As the end of my culinary externship at the Austin Hyatt Regency nears, I find myself constantly thinking about what I’m going to do, what I want to do, and how I’m going to make money doing it. I’m beginning to really freak myself out, to say the least.

In my last post,“Chez Nous, Culinary Plans, and Catch-all Casserole,” I told you about my rather ambitious goal to start a culinary magazine. I am going to do this; this plan is not going away. In fact I’m in the first stages of developing the website, so that the girls and I can get started writing our articles, blogging and test cooking for our recipes.

Unfortunately, however this magazine, whether online or in print, is not going to provide for my family in any way, at least not initially. I’m getting married in September, and even though I’m relatively young, we plan to start having children pretty quickly. This means that I need to stop goofing off and get a “real person” job, as I like to call them.

Technically what I’m doing now, being a cook, is a real person job, but I don’t feel challenged for very long in a job like this. The first six weeks were challenging for sure because I was still taking class at night, but now It’s the same every day:  bake breakfast pastries, bake cookies, plate deserts, cut 20 chocolate cakes, make panna cotta, dip some fruit in chocolate; or some variation of that list.

At the end of the day I feel like I can do and be so much more with my culinary education than just cook.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what it is that I really want to do; what will challenge and satisfy my culinary desires. Essentially, I want to be a test cook and a writer. I want to be able to write recipes, cook food that tastes delicious, and share those recipes and experiences with others.

I haven’t seen any job postings here in Austin for a position like what I want to do. Someone with a culinary education as well as a journalism education who has experience in the food industry, like me, would be perfect for this style of writing for any publication. I just don’t know how to get started if no one is seeking to fill a position like this. I suppose I just have to start sending my resume and cover letter out blindly to any publication that has a culinary or food section and hope for the best.

The mere thought of searching for a job in that manner leaves me feeling very out of control, so instead of moping around like a lame duck I’ve chosen to do the one thing in which I can be in control, cook.

This recipe for Shrimp and Crawfish Etouffee is not something that I grew up eating. Given my cajun heritage and the fact that I grew up in such close proximity to cajun food in Orange, Tx I probably should have gobbled this dish up every Sunday, but I just began making this dish in college and I think that I’ve finally tweaked it to perfection.

For this recipe I bought 31/35 shrimp (medium size) with the shell on and deveined and peeled them myself. I then used those shells to make my own shrimp stock to go in the dish. This adds about an hour to the whole process, but it is incredibly worth it. I encourage you to make your own shrimp stock, but if you simply don’t have the time you can always use box shrimp or fish stock.

Shrimp and Crawfish Etouffee

For Shrimp Stock:

• 1tbs canola oil
• shells from about 1/2 lb of 31/35 shrimp
• 1 white onion – large dice
• 2 ribs celery – large dice
• 2 carrots – large dice
• 1tsp salt
• 3Qts water
• 4 whole peppercorns
• 1 clove
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 parsley stems
• 2 thyme sprigs

Note: The term 31/35 shrimp refers to the count. It means there are 31-35 head off shrimp of similar size per 1 lb.

1. Saute shrimp shells in canola oil till they turn pink, add onion, celery, carrot. Season with salt and saute to get a little caramelization/color and tenderness.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients; simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. The stock will reduce to about 1 3/4 C. concentrating the flavors and producing a delicious base cooking liquid. After 45 minutes strain through a mesh strainer or chinoise and reserve the liquid.

For Etouffee:

• 1 yellow onion – small dice
• 2 ribs celery – small dice
• 3/4 green bell pepper – small dice
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 stick butter
• 4 tbs AP flour
• 2 sprigs thyme – leaves removed and minced
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 bay leaf
• 1 tsp paprika
• 4 dashes hot sauce
• to taste kosher salt
• to taste fresh cracked black pepper
• 1 3/4 C Shrimp stock (see recipe above)
• 1/2 lb 31/35 shrimp deveined, peeled
• 1/2 lb cooked crawfish tails
• 3 green onions sliced thin on a bias
• 2-3 tbs finely chopped parsley
• 4 C. cooked rice pilaf

Note:
The size of your vegetables may vary from mine. It’s best to shoot for a ratio of 2 parts onion, 1 part celery, 1 part bell pepper. However, you can adjust these proportions to your own personal taste.

