More West Coast/ Pac Northwest

I continue to realize my style really mirrors the West Coast; from California to Alaska. Although I think I really stop in Washington State. Next is our final week which will be Hawaii and our luau.

This week we made food from Oregon, Washington, Western Idaho and Alaska. Our menu consisted of broccoli cheddar soup with toasted hazelnuts, grilled lamb with Brussels sprouts and hazelnuts, braised cod with cucumbers and ginger salad, zucchini and snow peas with basil, savory bread pudding, strawberry brulee, pea soup with crab meat and mint, hot smoked apricot salmon on mushroom soba noodle salad, blackberry barbecued chicken, beans with fresh oregano, walla walla onion rings, and (attempted) chocolate flourless cake with coffee cream anglaise.

Kim and I made the broccoli cheddar soup with toasted hazelnuts and it was awesome! The soup was easy to make; melt some butter, saute the leeks and onion then mix in the broccoli, carrots and chicken stock. Bring everything to a boil then simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender. Then puree the soup and stir in half and half; then season with slat and pepper. Stir in about 2 cups of Tillamook cheddar cheese and top with chopped/toasted hazelnuts. Maria made the pea soup with crab meat and mint; this soup was surprisingly awesome and it follows the traditional pea soup recipe. The difference in this soup is when you garnish it with fresh crab meat and chiffonade mint leaves.

Mike made the cod and he braised it in the "salamander" because grilling the pre-frozen fillets would cause them to break apart on the grill. It turned out great and it was served with a cucumber/red onion salad which was dressed with pickled ginger and vinegar. The zucchini and snow peas were sauteed in butter and seasoned with salt and white pepper. The savory bread pudding is basically a wet/softer stuffing and was a good side dish. I called it bacon stuffing because the satueed bacon was all I could really taste in this recipe. Chef cued up all of the smoked salmons and showed us how to fabricate the fish; but Mike made the apricot glaze. It had good sweetness and a good touch of acid to it as well; overall great fish. My favorite was it's accompaniment of soba noodles and mixed wild mushrooms.The mushrooms were sauteed in sesame oil and then a mixture of soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger and garlic is added at the end. Very tasty and the soba noodles went great with the mix; which also had fresh asparagus.

I made grilled lamb leg; which I tossed in an marinated with the following mixture and then grilled to perfection. The marinade consisted of dijon mustard, minced parsley, minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, dried oregano, kosher salt, black pepper and red wine vinegar. After marinating the meat and grilling it to perfection; I put finished it in the oven for about 20 minutes because of the size of the meat. It came out medium rare and I sliced very thin; to the size of roast beef. It was incredible...be careful on grilling this piece of meat or any meat. Make sure you only use the grill to mark your meat and get the great taste; then finish in the oven to lock in the juices and not burn the flesh.

Another two dishes I made was a grilled chicken with blackberry bbq sauce, and walla walla onion rings. The chicken was grilled like normally and then I made a blackberry sauce which was made with; fresh blackberries, brown sugar, salt, white pepper, honey and soy sauce. I heated the mixture in a saute pan until the consistency of a sauce was met. I then added it to the chicken after it was almost done finishing in the oven. As for the onion rings I believe I inadvertently created a monster. I made a batter of equal parts flour and water; seasoned with salt and white pepper. Dip the sliced onions into the batter and then coat with panko bread crumbs; allow them to set up in the fridge and then re-dip them into the batter again and more panko. Then deep fry the rings or fry in a pan with oil...WOWOWOWOWOW!!!! They were awesome!!!

Maria and I made the dish pictured above; which was strawberry brulee. This desert is awesome and is made with pastry cream. Cream three egg yolks with the 1/2 cup white sugar and 1 tsp of corn starch first and then slowly whisk in a boiled mixture of; one tsp of vanilla, 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup of milk. After everything is incorporated bring the mixture to a boil constantly stirring to not burn the bottom of the cream. The mixture will thicken after it begins to rapidly boil. Pour the mixture into a bowl and place on top of ice to quickly drop the temperature. After completely cooling the mixture make sure you spoon out into bowls 1/2 way and then add sliced strawberries; fill the rest of the way. Sprinkle sugar over the top and torch the sugar to make the brulee crust. Awesome desert and I can't wait to make it at home...!

This was a great class this semester and tonight we finish off in the islands of Hawaii!!!

California Dreamin'

I think I found my style of cooking...

