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| Our buffet on Friday |
The second week of the block. It was a bit strange. At the beginning I think there was excitement and probably too much of it. By the Wednesday we thought that everything is going to be an easy sail and we failed. Wednesday was the worst day for this block. But we were able to pull together and finish strong.
Monday
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| Smoked Trout |
Red Curry, Coconut, and Seafood Soup
Cedar Smoked Salmon with Scalloped Potatoes and Merlot-Blackberry Sauce
San Marcos Wild Rice Fritters, Smoked Trout
with Chipotle Sour Cream
Smoked trout was made the week before. We cured it and smoked in a pan. Smoking in a pan is an easy way, BUT you have to have a great exhaust otherwise you house will have enormous amount of smell. I would not do this at my apartment.
I was responsible for the scalloped potatoes. This potatoes I remember very well from the course I took in Toronto. We made it and I like it quite a lot. So it was not difficult at all. What was interesting that the other team also had the scalloped potatoes that day. We won the competition.
Tuesday
Was the second day for the same menu. This time I cooked cedar smoked salmon.
Salmon was fabricated the day before. My team mate asked for the help, so I filleted two salmons, removed pin bones and skin, and portioned one fish. On Tuesday I portioned the second fish, seasoned it with salt and pepper with the touch of olive oil and placed on cider planks. Cider planks were soaked in a water for a couple of hours. First it was cooked in an oven on planks for about 5 minutes at 350F. Then the salmon was removed from the planks and placed on the baking sheet tray with a rack. Probably 10 minutes before service the cooking was finished in the oven for another 4 minutes at the same temperature. The chef was pleased and said that it was cooked perfectly. Honestly, it was overcooked slightly (about 45 second, really a little bit), but we gave the chef the thickest piece. By the way, the salmon was portioned for 4 oz pieces.
Wednesday
We had Caribbean and Central America menu. For our team the menu was:
Cedar Smoked Salmon with Scalloped Potatoes and Merlot-Blackberry Sauce
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| Our tasting plate |
Smoked trout was made the week before. We cured it and smoked in a pan. Smoking in a pan is an easy way, BUT you have to have a great exhaust otherwise you house will have enormous amount of smell. I would not do this at my apartment.
I was responsible for the scalloped potatoes. This potatoes I remember very well from the course I took in Toronto. We made it and I like it quite a lot. So it was not difficult at all. What was interesting that the other team also had the scalloped potatoes that day. We won the competition.
Tuesday
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| Cider smoked salmon with Blackberry Merlot Sauce |
Salmon was fabricated the day before. My team mate asked for the help, so I filleted two salmons, removed pin bones and skin, and portioned one fish. On Tuesday I portioned the second fish, seasoned it with salt and pepper with the touch of olive oil and placed on cider planks. Cider planks were soaked in a water for a couple of hours. First it was cooked in an oven on planks for about 5 minutes at 350F. Then the salmon was removed from the planks and placed on the baking sheet tray with a rack. Probably 10 minutes before service the cooking was finished in the oven for another 4 minutes at the same temperature. The chef was pleased and said that it was cooked perfectly. Honestly, it was overcooked slightly (about 45 second, really a little bit), but we gave the chef the thickest piece. By the way, the salmon was portioned for 4 oz pieces.
Wednesday
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| Our disastrous Pupusas |
Zacate with Taro Chips
Jerked Chicken (Caribbean), Rice and Beans, and Pineapple-Jicama Salsa
Pupusas Salvadoreñas
It was the worst day this week. I was pissed off by one classmate at the lecture we had at the beginning of the class. That affected everything I was doing. Other people did not have that issue, but they have some other issues and the day was a failure for the whole class. We were late, foods were not great...
I cooked Pupusas... Pupusas are the Salvadorian dish and represents masa (corn) pancake with filling. That day the filling was pork. It was easy to make filling, but assemble these pupusas was a pain you know where. The biggest problem we has is to cook them. A chef from another class confused us saying we should pan fry them (meaning oil cover product by 1/2 of thickness). Since masa has no gluten or some kind of binding in the oil it fell apart. What I learned that you have to make then thin and use as little oil as possible (it was the lesson I learned on Thursday).
Thursday
The second day of Caribbean and Central America menu. This time it was much better. After the chef's review we got on Wednesday (which was very bad) we were much better and everything was good. My projects were Zacate and Rice and beans. Zacate is a Caribbean version of coleslaw. The difference with traditional one was the seasoning. Rice and beans was interesting for me (I am not a big lover of beans). The beans were soaked overnight and cooked in water. When you cook beans do not salt them. If you do salt them they will never be tender (salt makes skin strong and water have no chance to penetrate it). When beans were tender, rice (raw) was added with coconut milk. It was cooked till rice was tender. Simple but tasty dish.
Friday
We started the Mexican menu. Our menu was:
Jerked Chicken (Caribbean), Rice and Beans, and Pineapple-Jicama Salsa
Pupusas Salvadoreñas
It was the worst day this week. I was pissed off by one classmate at the lecture we had at the beginning of the class. That affected everything I was doing. Other people did not have that issue, but they have some other issues and the day was a failure for the whole class. We were late, foods were not great...
Thursday
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| Our tasting plate |
Friday
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| Tortilla Soup |
Tortilla Soup
Carne con Chile (Sonora), Fried Corn Bread, Creamed Pinto Beans, and Flour Tortillas
Tamales de Pollo con Salsa Verde Cruda
Jamaica “Flower” Cooler
It was a difficult but very productive day. Samuel my teammate was sick and had to skip the class. As we usually worked together on all projects I had to do more work as he was absent.
My own projects - Carne con Chile and Tamales were both time consuming and I was not able to decide in advance what to start with. Then I realized that another guy supposed to help me with tamales, so I gave tamales to him and worked on Carne con Chile, then moved to tortilla soup, then to Pico de Gallo, doing some other small projects in between.
Everything was great. The Carne con Chile was very tasty. The tortilla soup (first time I made and first time I ate) was really good. It was a great way to finish the week.
Here is the recipe for the Tortilla Soup. An interesting thing about avocado - if you need to keep cut avocado for a short time, place avocado pits on top of cut avocado, cover with plastic wrap and place in a refrigerator. For a couple of hours avocado will stay fresh and do not change color. There are some enzymes in the pits preventing it from oxidation.
Carne con Chile (Sonora), Fried Corn Bread, Creamed Pinto Beans, and Flour Tortillas
Tamales de Pollo con Salsa Verde Cruda
Jamaica “Flower” Cooler
It was a difficult but very productive day. Samuel my teammate was sick and had to skip the class. As we usually worked together on all projects I had to do more work as he was absent.
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| Carne con Chile |
Everything was great. The Carne con Chile was very tasty. The tortilla soup (first time I made and first time I ate) was really good. It was a great way to finish the week.
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