Butterscotch Pudding

I started my second series of ICE classes last Wednesday: Techniques of Healthful Cooking. I expect to learn a lot, even if it isn't quite as structured and formal as Chef Jane's Fine Cooking I. Last week's highlights were discovering I DO like Tamarind, an amazing lamb dish - it's grilled to perfection with a rich, yet healthy marinade - and receiving an explanation for why my soba noodles always cling together like saran wrap.

How does this relate to Butterscotch Pudding? Well, our dessert was Mango Sorbet and Angel Food Cake, which leaves 12 egg yolks as waste. I couldn't bear the thought of throwing them away so I brought the yolks home and made Grapefruit Curd (6 yolks, now frozen) followed by this Butterscotch Pudding (2 yolks). Are there savory uses for the other 4? Please let me know as my methods of using them up = healthy cooking fail. Those last ones might just die a sad, sad death.

Chef Shuna fish Lydon's Butterscotch Pudding is supposed to be the real deal and it is delicious! Its flavor is a mellowed out version of artificial butterscotch syrups and is similar to caramel, both flavors I love. I don't think I've ever had real butterscotch though so I'm not 100% that I was successful in creating the correct flavor. One of my taste testers, a Butterscotch connoisseur, Kimberly, said it was missing something? I'm guessing it needed more salt and less vanilla extract. Regardless, I won't know until I try the real thing. Anyone want to go have Chef Lydon's butterscotch pot de creme? :)

Her thorough instructions caused me to dirty numerous pots, whisks, etc. but resulted in a creamy, lush pudding...very different than my last pudding i.e. chocolate malted soup. Take her note about whisking continuously seriously. I had been whisking for what felt like eternity, stepped away for 2 minutes to see how long I had to keep going and returned to THICK pudding. This could have been a disaster but I started whisking furiously again and was able to save it from the lumps. All in all I'd say this project was a success!

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.

Warm Lentil Salad

As you may recall in week 3 of cooking class, I made Warm Lentil Salad. It was good, but I didn't forsee myself making it again. The flavors didn't stand out to me, although I heard other people raving about them. In retrospect, I think I was distracted by the other dishes we prepared and frustrated over the minor difficulties I encountered making the salad.

Regardless, after making it for my Mom over Father's Day and discovering its rich flavor and pretty appearance (if you don't overcook the lentils) I want to make it all the time. It helps that the salad is fairly inexpensive and filling too. When Elizabeth and Megan requested salads or dips for their 4th of July Barbecue this was the first salad that came to mind, so I took a double portion, with slightly overdone lentils, thus the muddled texture, to their barbecue yesterday.

Given that I've now made this three times, a rareity, I had to share the recipe.

Warm Lentil Salad
Serves 6

1 c. French green lentils
1 small onion sudded with 3 cloves
1 bay leaf
3 c. water
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 c. finely minced onion
2 garlic cloves, finely minced (your goal: the same size as the lentils)
2 tbsp. minced parsley
2 tbsp. minced chives
1 c. finely diced red pepper (your goal: the same size as the lentils)

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the lentils, whole onion and bay leaf. Add the water and salt and bring to a boil over high heat. (suggested way to handle the onion/cloves/bay leaf below.)

2. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until most of the liquid is absorbed and the lentils are al dente, about 25 minutes. Drain any remaining liquid and discard the bay leaf and the onion. Transfer the lentils to a bowl.

3. Add the oil, vinegar, minced onion, garlic, parsley, chives and red pepper to the lentils and stir. Serve hot or at room temperature.

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.