I love cooking with fresh ingredients, mixing flavors from all over the world, such as incorporating Pan-Asian and Italian influences into dishes. All of these characteristics are found in California cuisine.
We made the following while listening to Mammas and the Pappas, and The Beach Boys...chilled avocado and cucumber soup, warm scallop salad with tomato, mint and lime dressing, sauteed duck breast with port wine reduction, Monterrey jack and green chile polenta, fried fennel and creamed spinach.

Maria made the chilled soup and believe it or not it was really good. I liked how the cucumber helped incorporate all of the flavors. You put all of the following ingredients into a blender and puree; then you add a little milk at a time until consistency is met. The following ingredients to puree are: heavy cream, avocado, cucumber, lime juice, chicken or vegetable stock, plain yogurt, garlic, sour cream, dill, parsley, salt and white pepper. Remember to peel and seed the avocado and cucumber...

I made the sauteed duck breast with port wine reduction...hint it's the awesome pic found to the left. The port wine reduction is a reduced blend of sauteed minced shallots, port wine, duck fat and brown stock. The duck is very easy to cook and I cooked ours to medium rare. In fact you can not get salmonella from duck because it is a water bird. You want to reserve some of the fat for the flavor on this bird.
Make sure you season your duck breast very well with salt and black pepper. Then remember to score the duck fat on the breast; heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and place the breasts fat side down. Pan sear the breasts until brown on both sides and finish in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes to get the medium rare doneness. Awesome dish and I used the polenta Christine made along with her creamed spinach for the plate.

I also fried small pieces of the sliced fennel and it was battered using a tempura batter. The Asian dipping sauce was made using soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, shallots, Dijon mustard and salt/pepper to taste. This was another short week but the food was awesome again...

The second half of this week we catered an award banquet and it was awesome to see the food we whipped up being enjoyed by others.

¡Arriba! Tex Mex Comida

We ran to the border in creating dishes from Tex-Mex cuisine.

Our menu consisted of LBJ chili, jalapeno cornbread, crab quesadillas (empanadas) with green chile chutney, lone star chicken-fired steak with creamy gravy, mashed potatoes, black eyed peas, wedding cookies, pork flautas, guacamole, pico de gallo; and a tex-mex plate consisting of shrimp tacos (with green chile sauce), cheese enchiladas, Mexican rice and refried beans. To finish off the two evenings with a classic desert...flan!

The chili is very simple to make and it's very beefy; in fact it tasted to me like pot roast. You brown some cubed beef chuck and set aside; then saute onion, garlic, add the spices, return the meat and add diced tomatoes. Then you top it off with some stock; adjust the seasoning and simmer. Viola! It was good with the jalapeno cornbread we made...

The cornbread consisted of a homemade recipe no quick cornbread muffin box on this one. Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; add cream style corn, shredded cheddar cheese, 2 beaten eggs, sour cream and a minced jalapeno. Pop it in the oven in a greased muffin tin; for 30 -40 minutes at 400 degrees..and BANG!

Our crab quesadillas were ok...they needed more seasoning and I am not sure why they are called quesadillas when they are fried and look like empanadas. You make the dough using masa harina, flour, shortening, chicken stock and salt. Then roll it out and cut circles to fill; next fill them with a heated mixture of crab meat, diced onion, tomato, jalapeno, salt and pepper. Close them up and fry in a pan of oil heated to 375 degrees. Cook until golden and drain on paper towels...Yeeeehawww! The chutney from Peggy's group was killer; ours was burned by someone who forgot she was cooking chutney. Glad we have other groups in the class. You combine the following ingredients bring them to a boil, simmer for 20 minutes and cool. The ingredients are 2 roasted jalapenos diced, toasted and ground Mexican oregano, slivered almonds, lime juice, cider vinegar, sugar and salt.

The lone star chicken fried steak with creamy gravy, mashed potatoes and black eye peas was like eating down on the range...mmmmmm mmm. The steak was tenderized beef round; beaten with a hammer. You dip the steaks in a milk egg mixture then dredge in seasoned flour; then pan fry and drain on paper towels. Make your favorite mashed potatoes to go with the steaks. You make the gravy in the way of a bechamel. Use the dripping fat from frying the steaks and add flour to make a roux; then add warmed milk and whisk until combined. This dish was again very good and easy to make.