1. In a large straight sided saute pan melt the butter. Add the onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic; season with salt and black pepper. Saute until tender and translucent. Stir in chili powder, cayenne, paprika, hot sauce, bay leaf, and thyme.
2. Sprinkle in flour and stir to incorporate thoroughly. Allow the flower to cook for about 30 seconds to form a white roux. It will start to smell faintly like cookies baking in the background of all the other smells. Smell for it, you’ll know when it happens.
3. When your roux has reached the appropriate color/smell stir in the shrimp stock and simmer to reach nappe consistency. Turn the temperature down to medium-low and add the shrimp, cover and cook until opaque then add the crawfish and cook until heated through.
4. Turn heat off, stir in green onion and parsley. Serve over rice pilaf (see “Bake Shop, Garde Manger, and Certified Culinarians” for recipe)

Is it wrong to want to do something less like grunt kitchen work and more like culinary journalism, real culinary journalism? The stories behind the food are tremendously fascinating and I think that readers and viewers think this as well. Now, you might be thinking, “Oh, you just want to skip all the hard work and become a chef or something.” At this point, I’m not so sure that’s what I want.

I love cooking, don’t get me wrong, but I find the glamor associated with being a chef incredibly obnoxious and the industry itself to be very two-faced. Allow me to explain myself. In the short time that I’ve been involved in the culinary line of work I’ve found a sharp cleave between the workers who silently get most of the job done and the chefs, sous chefs, and unfortunately, sometimes journalists who pretentiously talk about the work being done as if it was only they who did it.

Real Culinary Journalism

On the subject of culinary journalism, I find the idolization of chefs and sous chefs to be an unfortunate misrepresentation of the industry. Why not mention the saucier by name, and perhaps ask him a few questions about the magnificent shallot red wine reduction that was served with your perfectly grilled hanger steak. Wouldn’t that make the story of the food a bit more real?

In my opinion it’s poor journalism to write as if it was the chef and only the chef who constructed your entire meal. There are so many people who have a hand in the creation of each component of the meal, from the back prep workers to that magnificent saucier, what’s wrong with giving them a little credit and recognition every once in a while. They may have helped the chef to create the menu or at least the part of the menu for which they would be responsible. Those people may have even been working at the establishment longer than the chef, or may have years more experience than that young sous chef (who for some strange reason got the title first, but they’re not bitter because they love what they do so much).

So what does all of this mean. I’m still struggling with a conclusion to this mental discourse. Honestly, after only the first week and a half of working at the Hyatt and at Ventana at the same time I’m exhausted and feeling burned out. Today I told Brian that I don’t even know if this is what I want anymore, but if this isn’t it I don’t really know what is. I think that I want to be involved in culinary journalism, but is working in restaurants the right path to that career goal? And how do I get a job with respectable journalistic outlets that will allow me to report the real stories behind the food and maybe do some cooking too? Do you ever have those questions that run through your head over and over and over and if you don’t write them down or ask someone you just make yourself crazy, yeah these are mine. So now you’re involved in the thoughts that make me crazy, and until one of us is able to answer them I suppose I’ll just keep working, hard.

This year for Easter Brian and I made Beef Bourguignon. Because of the industry in which we work, we usually have to work on the weekends, so unfortunately we couldn’t go home to Houston or Orange, nor could we go to church, sadly, because I had to work Sunday morning.

So when I got home I started the whole wheat pasta, and Brian helped me roll it out, and I think we’ve established a new tradition for our little fledgling family. I’m definitely buying a hand crank pasta machine because they’re not too expensive and they make pasta making much easier and much more likely to happen on a regular basis. Fresh pasta is so delicious, it just warms you inside and makes you feel all fuzzy and happy. I would be perfectly happy with just fresh homemade fettuccini with butter, fresh chopped parsley, a touch of parmesan and a little salt.

