Mother's Day Sweet Treats!

Today is Mother's Day! It's time to celebrate all mothers in the world, for all that they have done all year long! Though we should celebrate everyday because mothers are hardworking everyday.

Now that I've been in culinary school, the most memorable course is Dessert, so I decided to make a luxurious Vanilla Bean Custard (or Creme Brulee without the Brulee). Nonetheless, it was very delicious and silky!

One day, I decided to head to Chelsea Market in New York City (near 8th Ave and 14th Street). I wandered the halls of the market and saw "Spices and Tease". They had array of spices and teas in shallow bowls all laid out; I was definitely in heaven. All the different smells and aromas igniting my creativity, but I was searching for something I could do for my mother. Then I see a small bottle of plump and moist Madagascar Vanilla Beans and that's when I knew I wanted to make Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta first. Unfortunately when I checked my baking supplies at home, I didn't have any gelatin, so I decided to make Vanilla Bean Custard (using eggs to bind instead of gelatin).

First the photos with the description and then I will provide the recipe down below.

6 Vanilla Bean Custard (had a bit of foam but it didn't change the flavor)

I wanted to show that there are actual Vanilla Beans in this Custard, so those black specs are proof!

Vanilla Bean Custard

• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split, or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Place an oven rack one-third of the way up from the bottom. Choose a small roasting pan large enough to hold four 6-ounce custard cups, and fill it with enough water to go halfway up the sides of cups. Place pan without cups in the oven. Meanwhile, combine cream, milk, and vanilla bean in a medium saucepan; bring to boil.
• 2. Whisk together the yolks and sugar in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Slowly whisk in the hot milk until completely combined, then pour into custard cups, and place them in the pan of hot water. Bake on the lower shelf until the custard has set and is no longer liquid when lightly touched in the center, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove pan from the oven, remove custard cups from the water, and place on a wire rack to cool. Serve at room temperature or chilled.
• **I want to give credit to Martha Stewart. I used the recipe as my guide and made some alterations to the original recipe.**
• 
  

 There's a bonus!!! I brought home the Puff Pastry Dough that I've made in culinary school and I made these!!! They are call Palmier or Butterfly Cookies or Elephant Ear Cookies, whichever name you call them, Everyone can agree that Palmier are so DELICIOUS! Very Buttery and Caramel like! I'm drooling just typing what my experience were with these.

Please Admire the Melted Sugar in between each Palmier!

Hope you enjoyed this Mother's Day Sweet Treats! Please comment and Subscribe for new updates in my 6-month Culinary Program and upcoming new recipes. I'm slowly developing new recipes and sharing on this very blog! 

Stay Tune! 

Culinary photos #6 and 7

Hey Ladies and Gents. Last week I was so busy I didn't get a chance to post my photos. I had a volunteer event at my school. It was called the New York Culinary Experience. Please try out the experience next year. You get to work with famous chefs known around the world like Chef Morimoto, Chef Marc Murphy, Chef Jean-George, Chef Daniel Rose, and Chef Dan Barber; just to name a few. There are many more where that was. I wished I worked with all of the chefs on the two day event, but I still had a great time and was star-struck by all the famous chefs walking along the halls of my classroom. 

Now the photos that I've been procrastinating to post, since I've been so tired.   

Frozen Fruit Souffle; This Souffle will wait for you only if its in a cold environment

Swiss Meringue Cookies for the next photo; This was a collaboration with my partner that day,

so I piped a few out and my partner piped out the rest.

Meringue Chantilly; using Fresh Vanilla Ice cream filling with Whipped Cream Stars for Garnish. Dusted with Cocoa Powder

Cheese Souffle, using Gruyere Cheese

*Note: This was my first time making Souffles*

Chocolate Souffle

Raspberry Fruit Souffle

Cream Puffs

Apple Tart

Pear Tart with Almond Cream

Quiche Lorraine

La Genoise 

*My favorite day!*

Crepes Suzette

Puff Pastry Strip with Fresh Fruit and Pastry Cream

*My favorite as of this day*

Pan Seared Striped Bass over Lentils, 

Artichoke heart, fennel, and watercress salad

Falafel with Sauteed Zucchini tossed in a Tomato Caper Sauce with a side of tzatziki.

