Sorbet and Ice Cream Contest

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Final Cake Project - Bento Cake

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This is my bento cake.



Egg White Series: Baked Alaska

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Egg White Series: Pavlova

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Coconut Cake

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Catering: Jazz Caberet

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Angel Food Cake

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Cheese Series: Grilled Cheese Sandwich

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Cheese Series: Ravioli

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Moulding Chocolate

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Full Course: Roast Chicken

I want there to be no peasant in my kingdom so poor that he cannot have a chicken in his pot every Sunday.
- Henry IV

A fond reminiscent memory of my previous foods class includes a Thanksgiving dinner with roast turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and bread stuffing. The roast comes full circle where we now prepare a full course of roast chicken, stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce. Beyond the amazing meal itself, the experience of making such a meal will forever be a bookmarked page in the tome of my food memories.

The roast of chicken:

 

Our roasting vessel and basting tool.

 

 

Our gracious bird, secured on its path to deliciousness.

 

 

Our seasonings of choice: onions, garlic, sage, rosemary and thyme.

 

 

Ready for roasting.

 

 

85ºC/187ºF is our thermal target.

 

The carved chicken, courtesy of Ms. Moon and Wendy.

 

 

The whole collection, seconds away from disappearing.

 

 

Wendy's portion, with freshly ground pepper.

 

 

A plate fit for any king.

Chocolate Souffle

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.
- Charles M. Schulz

How a chef treats chocolate is like how a connoisseur treats wine, he judges the quality of the work by examining the handling of the product, and then decides the best environment where it can be enjoyed to the fullest. Quite different from our previous light encounter with chocolate, we work with dark chocolate in creating a dark chocolate souffle.

Enter the dark side:

 

The crux of our dish, 70% dark chocolate.

 

 

Mine and Joon's chocolate souffles.

Note the distance from the top of the souffles to the edge of the ramekin.

 

 

 

Simon's and Wendy's souffles.

The difference was due to the work of the Force.



Restaurant Review: Thomas Haas

On Valentines day, our teacher sent us to Thomas Haas to experience a higher level of culinary art and reflect our thoughts in a review. Here is a link to my review:

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowUserReviews-g154943-d2471599-r152999217-Thomas_Haas_Kitsilano-Vancouver_British_Columbia.html

Carrot Ginger Soup

Soup is a lot like a family. Each ingredient enhances the others; each batch has its own characteristics; and it needs time to simmer to reach full flavor.
- Marge Kennedy

This week, we attempt making our teacher's favorite carrot ginger soup. Rather than explain with words, the process is better captured in pictures:

 

The simmered soup, ready for pureeing.

 

 

Here, we strain the soup through a sieve, to make as smooth a product as possible.

 

 

Preparation practice for the sour cream garnish montage.

 

 

Ms. Moon's lovely heart garnish.

 

 

My Triforce symbol design.

 

 

Simon's artistic mark.

 

 

Wendy's bright star.

Sauce Series - Gnocchi

Sauces are the splendor and the glory of French cooking.
- Julia Child

Our sauce adventure continues as we explore another strain of mother sauces: tomato sauce. A large array of variations of tomato sauces can be made by adding herbs, seasonings and other vegetables to the basic recipe. Tomato sauce is predominantly used in pastas, hence alongside our sauce we made a potato gnocchi. There is indeed a very unique and worthwhile experience to be found in handmade pasta.

Our lab in the pictures:

 

We had boiled potatoes, pressed them through a colandar as a makeshift ricer, and mixed flour with them to create a dough out of them to be cut and molded into gnocchi.

 

 

Our simmering sauce, en route to deliciousness.

 

 

Final destination: gnocchi.

 

Sauce Series - Lasagna

I never met a lasagna that I didn't like.
- Garfield

Lasagna is the ultimate comfort food. With layers of cheese over meat over pasta over Béchamel sauce, the concept of lasagna is nothing short of culinary luxury. Our focus in this meal, however, is the béchamel sauce used in the base of our lasagna. Hailing from Franch, Béchamel is a mother sauce formed from milk and thickened with a roux of fat and flour. Thus, we begin our exploration of the world of sauces in its finest form of comfort and goodness.

AA Lasagna in the pictures:

 

This dish was named by Simon, and true to its name, it is an overindulgence of an already overwhelming meal.

 

 

Layer upon layer of indulgence.

Brunch Time: Full Meal

Brunch is a rather special meal that is usually served on occasions such as Mother's Day. Nonetheless, we sought to bring brunch to our table in the form of a full meal with a dish from each contributing member. The crux of this meal lies in the niche, the purpose, that only brunch can deliver and serve.
In my contribution for that refreshing niche is such a fruit salad as follows:

Orange and Grapefruit Salad with a Twist

Ingredients:

1/4 honeydew melon, peeled

2 pink grapefruits

2 white grapefruits

4 oranges

Grated zest from 1/2 lime

1 tablespoon sugar (optional) (15 ml)

Mint leaves, for decorating

 

Method:

1)    With a peeler, make melon shavings. Cut into halves as needed. Set aside.

2)   Peel the grapefruits and oranges to bare the flesh. To do this, cut the fruit at both ends. Place the fruit on a board. Cut the peel as closely as possible to the flesh. The white membrane must be completely removed. Slide the blade of a knife between each of the membranes so as to lift the skin. Work over a bowl to collect all the juice.

3)   Put the citrus fruit in a bowl. Add the melon, the zest and the sugar. Stir carefully. Place in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

4)   Separate into 6 stem glasses. Decorate with mint leaves.

5)   Variation for adults: Finely chopped mint can be added to the salad.

Our brunch in pictures:

 

This was easily one of our largest labs, producing the most dishes in a single day.

 

 

Joon's salmon Eggs Benedict, the main course of the meal.

 

 

Simon's French toast with strawberry coolis; it is pronouced 'coo-lee'.

 

 

My orange and grapefruit salad with a twist of mint and honeydew melon.

 

 

The meal in full, with Wendy's strawberry kiwi smoothie to complete.

Breakfast Time: Frittatas

Never work before breakfast; if you have to work before breakfast, eat your breakfast first.
- Josh Billings

Just like how a day is begun with breakfast, we started our year by making fritatas. Frittatas are similar to omelettes, where the eggs are beaten and the mixture is fried. However, the dish's optional ingredients are added directly into the egg mixture resulting a single disk of happiness. What makes the frittata so suitable for breakfast is the ability to bring a variety of nutrients and flavours into a single meal. Options can include meat, vegetables, cheese and seasonings of herbs. Out of the myriad of choices, we picked a simple ham and asparagus frittata recipe for our first lab of the year.

Pictures to greet the new year:

 

This is our ham and asparagus frittata, garnished with parsley.

 

 

Even though our class was in the afternoon, we still looked forward to this breakfast.