Maria made the Mexican Wedding cookies and they were really good for something that feels like you should be throwing them at your arch rival baseball team. These are creamed butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. You then stir in flour, add chopped pecans, chill the dough for one hour; next make balls out of the dough, bake for 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven and then roll in powdered sugar.

The pork flautas were really good...they were stuffed with pulled pork in a corn tortilla and pan fried. The guacamole and pico de gallo I have made a hundred times. This time was no exception...awesome! I added a little tomatillo (green tomato) to the guacamole and it turned out great. The Tex-Mex plate was a combination of all of our efforts and it turned out great; especially the enchillada. The brown sauce which was poured over the top was GREAT! The flan is a combination of sugar, lemon juice, milk, eggs, condensed milk and vanilla. You make the custard and a caramel separately. Pour caramel in the bottom of a small tin then fill with custard after it hardens. Next put in a shallow pan and add water to the pan to go up 1/2 way on the tin. Next bake them for 30 minutes at 325 degrees...cool in the fridge and serve COLD! These turned out great and even my Latinos were impressed.

Overall great menu and definitely had fun working with this one...

The Southwest & Rocky Mountains

Southwest cuisine consists of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming...at least according to American Regional Cuisine, Second Edition by Michael Nenes.
The influences for this region consists of mainly those blazing trails to settle the West and of course the Native Americans.

Our menu consisted of grilled vegetable gazpacho, spicy pork empanadas, marinated dried bean salad, roasted lamb, fingerlings with parsley basil dressing, and lemon chess pie.


The grilled gazpacho was made by Christine and it tasted great! She grilled the red onion and zucchini; then roasted the green pepper. Process the concasse tomato, peeled cucumber and garlic with the roasted/grilled vegetables. Thicken with bread crumbs and V8 juice; then add cilantro, vinegar, salt and pepper. Chill the soup thoroughly and serve in a cold bowl with minced cilantro. I made the pork empanadas and they were awesome. To make the dough you need equal parts cream cheese and butter (1/4 cup each), 3/4 cup of flour, 1/4 tsp of baking powder, a dash of vinegar, tbsp of water, salt & pepper; work with your hands and make a smooth resilient dough. In a pan saute ground pork, onion, garlic, serrano chile, peeled/seeded/diced tomato, cilantro, salt and pepper. Roll out the dough to 1/8 of an inch, cookie cut some circles and fill with the drained/cooked filling. Press them closed and either pan fry them or deep fry them. You will love these empanadas...I used a tsp of ground cayenne to kick up the heat; it is of course "SPICY" pork empanadas.

Chef cued up our roasted lamb which was rubbed and roasted in the oven. Mike created the fingerling potato recipe and it was great. Good mix of flavors and the basil made it really nice...as for the marinated bean salad it wasn't my favorite because I felt it was too boring.

Maria made the "Just Pie" I mean Chess Pie. In fact that's how the name was derived by people thinking it was named chess pie. The funny thing is this pie is an East Coast pie which made it's way into the Southwest cuisine. Awesome Pie! First you whisk 4 eggs at room temperature and then add each of the following ingredients one at a time. Make sure each ingredient is fully incorporated until you move to the next one. The ingredients are in this order: 1 1/2 cups of granulated white sugar, 1 tbsp of white cornmeal, 1 tbsp all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 5 tbsp of melted/room temperature butter, 1/2 cup buttermilk, 5 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp lemon zest, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Pour into a pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for 30 -40 minutes. Pull out of the oven, cool the pie to set. Dust with powdered sugar and viola! This pie is awesome for "just" being pie...

Overall a very quick week, but none the less it was a lot of fun as usual. In fact the name for my empanadas are now: "Alpanadas"...Thanks Chef Bill I love the new name.

Lip Smackin' Good!

Just in time for the summer we made food from the Central Plains.
You know what goes well with taking American Regional right now; the documentary on the History Channel - America Story of Us. The show has gone along with the cuisine we have been making in class.

The menu consisted of Beef Barley Soup, Wisconsin Cheese and Beer Soup, brownie pudding cake, Kansas City BBQ Ribs, Steak Fries, Cannellini Beans with Tomatoes and Basil, Roast Chicken with wild rice and dried fruit stuffing, corn and wild rice cakes, morel mushrooms with spinach, Garden Lettuce and goat cheese salad, Stuffed Pork medallions with fruit sauce, macaroni and cheese, and sour cream coffee cake. I know this seems like a lot of food but we did this in two days.