Warm Salad of Shrimp and Artichokes with Basil

Fresh Ricotta Cheese

Mushroom Risotto with Porcini, Cremini, Shitake, and Myataki mushrooms

The Cheese tasting we had in class.

Fresh Mozzarella 

Freshly Rolled Ricotta filling Ravioli made with a tomato sauce topped with cheese 

I hope you enjoy the 2 weeks of food porn. The next few days will be my Exam days and then

I will be advancing to the next level I hope. I am currently developing a recipe that I might post in the upcoming future. It involves a Flounder. 

Please Subscribe to stay up to date with new photos and upcoming recipes.

Culinary photos #5

Hello everyone! As promised my weekly photos in my 6-month culinary program, but this week I wasn't feeling myself, so as a result, I completely forgot to take a photo for one entire day. The day that I didn't take a picture was when my class was working Forcemeats (aka stuffing fillings into raw meats and making chicken liver pate). The dishes looked great, but I didn't feel like myself when I stepped into the kitchen that day. For some reason, it felt like I was behind the entire time while I was cooking with the class, but I can assure that I haven't fallen to any illness yet. Knock on wood I hope that doesn't happen!

Well enough talk, I will show the pictures with the accompanying details underneath the pictures.

Rabbit Ragout with Vegetable and Pommes Puree

Braised Lamb Shank with Couscous 

Seared Calf's Liver in a Onion Sauce

Pan fried Sweetbreads with Polenta and Sauteed Spinach

Lamb Tongue Salad served with Potato Salad and Vinaigrette (made with hard-boiled eggs)

First Pastry Day! Made Creme Caramel (aka Flan). 

I hope everyone likes the picture. I will have more next week. If you'd like what you see, Subscribe and stay tune for more updates next week. 

Just a heads up, Next weekend I will be very busy so there is a slight chance that I won't have an update, but you can get up to date post by subscribing to me! 

My Culinary Work

As of today, I've advanced to Level 2 of my school's Culinary Program. Completely awed by how fast a month went by. It felt like it was just yesterday that I was in Level 1 learning how to slice vegetables into different shapes.

Now that I'm in Level 2, soon there will be Pastry. I'm going to LOVE this section of the course. I hope I can get decent photos of the desserts I'll be making.

For now, I'll show you the pictures of what I've done. Unfortunately I didn't post one of the dishes from a few weeks ago I'll put in the details below, which one I forgot to post.

(Roast Chicken, "Grandmother style" with Bacon Lardons, 

Potatoes, Pearl Onions, and Mushrooms)

(Bread Crumb-Coated Flounder with Remoulade,

 and Sauce aux Poivrons Rouges)

This was the dish I forgot to post a few weeks ago. I'm sorry!

(I'M SORRY!; This was Pork Chops with Sauce Charcutiere,

This looked so good that forgot to take a picture)

(Ginger-Marinated Pork Fillet with Sweet and Sour Sauce)

(Marinated Lamb Chops with Vegetable Ragout)

(Lamb Stew with Season Vegetables)

Sauteed Venison Loin with Sauce Bordelaise

and Pommes Darphin (Potato Pancake)

(Simmered Beef Short Ribs with Horseradish Sauce)

(Veal Blanquette with Rice Pilaf; Garnished with Pearl Onions and Mushrooms

in a Cream Sauce)

This time the photos aren't as appealing, but the dishes are very classic and delicious. Stay Tune for more weekly food porn! Subscribe and please share if you like the photos! 

This week's Culinary Works

I have to apologize at the beginning, for take ugly photos this week. I'm not totally proud of most of the dishes appearance, but I did promise that I'd post the photos.

Steamed Mussels in a White Wine, Shallots, and Parsley

(I'm sorry to say, but I ate the whole plate)

Seared Scallops with Parsley Coulis

Poached Whole Lobster in a White Wine Court Bouillon with a Baked Potato

Most Expensive Lunch I've had in this school.

Chicken Poached in Mediterranean-Style Broth

Sauteed Chicken, Hunter Style

(This was delicious, must recreate it at home)

Pan Roasted Quail with Rice and Sausage Stuffing. 

