mini reuben appetizers

For our last class in Garde Manger we got together to make appetizers.

Because of the impending ban on foie gras, Chef decided to sear some off as a last hurrah.

Since foie is basically fat, it smokes when it sears. And you shouldn't even try to flip it in the pan while the pan is over the fire because the oily smoke (and the pan) can catch on fire.



Here's the seared foie. I tasted a piece but I didn't like it very much. I don't tend to like rich-tasting things. I actually rather eat butter (yes, just plain butter) over foie.



Also, this being our last class, Chrissy engraved a banana squash tribute to Chef Oakley. Kudos to her artistic ability - she's always sketching or doodling amazing things. (Chef looks like Toy Story's Woody!)



So for appetizers, Isabel and I got together to make mini-reubens. Chef had house-made pastrami for us to slice up, but the rest of the ingredients we had to forage, especially since the cafeteria had already shut down and all the walk-in refrigerators were being cleaned out. Before we found sauerkraut we found pickled jalapenos slivers, and before we found mustard (whole grain and honey) we found thousand island. Then we also found queso fresco (which I thought would go with the jalapenos) and arugula. We conducted several taste tests using the edges of toast I had buttered and pan-fried. We decided to use everything.



First the bread was cut into small triangles and the pastrami to match. Then we mixed the whole grain mustard with honey mustard and thousand island dressing for the spread.



Isabel put on the jalapenos while I crumbled on queso fresco and laid on arugula leaves. We started at different ends of the tray so it almost looks like we're advancing chess pieces or having some sandwich ingredient battle.



The sandwiches were assembled with toothpicks, dramatic because they were the long kind for regular-sized sandwiches.



And there you have it, mini-reuben sandwiches.



To see what my classmates' made for appetizers, scroll left after clicking here!

condiments

In Garde Manger we had a session on flavored oils and vinegars, many of which were simple to make, such as this chili oil - just chili flakes in olive oil. However, it was very spicy and would be very effective if drizzled over, let's say, dumplings (as opposed to just dumping some chili flakes on dumplings - not as effective).



The thing about flavored oils is that you can't keep them very long, especially if you are immersing fresh ingredients (like garlic) in it. There is the danger of botulism, that gnarly toxin that grows under anaerobic (oxygen-less) conditions. I would say a week tops. Good thing is that you don't need to marinate ingredients for a long time for the flavored to come out in the oil, as long as you mince/puree them and heat the oil a bit.

Flavored vinaigrettes though, you can keep for a long long time because the acidic environment isn't conducive to bacterial growth. Have to make sure what you're marinating doesn't stick out the top like the tarragon in this champagne vinegar though:



Some of my favorites that Chef made was the basil oil (with the basil chopped superfine and blanched/patted dry so it would stay green) and the fig balsamic puree (that over some goat cheese, or a salad... mmm!).

After that we tackled making some of our own condiments. I wanted to try making hoisin and sriracha, two Asian condiments that I tend to take for granted.

This recipe came out a bit like hoisin peanut sauce.



After that I tackled sriracha... except there weren't red fresno chiles or red jalapenos in house, so I substituted thai chilies instead. I roughly followed the fresh (not fermented) recipe here, though I pureed the ingredients before I boiled them.



Here's the puree. When I uncapped the food processor and breathed in I almost died. If you ever puree chilies... be careful.



The sauce that I eventually got was green and watery, but probably the spiciest green watery thing you'll ever find. Julius and I paired these sauces with Vietnamese meatballs. I love the crunchy meatballs found in pho, but unfortunately the recipe I found yielded the soft regular kind of meatball. (Upon Googling now, however, I've found this alternate recipe, which contains potato starch and sounds closer to the real deal.)

To make up for the lackluster sauces and meatballs I plated the meatballs nicely with special dishware, toothpicks and cilantro stalks.



Here are some of my classmates presenting what they made. To see some of the dishes, click on the meatball photo above and then the "<- Newer" button above the photo on Flickr.



My favorite was the strawberry basil jam. Strawberry + basil = a match made in heaven.

ice sculpture dragon

Things have been busy at school. The biggest news being that the school is considering shutting down the cafeteria to close the $250,000 budget gap. Needless to say, we've been doing everything in our power to make sure this doesn't happen, both so culinary students can continue to have a place to test their skills and so other City College students can continue to have a place to get an affordable, nutritious and tasty meal.

A lot of push went behind our annual Wok on the Wild Side fundraiser. Chef Oakley spent the entirety of a Garde Manger class carving an ice sculpture dragon. First, maneuvering the block into place.



Chef's rough sketch of the sculpture was comical to us, only because we knew just how elaborate and professional the sculpture would be, and the sketch was kind of the opposite of that.



First Chef cut out the arm piece - this was to be set aside and fused back into the block (to stick out like arms) with the help of ice water slush.



As we sat and watched, the dragon took shape. First it appeared very similar to the sketch.



