POTATOES

Whether you like them fried, baked, or in the shape of a pancake… everyone LOVES potatoes!

Day one of this week was dedicated to potatoes and more potatoes! We made:

Pommes Duchess (Potatoes Duchesse)
Pommes Anglaise (Potatoes Anglaise)
Pommes Frites (French Fries)
Gratin Dauphinoise (Potatoes Dauphinoise) aka Potatoes Au Gratin
Gnocchi

The word “pommes” in French (the direct translation) means apple of the ground.

First up Potatoes Duchesse

2 # potatoes, mealy
1 tbl whole butter
Nutmeg TT
Salt and pepper TT
1 egg, whole
2-egg yolk
Clarified butter as needed

1. Peel and quarter potatoes. Place in cold salted water simmer until tender. Drain and immediately turn them out onto a sheet pan to allow the moisture to evaporate. Don’t leave in water after they are cooled.

2. WHILE STILL WARM, press the potatoes through food mill. Blend in butter, season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

3. Mix in eggs and yolks, blending well

4. Transfer the Duchesse mixture to a piping bag, fitted with a large star tip

Pipe single portion- sized spirals onto parchment paper. Brush with clarified butter and bake at 375 F until the edges are golden brown app 8-10 min. Serve immediately

While making these – it was easiest to mix everything together by hand, and then put it in the piping bag. It was surprisingly hard to make evenly rounded “blobs” on the parchment paper.

Our second dish was
Potatoes Anglasie

2 # Russet potatoes
2 oz butter, melted not browned
1 tbl parsley, minced
Salt and pepper TT

1. Peel and wash potatoes, place them in cold water

2. Tour née the potatoes

3. Place them in cold water, add salt, and bring to simmer – simmer until just tender, drain

4. At service time, toss in melted butter and parsley – adjust seasonings. Serve immediately

This dish was the most difficult because it entailed cutting the potatoes in those dang 7-sided shapes that are extremely unnatural… and HARD! I attempted, they were not very pretty but they slightly resemble the proper shape!

The THIRD dish was everyone’s favorite
FRENCH FRIES

2# potatoes, Russet works best
Deep fat as needed
Salt and white pepper
Optional garnish- whatever your mind can come up with!

1. Peel potatoes, if desired and cut into desired shape- All potatoes cooked in the same batch must be cut into the same size and shape

2. Blanch in a deep fryer @ 250 F until the potatoes just start to color. Approx 2-3 min

3. Remove and drain

4. Spread the blanched potatoes in a single layer on a sheet pan. Place in the refrigerator until cool

5. For service, increase fryer temp to 390 F and cook blanched potatoes until golden brown

6. Season to taste. Garnish if desired.

Another option for blanching is to put the potatoes until tender in salted water (starting them in cold water). Let cool, and then blanch with steps as above.

Checking the oil temperature.

The French fries were a little harder then I thought they would be. Even though the recipe above says that in the blanching stage they should get a little bit of color. – This is not what you want. When they are in the 250 F temp you want them to cook but not brown – the trick to this is test your temp of the oil after the fries go in because most likely the temp will have risen, so you will need to turn down your flame.

Ours didn’t come out quite cooked enough – they were cooked and still tasted delicious, however they were not as perfect as they could have been.

FUN FACT: French Fries are the number one way potatoes are prepared. Our nation LOVES fast food, so most farmers grow the same type of potato in order to serve the needs of our cravings. However more and more farmers are starting to grow different potatoes as more chefs are have rediscovered different variations.

The fourth dish was:
POTATOES DAUPHINOISE

3 # Russet potatoes, sliced
whole butter, as needed
salt and white pepper TT
1/8 tsp nutmeg, freshly ground
½ # gruyere
14 oz cream, heated
10 oz milk, heated with cream
3 egg yolks

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into very thin slices

2. Place a single layer of potatoes in a well buttered half size hotel pan

3. Season with salt, white pepper and small amount to nutmeg - Sprinkle on a thin layer of cheese and potatoes and repeat until all the potatoes and ¾ of the cheese are used

4. Heat the half and half to a simmer

5. Whisk the egg yolks together in a bowl, then gradually add the half and half…while constantly whisking

6. Pour the cream and egg mixture over the potatoes. Top with remaining cheese

7. Bake uncovered at 350 F until potatoes are tender and golden brown – 1.5 hrs. Let stand for 45 min before service. (This allows the cheese to set)

Before going in the oven.

