The class we learned to make chaud froid platters in was called “Catering and Buffet” or “Garde Manger”. We hosted a weekly buffet in this class and the students took turns running it. The buffet I ran was the one just after learning chaud froid platters, and the theme we chose was “Around the World in 80 Days”. We made chaud froid platters to represent different countries, a world map, and a platter to represent the book Around the World in 80 Days. We also had a little train set going along the buffet table, a model airplane set up near the drinks, and mini hot-air balloons hanging from the ceiling.

My Around the World in 80 Days platter was supposed to be a top hat with the title inside it and a little hot air balloon floating in the distance. To cut the words into the white chaud froid I used an x-acto knife. It took me quite a while to cut out all the letters. I poured my clear aspic on top of it to set it, but I had it too hot still so it melted my chaud froid! I had to let everything dry completely overnight before even attempting to fix it, and ended up quickly re-cutting the lettering half an hour before the buffet opened. I didn’t have time to refill it, but I was happy with my finished product.

Today I am graduating, with honors, from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts! (of course I had to do a little photo shoot with my favorite photographer.)

I could spend an entire year of daily posts telling you all about culinary school, so it is difficult to decide what to say here in this post, today. I had a great time learning and making friends in school and I am so proud of myself for finally earning a degree. I have found my passion in life and I am so blessed to be able to follow that passion into school and turn it into a career. Developing recipes, exploring tastes, finding new flavor combinations, feeding people. Feeding people is what it’s really all about. I can certainly enjoy food, cooking, and creating on my own, but there is something magical about watching others enjoy the food I have created for them, or helped them to create.

I have many people to thank for helping me get to where I am today. My parents and siblings have been amazing and hilarious. I am so proud to be related to these people! My close circle of friends have been more supportive than I ever could have wished, and have been willing taste-testers. My extended family, extended circles, and even complete strangers helped me get up and moving again. I wanted to write this post today to share in a proud moment. I also wanted to take this opportunity to say Thank You to everyone who has supported me the last few years.

The cutest sous chef ever! My godson and the photographer's assistant, I mean son. I don't know why she was so worried about him holding the knife!

I folded, stuffed, licked, and stamped over 100 graduation announcements to people I know well and love deeply, and also to people who’s names I have only seen on paper. I know I didn’t reach everyone who deserved a thank you so I wanted to write here, as well. So please, share this letter with anyone that may have been missed. Here is the letter that was sent out to my wonderful support group:

In January 2010 my life was changed forever. I was held up and supported by many people, regardless of their relationship to me. You are receiving this graduation announcement because you donated to a widow’s fund set up by Mill Creek Foursquare Church, or have supported me in some other way. Your generous donation enabled me to take time off work, move from Washington to California to be closer to my family, and to further my education.

As of May 2012 I have successfully completed my education at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts and am graduating with honors! I had so much fun and learned more than I expected in school and am now working as a recipe developer in Los Angeles. I have each and every one of you to thank for your support in getting me where I am today. I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for your love, prayers, and support. Please accept this letter as a token of my appreciation.

THANK YOU to everyone who has been a support to me (financially or otherwise)! I am so grateful for everything I have been given and humbled by the outpouring of love and support I have received. Thank you for your part in helping me become the woman I am today.

Congratulations Le Cordon Bleu Class of 2012! 

Speaking of one-bite dishes, I have another one to share. Caprese Salad Skewers. One bite of ripe, juicy tomato, smooth mozzarella cheese, fresh basil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. How much awesome can one bite contain? Quite a bit, if I do say so myself. Caprese salad is a widely loved dish, made famous on the Island of Capri off the Southern coast of Italy. I have had the great fortune of visiting Capri and eating Caprese Salad while there. Another Capri original is the Torta Caprese (Caprese Cake) which is a crunchy yet fluffy almond and chocolate delight. Perhaps I should teach you that recipe soon.

Caprese Salad is served in just about every Italian restaurant in America, and many non-Italian restaurants, as well. The reasons are clear: it is simple to prepare, pretty to look at, and provides wonderfully fresh flavors. I thought turning it into a one-bite dish and serving it on skewers would be so cute, and I was right! Please, try to find heirloom tomatoes for your caprese salad. It will be 100 million times better than those mealy roma “tomatoes” that grocery stores like to sell. You can find these adorable baby heirloom tomatoes at your local farmers market or Trader Joe’s-type store. Cherry or Grape tomatoes will also work.

