Amuse Bouche

Middle Eastern Flames

Day 3

Zucchini and summer squash grilling for Chris and Doc's White Bean Salad with Roasted Red pepper Dressing

Lamb Kefta on our ingenious creation of two bamboo skewers wrapped in foil to make lamb lollipops that don't burn.

My truck as Sun Tea stand. Note the bottle brewing on the back deck.

Tomorrow?
We talk about how much we love East Coast Grill.

Rocking the Ribs

I assure you these ribs are gonna be soooooooooo good tonight.

Not only did everyone in class make a rack, but both Nay Nay and Ash cruised by at separate times to inquire if there was a spare rack to be had, I stopped by Whole Paycheck and picked up a few racks for hubby and I so all told we made 14 racks of baby backs and a half chicken for my kosher girl.

Racks were rubbed liberally with a serious spice rub we made and then a bit of brown ale was lovingly poured around them, they were wrapped in lovely foil blankets and set in a low and slow oven for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.  The BBQ sauce was assembled by all and we finished them on the grill with a slathering of sauce and a bit of browning action.

Here is Doctor D one of my peeps with his very stylish onion goggles.  He had just finished chopping scallions for his Southwestern potato salad with chipotle in adobo sauce.  Uh huh...they all said it was yummy.  Of course he continued to wear them while we went out and grilled as well.  I think he just likes them.

Corn, on the grill.  After?  Smothered in mayo, chili powder, salt, lime juice and cotija cheese.  Seriously try it.

I have just showered the smell of the 14 racks of ribs off my person and sent the laundry down the magic chute.  I think it is time for a nice Campari Gin & Tonic.

Tomorrow? 

Middle Eastern BBQ.

Oh and Flummel, this is my view from work, not quite as lovely as yours, but oddly rather soothing.

Malay Rice with Fresh Herbs and Flowers

Malay Rice with Fresh Herbs and Edible Flowers
Jasmine rice infused with coconut milk, galangal, kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass - served with fresh coriander, thai basil and edible orchids

Do pardon the colour, we only have fluorescent at work.

BBQ Pit

Starting tomorrow for 5 days at create a cook it's BBQ Pit.  I am so excited!  We've rented a 50" long grill and the field trip Thursday is to East Coast Grill.  Sadly, my grilling God, Chris Schlesinger won't be there, one of these days though I'll finally get to meet him in person and have a little food chat, maybe act all groupie and get him to sign my books.  Sadly I lost my copy of Salsas, Sambals, Chutneys and Chow-Chows to the great dishwasher disaster circa 1995 - long story - but I always scour used book stores to find a replacement copy.  In fact Friday I picked up a copy of Quick Pickles at the Book Fair.
I have all the other books he did with John Willoughby as well.

What are we making next week?

·    Sate chicken with peanut sauce
·    Chicken and vegetable Yakitori
·    Fragrant Malay Rice with mixed Fresh herbs and edible flowers
·    Scallion Pancakes
·    Savory Watermelon and Pineapple Salad
·    Macadamia Nut brownies
·    Creamed Cornbread
·    Banana Papaya Fool
·    Grilled corn on the cob cotija cheese and lime
·    Watermelon-Strawberry Aqua Fresca
·    Mock Kansas City Ribs, Rub and BBQ Sauce
·    Mesa Grill Potato Salad
·    Uncommon Carrot-Raisin Slaw
·    Grilled lamb Kefta
·    Sunny sweet tea (hope for sun please)
·    White Bean Salad with Grilled Squash, Zucchini and Roasted Red pepper Dressing
·    Fattoush
·    Pita breads
·    Grilled fruits with Balsamic Reduction glaze
·    Burgers galore (make our own Ground beef from Chuck Roast) with the fixin's
·    Ziti with Grilled Gazpacho Sauce and sausages
·    Grilled chicken and sausages with peaches, peppers, pecorino and black olive vinaigrette
·    Grilled Fresh mozzarella and bread skewers
·    Chocolate Pizza

I'm thinking those will be some pretty happy 11 - 13 year olds, and maybe a few parents as well.
Any recipes you want?  Pictures of what we make?  Let me know, I'll try to oblige.