PROBLEM: We did not cut our potatoes thin enough, so they didn’t cook quite enough, again still tasted good but not as fully cooked as should have been.

SOLUTION: cut potatoes to about 1/8 of an inch.

THOUGHTS- I think that this dish would be good with a different kind of cheese, I personally don’t like how gruyere melts…and maybe a little bit more seasoning – something to kick the spice up!

Last but not least (and actually one of my favorites at an Italian restaurant)

GNOCCHI (serves 4)

1 # potatoes, russet or Yukon – baked simmered or steamed in their skins until very tender
¼ # AP flour
1 ½ egg yolk
2 T salt
nutmeg – tiny pinch

1. “Rice” the hot potatoes. Make a well in the center

2. Add half the flour, salt, egg and rest of flour

3. Chop in quickly with a scraper. Adjust with flour to be almost sticky

4. Form one rope and cut gnocchi. Boil to test

5. If too soft, add more flour to the mixture, add salt if needed.

6. Form the rest

7. Freeze on parchment in a single layer after cooking

8. To cook, boil in salted water till they rise to the surface

9. Shock if not serving immediately, Drain

10. You can also sauté the cooked gnocchi – but only use a small amount of olive oil.

NOTES: We did a few things wrong – we tried sautéing before cooking them, so we actually ended up pan frying them… which was fortunately a delicious mistake! The ones that we did end up boiling in order to cook were a tad over done…still yummy though! I wish I had some tomato sauce to enjoy it with!

Also our gnocchi was a little bit to long…when cutting; try to make small uniform shapes.

To “RICE” a potato means run it through a giant garlic like press…since most people do not have this in their kitchen, we used a food mill. The basic idea is to mash the potatoes and end up without lumps… don’t use a food processor though because this usually comes out to gooey.

OTHER FUN FACTS:
The egg and the flour keep the potatoes together.
When you freeze the gnocchi – you only need to flash freeze them about 15 minutes.
Below is picture of some salt, white pepper, and nutmeg … these three spices were used through out the night, so it’s easiest to just grab and season!

Stay tuned for: Mushroom Ragout, Polenta, Rice Pilaf, Spaetzle, and Steamed Rice.

EGGS

EGGS

This week will be a little bit shorter. On Tuesday we had a normal class but Wed was the midterm… more on that later! First lets talk EGGS!

I think I probably ended up eating 5 or 6 eggs and coking 2 dozen! We had to practice a lot!

Here’s what our night looked like:

Measurement quiz
Crepes
Eggs over easy
Oven roasted bacon
Hollandaise/ Eggs Benedict
French Omelet
French Toast

MEASUREMENT QUIZ

I wont bore you with the details of the test but here are the need to know measurements:

4 qts = 1 gal
2 pts = 1 qt
2 cups = 1 pt
8 oz = 1 cup
2 TBL= 1 oz
3 tsp= 1 TBL

From these you can figure out just about anything!

Fun Facts from the day: Add a little water to eggs to make them fluffy, add milk to make them silkier, but adding cream is the BEST!

There are 30 eggs to a flat. 6 flats to a case for a total of 180 eggs in a case! Each egg weighs about 2 oz. ¾ of an egg is yolk and ¼ is white.

HOW TO CRACK AN EGG WITH ONE HAND: hold the egg with your palm and middle finger. Tear open with thumb and forefinger. Crack the egg very close to the pan so that it goes in gently.

Mix your clarified butter with half canola oil and half clarified butter – no one will know the difference and it will conserve your butter, which is more expensive then oil!

During the summer eggs have less calcium so the shells tend to brake easier causing the egg to break. BE CAREFULL!