Caprese Skewers
Makes 20

20 fresh basil leaves
20 baby heirloom tomatoes
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into cubes
20 wooden skewers
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt

1. Thread 1 fresh basil leaf, 1 tomato, and 1 cheese cube onto each skewer.
2. Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar, and sprinkle with salt.

Look at that beautifully tall souffle!

My baking class was one of my favorite classes in school, probably because I did so well in it, that I decided to give it it’s own iPhonetography post instead of lumping it together with other posts. I grew up helping my mom in the kitchen, but my earliest, and most clear, kitchen memories involve baking. My mother is a fantastic baker and I am pretty good, too, if I do say so myself. I already knew many baking basics and recipes, but I also learned a lot in this class. I earned the title “Number One” from my table group in baking because they always came to me with questions (for some reason they wouldn’t call me “captain” or “your majesty”). That worked out quite well since I had to ask them for help in our other classes.

My baking and pastry class tremendously furthered my baking skills, and I would love to go back and attend pastry school where I would spend even more time in each area. I would love to spend an entire class learning about cake decorating instead of the two or three days we got  in culinary school. My cake decorating skills could definitely use some fine-tuning. The baking I can do, the decorating, especially piping words… not so much. My proudest moment in this class was mastering the souffle. Mine came out a mile high, beautiful, and delicious, and I have made many successful souffles since!

Brioche cinnamon rolls, chocolate souffles, eclairs, cream puffs, bread, chocolate truffles, and all manner of sweet treats?! It’s no wonder I loved this class so much.

Cheddar Buscuits

Brioche Cinnamon Rolls - I was so eager to taste them I forgot to take a photo before ripping one open.

Palmiers

Apricot Croissant

My first baguettes - not very straight, but they were tasty. The middle one is called an Epi Baguette.

Lemon Meringue Tartlets

You know meringue is ready when it doesn't budge from the mixing bowl, even when being held upside down.

Pate a choux waiting to become eclairs and cream puffs

My first decorated cake. The flowers came out okay, but I was not good at piping words, at all!

Sourdough Bread

Chocolate Truffles-So delicious and I haven't stopped making them!

The bake sale is fast approaching and I am still experimenting and trying to decide what I can make that is worthy to be sold in an effort to raise money for No Kid Hungry. I have a folder on my computer labeled “recipes”. Shocker, right? Within that folder there is another folder labeled “Recipes to Try”, which has existed for several years now and just keeps growing and growing. My “recipes to try” folder contains a document with many one-bite dishes. They all live in one document together, instead of their own individual documents, because they are destined for a one-bite dishes dinner party.

These little guys made it out of the document and into the test kitchen for one of our girls nights recently. They were gone almost as soon as they were placed on the table (and there were only four of us that night), and that made me very happy. Classic cheesecake gets brightened up with orange zest and served on a mini chocolate plate to become the perfect addition to any girls night, and perhaps the perfect bake sale item?

I am undecided as to what I will be making for Saturday’s bake sale, but I am so excited to help raise money for such a great cause. Click on the bake sale icon at the bottom of this post for more information and to find a bake sale near you. This is a nationwide event so there is sure to be one in your area, and I will be at the Los Angeles bake sale at LBD Restaurant.

Mini Chocolate-Crusted Orange Cheesecakes
Yield 24
Crust:
1/2 cup finely crushed chocolate graham crackers
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange zest

Topping:
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 350

Crust:
1. In a small bowl, combine the crushed chocolate graham crackers and the butter.
2. Tightly pack the crust mixture into a greased mini-muffin pan, about 1 teaspoon per mini muffin cup.
3. Place in the oven for 10 minutes then remove to cool.

Filling:
1. In a bowl, combine all filling ingredients and mix with an electric mixer until smooth.
2. Pour filling on top of cooled crusts inside the mini muffin pan, almost to the top, about 7/8 full.
3. Bake for 15 minutes, or until centers are no longer jiggly.
4. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then refrigerate for 15 minutes to overnight. (Cover with plastic wrap if you plan to refrigerate overnight.)

