicious impromptu asian vinaigrette that I only wish I had written down.

I made a beet salad consisting of beets, celery root, chives and homemade horseradish mayonnaise. It needed more horseradish in my opinion, but I was super proud of how it looked! Funny thing. I kept the beets and celery root separate as I didn't want the root turning pink only to have Chef Jane come tell me to combine them asap. Apparently the mixed colors are part of the salad's beauty.
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Grilled London Broil
We used a french marinade for our London Broil. Jim's grill marks were divine. To get the proper grid marks, you place the meet at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock. If you are cooking with "serious" meat with fat i.e. red meet, lamb, etc. then you shouldn't coat the grill with fat as it will prevent the caramelization you are seeking. The meat was good, although a little rare for my taste.
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Mixed Grilled Vegetables and Fruits of the Season
Unlike "serious" meat, vegetables (and fish) require a bit of oiling to not stick to the grill; they also require a different rotation to get the grid marks correct. You rotate the vegetables and fruits in quarter turns around the clock to get the grid marks correct. Grilling is BRUTAL. The heat overwhelmed me. I like the results, but don't think I'll ever become a grill-master. The eggplant, zucchini and apples were my favorites.
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Flambéed Bananas, Haagen-Daaz and Caramel Sauce
I'm really excited to have a caramel sauce recipe. I love caramel and have made caramels numerous times, not that I ever have posted about it, but I didn't have a sauce recipe. I also love ice cream and bananas. You'd think this dessert would be a perfect fit only flambéing did not love me and after flipping a very hot banana into my hand I forgot to burn off enough cognac to make my serving truly tasty. Oh well...at least I wasn't burnt. Next time I won't give into peer pressure and try to aggressively flip the bananas for other people's amusement when I had already flipped them.


To see all the pictures from Fine Cooking I, you can go here. As you can see I took more pictures each week as I got more comfortable with the people in class.

Fine Cooking I: Week 4

Week 4 covered Compound Salads, Basic Theory and Techniques of Egg Cookery, Perfect Poached Eggs, Beurre Manie, Croutes Scrambled Eggs, Omelets, Whipping Egg Whites and Soufflés. I like eggs but this many egg dishes at once was a bit overwhelming.

After lecture each team prepared their own Salad Niçoise and Soufflé and each person rotated through the omelet and poaching stations. Omelets were eaten immediately; everything else was served in our traditional big meal at 2:30 pm.

Omelets
The term omelet refers to the way the egg is shaped when it comes out of the pan, not the filling inside. French omelets are not browned on the outside; American's can be a little brown. I attempted the French omelet with some minor difficulties including excessive clarified butter, not letting the pan get quite warm enough and starting to overstir into a scramble. The result was still pretty good, though the amount of butter made it almost inedible. I had to pat the omelet down with a paper towel to eat it. Nice.
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Salad Niçoise
I was less than thrilled that this lesson focused on Salald Niçoise as it has never appealed to me. I was surprised to enjoy it as much as I did. Having been involved with making it, I also now understand why this the salad costs as much as it does. Compound Salads are labor intensive! Two dressings, endless cutting, arranging... By the way, sashimi means the fish is as fresh as possible. I always thought it was a cut of fish.
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Eggs Benedict
We poached the eggs and Chef Jane did the rest. I feel more comfortable with poaching eggs, but they are going to take practice. My yolk was properly runny, but my whites kept blooming into interesting shapes. I think my transfer from the bowl into the gently simmering water was too slow, giving the white more time to spread out. Regardless this should never happen again! When poaching eggs add enough white vinegar to the water that you can smell the vinegar if you waft the water toward your face.
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Banana, Lemon and Chocolate Soufflé
Our group chose to make chocolate soufflé. It was challenging, especially since we decided to beat the egg whites by hand until the stiff peak stage. The chef's assistant ended up getting involved, but ultimately they were right because Chef Jane could turn the bowl upside down over her head without them falling on her. The soufflé's end result was warm, rich and light in texture. I think if I practiced enough and had a mixer, this could be an impressive, easy dessert to master. The banana soufflé, my favorite, was the most dramatic. I definitely want to recreate it at home. Maybe with a caramel sauce on the side? Or all the accoutrements of a banana split? The others are a lower priority though still good.

