Every time I try to make an omelet at home I end up eating scrambled eggs. Not that there is anything wrong with scrambled eggs, but in school we had to learn how to make omelets. A good French omelet is a perfectly rolled cylinder without a skin and without any brown spots. The eggs should be creamy, not rubbery, and any filling should be cook separately and only added when the eggs are almost done.
French Omelets
Based on my very limited experience, it seems like the key to a perfect omelet is a non-stick pan that is at just the right temperature, lots of clarified butter, and good hand-eye coordination. The consequences of having too much heat, too little heat, not using enough butter, and failing to flip the eggs properly are all too apparent above. Considering the fact that I only managed to make one acceptable omelet, I don't think I am qualified to tell you any more.
Frittata
Compared to the intricacies of making a good omelet, making a frittata is a piece of cake. The filling of a frittata is cook first. The eggs are poured over the filling, the pan is covered with a lid, and the eggs cook slowly over low heat. When the eggs are cooked through, the top of the frittata is browned under the broiler. Unlike an omelet, a frittata is served in slices because it is usually made to serve multiple people.
Eggs Benedict
My new favorite food to eat for breakfast is eggs benedict (unless I'm at Angelo's in Ann Arbor in which case I will most definitely be getting a spinach feta omelet). Nothing compares to the satisfaction of breaking the yolk of a poached egg and watching the intense yellow ooze out and mingle with the creamy goodness of hollandaise sauce. The only problem with eggs benedict is the hollandaise sauce which will go bad if it sits around for too long after being made. As a personal rule, I never order anything with hollandaise if I don't know and trust the restaurant I am eating in because it's just too easy to mess up. The best way to ensure your eggs benedict is perfect is to make it yourself!
In addition to learning how to cook eggs, eggs, and more eggs during our lesson on breakfast foods, we also made pancakes, waffles, French toast, oatmeal, grits, granola, and a muesli parfait. It was a nice change to eat normal breakfast foods for breakfast instead of the steak and pork chops that I usually have, but my euphoria was short lived because I went home and found that I had nothing to eat for dinner. I am so used to living off of the food that we make at school that I rarely go grocery shopping for anything other than yogurt and bananas. It's okay though, because the next day was all about salads, which is a really good thing considering the lack of vegetables in my diet.
Composed Salads
When I hear the word salad the image that usually comes to mind is green lettuce topped with raw vegetables and tossed with dressing. Going beyond my limited imagination into the realm of composed salads was a lot of fun. A well planned salad can be a delicious meal and although we generally think of salads as being healthy, there is no rule saying that they have to be. On the left if the classic Cobb Salad which is drowning in bacon and blue cheese. In the middle is that Parson's Garden Salad which is topped with poached quail eggs, fried carrots, and fried celery root, and on the right is the Tuna Niçoise Salad.
Tea Sandwiches (Smoked Salmon, Egg Salad, Deviled Ham)
I think sandwiches are pretty self explanatory. I don't usually take the time to make a sandwich with more than two ingredients (namely peanut butter and jelly), but our lesson on sandwiches felt like a challenge to use my imagination. Once I make the decision to be creative, the hardest part is narrowing down my choices because there is such a wide variety of sandwiches out there: tea sandwiches, open face sandwiches, hot sandwiches, and cold sandwiches.
Open Face Sandwiches (Tuna Salad, Shrimp, Curried Chicken)
Of all the sandwiches we made, my favorite was the curried chicken salad sandwich. It wasn't a very complicated recipe and it was definitely something I would make at home. Although the next time I make it, it wont be as an open face sandwich on top of a toasted baguette. Instead, I think I would like to eat it on soft slices of whole wheat or nutty multi-grain bread. Here is the recipe adapted from Garde Manger: The Art and Craft of the Cold Kitchen from the Culinary Institute of America.
Curried Chicken Salad
1/2 lb cooked chicken meat, cut into small cubes
2 stalks celery, cut into small cubes
1 red delicious apple, peeled and cut into small cubes
4 oz cashews, toasted
6 fl oz mayonnaise
1 tbs curry powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
- Combine every and mix well
- Serve with a couple pieces of lettuce on sliced bread
Warm Sandwiches (Reuben, Grilled Chicken, Croque Monsieur)
I can't believe it, but that was the end of module two. A few more weeks and I'm going to be half way through the program. Last week we had a lecture on preparing resumes and writing cover letters because it's already time to start looking for an externship.
Coming up next is a week of plate design and presentation.
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