meat & veggies

I've had two classes since my last blog post: meat fabrication last week and veggies last night.

MEAT FABRICATION
The meat fabrication class focused on beef and pork.  It was the typical format of lecture, then we split into teams to prepare dishes using recipes as a guide (remember, the recipes are written for a gazillion servings and eventually we won't be using them at all).  I really wanted to cook something at the stove that night.  In previous weeks I had done a lot of roasting and preparations at our table, but most of my dishes never got me to the stove.  I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and into the heat.  I opted to prepare our beef stew and our pilaf.  And let me tell you - it's hot and claustrophobic at the stove and my short self can barely reach the back burner when there is a big pot on the front burner.  Despite my melting and internal claustrophobic fits, the night went quite smoothly...low stress, adequate amount of time, well-organized, and of course, lots of learning.  My team was stellar.  J made a beautiful stuffed pork chop with a tasty sauce, S prepared grilled pork and vegetable kabobs and her plating rocked, and D made the best meatloaf I have ever eaten.  I really liked my stew as well.  Chef felt it was a bit heavy on the red wine (apparently, that wasn't a good thing...I, however, adore red wine).  We all felt really good at the end of the night.  We could see the progress we had made from previous weeks and that was something to be proud of.


VEGETABLES
I was super excited about our veggie class.  I love veggies.  However, I drink more veggies than I eat (I think green smoothies are the answer to everything).  So, I was stoked to learn about cooking vegetables and trying vegetables that I was less familiar with.  After lecture, we were to prepare a stir-fry with vegetables of our choice, duxelles (minced mushrooms, shallots and garlic that is sauteed until it melts in your mouth - used in beef wellington), vegetable tempura with a vegetable we have never seen used in tempura, and 4 dishes using vegetables from...drum roll, please....our MYSTERY BASKET!  On each of our tables was a basket of vegetables...not carrots, potatoes or broccoli.  These were interesting vegetables.  I was kind of giddy about this.  But I'm a recipe girl...and we are being tasked with preparing dishes of our own creation with veggies we aren't too familiar with.  Let the fun begin!

Our basket had the following: kale, turnips, tomatillos, leeks, beets, broccoli rabe and brussel sprouts.  We immediately decided to tempura our brussel sprouts (apparently, that was a good choice as both Chefs really like tempura brussel sprouts).  I quartered them and made our tempura batter.  J got busy on the duxelles because he has mad knife skills.  I asked my team if I could take the beets.  I've had a few beet dishes in the past few months that I loved, but I have never cooked a beet.  I wanted to make a beet salad inspired by the beet salad I ate at Pizzeria Locale in Boulder, CO this summer (food nerd heaven).  I wrapped the beets in foil and cooked them in the oven.  My intention was to only cook them long enough to easily peel them and then I would steam them from there.  But I felt they were perfectly cooked from the oven.  I cut them into bite-sized squares, marinated them in a mixture of orange juice, balsamic vinegar, salt and chilled them.  I served them on a chilled dish topped with crumbled goat cheese and orange zest.  I really liked the flavor profile.  S took the tomatillos and made a delicious, fresh, clean-tasting mixture with lots of different veggies to be used in a lettuce wrap.  J took the kale, finely chopped it, sauteed it and garnished it with fried prosciutto.  D made a yummy home fries-type dish with the turnips and leeks, as well as sauteed broccoli rabe with cranberries and prosciutto.

We all pitched in on the stir-fry...discussing vegetables (we opted for julienned jicama, carrots, green bell peppers with a bit of finely chopped jalapeno and crushed red pepper), sauce ideas (rice vinegar, honey, lime juice, salt and lime zest), and chopping.  I ended up cooking the stir-fry.  I don't believe my team has ever turned in a dish past the due time.  However, tonight we were running behind.  I had just taken the stir-fry off the stove and we needed to present the kale.  I placed the stir-fry on our table with the intention of plating it after we turned in the kale.  Near the end of our kale talk, someone noticed that the stir-fry was gone.  Panic is coursing through my veins.  Our dishes are our grade and we get most of our learning from our dish presentations.  It is already after 10 p.m. and our dishes were due at 9:45 p.m. - there is no time to remake the stir-fry.  Chef was great about it.  She said she saw that we had made it and asked me to describe the dish.  I felt much better once I knew we didn't have to remake it, but still disappointed that we missed out on the learning.  No one knows what happened to the stir-fry.  I assume someone tossed it by accident while cleaning up.  I didn't really want to keep talking about it, because whoever did it probably felt awful about it.  However, I think my classmates perceive me as chatty and my silence was interpreted as mad.  I just want to put this out in the universe - I was initially shocked and disappointed...never mad...it was an accident and that is life in a hot, claustrophobic kitchen.

I learned that I like brussel sprouts and turnips and leeks and jicama and broccoli rabe (I already knew that I liked the other goodies in our basket).  I have a lot to learn about fancy plating and my knife skills aren't quite mad...yet.  People who don't like vegetables probably haven't had them prepared correctly.  Overcooked veggies are horrible.  Boiling veggies forever zaps their flavor.  Vegetables are an integral part to good health and when prepared well they are delicious.  Now, go eat your veggies!