Tasty Thai Thursday- Recipe Book Fun :)

This Foodlover's  Ultimate Valentine is not a box of Chocolates.  I'm not very responsible with twenty different secret flavors hidden in shiny chocolate capsules.  I've actually been known to take a bite out of every single mystery morsel and then throw out the other halves.  This is to keep myself from feeling extreme guilt of clearing the heart shaped tray solely on my own.  This enormously beautiful Recipe Book was my valentines day gift from my handsome hubby and two lovely babes.  They were so excited to surprise me with it.  This book is like an epic- its chock full of amazingly simple and completely delicious cooking methods for all of the earth's green and growing harvests.  In the short time that I have been its new master I have made some pretty great food out of this book.  The most recent creation happened this evening when I got home late from school and picking up the kids.  I wanted to get something on the table quickly and I wanted it to be something special at the same time. The truth is that I had really tried hard to abstain from taste testing during Intro to Baking class during the afternoon and for once I was truly hungry for a real dinner.  

It was 37 degrees outside today and our February"heat wave" reminded me of the summer's bounty that I had squirreled away into my deep freezer.  Fresh Frozen sweet corn I had purchased from a farm down the road last August was calling my name as I pulled into my garage.  I had a confident feeling that my new recipe treasury would have some instruction for my sacred summer"golden nuggets."

Thai Corn Cakes with a Fresh Tomato Cilantro Salsa

Here is what I found, here is what we enjoyed together as a family- at the dinner table, at a reasonable time- not too late- and the amount of food- it was just right!  Tonight I chose to make Thai CornCakes from "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman.  This book is a phenomenal resource of formulas for making healthy and delicious meals.  I am excited to explore more of what this book has to offer and I will be happy to share the great ones with you to all along the way.

Thai Corn Cakes

2 eggs separated

salt and fresh ground pepper

1/2 cup chopped scallion

1 teaspoon of minced fresh jalapeno

2 cups of fresh corn or thawed fresh frozen

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 cup all purpose flour

3-4 tbsp butter or a neutral oil.

In a large bowl combine egg yolks, pinch salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, scallion, jalapeno, corn, soy sauce, and flour; mix well.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Put butter in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Fold egg whites into the corn mixture.  Once the oil/butter is hot drop the corn batter into the pan in dollops.

Cook until nicely brown on one side and flip- about 3-5 minutes.  Keep warm in oven while the rest are cooking.  Serve immediately with fresh salsa.

(Recipe from "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman page 291)

Here is a picture of the Lemon Quinoa Spinach Salad I made this week on Tuesday from the same book- Yum!  I added Cranberries on my own and it really made the flavors pop.

Quinoa Salad with Lemon, Spinach, and Poppy Seeds

Salad:

2 1/2 cups cooked quinoa

10 oz Fresh spinach chopped

1 cup Dried Cranberries ( my own addition)

1/4 cup poppy seeds

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 to 1/2 cup of lemon vinaigrette

Lemon Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup virgin olive oil

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

black pepper

1/4 cup of finely minced red onion

1 tsp sugar or honey

Toss the salad ingredients without the vinaigrette.  Spoon the dressing over the salad and toss.  Enjoy!

(Recipe from "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman page 83, 537)

Tuesdays Top Ten- Favorite FoodLover Quotes and Verse

School is super busy this week- Lots of Homework and Event Planning so here is something kind of fun and quick- These are only ten of many of my favorites and once again in no particular order.  Enjoy!

1.  "Forget love- I'd rather Fall in Chocolate"- unknown

2.  "I Cook with Wine, Sometimes I even Add it to the Food" ~W.C. Fields


3."Find Something you are Passionate about and keep Tremendously  
     Interested in It." ~Julia Childs


4.  "Food is apart of our way of celebrating Life.  The ingredients will change, because we are becoming more aware everyday.  That means there is still such a possibility of Discovery with Food."  -Piero Selvaggio


5.  "Going to the Market is more important 
     than going to a 
     Fancy Restaurant." ~Barbara Tropp


6.  "You know we fixate on the food so much itself: 'Oh, the Ultimate Brownie or the       ultimate this or that- Well, let me tell you something- Its all poop in about 12 hours, Okay?" - Alton Brown


