Twice as Delicious

Oh boy! Balancing both the cuisine and pastry stream has certainly kept me very busy.

Obviously lagging behind on my updates (it’s now week 9), here’s what we lovingly prepared in a short 3 weeks —

[LEFT] Puree of pea soup Saint-Germain with Croutons (by Chef Andreas) – simple, healthy and delicious if you can get hold of some good chicken or vegetable stock.
[RIGHT] Prune and Almond Tart (by Chef Andreas) – prunes are not my favorite

[LEFT] Salad of Pigeon with Pine Nuts (by Me)
[RIGHT] Sardine and Mushroom Tranche (by Chef Tristan) – what a lovely lovely tart that is pretty simple as long as you have some virgin puff pastry at hand

[LEFT] Creamy Garlic Soup (by Chef Andreas) – another simple yet delicious soup….this one’s thicker as it contains quite abit of potatoes
[RIGHT] Breast of Pheasant in Puff Pastry (by Chef Andreas) – made ‘Beef Wellington’ style, this dish is quite a showcase of skills as it required us to debone a bird, cream some mousseline, whip up some perfect (thin) crepes all tightly wrapped in a thinly rolled puff pastry

[LEFT] Pork Cutlet Normandy style (by Chef Andreas) – classical dish. Sadly, I overcooked my turned apples which appeared like baby food on the plate 😦
[RIGHT] Braised Cos Lettuce (by Chef Andreas)

Passion Fruit Bavarios (by Chef Andreas) – The last time we made a bavarois was in Basic Cuisine – at that time, I concluded that bavarois is not my kinda thing as it was too rich, creamy and one-dimensional in my opinion. This dish, however, totally overthrew all my previous perception – love love love the flavor and aroma the passionfruit added to the dessert!

[LEFT] Duck Breast with Black Trumpet Mushrooms with Roast Garlic Mash (by Me) – Simple yet absolutely delicious! I think garlic mash’s such an awesome idea.
[RIGHT] Savarin with Kiwi (by Me) – A baked yeast dough soaked in syrup….Way too sweet for my liking.

[LEFT] Rabbit – before butchering. I was glad the rabbit did not come complete with head and paws!
[RIGHT] Rabbit – after butchering. Chef reminded me to take a picture as he felt I did a good job in justifying the sacrifice of a rabbit 😛

[LEFT] Braised Rabbit Parcels with Soft Polenta with Truffle Oil (by Chef Andreas) – Although rabbit tastes rather similar to chicken, the ‘gamey’ taste is distinct. DISLIKE.
[RIGHT] Baked Cheesecake (by Me) – Absolutely delicious! In my opinion, the cheesecake was too dark but Chef felt otherwise.

[LEFT] Smoked Salmon Fantasia (by Chef Iris)
[RIGHT] Saute of Chicken Basque (by Me) – one of my favorite dishes in terms of taste – it really reminded me of my mom’s awesome chicken & potato stew which I LOVE.

[LEFT] Potato Gnocchi with Pesto Sauce (by Me) – First attempt at gnocchi-making was fun! Although too starchy for my liking…but it is so fun to curl/roll those cute little things I may consider doing it at home!
[RIGHT] Cottage Cheese Tart (by Me)

Look at the amount of tea towels I use on a weekly basis – these, on top of the 5 sets of chef’s jacket & aprons. It is no wonder I have been spending majority of my time outside school doing laundry and playing hide-and-seek with the sun!

With the theory exams down, I am now left with my cuisine practical (3-course meal in 4.5 hours…nerve-wrecking!) and pastry practical (10 Eclairs and 1 Fruit Tart in 5 hours…abit too much time?!?!) exams next week. So for now, it’s back into the kitchen to practice, practice and practice this weekend.

Enjoy your weekend and eat well!

As some of you may know – I made a drastic switch in profession earlier this year. Giving up my job in my dream company working with some of the the most amazing people wasn’t easy; entering the commercial kitchen with zero experience and less physical fitness than my younger peers wasn’t easy either. Nevertheless, it has been such an enriching experience so far I wouldn’t have done anything differently if I have to do this all over again.

During my basic cuisine studies, when the opportunity came for me to gain some experience in the commercial kitchen in a famous 5-star Hotel Chain in Syd – I grabbed it. 2 days a week on top of school, 8 hours a day (usually more), 1-hour bus ride away from home, 15 mins lunch break in between, zero pay and starting at the lowest level possible in the kitchen…well, I knew I was in for something quite different from the past.

Quite different is an understatement. It turned out so EXTREMELY different….I simply do not know how to begin writing about it. So I thought putting everything in a table may help –

…just to name a few differences.