CRÈPES

2 eggs
2 yolks
4 oz water
7 oz milk
2 oz sugar, granulated
¼ tsp salt
½ cup + 1 TBL AP flour
4 tbl unsalted butter, melted

1. Mix together the flour, sugar and salt

2. In separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolk, water and milk

3. Whisk the wet mixture into dry, adding slowly as you go

4. Whisk in the melted butter

5. Cover and set aside min 1 hr. in fridge before cooking

6. Heat small sauté pan with paper towel, apply a light layer of clarified butter

7. Pour 1 – 1 ½ oz of batter, coat the bottom of the pan. A very thin layer. Shouldn’t bubble or sizzle

8. Cook unit it is set and lightly browned on one side 30- 45 sec

9. Flip and cook about 10 sec longer on the other side

10. Remove, stack, separate with parchment paper

11. If not using immediately you can refrigerate for a few days or freeze for a few weeks.

The difference between crepes and pancakes is the leaving agent (i.e. baking soda/ powder)

You want your crepes to not have any color other then the natural yellowish white color. The idea is to not have any brown.

When making crepes you can use either a crepe pan or a simple sauté pan. Since most you most likely wont have a crepe pan, it is best to master it in a sauté pan!

The batter for crepes needs to be made at least an hour before, but can also be made the night before. Make sure to refrigerate it!

Pour a very thin layer of batter on the pan… you can swirl the pan as you are pouring to get a thin even layer.

Once its set try flipping it, either with a straight back motion or with your spatula. CARFUL it’s delicate!

Adjust heat as needed.

Yes this has a little brown on it, but its still pretty good! And tasted delicious!

Once your crepe is finished you can do so many things with them. If you want sweet just simply add cinnamon and sugar. To make them savory: add smoked salmon and goat cheese… then fold it into a folded triangle shape.

To turn Crepes into a BLINTZ add a little sweetened cream cheese or cream cheese and goat cheese. Garnish with strawberries and whipped cream… YUM!

This is what a BLINTZ might look like.

EGGS OVER EASY

There is no recipe for eggs over easy because well all you need is an egg!

Put clarified butter in your pan, crack open the egg – very close to the pan. They higher you crack the egg the more chance you have a breaking it.

Once the thick part of the egg white starts to form to the thinner layer you’re ready to flip! Do this by lifting the pan off the heat and pulling back with the pan. You’re arm should go straight back… and the egg should flip! I know I know I didn’t think it could happen either but its does! Try It - once you master one egg try two …I think I went through a dozen eggs until I got it right!

OVEN ROASTED BACON

Bacon can done really well in the oven instead of frying it on the pan – why add any extra fat to it?!?!

The bacon in the top of the picture is just plan old bacon; the bacon in the bottom of the picture is covered in brown sugar and pepper.

Uncooked bacon on baking sheet!

Can anyone guess whats wrong with this baking sheet?? NO? The bacon should not be stacked on top of each other - 2 reasons. 1. This may cause the bacon to cook unevenly, 2. If this were for an event - by not having an even number of slices on each tray you may lose track on how many slices were cooked!

Eggs Benedict

1 English muffin
2 slices Canadian bacon slices ¼ inch thick
TT salt
2 tbs vinegar
4 fl oz hollandaise
2 truffle slices or black olive hearts
2 eggs

1. Toast English muffin

2. Sauté or griddle the bacon slices until hot

3. Bring 1 qt of water to simmer and add salt and vinegar

4. Add eggs and poach until done

5. Place muffins on a plate and top with bacon slices, place egg on top of bacon, cover with hollandaise.

6. Garnish with truffle slices or black olive hearts.

All right poaching eggs was kind of cool! Bring your saucepan to a medium heat – you want it simmering NOT boiling. The vinegar is what keeps the egg together! VERY IMPORTANT.

Special not there are really only 3 things you use vinegar for in a kitchen. 1. Poaching eggs. 2. Cleaning 3. Coleslaw – you don’t use distilled vinegar very often but when you do it is very important!!

When poaching eggs you want to use COLD eggs, also if you have the option farm fresh make a BIG difference.

You can poach eggs, then shock them in an ice bath and keep them for later by re heating them! It is helpful to have a timer while you are poaching eggs, because 30 seconds could make it or break it!