Today, though, I went all out and made beaof bourguignon to celebrate Easter and also to celebrate ourselves. Brian and I have made it this far through this culinary school experience; it’s almost over and I’m very proud of how well we’ve done so far. There were times when we fought out of frustration and exhaustion and times when it was difficult to see each other because we were so busy, but we’re still together, still in love, and still getting married.

We’re not out of the woods yet, though. Today I start restaurant block at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts – Austin (they changed the name. It’s better, right?). During restaurant we work at one of the school’s two restaurants. I chose to work the PM shift at Ventana, which is fine dining, because I got the culinary externship, mentioned in Stuffed Cabbage Rolls on Make-up Saturday, at the Austin Hyatt Regency Hotel!

In order for all of this to work out, I’ll have to work the AM shift, 5:30 AM to 2 PM, at the hotel and 3:30 PM to 10:45 PM at school. I’m very excited about working at the Austin Hyatt Regency Hotel because I know in my heart that it will be a great experience for me and a step in the right direction. It will be hard for the first five weeks while I’m in restaurant at school and working at the hotel, but I know that we can do it. It will be worth it for my career and after we get through with all of this I know our relationship will be much stronger. I feel like right now I have culinary blinders on and I’m pointed at a goal that even has an exact end date, July 24, 2010, graduation day.

Whole-Wheat Pasta Dough

Whole wheat flour alone produces a very sticky dough with a grainy texture. All-purpose flour needs to be added to provide gluten which creates a smoother dough. (Makes 1-1/2 pounds)

• 1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1-/1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons warm water

1. Place the flour on a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center.  Break the eggs into the well. Add the salt, oil, and water. Beat the mixture in the well with a fork. Using a fork, gently start to work the flour into the liquid. Continue until the dough becomes sticky and difficult to work with the fork.
2. Use your hands to form the rough dough into a ball. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.Wrap with film and refrigerate 10-15 minutes. The longer the dough rests the easier it is to roll out.
3. Divide the dough ball in two roll out very thin either with a rolling pin or a pasta machine. Cut into 1/4″ wide 9″ long papardel. Transfer to a bowl, dust vigorously with flour so they don’t stick together and cover with film so they don’t dry out. Do the same with the second dough ball.
4. To cook bring large pot of water to the boil, add copious amounts of salt just before the water simmers. Cook the pasta till aldente. Aldente happens much more quickly with fresh pasta than dry so keep an eye on it, and test them by tasting for texture.

Beaof Bourguignon

• 2.5 lbs stew meat
• 4-5 bacon strips cut into lardon
• .5 lb button mushrooms quartered
• 15 white pearl onions (I couldn’t find any today, so I’m using about 3/4 C. scallions cut on a bias)
• 2 small white onions large dice
• 2 carrots large dice
• 2 celery large dice
• 2 cloves garlic smashed
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 3-4 parsley stems
• 4 tbs butter
• 3/4 C. red wine
• beef stock about 32 oz, or enough to cover meat and mirepoix
• 2 carrot 1/4″ dice
• kosher salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• parsley finely chopped
• 2 tbs butter

