Austin Holiday Dinner

So even though I'm finished with culinary school my adventures in cooking have not ended. I'm still thinking of and preparing new recipes, and my husband and I are (somewhat in vain) trying to compose a cookbook. And, we are smack in the middle of my favorite time of year, the Holiday season of November and December. I love cooking all day for tons of people, enjoying the entire cooking and eating experience in all of its glory. Over Thanksgiving, we spent it with my husband's family, where things are a bit different from my family's traditional Thanksgiving. In my family, my mom and I spend the entire day prepping and cooking, just the two of us in the kitchen. In his family, the men take over. It's a great thing to watch, as the boys smoke the turkeys, my husband spending the entire day outside doing who knows what with the huge smoker. The day turned out amazing, tons of food provided by many, and another terrific surprise of my sister-in-law's engagement to a great guy.

However, after a very mild on my part Thanksgiving, I decided that it was necessary to have a holiday party in Austin where I could truly be in the kitchen the entire day. So my friend and I decided to throw a holiday party (at her house, which was awesome) and we set about planning the menu. We decided to leave the meat up to the boys - allowing them to go to Costco and pick out whatever they wanted (with the exception of fajitas). They picked prime rib. After some recipe hunting, discussions and deliberations we decided on this menu:

Butternut Squash Soup with Fried Sage Leaves

Black Pepper Biscuits

Brussel Sprouts with Roasted Shallots

Roasted Cauliflower with Leeks and Onions with Caper Aioli

Stuffed Peppers with Cannellini Beans, Mushrooms and Basil

Sweet Potato Gratin

Prime Rib with Au Jus

Individual Orange Butter Cakes with Creme Anglaise

A couple of these items were old favorites of mine, the brussel sprouts come out every year, as well as the butternut squash soup and cauliflower. However, the stuffed peppers and sweet potato gratin were both recipe Tina had found - and they both turned out delicious. I had never made the cakes before - and after some brief problems finding ramekins - they turned out absolutely fantastic. My husband took care of the prime rib and au jus - which smelled amazing (although I didn't partake). The black pepper biscuits were fantastic and I highly recommend them to anyone (I include the recipe later). We had a slight problem when baking them as the cream applied to the top of the biscuits steamed up the oven and turned the house into slightly like a sauna. BUT, the biscuits turned out perfectly and were quite delicious. (We couldn't stop eating them). The sweet potato gratin was extremely creamy and completely infused with thyme, I'm going to try and make one lactose free next time. I bet I can do it. However, I do have to say that in my book the winner was the Individual Butter Orange Cakes. One of my go-to items is an apple tarte tatin, and this cake was similar in the fact that you bake the cake upside down with the fruit on the bottom and then flip it after baking. Instead of apples and a carmel sauce - this cake called for orange sections and brown sugar. Then a batter infused with tons of orange zest. All baked in individual ramekins. And topped off with a delicious creme anglaise. (I don't make my creme anglaise very sweet - just tons and tons of vanilla.)

The dinner was a success, filled with tons of wine, Liz's amazing punch, great food and great friends. Followed by a rousing game of apples-to-apples and some football. It was a great night in my book.

Here are pictures.

Beautiful Table Scape a la Tina

Butter Orange Cakes before being turned over

Liz's Delicious Champange Punch (with apple ice rink!)

Best Black Pepper Biscuits ever.

D carving the prime rib

Prime Rib!

Cheers!

MEAT

Brussel Sprouts and Shallots.

Roasted Cauliflower with Leeks

Meg's veggie plate - with Stuffed Bell Peppers and Sweet Potato Gratin

A meat plate.

Lou's plate.

Happy full friends

Orange Butter Cake with Creme Anglaise

This is what happens when you eat too much.

Full girls.

Full boys.

Too much food.

Haha - unhappy and full Tines.

Ingredients

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 1/2 cups cold buttermilk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt a bowl - also add a grind or two of black pepper here.  Scatter the butter (MUST BE COLD AND CHOPPED) over the top of the flour mixture and mix with hands until mealy. Don't overmix Add the buttermilk and continue to mix - again, don't overmix. Place onto surface and mix together - it's okay if it's still slightly falling apart. Pat out into a thick layer, around 3-5 inches thick depending on how large of biscuits you want. Use a cookie cutter to make biscuits - I recommend using a slightly smaller cutter - little biscuits are the best. Repeat patting out and using the rest of the dough.

 Place the biscuits on 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper; brush the tops with cream and sprinkle with black pepper. Bake the biscuits for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and brush the tops with melted butter (if desired, it's not really necessary). 

Graduating from Culinary School - final thoughts, and dishes!

 

So I know I haven’t written a blog in awhile, but I decided that I should post about my conclusion to Culinary School. For our graduation we were assigned the task of creating a buffet with an assortment of French inspired appetizers. Because our school is transitioning from the Culinary Academy of Austin, to the Escoffier School of Culinary Arts – our chef wanted us to prepare an Escoffier themed buffet. After reading both of his dense (no-pictures) cookbooks, I quickly realized that this might prove tricky. Almost every recipe in his cookbooks called for truffles, fois gras, calf liver or brain, or some other high-quality or unusual item. Obviously, we were not going to be preparing strict Escoffier recipes for our final event. After alerting the chef to this detriment we were allowed to broaden our horizons to simply “French-themed” and could take it from there. We paired off into teams of two and compiled our menus. My partner and I decided we could complete three dishes: Grilled Chicken with Truffle Herb Butter and Figs, Profiteroles with Roasted Red Pepper Goat Cheese and Asparagus, and Butternut Squash Crostini with Herbed Cream Cheese and Fried Sage. The other teams also assembled their menus, consisting of: Corn Soup with Green Chile Oil, Fried Eggplant with Goat cheese and Asparagus, Filet Mignon with Burgundy Sauce, and Lobster Americaine.