Coincidentally, my previous job was closely related to the hospitality industry – it is a bitter-sweet feeling when I see working professionals being welcomed through the lovely glass doors of the hotel while I had to enter from the employee entrance at the hind alley; or when I am rushed to prepare a fruit bowl for an important client of the hotel when I used to be at the receiving end. Why both bitter AND sweet? Because it is something I had the privilege to experience and which I gave up to pursue something close to heart.

And with regards to THAT something close to heart – have got awesome news to share!  We received our results for last term a couple of weeks back and I am glad it turned out well 🙂 I received a Merit Award for emerging top of my class – am so so blessed considering there are many students with much more experience and better skills than me!

My takeaway from my experiences thus far: At the end of the day – be it blue or white collared – follow your heart and it wouldn’t go that wrong.

As the title suggests – week 1 & 2 of intermediate cuisine was definitely not a breeze. The lessons were designed such that it really stretches us in order to prepare us for what is ahead in Superior – Restaurant Class (during which we ‘run’ our own little restaurant that is opened to public).

Although stressful, Intermediate Cuisine offered us the opportunity to whip up some really beautiful dishes so far –

[LEFT] CHICKEN LIVER PATE (by Chef Andreas) – I discovered that I dislike cooking this dish as much as I dislike eating it, period.
[RIGHT] WARM APPLE AND ALMOND TART with HONEY BUTTER (by Chef Andreas) – a beautiful tart which I would prefer more apples and less frangipane (almond filling)

[LEFT] BLUE EYE COD PAPILOTTE (by Chef Tristan) – Papilotte is the method of cooking the dish in a “pouch/parcel” (made using silicone paper) and baked. Easy, tasty, healthy – can’t wait to prepare this for my dad & mom!
[RIGHT] ROASTED DUCK BREAST with PORCINI MUSHROOMS, SAUTEED POTATOES with HAM (by Chef Tristan) – Stuffed with duxelle…this is definitely not my favorite in terms of preparation because I always spend such a looong time dicing my mushrooms, somehow. However, the dish itself is lovely – I LOVE DUCK BREASTS!

[LEFT] SCRAMBLED EGGS with TRUFFLE (by Chef Andreas) – scrambled egg is simple? Think again. I struggled….and it’s a long way to perfection, in my opinion.
[RIGHT] POACHED EGGS FLORENTINE (by Chef Andreas) – Basically made up of 2 poached eggs, spinach and Mornay Sauce. We also made Eggs Benedict in this lesson which I already posted in my previous post. As we finished the lesson early, I made use of the extra time to practice Omelette which we learnt last term – TOTAL EGG COUNT AT THE END OF LESSON: 16

[LEFT] GRILLED ENTRECOTE with MAITRE D’HOTEL BUTTER served with PONT NEUF POTATOES (by Chef Andreas) – a simple yet beautiful dish. Pont Neuf Potatoes translates to “New Bridge Potatoes” which is essentially just hand-cut fries arranged in a bridge-like manner
[RIGHT] STRAWBERRY TART WITH APRICOT GLAZE (by Chef Andreas) – As strawberries are OUT of season here right now (unusually) – not only are they ugly but pricey too! This resulted in not-so-pretty looking strawberry tarts. Learning: It is important for chefs to beware of seasonal foods!

[LEFT] SALAD OF SMOKED TROUT ON BABY BREANS AND KIPFLER POTATOES with SOFT POACHED EGG (by Chef Tristan) – A very beautiful contemporary salad…just beware of the fish bones.
[RIGHT] OREILLETTES (by Chef Tristan) – A very delightful street food….but nothing beats my favorite churros!!!

THREE CHEESE RISOTTO with PARMESAN TUILLE (by Chef Tristan) – The amount of cheese in this dish is unbelievable! Risotto lovers will love this, trust me.

[LEFT] TUNA TARTARE ON ASIAN SPOON (by Chef Andreas) – Serving food on asian spoon is in trend now 🙂 Tastes as good as it looks!
[RIGHT] ROAST SCALLOPS with TOMATO AND CUCUMBER SALSA (by Chef Andreas) – I didn’t know preparing scallops could be this simple…makes a great appetizer!

[LEFT] SMOKED SALMON POTATO PIKELET (by Chef Andreas) – The third canape  we prepared in this lesson….what a beautiful dish don’t you think?
[RIGHT] SEASONAL MIXED SALAD with ROQUEFORT DRESSING (by Chef Andreas) – I am one of those who find blue cheese smelly 😦

All in all, a tough first 2 weeks. Often, I struggled to execute well at the end of each lesson – something which I found extremely disappointing. My constant dilemma – should I present a perfect dish late or an imperfect dish on time?