The 2 recipes to learnt today were a Chorizo and Fresh Herb Napoli with Penne and Eggs Benedict with focus on Hollandaise Sauce. Being a huge breakfast fan I was over the moon. I was very excited to be making a breakfast dish even though it was simple.
Basic structure when we are in the kitchen is to read our recipe, gather ingredients, and do the prep. Get the demonstration by the teacher then finish and show the product.
We started the Napoli Sauce first which we cooked for 2 hours, whilst the sauce reduced we started on the Eggs Benedict. I cooked a side of sautéed mushrooms and cherry tomatoes because I LOVE eating breakfast.
After our break we finished the pasta dish cleaned up and went home. next week should be fun with Baking,Roasting and Grilling.
i went to the free Melb food and wine festival cooking demonstrations on monday (and will return tomorrow, thurs and friday ;) andgot to talk to Matt Wilkinson (circa) - i was so nervous i planned what to say beforehand and had to force myself to speak. which is a ridiculous way to start a conversation but there you go, my human nature surfaced. i asked him how exaclty you bacame a chef, because nothing i had found had been at all useful (excepty for this blog funnily enough. Pretty sad for melbourne cooking that the only thing that explains stuff is a blog from a fellow student). But he was nice and helpful and said pretty much enrol in school and go ask for jobs at restuarants you want to eat at. Afterwards i went and looked up that article you sent me ("masterchefs") and he ahd written exactly the same thing for that article as he told me. But still, way worthwhile having a chat. i also asked how many apprentices the average restaurant wouild take on per year and he said a fair few, so that was reassuring. ah so excited and stressed at the same time so will go console my soul with goats cheese pesto
ReplyDeleteGratz on building up the courage to do something like that E. I plan what I’m gonna say before hand as well sometimes when I’m really nervous. So have you decided whether your gonna go against the grain and pursue cooking yet? After haven spoken to a real chef about it.
ReplyDelete- The Pantsless Chef
i think i probably will attack that grain with fervour. All im doing at the moment is reading cookbooks and scouring gourmet.com for interesting tips/stories.
ReplyDeletei just read "heat" by Bill Buford, and if you are interested in Italian food, it is definately worth the read. Bill, about 45 y.o. or so, becomes an apprentice to Mario Batali in NY, just for fun, and ends up staying there for over a year before moving to italy to apprentice with italys most famous butcher. The way he described the kitchen atmosphere of the 90s was pretty frightening actually, cos chefs back then seem MEAN! When you get to the butcher section he gives you the recipes for lots of things you could only learn from old italian people in italy.
Enough of an obsession and/or random book review for today i think ;) - until tomorrow when matthew evans turns up at the cooking demonstrations tomorrow.