Le Cordon Bleu - Lesson 8

After my rocky start to this week with my over done Sirloin of Beef Roast (not my fault - just putting that out there!), it was now time to get focussed to to get back on track!  Today's menu was Roast Rack of Lamb, and Ryan has been licking his lips for a whole week waiting for me to come home with this dish.   The rack was served with a Roasting Jus (meaning we're to scavenge any left over trimming and veggies we can afford to loose from our other ingredients to flavour our jus) and a Ratatouille Provençal.

Provençal is a province in the south of France where they like to use seasonal veggies.  It has a warmer climate and egg plants, zucchinis, herbs and lavender can be found there in plenty during summer months.  So today, we're pretending all these ingredients are 'in season' here too.

Our first job was to 'French' the lamb rack.  Initially when you buy a rack (that has not already been frenched) it is covered with sinew, meat and fat all the way to the top of the bones and it takes a good amount of time and somewhat gruesome effort, as well as wasted meat trimmings to get it looking like this.   Lamb rack is a premium cut of lamb, so all the extra bits that we chopped off were used in our jus.  Nothing was wasted, well maybe a bit of sinew and fat, which add nothing but extra grease and be strained off later.

The picture above is Chef's demonstration rack, notice how in this rack there is a large piece of sinew in the middle of the meat.  This is because this is one of the top ribs and the turning into the next cut of meat (separated by sinew), I think it's the shoulder blade.  I was luck to get one of the bottom 4 ribs, where there is now sinew present.  This means less trimming for the jus, but more yummy meat to eat!  So when ordering or buying lamb, ask for the bottom 4 ribs to get more meat for you money!

The ribs were encrusted with a parsley, breadcrumb and butter crust.  We sealed the lamb, layered on the crust with a bit of dijon mustard, roasted it until it was 55 degrees internal temp (this time using my thermometer) and then crisped it up in the salamander.  The lamb then rested for 5 minutes before we served.  This relaxes the meat and prevents it bleeding onto your plate.

Some more interesting facts (skip if you're sensitive about where your meat comes from):  Normal lambs are reared for under a year and are therefore called 'Yearlings'.  Spring lambs are normally reared for 3-5 months before slaughter.  Mutton is meat from a sheep more than 1 year old.  Lambs are not aged by time but instead by the number of teeth they have.

This is Jon, who has his workbench next to mine.  After presenting his lamb to Chef for assessment, he promptly walked back to his workbench, picked up his lamb and ate it!  I thought he was only joking, but no, he ate it all up.  Luckily for Ryan I waited until I was home to share mine with him.

Here is another picture of my lamb with the ratatouille.   For the ratatouille we fried all the ingredients separately in oil, so that there weren't too many in the pot at once, then added them all together with some chicken stock, seasoning and herbs and finished it off in the oven with a cartouche (wax paper shield) on top.

Tip:  Salt is a flavour enhancer, so adding it while you are cooking can help to extract taste from your meal.  Adding it after you have cooked will still help, but will not do as good a job and can just leave your meal tasting salty.

Anyway, today was definitely more successful than yesterday.  My jus was a bit black because I scrapped the sediment off pot with my whisk, but tasted good.  As for injuries, today I had 2 :( One burn on my poor left thumb, from the oven (ow!) and one cut from picking up chopped veggies with my 9" chef knife, and have now learned the hard way why you should instead use a pastry scraper to pick up your chopped items.   Luckily no blood was shed on my knife or food and after a little blue plaster patch up, i was ready to continue on.

I was so exhausted after coming home that I fell asleep around 9pm on the sofa waiting for Ryan to come home from after dinner drinks.  I am starting figure out why you're supposed to do this studying when you're 19!

Le Cordon Bleu - Lesson 7

Today's menu included Roast Sirloin with Chateau Potatoes, Glazed carrots and Sautéed beans and zucchinis, but sadly today I was not the the top of the class, and in fact had a a bit of a disastrous day.  Admittedly it wasn't my fault, but still.  An on the up side, I did take my disaster home and Ryan still loved it.

