One Potato, Two Potato, Three Hundred Potatoes

I have cooked so many carbs in the past 2 weeks, Atkins just threw up all over himself.

I definitely got used to my new schedule this week. It goes something like this:
Go to bed too late.
Get up too early.
Do far too much during the day.
Keep doing too much.
Repeat.

But it's FUN!

I wouldn't be getting up at 5am everyday if I didn't totally love this. Wouldn't you get up that early if you knew there was tons of food involved?

This was a week of sauces and potatoes. So many potatoes. Potatoes all over my fridge and tupperware.

The sauces weren't outrageously exciting because they are considered "mother sauces." That means that, except for Hollandaise, they are unseasoned, leaving them numbingly bland but promising as far as their possibilities go! We learned how to make Bechamel, Veloute, Espagnole, Tomato & Hollandaise sauce. The joy of ROUX also fell into our lesson plans. As if we weren't already on a healthy balance of starch and carb - we put flour and butter together to make roux magic!

Sauces aside, we learned almost every gorgeous variation the spud can handle. From cooking it in oil, butter, cheese, more butter, some cream, and maybe some more butter - I know how to cook a potato!


Here's my POMMES ANNA that I moronically burned my first go. Not as easy as it looks (and hopefully it DOESN'T look easy). You have to cut and layer these potatoes a certain way, douse them in butter and seasoning and then hit them with a HIGH flame to brown the bottom of the pan. But if there isn't enough butter, they BURNNNN! Like MINE! Lesson learned. During our exam today I do believe I did those POMMES ANNA justice.


This is POMMES DAUPHINOISE. A beautiful dish where potatoes, gruyere cheese, cream and garlic can live together in subtle harmony. Similar to scalloped potatoes, this dish is ooey gooey layers of potatoes and gruyere cheese soaked in cream. Ridiculously good.


And the terror - RISOTTO. Oh yes, we all love risotto. And wouldn't you think it would be easy to make? It's like pasta, but smaller! But no my friend, it is not easy to make. At least not the traditional French way. Those damn French want you to stand over a HIGH FLAME (over the flamethrower stove) and stir your friggin' risotto for AT LEAST 17 minutes. Meaning, you do not walk away from that risotto until it is DONE. So far I've only lost 2 top layers of skin to this dish. The first two times I made this dish in class, the risotto just totally collapsed on me. You have to constantly add chicken stock to it so it will stay "au sec" or almost dry. And if the starches don't release from the Arborio rice, you're screwed and end up with chicken stocked weird grains of rice. For the exam today, I spoke sweet, sweet words to my risotto and it came around. Thank god.

Next week it's on to FRESH PASTA! And hopefully items that aren't all brown themed! (See above pictures).

Face en Flambe

I have survived. I have actually made it through the first week of culinary school.
Which was MUCH, MUCH more work than I could have ever thought. I got clued in to just how much work this would be when they handed us the syllabus on the first day. Not only is the workload IN class ridiculous, but there's also a workload OUTSIDE of class that is insane.
But don't get too worried. I mean, my homework consists of bringing potatoes home and chopping them up into identical miniature squares and rectangles. And reading recipes. And thinking about food. Gosh, it's really tough.

The first few weeks of school are going to be going over the basics of cooking. So I haven't made an upside-down duck cake or a chocolate volcano fountain - yet. We started with Ratatouille, Braised Leeks, Glazed Carrots, Pommes Puree (mashed potatoes), Risotto and Pilaf.

While these things MAY sound relatively easy...they're not. They aren't necessarily out of this world difficult, but it isn't like following a Rachael Ray recipe.

Our chef (the teacher) demonstrates what we're going to cook that day. Of course, he makes it seems effortless to put together three dishes at a time. And, taking notes, it all seems completely do-able.

Until he releases us into production time. And we have to grab every piece of equipment we need. And chop up all the ingredients. And work with the industrial stoves that don't just let off a little heat, they're certified flame-throwers. Not to mention the sanitation requirements. If you so much as think about coughing, you gotta wash your hands up to your elbows. It's like we're the surgeons of the kitchen.

My Ratatouille was just okay. I used too much oil. I didn't sautee the vegetables correctly.
I almost blew my face off while making the leeks. I had started to brown the bottoms of the leeks and made the huge mistake of walking away. When I came back to the pan, I had no idea just how hot that thing was. So when I added my chicken stock...
BLAM-O! Huge flame came up in front of my face. Nothing like a good mini-stroke to get ya goin.
My carrots were miserably overcooked.
So much for thinking I was a multi-tasker.

The starches were a little bit easier. I did, however, burn my Risotto in class. So I took it upon myself to make it at home today. Carefully baby-sitting what is one of the most-botched recipes in the kitchen. And it worked!

Next week we move on to sauces. Not super exciting as far as end product goes, but I'm sure we'll eventually use these sauces on things that are REALLY mouth-watering.

Big 7 Month Journey

As if I haven't had enough education, I have decided to take on culinary school. Le Cordon Bleu in Hollywood, to be exact.

Totally out of left field, I know. I have a bachelor's in theatre under my belt as well as an associate's in digital media. But those weren't enough. (Not to mention I didn't like working with any of the people in those fields). So I've moved on to something I love very much - FOOD!

I start my 7-month course this Monday, January 4th. I honestly have no idea what to expect. I go to class Monday through Friday from 6am to 11am. DEFINITELY not my cup of tea. But this way I can go to school and keep my job at the Fashion Institute.

I will have a diploma in culinary arts by the time we reach August 2010 - crazy, huh? Then you can expect to either see me on the Food Network or opening my own restaurant. Or cooking for the President. (I'm not gonna waste my time dreaming small, obviously).

I go to the orientation tomorrow morning where I will pick up my awesome knife set and my SNAZZY chef outfit. (I will probably have to post a picture of just how NOT snazzy the outfit is).

Thanks to the movie "Julie & Julia" I felt inspired to blog about my journey. I hope you'll enjoy the great food - via internet - that I'm about to cook up!