Now for some visuals...

You can't see the full effect of my meticulous arrangement/direction of the arrangement but you get the idea... Yes, the whole class basically made fun of me about the perfectionism.

Lemon

Banana

Fine Cooking I: Week 3

I skipped week 2's homework, even though I had two weeks to do it as we didn't have class Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend. I wasn't ready to eat another chicken and it turns out leg of lamb and standing rib roast are expensive and must be purchased in large portions. Who knew?

Week three covered Brown (meat is browned in advance) and White (meat is raw) Roasting, Reduced Pan Sauces, Deglazing and Reduction, Preparation of Mussels and Whipping Heavy Cream. Between being overtired from weekend activities and being not so into mussels I wasn't quite as excited about this week.

Mussels steamed in White Wine with Cream, Thai Curry Paste or Chili-Garlic Sauce
Our group prepared the Thai Curry Paste variation. Mussels are surprisingly easy to prepare. I liked them more than I remembered, but did not feel like there was a noticeable difference between the different variations. Perhaps if there had been more bread to soak up the juices?
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Braised Lamb Shanks with Juniper Berries and Rosemary
Braised Leeks
One Pot Potatoes
Glazed Carrots
Warm Lentil Salad
Each group prepared a batch of the braised lamb shanks. Our group's are the one's closet to the camera in the picture below. Chef said our sauce and shanks looked the best, so unfortunately someone ATE my portion. That was so not okay... Anyway, the shank I ate was tender but I wasn't in love with the dish. Ultimately it reminded me of roast beef, very heavy, which I've never loved. Our group also was assigned the warm lentil salad. It tasted good and was easy to assemble, but the prep work took longer than I expected! The glazed carrots were by far my favorite side; they were very rich with a sweet flavor.
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Belgian Endive Salad with Shallot Vinaigrette
Our group was assigned prep for this dish, but ended up only making the vinaigarette when the other group washed and prepared too much endive. This seemed very bland and colorless in my opinion. I won't revisit it.
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Chocolate Mousse and Truffles
Both are very rich, chocolate desserts. The guys on my cooking team made our mousse and it ranked very high for its texture. I didn't remember mousse being so thick; I believe the texture is what ultimately caused me to prefer the truffles. That said I definitely want to try making it at home for the experience. I'm sure I could add a little Baileys for flavor and that might win me over...

Fine Cooking I: Week 2

My second class in the Fine Cooking I series at ICE followed the same structure as you would expect: lecture, practice and finally a VERY big meal with wine. Did I mention we get to take home leftovers after class? It's pretty awesome, especially as class makes me way too tired to feel like cooking dinner.

Anyway, this class I felt more comfortable as I knew what to expect. Week 2 covered stocks, basic chicken stock, classic and express methods of degreasing stocks, roasting and baking of proteins and vegetables, rice cookery and trussing and carving poultry.

The stock we made was so clear. It involved more steps and patience than my past attempts at stock making but it was worth it. Also, apparently you should NEVER use leftover bones to make stock as it won't have enough flavor.

I was excited that my team seemed to let me take charge and assign tasks from the assigned recipes. The menu for Lesson 2 and pictures are below.