So, what happened?  Well, my workbench oven doesn't have a thermometer but instead a dial that reads 1-7, so i didn't have the temperature right for my roast sirloin, so head chef offered for me to use the electric oven, close to my desk.  This is a far superior oven compared to my workbench gas oven and chef suggested and showed me how to use the built in meat-internal thermometer attached to the oven.  I actually have my own meat thermometer that works pretty well, but according to chef, this one is really accurate.  Well actually it isn't because i waited and waited for my medium-rare sirloin roast to hit 55 degrees, but eventually we had a manual check and it was nice and hard, and also when checked on another thermometer read 68 degrees (medium well)  :(  Arg!  Also, my turning is a bit disastrous and well it's pretty hard to make a plate look attractive when the main attraction is a piece of leathery looking meat.  Chef said he wouldn't penalise me for the over-done bit and he said he though my veggies were done well, but I'm still sad!

But on the up side, Ryan was impressed with my turning (this is when you take a perfectly good veggie and cut most of it away until you are left with a whole bunch of barrel shaped, uniform sized smaller versions of the initial veggie), which is encouraging as he's already seen many attempts of mine.

Above:  This is Chef's beautiful pink roast sirloin

During the demo, Chef also demonstrated Seared Pepper and her crusted tuna with English spinach, picked ginger and roasted tomato.  We also got to try the Chocolate Semi Freddo that Chef Elke made during class last Saturday.  It was divine!!!  Yum yum, with fresh raspberries.

Above: Chef plating and serving Seared crusted Tuna

Chocolate Semi Freddo served with fresh berries and double thick cream. Yum!

Oooh, yummy vegetarian dinner

Hmmmm, so this might not be the healthiest veggie meal, but it was very yummy and conveniently used up a few odds on ends in our fridge:

I served this as 1/2 past and 1/2 salad, and this make enough for 3 portions of pasta and 3 portions of salad, but you could always enlarge it by increasing the aubergine (and not eating half of it while it's cooking) and the pasta.  Once the cheese is added to the pasta, its quite rich, so you don't need a mega portion (or what am i talking about? its so yummy, you'll go finish the 3rd portion in the kichen! ;)

Aubergine and Brie Pasta in a zingy tomato sauce
Ingredients
3/4 - 1 aubergine, diced (approx. 1cm squared pieces)
a splash of olive oil
a healthy shake mixed dried herbs, or pizza topping herbs
a generous pinch of sea salt
a tiny sprinkle of cayenne pepper

1/2 a jar of tomato pasta sauce (from the fresh isle section of the supermarket)
3-4 cups of cooked pasta shells
110g south cape brie (or any small triangle of mild brie), chopped into small pieces
1/4 bunch chopped (or chiffonaded) fresh parsley

Method:

1.  heat the olive oil and fry the aubergine until its crispy light brown with a few darker areas and soft the whole way through.  While it's cooking, add the herbs, salt and pepper.  Have the heat on medium, don't rush cooking the aubergine
2.  while the aubergine is cooking, cook your pasta (according to directions on packet)
3.  when the aubergine is cooked, add the tomato sauce.  take off the heat.
4.  when the pasta is cooked, drain and put the pasta back into the pot.  add the pasta sauce (with the aubergine) into the pot of pasta. add the chopped parsley and the chopped brie.
5.  serve while the brie is busy melting.

I served this with a light salad of ice berg lettuce, blanch julienned carrots, fresh broad beans, cherry tomatoes, lebanese cucumber, 1/2 avo, 1/4 bunch chopped parsley and a dressing containing the juice of one lime, olive oil and a splash of fish sauce.

Enjoy

Ode to Almonds

Ines bought this along to the Breakfast on the bridge last Sunday, and I just had to make it.  Thanks for the recipe Ines!  Ines also told me that by soaking the almonds, your body is then able to absorb up to 90% of the vitamins, whereas your body can only absorb up to 10% of the vitamins of an un-soaked almond.