We were allowed to bring our friends and family to our graduation and our chef prepared a speech and slideshow for us to watch and hear. We were given the entire morning to prepare our buffet and then assemble it as beautifully as possible. It was incredibly fun to be able to work in the kitchen for one last time with my classmates, without rushing, simply preparing good food. It was also great to have my husband finally see the classroom and kitchens and finally know what I was doing all of those mornings, sneaking off at 6:30 to head to class.

I loved going through the experience of culinary school. Although I have realized that working in a kitchen might not be my career choice, I still learned extremely valuable skills for my own self-awareness. I have noticed that my abilities in the kitchen at home are now much more efficient and clean, and that my preparations and presentations are also much more advanced. I take more care in the kitchen, and am now concerned with how the dishes look, as well as how they taste. I loved culinary school, meeting a different set of individuals who I would never have gotten the chance to know in any other setting. I also love the new sets of skills that I’ve learned, from knife and cutting techniques, to how to break down a chicken effectively, to how to properly cook meat (something I still rarely do). Although some people might think that going through the process of a year long program without the desire to actually enter the field professionally might be silly, I believe that the knowledge and experience I’ve gathered is well worth the time and monetary contribution. Plus, now I can cater for my parents and they can say I was professionally taught. And my husband and friends can now enjoy my new skills as well.

Here are the pictures from my final day of culinary school - as well as the meal I prepared at home for my husband as a celebration.

Butternut Squash Crostini with Herb Goat Cheese and Fried Sage

Grilled Chicken with Truffle Butter, Fig and Chives

Profiteroles with Red Pepper Cheese and Asparagus

Fried Eggplant with Asparagus

Corn Soup with Chille Oil

Filet Mignon with Burgundy Sauce

Lobster Amercaine

Parfait with Spun Sugar (from the Pastry class)

Stir Fred Tofu and Veggies

Celebratory Meal

Coleslaw, Ginger Sauce, and Steamed Broccli

Japanese Eggplant Chips

Minestrone Soup

What to do now? Cater, I guess.

Culinary School is officially over. I still have one more post after this on our final day in class, but I thought I would take a moment to ponder what I will do now that Culinary School has ended. It was a truly amazing experience, one I wouldn't trade or change - despite the fact that I have complained throughout the endeavor. There were definitely things I would have done differently if I were in charge of the school, but since we were changing owner's hands and school titles and goals - I pretty much have to give them a break. I think once they figure out how they actually want to run and organize the school,  and control and grade the students, it will all turn out well.

Right before Culinary School ended, my mom asked me to come to Laguna Beach to help her cater an engagement party she was throwing. I love catering for my mom, she is the best Sous-Chef in the entire world, and we have a blast working together in the kitchen. She also has an incredible kitchen, and it's lovely to be able to cook and enjoy the ocean view at the same time (something I grew up with, but never get tired of). I quickly started compiling a menu, including appetizers, salads, soup, sides and main entree. The only request the bride and groom had was that there be salmon, one of their favorite fish. As I adore cooking salmon, this was not a problem. Especially since Whole Foods now offers sustainable salmon at a reasonable price.

Normally when I cater something, I like to do a cheese plate with fruit and nuts as well as around 3 other appetizer options, including one dip. For this party I decided to go with these appetizers:
Zucchini and Caper Dip with Crackers
Walnut Crostini with Figs and Goat Cheese
Caprese Skewers with Balsamic Reduction
Cucumbers with Salmon Mousse and Pomegranate Seeds
Butternut Squash Soup Shooters

For the main course I decided to do 3 salads accompanied by the salmon which I wanted to roast since that is the easiest way to cook fish in bulk. These were the salads I decided on.
Farro Salad with Sun Dried Tomatoes
Lentil and Red Pepper Salad
Corn and Black Bean Salad
Arugula Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
Salmon with Fennel and Onions


This entire meal took me 2 days to prepare and make, making as much as possible the day before the event. Fortunately, all of the salads were served cold so I made them the morning of the event and was able to concentrate on things that needed to be prepared right before service. Everything turned out incredibly well and I think the bride and groom enjoyed the entire event. Here are pictures of my menu:

Cheese Plate with crackers, fruit and nuts.

Beautiful decorations provided by Schluter

Walnut Crostini with Goat Cheese and Figs. Cucumber with salmon mousse and pomegranate seeds.

Cucumber with salmon mousse and pomegranate seeds with mint.

Walnut crostini with goat cheese and figs.

Cheese plate

Zucchini Caper Dip

Caprese Skewers with Balsamic reduction

The set-up

Drinks in honor of the bride and groom

Butternut Squash Shooters

Roasted Salmon in a Soy Vinaigrette

Corn and Green Bean Salad

Farro Salad with artichoke and sundried tomatoes

Lentil and Red Pepper Salad

Arugula Salad with pine nuts and lemon vinaigrette

I really loved this meal - and it was amazingly tasty. My mom and I were both exhausted after the event, but over all it went extremely well.