1. Cut the tips off the pearl onions but leave the root in tact. Simmer them in unsalted water until tender. Shock in ice cold water and pop them out of their skins. If using scallions skip this step.
2. Start bacon in a large soup or stock pot, or braising pan on medium heat to render the fat. When fat has rendered turn up the heat to crisp them up. Remove from pan and reserve in a warm oven. saute the mushrooms in the bacon fat, season with salt and pepper, remove and reserve with bacon in oven. Saute the pearl onions to caramelize them in the bacon fat, season with salt and pepper, remove and reserve with bacon and mushrooms.
3. Season the stew meat with salt and pepper. Brown on all sides in same pot. Don’t over crowd the pan! Remove the meat and reserve on a plate. Add 2 tbs butter, saute the onion, carrot, and celery season with a little salt and pepper. When mirepiox is tender and caramelized deglaze with the red wine scraping the suc (browned bits) from the bottom of the pan. Add the thyme, bay leaf, and parsley stems. Reduce the wine to au sec (almost dry).
4. Return the meat along with any juice that has collected on the plate to the pot. Add enough beef stock to cover the meat. If, by chance, you don’t have enough stock, just finish it off with water. Bring to a simmer, cover tightly and simmer for two hours.
5. After simmering for two hours, strain and return the liquid to the pot and add the 1/4″ dice carrot and cook till the carrots are aldente and the stock has reduced to nappe consistency, then monte au buerre (add 2 tbs of butter to the pot shaking the pot and stirring at the same time). Pick the meat out of the mirepiox and reserve the meat; discard the mirepiox. When the carrots are almost cooked and stock is almost finished reducing return the meat to the pot to heat through.
6. While your stock is reducing cook the pasta in boiling water with copious amounts of salt. Have a bowl with a 2 tbs butter broken up, chopped parsley and a little salt ready to hold the pasta while you finnish up your sauce.
7. Serve in a warm bowl with pasta on bottom, meat on top and sauce an carrots all around. Garnish with the bacon, mushrooms, and pearl onions (this garnish is known as a la France). If using scallions saute them in a little butter first only to soften just a little.

It’s incredible to me how the universe can simply realign itself in a matter of a few days.  If you read my previous post you know that at the beginning of this week I was on the verge of a breakdown. Okay, maybe not a breakdown but I was definitely dealing with some issues. Somehow over the course of the week things seemed to have just clicked back into place and I am now faced with the exact opposite scenarios as I was earlier this week.

I am about 98.5% sure that I’ve landed a culinary externship at the Austin Hyatt Regency Hotel. I applied for the job on Tuesday morning, the HR lady called me Wednesday, I had a lovely phone conversation with Chef Javier Ortiz on Thursday, then on Friday I went in to tour his kitchens. The hotel is beautiful and the kitchens are fantastic. They are very clean and organized, and Chef Ortiz stressed that communication is the key to working efficiently; a sentiment with which I agree completely. They actually have a big dry erase board in the banquet kitchen that is updated daily that says what is needed from each person; it even indicates what size and shape chafer should be used. They have a separate kitchen for the hotel restaurant so that line cooks aren’t running over banquet cooks while they have a rush.

I say that I am 98.5% sure I have the job because on Friday I filled out a few papers, supplied them with 3 references, and was fitted for my uniform! They need at least two positive references and I see no problem with that, but I’m concerned that getting my former employers and managers at Star Nine on the phone might prove to be problematic for them because they are so busy. I hope that it works out though because I’m very excited to work at the Hyatt. That and working at Ventana at school is going to kick my butt for six weeks, but it will be an incredible and valuable experience.

In addition to this incredible job opportunity that seems to have almost fallen into my lap, the funding for the wedding is quite possibly back on track. In my last post I mentioned that my relative would be able to purchase my family heirloom for much less that I want for it. We talked today and he will now be able to give the full price if I choose to sell. I now have reservations about selling; I really just don’t know what to do. However, he told me that he is able to wait while I decide. Now the option of having a wedding with about 100 guests or so is there, or not if I so choose. I don’t want to make any rash decisions that I might regret in years to come, so I’m going to back-burner the wedding while I’m doing my externship and try to focus on one thing at a time.

