I MADE IT THROUGH MY FIRST QUARTER OF CULINARY SCHOOL!

On the first day of class this week we made the following recipes:

Rosemary Grilled Shrimp

Grilled Vegetables

Southwestern Black Bean soup

Pork Chimichurri Kabobs

The second day of class we had a dry run of what our final is going to be next week. Here’s what we did (For the actual final we only did chicken chardonnay) We had two hours to complete all of the following dishes (most of the class was about ½ hour behind including myself.) Luckily these are all recipes we have already done in class because I do not have any pictures from this night because I was to busy cooking!

Roasted Chicken w/ Pan gravy

Chicken Chardonnay w/ chardonnay sauce

Cream of mushroom soup

Whipped Potatoes

Glazed carrots

Broccoli with Hollandaise sauce

ON TO THE NEW STUFF:

Rosemary Grilled Shrimp

Serves 6

finished shrimp on skewers

2 sprigs Fresh rosemary

½ # Shrimp, 16-20 count (approximately 9 pieces), peeled and de-veined

Salt and Black Pepper TT

½ tsp. Minced lemon zest, yellow part only! (optional)

Olive oil as needed

1. Strip the rosemary leaves from the stems and chop the leaves.

2. Season the shrimp with salt and black pepper.

3. Toss the shrimp with the rosemary and a small amount of oil (and zest if desired) until the shrimp are lightly and evenly coated with oil and the rosemary is evenly distributed. Allow the shrimp to marinate for 1- 2 hours.

4. Preheat the grill. Arrange the shrimp on the grill and cook until the shrimp are cooked one-third of the way through and have attractive grill marks, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Turn them and repeat. Remove the shrimp from the grill when they are still slightly underdone in the middle; carry over will continue cooking them. Do not overcook the shrimp or they will be tough and dry.

You may use rosemary stems as skewers if you like. If you use bamboo skewers, soak them first, and wrap the ends lightly in foil to help slow down burning.

shrimp on the grill grillin!

NOTES: The shrimp was super easy, after simply tossing it with rosemary, salt and pepper and some olive oil – we let them sit for about 20 min and put them onto skewers. Each side grilled for approximately 2 min on each side.

If your shrimp is frozen it is best to defrost them in cold water.

When shrimp is fully cooked they turn pink.

If using wood skewers – make sure to soak them in water beforehand.

Grilled Vegetables

plated grilled vegetables

½ red bell peppers, seeded and halved

¼ yellow squash (about ½ pound total), sliced lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick rectangles

¼ zucchini (about 3 ounces total), sliced lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick rectangles

½ Japanese eggplant (6 ounces total), sliced lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick rectangles

2 mushrooms

2 green onions, roots cut off, trimmed to 3” length

1 oz. olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 t. balsamic vinegar

¼ garlic clove, minced

¼ teaspoon chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

¼ teaspoon chopped fresh basil leaves

1 pinch finely minced fresh rosemary leaves

1. Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or prepare the barbecue (medium-high heat).

2. Brush the vegetables with 1/4 cup of the oil to coat lightly.

3. Sprinkle the vegetables with salt and pepper.

4. Working in batches, grill the vegetables until tender and lightly browned/charred all over, about 8 to 10 minutes for the bell peppers; 7 minutes for the yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, and mushrooms; 4 minutes for the green onions. Arrange the vegetables on a platter. The key to getting those great grill marks is to not shift the vegetables too frequently once they've been placed on the hot grill.

Dressing

2 T. canola oil

2 T. balsamic vinegar

2 T. garlic

2 T. parsley

2 T. basil

2 T. rosemary

salt and pepper TT

1. Whisk all except salt and pepper together. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Drizzle the herb mixture over the vegetables. Serve the vegetables, warm or at room temperature.

veggies on the grill grillin!

NOTES – The veggies were super easy as well. The most important part is cutting them to a big enough size that they don’t fall or shrink too much but not big of size where it takes to long to cook all they way through.

Southwestern Black Bean Soup
yield 2 qts

finished black bean soup

½# Dried black beans, soaked

Sachet:

1Bay leaves

1 ½ t. Dried thyme

5 ea. Peppercorns, cracked

2 1/2 qts. Vegetable stock or water

2 t. Canola oil

2 oz. Onion, diced

1 ea. Garlic cloves, minced

1 T. Anaheim chile, diced

1 t. Jalapeño or serrano chile, minced

½ t. Cumin, ground

½ t. Coriander, ground

½ t. Dried oregano

Salt and pepper TT

Lime wedges as needed

Fresh cilantro, chopped as needed

1. The night before, soak the beans in a large amount of water, under refrigeration. Drain.

2. Combine the beans and stock or fresh water in a medium stock pot and bring to a simmer.

Add the sachet.

