Protein !

Last week was all about protein- beef, pork, lamb, chicken & duck. We fabricated, portioned & cooked them all in several different ways. I was up to my elbows in flesh and bones, so I didn't get a lot of pictures of the process.  I did get pics of the finished plates though and they were delish ! James really enjoyed this week. We were learning to plate our dishes, so each one is a different set up.

Chicken Breast stuffed w/ saute'd Spinach and Goat Cheese atop Sauce Robert. 

Petit Filet Mignon - Chateaubriand Sauce, the funny looking toad stools are tourned, a fancy way to cut potatoes, with Shitake mushroom tops.

Pork Medallions atop Red Onion Confit, Baked Apples with Green Peppercorn Sauce. 

Crusted Lamb Loin, Roasted Potatoes with Marchand de Vin Sauce.

We also did Lamb Stew and roasted a whole duck. Super yummy week.

Next week FISH !!

School is cool !

Who knew school could be so fun, I guess when you're doing what you really love, it is! It's exhausting at the same time, there's a ton of info/notes everyday and lots of cooking too. Here are a few pics of what's gone down in the last 2 weeks.

We did stocks, soups, sauces, wine education and some knife skills

This was the Lobster I killed with a knife to the head, chopped him up and made the most delicious Bisque ever. 

Simmering Bisque

Vegetable Stock 

This was my Potato Leek soup and my feeble attempt at fancy presentation, swirling paprika sour cream w/ fried leeks.

This is the Hollandaise derivative collection, rarely seen all at once like this.

Each of us made one- Hollandaise, Bernaise, Foyot, Choron, Maltaise, Mousseline, Paloise. 

Wine Class, tasting for 2 days, rough life for sure.

Chef is fast with his board notes, I take pictures ALOT so I can compare my notes to his before he erases them and moves on. This one is about the French wine regions, they make it so complicated, but oh so old world cool.

The first 2 weeks have been amazing, Still geekin' that I'm actually doing this.

Now if I can pass the ServeSafe test next week all will be good.

Kale Chips

However you feel about Kale, put it to the side and try these crispy crunchy yummy Kale Chips. Super crispy super food !!

My cousin Amy was here this summer and she brought some from her neck of the woods, Los Altos, Ca. She gets them at her farmers market and they aren't cheap. Her kids LOVE them, which is amazing, because getting kids to eat veggies is always a struggle. I did some research and found several blogs and a recipe that was in Bon Appetit last year. After trying a couple this is what I came up with.

Get some Kale, make sure its firm, bright and fresh. No wilty Kale. There are various types of Kale in the markets these days. Most will carry the curly Kale as pictured below. I used the curly and organic red Kale, both were delish !

Preheat oven to 250 F - Remove the big center stems 

Tear into chip size pieces, wash ( submerge in water ) & dry ( use a salad spinner ) them really well. 

In a large bowl drizzle olive oil ( 1 Tablespoon ) over the Kale pieces, coating them well. Be careful not to use too much oil, this will make oily chips. I used spray olive oil, this worked really well. Salt lightly and arrange on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes, but start checking them at 20 minutes. All ovens vary and they will burn very quickly. I take them out when the smaller stems on the leaves are crunchy, the thickest part of the chip.

When they're hot and crispy, you can sprinkle cayenne or salt & pepper or parmesan cheese or all of the above. I did the parmesan, it was so tasty. Kids love them, I swear ! try it !!

Makin' Friends

Today I made friends with my knives and Hal, the key player in our Fumet Fish Stock.

This is Hal - sweating it out in the Rondeau....sounds glamorous doesn't it ? 

First day of school at LCA

First day of culinary school was today and it was great ! Everyone was excited and I for one was ecstatic.
Here's a few photo's so y'all can share in my day.

Me in my uniform ( I wear this everyday with the hat ), with my wheelie cooler. Love the clown pants, too bad you can't see my Mickey Mouse shoes, they're awesome.

Here's the kitchen classroom where all the magic will happen.

These are my classmates.

Book & chef tool kit

TOOLS !!! 
I am totally geeking !

Grillin!!

So my friends Jennay & Gustavo sent over a box of birds for me to cook up on my new grill. 

These are small Hens, there were 5 in this box, so I got right to it. I made a marinade and did some research on how to debone them. The deboning seemed a bit fussy for a grilled item so I opted to remove the back bone only and splay them out butterfly style.

I rubbed them down with the marinade, put them into bags and set them in the fridge to absorb all the goodness for a least 4 hours.

Marinade goes as follows.
4 Tablespoons Oil ( your choice olive or canola )
a bunch of garlic pressed ( I used 6 cloves for 5 birds totaling 6.25 pounds or 2.89 kg )
3 tablespoons of Chile Powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin

add whatever other spices spark your fancy for poultry. I was going for the yummy Mexi grill flavor. 

When you're ready to grill, splay the birds on your hot grill. I did about 8-10 minutes per side until the juices in the thigh areas ran clear.

The butterfly option helps to make better contact with the heat and they cook evenly and quickly. All 5 birds took about 30 minutes total in shifts.

Towards the end of cooking I threw on some radishes just for fun, they were delish grilled, try it. Jennay made Mac n Cheese to go with our meal and it was splendid, she will be blogging this recipe very soon, yes that's right Jennay I just called you out Sistah.

Surprise !

Surprises are the BEST ever !!! My friend Kim, her husband Artie and my husband James set out to rally my people to surprise me with a gift. To say I am a hard person to surprise is an under statement. Yes I am a control freak, so what ??!! Kim was stealth and steadfast, as were all the lovely friends and family that chipped in to buy me the Grill I've been coveting for months. Isn't it cool ??

I came home from the farewell ( I'll explain in a minute ) happy hour my coworkers and friends put together to find Artie and James rushing to set up the grill.

James made a card with every ones well wishes for my new and exciting future.

This made me cry, all the love and well wishes were overwhelming. To have so much support as I take this huge leap into a whole new world is so encouraging. 
This September 13th, I will start my new adventure in the Culinary world at Laguna Culinary Arts in Laguna Beach, CA.
I will attend their Pro Chef program for 6 months and then who knows what will come next...... all I know is, I am the luckiest girl in the world !
Huge thanks to you all for being in my life, I love you all madly! 

Kim you are totally amazing, I so wish you lived next door. Hugs to you and Artie. To my James, thanks for being mine and believing in me, I love you always. Cheers !