This morning I went to make up Saturday at school to make up the two days I missed when I was sick at the beginning of the international cuisine block. The two dishes I made were Swedish Pancakes with Lingonberry jam (a.k.a. Plättar) and Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (a.k.a. Golabki), and I’ve decided to share the Cabbage Rolls with you. These chubby little rolls of deliciousness remind me of my grandmother. They were my favorite of her many dishes and I was afraid that I would never find a recipe, but happily the recipe from class seems to be exactly that. I always thought this was an Italian dish because Grandmaw Marry was 100% Italian, but as it turns out it’s Russian. Who knew? It’s probably not traditional, but I eat mine with grated parmesan cheese on top. I hope you enjoy these because they are one of my favorite things from child hood along with my dog, Rita, and the movie Aladdin.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls a.k.a. Golabki

• 1lb. ground beef
• 1/2 lb. ground pork
• 4-5 slices  bacon
• 1 yellow onion, ciseler (fine chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 whole egg
• 2 heads green cabbage
• 1 1/2 C Long Grain white rice dry
• 1 1/2 C water
• 15oz can tomato sauce
• as needed Kosher salt
• as needed black pepper

optional:

• 1/2 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. paprika

1. preheat oven 325°
2. Place the rice and water on to boil. Reduce heat and steep for 10 minutes to par-cook rice.
3. Meanwhile, cut out cabbage core using a pairing knife; in a large pot of boiling water blanch each head until leaves are pliable enough to roll. Shock immediately in ice water. pull off leaves and cut a triangle shape to remove thickest part of the center rib, but keeping the leaf in tact. Note: if the center leaves are not pliable put them back into the boiling wanter to blanch then shock again.
4. Combine in a mixing bowl the beef, pork, onion, garlic, egg and par cooked rice. Season with salt and pepper and optional nutmeg and paprika (I did not use these because they aren’t in the original recipe from school, but they would add a nice background flavor.) Mix well.  Saute a small amount of filling to test seasoning; adjust if needed.
5. Set up a 9X13 baking dish with the slices of bacon in the bottom running the length of the pan. They don’t need to overlap, they are simply for additional flavor and a little extra fat. Place 1-2 oz meat mixture on one cabbage leaf just above the triangle cut. Roll up the two bottom pieces overlapping them, fold in the sides and finish rolling. set on top of the bacon with seam side down so they don’t come unrolled. When you’ve placed all of your cabbage rolls in the dish cover with tomato sauce. If there are any leaves that are too small to roll or torn lay them on top.
6. Cover with foil and bake 2 hours at 325°.

Coming back from Spring break, I still feel like I need a break. For our vacation Brian and I went down to Orange, Tx (my hometown) for four days to take care of some wedding stuff and hang out with my family. We took engagement photos, met with a cake lady, met with a caterer and met with a few of my mom’s friends and my M.O.H. (Maid of Honor) who have offered to throw a bridal shower for me.

I enjoyed the break and had fun doing wedding stuff, but we didn’t really have a whole lot of time to relax. I’m still working at Freebirds Burritos, unfortunately the job at the bowling alley didn’t work our for me. I returned to work on Saturday to find that I still have the same schedule from when I was working at both places. This schedule has very few hours. I told the GM at Freebirds that I wanted to stay and go back to my schedule of 30 hours per week, but it hasn’t changed. This is a bummer because I really enjoy working at Freebirds; it’s lot’s of fun, but I won’t make enough money here and it will not count as a culinary externship which is required to graduate from TCA.

I’ve begun looking for another job, and I’ve gotten a few bites. However, because we go to school at night it’s very difficult to find a job at a restaurant because usually you are needed to work at night because dinner is the busiest shift. My current class, International Cuisine, extends through next Friday. The following week we begin work at one of Texas Culinary Academy‘s two restaurants. Some of my fellow students are put off by the fact that we pay tuition to work in their restaurant; I see it as more experience, more learning. If I happen to make some crazy terrible mistake while working at a TCA restaurant, at least I’ve made that mistake in front of an instructor not an employer and I can learn from that mistake and not do it in the future. At any rate, I’m going to request to work the lunch shift at school so I can work night shifts at work. I just wish it could start next week so I can start another restaurant job asap.

In addition to needing a new job to pay my bills I’ve recently found out that the majority of the funding (meaning all of it) for the wedding has fallen through and is no longer in existence. In order to fund my wedding (which is small as it is) I would have to sell a family heirloom that I inherited to a stranger. I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with that.