The beef barley soup was great and very easy to make; you brown the meat, then sauté the vegetables, add the barley and coat in the small amount of fat used to sauté the vegetables. Then you add the tomato product and pince; add the herbs, stock, Worcestershire sauce and simmer for 30 minutes or until the barley is tender. Remember to skim the fat if any floats to the top like the BP Gulf Oil Spill.

The cheddar beer soup was another easy to make soup. First sauté onion, celery and red bell pepper; cook until translucent. Add flour to the mix and whisk to make a roux; add the seasonings and cook for about 3 minutes. Add a 12 oz can of beer and 2 cups of chicken stock; stirring vigorously until the roux dissolves and simmer for 30 minutes. Separately heat 2 cups of milk and add to the soup; remove the pot from the heat and stir in 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. Adjust the seasoning add cooked sausage and you are golden...awesome soup!

This time I made a desert; Brownie Pudding Cake. The brownie pudding cake is just like a molten lava cake. First you cream the sugar, butter, eggs, cream and vanilla. Then add a sifted mixture of flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt to the cream mixture. Grease a loaf pan or square pan and pour in the batter. Separately boil 1 1/3 cups of water; add it to a mixture of cocoa powder and brown sugar. Make sure to add the water slowly you want the melted chocolate mixture to stay semi thick; like a fondue. Pour the melted chocolate over the batter and pop it into an oven for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Ok so the ribs were a-mazin'! We have an awesome smoker in class but you can create a kettle smoker at home or buy a small smoker. First thing first; remove the membrane off the back of "back ribs." Then rub with a dry rub of chili powder, sugar, paprika, celery seed (or celery salt), onion powder, kosher salt, ground cumin, dry mustard and cayenne. Then smoke for about an hour/ hour and a half. Take the ribs out and lather on a good amount of BBQ sauce; then place back in the smoker for another 30-45 minutes. MMMMM lip smackin' good!!!

The other dish definitely worth talking about is our stuffed pork tenderloin which was sliced into medallions. The pork tenderloin was split and then mallet beaten; stuffed with nut and re-hydrated dry fruit. Then you roll up the tenderloin, layer with bacon and truss. Then bake until 155 internal temperature is reached.

Everything else turned out great! The goat cheese salad was very refreshing, the sour cream cake Maria made was very tasty and a good way to top off the evening. We sprinkled the cake powdered sugar and drizzled caramel. The corn cakes were a little burned and the sides were all pretty easy. We also stuffed another pork tenderloin with minced/ sauteed chorizo and garlic.

Overall an awesome evening of culinary yummyness...

Cajun and Creole Cookin'

Ooooooooooouuujiiiii…or is it OOOOOOOwwwweeeee…
Either way that is sum go’ ole gumbo! Yez sir…and to make a good gumbo ya need to know how to make a goooooooood roux.

Ok enough of the down home Cajun talk; in fact not sure if you knew this but the word Cajun came from the French settlers that were kicked out of Canada. They traveled down the Appalachian Mountains and onto the Bayous of current day Louisiana. The Creole cookery was derived from the classic French cuisine mixed with the Spanish settlers. Current day Louisiana was at one time the property of Spain, France and the United States.

It is true what is said about a good roux. You know in the first few weeks of culinary school you learn about roux and the properties associated with roux. However, we only really used maybe two styles of roux. In Cajun cooking you go through all of the colors of the roux rainbow. In fact the darker the roux the less moisture it absorbs and more of a flavor enhancer it becomes. In terms of a classic Cajun gumbo you need the darkest roux, or chocolate roux.

Our menu this week of Cajun and Creole consisted of the following: Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo; fried fish in pearly meal with remoulade sauce; crawfish etouffee; bread pudding with whiskey sauce; red beans and rice; baked cheese grits, braised beef daube with glazed carrots, and sugar snap peas; fried oyster po’boy and pecan pralines.
With the gumbo you need to either pan fry the chicken in a deep pan with oil or cook separately and then use the fat in the pan to make the roux…

Go ahead and add the flour to the fat and continuously stir so it doesn’t burn. When you get to the chocolate state (dark reddish/brown); remove from the heat and add the diced “holy trinity” (celery, onion and green pepper) use the vegetables to scrape the pan. You can then add the stock slowly; at the same time whisk the mix to incorporate the roux/veggies with the stock. Bring this to a boil, then simmer, add garlic and andouille sausage. As the gumbo starts to thicken add the fried chicken to the pot and adjust the seasoning. Remember to add the file powder at the end to thicken the gumbo and give it the signature taste.

