Monday:
Well… I definitely failed that test! One thing I will never forget is the difference between Béchamel and Velouté.
Béchamel: White Sauce made with milk and equal amounts of Butter and Flour.
Velouté: A sauce made with Stock and an equal amount of Butter and Flour.
As I sat outside I realised what the answer to that question was, I had heard it in class. Shit! I also realised this was the first test I have written (and failed) in years!
Update on Tobias: Tobias has apparently left the garden, where to I don’t know. Upon my arrival to feed little Tobias, the whole patch was replanted with things other than Tobias. Clearly someone else found Tobias’ presence quite depressing (it was probably time).
That’s it for Monday, I find Monday’s slightly boring because we’re not cooking, class is interesting (Duh! We’re learning about food), but I do enjoy the kitchen part more.
Tuesday:
Valentine’s Day, a day for making food red… or pink… or purple… Whichever it is, that just means we get to experiment and practice to make food according to people’s expectations and fashion. You figured it out, my blog is 2 weeks late, I have to, of course, have time to write.
Today was a good day, a very productive day.
Since it was the 6 AM session we were in charge of the breakfast and we made Smoothies as well. I make a lot of Smoothies at home so I have had my exercise in this. The first Smoothie had Banana, Strawberry, Raspberry, and Pineapple. The other Smoothie was Blueberry, Raspberry, Strawberry, and Apple. Both sweetened with Honey. Then… something sweet… and something different… Strawberry Muffins with Basil and Black Pepper. This topped with a Sugar and Pecan Nut topping and on top of that Icing Sugar. Delicious!
Love was in the air, the love of making food and making people happy by providing them with good food.
After that we made Italian Meringue, no, speaking in an Italian does not make it Italian but in fact the method. Look at this dessert… who would not want to have that as your third course? I did in fact also make some of the 25 hearts that day. In this process I learnt that melted Sugar burns like a bitch! Luckily it only fell on my nail, it could have been a lot worse.
Wednesday:
If you are thinking of making someone English Muffins for breakfast in bed this weekend, please note that it takes very long. Makes you wonder about those English Muffins at drive thru’s…
Along with the English Muffins we made Poached Pears, two things I have never made before. To be honest, the only thing that impressed me about the English Muffins was the process to make it, other than that there is no real reason I would ever want to make them again.
Dough, sweet dough, why do we not understand each other? It’s never easy in my case, Chef makes it look so easy and surely it must be?! I make pretty good Scones (which my mother approves of), and I never struggle with that dough. All the bread I make at home seem fine, always. Remember what Chef said, it’s all about confidence when you cook. I wonder if that counts for baking as well? Or at least for me. I had my confidence, I started my Poached Pears and that seemed easy enough, probably because it was cooking and not baking. Then I started my dough… Confidence gone! Again it is not right. Every time. My dough seemed slightly flat. Once in the pan I started feeling a bit better about my English Muffins. All this disappointment ended when Chef opened up my English Muffin and it seemed cooked through and that Chef said that it tasted good and that my Poached Pears also tasted good… but I needed a little more Sugar. Another day ended well! Especially after I purchased lunch and dinner from the cafeteria. Lunch: Quiche. Dinner: Sirloin with Béarnaise. Let me tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was so delicious! The Sirloin, cooked to my specific order! How spoiled are we to be able to eat such good food everyday!
Please note that the food had been standing for a while, waiting for me to finish the English Muffin (and of course my dishes) before I could take it home to enjoy, thus the Sauce had gotten a bit cold.
Thursday:
Let’s start off with… Today I felt like showing someone how it feels to get some 114°C Sugar on you… No, I didn’t and would not ever do that. But back to the beginning of the day…
Another 6 AM shift. This morning my partner and I were on the Quiches. I think the Quiche turned out well. Ham, Caramelised Red Onions, Creamy Mushrooms (made by my partner and compliments to her). I think I need to stay away from the cafeteria… those Quiches are so tempting. Luckily I was too busy with a Millionaire Shortbread to be hovering around the delicacies of the cafeteria. The Millionaire Shortbread, however, will not escape me. Also another baking that takes quite a while to make. It looks so good but it smells so sweet. I always wonder how people finish them, I would just smell them and the sweetness would be restored in my cravings. The shortbread was made first and then the Toffee/Fudge goodness, this took quite a while. After my burning on Tuesday I was being careful with the Sugar. Oh yes, this reminds me, my angry moment that happened today. Let’s just call it a lot of people in one spot and a bit of pressure added. So I will repeat what I have said in my first week… Respect is the most important thing of all. Respect for each other, respect for the rules, respect for the food, respect for the school and just respect in general for everyone.
