Day 5 - Friday September 25, 2009

Day 5:
I can't believe the week is over already. It went by so fast, and it was a fun week. I don't think that I could get up every morning at 6 am (I am not a morning person at all) and go to .. say a boring english or math class. My class is definitely fun enough to get me out of bed in the morning.

Today I got to class and was assigned to heat my Eggplant Parmesan for lunch today and to chop more vegetables for a party tonight. Before I got started, Rex came in and decided to have me make a Roasted Red Pepper and Basil Salad for the party as well. I was glad because I hate just standing around doing nothing. I would prefer to have something to do until the minute I leave.

I started my morning by making the salad because it needed to marinate for a few hours. I had to start by roasting 10 pounds of red bell peppers. Rex assigned a couple of the high school girls to help me so it would go a little faster. We roasted, peeled, cleaned and sliced the peppers up. I mixed the dressing and had a small bowl of the peppers set aside to taste test it with the basil chiffonade in it. It was so good!



Basque-Style Pepper Salad

Ingredients:
10 Bell peppers (Use mostly red, if you want some color add just a couple of either green or yellow or one of each)
2 cups Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup White wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste
Handful of fresh basil, cut into a chiffonade

1. Roast and peel the peppers.
2. Cut the pepper into strips about 1/2 inch wide and you can either leave them the length of the pepper or cut them in half lengthwise so they are easier to fit in your mouth.
3. Combine the oil, vinegar salt and pepper to make a dressing. Pour over the peppers in a bowl and marinate for at least 2-3 hours.
4. Just before serving, finely shred most of the basil leaves and mix with the peppers, reserving a few leaves for garnish.
5. If you want, serve with bread to dip in the dressing.



After I finished the salad and set it in the walk in to marinate, I heated up my Eggplant Parmesan for lunch. Because I was the one who made it, I got to have a piece to taste and it turned out really good! I love eggplant parmesan and it really was easy to make and I'm sure I'll be making it at home.




After I finished those two tasks, all I had left to do today was to cut 25 ounces (each) of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots for the party tonight. It was fast work and I was done by probably 11:30. Kacean came by because Mart got home from work early and she just visited with me and Rex. He had her as a student when she was in High School and he wanted to visit with her again and talk to her about going to pastry school. He also asked her to come by sometime and do a demo on something she learned from Pastry School. (She just recently graduated from the Western Culinary Institute in Portland). She looked interested and will probably come do a demo on chocolate work because that is her favorite.

I left about a half hour early today because I had nothing left to do and I stayed 45 minutes late yesterday working on my Tourne potatoes.

All in all it was a good week and I did learn a few new things.

Day 4 - Thursday September 24, 2009

Day 4:
When I arrived that day I checked the board and I was right in thinking that I would get to do more than chop vegetables all day. It made me very glad I had showed him my blog so that I got to move on from the basics. I still do some basics here and there, but I actually get to cook now.
I was extremely tired when I got there, I didn't get enough sleep because I was up late making Martin cinnamon rolls for his breakfasts for work. When I headed over to get started, Rex found some habanero peppers in the vegetable buckets and leaned over and said to me. "Do you want to see how dumb high school kids are? They'll do anything" I don't know if you know about habanero peppers, but they are one of the hottest peppers out there. He walked up to a group of 3 boys working right in front of me and said, you should try this pepper. Two of them eventually bit off half of the pepper each! It was so funny, it seriously made my whole morning. One of them started to tear up and couldn't talk for a little while and they both had to go find some bread to try and cool it down.

Anyway, I was assigned to make my roasted broccoli for a party that afternoon. They just left me to it to make it however I always make it and it turned out awesome and so tasty!

I also was taught how to cut potatoes in a style called Tourne. My instructor John showed me how to cut them, and he told me they were called Tournado. Everything I have read on them and seen online calls them Tourne so I will stick with that. They are a nit picky little cut and a waste of potato. They are done for presentation purposes and they really do look nice if you want to take the time to make them. A Tourne cut on a potato (it can be done on beets, turnips, root vegetables of any sort) is usually done on a yukon gold or a small red potato. You can do them on russet potatoes, but from what I researched you cut the potato into four pieces and Tourne each piece.

I was told to Tourne 80 gold potatoes. They are shaped sort of like a football, about 2 inches long x 3/4" in diameter with 7 sides and flat ends. They had me cut ours a little bigger so we didn't waste so much of the potato. It took me probably 65 of the 80 to start to get the hang of it, and even though they are not perfect, they did improve as I went along. I even stopped at the store on the way home and bought some red potatoes and made Roasted Rosemary Tourne Potatoes for dinner to practice. I made mine really big for dinner though so I didn't waste so much of the potato.


