Egg-celent Week...

This week we prepared eggs over easy, sunny side up, scrambled, rolled , hard, soft, boiled, poached and frittata'd!

I also had my practical exam (midterm)...this included knife cuts, sauces & soups.

It was definitely not my cup of tea; but I stuck through the egg day. Most of you know I hate eggs...but I will tell you this: the scrambled eggs I made in the puff pastry with burnoise tomatoes, chives & parsley...drizzled with truffle oil is awesome!

I was able to make a perfect sunny side up egg and flipped it perfectly to make over easy. The key with this egg is using clarified butter it won't burn the egg white like oil or whole butter will.

We also made Hard & Soft boiled eggs...the soft ones were gooey and runny like an over easy egg with a hard white. Timing these eggs is what makes them perfect....the only egg I really ate was the hard boiled egg that wasn't like chalk...lol...made golden yellow.

The poached eggs were always so hard to make at home but now I know what I've been doing wrong.

When you poach and egg you need to make sure you do not have too much water; not boiling (simmer) and vinegar to help cook the egg whites faster (protein). Then you have to slide the egg into the water (at water level) with either a tea cup or ramekin. Sliding in the egg will literally let the white wrap around the yolk and make a pocket. Then of course make sure you don't over cook these bad boys. Shock them in cool water to stop the cooking and BAM poached eggs...!

The rolled omelet is gooey! You have to make it that way...it's 2 eggs whipped with a little cream and then placed in the pan sliding back and forth to set the sides...then you roll it up towards the edge of the pan and fill in what you want as a filling. Underhand the pan and roll the sucker onto a plate; fix it with a clean paper towel and top with garnish...after you shine it up with a little glaze (melted butter).

The frittata was easy...placed whipped eggs into a mix of onions, peppers, etc that was sauteed in oil ready to go...lift it to get all the egg cooked...brown slightly and then slide onto a plate. Place the pan over the top of the plate and flip it back into the pan on the opposite side. Brown this side and top with garnish.

The scrambled eggs in puff pastry...mmmmmm....the key is scrambled eggs with 2/3 egg 1/3 cream...then salt and pepper. Must break up all the lumps in the egg mixture on the pan and don't let it overcook...let the carry over heat finish it off and place inside a puff pastry bowl which is easy to make. You need a square of puff pastry and cook till done...then punch in the middle and fill. Add the garnish on top and the cou de ta was the truffle oil...BAM!

As for the practical man that was cool...it was like running your kitchen...

We had a pot of Bechamel going; while our Espagnole was simmering and we whipped mayonnaise into shape. Together with Maria we created a roasted red pepper soup for our chef's choice soup...and of course my damn knife cuts...

Overall I got an 89...missed the A by one point because we screwed up on the Espagnole sauce. We didn't brown the mirepoix long enough or add enough tomato paste to pince. The part where I need to practice more is in the julienne carrots and 1/4 dice...

The Roasted Red Pepper soup recipe was posted last week and I urge you all to try it out...it's awesome!

The next update will be veggie week...!