I know this isn’t a wedding blog, nor is it a ‘Haley’s a whiney baby’ blog, but these are the experiences that I’m dealing with during culinary school, and I need to vent. I’ve been told that I got myself into this financial situation by quitting my web development job and going to culinary school. I suppose the individual who said that meant I need to deal with it myself because during my freak out about the wedding fund I upset my mother. I didn’t think I was being a bridezilla considering the circumstances (I think anyone would freak at this news which btw didn’t come from my mom), but I managed to hurt her feelings and she’s not speaking to me. I really don’t understand what I’ve done, but not having your momma to talk to is really just not fun.

I’m basically at a loss at this point. I want to get married this year because I love Brian and I want to start our lives together, but I don’t think I want to do it at the expense of my family heirloom, my mother’s feelings or my own sanity. My M.O.H. and Brian have both said that I should just stop planning the wedding for now and just keep it on the back burner because there’s plenty of time (it’s not until September). I think that’s all I really can do at this point, so in the meantime I’m going to finish International Cuisine, then work AM in the TCA restaurant and look for a restaurant job that will also count for my culinary externship. I know it’s not good to ‘eat my feelings’ but fried green beans are like a wonderful, fried hug. I recommend you try them. p.s. my apologies for complaining, and thank you for letting me vent.

Fried Green Beans

Lovely example of a mirror presentation - we did these in class but this is not mine!

I have been extremely busy and apologize for my unexplained hiatus. I have a job now! Yay! I’ve been working at Freebird World Burritos since about the middle of January and I’m still in school at Texas Culinary Academy.

We finished up Proteins class then we had Bake Shop for 3 weeks in February with Valentines day falling right in the middle of it. So Brian got a chocolate box with chocolate truffles inside as a Valentines day gift. Unfortunately, I had food poisoning the week before that, so I didn’t really get to enjoy Valentines day or much of Bake Shop for that matter. We are now finishing up Garde Manger which is a class about cold foods such as salads, dressings, and sandwiches as well as the old techniques of  charcuterie or food preservation of the pre-refrigeration era.

Yesterday in Garde Manger, we did a skills assessment exam or speed drill. This exam was identical to the ACF’s Certified Culiarian exam. The exam consists of:

• fabricating a chicken and presenting one bone in, skin on, airline chicken breast, one skinless, boneless chicken breast, one wing, two thighs, two drumsticks (I presented the two tender loins but I don’t think it’s necessary)
• presenting batonnet of carrot and julienne of carrot
• presenting one pound mirepoix
• using the mirepoix and carcass to make chicken stock,
• presenting a composed plate of sauteed airline chicken breast, rice pilaf, and carrots au beurre.
• The exam must be completed in 2.5 hours.

poultry cuts

I really enjoyed this challenge and using Chef Banks’ method of fabricating a chicken, which he refers to as the “Quart of Blood” method, made this exam very easy. I’m incredibly happy to have learned this method I think it will help me tremendously in my future. It was nice to take an assessment that matches the ACF exam and see that I can do all of that and not feel flustered at all. The only problem that I ran into was the physical space we had to work in was very limited, but that’s pretty representative of industry kitchens from what I hear.

Unfortunately, we have recently learned that because our class is a certificate program and not an associates program we will not be eligible to take the ACF exam. We will be lacking a nutrition class and a management class as well as a specified number of hours of college credit as well as the exam which is not included in our curriculum as it is for the associates degree students. So in order to become Certified Culinarians we will need to take the two classes and the exam on our own (and pay for them ourselves), hopefully my bachelor’s degree will count for the hours of college credit even though they aren’t related to food. The news was pretty discouraging to several of my class mates, but I see it as just one more hurdle that I will get over.

In other news I now have a new job which I haven’t started yet. I will be doing prep cooking at AMF bowling. It sounds a little silly, but it’s a very large bowling alley that hosts large corporate parties as well as public play. Their patrons are taken care of by servers just like at a restaurant, but they get to bowl as well. I will hopefully begin work there this week, and I’m planning to keep my job at Freebird because I enjoy working there tremendously. Hopefully working two jobs and going to night school won’t be too crushingly demanding. I only have two and a half more months of labs at school then we start our externships in May. It’s almost over! I think I can make it!