The detailing makes all the difference - the eyes didn't even get carved till last but just the ridges and scales made it come to life.



And bite me, of course ;)

vegetable carvings

And another lighthearted activity in Garde Manger - vegetable/fruit carving!

This is Chef Oakley's carving kit. You can get it online here, although Chef got it at a trade show for much much cheaper.



So first somebody called for Chef to do a Christmas tree. We were very intrigued as we watched Chef slice a pineapple.



And... it was much simpler than we had imagined, haha.



Then Chef walked us through cucumber netting - kind of difficult to describe in words, even though I took pictures of the process. It involves putting the cucumber on a stick, cutting slices so they're equal with the parallel side and alternating with the perpendicular side, and then cutting around the cucumber taking the top layer off...



Then came tomato roses. Chef showed us two ways, one by slicing off the peel in a continuous spiral, then winding it up into a rose.



The other is slicing a tomato in half, then into slices (that look like half circles), then wrapping those slices around each other until you have a rose.



Then he did carrot flowers. Different flowers are formed by different techniques - you can slice the carrot into circles and cut the petals out of the circle, or you can hold the carrot like a pencil and cut down into the tip (not fully) four times around and pop the tip off.



Then there were more whimsical things like the tomato basket (cut the two sides out, then hollowing the basket part, then making the basket edge jagged).



And then the cucumber basket (same technique, but with strips edged into the cucumber peel), and then the carrot corn. It's kind of funny to try to make one thing look like another (makes me think about cakes shaped like other things, which is what this book is all about).



Then there were radish flowers - I attempted this one and mine is the one on the very right (the cuts are not as well done!).



Here somebody stuck a radish flower into a turnip tulip that Chef made.



Then the most difficult one was carving a watermelon radish into a rose. I found this especially beautiful because of the naturally-occurring color gradation in the radish.



Of course I chose to attempt this most difficult carving, and my attempt #1 (on the left) was very atrocious. My cuts were very straight down and made it impossible to get any height variation in the petals.



Attempt #2 (on the right) was much better. I was so excited about it I went around showing everybody, never minding that I had just spent over an hour of my life carving two radishes.

Such is what makes craft - time, and a lot (a lot) of practice.

mozzarella pulling

Another lighthearted activity we did was pulling mozzarella.

We started with a giant block of mozzarella curd that Chef had purchased.



This was cut into cubes and submerged in hot (140-150F) water until the curds melted and started seeping through the collander.



The heated curd was transferred to a cutting board, where we got our gloved hands on it.



First we pulled mozzarella into balls by squeezing with one hand and pinching with the other. It was ideal not to pull/work the cheese too much or it would become too tough (just like dough).



As soon as the balls were formed we dropped them into a salty ice bath (made with special flaked salt, especially good for flavoring cheese because of its fine texture) for the cheese to set.



I swear, my first bite of the mozzarella I fished out took me all the way back to elementary school and how I discovered string cheese for the first time. It was that good. (And way better than how string cheese tastes to me now.)

Chef also demonstrated how to roll up the cheese into a log, then tying them off with string to form balls that way (much like sausage).



Additionally we could roll mozzarella into logs with fillings inside. We tried prosciutto and spicy coppa and asparagus pesto.



When these logs were cut into slices they formed cheese roulades. Mmm mm delicious.

melon carving sculpture

Having finished all of the garde manger stations, we moved on to more lighthearted activities.

During one session we observed Chef carving different melons and assembling all the resulting pieces into a sculpture. This was a step up from the carvings he showed us in meat lab last semester.

First he started with etching fish shapes all around the circumference of a watermelon.



The top and bottom ends of the watermelon conveniently opened up into flower pieces.



The fish shapes he took and carved details into them - fins and tails and scales.



At the end he stuck a peppercorn in for an eye.



Then he carved a clam shape out of a cantaloupe.



This was stacked on top other pieces of melon. And then he mounted the watermelon fishies onto kebab skewers (several skewers for each fish to support the weight) and disguised the skewers by sliding scallion stems onto them.



And voila, an "under the sea" theme sculpture made entirely out of melons. He even added some fennel fronds as pretend seaweed.

french onion sandwich bites

In Garde Manger my team rotated to the last of the stations: open-face sandwiches.

I decided to go solo this time and turn the classic French onion soup into a sandwich. This required breaking down the components of the soup and using the elements in a slightly different way. Bread, cheese, onion, broth.



I'd decided to bake a baguette with gruyère. But I didn't use the school recipe from first semester, opting instead for a more complicated one from the Tartine Bread book. It didn't work out so well because I was loosely following the instructions, and with something like bread you just can't do that.

So then I cheated and stole one of the baguettes made by the first semester bread station. Cut that into slices on the bias, and topped each slice with caramelized onions (deglazed with white wine) and shredded fontina cheese.



I put them under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese, then spooned broth (veal stock simmered with spices and thickened with cornstarch) over. I was very pleased with the results. Very simple and very delicious.