Anthocyanin & Fifth Wheels...

Anthocyanin, the Pigment that makes red vegetables red! Red beets, Red cabbage, but NOT tomatoes! The pigment is determined by the inside color of the vegetable not simply the exterior. Tomato's are actually in the yellow/orange category and that pigment is Caroteniod! Acids and Alkali's effect each vegetable pigment differently so it is important to understand what happens to the product when you add either. Acids make red vegetables more red, while adding alkali's will turn them blue. That is your science lesson for today!





It has been a VERY busy week! We have been working with Grains, Vegetables & Potatoes. All total we were to complete 22 different recipes throughout our class time this week. There were a few I didn't get to so this weekend will be reviews of those here at home.



Monday we were broken into new groups, 4 people per team. The good thing with Monday ...there were 9 people absent from class and we actually have ample room to move and work. Our class is extremely large and therefore space is tight. My frustration is that these conditions were not discussed during my application/interview process. In fact, just the opposite! I was assured that class sizes were held to a 25-30 person limit. Not sure how 38 students in my class add up to that ... fuzzy math perhaps?! When Tuesday arrived and 8 of those 9 missing students returned the mayhem began! Our 4 person "working" group became 5. This student completely fits the definition of 5th wheel! "Any thing superfluous or unnecessary" according to Webster.





On Monday the four of us divided up the mise en place and prepared all the items needed to create our various grain recipes. Chopping onions, carrots, celery, and other items. Everything was ready and then we each just grabbed what we needed to prepare each assignment. Since that had worked SO well we decided to try it again for Tuesday. The challenge with Tuesday's vegetable items were that some things needed to be cut a certain way. Batonnet or small dice or bias cut carrots for example. We gave the task of the bias cut carrots to "fifth wheel" and she did NOT know what that meant!! WHAT? You can't understand what it means to cut a carrot on the bias? Did you not just complete Foundations I? UGH! So after a demonstration she was off and "walking". The other 4 of us were attempting to complete all the tasks so we could each have a stab at roasting, grilling, sauteing, & blanching our vegetables. I came home thoroughly pissed off. Too many of us to get to each technique. And some dead weight in our group that took up space we needed to work.


Wednesday I arrived with a new attitude and decided it was each person for themselves. I'll work on what I want to work on. These are my burners, this is my space, I came here to learn damn it and that is what I am going to do!! The group also thought this was a good idea and we were moving! I prepared my roasted beets, vegetables "jardiniere", artichoke gribiche, & "spinaci alla romana" (spinach roman style). Whew! The beets were not a huge success... I was told by "fifth wheel" that Chef tasted one and spit it out. Perhaps she was simply emulating Tom Colicchio (Top Chef Las Vegas) because I can tell you they did not warrant that! While a bit lacking in salt they were fine... and I don't even like beets! Oh, and "fifth wheel"... she managed to prepare one artichoke in 2 hours!





Thursday we moved into the Legumes section of our studies. I prepared the white beans bretonne style, lentils in cream and falafels! Each of my attempts were given a thumbs up by the chefs and I left class feeling very pretty good (and questioning if the "spit out beet" incident actually happened!). Friday it was potatoes! Pommes puree (mashed potatoes), pommes Anna, pommes Daufine & pommes frittes (french fries). My best dish of the day... Pommes Daufine! These things ROCK!! Here's what you do.... cut up and boil your potatoes, drain them, dry them a bit in a warm oven, mash them. Season with butter, salt, pepper & nutmeg. They will be sort of stiff because you are not adding a lot of butter. Once the flavor is what you want you add egg yolks. Mix all that together and hold in a bowl. The next step is to prepare the Pate a choux. You boil water & butter, then add flower and mix until you form one stiff solid ball. The ingredients must be weighed and scaled perfectly to create the right consistency. Once you have the ball you move it all to a stand mixer, let it cool slightly and add one egg at a time until it is a medium consistency batter. Add 1/3 lb of the Pate a choux to 1 lb of potato mixture and mix well. Fill a pastry bag with a 3/4" opening with this mixture and squeeze & drop 3 inch sections of this potato mixture into hot fat & fry them. Remove when they are golden brown, lightly salt & enjoy! They are this light-fluffy-delectable treat!! Both Chefs just grinned ear to ear when they tried my offering. I left feeling totally vindicated after a challenging week!! Oh, and "fifth wheel" ... mashed potatoes & an Anna. All with the help of her friends from 2 other groups....





Now, all the stress of there being too many students in my class & not enough space did cause me to request a meeting with the school's big wigs. I was encouraged to do this by one of my current chef instructors; they too feel the same frustration but realize that the paying student has a bit more power to affect change. So, Thursday morning after class I met with the Executive Chef and shared my concerns & challenges regarding the overcrowding of the class. He was open to hearing what I had to say and it seems that there are plans in the works to reconfigure the space to accommodate more teaching kitchen space. Friday during class the Schools President paid a visit ... I wonder if my meeting did gain some attention? While none of the changes to the schools structure will come soon enough to fix my situation I did feel better for having voiced my frustrations. At least my dollars are at work.... humm?



My mom had been visiting from Indiana and departed this week too. Over the weekend we had a chance to see some sights. We cooked and ate & spent some good visiting time. I am missing the little elf that would prepare my uniform for me each day and keep up on the laundry, square away the house and scoop the litter box!! Oh the joys of mom's visits! We share birthday's in October so our week-long visit was our gift to each other. She was able to see first hand how lovely I look in my uniform (costume) and the mess I can make out of all those white clothes in a 3 hour period! George, Olive & I are settling back into our routine. I know that they miss having her here too. George is back to licking his tail due to separation anxiety. And Olive... well, she's just Olive.


Recipes of the week....


Barley with Wild Mushrooms & Ham


1/2 oz dried Porcini mushrooms
2 oz hot water
1/2 oz oil
2 oz onion, small dice
2 oz. celery, small dice
5 oz. barley
1 pt. brown stock
2 oz. cooked ham, small dice (could use bacon!)
salt, to taste



1) Soak the dried Porcini mushrooms in the hot water until soft. Drain & squeeze them out. Reserve the soaking liquid. Strain or decant the liquid to remove any sand or grit. Chop the mushrooms.
2) Heat the oil in a heavy pot, add the onion & celery. Saute briefly.
3) Add the barley and saute briefly ... enough to coat them with oil (similar to rice pilaf method).
4) Add the stock and mushroom liquid. Bring to a boil. Stir in the chopped mushrooms and the ham. Salt to taste.
5) Cover tightly. Cook on top of the stove until the barley is tender & liquid is absorbed, 30-45 minutes.





Spinaci alla Romana





3 lbs Spinach
3/4 oz olive oil
3/4 oz prosciutto
3/4 oz pine nuts
3/4 oz raisins
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste


1) Trim the spinach, cook in a small amount of boiling water until wilted. Drain, run under cool water & press out excess water.
2) Heat the oil in a pan. Add the prosciutto & render the fat.
3) Add the spinach, pine nuts, raisins & saute until hot.
4) Season with Salt & Pepper. Serve immediately.

I enjoyed nibbing on both of these recipes during class this week and hope you'll enjoy them too! Next week we finish potatoes, move to pasta & then eggs. We'll finish up the week starting to work on meats. Only 3 weeks of class left for this rotation. That means the "mystery basket" final is only 15 learning days away.... It's moving very quickly!!