So, this inspired me to do a bit of research and after a quick look on the interweb, I have found the following:

Almonds are considered one of the healthiest and most nutritious nuts of all.  They are a well balanced food, which are a great source of protein, fiber, vitamin E, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, calcium, magnesium and zinc.  They reduce blood sugar levels and free radicals in the body and play an important role in stabilising the state of a human being.    It has even been noticed that almonds reduce the risk of weight gain, if taken twice a week. 

Health & Nutrition Benefits of Eating Almonds
    * Prevent cancer as they are low in saturated fat.
    * Assist strengthening of bones as they contain protective nutrients like calcium and magnesium.
    * Protect against cardiovascular diseases and cancer as they contains phyotchemicals.
    * Reduces the risk of heart attack.
    * Help in checking blood cholesterol levels.
    * Good for the digestive system as they contain lots of fiber.
    * Reduce levels of homocystein (the amino acid thought to contribute to the build-up of fatty plaque in the arteries) as they contain folic acid.
    * Assist in controlling diabetes, by lowering blood sugar after meals.
    * Help to clean the body of free-radicals as they provide essential anti-oxidants.

However it is not all good news!  Almonds are difficult for most people to digest because of an enzyme-inhibiting substance in their brown coating, so before you eat almonds they should be soaked (or sprouted) overnight to remove the inhibitor so that the enzymes secreted during digestion can do their job.

How to Soak Almonds
It is best to use raw, organic almonds, but these directions can also be followed for blanched almonds too. Simply rinse your almonds and then cover them with purified water in a glass or stainless steel container overnight for 8-12 hours. Some websites recommend that you change the water and wash them every few hours, but as a minimum give them a good wash in the morning before you use them and throw that water away.  Once soaked, you can then drain, pat them dry with paper towel and refrigerate them in an airtight container, for up to 6 weeks.

How to eat them
Almonds are best combined with fermented foods, non-starchy land vegetables (especially dark green leafy ones) and ocean vegetables. They also combine with other protein/fat foods like milk kefir and avocado. They're great to toss into a green, leafy salad, or in the delicious smoothie recipe below.

Avo, Almond & Date smoothie

This is so creamy and delicious!  You can control the sweetness by varying the number of dates you add.  I only had 8, and that was sweet enough, but I know Ines used 10 and that was great too.  So, play around to your own taste.

Ingredients
1 x ripe avo
a small handful of soaked almonds
8 - 10 dates (depending on how sweet you like it)
1 - 2 glasses of water (depending how thick you want it)

Method
Peel the avo.
Add all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.  I added about 2 glasses of water and it was still thick.

Storage
This will keep in the fridge for a few days and Ines said that she freezes hers.  Its always a good idea to freeze in an ice cube tray and when frozen move into a small ziplock bag, as the smaller amounts will cause the item to freeze quicker.  Keep away from smelly things in your freezer.

Eat - Yum!

My Cooking School is born (or almost anyways)

I have a name (well 95% sure I reckon) - thank you for those who helped with suggestions.  Any more cooking school inspirational ideas, send them our way....so far, we have....

"Now you're cooking!"

So, we've put up a competition for a logo on 99 designs AND we have our first 6 entries!!!  So please check them out and leave me some feedback.

I like no.2 and no.4. :)  I'm going for cute, funky, trendy and fun! 

http://99designs.com/contests/30752

Breakfast on the bridge

Good Morning, and an early one it was this morning, meeting up with Jason, Charlotte and Ines at 6am!

Well done Sydney, a great event of breakfast on the bridge, with lots of vibes, cows and free bread, jam and yoghurt.  Just awesome!  You even got the weather perfect, nice and dry and cool.  Breakfast was all done and we sadly had to vacate the turfed Harbour bridge by 8.30am, good thing too as it started raining at 11am.

I feel sorry for those who have gone on to do the 25 km, 7 bridge walk.

Vibes and apples for all!

Cars, cows and walking onto the bridge

Some of the volunteers dishing out freebies.  So cheery considering they have been busy since 3am!