Here are pictures I found online to show how to cut a Tourne Potato:




I also made Eggplant Parmesan to be served on the line the next day for lunch. It was an easy recipe, but I had so much eggplant that I had to keep making more and more breadcrumbs because I didn't have enough. That was probably the most time consuming part of the whole process. It looked really good and I was excited to try it the next day.



Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants, cut into 1/4" thick rounds
1 Tbsp kosher salt
8 slices high quality white bread torn into quarters
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup all purpose flour
4 large eggs
6 Tbsp vegetable oil

Tomato Sauce:
3 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 generous tablespoon)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves chopped
2 cups mozzarella, shredded
1/2 cup grated parmesan
10 fresh basil leaves, torn for garnish

1. Toss eggplant slices and salt until combined and set in a large strainer. Let stand until eggplant releases about 2 Tbsp liquid (maybe 30-45 minutes). Arrange eggplant slices on triple layer paper towels; cover with more paper towels. Firmly press each slice to remove as much liquid as possible, then wipe of excess salt.

2. While eggplant is draining, adjust oven racks to upper and lower middle positions, place rimmed baking sheet on each rack and heat oven to 425.
Pulse bread in a food processor to fine, even crumbs. (You should have about 4 cups). Transfer crumbs to pie plate and stir in 1 cup parmesan, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Set aside.

3. Combine flour and 1 tsp pepper in a second pie plate.

4. Beat eggs in a 3rd pie plate

5. Put eggplant slices in flour, coat the eggplant. Remove eggplant shaking off excess. Dip in eggs, then coat evenly with bread crumbs. Set breaded slices on a wire rack set over a baking sheet.

6. Remove preheated baking sheets from oven. Add 3 Tbsp oil to each sheet, tiling to coat evenly with oil. Place half of breaded eggplant on each sheet in a single layer. Bake until eggplant is well browned and crisp, about 30 minutes. Switch and rotate baking sheets after 10 minutes. Flip eggplant slices over with a spatula after 20 minutes or when the bottom is browned. Remove but do not turn off oven.

7. While eggplant bakes, process 2 can diced tomatoes in a food processor until almost smooth. Heat olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a large pan over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and garlic is light golden. (About 3 minutes) Stir in all the tomatoes. Bring sauce to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally until the sauce is slightly thickened. (About 15 minutes). Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

8. Spread 1 cup tomato sauce in the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish. Layer the eggplant slices, overlapping to fit. Put about1 cup sauce over eggplant, sprinkle with half the mozzarella and parmesan. If there is leftover eggplant you will need to use a second dish. Make the layers the same as the first dish. (If there is not enough eggplant to make more than one dish, use all the cheese on the first pan)
Leave majority of eggplant on top exposed so it will remain crisp. Bake until bubbling and cheese is browned about 13-15 minutes. Scatter basil over the top and serve.

Day 3 - Wednesday September 23, 2009

Everything we make is measured in grams, pounds, ounces, etc. When I post my recipes I will try and convert them to something people can make at home without owning a scale.

Day 3:
Today I was back in the kitchen practicing my knife skills again. I was in charge of cutting up fresh fruit boxes (just like the vegetable boxes the day before, 14 ounces) for the breakfast and lunch lines. I spent the morning cutting up pineapple, cantaloupe, strawberries and grapes. It went pretty fast and they all looked good. When I was finished with that, I cut vegetables for the Navajo tacoes we served for lunch. I prepped tomatoes, onions, lettuce and got out the cheese and olives. After I finished that, I was given the job to julienne 3 pounds of onions for a party that evening.

When I finished chopped everything, I plated more of my banana sheet cake and put it out on the line for lunch.

After I finished my list of things to do that day, I was talking with Adrienn and Rex and we were telling him things we liked to cook, etc. My cooking blog came up and I showed it to him and he was impressed at how much I knew already about cooking.

I left that day with the feeling that the next day I would get to do more than chop vegetables all day long.

Day 2 - Tuesday September 22, 2009

Day 2:
I got to school and briefly read over my chapter 1 and 2 notes to remind myself of everything I had read the day before and decided to get my chapter 1 and 2 tests out of the way. Everybody told me the chapter 1 history test was way hard, and nobody passed it their first try. They were right, it was very particular and I ended up taking it twice, passing with 92% the second time. The chapter 2 sanitation and safety test I passed my first try at 92% and was very glad to get those out of the way.

(Side note: We are required to pass every chapter test at 90% or higher. If we don't do it the first time, we retake it with books and/or notes or just reread the chapter again until we get 90%. It's very nice.)