Topping:
1. Combine the orange zest and sugar and mix well with the tines of a fork.
2. Just before serving, sprinkle each cheesecake with this mixture.

This Saturday is the 3rd annual Food Blogger Bake Sale and I am so excited to be participating for my first time! Each year, Share Our Strength hosts the Great American Bake Sale, among other events, to raise money in an effort to end childhood hunger in America. Their premise is simple: No Child In America Should Go Hungry. The goal is to end childhood hunger by 2015. Take the pledge to end childhood hunger, volunteer at a fundraising event, or go buy stuff from one! Where ever you are in the United States you probably have a bake sale happening in your area this Saturday, April 28th. I will be baking for, and volunteering at, the one in Los Angeles at BLD Restaurant. Click on the Bake Sale icon above, or any link in this post for more information on where you can go obtain some yummy homemade goodies this weekend as well as more ways you can get involved in this great cause.

Now on to the goodies! I have not yet decided what I will be making for the bake sale so I am spending some time this week experimenting. One such experiment are these Loaded Banana Muffins. A friend of mine has been making banana bread on a fairly regular basis recently. I don’t know if that is intentional or if he just isn’t very good at remembering to eat his bananas. Each time he makes banana bread he uses a new recipe in an attempt to perfect his own. The most recent time he gave me a sample of his homemade goodness it got me thinking about bananas and how delicious and healthy they are. Also, what a shame that they are mixed with and masked by all that flour and sugar. What if I could make a banana muffin where the natural sweetness and goodness of the banana could really star, and give added nutrition through the rest of the ingredients? I tried, and failed, to make a loaded banana muffin. It was okay, it baked well, it tasted fine, but it was missing something. I tried again, and again, and I finally came up with a loaded banana muffin that I felt comfortable sharing with my family of taste testers. They all said they were yummy and wondered what some of the flavors in the muffins were. It took me an entire night of fishing for their true reactions to believe that they did in fact like my creation. I kept saying things like, “Be honest, tell me they’re gross if that’s what you think” or “Really? Do you really like them? Can you taste the banana?”

These muffins are moist from the absurd amount of mashed banana I used, and they contain no egg or dairy! I first made them with honey in an attempt to get away from processed sugar, but then I read something on an Ayurvedic website about heated honey being poison. I have not researched enough to form a clear opinion on that, but decided a small amount of white sugar in my muffins wouldn’t be the end of the world. Also, you can easily substitute your favorite alternative sweetener for the sugar. Bonus to using a sweetener that isn’t honey: these muffins are vegan! (Make sure to use chocolate that is also vegan in order to make these muffins vegan). I added some wheat germ and chia seeds to up the nutritional content, and I used coconut oil instead of butter for added deliciousness to pair with the banana. And, of course, chocolate. Is there anything that chocolate doesn’t improve?

I ended up with a muffin that doesn’t necessarily let the banana shine (because of everything else I put in there), but they are quite good and quite nutritious. Packed with Calcium, Fiber, Manganese, Potassium, Thiamin, Zinc, and Vitamins B6, C, E & K these muffins are not your run-of-the-mill junk-filled muffins.

Loaded Banana Muffins
Yield: 24 regular-sized muffins

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/3 cup white sugar (you can also use turbinado sugar or any dry sugar substitute)
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3-5 bananas, mashed (about 2 1/4 cups)
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil, melted*
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped chocolate, or chocolate morsels

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, wheat germ, chai seeds, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and almond extract.
4. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until almost combined.
5. Fold in the sliced almonds, shredded coconut, and chopped chocolate. Mix until just combined.
6. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups about 2/3 of the way up with the muffin mixture.
7. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

*a great way to melt the coconut oil is to place it in an oven-safe bowl in the oven while it is preheating

Braised Rabbit Leg with Carrot Pasta - This dish became Easter dinner that year.

Warning: This post is not for the faint of heart or for those that only enjoy viewing photos of live animals.

