Day thirty two

a courtesy of

What are the main characteristics of well made tomato sauce?

Tuesday - another day in the kitchen - Culinary Fundamentals. Yesterday I did not miss writing post, it was a holiday in US.

We have made today a bunch of recipes again. As we are going further, we are doing more cooking every day. Today we made tomato sauce, red pepper coulis, red wine vinaigrette that was individual work. As a team we cooked Demi-Glace sauce and dry pasta.

Tomato sauce was really great and what is more important -
it was easy to make (just a few points to pay close attention, but nothing really complicated).
So, to make 1 quart f tomato sauce:
Ingredients:
15 ml olive oil
85 g small dice onion
5 g minced garlic
1.2 l cored and chopped plum tomato with juice (or use canned tomato or mixture fresh and canned)
20 g basil leaves chiffonnade
salt, ground black pepper to taste
Method:
1) heat the oil in a heavy non-reactive pan and sweat onions until translucent (12-15 min)
2) add garlic, saute until fragrant (1 min)
3) add the tomatos. Bring to simmer and cook over low, stirring periodically until good consistency develops (40-45 min)
4) add basil and simmer 2-3 minutes. Taste and season if required
5) sauce may be pureed (food mills or blender), broken up with whisk of left chunky - according to your taste

A few points to remember. Tomato has high sugar content, therefore you need heavy pan with even heat distribution (no hot spots). Because of acid in tomato, you do not want to use aluminum pan. Stir sauce periodically as it tends to scorch in the bottom, especially on high heat. Heat should be really slow. In case you use fresh tomato, when you cut them, put a little bit of salt and let them sit for a short time (20-30 min) to macerate and let juices to come out.

The characteristics of a well made sauce is: aroma, color, taste, consistency.

Another great sauce - red pepper coulis:
Ingredients (yield 1 qt):
30 ml olive oil
14 g minced shallot
680 g pilled (optional), seeded, deribbed and chopped red peppers
salt, black pepper as needed
120 ml dry white wine
240 ml chicken stock
60-90 ml heavy cream
Method:
1) Heat the oil, sweat the shallot until tender (2 min)
2) add peppers and sweat until very tender (10-14 min). Season with salt and pepper
3) deglaze pan with wine, reduce until nearly cooked away
4) add stock, simmer until reduced by half
5) puree (food mill or blender). Add heavy cream. Adjust seasoning

And the last one for today - Red Wine Vinaigrette
Ingredients (yield 4 fl oz)
1 fl oz red wine vinegar
0.25 tsp dijon mustard
0.0625 oz - basically 2 gr - just a little bit
0.25 tsp sugar
3 fl oz oil
0.4 tbsp minced herb of your choice
Method:
Combine all ingredients and whisk to form an emulsion.
Adjust seasoning - this is important, also depends on the greens you are using.
Emulsion you will get is temporary, it means that if your vinaigrette is prepared in advance the emulsion is not stable and will separate. Before use whisk it aging to bring it back to emulsion.

I was lucky today, my vinaigrette was the best in terms of seasoning. So I receive an honour to adjust seasoning for consolidated product (all 17 vinaigrette mixed together).

Tomorrow is our practical. First is going to be a written exam and then practical - we will make Mayonnaise, Hollandaise, Chicken consomme and Sauce Espagnol. It's going to be a busy day.