Like a teary eyed mother

For the past year I have been a teaching assistant at Cambridge School of Culinary Arts working with a group of Professional chef students as they wend their way through the 37 week curriculum. We started together back at the beginning in egg class and wound our way through baking and basics, Italian and French, Asian and American and ended a few weeks ago in a fusion cuisine class.
I hugged everyone as I left and ended up as I always do with goodbye as a teary eyed mess.  It's a good thing I don't wear mascara on a daily basis.

One of the benefits of teaching as a profession that I didn't expect as I entered my new career was how proud I would be at seeing the accomplishments of the students I work with at the end of their training.  Sure I have taught 6 and 7 week classes where I see the same faces weekly.  I get to know their personalities, their strengths, what they like and dislike, I hear about their families and their dirty little culinary secrets that they wouldn't normally tell a polite audience.

This group was different.  We were together every week for 9 months.  I watched them all come in on day one, very much like I was, lost in the kitchen, kit still all complete and tidy, not knowing where anything was, amazed that you could actually stand in the fridge (walk in), uniform still sparkling and white, hats donned and shoes new and clean, Ralph and Ted leading them around the kitchens and stores, telling them the rules and regulations. 

They were all a bit deer in the headlights.

Little by little though they gained confidence. They made it through one chef and on to the next learning each ones style,they learned how to work as team and not just as an individual, they learned that food is art as much as it is taste and that what you put on the plate needs to appeal to your eyes as much as it does to your nose and stomach. In those 9 months I watched Ana move from a terrified girl in the kitchen to a confident take charge woman, no more asking before she did every single task.  Eventually we all figured out Marina's accent and we could understand what she was talking about and we were all blown away by her mean knife skills, that girl could seriously brunoise wood. Will worked his way through school in the kitchens of Rialto and came in with newer and better tricks up his sleeve each week. Amber, Kerry and Sally all worked so hard and developed their own styles and sorry Amber, I was always leaning in your just sanitized and cleaned space.  Sandra came in the middle and joined us until the end, she was the Mom of the group, not sure what she was going to do with her education but enjoying the ride for all it was worth. And I always take one bird under my wing, the one I see has potential but just needs to be gently nudged in a direction, Patrick was my project this term.  Someone has to show a nice polite Southern boy that there is more to the world than Barbecue.  He caught on quick, just don't ask him to make a Genoise please. Come to think of it, don't ask me to make one either.

Saturday my peeps graduated.  I came home from that last fusion class to a message from them that they bought me a ticket to their graduation, they wanted me to come and see them finish.

Husband and I polished ourselves up and went to the very same place I was just 18 months ago.  I couldn't have been more proud to watch them all get their awards, meet their families, and have them all tell husband how much they enjoyed having me with them all year.
They all pitched in and bought me a gorgeous copy of The Best of Art Culinaire that I had long coveted, I was flabbergasted and quite humbled.

But the proudest moments?  Amber,Tzu-i, Kerry and Marina all picked up academic and lab awards.  Patrick received the blossom award and Will was awarded the Young Professional award from the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, he received a medal and a stipend.  I think I clapped so hard that day my hands still hurt.

Now they all head out to new places, Amber to the West Coast to try and open her own place, Will to the Carolina's for some new restaurant, Tzu-i to Hong Kong for two years as the wife of a diplomat - and hopefully to learn how to make hand pulled noodles and work in a kitchen in the city.  The others will find their niche one day I am sure and I look forward to hearing back from them one day.

I am sure I will go on to teach many more classes and see many more students come and go, but like your first bike ride without training wheels or your first raw oyster you will always remember the first one as the sweetest.

Summer cooking Classes

I have finally managed to get my Summer schedule lined up so if you'd like to join me somewhere this summer, or plan private lessons at your convenience I'd love to meet you.

June 10 - Sunday 9AM - 11:00 AM
Williams-Sonoma Burlington, MA
Making Food Fast - Grilling 
This class still has about 6 slots available so sign up today!

June 18 - 22
create-a-cook
Summer Cooking with the Stars (ages 11 - 13)

June 22
Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, Cambridge MA
Tapas
This is a great menu and the class also comes with wine for all.

