Week 20, the final week! Somehow I can’t believe that it’s over but on the other hand I think it’s good because it seems that everyone has gotten very comfortable. I definitely know I have! I have gotten comfortable in bakery with my little corner (as my co-chef’s-to-be/friends would say). On one side I enjoy bakery more than Hot Kitchen because it always feels like the food looks so much prettier, but then I get to Hot Kitchen and then I truly enjoy that as well. So, as indecisive as I sound, I actually in truth like both. What I do like more about bakery is that I tell Chef I want to make something or try something new and Chef seems to like that and allows me to and I can stand in my little corner and work without being bothered. I also like making the Desserts where everyone else can see them… advertising… Anyway, let’s get to the week’s happenings.
Monday:
My SO’s mother came to visit the weekend and we obviously took her to places with good food and a food market being one of them. In our expedition we bought quite a lot of Strawberries for this week’s Smoothies and whatever Dessert I may be inspired to make.
Theory, the last day of theory since next Monday it would be preparations for exams. Even though it was our last day, there isn’t too much I could tell you about today, other than I should start going through my work daily in order to make the exams easy for myself… what is that thing they say about good intentions? Yeah.
Tuesday:
Quiche! I think this whole year I have only made the filling for Quiche once, and I always tried to avoid it because it seemed difficult and a long process, well today was the day that I was placed in the Quiche team, from scratch!
First of all my co-chef-to-be partner and I have decided that we should hear the cries of those non-Meat lovers, yes, Veggie Quiches and not just Veggie Quiches but Roasted Veggie Quiches. As I always say, sometimes the classics are all you need to fill a craving. There was the usual Roasted Veggies, Butternut; Onions; Zucchini; Peppers; and Rosemary. Oh yes, we also had Cheese in, what is a Quiche without Cheese? When we were done with the baking we had to prepare the pastry for Thursday’s Bakery session (Wednesday was Woman’s Day). Chef being very passionate about the Quiche pastry being done correct, I felt a bit scared to make it, I didn’t want to mess up the pastry but I listened to Chef and guess what? It was actually not that difficult to make in fact it was quite easy to make it.
So after our successful Quiches I was on a mission to make 200 Cookies for a charity lunch for Women’s Day. Now I was given a fool proof recipe (what a relief, I couldn’t imagine making 200 Cookies with the chance of ruining them) but what I enjoyed was that there are similar steps to this than the steps used to make the Pate Sucree we did, we also rolled the Sucree in a log, put it in the freezer and then cut little Cookies out of the log but it becomes quite a difficult task as the Dough starts to warm again. Luckily I didn’t have to do this in summer because then I probably would have had to stand in the fridge to do this. I did however put my hands in the freezer to keep them cold. The other difficulty was to make sure none of my fellow chefs-to-be would eat any of the Cookies. I wanted to do something more special to the Cookies but realised that I do not really have the time to do that and still package them at class, they would have to set properly in order not to smudge. I am grateful for my Quiche partner for helping me with the packaging, my bow tying skills are not good at all. I think they were quite cute even though none of them were the same size or shape… or even colour!
Wednesday (Women’s Day):
So instead of going to class and bake, I baked mini Cheesecakes for the braai my SO and I organised whilst we have the luxury to stay in my mother’s house that has a garden and a braai area. Other than the mini Cheesecakes we also made Potato Salad with (very) Crispy Bacon and Caramelised Onions and next to that we made my favourite Honey and Beer Bread, the easiest Bread to make EVER! Yes, the same one as the one we made with the Chocolate Soup last week. Unfortunately we did not take any photos of the food other than the Cheesecakes but let me share last week’s Bread pic since it looked very similar.
As for the rest of the food, well, that was up to the men to cook… I mean braai.
Thursday:
I missed class again today. I decided that I will, first of all, clean the house after our big braai and secondly, actually the most important part, bake the Chocolate Dessert that we sponsored for the Women’s Day Lunch, which was was only held on Friday, not on actual Women’s Day. I thought that if I was going to drop the Dessert off tonight I need to make it today. I didn’t want to make it too soon, who wants to eat a Dessert that’s been standing for 2/3 days? Not me I can assure you! So I made the Dessert at home, in peace, no one continuously asking why and wanting to taste. No hawk-eyes needing to be kept on the Dessert or worrying whether it is safe every time I go to have a cup of Tea.