The fried fish was excellent; I believe we used grouper for the fried fish. Maria made it and it tasted great along with the fresh remoulade I made to go along with the fish. Remoulade is a mixture of creole mustard, mayo and spices. In this case the spices included paprika, salt, lemon juice and Tabasco. The breading for the fish is a mixture of spices, yellow corn flour and yellow cornmeal.
The crawfish etouffee was made by Mike and it turned out great. In this dish you use roux as well but it’s the blond roux; which can thicken and add flavor. After you make the roux (blond/medium brown) you add the “holy trinity” sauté; and then add the crawfish, lemon juice, green onion, parsley, crawfish fat, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Then you want to add clam juice or fish stock; bring to a boil, simmer and set aside. We used clam juice in this recipe and it tasted great!

I made the bread pudding and we no left overs! Take old bread and cut it into 1 -2 in cubes enough to make 2 cups of diced bread. Then toss in a little drawn butter and toast in the oven for 10-15 minutes; then soak in about 6 ounces of milk. The oven should be pre-heated to 300 degrees and get a 1 quart pan (or equivalent) buttered in waiting. While toasting the bread beat 1 cup of milk, 1 egg, 1/3 cup of sugar and 1 ½ tsp of vanilla extract. Whip this mixture really well until the consistency of custard; then add the milk soaked bread and raisins soaked in orange liqueur (Cointreau, Gran Marnier) mix well. Pour the mixture into the buttered pan in waiting and sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar; and top with small cubes of butter. Bake for 1 hour or until set; allow to cool 30 min before cutting. Serve with whiskey sauce, caramel, chocolate sauce…whatever your heart desires. My Whiskey sauce was really a ganache; of cream, caramel and whiskey. MMMMMmmmmmm!

As for the rest of the menu Chef thought everything tasted great! Our red beans and rice were cooked thoroughly and we made this before in fundamentals class. Same thing with our glazed carrots and sugar snap peas; we did them in fundamentals class. The cheese grits were made by Mike and they were AWESOME!!!!!!!! Wow they were so good! Mike baked a mixture of cheesy grits that had added whisked egg, sautéed garlic; baked for 30 minutes and topped with cheese.
The braised beef daube is just like Yankee pot roast which we made back in fundamentals…lol…again! It tasted great but just another Yankee pot roast. Our pralines were burnt unfortunately; the person who cooked our pralines burnt the sugar in the pot (caramel sauce with brown sugar). The big thing of the evening was the oysters! We shucked a lot of oysters and I schooled Maria in oyster shucking…lol…Maria then went on to make oyster po’boys with the remoulade suace I made earlier.

Check out the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WN4kIRTiFU

Overall a great week and awesome food…as they would say New Orleans…
Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler! (“Let the Good Times Roll!”)

Floribbean Cuisine

Our hometown cuisine was what we focused on this week in class. Of course on my mind all I could think of was not screwing up something I am good at...

The food turned out to be amazing!!!

In fact here is the link for you to see yourself... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzH_kM1GOKg great camerawork by Chef Bill.

There are many different varieties to Floribbean dishes; and it is influenced by so many cultures. Of course the biggest culture comes from the immigrants of Cuba and the Caribbean islands.


This week we made conch chowder, golden gazpacho, hearts of palm salad, pan seared (coconut crusted) grouper, cube steak, key lime pie, corn custard, white bean salad, tostones, and roasted pork loin with mango mojo. We also made various mango chutneys and mango salsas.




I made the key west conch chowder which came out awesome! The taste was spot on and authentic; reminded me of being in a small shack in the keys with fresh conch. We ended up using frozen conch of course but the taste was right there evident of using clam juice to make the soup. The only thing I needed to do was to cook the potatoes a little longer; probably about five minutes. I served the soup with a side of sherry (again very authentic) and it gave it just enough heat. I can't wait to make this soup again at home for the family...

The Key Lime pie was made too late in the night and it turned out runny; which of course led to some crazy ideas to plate. This was not a bright spot on the menu; which was very disappointing. The hearts of palm salad and white bean salad were very different. The hearts of palm which comes from an indigenous palm bush in Florida; called "swamp cabbage"; was very easy to make. The white beans needed to be cooked a little longer; otherwise the taste was spot on. I noticed in the making of most of these dishes they have a lot of acidic qualities. Such as the chutneys and vinaigrette we made for the salads and proteins.