Arborio Chicken Soup
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Rosemary Roast Chicken
I've roasted chickens successfully before, so this wasn't life changing. However, Chef Jane pointed out something very smart. You should NEVER ever wash poultry before you cook it. This spreads any potential infection around your sink, etc. and ultimately anything that could make you sick will cook out. Our group had a little trouble with following the trussing instructions; we hadn't tucked the wings properly. The chicken was super tasty as a result of lots of basting. Carving was pretty easy to follow and it probably will change my life. Previously I've just masochistically picked everything off the bones.
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Baked Stuffed Tomatoes Provencale (YUM)
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Roasted Garlic
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"Best" and Brown and Wild Rice Pilaf
My group made the brown and wild rice pilaf, which was pretty fantastic and a great compliment to the chicken. I loved the texture. It involved porcini mushrooms, pine nuts, shallots, currants, parsley, etc.
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French Style Spinach, Bacon and Mushroom Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette or Honey Dijon Vinaigrette
I sauteed the lardon (thick cut bacon) for the salad and was excited to receive compliments from Chef Jane and her assistant on the even browning. My homework paid off! I also made my first vinaigrette ever and it held, all week. My arm was BURNING by the time I finished the tasks though.
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Claufouti, 3 types, with Haagen-Dasz Vanilla Ice Cream
Our group made a blueberry clafouti. Chef Jane describes it as sweetened pancake batter poured over fruit,which is accurate. This is a great, simple dessert. I think lemon zest would have spiced up our version. I'm contemplating an attempt at creating a peanut butter and grape "jelly" clafouti.

Fine Cooking I: Week 1, Homework

Each week we have unenforced homework, after the first week I was most eager and made two practice recipes. I thought it was extraordinarily important to learn proper sauteing after doing it incorrectly for so long! So much so that I was late to/almost missed birthday party 1 of 2 on the following Saturday. My priorities were a little skewed perhaps.

Recipe 2 was Veal Cutlets Piccata. I substituted chicken cutlets for veal as they likely cost less and I couldn't find veal cutlets at Whole Foods. It was a quick, good/decent recipe. My disappointment rose from a disconnect between reading the ingredients, making the dish and still somehow imagining/wanting Veal Scallopini i.e. a completely different dish as the result.

I loved the Sauteed Fish Fillets with Ginger-Lime Butter, recipe 1, and will definitely revisit it. Preparing the ginger-lime compound butter, which I disgustingly enough wanted to eat by itself, makes this recipe take a bit longer but I found the results worth the effort. I sauteed some green beans in garlic and sesame oil for a side.

Fine Cooking 1: Week 1

When I arrived for my first session of Fine Cooking I at the Institute for Culinary Education (ICE), I wasn't really sure what to expect; I was just nervous and excited (nothing rare about that though). I made it just in time, slipped into my seat at the long table, applied my name tag and marked my name in my binder.

Soon after Chef Jane launched into the lecture portion of the class... She went over rules and procedures, recommended kitchen implements, food safety and a myriad of other topics before reaching what we would cover in lesson 1: knife skills, blanching and refreshing vegetables, sauteing, theory of protein cooking, simple salads, sauce vinaigrette, compound butters and macerating. The first class has the longest lecture - it was around 2 hours?

Then the 14 of us were divided into 3 groups to cook. The major difference between class at ICE and class at the Bowery Culinary Center is that you cook in teams. You may not get to do each thing in class, although you'll hear about the technique and at least watch someone do it. This confused me at first, but then I realized that is because they follow their model for teaching students to work in kitchens professionally. I had to adjust to the concept but I've found it enjoyable. The menu for Lesson 1 and pictures are below.

Chilled Gazpacho Soup
Spicy Hot Vegetable Soup
My group did the hot soup. I helped dice the veggies. The soup wasn't actually that spicy but it was a good vegetable soup.
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Sauteed Lamb Chops with Herb Butter
Sauteed Broccoli
Diced Sauteed Potatoes with Persillade
Every group did all aspects of the main course. I made the compound butter, which was easy enough. You mix room temperature butter with ingredients, then make a log on parchment paper and chill until firm. I also cut a lot of herbs for the butter and persillade (a 50/50 mix of finely minced garlic and parsley). Discovering that sauteing involves using your arm to move the food in the pan rather than using a spatula was a big lesson for me.
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Simple Salad with a Vinaigrette
Simple salads involve 3 or less ingredients, so this was easy enough to put together. I didn't personally make the vinaigrette this week but it looked hard. You have to whip together the oil and fats enough to emulsify them together. Most of the prepared vinaigrette's broke (separated).
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Macerated Fruit: Sliced Oranges with Grand Marnier, Blueberries with Maple Cream and Strawberries Romanoff with Fresh Whipped Cream
Each group made a recipe. My group was assigned the strawberries and I helped whip the cream by hand! I learned that I needed more endurance in my arm, that each motion with the whisk should hit the side of the bowl and that you need to use a large bowl to ensure the proper volume (if the bowl is too small not enough air will be added). The blueberries were my favorite macerated fruit recipe.

