shallow poach

It was one of the first days that I didn't want to go to class, and that was only because I could barely stand for 10 minutes without my back hurting, much less lift heavy bones, and pots, and etc that we do in class everyday. But I'm glad I went... we made flounder paupiette, sauteed spinach, glazed carrots, and rice pilaf.

We got to fabricate our own fish today, so we cut the fillets off the whole flounder, which was good practice of what we learned in fish. 

I made a batch of veloute for the class. It's fish stock thats combined with a roux (butter, flour) and thickened:

Chef Johnson filleting a flounder (which we all did):

Rolling it into a "paupiette":

Chef's demo plate:

My carrots glazing:

My flounder fillets rolled into paupiettes:

Bed of shallots, garlic, peppercorns, and parsley stems that the fish steams on:

My completed plate:

father's day

There are guest speakers and Chefs here that remind us what a great opportunity we all have to be at the best culinary school in the world. My parents are the two people I could never thank enough for being able to fulfill my dream and come here, and today is dedicated to fathers. My brother in law says that my sisters, dad, and I write cards like hallmark, but its really impossible to say in words what my dad has meant to me, and everyone who has met him, and I'm not sure if he ever realizes it. 

I truly look to my dad as someone I admire as my hero. I could never even aspire to be like him, but continually try to better myself in that direction as well as surround myself with people who have his qualities. From the stories he tells me about jumping off roofs with his cousin as a child to his quest to make my mom, sisters, and I completely happy, I can safely say God doesn't make 'em like that anymore. He used to tell us that he wanted to be known as Mahsa's dad or to be recognized as having my sisters and I as daughters but every time I meet someone who knows my dad, they know him for him. I see the nod, the smiles, the air of comfort and thankfulness that comes across their faces when they talk about him. They go on and on about his generosity, strength, and courage, and everyday I strive to even be an ounce of the person he is. In every aspect of his life he sets good examples for my sisters and I, and I'm sad that I can't be with him today to try to show him how blessed I am for having a dad like him.

I actually tried to think about the perfect gift to get my dad, though after years of birthdays and holidays, I've deemed that impossible. I take after him, it's not about the material gifts or anything that can be purchased, its the time spent with someone that makes me happy. Talk about someone who is hard to shop for. It's because nothing is quite worthy of him. It's the same way with my mom. Maybe they think its my aversion to shopping that doesn't allow for me to get them shiny presents on mothers or fathers day, but it's not. Its simply the fact that nothing is good enough for them. How do you give a gift that expresses thanks for devoting their entire life to making ours possible? To working 13 hour days, 6 days a week and still being a coach, mentor, advisor to me when I need it. To being the voice of reason when it is so often needed, with the added compassion and warmth that he is known for. Someone so tolerant in an intolerant world that gave us the room to grow into the women we are today. And I just hope one day I become the daughter he is recognized by.

Happy Father's Day Daddy, I love you.

Our song

submerge poach

On Friday, we learned the method of submerged poaching and put together our first plate, complete with protein. 

The trays ready to make julienne vegetables, tourne potatoes, poached salmon in court bouillon, fish fumet (stock), and Bearnaise sauce.

My julienne vegetables ready to be cooked

Little present of salmon being poached in a court bouillon:

Chef's plates:

And mine:

It was Korean at the Asian kitchen on Friday and I got Bulgogi, Korean beef.

I'm pretty sure I lifted one too many boxes/big stock pots and pulled some kind of muscle in my back. I've been out of commission for the day and hope to get better soon, because I can't do anything right now...

eggscellent

We went through dozens and dozens of eggs today. To present, we had to make poached eggs with hollandaise, over hard eggs, over easy eggs, and a 3 egg omelet. It all seems easy to the home cook, but trying to get 9 eggs onto one plate cooked in 5 different ways all hot at the same time presents some problems. I was glad I have the flipping part down, so I just had to focus on timing everything at the same time. Since it was a rush to the finish (everything happening in about 5 minutes total), I thought I took a picture of my final plate, yet it didn't come up when checking my camera later. They looked fairly close to Chef's demo, though they were all on one plate.

I also made a chorizo, black bean and pepper side dish for our family meal today. Here is the mise en place for it:

This box of eggs was full at the start of the day. We only had about 2 flats left over.

Chef demonstrating how to make omelets, it took him 45 seconds to make his:

My poached eggs in their ice bath while I finished off all my other egg dishes:

These are chef's demo plates (which we had to duplicate). This is the poached eggs with hollandaise and eggs over hard:

3 egg omelet and over easy eggs (no color on these at all):

As a class, each group of students made a dish, here they all are:

Huevos Rancheros:

And deviled eggs:

And eggs benedict:

va bene

Class today made me miss Italy a ton. We did fresh pastas and each team made a different sauce, Emily and I made bolognese. It's made up of three types of ground meat cooked with mirepoix and some tomato paste & puree, with some brown veal stock added. I made tomato pasta, regular pasta, and used some of my friends spinach pasta to make Iran flag ribbons :-D

Spinach Pasta:

Rolling it out:

Filling ravioli:

He also put some parsley in between pasta and rolled it out:

Eggs and fine ground semolina are all you need for fresh pasta:

This is my tomato pasta, just simply add 1.5oz of tomato paste into the dough:

Meanwhile our bolognese mise en place:

Then as it simmered away:

After the dough rested, we rolled it out on hand operated pasta makers:

I combined 3 types of pasta and cut ribbons out as the flag of Iran:

I also made tortellini:

On the left are the baby bow ties I made and on the right are the orchiette, "little ears":

There is also my pappardelle, wide pasta noodles added to all the types I made:

Here are all my pastas cooked and ready for presenting to the chef:

bran keeps you regular

We made all sorts of rice today. We did a pilaf style, boiled rice, risotto, jardiniere vegetables, poivrade sauce, and brown veal stock. It was a pretty busy day, but I'm glad that in my life as a persian, rice is ingrained into my soul. Since our production is more hectic and we have to present (at least) four dishes at the same time, I have had less time to snap pictures of the process, but I always have pictures of my final plates.

During our lecture that prepped us for tomorrow, we talked a bit about fiber and its role in our diet. I'm pretty sure yall know about how fiber is an important part of our intake to keep our digestive tract going and help wash out the particles that build up along our intesinal walls. This being said, have you always been trying to get rid of your belly fat with tons of sit ups and without success? Well thats because it was your large intensines and not fat. Next time, try some extra fiber in your diet, since not enough can lead to colon cancer, (number 3 cause of death in the US).

Here are my onions sweating for pilaf:

And when its done:

Here is my risotto:

And my jardiniere vegetables sauteed in some whole butter (here is where our knife cuts come in handy):

 

Here are Chef (left) and my plates (right) side by side:

I was pretty full after tasting my rice dishes, but stopped by the Asian kitchen and got some chicken: