Day Five: Flambeeing Apples

As you can see from my first picture, today was exciting! We sauteed then flambeed apples in Calvados. I don't know if you can see the intense concentration on my face (or fear). It was slightly scary doing it for the first time but really fun. I wouldn't try it at home unless your entire kitchen is stainless steel. The trick is taking the pan of the fire, slowly pouring in the liquor, then tilting it toward the gas flame until the whole pan ignites in flames.

We used the flambeed apples in a Tart Alsacciane--an apple and custard tart from the Alsace region of France. The second tart we made today was a baked apricot tart. We also baked gingersnaps from the dough we made a couple of days ago, mixed more tart dough for next week, and prepared vanille kipferl dough. Vanille kipferls are an Austrian crescent shaped cookie made with hazelnut flour. We also made a batch of pastry dough by hand, using the sablage method of mixing it on the counter

My first week of pastry school is now officially over. I have a lot of information to process over the long weekend. Tonight JB and I celebrate five years of marriage at a restaurant whose executive chef graduated from my school. I'm thankful that JB's office is about a 10 minute walk south from the school. Every day after school I've been walking my tarts down to his office for him and his co-workers to enjoy. I hope they're not too tired of tarts, because more are coming next week! Lemon, chocolate, Bavarian cream, nut, rustic onion, tomato...

Day Four: More Tarts

Today we continued with our unit on tarts. The second picture is of the first tart we made, a tarte bourdeloue, which layers poached pears and almonds over creme d'amandes (almond cream). We poached the pears for about an hour in white wine, water, lemon juice, sugar, and a split and scraped vanilla bean. We cut and fanned the poach tarts on top of the almond cream and baked them. I took the picture before I lightly dusted it with powdered sugar.

The middle photo shows my second tart, the fresh fruit tart and my favorite of the two. This tart would be perfect for a warm summer day. It is layered with almond cream (creme d'amandes) and a thin layer of pastry cream (creme patisierre) and then topped with fresh fruit. We continued to practice our knife skills on the fruit. My favorite part is arranging the fruit on the tart, which is harder than it looks! Every piece of fruit must be evenly sliced and perfectly placed. There is definitely room for me to improve.

We also made a second batch of pate sucree for a tart we'll be making tomorrow--tarte alsacienne. For the tart, we'll get to flambee apples. I'll let y'all know if I set myself on fire.

Tarte A La Creme Banane

Here is my tarte a la creme banane in pate sucree, filled with creme legere, and topped with piped rosettes of creme chantilly. Or, if you are not at the French Culinary Institute, I suppose you would call it a banana cream tart, made with a sweet pastry dough, lightened pastry cream, and piped sweetened whip cream. It always sounds better in French, though, doesn't it :). I took this picture before I dusted on cocoa powder to finish it off.

We started today with the second half of our lecture on food safety by learning how to properly receive and store food in a commercial kitchen. We then made a gingersnap dough and left it chilling in the fridge overnight. We also prepared pate brisee, which is the classic french pastry dough. It is similar to pie dough and uses a bit of salt and very little sugar. We will use it tomorrow to make 2 tarts: a fresh fruit tart and a poached pear and almond tart. We will also be making chocolate pots de creme and baking the gingersnaps.

With respect to the apple tart I made yesterday, we finished the tart with apricot nappage to make it shiny. Apricot nappage is used by pastry chefs for that shiny finish you see on most fruit tarts, pies, etc. It is made by reconstituting the thick nappage over high heat with a liquid. You can achieve almost the same thing by cooking down apricot jam with a liquid and a bit of corn syrup, I think. One thing I love about this program is all the technical information we are learning about food. We don't just learn the recipe and then make it. We discuss the basic ingredients, the proper ratio of the ingredients, how they interact with one other, the purpose of each ingredient, and possible substitutions.

Now, I'm off to the gym.

Tarte Aux Pommes

I definitely don't claim to be an expert photographer. My pictures are just to show y'all what I'm making each day. Here is the tarte aux pommes, or apple tart, that we finished today. Looking at this picture, I already see things I know I can improve--it needs to be more browned, the rosette in the middle is a little to the right, I cut the apples a bit too thick, the apples could be more tightly layered. Agh! But setting aside the perfection this program is teaching me to aim for, I am kind of proud of my first creation. And it tasted good!

Today was another fast-paced day. We spent two hours of the day learning about food safety and sanitation. I think the scariest thing we were taught was about parasitic worms that live in raw and undercooked pork and can travel to your brain. Thankfully, I don't think we'll have to worry too much about that in making pastry and desserts, although I have eaten a bacon and dark chocolate bar before :).

We finished the day making creme patissiere (pastry cream). Creme patissiere, along with creme anglaise, are the 2 "mother sauces" of any French pastry chef. And if I have to make it a lot, I will have a seriously buff and muscular right arm. It must be whisked vigorously and continuously, as we were constantly reminded. And as the sauce thickens it gets harder and harder to whisk, but on you must whisk lest you get dreaded lumps in your cream. I think I know why all the contestants on Top Chef have sweat dripping from their nose. Tomorrow, we use the cream as a base for a banana cream tart. Ciao.

Day One

Today I started my six month accelerated program at the French Culinary Institute. It is exciting to be back in school after working for almost four years and especially exciting because this schooling is like nothing I've done before.

The 22 students in my class are from many backgrounds and nationalities. I'm really looking forward to learning from them and perhaps teaching them a few things about Southern desserts :).

Today we learned knife skills and practiced them by dicing apples for an apple compote. I don't think I'll be flying through fruits and vegetables like Hung on Top Chef any time soon, but I definitely thought learning the proper grip was useful.

The majority of the class was spent learning about the technical aspects of pastry dough and making pate sucree (sweet pastry dough). The dough is chilling overnight and tomorrow we'll use it to make an apple tart.

Everyone I talked to who has completed this program talks about how quickly it speeds by. After today, I understand that better. No second of class is wasted and every task is designed for maximum efficiency. It was a blast. Now, I'm off to purchase an electric scale--our recipes are measured in grams for precision.

Now 5 weeks and counting...

Change of plans. I am actually starting school May 24 instead of March 24. Until I start blogging about my experience, feel free to check out my favorite pastry blog to keep you company. I can only aspire to bake this beautifully....

http://cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/.

Naomi's Favorite Hummus

This is adapted from a Mark Bittman recipe:

2 cups drained canned chickpeas, liquid reserved
1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste), optional
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 to 3 cloves garlic, peeled
salt and black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon ground cumin or paprika, or to taste, plus a sprinkling for garnish
Juice of 1 lemon, plus more as needed

Put everything in a food processor or blender and puree; add the reserved chickpea liquid or water as needed to allow the machine to produce a smooth puree. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve sprinkled with cumin or paprika. Goes well with homemade pita chips and raw vegetables.

Butternut Squash Risotto

This recipe feeds 4 as a main course and about 8-10 as a side dish.

1 large butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled, seeded, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (you can often find pre-cut butternut squash to save time)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons olive oil
6 cups (about) chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
3 large leeks (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
2 cups arborio rice or medium-grain rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place squash on large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper; toss to coat. Roast until tender and beginning to brown, stirring occasionally, about 40 minutes.

Bring stock to simmer in heavy large saucepan. Reduce heat to very low; cover and keep stock warm.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in another heavy large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté until soft but not brown, about 10 minutes.

Add rice; stir 1 minute. Add wine and simmer until absorbed, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup hot stock; simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently. Add remaining stock 1/2 cup at a time, allowing stock to be absorbed before adding more and stirring frequently, until rice is tender and mixture is creamy, about 25 minutes longer. You can taste grains of rice throughout to determine when enough stock has been absorbed. If the grain is chewy, continue to add stock until it is soft.

Add cream and Parmesan; stir until heated through. Add squash. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

Grilled Salmon with Maple Glaze

This is my favorite way to prepare salmon. We use our grill pan but it works just as well to pan-roast the fish.

1 cup maple syrup
1/4 lemon juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced or grated ginger (if you're in a pinch, you can substitute 1 teaspoon dried ginger)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
salt and pepper to taste
canola oil
4 skinless wild salmon fillets

In a small saucepan over high heat, combine syrup, lemon juice, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and red pepper. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Reduce the glaze by 1/3 or to about 1 cup in volume.

Position oven rack in top 3rd of oven and preheat to 450.

Rinse salmon in cold water and pat dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spoon glaze on top of fish, using a brush to distribute.

In grill pan or regular pan over medium-high heat, add enough oil to cover bottom of the pan. Gently lay fish, glaze side down in pan and saute until glaze turns brown, about 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat and flip fish. Brush top of fish with glaze and transfer pan to oven until fish is done, about 4-6 minutes. Brush with any remaining glaze.

This is delicious served over a mixed green salad for a light meal or over rice.

Homemade Granola

After reading an article over at Salon about how cereal is made, we swore off that particular breakfast food. Instead, I've tried to prepare a fresh batch of homemade granola weekly to have around. We love to eat it with milk, over yogurt or with fresh fruit. It is so easy to make and so much fun to customize, I really don't know why I've never made it before now.

Standard Granola Recipe (this makes about 12 cups)

6 cups regular oats (not quick or instant)
1/4 cup wheat germ (optional but I find it makes the granola more clumpy, which I like)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter (if you use salted butter, don't add the above salt)
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 cup maple syrup (some recipes call for honey instead of maple syrup which also works, but I have found that we like maple syrup better)
1 cup nuts (use any kind you want but, being Southern, I'm partial to pecans)
1 cup dried fruit (some various dried fruits I've used before: cranberries, blueberries, cherries, bananas)

Preheat oven to 325. Mix the oats, wheat germ, cinnamon, salt and nuts together in large bowl. In small bowl melt butter, add the brown sugar and whisk, then whisk in the maple syrup. Add the syrup mix to the oats, stirring until everything is coated.

Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper (you can omit the parchment paper and just butter the pans, but I find doing that requires you to stir the granola more while it is cooking, leading to less clumpy granola). Spread the granola out over the 2 baking sheets. After that, I use my fingers to squeeze the granola into loose clumps. Bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring only occasionally to keep it from burning.

Remove from oven. The granola may still seem damp when you take it out, but after cooling it will become crunchy. Once it cools, add in the dried fruit. Store in an airtight container and enjoy!