Fundamental Knife Skills

Last month I took my first cooking class: Fundamental Knife Skills at the Whole Foods Bowery Culinary Center. While I knew my cooking would benefit from learning knife skills I wasn't sure what to expect going into the class. However, I did know that a $65 three-hour lesson including dinner was a great deal, less expensive than the Institute for Culinary Education's Recreational Division where I'm taking Fine Cooking on Sundays starting next month. In fact if I had known the Culinary Center was going to start a series of Fundamental Kitchen Techniques Courses I might have done theirs instead. Either way, I'm excited and nervous for May. Back to the topic at hand...

The class was comprised of 9 students, mostly couples, and 2 very knowledgeable instructors. We each had a station with a cutting board, an 8" Chef's Knife, a Paring Knife, a waste bowl and another bowl with a piece of citrus fruit, a carrot, half a leek, an onion, a clove of garlic, a sweet potato/root vegetable and a tomato. Christine Carroll, who runs the Culinary Center, led the class. We went over knife safety, sharpening, watched a precision cutting demo for each item in the bowl, did guided practice and then ate a delicious meal of Bass and Tomato Compote Baked in Parchment, Maple Roasted Root Vegetables with Goat Cheese; Avocado, Red Onion and Citrus Salad made from what we cut.

I learned that I held my knife wrong (as of Sunday night I have officially blistered my hand holding it properly), that the knives in my apartment are SUPER dull and we don't even own the proper tools for sharpening them (a steel is key) and most importantly how to cut properly. We also learned that to be efficient you should cut everything in stages i.e. peel the outside off of all the onions, halve all the onions, then get into dicing them, etc. I always did each onion fully before moving to the next one. Apparently this is not a speedy method.

It is going to take plenty of practice and, more arm muscle for things like sweet potatoes, but I walked away with an info packet and more knowledge. I only wish I had been less self conscious in the class as I probably would have learned more and asked a few more questions that way. Oh well. Practice makes perfect with that too.

This Week's Main Meals

Homemade Pizza topped with Caramelized Onions, Garlic, Goat Cheese, Arugula and Prosciutto... The results were pretty good, although the toppings could have stuck better. Pizza dough is much easier to make without whole wheat dough.

Stir Fry with Sauteed Tofu, lots of Veggies and a sauce made from Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil, Chili-Garlic Paste, Rice Vinegar and a touch of Sugar topped with sliced Basil. The dish's base was glass noodles from the Korean Grocery Stores i.e. Saifun Bean Threads.

Curly Kale, conquered.

For a year now I've been trying to find a way to eat kale since it is so healthy. I've followed countless sets of instructions off the internet: I've cut it into ribbons, I've steamed it, I've sauteed it and I've even made cashew cream to top it, which was real feat without a food processor. Regardless of the preparation, kale just was too bitter and chewy. Nothing about kale made me happy. I gave up.

Then in early December I ended up taking a GIANT Whole Foods veggie platter home after an event. How could I let that go to waste? It was calling to me to take it home. I found easy uses for the asparagus, carrots, celery, etc., but the whole thing was lined with kale. I had to do something with it, so instead of throwing it away, I tossed it in some chicken vegetable soup I was making. It was in there about 25 minutes simmering. Turns out Kale can be good. It just needs to be cooked until it is very, very tender while retaining it's shape.