About the recipe: I made a recipe similar to a recipe I made in High School, that I got from my Hotel & Catering teacher which I have always wanted to make again. A very delicious and VERY decadent Chocolate Dessert, and then easy to make as well. Well, kinda, to make the Dessert for 60 people it required for me to beat 20 Egg Whites in a very small bowl… but that was the most difficult part. The other thing that freaked me out a bit was that 1 of the 2 pans’ Cakes has risen more on the one side than the other… this didn’t make any sense to me, if you make this and it happens to you… don’t worry, in the end it will be flat and will look good. What makes this recipe tasty is that you leave the Cake in the pan (easy), pour over a Syrup from Ideal Milk and Sugar, and to top it all off, pour over a topping made from Ideal Milk and Whole Nut Chocolate melted into it. Yum!
The feedback was good.
Go try it: Whole Nut Chocolate Cake
Friday:
Today I had to make Mayonnaise, something I wanted to do on Wednesday for the Potato Salad but never actually got to it. Today we made Mayonnaise in order to make Tare Tare Sauce to accompany our Fishcakes. I seldom order Fishcakes when I go out but a good Fishcake is always something to look forward to and today it was up to me to make one. I think today’s worst critic would be me. I was slightly hungry but I was not in the mood for Fish, to cook it but not eat it plus I have never really warmed up to Mayonnaise or Mayonnaise derivatives (especially not Tare Tare) other than KFC’s Double Crunch that had Mayo and Sweet Chilli on it.
So whilst running around and trying to get everything cooked I burnt myself in my wrist… Sadface!
While forming the Fishcakes I felt like there was some talent in me that was undiscovered, I felt like an artist… but then I realised I just knew how to make small Fishcake shapes… not the same size so I decided plating wise that I will plate them like that, from small to large. Pretty sure they were all the same in weight… Chef said that my plate had very good flavour and I should taste it. I did and I ended up eating all of it and even the Tare Tare Sauce.
Friday night:
So for a long time there has been discussion of a dinner party (my favourite) and then finally it was decided that this weekend is the weekend for dinner party.
What’s for Dinner?! I realised at the last moment that clearly the dinner party’s theme was Dairy…
Starters: Sun Dried Tomato Cheesecake with Basil Oil and Caramelized Cherry Tomatoes
Main Course: Alfredo with Squid Ink Pasta and Paprika Prawn Skewers
Dessert: Eclairs with Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse and Strawberry Ice Cream
There were still Strawberries left, even after Wednesday’s Cheesecakes and the Smoothies. We found out that Choux Pastry is our practical exam so I wanted to practice is but with all our stuff in boxes I couldn’t find my piping bag and used Ziploc bag and found out that Ziploc bags don’t pipe profiteroles as well as a piping bag so I decided on Eclairs. Well, that could be the problem or my Dough was too stiff or maybe the oven or or or… I don’t really know what but they were not the prettiest Eclairs. They did taste good. My SO and I ate the first 6 flops for breakfast.
Conclusion on the end of my 1st year at Culinary School:
Next week is only a half week then exams start so I am nervous about that. I did quite a lot of cooking/baking this week which was really fun and I fed quite a lot of people with good food I made, that makes me happy. I need to meet up with the Chef next week where I am doing my internship… nervous but in a good way. I am not sure if I will have time for a blog or for cooking at home or a social life or anything for that matter! I’m joking, I am just in limbo and have learnt in the last few years of working that it always sounds more hectic than what it really is. So for now, I would probably put the ‘A new adventure’ blog on hold since I can assume that Chef is not going to let me take pics in the kitchen like I did at class and I may just fall into the bad habit I have noticed a lot of chefs have… they tend to eat fast foods instead of cooking for themselves. But for now, come back next week for the last week of my first year.
FarciduPreez 