And so it begins....

It has been 10 month and 22 days since my last post and for that, I apologize profusely. The last few months have been filled with decisions, applications, endless to do lists and far too many hours on craiglist searching for an apartment, but it was all worth it because it brought me here....to New York, as a student of the French Culinary Institute.

To be honest, perhaps the real reason I haven't been blogging is that I lacked inspiration, I found it difficult to believe that anyone in the world, aside from my immediate family and friends, woke up each morning with the intense desire to hear the status of my visa application, housing situation or self inflicted culinary homework assignments, but hey, that's just me. However as I sit here in at the Think cafe on Blecker Street, sipping my iced coffee, feeling the gently rumble of the 6 train beneath my feet, I feel inspired to write again.

Yesterday was a big day, it was Orientation, the day that you are supposed to find out exactly what you got yourself into and I was, well, terrified. After all, this was the day I was going to meet my fellow classmates and teachers, who would help to define this incredible adventure. A good friend of mine gave me Anthony Bourdain's novel Kitchen Confidential, which I have been reading diligently in the hopes it would help to mentally prepare me for the physical and verbal abuses of the kitchen.

So back to orientation, the session was fairly straight forward and mostly administrative but there was one memorable moment, which struck fear into my heart and left me slightly sleepless last night. At one point in our session a gentlemen in the back of the class was dozing off, and the chef yelled, and I do mean yelled "WAKE UP NOW!!" This shouting shook me, more than any written words or folklore about the verbal assaults in a kitchen ever could, simply because I was there. I realized truly, for the first time that one day I will be yelled at by a chef, and it terrified me. In that moment, I resolved not to be one of those girls who cry when being 'disciplined' in the kitchen. Fear is a good motivator, at least for me. After orientation, I knew I would study and practice more than I ever had in the past. I was committed to reading and eating everything food related in the pursuit of not only surviving, but (hopefully) excelling.

But it wasn't all administrative or terrifying, during our meet and greet, we had the opportunity to interact with other students, our faculty and some students. From these brief exchanges I gleaned the following:
1) always be on time - being late as a chef is the best way to get fired. This one will take a little work on my behalf.
2) be well groomed
3) take nothing personally - being yelled at is not a personal assault, but a reflection of the piss-poor job you just did
4) learn fast - there is no margin for error here, we are expected to learn everything on our first go and be able to do it exactly the demonstrated way immediately.

I do not mean to scare you all, I knew most of this going in. I knew what I was signing myself up for when I applied. I knew it would be hot and gruelling work. I knew I would get cut, burned and my hands and arms would never look the same. I knew I would stand and work harder than I knew was possible. But I also knew that I would love every second of it.

So, orientation is over, I am finally settled here in New York and eagerly anticipating my first day of school like an eager wide eyed 5 yr old, filled with wonder, enthusiasm and most of all....hope.

Peach Cobbler

The peach, while some people prefer its hairless sister, nectarine, I love the fragrant smell and slightly sweet, tangy flavour of a ripe peach. The only thing better than a ripe peach on a warm summer day, is peach cobbler a la mode.

The cobbler is often confused with its cousins, crisps and crumbles. A cobbler is generally made of a biscuit like topping, which is flour based. It can be sprinkled roughly for a rustic appearance or rolled flat and cut into biscuits and layered on top. Crisps and crumbles have a crunchy coating made out of flour and/or oats, sugar, butter and spices. While cobblers require a bit more time to make than a crisp, a good cobbler is well worth the extra effort.




Peach Cobbler

Filling
5 lbs peaches, washed and sliced
½ cup of sugar
zest of half of 1 lemon
4 tbsp of cornstarch

Cobbler topping
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
10 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces1/2 cup heavy cream
1 egg


1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly butter a 9 x 13 inch baking dish or 9 inch deep dish pie pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine peaches, sugar, lemon zest and cornstarch. Pour into baking dish/pie pan.

3. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in brown sugar. Add butter to the bowl and using a pastry knife or hands, gently crumble butter into flour mixture.


4. In a small bowl, whisk heavy cream and egg. Slowly pour into mixture, adding 1/3 at a time. Only add enough until the mixture just holds together.

5. Use a large spoon or your hands, scatter the cobbler topping over the peaches. Sprinkle some coarse sugar over the cobbler topping.

6. Bake until cobbler is golden brown, approximately 40 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Bon Appétit

Dinner for 4 in 45 minutes

I recently had a small dinner party (thanks Evan, Alex and Mike for letting me experiment on them!) and decided to create a 3 course menu which could be prepared in 45 minutes from start to finish and could be prepared in advance, allowing me to enjoy dinner and my guests.

