Culinary Boot Camp Week 2

Culinary Boot Camp Week 2 was non stop. There were 8 of us and we cooked in teams of 2. We made 3 main dishes and 3 soups. Our soups were made with the stocks we made last week. My partner and I made Potato Soup flavored with tarragon. The other soups were Shrimp Bisque and Cream of Mushroom. Our main dish was Chicken stuffed with Prosciutto and Mozarella. The other main dishes were Pork Schnitzel with Savory Tomato Sauce and Rainbow Beef. The techniques we worked on were breading, pan frying, sauces and soups.

My favorites were the mushroom soup and the chicken. The flavors in the mushroom soup were robust and earthy. The herb pan sauce for the chicken added wonderful aromatic flavors to an already delicious dish.

I had hoped to have a picture to show the dishes we made in class this week. I know I took the pictures but tonight when I went to download them...no pictures. Next week I will have pictures for sure!

Indoor Gardening - Week One

Last year for my birthday, Tim bought me an AeroGarden. I'd been wanting one for a while but held off because they are a little spendy. After several growing seasons with this garden, the expense is so worth it!!! You can have fresh lettuce, tomatoes or herbs all year long.




I planted my newest garden on October 8th. I am going to blog through the growing season of this garden. Here's what I planted and their germination time:

Lemon Basil - 4 to 7 days
Curly Parsley - 15 to 21 days
Genovese Basil - 3 to 7 days
Mint - 6 to 10 daysS
Sage - 7 to 10 days
Chives - 5 to 10 days

I've grown the chives, mint and genovese basil before. My chives have never done very well. The basil grows beautifully and the mint grew fairly well. I am anxious to see how these herbs grow. I hope you'll follow along with me!

Sticky Buns With Toasted Almonds - SMS

To bake or not to bake? That was my question for this weeks Sweet Melissa Sunday. I've never been very successful with yeast breads or kneaded doughs. However, the reason I starting blogging and joined Sweet Melissa Sundays was to try recipes that are a challenge for me. So I decided to bake and I am so glad I did. These sticky buns are so delicious.

I made a couple of changes. I used lemon zest instead of orange zest and honey instead of maple syrup. My dough came together nicely. I realized as I was rolling the dough, most of the doughs I made in the past were kneaded by hand before I owned a Kitchen Aid. With the assistance of the Kitchen Aid, I feel much more confident about my dough making skills.

I had a little trouble telling if these were done. I took them out after about 30 minutes. They did seem a little doughy on the bottom but were golden brown on the top. Maybe the honey was more liquid than the maple syrup would have been?

Thanks to Jen of Not Microwave Safe for choosing this wonderful recipe. You can find all of the creative and talented Sweet Melissa Sunday's bakers here.

Asian Sweet Potato Soup

I love to shop at Whole Foods. Unfortunately Whole Foods isn't in my neighborhood. I go there a few times a year, mainly when I am looking for a special ingredient that my local store doesn't carry. Today Whole Foods was having an in store soup contest. The Asian Sweet Potato was our favorite. Since we had our first snowfall of the season today, this soup was perfect.



Asian Sweet Potato Soup
Adapted from Whole Foods

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
1/2 inch of ginger, minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
4 cups vegetable stock
Salt and Pepper to taste
Toasted bread croutons*

Saute onions in olive oil until transluscent, add sweet potato, garlic and ginger. Toss with onions and oil briefly, then add stock. Simmer until sweet potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Garnish with toasted bread croutons.

*Whole Foods used a pumpkin pecan bread for the croutons.

What Season Is It??

Don't you often wish you were a meterologist? You can be wrong, a lot, and still keep your job. True to form, our meterologists were wrong last night. The forecast was for snow flurries.

I woke up about 6:30 this morning and noticed a little snow on the window. I looked outside and saw more than just a little snow. The ground was totally covered and so were the the trees. Amazingly some areas of town received as much as 6" of snow. Not the earliest snowfall on record but the earliest I have ever seen snow. It was a beautiful snow and as of the end of the day most of it was melted.

Chocolate With Francois

Do you love chocolate? Do you like to create new recipes? Join me in a creating the recipes in Francois Payard's book Chocolate Epiphany. We'll create one recipe a month. There's so many great recipes, some months we may create an extra recipe. I want to keep the group small, so we can all have time to read and comment on everyone's recipes!

Check out the new blogsite for details on the book giveaway and how to join!

Culinary Boot Camp Week #1

Although I have no regrets about the path my career has taken me, if I could start over I would go to culinary school. My dreams are to own a small restaurant where I would serve breakfast and lunch or to own my own bed and breakfast. Who knows maybe someday these dreams will come true? In the meantime, I am aspiring to become a more knowledgeable and proficient cook.

This week I began a series of 5 cooking classes entitiled Culinary Boot Camp. The classes are based on the book of the same name by Martha Rose Shulman. The classes are held at The Classy Gourmet. Colleen Cleek, the owner, was a contestant on Season 5 of Hells Kitchen.

Our class is small, six total students. Last night's class focused on knife skills, stocks and pan sauteing. I just want to be like a giant sponge and soak up all of the knowledge and cooking hints passed on by our instructor. Next week, I am going to remember to bring my camera.