Ultimately kale is reminiscent of spinach with more texture, if cooked enough. This made it a perfect complement to another one of my healthy winter concoctions, which I'll definitely recreate at a later date. The flavors of this dish went well together and I liked the crunchy, earthy mouth feel. Plus, I knew everything I was eating was great for my health! It's a full bunch of curly kale cut into ribbons and cooked down, cubed sweet potatoes, skins on, tossed in olive oil, cinnamon and cumin and roasted in the oven, and quinoa.

Winter Israeli Couscous

In a rare turn of events, I threw together a meal that I found creative, and enjoyable, enough to try posting about it. This couscous concoction was easy to put together, seasonally appropriate and fairly inexpensive.

Unfortunately, my description at the very end might not be entirely accurate as the dish was eaten weeks ago before Christmas. Then again my descriptions, perhaps, are never that accurate.

Winter Israeli Couscous
This prepared 4 to 5 servings, which I ate as individual meals.

• 1 box of Israeli Couscous from Trader Joe's
• 3 lbs of Butternut Squash
• 1/3 c. Italian Parsley, finely chopped
• 4 pieces (I think) of Trader Joe's Uncured Turkey Bacon
• 1/2 Red Onion, chopped
• Salt to taste
  

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Peel the butternut squash and cut in half. Scoop the seeds and stringy part out with a spoon. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and place in the oven for approximately 40 minutes, or until you can easily poke through it with a knife.

While the squash cooks prepare the couscous as directed on the box. Cut the red onion and place on top of the couscous to steam (in the future I may saute it before cooking the couscous for a sweeter flavor) while the couscous cooks. Take the bacon and place it on a foil-lined baking sheet in the oven until not quite crisp, which in my oven took around 20 minutes as expected from the package. Cut up the parsley and set it aside.

By now the squash should be done. Remove it from the oven and let cool until you can handle touching it. Cut it into cubes, whatever size you'll enjoy. Add the squash and parsley to the couscous once it finishes cooking. Cover pan again to keep everything warm.

Remove the bacon from the oven and cut into pieces; I used scissors as it was easier. Add to the other ingredients in the pan and toss. Enjoy.


I liked the texture of the larger couscous. It is denser and chewier than the smaller version, similar to the tapioca balls in Bubble Tea. The roasted butternut squash and turkey bacon provided a salty sweet contrast that spiced up a potentially plain grain. Onions are a safe bet and the parsley added a splash of color with a refreshing flavor. I will make this again.

Black Bean (Pasta) Salad

After discovering that Sunday's Green Market on my street doesn't really close at 5:00 pm, I was stumped about what to eat this week without going broke. I spontaneously came up with the salad below; however, it might not be spontaneous as it is entirely like that I stole the mixture of ingredients from one of the numerous recipes I have read. Either way, I thought it went well and have recorded it below for posterity.

Black Bean Salad

One 15 ounce can of Black Beans
1/2 small white onion
1 bunch Italian flat parsley
1 jar sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 large cucumber
1 block of organic feta cheese
2 cups of Gemelli Pasta
1 large bowl with a lid

1. Put the 2 cups of pasta on to boil following the boxes instructions.
2. Open the black beans and put them in a colander. Rinse and drain them.
3. Cut the onion, 5 of the sun dried tomatoes, and the cucumber into cubes (or whatever you want - I'm way to anal and thus a very slow cook). Place the chopped ingredients in the bowl.
4. Add a little bit of olive oil from the jar of tomatoes to the mix.
5. Add the black beans and stir everything.
6. Drain the pasta and rinse with cool water. Add it to the mix.
7. Cut 1/4 of the cheese block into cubes and toss into the salad.
8. Enjoy.

In retrospect, I would add the feta cheese as desired whenever you plan to eat the salad. It loses it's flavor if you let it sit overnight. I just added more cheese when I ate it on subsequent nights.

Obviously, you can omit the pasta. I just enjoy it and can "afford" to eat it since my parents suggested I force feed myself a little. They feel I'm too thin; Vika just says I'm NY thin. It's all a matter of opinion.