You see, after learning how to properly use and care for knives in the beginning of culinary school the classes move on to further the knife skills of the students on ingredients other than potatoes. Not only are there many other vegetables, tubers and fruits to slice and dice in all manner of shapes and sizes, there are also the animals! Meats of all kinds are deconstructed with just the sharp knife and whetted appetite of the crazed culinary student who has been waiting weeks, weeks I tell ya, to cut into and cook something other than potatoes and lemons.

Second Course offerings at culinary schools include filet-ing and deboning fish, fabricating whole chickens in under five minutes, french-ing bones, slicing tenderloins, casing sausages and shucking oysters. Preparing animals to be basted, braised, sauteed, grilled, smoked, and then devoured with a sauce made from their own pan drippings. Today I have for you a sampling of some of my animal friends.

Look those amazingly clean fish bones! I became very good at filet-ing fish.

Steve says "hello". Shortly after making Steve talk to the student working next to me that day I noticed I no longer had a table mate...

Cote de Boeuf - The hugest steak I've ever seen! I was very proud of myself when I got this perfectly medium-rare. See the quarter to the right for scale?!

Whole chicken waiting to teach me to fabricate him.

Chicken leg and thigh combo, supreme breast and airline breast. The first of many many many times that I would cut a chicken during my culinary school education.

Handmade, hand-cased, hand-linked sausage!

Osso Bucco with Risotto Milanese

Oysters waiting for the shucking.

Shucked Oysters - I still have the shells of my first three shucked oysters! Lacy Jo and I really bonded as shucking partners.

Cute, cute baby mussels that were attached to the oysters.

My farmers market is back and I couldn’t be more excited! Living in Southern California I have access to a wide range of local and organic foods year round, which is great, and I can find a close-by farmers market to go to almost any day of the week, year round. Yes I know, it just isn’t fair. My favorite farmers market is walking distance from my home, but it is only open April through October. So for five months out of the year I have to go elsewhere. My farmers market is back!

The first week it came back I was stuck in traffic coming home from work in Los Angeles so I only had time to run through the market instead of doing my leisurely shopping, touching, and smelling. Of course I visited the beef jerky guy for several samples, and purchased two flavors that I have been happily snacking on. There was a new pizza cart that had to be my first stop since I was so hungry. Since I had, oh so patiently, sat in traffic for so long that night I treated myself to a delicious funnel cake sprinkled with powdered sugar. After my mandatory stops I began walking through the market and browsing the wares the vendors hadn’t packed up yet.

Just before he put the last of his goods away, I spotted the mushroom man! I have said before how much I love mushrooms. Of course I had to stop and chat with him, and touch and smell everything he had to offer. Chanterelle mushrooms are not currently in season so I bought a jar of dried, and picked up a bag of his mixed mushrooms. Because I stood and chatted with him for a bit, and was his last customer, he threw in a bunch of white beech mushrooms. I walked away with my brown baggie of mushrooms like a kid who just finished trick-or-treating in the rich neighborhood.

The possibilities are endless when it comes to mushroom recipes, but I knew what I had to do. My favorite restaurant serves an amazing Filet Mignon Pot Pie that I have been itching to recreate. When I came home with my mushroom loot I decided that mushrooms would add a wonderful flavor to the pies. My filet mignon pot pies are different than the ones served at Watermarc, but they are quite the savory treat. All this means is that I have created a delicious dish and get to experiment some more to recreate Chef Cohen’s specialty.

Filet mignon is the most tender cut of beef you can get. Even raw, it cuts like butter. ”mignon” is the French word for cute so (bonus!) it is also the cutest cut of beef. After simmering for an hour the beef melts in your mouth and takes on the earthy deliciousness of the mushrooms.

