The Garden at School... beginning to go green!

Our school is going through some changes currently, and some of them are really great! In an attempt to go green, we have been growing a garden which has recently begun producing amazing vegetables, herbs, and fruit. Our school has also invested in significant recycling efforts, and if I could just get everyone on board with sustainable seafood - we would be making huge progress! Each day it's such a remarkable thing to come into class and be able to harvest your own squash, tomatoes, zucchini, melons, herbs, eggplant... from a perspective of one who has never had a garden before, it is truly eye-opening. So I decided to take some pictures of our beautiful produce and post them here.

Beets fresh from our garden with beet caramel, herbs and goat cheese.

Fried Green Tomatoes with fresh tomato and basil sauce.

Roasted squash and zucchini with fresh herbs.

Another change that our school is experiencing is the alteration of the name from The Culinary Academy of Austin to the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts. The chefs believe that by aligning themselves with this famous chef's name, it will raise the prestige level of our school. So far, nothing has changed besides the name, there is still very little accountability and very few people who take it seriously. I guess we'll see if other things change along with our uniforms.

Since I've been in school I've also been trying to cook more cohesively at home, using some of what I learn in class. Here are some of my dishes from home.

Spinach Soup with creme fraiche and mint.

Roasted herb cauliflower with chickpeas and tomato relish.

No I did not cook this pig but we had it in class and I thought it looked cool so I'm posting it.

Macrobiotic dinner: cauliflower "mashed potatoes" with onion gravy. Bulgar wheat Tabbouleh.

Bulgar Wheat Tabbouleh

Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes" with onion gravy.

POULTRY!

I haven't written a blog in awhile because I haven't been in class - the last course was Shellfish and since I am allergic, I decided to take a quick break from school. So my husband and parents and I all went to Jamaica which was remarkable - and the food was absolutely delicious. But -- now I'm back in school, and just finished POULTRY class. A very wide subject indeed. In this class, game was also covered so there was a plethora of different critters to cook.

Obviously we started out the class with chicken - for our final we needed to pass a test called The Culinarian which is one of the main tests necessary to become a Certified Culinarian. Basically it consists of showing your skill at these tasks:
*  Julienne carrot, 2 ounces
· Batonnet carrot, 4 ounces
· Fine chopped parsley, 4 T (rinsed and readied for use)
· Standard mirepoix, 1 lb.
· Prepare and begin to cook 1.5 gallons chicken stock.
· Fabricate 1 whole chicken (2.5 – 3.5 pounds) into:
2 drumsticks
2 thighs
1 wing
1 chicken breast, first joint of the wing bone is attached. It is clean. Skin is on. Cartilage and rib
bones are removed.
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast. Tenderloin or filet is removed.
· Sauté one of the chicken breasts applying appropriate seasonings and methodology, and serve as a
main course with appropriate vegetable and starch accompaniments. (Batonnet of carrots from above
may be used.)

We had already practiced this test once before - but our chef informed us that this time she would be grading more harshly. However, before taking this practical - we had 10 days of exploring the fantastic and diverse land of poultry and game. Here were some of our dishes:

Ricotta and Spinach stuffed Chicken Breast with fingerling potatoes and sauteed carrots.

Coq Au Vin - wine braised chicken with pearl onions and carrots.

Grilled Chicken over butter lettuce and apples with an apple marinade.

Mushroom and Chicken Crepes with a mornay sauce and Chives.

Roasted Chicken with homemade papadelle and tomato sauce.

Duck a l'Orange.

Apple and Jicama Slaw.

Potatoes Anna.

Grilled Quail with basil, thyme, garlic butter.

Black Bean Chicken satay.

Maple Glazed carrots.

Chicken Marinara.

Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes.

Breading procedure for Frogs Legs.

Frogs Legs!

Braised Rabbit with penne and tomato sauce.

Finished Frog Legs with Arugula and Herbed Butter

Braised Cabbage (from our garden)

Foie Gras with toasted points and mushrooms.

Roasted Duck with apples and Thyme.

Mango, cucumber, cilantro salsa with peppers.

Sauteed Squash (from the garden)

Sauteed Chicken Breast with Tarragon Cream reduction, butternut squash mash and roasted squash.

Sweet Potato Gratin with Parmesan Cheese.

So those were some of our dishes for our poultry class (and game). The Culinarian went very well for me (98 on the practical and 100 on the written test), and it was great learning about different ways to make poultry. Here is my new recipe for Fried Chicken.

Fried Chicken

Chicken Legs, Wings and tenderloins.

Buttermilk

Flour

Tabasco 

Salt and Pepper

Onion Powder

Garlic Powder

Cayenne Powder

First break down the chicken into the pieces you want to fry. Then dip them first in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Then dip them in buttermilk mixed with Tabasco (as much as you desire). Then do a final dredge in flour seasoned with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne powder. Then fry! They are very delicious from what I hear!