Ines and Charlotte enjoying breakfast

ps - it is now 11.15 and it is POURING!  I hope those walkers have umbrellas! ;)
pps - its now 11.27 and its thundering, lightening and buckets of rain, lets hope they didn't take their umbrellas!! ;)

Le Cordon Bleu - Lesson 6

Saturday's schedule does not include theory, so after waking, I spent 2 hours spring cleaning the house so so that we don't scare tomorrow's guest away(!) and then headed to Le Cordon Bleu for my 11.30 start.

So starts another exhilarating day at Le Cordon Bleu, today's menu treated us to Braised (cooked in liquid) Lamb Shanks (second grade cuts) in a red wine jus (sauce made from reduced stock) served with sautéed green beens and glazed carrots (turned of course)
&
Risotto (cooking method of absorption)

Chef Elke did a wonderful job demonstrating these dishes as well as Chocolat semi freddo, which we didn't get to make but we do get to taste next Thursday.

First priority was to season, brown, degrease, add deglaze the shank and to get it into the oven asap.  Then we prepped the other veggies and started on the risotto.   Half way through the risotto turn the lamb and then finish off the risotto and serve when ready (thanks Chef Elke for being so kind :).  Turn, blanch and refresh, saute and glaze the carrots and bean.  Finally finish off the lamb by reducing the stock into a beautiful jus.  Plate and serve.  Easy peasy!  (and VERY yummy).

Risotto had 200g cream in the recipe and lots of parmesan, so I think i'll be heading out for a run tomorrow morning.

Above:  Chef Elke plating the risotto and our days notes

Above:  Chef Elke finishing off the lamb shank and adding the jus

What we learnt today and a classmate having her plate assessed.

ps - I got a 'You love cooking don't you?' on my Risotto (although it was a bit crunchy) and a 'Perfect' on my lamb shank.  I also had my jus used as an example :)  Yah me!  Pity Ryan's not home to help me enjoy it!!

Handy tip of the day:
Risotto:  Also add boiling stock or cream to your arborio rice, otherwise it will become stodgy.
Braised lamb shanks:  Also make sure you have cooked off all the alcohol when cooking with wine, otherwise you meal will taste bitter.  To make a sweet jus, reduce your wine before adding stock.

After class i headed off to Greg and Abby for a yummy bbq, not cooked by me, but still perfect :)

When i rolled into Kirribilli after leaving G&A (at 11pm), I stopped to take a photo of the bridge, where tomorrow the city of Sydney is allowing 6,000 people (one of which is me) to have breakfast on the bridge.  The city of Sydney is closing the bridge and laying 1 acre of turf (for the cows).  Isn't that amazing!  Anyway, these are a few of the last lucky cars to make it across before the bridge is closed for this event at 1am.

Le Cordon Bleu - Lesson 5

Second Day at Le Cordon Bleu with Pissaladiere and Rice Conde (Rice pudding) on the Menu.

After a weird morning theory class, which I'm still not entirely sure about today's subject, we were dished out a group assignment and separated into groups of 5.  3 of of our 5 don't speak very good english, so i reckon it's going to be a bit of a challenge.

During our morning demo Chef demonstrated both dishes with grace and ease, making both look extremely simple.  However, the Koreans were not keen on the mixing sugar and rice and it was the first tasting dish set out in front of our class that was not spontaneously gobbled up.  Even Chef commented on this.  Chef also had a field day on the guy in the first row who kept nodding off.

Into the practical and it was blaringly obvious, that besides 'Italian' and myself, not one of our other class mates had ever used yeast before (or payed attention during the demonstration) and most of them produced hard biscuits instead of the sponge we were aiming for.  I proudly got a 'very good' from chef for my assessment.

However, my rice skills are not that great, and my rice pudding was a bit stodgy!  oops.