The golden gazpacho was a hit with Chef and the taste was perfect. We minced some jalapeno into the mixture along with the called for Tabasco. If you are not a fan of cold soups; then this is not for you. But I will say it was extremely tasty and worth the very easy process. The most time you will put into this soup is when you roast the peppers and peel off the skin. The rest of the way you are pureeing the vegetables and then chilling the soup. We accompanied the soup with twisty puff pastry straws.

The coconut crusted grouper was killer; chef said we could use shredded coconut so we did. The breading consisted of panko bread crumbs, shredded coconut, sugar, salt, pepper and then we used the traditional breading method. After you fry the fish, dry it on paper towels and finish off with an accompaniment of mango salsa.


The roasted pork loin with Al Cacace Floribbean marinade was stupendous! The rub was a mixture of traditional jerk spices along with traditional mojo ingredients. Shhhh it's a secret...
After trussing the pork loin I rubbed it down with the marinade and roasted it for about 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven. I topped the finished sliced pork with a mango mojo I mage by cooking and pureeing jalapeno, cilantro, mango, and white wine. We accompanied the pork and mojo with mango chutney and black beans.


The star of the night was the tostones. We made them both nights, but the second night we made them three different ways. In the video posted above you can see how I made them. Maria made the plantains into spiders and we dipped all of these yummy, crunchy bananas into a ketchup/lime/mayo dip. The other tostones got tossed a mojo of olive oil, minced garlic, salt and white pepper.

Overall amazing week and awesome menus...we should just have a class of Floribbean cuisine...

The South

No I am not talking about the South in terms of the Civil-War; although a great deal of what we eat today in the South was created during that time.

The South is obviously known for it's Barbecue meats and one pot dishes. A lot of today's cuisine in the South was adopted from slaves brought over from West Africa.

I was only in class for the first of the two days we worked on the South cuisine. Unfortunately the second day was when we made the pulled pork. However, I liked the menu we had the first day of class; which consisted of the following: Grilled Quail with spicy eggplant relish; Tomato and Bib Lettuce salad; Pecan encrusted catfish; slow-cooked greens (collard greens) and Peanut Brittle.

I made the pecan encrusted catfish; which was breaded with finely chopped cornmeal, pecans, bread crumbs and parsley. You season the following mix with salt and pepper; then proceed with traditional breading method (flour, egg wash, breading). You pan fry the fish and dry on paper towel. They came own great; seasoned well, crispy and great pecan flavor. The Quail was in brine for about an hour in a sugar/salt water mix; then split rubbed with olive oil, salt and pepper then grilled. We placed the quail on top of a bed of spaghetti style zucchini and squash; which we made the first week of class. This was a great dish and even better to photograph. The spicy eggplant relish was surprisingly very tasty with the quail as well. The collard greens turned out pretty well and the tomato with bibb lettuce was pretty standard. A good way to cool down the meal.

Overall the one day I was in class was very good; only wish I was there for the pulled pork!

The Mid-Atlantic

This week we created dishes indigenious to the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
The states included in this region are New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. The settlers of the region were German, Dutch, Irish, English, just to name a few. Below you will see what our Founding Fathers likely ate on the eve of the Revolutionary War; or after they declared Independence.

Our menu consisted of spicy crab soup with crab puffs; egg, cucumber and tomato salad; buffalo chicken wings; roast duck; applesauce cake with caramel; vichyssoise; beets, endive and feta salad; scallops with mushrooms and asparagus; "shaker-style" turkey cutlet; croquette potatoes; roasted spaghetti squash; ginger pound cake with warm cranberries.

I know this seems like a lot of food but we manage to finish all of these within two days. The first day we made the spicy crab soup, crab puffs, roasted duck, applesauce cake, buffalo wings and cumcumber tomato salad. The soup came out great with great flavor, the right amount of heat and a lot of crab. The puffs were a little dry; I think they may have been cooked too long. The roast duck was extremely juicy and the glaze we made for it was perfect. The applesauce cake was very moist and had great flavor. My favorite was the buffalo wings; which I made my garlic/bluecheese dipping sauce. They were crispy, spicy and was very moist inside; it caused me to buy a fry daddy that weekend.