7.  "We May Live without friends; 
        We may live without Books; 
             But the Civilized Man Cannot Live Without Cooks" 
                  ~ Meredith Owen


8.  "Tell me what you Eat, And I will tell You what you Are." - Brillat Savarin


9. But the Fruit of the spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self control; against such things there is no law. -Galatians 5:22-23


10.  "When you Stand up for what you believe in, 
         with Grace and Humility, 
          incredible things can happen." 
             ~Colleen Patrick Goodreau

Monday's Plate- Or Should I say Bowl :)

Intro to Baking Class has been quite an adventure so far.... quite basically though- I love it!  Every single class has had its successes and also some challenges too.  I tend to be a very focused little lady when it comes to production time in the kitchen.  Being the people pleaser that I am- I like to present flawless products of my hard work.  Together with my class partner Rye, we both pay very close attention to the recipes, ask Chef Fred lots of questions and do our best to simply show our competence in each assigned task.  Each week we go into the bakery with every intention of creating delicious results that look good too.  So far we have developed a significant number of "high-five" goodies, but there have been a few not so proud moments too. These are the wonderful ways "Team 8" is demonstrating to the class what your products should NOT look like:


-Flattened Biscuits- I already can't remember why this happened- I guess I blocked it from my memories it was so traumatic- though they did taste good!

"Flat Biscuits" vs. "What the should look like"

-There was A Muffins episode where the batter exploded from the cups with a lava oozing appearance over the side- The oven temp somehow had been turned down 50 degrees cooler which was determined to be the culprit.


-Scones with dried cherries that were good for the most part- but we didn't chop up the dried cherries enough so they didn't distribute through the dough all the way.- Minor issue

Cherry Scones- The dried cherries were in the freezer and hard to chop- next time get the cherries out sooner to thaw a little

-Coffee Cake that thankfully "did" release from the pan, but gave us an awful scare when Chef Fred initially tried to release it and it didn't budge.  (We didn't put parchment on the bottom of the pan, but thankfully Rye greased the pan good enough that it did finally release)

In the pan- before Chef Fred found out we did not parchment paper the bottom.

And then the Oatmeal Cookies....


These were supposed to be simple.  We "Mise en placed" our ingredients.  This means we gathered up all the components for the recipe and also the tools we would need to complete the recipe directions.  We creamed the butter and sugar flawlessly, and incorporated the remaining ingredients according to the directions and then put the dough into the walk-in cooler until the next class when we would have more time to bake them off.  In our minds we believed everything went according to plan, until we put the portioned cookie dough into the oven and set the timer during the next class.  Being the attentive students that we are we took a look at our cookie sheets turning in the roller rack oven after about 4-5 minutes.  Our expectation was to see a slight rise in the dough and the beginning of a spherical cookie that would be setting up and ready to brown.

Here is what we saw happen in the oven....

Instead what we witnessed was a catastrophic melting mess, and our beautiful oatmeal cookie batter spreading out over the entire pan surface into a carmelized heap.  WHAT HAPPENED!  Since Rye and I take a lot of pride in our work this was ultimately very embarrassing.  All we wanted to do was get those trays cleared into the garbage as soon as possible.  Ah, but Chef Fred discovered our blunder and together we tried to figure out what went wrong.  Did the batter get over mixed?  Was the batter too warm before baking?  Did we measure an ingredient wrong?  The mystery continued on into a third class day when we baked off the rest of the dough and banked on the mishap being warm dough.  We really were hopeful this was the case but to our dismay the dough once again flattened out and completely disappointed us for a second time.  

Only a Mother could love these ugly things at first impression, ah but the taste, now that is a different and very yummy attribute!

The difference is this time we took it a little easier and just reminded ourselves this is why we are students.  We are here to learn from our mistakes.  Take it as a lesson in learning and move on, oh and enjoy a moment of humility- just have fun with it!  The problem was most likely a measuring issue on the oatmeal- which also lended itself to some additional fun, a class inside joke.  Our cookies were the "lesser of two weavils."

Left side represents what our cookies were supposed to look like- Oh LOOK its cookie Monster behind me!