When it is down the egg should sort of plump up with you are spooning it out.

In a restaurant a Hollandaise sauce should ideally be made every 90 min. It is very fast to make should almost be made to order. If you order Eggs Benedict at a restaurant only do so early… because you want the freshest batch (because restaurants tend not to make it as often as they should.)

I always thought that I didn’t like hollandaise, but when I tried it all together with the egg and muffin it was surprising good!

FRENCH OMELET

French VS American

Unlike the American omelets the French omelets does not have anything inside (i.e. veggies, cheese) The French omelets is simply folded and rolled differently then the American.

You should use about 2 ½ eggs. That is whisk three eggs but do not use all of the mixture…save the rest for the next batch!

Should always make your eggs to order and always change out your pan between batches.

Whisk your eggs thoroughly. Use a low flame, and don’t let them brown. Don’t move them too much – let it settle in. Angle the pan downwards when flipping, and just do little flips at a time until it looks like the picture below!

Our chef also demoed FRENCH TOAST

For French toast you just scramble eggs, add a little bit of sugar or vanilla extract and pour it over the bread. Put that in a pan over medium flame… and let it toast! YUMM delicious!

Yet again we also worked on MAYO… it’s getting better and better every time! Here’s a picture from last night!

MIDTERM

The second night of class, we had our midterm. The midterm was broken into two parts. 1. Knife Skills test, which was the same as the last one. 2. The practical - we had to make Béchamel Sauce, Hollandaise, Mayo, and Beef Consomme. We were given an hour for each section. It was very difficult to get everything done in this amount of time - but I managed - So I at least did not score a zero on anything!

Next week we learn how to make FRENCH FRIES, GNOCCI, RICE PILAF, and much much more!!

Vegetables, Vegetables and more Vegetables!

I know you have all been waiting all WEEK for this! Well its finally here VEGETABLES! If you are not a vegetable eater then this is the best week for you to read because I am going to go over some EXCELLENT ways to have your veggies. We did a lot so here it goes:

· Tempura (Dashi)

· Steamed Broccoli

· Blanched green beans

· Grilled summer zucchini

· Roasted winter vegetables

· Braised Lettuce

· Glazed Carrots

· Squash stir fry

· Ratatouille

· Cauliflower au Gratin

· Pasta

TEMPURA

There are many steps that go into making tempura, there is the dipping sauce which includes the traditional Japanese stock DASHI, then there is the Batter which can be done many different ways (we did two in class), last but not least there is prepping your vegetables.

Dashi (1qt)

· 1 qt water

· 1” x 4” Kelp

· ½ C (packed) bonito flakes

1. Place Kelp in water, simmer then turn off the heat.

2. Take the kelp out, put the bonito flakes in water, when they sink to the bottom strain, and you are done!

USEFUL FACT:

· The white stuff on the kelp is MSG… wipe it off if you don’t want that flavor enhancement (many people are allergic, and also tends to cause head aches... no good!)

· Dashi is also the base for miso soup... yummm

Tempura Batter

· 9 oz (wt) AP flour

· 4 tbs potato starch (or sub cornstarch)

· 14 oz very cold club soda

· 1 cup ice cubes

· 1 egg yolk

1. Sieve together the tempura and potato starch

2. In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolk until smooth .Add ice cubes and the cold water and whisk together (ice cubes are there to ensure the icy cold temp that you want)

3. Lightly mix the flour and starch mixture into this liquid. The flour should not be beaten so that the batter is smooth. You want a LUMPY batter. – Use the batter immediately.

2^nd option for batter:

· Equal parts AP flour and pastry flour

· Club soda

This batter is much lighter, doesn’t need to be as lumpy – but not soupy. It also creates a much more flakier coating.

Vegetables: You can use whatever veggies you wish: here is what we used in class:

· Sweet potato

· Broccoli florets

· Mushrooms

· Zucchini

Once you have your vegetables cut and your batter made:

4. Coast vegetables in flour; shake off excess, before placing them in the batter.

5. Drop the vegetables in the batter a few at a time. Remove them from the batter one at a time and drop them into the deep fryer.