Sauteed Chicken Breast with Rice Pilaff and
Carrots au Beurre

For Chicken:

• 1 skin on, air line chicken breast (wing up to first joint still attached and frenched)
• 3 oz canola oil
• as needed – kosher salt
• as needed – fresh cracked black pepper

For Rice Pilaf:

• 4 oz long grain white rice
• 2 oz onion small dice
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 2 oz butter
• 8 oz. Chicken Stock (or pipe stock…err…water)
• as needed – kosher salt
• as needed – fresh cracked black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig thyme

For Carrots au Beurre:

• 4 oz carrot batonnet (1/4″ X 1/4″ X 2.5-3″)
• as needed – flat leaf parsley finely minced
• as needed – kosher salt
• as needed – fresh cracked black pepper
• 2 oz butter

1. In a medium sauce pan sweat onion in butter with salt. Do not saute, you don’t want any color on the onions. Sweat until translucent, add garlic and rice. Coat rice in fat and stir until rice becomes translucent. add bay leaf, thyme sprig, and chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover with lid or aluminum foil. cook on low heat or in 350 degree oven for 13-15 minutes. I cooked mine on the stove top because I would forget about it in the oven, but the French guys insist you do it in the over because it’s gentler, surrounding heat. after about 13 minutes check for doneness and seasoning, adjust if needed.
2. While your rice cooks on low on the back burner, heat the canola oil on medium in a medium size saute pan with sloped sides. Season skin side of breast with salt and pepper. When fat is hot saute the airline chicken breast skin side down, season skinless side with a pinch of salt, baste the skinless side using a large spoon. The technique works well if you put your chicken on the side of the pan opposite from the handle; this way you can tilt the handle side toward you to make the oil pool, scoop it up with the spoon and pour evenly over the breast. Remember though that as you poor the fat over you have to set the pan back down so the skin side cooks as well. It becomes a constant fluid motion. Also, with a bone in chicken breast try to focus your pouring around the bone side because it’s thicker and will cook slower. you don’t want enough oil to completely cover the small side of the breast; if it is covered in fat when the pan is flat the small side will over cook. continue this technique until breast is fully cooked but not over done. If you have doubts use a meat thermometer to measure; after carry over cooking the breast should read at 165 degrees, so take it out of the pan and allow to rest on a rack around 160 or so.
3. When breast is about half way cooked, cook carrots in a small saute pan just covered with water and about 1 tsp salt on medium heat. Cook the carrots until aldente (tender with a slight crunch) when they’ve reach the proper doneness, if the water hasn’t evaporated completely strain and return to the pan. Check for seasoning. Add butter, a pinch of pepper and salt if needed. this part can be done on low heat, the butter should just melt and coat the carrots, you don’t want the carrots to fry, they will become rubbery. once melted and coated remove from heat and toss in a pinch of parsley, if there is an excess of butter dry slightly on paper towel. you don’t want butter to run out on the plate.
4. For plating build a little mound of rice pilaff (minus bay leaf and thyme stem), I used a ramekin as a mold. pile carrots to the side of the rice all going in the same direction, not criss-crossing. Slice chicken breast on a bias starting with small side and working toward the wing bone, position in the same order as sliced in front of rice and carrots on plate, skin side up bone in the back (away from the diner). They should see the chicken first, the rice behind it then the carrots to one side.

Sorry I don’t have any pictures; I hope you can visualize my description.

What I want to know is why a chef felt it necessary to show me that I’m not ready to work on the line in his restaurant. You may or may not know that a chef at a certain seafood and oyster bar on South Congress in Austin told me that he would “give me a chance” and bring me in on a shift to see how I do. After two weeks of me calling and asking when I can come in and getting brushed aside he finally says “I want you to come in Saturday at 5:00PM.” Obviously I was terrified, but I wasn’t going to say no.

