BarcellonaBites

Watch Out Easter Bunny

We cooked rabbit for a French menu tonight. Perfect timing. Even had carrots as as side dish. Thought that was a bit ironic. Luckily I didn't have to fabricate it. They look like little kitty bodies. Didn't touch them. Didn't eat them. I had chevre (goat cheese) mashed potatoes and French style carrots for dinner. Went sorta vegetarian for a night.

Involtini di Zucchina

OK, it just means stuffed zucchini. A really yummy appetizer that we made tonight. You cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides to make little boats. Then you pipe in the cheese mixture after you cut them into bite sized pieces. Simple, impressive and tasty. Again, forgot to take a picture. I'll try to do better next week.

Zucchini Stuffed with Herb Goat Cheese

Salting the Zucchini
2 lbs zucchini, sliced in half lelengthwise and salted generously (rinse & dry before stuffing)

Grilling the Zucchini
Use salted, rinsed and dried zucchini from above
Coat with 3 oz olive oil and grill
Cut into desired length for service

Mixing
10 oz fresh goat cheese
1 TBS fresh rosemary, minced
1 1/2 tsp garlic, minced
1 TBS fresh thyme, minced
2 oz heavy cream
to taste black pepper
Mix all, place in piping bag and pipe into zucchini boats

Baking the Stuffed Zucchini
Drizzle olive oil over stuffed zucchini
Roast at 375 degrees for 2-3 minutes to heat

Tomato Coulis
Make is a food processor
6 ripe concasse (peel and seeds removed)
4 oz extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Put into a squirt bottle and squirt over the top of the zucchini in a nice design.

Lemon Heaven

I made a lemon souffle tonight that was to die for. The chef actually moaned when she ate it. Totally surprised that it was so easy. I was so into it that I forgot to take a picture. But here's the recipe. You'll wow your friends with this one.

LEMON SOUFFLE
1.5 oz All Purpose Four
1.5 oz Unsalted Butter
2 oz Butter
1 cup milk
As Needed Butter
As Needed Sugar
4 ea Eggs
1.5 tsp Lemon Zest
5 ea Egg Whites (at room temperature)
1 oz Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Work the flour and butter together to form a smooth paste.
3. Dissolve the sugar in the milk and bring to a boil. Remove from heat.
4. With a wire whip, beat in the flour paste. Beat well to make sure there are no lumps.
5. Return the mixture to the heat and bring to a boil, beating constantly. Simmer for several minutes until the mixture is very thick and no starchy taste remains.
6. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl. Cover and let cool for 5-10 minutes.
7. While the mixture is cooling, butter the souffle dishes well and coat with sugar. Use 7-8 single portion dishes.
8. Quickly beat the egg yolks and lemon zest into the milk mixture.
9. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture forms firm, moist peaks.
10. Fold the egg whites into the souffle base.
11. Pour the mixture into the prepared souffle dishes and smooth the tops.
12. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes.

Yield: 7-8

The End of Nutrition

Thank goodness tonight is the end of our nutrition segment because I am falling asleep in class! And I sit in the front row, so that's not very polite. But, seriously, this is so boring because it is just a dump of information.

On a fun note, I did one of the menus from our final on Saturday. man, it was hard, but the food was fantastic -- cream of broccoli soup, chicken breast with mushroom sauce, noisette potatoes, grilled zucchini with balsamic and chocolate mousse. My mousse was too chocolaty, as if that can happen. I'll probably make it one more time before the final. Our practice final is next Thursday. I have less than one month of school left. Yahoo!!!!! Then I'll have a sort of normal life. I do have to work at Bidwell Street Bistro in Folsom 30 hours per week for six weeks. I'm nervous but excited about that. I'm sure it is totally different actually being in a restaurant. The culinary school is a very safe place to be.

And, oh, yeah, I have a 100% so far in the class. I need to go into the final with 100% because I hear it is nasty and Chef Sandra grades really tough. That's my goal. I want to keep my record of Dean's List clean for the final MOD.

Nutrition

I'm so bored in class right now. I'm falling asleep. Learning about nutrition. Important, but dull. Wish I was in the kitchen making something cool. Got confirmation that I made Dean's List last MOD tonight. Only this MOD to go. I've heard the final is a killer in this class, so it may be my first non-Deans List. Hopefully not. We don't go into the kitchen until Tuesday. Then it's all international cuisine. I'm going to try some of the final menus this weekend to see how it goes.

Southern Broccoli Salad

This was a big hit at the grand buffet. It would be great for summer get togethers or pot lucks.

1 tsp salt

1 lb broccoli

1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds

1/2 cup cooked, crumbled bacon

1/4 cup red onion, chopped

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

1 cup mayonnaise

2 TBS apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup honey

Bring a large pot of water, salted with 1 tsp of salt to a boil. Add the broccoli florets. Cook 1 minute. Don't over cook or it'll get mushy. Drain the broccoli immediately and put it into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Let cool and drain.

Combine broccoli florets, almonds, crumbled bacon, chopped onion and peas in a large serving bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, cider vinegar and honey. Add dressing to the salad and toss to mix well. Chill thoroughly before serving.

Serves about 7-10 people.

Cream Cheese Biscuits

12 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Combine the above ingredients by hand or food processor. Divide the mixture into 1/2 cup proportions and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll out one portion at a time to approximately 1/8" thickness. Cut into bite sized biscuits (1 to 1 1/4 diameter) and place on an ungreased cookie sheet 1 each apart. Bake in 425 degree oven until light brown (10 to 12 minutes).

Wedge Salad with Buttermilk, Basil & Blue Cheese Dressing

1 large head of iceberg lettuce, picked of its outer leaves and cut into 6 wedges

1 recipe Buttermilk, Basil & Blue Cheese Dressing (recipe below)

Crumbled bacon & Crumbled blue cheese

Grape tomatoes

Plate each wedge. Drizzle with dressing. Sprinkle with crumbled bacon and blue cheese. Garnish with grape tomatoes. Salt & pepper to taste.

Dressing

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 tsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp salt

2 TBS honey

2 TBS cider vinegar

1 TBS plus 2 tsp julienned fresh basil

1 cup crumbled blue cheese

Freshly ground pepper

Combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, buttermilk, garlic, salt, honey and vinegar. Whisk lightly to blend until smooth. Fold in the basil and 1/2 cup blue cheese. Season to taste with pepper and more salt, if desired. After the lettuce is tossed in the dressing and put on salad plates, sprinkle the top of the salads with the remaining crumbled blue cheese.

Grand Buffet

 

Here I am serving my friends and family at the Grand Buffet, which was our final exam for MOD 4. We did food of South Carolina. It really was super tasty. The menu included cracklin oysters, wedge salad, broccoli salad, sweet potato risotto, southern egg rolls, tipsy chicken, molasses bourbon short ribs and buttermilk biscuits. It was five of my classmates last night before they either leave school or go on to the CAP program. We did amazing as a team, but our substitute chef only gave us a 92 out of 100. I think it dropped a lot of students to lower grades than they expected. It dropped me to a 95, which means I just made Dean's List. Yahoo! I'll post some of the recipes for you guys.

 

Bill, Isabella and Maddie enjoy my food!

Charcuterie

Never heard that word before school. And, frankly, I could live without it. Those good old French, inventing disgusting foods. Charcuterie is themaking of sausages and what's called forcemeats, which is the mangling of meats, mushing them with other things and then sticking it into some kind of form. Generally a yucky food week. Although, I did make smoked salmon, which everyone said was good. This week we're preparing for the grand buffet on Thursday. Family and friends get to come. Yea!