Friday, February 12, 2010


Beef Stew and Vegetarian Barley Stew over Polenta
Apple, Celery Root & Parsley Salad
Banana Bread & Individual Apple Tarts with Lemon Cream

...and a plating with an extra special dose of hot sauce. Yes, we have found the hot sauce.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Filling The Table

Tiramisu can be a good incentive, even if it has no rum or zabliogne egg base in the filling.   We wanted to work on teamwork and the best way seemed to be to throw in as many cooking tasks in a short period of time  as we could - and select a menu that would appeal to a wide audience. A little bit of a mad house, but restaurants regularly have these moments.  What was great is that everything came together and you could sense the pride in our meal:

  • Tri-color Lasagne with Housemade Pasta & Sauces
  • Vegetarian Tuscan Soup
  • Mock-Caeser Salad
  • Tiramisu


What also came out of it was that first glimmer of hospitality.  We sent a plate up to our main office and yes, the positive cheers from up there hit home. Immediate sense of accomplishment and more.

When someone likes your food, it goes straight to your heart, right next to how it feels when someone cooks for you.  It can hook you into becoming a chef or loving to work in a restaurant.  But even if it doesn't, everyone deserves to have and then in turn be able to create these moments.


Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Discovery: Eating Together and Farmer's Markets

"I don't know what those greens were but they were the best greens 
I ever had in my life."  .... 3rd period new student

Our first week to plate, sit down and eat this semeseter and for our end of week meal last Friday:

Chicken Pot Pie (biscuit topping, not classic pie crust)
Sauteed Flowering Greens in Olive Oil & Garlic
Orange & Kiwi Salad with Honey & Fresh Mint

They liked it.

As to those greens, they tasted close to a rabe-like green, although the Asian farmer I bought them from called them sweet mustard.  If anyone knows what I can officially call them, please tell me!
(thank you Rainbow Grocery, it is called Gai Lan...)

Then Monday morning rolls around and all of a sudden, everyone is in class.  I usually have pretty good attendance, but rarely does everyone make class. Either there was really nothing else to do out there or word got out that we ate some good food.  Now, "What are we eating today?" has become the daily greeting, and this week I had to stall them - no cooking really until Thursday due to school testing, but it was a good chance to discuss and visit the farmer's markets with those who had completed their testing.

I used to think the produce this time of year would be like the weather, grey,  but the colors we saw were pretty astounding.  I had seen castel franco before, but this curly purple treviso...pretty exotic. The oranges practically jumped out at us from across the street. And the rainbow chard  and the watermelon radish slices caught our eyes too.  One of my favorite things about cooking is that the discovery, it never ends.