It’s ShowTime!

The show went on yesterday night. Starting 4pm the ponytail was in place, the hat was on and the apron wrapped around me (do you get the tacos look?). Part of the shopping was delegated to a friend of mine (also guest for the dinner) that kindly performed it with success (only the mint was missing, no big deal compared to my forgiveness of the precision scale and small pots at home).
All started from the cookie dough: butter and brown sugar creamed together, egg in, then the roasted sesame seeds, oatmeal and flour. Once the sweet sausage was shaped, it was time to let it firm up in the fridge.
Time to prep the carrots! After peeling them (with a lefty-peeler) they were cut in a bias in chunks and braised in some butter and brown sugar.
By then it was the good time to move to the canapés and appetizers (did I tell you already that I was preparing a 4 courses dinner? actually 5...). The kalamata olives caviare was the next one on the list. Oh man, isn’t pitting a boring job?? But you get so much more taste! So pitted kalamata and fresh thyme leaves ended their journey under the blade on my sharp knife RIP.
The cookies were then ready to be shaped and baked.
To continue with the appetizer, the next ones on the list were the chocolate-cilantro rolls. So cut the big sheet of the bric dough, brush them with butter and fill them up with fresh cilantro, chocolate, red chillies and mascarpone. Roll them up brushing them with a bit more butter and voilà!
Second on the line of the appetizers were the salmon pouches. This time I needed rice paper. After having moistened it a bit (it comes in brittle hard round sheets) they were filled with diced salmon fillets, some red currants berries, mascarpone cheese and a pinch of Melange Noir from Ingo Holland. All is ready for the oven!
Once all the guests were arrived, I served the cocktails canapé: Sesame-Oatmeal Cookie with Kalamata Caviare and Strawberry.

 

Time to start putting together the main course.

Poached Salmon salad

Unlike most of my recipes posted so far, this is quite light and refreshing. Perfect for a summer evening!

Ingredients (enough for 2 servings):

• Ca 20 parsley branches;
• 1/2 red onions, sliced;
• 1 l of water;
• 1 lime, juiced;
• Few black peppercorns;
• 1 shallot, sliced;
• Half of a small leek, chopped;
• 250 g salmon fillet;
• 1 big eggplant, sliced and grilled;
• 1 tbsp of capers;
• Olive oil;
• Salt and Pepper.

Procedure:

Wash the red onions, place them in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Set them aside. Wash the parsley and pick the leaves from the stems. Poor the water in a pan wide enough to contain the salmon fillet but not too much, so it will be well covered by the water. Add to the pan the parsley stems, the shallot, the leek and half of the lime. Bring this broth to a boil. Lower the flame and when it will reach a bare simmer throw in the peppercorns and the salmon.
Poach the fish for roughly 5 min or till when it will be properly cooked (when pressed on the sides using your thumb and second finger it should result slightly springy). Fish it out and set aside to cool down.

Wash off the capers the brine or the vinegar and place them in the salad bowl with the parsley leaves roughly chopped and the shredded grilled eggplant.
Rinse the onions and squeeze them well before adding them to the salad.
Coarsely crumble the salmon with your fingers and add it to the salad bowl
Dress the salad with the lime juice and a splash of olive oil and enjoy!

As a variation you can try adding to the salad some cottage cheese.

What's for dinner? Same old, same old??

Have you always been looking for a good source to improve your Culinary Art know-how? Then stop your search! Chef Jacob is developing just what we need:
The Free Culinary School Podcast .

In his periodical podcast episodes, Chef Jacob Burton shares with us his knowledge about culinary arts. In his clear, concise, friendly and honest style he gives us a way to feel more secure of ourselves when concocting our creations and brings our cooking style to the next level. Added to this, the bits of food science he throws in are like gilding the lily.
From Knives Skills (Ep1) to Stocks (Ep2), from how to treat the main staple grains (Ep4) to the main techniques for cooking proteins (Ep5, Ep6, Ep7) he brings us through the basic part of the course that will allow us to level our knowledge preparing ourselves for the more advanced part of the course.
Particularly worthy are the episodes on the five mother sauces (Hollandaise, Velouté, Béchamel, Tomate and Espagnole ) where he explains us the how and whys of these foundations of classical French cuisine, indispensable to every cook repertoire.

The advanced part of the course opens with a four episodes on Garde Manger or Cold Cuisine where we learn how to deal with salad greens and vinaigrettes, the basic of the classical salads and of creamy dressings and the main constituents of composed salads and canapés. Every now and then we can even find him in his kitchen explaining us how to plate with sauces and set up salads.

Moreover the interaction among the members of the community is quite intense and valuable. The forum connected to the website is quite active and Chef Jacob himself answers the questions and problems of the different members (each podcast has also a questions segment).

So what are you waiting for?? Wear your apron, the lesson is starting!

Starting Training....

A very good friend of mine gifted me a book on Cake Decorating Techniques (you will find it on my list on the left). Unlikely all my other culinary training books, this is not so easy to read tout court since it is very nicely arranged in lessons. Actually I really like this feature, feels like being in classroom. I felt compelled to start practising.
Sunday I woke up quite early (by chance actually) so I made a batch of Swiss Meringue Buttercream Icing and today finally I start piping!
This is what I got….








Not exciting but I cannot complain ;) For being the first time some of my shells had a nice volume. Not so satisfied of the rosettes, too much like a whirlpool than a flower. The star flowers even had an empty centre! Didn’t have much icing left on my paper cones to experiment on reverse shells, just one try….
What do you think?