It was a great, exhilarating day!  I loved it!  Oh, i also found out that I can expect to earn aprox $14.95 per hour (before tax), LOL, I'll have a tough time explaining that to my accountant :) (who i can no longer afford)

ps - yesterday i bought a proper toolbox, moved over my stunning Wusthof knives, and stocked it full with a few stolen things from my kitchen making today much easier that yesterday.  Things like scales, little bowl, measuring cups and spoons all made my day almost a breeze.

Top left:  Pissaladeirre, top right, class tasting pissa
Bottom left:  Chef putting the final touches on pissa before it goes into the oven.  Bottom right:  3 single serving of rice pudding.

Above:  pissa, breads and rolls and other ingredients off viewing tv in demo room.

Above:  bread and rolls

Le Cordon Bleu - Lesson 4

Today was my first day at Le Cordon Bleu, Sydney.  I joined 1 week late and it was the most fun I have had since possible pre-primary school!

After the 2.5 hours theory on hygiene and stock receiving and keeping, I enjoyed my very first demonstration where Chef John, make Thai style King prawn salad and Quiche lorraine.  The taste test proved yummy and then off we all set to complete our imitations of his masterwork.  About 4 hours later, some of the quiche Loraine's in our class looked more like scrambled eggs, but then to be fair many of my class mates have NEVER before seen a quiche before.   Mine (proudly stated), was the most cooked in the class and was used as the demo, as in a good demo, after the class.

My salad was great, except I kind of cheated because I left out the papaya and then when realising I just stuck a few pieces in without redo-ing it, but i had already plated 3 times as my salad stack kept toppling over.

Anyway, fabulous day, and of course Ryan and I enjoyed King prawn salad and quiche lorraine for dinner.

My quiche is the one on the left, isn't it pretty ? :)

Day's schedule.

New class schedule.

Tomorrow I start Le Cordon Bleu Basic Cuisine

For those of you 'in the know' of the rollercoast week I've had, today I am a little sad, but mostly relieved and extremely happy to announce that I tomorrow I start at Le Cordon Bleu!  Only one week late, but still starting!!!!!  A big thanks to Le Cordon Bleu being so patient and flexible and I'm so excited about my big day.  Tonight I will be ironing my uniform, packing my lunch and setting the route in the GPS (or yes, I know that because i've been so many times already!).  

And maybe, there is a chance that I will find my missing milk bottle that I left behind yesterday ;)

So, no picture for this blog entry, but there is a big smile for all the fun things in line for the coming months, Le Cordon Bleu, spending time with my fantastic supportive Hubbie, seeing  my wonderful sister and niece in December, trying to convince Sean and Terry to move to Aussie during their visit in Dec, my birthday!, SUMMER, Christmas (of course), Camping with friends, Jamboree with Guides, my business etc.  Isn't it awesome?!

ps - yes, work, i still want to quit!  But thanks for asking all the same!
pps - why are all BMW drivers bonkers and think they're above anyone else. okay, i lied, i'll put up a photo of a two BMW drivers to cheap to pay the $6 flat parking fee after the comedy show on Saturday night and who we all had to wait for while the they tried to stick their credit cards in the ticket box on exiting of the parking lot.  (pictures will be coming shortly)

Zingy breakfast egg Burrito

About to start my day of cooking, buying missing ingredients and a few more practice runs and I should be ready.

I started the day with a good healthy breakfast...

Burrito with crispy fresh coriander, sweet ripe cherry tomatoes, a sprinkle of cheese, a squeeze of lime and fried egg and of course a few splashes of tabasco and salt and pepper, for extra zing!  Yummy.

Say a little prayer for me

Seven months ago, we started a little project that we like to call 'PR' (or 'Permanent residence application' to those of you not in the PR know!)

Its taken months of information gathering, sorting though family histories, birth certificates, marriage certificates, finding and befriending JPs (three Justice of Peace's to certify documents, in total), comprehensive police checks from 3 countries, full medicals, photos, employment history (letters from Ryan's company), and lots and lots of tears, agitation and bad moods AND today (just a few minutes ago) I said goodbye to this little fat file, busting with information about who we are, at my local post office. Of course not before I registered, insured, demanded a receipt of arrival, and said a little prayer.