The funny thing is, the finished disaster actually tasted GOOD!  A very rich carmel flavored result that had a nice crunchy texture.  Everyone in the class decided it would taste good in an ice cream preparation.  I took it home and made a batch of homemade ice cream with the Oatmeal Flat Cookies mixed in.  My son Riley who is one of my reliable taste tester had this to say about the concoction:

"My Tongue Tasters are Dancing Mama!"  

Needless to say, He loved it!  So did the rest of the family.  I only wish we truly knew what went wrong so I could recreate those flat cookies. They could be a signature item in my creative arsenal someday- only if I can get my baking partner to sign off on it.  

Chef Fred during the end of the production looking at everyone's results and giving us his professional critique.

Chef Fred says that I should not worry about these trials and tribulations in my baking practice.  I think as long as I pay attention and learn from some of these unexpected outcomes, then I am on the right track to mastering the art of Baking.  The oatmeal cookie error did make a nice BOWL of ice cream.  I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow brings....

Tuesdays Top Ten- Did you know these products/traditions come from Spain?

For World Cuisine we are working in the country of Spain this week.  I thought it was very interesting to learn about some of the products we are using.  So here is a quick guide to some of Spain's finest- there are certainly more than 10, but these 10 are the ones I found to be most fascinating to me.  

1. Sherry - A fortified wine made in Jerez in southern Spain.  It is Spanish law that Sherry must come from this specific area.  Sherry is different that other wines because of how it is fermented.  After fermentation Sherry is fortified with brandy.  Sherry vinegar is only allowed to be made with wines produced in "the Sherry region."



2. Pimientos - In central Spain you will discover that the Pimenton is an agricultural main source of income.  Pimientos are prepared by slowly being dried over smoldering oak logs for 10 to fifteen days, then hand turned 24 hours a day before processing.  Spain uses the majority of their pimenton's to flavor Chorizo, but it is also put together for sale to consumers.



3. Valencia Oranges - Beautiful!



4. Paella - A famous dish from Spain- this dish consists of  rice cooked with seafood, chicken or rabbit, scented with saffron and combined with a variety of homegrown vegetables.



5.  Sangria - This is a red wine mixed with fruit juices.



6.  Bacalao- salt-dried cod that is a staple for Spain's cuisine and used in a variety of ways to flavor dishes.



7.  Saffron - The stigma of the purple crocus flower, intensely fragrant, slightly bitter in taste.  By soaking saffron in warm water it produces a bright yellow-orange solution.  This looks beautiful in rice dishes like Risottos and Paella.



8.  Horchata - "Valencia's softdrink"- An off white milk with a toffee-like aroma served cold.



9.  Gazpacho - Vegetable soup served cold and made with ripe tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, and garlic



10. Tapas - A custom that originated in Andalusia in Southern Spain.  Tapa actually means "cover" and the first tapas were simply hunks of bread used as covers over glass to keep out fruit flies.  Later on the tradition became more elaborate and developed into small portions of food both hot or cold.  This is one of my favorite ways to dine.  There are different local restaurants in the area that offer this type of service but to date my favorite restaurant to feature this type of preparation is San Chez Bistro in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Hands down this was one of the best meals I have ever had.  I suggest you make a reservation the next time you are in the area.




http://www.sanchezbistro.com/

Monday's Plate- Test Kitchen Trials

The Clock is Ticking..........

In just under three weeks The Students and Faculty of Great Lakes Culinary Institute, along with the support of very generous local businesses, local wine vintners and many other community members will host The 2010 Tasters Guild Auction on February 26th.  As a representative in the student category, along with my teammates Ray and Mike, we have been commissioned to creatively and efficiently come up with a theme, and recipes to represent the country of India.  Eleven more countries will also be represented at this event by eleven additional student groups.  Each groups main attraction and focus being the food and flavors of their specific country.  Beyond the foods our booth can be whatever we would like just so long as it is representative of the country we are cooking for.  A lot of time and energy will be required to cover all the bases, the most important element being the foods we will serve.  That is why we spent almost four hours today working in the school kitchen testing out our Indian cuisine.   We were praying that we would get the results we were looking for the first round so that we could move on to many additional important details beyond the food.