The next day we made vichyssoise, beet endive and feta salad, scallops with mushrooms and asparagus, "shaker-style" turkey cutlet, croquette potatoes, spaghetti squash and ginger pound cake. Vichyssoise was not my favorite but a very classic soup. This soup was taken off the shelves; when it gave people bottulism for not cooking the soup. These folks were use to eating the soup cold; which is the traditional method. The shaker cutlet was awesome; and the sauce Mike made was killer. The spaghetti squash was tossed in butter and parmesan cheese; and was placed back in it's shell for presentation. The scallops were good but kind of small for my liking. The pound cake was amazing and I took a piece home. My mother said it was to die for and I needed to make more...lol...it had a great texture and just the right amount of ginger.

Overall good week and not super excited about the menu; however a lot of highlights.

American Dinner: Mac n Cheese!!

Makerouns

Ok the title isn’t too American; but I can assure you the end product is as American as warm Apple Pie. Recorded in an English cookbook in the 14^th century; Makerouns is a cheese and noodle casserole. Yes good old American Mac and Cheese!

Although the roots of Mac and Cheese can be traced back to Marco Polo and his trip to China; this down home, stick to your bones American comfort food has a strong American past. In 1787, Thomas Jefferson returned to the United States after a trip to Europe while he was the minister to France. Jefferson was a foodie and he brought with him a pasta machine along with many recipes from Italy. What happened next is up for debate but it has been documented in the Library of Congress; one of his guests reported eating “a pie called macaroni,” an early version of what we now call Baked Macaroni and Cheese. It is also said the first serving was by Thomas Jefferson at a White House dinner in 1802 and the first American recipe was published in 1824 by Mary Randolph (Jefferson’s cousin); titled “The Virginia Housewife.” Another American President, Ronald Regan, who absolutely loved Mac and Cheese, had his White House staff prepare the following recipe:

Ingredients
½ pound macaroni, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 egg beaten, 3 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese, 1 cup of warm milk, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon dry mustard, ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce and pinch of paprika.
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350⁰F, butter a 2-quart casserole dish; add macaroni to 2 quarts of boiling salted water and cook for 10 minutes; drain in a colander, transfer to a mixing bowl; stir in butter and beaten egg, add 2 ½ cups of the grated cheese. In a small bowl combine milk with salt, mustard and Worcestershire sauce; spoon macaroni and cheese into the prepared casserole; pour milk mixture over and sprinkle top with the remaining cheese. Sprinkle with paprika; bake on the middle shelf of a preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until macaroni is firm to the touch, the top is crusty and browned. Serve at once, either as a light entrée accompanied by a hot green vegetable and a crisp salad; or as a side dish with hamburgers or meatloaf, two more American staples.

Obviously times changed since Jefferson introduced us to Mac and Cheese. Women began to look for changes outside of the kitchen, and convenient foods were introduced into the market. Mac and Cheese was already a family favorite in American kitchens at the start of the 20^th century; Kraft Foods decided the time was right to introduce a dinner in a box, called Kraft Dinner. In 1937 Kraft Macaroni and Cheese made it to the grocery shelves in the USA and Canada; it soon became an instant success. At the start of World War II rationing went into effect; meat, milk and dairy were some of the products rationed. This was also the time when women joined the work force; while their men were serving in the military. After working 12 hours these same women needed something easy to prepare; hence the enormous boost of Kraft Mac and Cheese.

There are numerous names throughout the United States and our American timeline; and of course a wide variety of recipes. In Southeastern Connecticut it was called long ago a macaroni pudding; in Italy the dish was classically made with Parmesan cheese. There is also a variation in Switzerland called Alplermagronen; which means Alpine Herder’s Macaroni. Recently our beloved Mac and Cheese has received a bad rap for obesity. The boxed versions of this homemade favorite actually have fewer calories and fat then the higher quality homemade version. At home there are alternatives by using whole wheat noodles, skim milk, olive oil, etc. Overall I still like Mac and Cheese the way it comes; sticky, gooey, cheesy, yummy goodness.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroni_and_cheese
http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/MAIN/pastas/gourmet-mac2.asp
http://www.macaronicheeserecipes.com/Macaroni-and-Cheese-History.htm
http://southernfood.about.com/cs/casserolerecipes/a/macncheese.htm
http://www.cliffordawright.com/caw/food/entries/display.php/topic_id/16/id/105/