Good luck little parcel, may you have an exciting and quick trip!

Picture above shows all the sections of our application

Dinner at ours

Here is our pretty eatery. This is where we get to enjoy our dinners, like tonight with dinner with Ines. Thanks for the pretty flower and champagne Ines, you're welcome back any time :)

Tonight's Menu:

Starter: Chicken Ballaton stuffed with caramelized onions, roasted pumpkin, cranberries and toasted pine nuts wrapped inside english spinach. Poached in its own stock and then slow roasted. Served on Port reduction, topped with butter ginger apples and a balsamic tuile.

Main: Slow roasted pumpkin, topped with chargrilled zuchinni and aubergine, topped with Bobotie and chutney caramalised nectarine slices. Served with turned potatos and zuchinnis, sliced grapes ane my very special grapefruit, pear and coriander sambal.

Yum, Yum!

What's hot? Or not so hot, but certainly spicy, yes! Hello Fennel Pollen!

Fennel Pollen is the new "in" spice to hit all the cosmopolitan upmarket restaurants accross the world.  Its great with fish, veggies and almost anything you can think of.  So new, you can't even get it yet in Australia yet, in fact, I had to order my 1oz container of hand picked pollen direct from the  coast of California, and today it has been shipped.  :)  I'm very excited!

I had the pleasure of tasting and smelling a jar of pollen last week...initially it smells like curry and then the aniseed smell hits your noise.  It's great!

Shortly I shall be blasting my blog with delicious recipes to include the fennel pollen.

Click here to find out more.

Hello WOOOO-RRRRRR-LLLL-DDDDD Champion! (6 Oct 09)

Ryan and I had a boxing lesson with Mel, under the bridge and under the stars!


Soon Ryan and I will be let loose by ourselves ;)

Poached Duck Eggs and Gradvalax Salmon

Goooood Moooooorrrnninggggg,

There is nothing like a good hearty breakfast to get you going and this morning I just couldn't resist the great ol' Salmon and Eggs for Breakfast, of course it helps that I happened to have ripe avo's, home-made salmon gradvalax, home made mayonnaise and free range Duck eggs in my fridge to get me started...

This entry is designed to make you hungry, so I hope it works! After reading this, I hope you get to eat something yummy!

here are my steps on how to make perfect poached eggs and a Delicious breaky :)

Enjoy! xx

Step 1: Oil and cling film a little bowl

Step 2: Gently crack your egg into your little nest of oiled cling film.

Step 3: Lift your cling film out of the bowl and close at the top

Step 4: Seal cling film ball, removing as much air as possible, start to twist top shut

Step 5: tie a knot in the cling film, as close as possible to the egg

Step 6: Repeat process for the number of eggs you want to poach and keep them to one side

Step 7: Start the preparation of the rest of your awesome breakfast....peel and slice avo

... finish slicing avo ...

Step 8: toast the Sour dough

Step 9: Add layer of cream cheese

Step 10: Layer avo on top of cream cheese (I am keeping one piece of toast bare to dunk into egg yolk)

Step 11: Prepare Gradvalax, remove excess salt, sugar, dill, pepper and thinly slice (feel free to use smoked salmon instead)

Step 12: Layer salmon onto avo

Step 13: Layer on homemade mayo and rinsed capers

Step 14: In the meantime, get a pot of water on the boil. Once your toast is prepared and ready to go, carefully place your eggs into the boiling water. Boil for 4 minutes for cooked whites and running yolks. Remove from the water using a slotted spoon and test the feeling of the egg with your fingers. If it feels too runny, return to the water. If it feels perfect, remove from water.

Step 15: Gently snip the cling film and unwrap your egg.

Step 16: Completely remove all cling film

Step 17:Place steaming hot poached eggs on top of mayo

Step 18: Finish with a sprinkle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and freshly ground black pepper

Step 20: Get ready...

Step 21: Enjoy each soft bite

Step 22: Lick your plate

"I love it when a meal comes together!"