June 25 - 28
create-a-cook, Newton MA
All Things Vegetarian (ages 11- 13)

July 9 - 12
create-a-cook, Newton MA
Italian Trattoria (ages 11 - 13)

July 15
Williams-Sonoma, Burlington MA
Kids Cooking: Pizza

July 22
Williams-Sonoma, Burlington MA
Kids cooking: Cookie Baking & Decorating

July 23 - 27
create-a-cook, Newton MA
The Flavours of France (ages 11 - 13)

July 30 - Aug 2
create-a-cook, Newton MA
The BBQ Pit (ages 11 - 13)

Aug 6 - 9
create-a-cook, Newton MA
The Italian American Kitchen (ages 11 - 13)

Aug 13 - 16
create-a-cook, Newton MA
Farmer's Market (ages 11-13)

Aug 17
Cambridge School of Culinary Arts
Tapas

Aug 27 - 31
create-a-cook, Newton MA
The Hungry Traveler

A House Warming menu

I can't believe I checked in here this morning to realize that I haven't had a thing to say since late April.
Seriously?  No, not really, I've just been incredibly busy for the last few weeks.  After emerging from my self imposed winter hibernation, all this green around me and the warm sun has me out in the garden tending to things when I'm not planning classes and working.

Husband has been laid off from his company (don't worry, there are potential things coming down the road) so he has been working on the 'honey do' list around the house.  Soon, very soon I hope, my two year old vent hood will be leaving the garage floor for its rightful place hanging from my kitchen ceiling.  No longer shall every bit of culinary grease and smoke settle on every blessed surface of this room.  The lawn has been seeded.  Shelves have been installed.  Workshops built. We even built a small pond out back this past weekend.  You know, cause I really don't have enough other stuff to do.

I did a cooking demo at a lovely little bridal shower at the Belmont country club. I had a full house for my Thai class last week at Newton Community Ed, I've decided to not run it again this summer but it will pick up again in the fall.  Hopefully the whole rebuilding of Newton North where the class is held will not put a wrench in those plans, I do hear Newton South has quite a nice kitchen set up, so maybe it shall move over there instead. I have started tutoring a student form Thailand in Italian cooking.  Imagine not just having to learn English, but Boston accented English, and then throw some Italian culinary terms on top of that.  Imagine coming from a culture that doesn't eat cheese or dairy products and having to learn all of the DOP cheeses in each region of Italy.  It is not a task I envy him.  I finished up another 6 week run of Back to Basics at Cambridge Culinary and as always the group was sorry to see it reach the end.  They all ask if we can put together an advanced Back to Basics so the classes can carry on. I've added that to my plate and I hope to work on it this summer. I'm still a T.A. in the Professional chef's program and my students are almost ready to graduate.  Just three weeks of classes left and then they have the countdown to their practicums and finals. I've also volunteered to T.A. in the Italian classes for the rest of the semester as well. There is a new instructor teaching and I have heard incredible things about her.  I love to see each of the instructors teaching styles.  I learn something new every time I watch someone else work.

I'm about to head out in the monsoon to shop at Russo's and the Middle Eastern markets in Watertown to gather some ingredients.  My friend Kathi and her lovely Irish husband have bought themselves a little hacienda in Wilmington and the house warming is tomorrow.  I never did get around to finding them a wedding present, so instead I am making a boat load of food to bring.  Another of her friends, djKarl will be setting up his decks in her barn, records will be spun and I do believe that the Irish contingent will be getting their proverbial groove on.  Funnily enough, I had djKarl as a student in one of my Back to basics runs at Cambridge Culinary and we didn't know we had Kathi in common until a few months later when she sent me a link with his latest remix.  A small, small world it is.

The menu plans so far are as follows with potential photos coming later.

Muhammara
Roasted Garlic Hummus
Sate chicken and peanut sauce
Shrimp salad
A variation of a Nicoise salad I make with Orzo
Puff pastry straws in various combos (cheese, poppy seed, alleppo pepper, etc)
Bacon Ricotta and Gruyere tart on puff pastry
Asparagus and Gruyere tart on puff
Fior di Latte and Heirloom tomato tart on puff

And who knows what else might strike my fancy?

Pad Thai

Last night I taught my Thai class at Newton Community Ed.  Each time I teach this class I tweak the recipes a bit, change things around and edit.

last night we made:
Jasmine Rice
Cucumber Pickle
Fried Spring Rolls (Beef and Shitake)
Chicken with Holy Basil
Thai meatballs with Peanut Sauce
Thai Beef Salad (my personal fave)
and Pad Thai

I've seen many, many Pad Thai recipes and none of them have satisfied me for the necessary mix of hot and sour, salty and sweet.  They all generally made too little sauce to the ratio of noodles and/or incorporated odd ingredients in order to make it 'user friendly'.  A few weeks ago the fabulous Pim Techamuanvivit of Chez Pim fame posted her version of Pad Thai for beginners and something about they way she wrote it, more as a technique primer than a 'recipe', caught my attention. 