(If you are doing this at home you will most likely not be using a deep fryer – so a deep-sided pan or wok will suffice. Make sure there is enough oil in the pan that the vegetables have enough to be covered.

6. After they rise to the top (a few min) scatter some more batter on top of the tempura floating in the oil. This will make the finished product crispier

7. Listen to the sound of, and look at the size of, the bubbles in the oil to judge when the food has been cooked to perfection. The bubbles become smaller and the pitch of the bubbles gets higher when the tempura is cooked.

8. Cook until done. Remove and drain. Skim any bits of batter from the oil

9. Arrange the tempura vegetables on a serving platter. Serve the dipping sauce on the side.

NOTES/OBSERVATIONS

· The oil is ready when the batter sinks and returns to the surface within 3 seconds.

· If using sweet potato or mushrooms, they may take longer to cook.

· Keep your tongs out of oil.

· They shouldn’t brown – light and crispy!

· The best oil to use is canola oil, peanut oil, or sunflower oil because they all have a smoke point.

STEAMED BROCCOLI/BLANCHED GREEN BEANS

Both of these veggie dishes are pretty simple. To steam put the broccoli put it in a pot with boiling water – steam until tender.

Blanching is done by putting the green beans or any other vegetable you are using in pot of boiling water. Leave for a minute or two, then immediately put those vegetables in an ice bath. This leaves the veggies a tad crispier then if you were to steam.

TIP - when cooking broccoli (really any veggie) they cook best when they are all the same size, so if after cutting they are different sizes like these were either cook one bath or the other or cook them separately so that everything finishes at the same time.

FUN FACT: If you add baking soda to the water this helps green beans retain their color.

GRILLED SUMMER ZUCCHINI

· one or two zucchinis

· 5 oz extra virgin olive oil

· minced basil, thyme, rosemary

· ¼ tsp granulated garlic

· salt and ground black pepper

1. Mix the together the oil and herbs. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Remove a small bit of both ends of the zucchini

3. Cut the zucchini lengthwise into ½ “ thick slices

4. Brush the oil onto the sliced zucchini – both sides

5. Grill the slices on grill at an angle, switching angles to get cross marks. Repeat on other side.

Be careful not to burn or overcook zucchini!

ROASTED WINTER VEGETABLES

These vegetables were delicious and had such simple seasonings!

3 oz carrots, peeled

2 oz celery root (aka celeriac), peeled

3 oz turnips, peeled

2 oz parsnips, peeled

3 oz yukon gold potatoes, peeled

2 oz golden beets, peeled

3 oz, butternut squash, peeled and seeded

3 ea shallots, peeled – LEAVE WHOLE

2 ea garlic cloves, peeled – LEAVE WHOLE

1 oz olive oil

¼ tsp. thyme, dried

½ kosher salt

¼ tsp very finely ground black pepper

1. cut all veggies into medium dice or large dice

2. place the veggies, the whole peeled shallots and whole peeled garlic cloves each on its own sheet of aluminum foil

3. pour the live oil over each square of foil with the veggies and sprinkle them with salt, pepper and tiny bit of thyme. Toss to coat well. Add oil as necessary

4. pull up the 4 corners of each piece of foil to make a slightly open pouch. DO NOT SEAL THE VEGGIES COMPLETELY IN THE FOIL!

5. Bake at 375 F. for about ½ hour and checking to see which veggies are tender and lightly browned. Turn the veggies several times during cooking to ensure even browning. Do not allow them to become to brown, they may taste bitter.

6. As each pouch is done, remove it and leave it out to cool. When all the pouches are properly cooked, combine all the veggies together, reheat, adjust the seasoning and serve.

NOTE- Some may take longer to cook then other vegetables. Make sure all veggies are DONE when you take them out.

While we were cooking our parsnips and shallots took longer then the other veggies. The beets, squash, and potato took the shortest amount of time.