Filet Mignon Pot Pie with Mushroom Gravy
Yield: 4 8-ounce individual pot pies

1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
1 pound filet mignon, cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt
Pepper
1 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups beef broth
2 small russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup chopped mushrooms – I used a mixture of chanterelle, shiitake, beech, button, and baby portobello – you can use any type you prefer*
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 tablespoon flour
Pie dough or puff pastry

1. In a medium pot, heat oil over medium heat until very hot, but not smoking.
2. Pat the beef dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Place the beef in the pot and brown on each side. Remove the need to a plate.
4. Add the onions, garlic, carrots and celery to the pot. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent, stirring occasionally.
5. Add the tomato paste and stir to coat the vegetables, scraping up any browned bits on the pan. Cook 1 minute.
6. Stir in the beef broth, potatoes, mushrooms*, and bay leaf.
7. In a small bowl, mix together the butter and flour to form a paste. Stir this into the pot.
8. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.
9. Heat oven to 350.
10. Ladle filling into individual ramekins or a pie pan. Cover with pie dough or puff pastry.
11. Bake 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.
12. Serve hot with a nice red wine.

*if you are using dried mushrooms rehydrate them in warm water for 15 minutes, then add to the pot pie filling just before baking.

practicing knife cuts at home

I will be graduating from culinary school in five weeks! Yay! So, for the next five weeks I thought it would be fun to take you through my culinary school career for iPhonetography Fridays. Here are photos from my first class. We didn’t get to actually cook anything until we passed that first class. What we did all day every day was learn all about sanitation, how our taste buds work and are affected by various flavors, we made mayonnaise, and the thing we spent most of our time on was classic knife cuts.

Battonet, Julienne, Macedoine, Brunoise, and Tourne became the bane (marie :p) of our existence as young culinary students. While important, learning knife cuts was not fun, much less doing them all day every day at school and then going home to practice some more. My tourne cut has not improved as much as it should have since I started culinary school, and I am so glad that I do not work in a fancy French restaurant where I would actually use that football-shaped cut on a regular basis.

I do have to say, though, that mayonnaise from scratch is infinitely better than anything I have tasted from a jar! Also, all those sanitation practices have come in handy as I now use them not only at work in the test kitchen, but also at home and others’ homes. Just ask Elyse what a great sanitation teacher I am.

macedoine (battonet in the background)

tourne

making lemons pretty

learning about taste: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami

about to make mayonnaise

mayonnaise - too bad we didn't make french fries out of our battonet cuts

first knife cut test - C - look at all that waste!

I recently had the opportunity to help cater two birthday parties for little girls, and I had so much fun! The first was Fairy-themed, and the other one was Hello Kitty-themed. For the fairy-theme party I was trying to think of little touches to give the whole party a fairy feel. I came across an idea for fruit skewers and thought topping them with a slice of starfruit would be so cute and the perfect finishing touch for a fairy wand.

Starfruit is difficult to find and is usually not available until June or July so I wasn’t surprised when I wasn’t able to find any for the first party. I decided to cut some cantaloupe into star shapes to use as the toppers. They worked quite well and came out super cute.  Everyone loved them and all the kids wanted more. One mom even told me that her child doesn’t like fruit and will never eat it, but he ate two fruit wands! These are great because you can customize them with any fruit you want and any cookie cutters you have on hand.

For the second party I found starfruit and was ecstatic! Just look at those beautiful fairy fruit wands! How pretty and fun are they? These are definitely becoming a staple at all Daisy-catered parties. I highly suggest hunting for starfruit to use as your topper because it is such a unique fruit. The real name is carambola, but I think you can see why they are nicknamed starfruit. The US does not allow imported starfruit, which I sort of consider a bonus since you know any starfruit you purchase was grown in the US, and most likely in Hawaii or Florida, so it’s local depending on where you live, and mostly local anywhere else you live in the States.

Pear or apple slices make a great hilt if you’re going more for that look. Starfruit, of course, is the best topper. Apples, melons, and pineapples can all easily be cut into stars for the topper, or any other shape you want. Berries and grapes are great because all you need to do is wash them – no other prep necessary. To keep apples and pears from turing brown toss with a little lemon or lime juice before skewering, also choose a firmer pear to ensure it holds up well. I have found that slicing pineapples and melons into 1/4 – 1/2 inch slices makes cutting them with cookie cutters easier.

With summer approaching I’ve been thinking something with blueberries, strawberries, and maybe some white chocolate-covered fruits would be great for Independence Day. Consider this fair warning: you may see fruit wands here on Daisy At Home for every upcoming holiday and event. Now if only I could think of a truck-themed fruit wand for the next birthday party I am catering…