As soon as I was finished with my tests, Rex put me to work in the kitchen. I started the day out by flipping my banana sheet cake and putting a crumb layer of frosting on it (a thin layer of frosting then putting it back in the freezer to chill again. This keeps it from having crumbs in the frosting when we frost it a second time. A while later, I pulled it out and added a second layer of cream cheese frosting, smoothed it out, marked and cut the cake into larger pieces probably 2"x3" for a lunch meeting we were serving that afternoon. After I was finished with the cake, I was put to work cutting up assorted vegetables to practice using a knife and trying different ones out for vegetable boxes to sell in the cafeteria. They just had 14 ounces of basic vegetables. Some carrot sticks, broccoli and cauliflower florets, cucumber slices, pepper slices and some cherry tomatoes. I finished them off by adding a small cup of ranch and put them out on the line.

When I finished chopping up vegetables I was put to work to help Amy with her Fiesta Corn Salad for lunch that afternoon as well. It was delicious! I didn't have my camera that day, but that salad was definitely blog worthy!

Fiesta Corn Salad

Ingredients:
Corn on the cob (maybe 5 or 6)
1-2 Roasted red bell peppers
1 red onion, diced
Cilantro leaves
1-2 tomatoes, sliced into wedges
1-2 avocados sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
The juice of 1-3 limes (it just all depends on how big you are making your salad)
Toasted cumin seeds (Just put whole cumin seeds in a hot pan and toss for a minute or two until they smell cooked and nutty!)

Blanch the corn (drop into boiling water for just a minute or two) and pull out and put into cold water to stop the cooking process. Cut the corn from the cob and put in a bowl. Add diced red onion, diced roasted red peppers and a handful of torn cilantro leaves. Coat with lime juice and season with salt, pepper and toasted cumin seeds. Put on top of a bed of fresh romaine lettuce and top with a lime wedge, a couple of tomato wedges and a few avocado slices. The lime juice should have enough flavor to not need any dressing, but if you want it, you can add ranch and it would be delicious that way as well.


After we finished our salads and plated them up it was time to serve our lunch guests. I have never been a waitress before so it was a little odd, but it was fine. We served them hot rolls that Adrienne had made that morning with our Fiesta corn salad. For lunch they had cheddar broccoli soup (freshly made that day as well) and for desert we plated and served my banana sheet cake with cream cheese frosting.

We had 4 people who didn't show up making it so we had some leftovers. Megan, Amy and I (the ones who made and served it all) got to eat the leftovers for our lunch. It was very tasty!

Day 1 - Monday September 21, 2009

I started attending Bridgerland Applied Technology College enrolled in the Culinary Arts program on Monday September 21. My instructor Rex recommended to me that I keep a daily journal about things I did that day to help me remember down the road.

My cute sister in law Kacean volunteered to watch Ethan for me every morning while I am in school so she shows up around 6:20 right before Mart leaves for work and I leave for school. Ethan loves Kacean and she loves him just as much. They are already really close, but by the time I am finished with school, they are going to be inseparable. I'm really grateful to her for this and I have no way to properly thank her for taking 7 hours out of her day everyday for about a year to help us out.


Day 1:
School starts at 7am. It's the earliest class Bridge has to offer. The culinary arts classroom is connected to the school cafeteria. We make and serve breakfast and lunch for the staff and students that attend the school. It's probably the best cafeteria food you'd ever eat. :) Besides cooking just for the cafeteria they do a lot of catering for parties/events and lunch meetings that are held at Bridge in another part of our classroom. We prepare lunches for them and also serve it to them.

This program is open entry so you can start whenever you want and you go at your own pace. There happened to be another girl that started on the same day with me, so I wasn't alone. Adrienn is going to focus strictly on the baking and pastry side instead.

I show up at 7am and the classroom is dark. There is nobody in it and nobody to be seen. I thought for sure the lady at the registration desk told me the wrong starting time. The kitchen was all lit up and had one student walking around doing whatever she needed to do that day. A few minutes later Adrienn walked in and we both sat around for about 10 minutes waiting to see if anybody would come find us or even remembered we were starting that day. I gave up and went looking around the kitchen for somebody. I found one of my instructors, Rex and he came and got us started.

All we had scheduled to do that day was read Chapters 1 and 2 of our text (Professional Cooking by Wayne Gisslen) and take a test on it. Chapter 1 was just a short history of cooking and chapter 2 was the sanitation and saftey section. Reading and taking notes for that long gets old so a few hours later Rex came in and had Adrienn and I bake a banana sheet cake. We got it all mixed up and baked and put it in the walk in freezer until the next day.

Another thing about my class is, Bridgerland allows high school kids to take courses during their school hours, so we have high school students coming in and out all day long. They just help out and do whatever needs to be done that day. One of the high school students, Celeste, helped us bake the sheet cake.

I also went and purchased my books and uniforms. That was about it for day 1.