BRAISED LETTUCE

· 4 Romaine Lettuce hearts, small and firm

· 2 mediume carrots, peeled and sliced into rondelles

· 1 medium onion, peeled and sliced

· 3 oz bacon, or bacon trimmings, cut into thing strips

· 1 oz clarified butter

· 1 bouqut garni- (2 thyme sprigs, 3 parsley stems or sprigs, 1 bay leaf, 2 garlic cloves, celery, carrot and leek – all tied together in a sting)

· 2 ½ c white stock

· 1-2 tsp. arrowroot and water to make a slurry

1. Preheat oven to 300 F

2. Remove and tough outer leave and wash the lettuce well

3. Blanch in boiling, salted water for 5 min. Drain and shock

4. Cut small lettuces into 2 halves lengthwise, larger lettuce can be cut in half.

5. In the meantime, brown the bacon gently in the butter, until golden. Remove bacon from pan, set it aside, & add the onions and carrots to the bacon drippings. Cook slowly until the onions are translucent

6. Return the bacon to the pan with the onions and carrots

7. Place the blanched lettuce on top of the other vegetables in the pan

8. Pour in the stock and add the bouquet garni

9. Season lightly and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover the pan with parchment and then foil

10. Let cook for 30 min in 300 F oven

11. Remove the lettuce with a slotted spoon, allowing each piece to drain well. KEEP ALL THE LIQUID!

12. Arrange the lettuce on a warm plate, cover with parchment paper. Keep warm.

13. Boil the remaining liquid in the pan to reduce it by one third. Let it cool slightly.

14. Mix arrowroot (or cornstarch) with a little bit of cold water. Whisk this into the warm liquid; bring to a boil again, whisking the whole time.

15. Adjust the seasoning in the sauce and pour it through a chinois onto the warm lettuce.

step #9 the reason you cover the pan with parchment and then foil, is so that you avoid steaming the vegetables. If you were to just cover with a lid the space between the top of the lid and the product would be dead air and would create steam – you don’t want this

· The reason you thicken the sauce with cornstarch or arrowhead instead of flour is because flour will make it cloudy and you want it to stay clear.

· We made one mistake while making this dish. We reduced our sauce too much and the onion started to caramelize – the result was that the sauce that was left was very sweet and tasted really good, but the dish did not turn out like it technically should have. At least our mistake resulted in a good outcome!

GLAZED CARROTS

· 1 pound carrots, peeled and roll cut

· 2 tbl sugar

· 2 tbl butter

1. Place carrots in sauté pan so that the carrots are in one thick layer

2. Add clod water to just cover

3. Add the butter and sugar

4. Cover the pan with a lid and bring to a simmer

5. Remove cover and simmer until the water evaporates, the sugar starts to caramelize and the carrots are fork tender.

SQUASH STIR FRY

· 1# zucchini

· 6 oz mushrooms, button, fresh

· 1 tbs canola oil

· 2 tsp garlic, chopped

· 1 tbs oyster sauce

· Red Chili Flakes, TT

· 1 tsp sesame oil

· salt and white pepper, TT

1. Wash the zucchini, trim the ends and slice into battonet. Leave the skin on!

2. Briefly wash the mushrooms. Pat dry. Trim off the stems.

3. Heat the canola oil to smoking, in a wok or sauté pan.

4. Add the garlic and stir fry for a few seconds

5. Add the zucchini and mushrooms and stir-fry for 1 minute

6. Add the oyster sauce and crushed red chilies and continue to stir fry until the zucchini is nearly tender, approximately 1 to 2 minutes

7. Drizzle on the sesame oil. Toss and serve

At the beginning of each class we prep our items for each recipe that we can move through the recipes more efficiently. SO this recipe called for zucchini sliced into battonet and the RATATOUILLE recipe called for zucchini to be diced. WELL I accidently put the diced zucchini in the stir-fry, which was fine for the stir-fry but not so good for the Ratatouille.

RATATOUILLE

· 6 oz onion, peeled, medium dice

· 2 tsp Garlis, minced

· 3 fl oz olive oil

· 3 oz green bell pepper, medium dice

· 3 oz red bell pepper, medium dice

· ½ # eggplant, medium dice

· ¼ # zucchini, medium dice

· 3 oz tomato puree

· ½ # tomato concasse, medium dice

· 3 tbs fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

· salt and black pepper TT

1. Sweat the onion and garlic in the oil until the onion is translucent

2. Add the eggplant and cook on medium heat 5 min, at least until the eggplant no longer tastes raw and bitter

3. Add the bell pepper, and zucchini and sauté 5 more min. try not let it get to brown

4. stir in tomato puree, cover with a parchment round, lower flame and let stew until each vegetable is tender

5. Add the tomato concasse, basil and seasonings. Sauté for 3 min adjust the seasonings and serve.

So the mix up with the zucchini resulted in the zucchini getting way over cooked and kind of lost in the mix.