First, she has you make a good quantity of the sauce and you balance the flavours in that sauce for the components that are critical for making Thai food - hot, sour, salty, and sweet.  Having made Pad Thai many times I know it is not easy to try and adjust the seasonings in the end.

Most of the ingredients should be easy to find these days.  The only ingredient I had to seek out were the dried shrimp.  I can usually only find these in a true Asian market, or course Super 88 has them if you are in the local Boston area, or perhaps Asian market on Waverly Hill Road in Waltham.  The dried shrimp are kept in the refrigerated section not on the shelf.

When I poked around in the store I happened to find some very, very tiny ones. For an idea of how small those are, one strip of the butcher block underneath them is 2" wide.  The shrimp are between 3 - 5 cm long.  I have bought them in the past and they were much, much larger and very orange.  These, as you can see, are very pale in colour.  These are an important flavour in the dish and I highly recommend seeking them out.

Pim also implores you to treat the shrimp in a particular manner.

It's important to use the mortar here and not your cuisinart, which will turn to dried shrimp into a hard, dried chunks (entirely capable of cracking a tooth) instead of fluffy bits of salty shrimp.

However we didn't have a mortar and pestle last night, I really didn't want to lug my 20 pound slab of marble mortar and pestle with me so we tried using a spoon and a bowl but it was not getting us anywhere near flaky and fluffy.  We dredged through the cupboards and found a mini chopper and I am guessing because these shrimp were so tiny and soft it worked perfectly instead of making shrimp rock candy we had fluffy light shavings and we were off and running.

I confessed to my students after they had made the dish that I had used them as guinea pigs for the recipe, but I don't think they minded at all, the recipe worked perfectly.  This recipe, friends, is restaurant quality Pad Thai.  I highly suggest you go and read her words and heed her advice, this Pad Thai recipe can't lose.

Currently persuing

I am currently sprawled across the couch, on this lovely 9 degree Monday nursing bronchitis and perusing the following lovely tomes in pursuit of the 42 recipes ideas I need for the next 7 weeks of classes. 

In fact, I did a little math today and I realised that I must come up with 510 new recipes a year.

Five Hundred and Ten.

No repeats are allowed. 

All recipes must be executable by kids ranging in age from 9 - 13 and pleasing to the parents who generally eat it when it goes home with them after class.
I need a range of things since I have vegetarians, kosher eaters and food allergies, not to mention kid allergies to anything new and different.
I must plan these recipes to fit in to a prescribed amount of time varying from 2 - 3 hours.
I have 6 burners, 3 ovens and up to 10 kids in each class.
Downtime is not an option. Ever seen a group of bored kids?
Sometimes I must stick to a theme: World travel, American cities, Food fads, etc.

I can assure you that would exhaust even the best chef to come up with that many new ideas so I live with my nose buried in a cookbook or a cooking magazine.
I will search the Internet, but I won't rely on recipes from sites like Allrecipes.com or Cooksrecipes.com since I really don't trust many of their recipes. Anything made with a can or packet is rejected.  Everything must be made with fresh ingredients or things I can get from our suppliers.

When I do get things off of the internet I tend to stick to sources I know will have recipes that are relatively faultless like epicurious.com, because I can't always test a recipe before I use it.

In fact I have become amazingly adept, if I do say so myself, at glancing at a list of ingredients and deciding if a recipe will work or not.  Call it self preservation.  I also do not need a gorgeous picture to tell me whether or not to make a recipe, but of course it does help to inspire ideas.
Of course I also look to places in the food blogging world for inspiration like Elise at Simply Recipes or The Traveler's Lunchbox, Naughty Curry and Gluten-free Girl and all the other lovely places in my blogroll down over there on the right.

While you check out the book titles I am flicking through right now, why don't you leave me a note with the places, chefs and books that inspire you to cook.  I am always looking for some new inspiration.

I could use a little finger crossing

Some paperwork was submitted this week to the lovely Commonwealth of Mass.  This paperwork could effectively allow me to teach at Private or Trade schools in the state if the powers that be deem me worthy enough.

Then again...they could say no.

People, I implore you, a little finger crossing for me please. 

I need all the mojo I can get right now.