Everything Pumpkin

I've been on this ridiculous pumpkin kick since Starbucks started serving their pumpkin spice latte. I've bought fresh pumpkin, canned pumpkin, and various squashes that are pumpkin-y. On top of the savory dishes I've concocted with and around pumpkin, I've been making bread for 2 months . I'm actually tired of it, but I'm holding out for thanksgiving until I bust out pies.

Here are a few things I've come up within the last month.

Whole  wheat and flax seed pumpkin bread

Pumpkin rosemary and orange zest risotto

Roasted garlic and pumpkin bisque

Pumpkin, sausage, and sage torte

More pumpkin yummies to come. Also, recipes to come!

One month left

It's been about 9 months since my last post, and a lot has happened. I will start with the present and then work my way backwards as I see fit.

My life nowadays has consisted mostly of school. I'm in the final 5 weeks and its been passing much faster now that the holiday season has come. School has been interesting...I've learned how much I know and how little school has provided me. There have been Aha! moments when it comes to running a restaurant, but overall I've mostly learned to hone my skills and realized how little others know about cooking (or foods in general). Most of the students who go to this school come to learn how to cook. What should be happening: Students coming in have basic skills to build off of. Unfortunately, money prevails in this society and they can't turn away people willing to learn.

What truly upsets me is how I can ace my practicals and exams while others fail and we both still end up in the same class, graduating at the same time. The school may as well hand us a degree on our first day.

One positive thing about this school had been the networks I have gained. After my first month I was already offered a job at a high-end restaurant as a cook. Naturally, I went in to stage, which is a hands-on interview in which you show your skills, and can last from 1-6 hours. This was a great experience, seeing as the majority of my cooking had been in a domestic kitchen without much pressure. I managed to do what I do best at home. When the dinner rush was finally over, I was offered the job as garde manger.

Working at BLT wasn't very difficult. It was easy to acclimate and perfect the tasks. I worked there for 6 months until I realized it was taking away from school time. I barely had time to go to hang out. Even though school has been easy, I was paying a lot of money for it and should give it more attention (even if most others did the opposite). I may as well show them how awesome I am, rather than half ass everything, which is uncharacteristic of me when it comes to food. So I quit on good terms with my boss, and focused on more creative foods in my own kitchen. When it comes down to future foods, I'd rather be cooking my own food anyway.

This brings me back to the present and my holiday creative cooking to be continued and documented (mostly) on my blog (finally!).

Culinary School: The beginning

I have completed my first two weeks of culinary school.  It's been very mellow.  The first three weeks are in a classroom, learning about cooking history, cookware, French cooking jargon, some principal recipes, and of course safety and sanitation.  More interestingly, they are teaching us imperative information if we want to open our own restaurants one day or run a kitchen as an Executive Chef, which I think is wonderful. 

Of course, with the kitchen right there I have an itch to cook, but it makes sense how they've structured it so no one gets hurt or is oblivious to such terms as mirepoix, mise en place, or chinoise.  The teachers have no idea what we know, so they just stuff us full of said knowledge and test us on it.  Then we are allowed to touch sharp knives, hot pans, and meat grinders.  =)

I will say that I know a lot of information they've asked us to remember, but there are things I didn't know and that I may have done/learned the improper way.  That's why I'm here, to hone my skills and technique.  I don't know everything, so here I am, an open book, hungry and waiting.

I will be sure to update my blog in the next couple of weeks.  Hopefully I haven't  burned myself too badly (although it happens every time I cook anyway, I'm just tempering my skin) or made ground Winlee out of my hand. 

Also, I've made up a couple of recipes in the past few weeks that I'll be typing up soon.

Happy cooking!

Braised French style chicken with beet greens and sage sweet potatoes

I guess it's about time I wrote in here.  I plan on writing in here more often because I'm starting culinary school in nearly a week.  I've acquired a job at a casual fine dining restaurant and their plating and fresh local products inspire me to be more innovative in my cooking (moreso than I already am, how about that!) .  When I go to the grocery store I roam around for things I don't normally use (or think of a more interesting way to cook the normal vegetable/meat).  Tonight I picked up beets, radish sprouts, a whole chicken, and sweet potato.