Menu

Antipasto - smoked artichokes, selection of olives and fresh figs

Prosciutto wrapped Veal Scallopini

Ricotta Strawberry tart with a Port Sauce

Part 1 - Antipasto (2 minutes). I've learned that the key to a successful meal is picking and choosing where you will spend your time. In this case, I decided to go to the St Lawrence Market and pick up some fresh figs, marinated olives and smoked artichokes. All you need to do is slice them up and viola, an appetizer in 2 minutes...

Part 2 - Dessert (10 minutes to prep filling, 5 minutes to assemble before serving)

• 1 pre-made pie crust
• 2 cups ricotta cheese (creamy)
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 3 cups strawberries
• 3/4 cups port

1. Bake empty pie crust using ceramic pie weights or beans for 15 minutes at 325°F. Cool pie crust until cold, at least 20 minutes

2. Whip cream until soft peaks form, fold in ricotta cheese and lemon zest. Place in the fridge, until pie crust is fully chilled.

3. Pour port into a saucepan and simmer until reduced in half. Place in fridge to cool.

4. Once pie crust is cool, pour ricotta filling into pie crust. Place sliced strawberries on top of tart.

5. Pour port sauce over pie right before serving

Part 3 - Prosciutto wrapped Veal Scallopini (25 minutes)

8 - 10 pieces of veal scallopini
8 - 10 pieces of prosciutto
1 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary
1 bunch asparagus
2 lbs of fingerling potatoes


1. Drizzle veal scallopini with olive oil, rosemary and salt and pepper.

2. Wrap each veal scallopini with a piece of prosciutto

3. Turn oven to 350°F, place fingerling potatoes in an oven proof dish, season with 1 tbsp of olive oil and freshly ground sea salt and pepper. Cook until fork tender, about 20 minutes

4. Heat skillet and pan fry veal scallopini for 3 minutes on each side. Place in a oven proof dish and cover with aluminum foil.

5. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place asparagus on tray, drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Place in oven alongside potatoes for last 5 minutes of cooking, then turn oven off. Once oven is off, place tray of veal in oven to keep warm.

Voila, after 45 minutes you have the antipasto on a platter ready to eat, an entree cooked and ready to be plated in the oven and dessert in the fridge. All that is left is to find a good bottle of wine and uncork it!

Bon Appétit

Strawberry Fields

Every summer starting in mid June, tiny sweet strawberries begin to arrive at the farmers markets. While buying hand picked straweberries is easier, I love to pick my own. There are many strawberry farms in Ontario, I usually go to one of the following:

Andrews' Scenic Acres - Milton, ON
Downey's Farm - Brampton, ON
Orchalaw Farms -Brampton, ON

But if you want a complete list of farms for all fruit or vegetables in season you can always check out http://ontario.farmvisit.com/

After many years of strawberry picking I've come up with some tips on a successful strawberry picking outing:

- Wear a hat!
- Bring a bottle of water (it is important to re-hydrate and useful for washing your fruit if you want to sample the fruit while picking)
- Do not wear white (I have lost far to many white shirts while strawberry picking)
- Bring family and friends!


Now once you have picked baskets of strawberries, what now? While I love to make things from scratch one of the few things I cannot bring myself to do is canning. The idea of going out and purchasing a canning rack, jar lifter and magnetic lid lifter does not appeal to me, besides where would I put this in my tiny kitchen?

But luckily for those of us who don't have a ton of time on our hand and aren't quite ready to becoming expert canners but do want homemade jam, there is something called freezer jam pectin. It is easy and you don't need any fancy canning equipment!

Basic Freezer Strawberry Jam

4 cups of crushed strawberries
1 - 45 gram pouch of Freezer Jam (Bernardin or another brand)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1. Combine crushed strawberries with suggar and pectin and stir until well combined
2. Ladle into clean and dry mason jars. Make sure you leave about 1 inch at the top as it will expand when you freeze it!
3. Let it stand at room temperature for 30 minutes and then put it in the freezer or refridgerator. It will keep in your fridge for 2 months or the freezer for 1 year.

Now, I like to experiment with my jam so I made 3 variations:

Strawberry Maple Syrup Jam - reduce sugar aby 1/2 cup, cook 1/2 cup of maple syrup on stove until it reduces to a thicker syrup - about 1/4 cup and mix with rest of ingredients.

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam - take 2 rhubarb stalks, cut into small chunks (same size as crushed strawberries); cook rhubarb in a sugar water solution 1/2 cup sugar - 2 cups of water, for 2-3 minutes, until softened; drain and let cool and add to crushed strawberries; reduce strawberries in batch to 3 1/2 cups

Strawberry Raspberry Jam - wash and gently mash 1 cup of raspberries; reduce strawberries in batch to 3 cups.





Bon Appétit

Intermission

Hey all, sorry I haven't blogged in awhile I've been working like crazy to save up money to fund some new culinary adventures. But have no fear I have been finding time to cook up a storm - strawberry jams, semi-extravagant meals, I just haven't had time to blog about it. I promise to post a proper post soon!