OTHER PROBLEMS: we had a few other problems with our Ratatouille. It ended up being too oily, and our peppers were a little undercooked. To SOLVE these problems obviously we should have used less oil to begin with and add more if needed. Next time I would add the peppers sooner so that they have more time to cook. That way everything would be done approximately at the same time , also managing the temperature better will also help with this problem.

CAULIFLOWER au GRATIN

· ½ head cauliflower

· 1 ¼ c Bechamel sauce

· 3 oz Gruyere cheese, grated finely

· mornay sauce is the small sauce made from béchamel and Gruyere in step# 4

1. Blanch the cauliflower until al dente. Shock

2. Drain EXTREMELY well, so that the liquid will not thin your mornay sauce, arrange in an oven-proof pan or serving dish.

3. The sauce must be warm and smooth when you are arranging the hot cauliflower in the dish

4. Take the warm béchamel sauce and whisk in half the grated cheese. Do not cook the cheese sauce over a high flame, as too much cooking might harden the cheese and make it granular

5. Pour the cheese sauce evenly over the cauliflower to coat it. This is not soup. Don’t use too much

6. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top

7. Brown in a 425 F oven for 12-15 minutes, or briefly under a broiler.

To avoid your cauliflower au gratin being watery after you blanch and shock the cauliflower dry it on a towel for at least 30 min if not over night. Pat drying it with just a paper towel isn’t enough!

FRESH MADE PASTA

We used two different recipes for making the pasta – one is by Thomas Keller a famous self taught chef.

· ½ # AP flour

· 6 yolks

· 1 whole egg

· 1 ½ tsp olive oil

· 1 tbs milk

1. Combine ingredients, mix well, knead dough. Roll out to 1 ½ for long pasta, and 1 for filled.

The second recipe is classic Italian recipe using Semolina flour

· 1 cup semolina flour

· 2 egg yolks

· 1 tsp olive oil

· ¼ to ½ c warm water - start with less then add more as needed

1. Put everything in center of the flour and gradually add water.

2. Knead for min 5 min

The Italian pasta dough should feel similar to piecrust when mixing it.

STEPS TO ROLLING OUT PASTA DOUGH

1. Place your pasta-rolling machine on a solid table that the clamp can easily fit in.

2. Start with 8 inch diameter circle (approximately)

3. Roll through (at dial 1, then fold to make a square, either in half or thirds

4. Roll through again

5. Go through each dial – never skipping on. GO in order!

6. Knead throughout, cut off ends about halfway through to make them straight

7. If it breaks apart go back a dial and re run it through

8. Stretch a little bit while running it through

9. Once it is desired length and thickness, put on the cutting component and pick which one you want (i.e. spaghetti, fettuccini)

10. If you want to make ravioli once you have the long strip place your filling on one half about an inch a part from each other, then fold over the other side and cut into squares- flash freeze ravioli before cooking to ensure them staying together

11. If you do not have a pasta roller – you can still make it! Make shapes like orecchiette, rigatoni, really what ever you want!

12. If you do not want to use all your pasta that day, let it dry and save it for tomorrow!

MORE FUN FACTS

· Basil chiffionade- makes a ribbon like cut, roll up 3-4 leaves into a cigar like shape and cut from there. – Good for garnishes!

· Basil is tender and bruises easily- if chopped to much you might end up with oxidized basil

· Basil should be kept at a 50 degree temp- don’t put in the fridge, let it hang out with the tomato on the counter!

· To make your own brown sugar – granulated sugar plus molasses.

We also made mayo again- one of my table mates Karyna's turned out great!

That’s all for this week – next week EGGS and BREAKFAST!