Tonight I decided to make chicken braised in white wine, brandy, whole garlic cloves, and thyme.
I placed it atop a bed of sauteed beet greens with carmelized onions and sage sweet potatoes.

Here is the rough recipe

1 whole young chicken (abou 2-3 lbs)
2 cups chardonnay or pinot gris
3-4 T brandy
10 garlic cloves, peel and left whole
large pinch thyme
1 large sweet potato, chopped
pinch sage
beet leaves from 6 beets, roughly 6 cups
2 shallots or 1/4 sweet onion, julienned
Butter
1/4 cup cream
1 T flour

Divide chicken into 2 breasts, 2 thigh/leg quarters, and 2 wings.  Pat dry with towel, salt and pepper, and sear on both sides (med high temp) in 2 T butter and 1 T olive oil in pot or dutch oven until browned on each side, not fully cooked.  Remove from pan.  Add garlic until browned.  Add all of wine and 3 T brandy.  Scrape bits from bottom.  Add chicken back to pot, set on low heat, sprinkle with thyme, cover and cook for 30 mins.

While chicken cooks add butter to a saute pan on medium heat.  When butter melts add sweet potato and coat with butter.  Add a pinch of salt and sage.  Continue to cook until al dente, evenly cooking and stirring.  Remove and keep warm.  In the same pan, add 2 T butter (or olive oil) and put on low heat.  Add onion and cook until browned and caramelized, stirring occasionally.  Increase heat to med high and add beet greens, stirring.  Add pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste.  Cook until just wilted.
Remove and keep warm.

When chicken is finished remove the pieces and whisk in 1 T flour and 1-2 T brandy, depending on how much the sauce has reduced already.  Increase heat to medium.  When it starts to bubble, add cream.

Time to put together the plate.
Greens on bottom, sweet potato on greens, one piece of chicken on top, ladle gravy over.  Serves 4, or 6 if you cut breasts in half.  Enjoy!

(Sorry I didn't take a picture.  Visualize it!)

A Little Pot of Sicily

Since living with a family in NZ I've had the unique and fortunate opportunity to cook whatever I desire.  I took a recipe that I'd acquired from a Sicilian doctor during my stay in the village of Fornazzo.  She'd made me the most delicious dish that I asked for the recipe, in hopes to duplicate it one day.  This time I decided to use the recipe as more of a reference, as ingredients are always dependent upon the country/region in which you live.  Thus, I made a pasta sauce and meatballs in the Sicilian-style.

I began with some pretty fantastic, low sugar/acid tomatoes from the garden.  I blanched them, a easy process, and peeled and partially seeded them (they had very few seeds).  Then I threw them in a huge pot with a bunch of fresh basil and an entire bulb of garlic, chopped.  I let it simmer for a while.

The meatballs took a little more effort.  I made a mixture of pork and beef mince to change up the flavor and moisture.  In Sicily they use Pecorino, a very dry/hard cheese, more often than Parmesan.  I substituted Parmesan.  Finely chopped some parsley, beat an egg, and mixed it all up.  Now, this seems like a fairly normal recipe, but the Sicilian secret is the sweet and sour sauce.  That's the name they call it.  Now, if you're thinking some kind of Chinese sauce, that is incorrect.  It's a mixture of Balsamic and sugar.  It gives excellent sweetness, acid, and flavor.  It's mixed into both the meatballs and the sauce.

I cook the meatballs two ways:  pan-fried and broiled.  On the stove is more traditional, but less aesthetic.  The others look like they are on steroids or something made in a Italian restaurant chain.  When they are halfway cooked, just enough to keep their shape, I put them in the sauce and simmer for a few hours.

The results:  Delicious and rustic.  Spoon over more sweet and sour, as desired.  And I desire it, for sure.

The Infamous Burger

Whilst traveling in New Zealand I've come across several Kiwis that have mentioned this awesome place for burgers.  Everyone knows this place and says that it's a "must" in Queenstown.  When I finally made it down there, I knew it had to be done.  

I had a Fergburger.  

