day 111: stick a fork in me

I'm stuffed. Stuffed with all the culinary knowledge Le Cordon Bleu sees fit to bestow on me before throwing me out in the real world. I'm going to miss this group of misfits I've been cooking alongside everyday for the last six months. Some of these kids I think I'll be great friends with for a very long time, and some I will likely never see again...but all, I will carry with me the fondest memories of taking my first steps to pursue what I've always wanted to do, to cook.

day 110: korea: kalbi

What are Korean BBQ short ribs doing on our Chinese buffet?  I don't know, but I don't care...I just want to eat them with my mouth!  The marinade was dead simple: soy sauce, honey, sugar, sesame seeds, garlic, scallions, and the secret ingredient: kiwi. The acid made the ribs nice and tender without a braise.  Sohl suggested Asian pears next time I try it, as kiwis are hardly Korean.

day 109: japan: sake no miso

Today was one the funnest, most realistic exercises we've done yet. We fired our dishes like a real kitchen with Chef Watts expediting. I made the miso-marinated salmon with bok choy, and I glazed it with a teriyaki sauce made from soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar...delicious.

day 108: vietnam/thailand: gỏi cuốn and pad thai

Somebody shattered a bottle of fish sauce all over the floor today.  P.U.!  But I won't lie...I will straight up drink the stuff in the nước chấm, like the one I made for the the spring rolls below.  The Pad Thai got stir-fried chicken, shrimp, tofu, eggs and Phở noodles, tossed in a sauce of Tamarind water, palm sugar, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, chiles and paprika.  I finished it with the carrots, bean sprouts, scallions and cilantro.  Spicy, salty, sweet and sour deliciousness!

My Vietnamese spring rolls were stuffed with shrimp, Thai basil, mint, mung bean noodles, carrots, cucumber, bean sprouts and scallions.  The carrots I julienned really thin and let soak in rice wine vinegar, and I also added it to the nước chấm, which was just fish sauce, water, sugar, lime, chiles, garlic and ginger.  I would have felt quite silly to have messed this one up.  Fortunately, I did not.

day 106: india: masala murgh

Another day, another buffet. I thought my dish would be a lot more exciting because it actually had a protein in it, but it was all about the Samosas today...little fried pastries of spiced potatoes, onions and peas. The Masala Murgh is a braised chicken dish with plenty of onions and tomatoes, finished with yogurt.

day 105: middle east: baklava

Today was buffet day again, and again I made a beeline for the dessert. I made two different kinds: one with the traditional honey syrup, and one with a Meyer lemon syrup, which Shonna kindly brought in today. For the Meyer lemon one, I zested a bunch of the lemons and steeped that with the juice in simple syrup. Then, I strained out the zest, and candied it with the sugar and cinnamon nut mixture which went in the filling. It was DELICIOUS! Tart + Sweet = mmmm.  Baklava is a crowd pleaser, for sure, and I'm gonna give it another go soon with Kataifi, a shredded phyllo dough that makes it look like a Baklava bird nest!

day 104: italy: insalata di arance, caccuccio, osso bucco and risotto alla milanese

As a culinary student, I get asked all the time what kind of food I want to cook out in the real world.  It's a tough question to answer, and I usually shrug it off...but I secretly think Italian all the time.  Nothing is quite as satisfying as a big bowl of pasta...which, we didn't even make today.  Instead, we started with a Sicilian orange and fennel salad.  I tossed in some red onions and baby arugula for good measure.

Next was the Caccuccio, a Tuscan soup of shrimp, mussels, clams and calamari in a tomato soup.  My problem with seafood soups is that poaching seafood is never really flavorful.  So instead, I sauteed all my seafood in garlic and butter.  I also used the anchovies in the soup since it was on our cart.  Why not?  It made the tomato soup taste seafood-y without having to poach all my fish...which wouldn't have given up a lot of flavor anyway.  Again, Chef Watts ate a whole baguette slice...I love when she does that.  I toasted my crostini in a pan with clarified butter and rubbed it with garlic straight off the heat.  I channeled ITALY today!

And for our entree, we braised Osso Bucco and served with Risotto, both in the style of Milan.  I topped my Osso Bucco with Gremolata, equal parts minced lemon zest, parsley, garlic and anchovies.  The Risotto I made with saffron, and finished with parmesan, butter and Mascarpone, for extra creaminess.  Okay, maybe it should have been more SPLAT! than molded, but whatever.  Leftovers are gonna be delicious tonight!