But whatever, things happen. I was way more excited about coming back tomorrow to add the Chocolate to the Millionaire Shortbread that I will definitely take home this weekend.
Friday:
Class only starts at 11 AM. Ironing… still! It never ends! Ha ha, but I do enjoy it, and it is so easy and quick! Oh yes, and it makes you look good.
Eggs Benedict, well in this case Egg Benedict. This was literally the first time I made a Poached Egg! Bacon is easy to make, of course, and I found that the Hollandaise Sauce was also easy to make, I did however learn a valuable lesson… do not leave your food on the stove unattended… No, nothing burnt down or broke or anything like that, my Egg was slightly overcooked so my Egg Yolk was not runny but I made a good shape so it will be easier from here on out to make a Poached Egg. I will make one this weekend!
Again I cleaned the one grease trap, with a little help from my friend… actually a lot of help but I realised that cleaning them is not that bad. Sure, the smell is a bit funky but with gloves on it seems to be a lot less nasty to put your hands in that oily greasy water.
Other than that our week ended with all of us getting our chef’s jackets, which is quite nice, now we can feel professional as well… Oh yes, don’t forget about these little treats I treated myself with for the weekend…
Saturday:
I made it! I think more just to prove to myself that I can make it, and because we had Baby Marrow we had to use…
Sunday:
Ironing the chef’s jacket is a lot harder than ironing your T-shirt! Other than that, I was surprised that my cloths are clean and white, it was touch and go at a stage with the amount of food colourants etc that was wiped on it during the baking sessions… and not to mention, I have lost 2 cloths in one month, the fact that I labelled them did not matter. I will blame Chef for the first one, but he repaid me, the second one was… I don’t know what… like the socks in your washing…
Other than ironing I actually did my homework (it is so weird to have homework again) and then I made a 3 course meal for some friends that came over. I started off by making a favourite of mine as the starter: Baby Marrow Soup:
+- 1kg Baby Marrows
2 cans Coconut Cream
Fresh Coriander
Salt and Black Pepper
Garlic
Onion
The Garlic and Onion is to your liking. Basically you just chop everything up and put it in a pot and boil until soft and liquidise the Soup. Alternatively, Leeks added also work well and maybe a can of Coconut Milk and Coconut Cream.
Chicken & Butternut Lasagne
I had 2 helpings of this, usually I don’t like eating my own food but this I couldn’t resist.
Pasta:
200g Flour
2 Eggs
Olive Oil until it is a firm Dough
Knead the Dough for quite some time, let’s make it at least 5 min, then place it in the fridge for at least an hour, wrapped up or it will dry out.
Roll out the Dough with the Pasta Machine, I made it a bit thicker because it is Lasagne, I rolled it out until I got to number 6. Your Pasta Machine might differ.
White Sauce:
50g Butter
50g Flour
500ml Milk (always full cream)
Melt the Butter and add the Flour to it, when mixed well add the milk and slowly let the Flour and Butter mixture melt in the Milk and become thick. Add Salt and Pepper to your liking.
Tomato Sauce:
1/2 a bag Tomatoes
1 big Onion
Garlic (to your liking)
Salt & Pepper and Herbs
Olive Oil
Sauté your Onions and Garlic in the Oil, add your Tomatoes after chopped and let it cook for quite some time.
Butternut:
Bake /roast Butternut in the oven with some Salt & Pepper and Oil until soft and cut into small blocks.
Chicken:
3 Chicken Breasts with bone and skin
Butter (a piece per Chicken)
Lemon Juice (about half a Lemon)
Bake in the oven until cooked through, shred from the bone and mix in the juices. I like to keep all the juices, can’t throw away all that flavour!
Place a layer of Lasagna Sheets, top with Chicken, add the Butternut, top that with Tomato Sauce, put some of the delicious White Sauce and repeat the whole thing again as many times or layers as you can go. Add Cheese if you want (the open part is mine, the rest was for the guests and my SO).
Yes… I like a juicy Lasagna that doesn’t come out as a perfect block! Since I am cooking at home I stuck to the Lasagna I like, in the kitchen I will do it as others want me to. Of course if you don’t want it so juicy you can either leave out all the juices from the Chicken or you can thicken the juices with Onion Soup Powder (not my favourite way), or with Maizena (Corn Starch).
Poached Pears… One of my guests loves Pears so I was delighted to share my knowledge with him on a small bowl of Poached Pears. It’s easy and it looks fancy!
FarciduPreez 