This is an Indian Chicken Skewer idea we are working on

India's Naan Bread, An Assortment of Chutney's, Coconut Rice and Samosas

Thankfully the testing was pretty successful.  We were able to produce all of our recipes and make some important decisions about what was going to work and what would need a little more tweaking to be perfect for the big night.  By the end of production today we were all exhausted.  It was hard work trying to fit so many different ideas and recipes into a morning.  Thankfully our team is fully committed to delivering a great tasting experience to our guests.  Just a little more work in the kitchen on our recipes and we should be all set to prep all 400-600 items for each of our 4 items.  That is 2400 total- WOW- we have a lot of work to do!

Last week was another busy week in both of my lab classes. In Baking we are starting to really get into yeast breads.  My group made bagels and then a couple different cookie doughs.  Other groups were working on brownies, baguettes, dinner rolls, and more coffee cakes.  It is a lot of fun to see what everyone is doing since each group has different recipes to work on.  This is a picture of a bunch of goodies I brought home from class- A Pan Rustique Boule, Chocolate chunk cookies, Ginger Molasses Cookies, French Baguette and an assortment of Bagels.  It was all very yummy!

In World Cuisine we worked on Recipes that featured the British Isles.  This includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.  To me this cuisine is very much like comfort food with Shepherds Pie and Savory Fish Dishes made with Salmon.

My Classmate Ray working on Piping Mashed Potatoes for the Shepherds Pie

Salmon in a Puff Pastry with a Wilted Spinach side

Grilled Salmon with an Orange Sauce and Braised Red Cabbage

This is the line up of plates once everyone has presented their plates for the Chef Instructor to evaluate.

Fennel and Red Onion salad with Tarragon dressing- I loved this!!

The work load for school is getting to be very heavy now, but I am trying my best to stay a week ahead in my homework and reading.  I am very much enjoying my classes and being a culinary student.  This experience is really tough at times, but I love the challenge.  It feels so great to accomplish all these things and to be learning so much from such talented and skillful teachers.  This program I am enrolled in is amazing, the support and encouragement from all the staff is priceless!

Chef Steph -Taste Testing our Hard Work

My Armenian Roots- A World Cuisine Class Paper -

“Are you an Indian girl?”  You look like and Indian!” said the two nine-year-old boys to me in the elementary school lunch line.  I didn’t know what to say because nobody had ever asked me that question before and they obviously weren’t inquiring because they were actually interested if I was an Indian.  These statements had an intention of teasing me.  At nine years I had not figured out how to interact with these boys without feeling just plain hurt.  Their laughing at me could have made me feel very self-conscience, but little did I know that this very moment would turn out to be one of my life’s defining moments, thanks in part to an amazing rescue by my best friend Ashley. 

            The defense I didn’t know how to articulate came instead from Ashley who, with hands on her hips and in a very justified and prideful tone told those two boys “She is not an Indian stupid, Stephie is an Armenian!”  Her confident stance created a seismic shift within my heart, and for the first time in my life I felt special because of my family heritage and ethnic background.  Ever since that time I have carefully paid attention to the stories and information that make my Armenian heritage unique and special in the melting pot of this world’s diverse cultures. 

  

Grandma's 80th Birthday Party

            The majority of my memories that make up my personal ethnic background are centered on family gatherings and the food that we served at potlucks and summer grill- outs when we were together.  All of my experience with these delicious and flavorful Armenian dishes are directly the result of my Grandma and maybe even more so from my own mother who always incorporated the traditional elements of Armenian cuisine in our family dinners.  My Grandma Rose is 100% Armenian, my own mother 50%, making me a strong 25%.  The other nationalities and ethnic make-up I am aware of do not seem to carry the weight of my Armenian counterparts.  I also look the part of an Armenian with my darker traits: Brown eyes, brunette hair, olive skin tone. 