So this place is packed.  Hardly any seating.  A line out the door.  A huge list of weird burgers on the wall. Now, when I say "burger" it means anything between two buns.  Such as a fish or chicken sandwich.  These are called fish burger and chicken burger.  I know, the Kiwis are weird.  I guess it's just easier, plus it sounds cooler when they say it.  

I scour the burger list and decide I should go big or go home.  I order a double Ferg, but I made Bernie split it with me.  I know this thing is going to be massive and I don't want to be waddling out of this joint.  We order that and some chips (fries) with wasabi aioli and await this monster.  We watch them make burgers on the line.  Some with pineapple, fried egg, or beetroot (some with all).  

It finally comes.  I look at the burger tower, admire it and bite.  It's juicy and delicious.  Everything one would want in a burger.  I accompany my bites with the chips and we enjoy the rest of it.  Sat there for awhile and pondered my existence in that burger joint...no, not really.  I walked out full and happy.  I was glad to eat there.  Or was I?  

Later that afternoon my stomach was yelling all sorts of things.  It was not happy.  That night I attempted dinner.  I made myself ginger tea and took echinacea.  What is happening?  I laid in bed for the next week and made frequent trips to my porcelain friend living in the bathroom.  We became quite close.  I barely ate and drank ridiculous amounts of water.  When I finally set aside my stubbornness to see the doctor, I found out that I had, in fact, had a parasite.  It was near the end of it's run by then, so I just waited it out.  After getting back to normal (sort of) I decided the Ferg was infamous in my book, just not in a good way.  

Roasted Chestnut Cheesecake: A Labor of Love

I thought I'd start this first post with something epic.  A first of mine and probably the last.  I decided to finally make a food blog and this is an idea of what type of cook I am.  I don't hold back and I sometimes make things no one else would dare try or give the time of day.  I'm just someone that loves food, cooking, and drinking.

So I decide to make this cheesecake.  Not any old cheesecake, but a roasted chestnut cheesecake.  I was inspired by the idea after picking up 2 lbs of fresh chestnuts in Queenstown off the side of the road.  Now, I'd never actually made a baked cheesecake without assistance (I'd always had my mother there), so I was in for a surprise on how difficult it was going to be.  This is no frozen cheesecake method.  No, that would be TOO easy.  I chose this recipe from Nigella Lawson, whom is a brilliant cook.  I kind of flinched at first because it wasn't until after I began that I remembered how elaborate all of her recipes were.  Oh, well.

First thing I had to do was roast these nuts.  Before that I'd have to cut little Xs in them.  Let's say it was about 70 nuts.  Then I roast them for a bit.  After that I try to peel them, but it's not so easy.  So I plop them in some milk and boil them.  It wasn't until boiling that I realized it was much easier to peel these bitches while they are hot.  Like scolding hot.  I'm convinced my fingerprints were seared off, actually.  After re-heating the milk and peeling for about 3 hours I'm done.  Next:  making puree.

The puree was pretty easy to make.  Threw in the nuts, some of the milk, a splash of brandy and some sugar, processed it.  It was delicious.  The new Nutella.  A much classier spread than peanut butter and way more yummy (and I love pb).  I fold the puree into some room temp cream cheese and lay it on top of this special crust I made out of digestive biscuits, spiced cookies, and butter.  The crust, alone, could be eaten by the spoonful.  I finally pour it all into the springform pan laden with cling wrap and then into a foiled boat of water.  If you've made cheesecake this way you know how temperamental this set-up is.


I put it in the oven.  20 minutes later the oven turns off.  It's overheated.  Fuck!  I leave it in there to try and...the oven was smoking.  This is an OLD ass oven.  It kind of does what it wants and only likes to work on specific settings (ie not the setting I want).  I pull it out eventually and hope for the best.  I refrigerate it overnight in hopes it comes out okay.  What a nightmare.  All this work.

The next day I cut a piece.  It's fine.  I made a brandy and chestnut sauce.  I spoon it over each piece and we have it after supper.  Success!  It's rich and decadent, melts in your mouth.  It was an experience making it, but it'll be the first and last.