(The sauce wasn't reduced enough)

Hope you like the pictures, I will have more by Friday and I'll post them in the weekends.

Please Subscribe to stay up-to-date.

Classic Sponge Cake

One day, I came back home and my Father brought home 2 dozen duck eggs. He wanted me to make a Duck Egg Cake for him, so I decided to make it with a certain ratio, which I will talk about it later on. Now the recipe for Classic Sponge Cake is from Woodland Bakery in Chatham, NJ. The recipe is written by Gretchen Price.

Here's the recipe: http://www.woodlandbakeryblog.com/vanilla-sponge-cake/

Please check out her website, it has everything for aspiring Pastry Chefs or Home Baker!

Now for the details to making the cake; In today's cake, I've used 3 Duck Eggs instead of the 4 Chicken Eggs the recipe called for. That ratio is perfect as long as the weight of the Duck Eggs is around 200g, when cracked opened. I lowered the amount of sugar to 1 1/4 cup and then I followed the recipe with the other ingredients. Those are my changes to this cake and the result is PERFECT!

The cake is Moist, Soft, Light, and perfect Sweetest! Just the perfect harmony for the Classic Sponge Cake! With some Swiss Vanilla Buttercream from Gretchen Price, this is the best harmony of flavors!

I'm sorry about my pictures being ugly today, but it's the perfect picture to explain my next tip.

In the past I've tried this recipe using Chicken Eggs and it was also great, but it was really dry. One cool tip to keeping your Sponge Cake from drying out while it cools, is to place the sponge cake into a plastic bag and close it shut so the cake stays moist. In this case, I've used a Hefty Plastic Ziplock Bag to keep the cake moist. Once you are ready to frost, take the cakes out of the bag and stack the cakes on top of each other. When you cut into this cake, it will be moist! 

Hope you enjoy the tip, I will make another post later tonight to highlight my work in Culinary School. Subscribe and Stay tune for more upcoming pictures!

This week's work in Culinary School

Hi Everyone! Starting from today, I think I will post weekly photos of all the work I've done and the dishes I've eaten. So I'm going to stop myself from writing a large paragraph and show the pictures with it's respective names:

Beef Consomme with Finely Diced Carrots, Turnips, Haricot Verts, and Green Peas

This was the lunch I've had one day, it was a buffet. From left bottom to right bottom going around the plate;

Grilled Bacon Polenta, Deviled Eggs, Shredded Cabbage in Sweet Dressing (Don't remember Sorry), Parsnip Gratin, Parsnip Tart, Apple and Bacon Croquette, Apple Butter, Mixed Sauteed Vegetables, Carrot Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (In the little cup), Smoked Trout spread, and Roasted Ham! 

During a Chef's Demonstration: Baked Shrimps 3 different types (Simply Seasoned with Salt and LOTS of Pepper) Very Tasty!

During a Chef's Demonstration: Salt Cured Red Snapper, and Amberjack Ceviche with Mangos, Supereme of Blood Oranges, and Pistachios. 

Salade Nicoise

Crispy Duck Confit with a Bitter Green Salad 

Macadoine de Legume

(or Carrots, Turnips, Haricot Verts, and Green Peas dressed with a Basil Mayo 

and topped with Tomato Fondue)

My Chef Instructor's Graxlax! So good with a piece of toast and Lemon Juice!

I had leftover Challah bread so I decided to make my own French Toast with Eggs, Milk, Sugar, Salt, and Cinnamon! Drizzled with Condensed milk.

Poisson en Papillote

(Fish baked in Parchment Paper)

This just came out of the oven, such a Wow factor.

Poisson en Papillote

This was the inside of the parchment paper. Very Delicious and Healthy too!

 So I ate the whole thing by myself.

Sauteed Trout, Grenoble Style

This was pan seared Trout with a Lemon Butter sauce. Garnished with Lemon Supreme, Capers, Housemade Croutons, and Cocotte New Potatoes.

"Cocotte" refers to the shape of the potatoes in this photo.  

Thank You everyone for their support! And I keep rewarding with more Food Porn! I hope you like it! Stay Tune next week for more! I hope..