Me and my Sister Jen with Grandma during a visit

            Some of the foods I ate while growing up included Rice Pilaf, Shish Kabobs, stuffed grape leaves, baba ganoush, hummus and Baklava, just to name a few of my favorites.  When plans were made to have Grandma stay for a visit, or we were taking a trip downstate to see my mother’s family, rice pilaf was a staple within ever meal.  The pilaf that my family makes is rather simple and only contains salt and pepper as a seasoning, but this lends the pilaf dish an opportunity to be a foundation within a meal.  It tastes amazing with searing hot grilled shish kebob veggies lay over top.  As kids we loved to eat rice pilaf with corn on the cob, the combination was always delicious.

Stuffed Grape Leaves- Yum!!

            Grandma would always talk to us about her favorite places to get Greek type food where she lives in Warren downstate Michigan.  She always related it to Armenian cuisine.  This is probably because the Greeks and Armenians have historical influences on one another, and from what I have learned Armenian cuisine is rich in featuring Middle Eastern and Mediterranean practices too.

Me and my mom working in the kitchen

            I have had many conversations with my mom and grandma about our Armenian influences and even more recently about the cuisine.  I have a daughter now too and I hope to pass these same Armenian traditions on to her, especially since she inherited the appearance that outwardly sets us apart as Armenians.  She hasn’t told me about ever being teased like I experienced in third grade, but she is already aware that her Great Grandma Rose is very special based on where she comes from.  We all realize that now is the time to ask the questions and learn as much as we can from Grandma about where we come from.  Both of my children will tell you that rice pilaf is among their favorites when it comes to dinnertime and they are very aware of its special origins.  Apparently my Mom’s pilaf is still a little better than mine though, but she has 20 years more experience on me in that category, so that is OK.  

Tuesdays Top Ten- Adjectives for Good Food

As a chef, our only hope is that you 
will find that the food we so creatively
and lovingly prepare for you is either exactly what you expected or even more wonderfully and deliciously surprising than anything you have ever experienced before.  There are certain words we wait in anticipation to hear.  There is such great power in words that there is only one exception to words and that is a clean plate.  

Otherwise we wait to hear what you have to say so that we know whether or not we have hit the mark or if we need to go back to the kitchen cutting board and rework our preparation.  This top ten is once again in no particular order.  I thought it was interesting to see the definitions of these words and think about why they are so important to any of us who enjoy putting together ingredients to make good food.  We all slice and dice, bake and cook, or decorate and compose food for different reasons and people.  No matter the reason we decide to work with food, we do it in order to taste something pleasing and to also sustain our lives and the people we prepare it for.  -All definitions courtesy of:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com

1. Delicious -  adj. Highly pleasing or agreeable to the senses, especially of taste or smell.

2.  Yummy - adj. yum·mi·er, yum·mi·est Slang

    Very pleasing to the taste or smell; delicious. 

3.  Tasty - adj. tast·i·er, tast·i·est

1. Having a pleasing flavor; savory.

2. Having or showing good taste; tasteful.

4.  Lovely - (My class teammate Ray loves this word) 
         adj. love·li·er, love·li·est

1. Full of love; loving.

2. Inspiring love or affection.

3. Having beauty that appeals to the emotions as well as to the eye. See Synonyms at beautiful.

4. Enjoyable; delightful.

5.  Scrumptious - adj.

Splendid; delectable

6.  Pleasant - adj. pleas·ant·er, pleas·ant·est

1. Giving or affording pleasure or enjoyment; agreeable: a pleasant scene; pleasant sensations.

2. Pleasing in manner, behavior, or appearance.

7.  Luscious - adj.

1. Sweet and pleasant to taste or smell: a luscious melon. 

2. Having strong sensual or sexual appeal; seductive.

3. Richly appealing to the senses or the mind: a luscious, vivid description.

4. Archaic Excessively sweet; cloying.

8.  Enticing - en·ticed, en·tic·ing, en·tic·es

To attract by arousing hope or desire; lure:

9.  Mouthwatering - adj.

Appealing to the sense of taste; appetizing: the mouthwatering aroma of a baking pie.

10. Delightful - adj.

Greatly pleasing.

Some Runners- up (These words don't necessarily roll off the tongue, but they will work too)


I would love to hear of any you think I may have left out?


Delectable
Appetizing
Appealing
Lip smacking 
Palatable
Edible
Toothsome
Tempting
Attractive
Alluring
Interesting