3. Sauté the onion, garlic and chile in the oil. Add to the stock pot.

4. Stir in the cumin, coriander and oregano.

5. Simmer the soup, uncovered, approximately 2 to 3 hours. The beans should be very soft, just beginning to fall apart. Add additional water or stock if necessary.

6. Puree about half of the soup, LEAVE THE REST AS WHOLE BEANS!!!!

7. Then stir the puree back into the remaining soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

8. Serve in warmed bowls garnished with lime wedges and chopped cilantro.

NOTES: For this dish we used pre soaked beans- they still took FOREVER to cook. Our barley cooked in time – in fact probably only have of the beans really did. We ended up mostly serving the broth – so that chef could taste the flavor.

With this dish you have to have A LOT of time to cook the beans. Do not add salt to the beans because this can slow down the cooking process and keep them hard.

Pork Chimichurri Kabobs

Serves 4

finished Kabobs

Chimichurri is a thick, fresh herb sauce from Argentina, where it is traditionally served as an accompaniment to grilled meats. In this recipe it is used as both a marinade and a sauce.

Chimichurri Sauce:

4 Garlic cloves, peeled

¼ # Onion, chopped

1 ½ oz. Fresh lemon juice

2 T. Dried oregano, crushed

1 large bunch Fresh parsley, minced (The whole bunch!)

6 oz. Olive oil

2 oz. Sherry wine vinegar

1 t. Salt

¼ t. Red pepper flakes

½ t. Black pepper

1# Pork loin, boneless, trimmed

1. Combine the sauce ingredients in a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse until the ingredients are thoroughly blended, but not pureed. The mixture should be slightly coarse.

2. Cut the pork into 3/4-inch (2-centimeter) cubes and place them in a non-reactive pan or Ziplock bag. Add only three-fourths of the chimichurri sauce and stir thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours. Reserve the remaining sauce to serve with the kabobs!

3. Remove the pork from the marinade, discarding any marinade left in the pan. Arrange the pork on eight skewers. Cook on a hot grill, turning as necessary to cook thoroughly and brown evenly.

Serve with black beans and rice and the reserved chimichurri sauce.

Variation:

Use boneless, skinless chicken or cubes of lamb shoulder meat in place of the pork

pork on the grill grillin!

NOTES: There were a few things that we could have adjusted in our sauce. We used to much oregano – and instead of using dry we should have used fresh.

Our meat was cooked really well. I tried a tiny piece of this as well – and it was okay – kind of chewy.

To go with our pork and shrimp we made a an ORANGE SALSA

It consisted of diced oranges, limes, onions and chopped parsley and garlic with lemon and lime juices. It was pretty tasty!

"salsa of the sun"

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Serves: 16 Serving Size: 8 oz

¼ # Onion yellow, diced

2 oz. Celery, diced 4 oz

2 oz. Leeks, diced 4 oz

1 ½ # Mushrooms, diced

2 oz. clarified Butter 3 oz

1 qt. cold Chicken stock

3 oz. prepared Roux, blonde

½ t. Salt

White pepper to taste

1 C. Heavy cream, heated

1. Sauté the mushrooms in the butter on high heat, until golden, in small batches.

2. Lower heat and add in all the batches of mushrooms, the onions, celery, and leeks

and sweat until soft.

3. Add the chicken stock, heat and add the roux, stir to dissolve the roux, bring to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Strain the veloute and puree the solids until completely smooth, adding some of the reserved liquid only if needed to puree the mixture.

Return the puree to the veloute and simmer for ten minutes.

Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Heat the cream and add the cream to the soup. Thin with stock as necessary.

6. Garnish just before serving.

NOTES- This soup was good – pretty simple to make. Mine ended up a bit to thick – I added cream in the end but forgot to add more stock to thin it out. It also needed a bit more salt. Sorry no picture :(

That is it for this quarter! Next quarter I am taking Intro to baking and intro to pastry!! It will be a fun 11 weeks get your workout plan in order so you can enjoy all the yummy sweets!