It Was a Set Up

I really walked right into this one. This guy throws me in on the line on Saturday night following the grill cook. Now as you can probably imagine, it went terribly and I knew that if put in a situation like that I would not be able to perform adequately. I knew that, that’s why I didn’t say I want to work on your line. I said I want to learn. I said I’ll work anywhere you want me to work because there are other positions besides the line and there are other shifts besides Saturday night. I’d even have washed dishes if it was necessary. Believe it or not I like washing dishes in a professional kitchen because you can use the sprayer and, contrary to what you might think given the current state of my apartment, I like to clean. I’d have been the best damn dishwasher he ever hired.

You might say, as he did, that it’s nothing personal. I really hate when people say that because what they mean is that it’s nothing personal to them. This guy doesn’t know me at all, so no, watching some little, over eager girl fall on her face is not personal to him. It is, however, quite personal to me. This is a choice that I made because it’s something that I love so much; a choice for which I will be in debt for many years. I don’t care what anyone says, these days when there’s debt involved, it’s personal.

It really was a win win for this guy. If I had done well in this nearly impossible situation he would have hired a restaurant prodigy, if I had done poorly he can say, “well I gave some kid a chance and maybe they’ll let me into heaven for that or something.” But what he did wasn’t giving someone a chance; it was setting someone up to fail so he can rub it in their face. Maybe he’s a younger sibling that to this day still gets picked on, so he needs to take it out on young, unsuspecting, eager, hopeful, naive cooks.

I did enjoy being in the kitchen and working, and I think I could work in a place like that in a position other than on the line. So no, this guy didn’t scare me away from the industry like he might have been trying to do. I’m still going to try to find a job, but now I’ll be looking for chefs who wants to help young cooks learn, and I won’t walk into any more set-ups.

Today I made a salad for a recipe contest. this recipe is by weight because it is the most accurate form of measurement. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, and refuse to get one even though it’s a fantastic investment, you’ll do well to remember that 2T=1oz. and 8oz.=1 Cup.

Avocado Salad with Sweet Honey Dijon Dressing

For Dressing:

• 1 oz. Shallot finely minced
• 4 oz. honey dijon mustard
• 1.5 oz. sugar
• juice 1/2 lemon
• 1 oz dry white wine
• 4 oz. extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt to taste; about 3/4 t
• Fresh cracked black pepper to taste; about 1/4 t

In a wide mouth mixing bowl, whisk shallot, dijon, wine, lemon juice & sugar together to combine.

While whisking vigorously, drizzle in olive oil very slowly to form emulsion.

Transfer to a jar for easy recombination. Refrigerate at least 15 minutes before serving to allow flavors to meld.

For Salad:

• 1 head of green leaf lettuce washed, hard ribs removed and torn into bite size pieces
• .5 oz green onion sliced on bias
• 4.5 oz (1)bosc pear pealed, cored, small dice
• 1.5 oz celery small dice
• 2.5 oz walnuts chopped
• 13.5 oz (2 small) avocados small dice
• juice 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 t kosher salt
• 1.5 oz parsley roughly chopped
• 4 oz. feta cheese crumbled
• 1.5 oz. pomegranate arils

In a small bowl squeeze lemon juice and sprinkle salt over avocado, fold together and allow to marinade for a few minutes.

Place lettuce in a large salad serving bowl.

In a separate small bowl combine green onion, pear, celery, walnuts. Carefully fold in avocado. Pour mixture over lettuce and toss, making sure mixture is evenly distributed.

Sprinkle parsley and feta and toss lightly again. Sprinkle pomegranate over top. Serve with dressing

*Pictures of Avocado Salad soon to come.

During the first day of class three weeks ago, Brian’s mom became very sick and had to be rushed to the emergency room! It was very scary, and Brian drove down to Houston to be with his family while I was in class. I never want to imply that I think he should stay with me instead of seeing his sick mother, but that first week of school was a roller coaster of emotion and exhaustion. I didn’t realize how much emotional support I would need to do this until it wasn’t there. I felt sad and alone and anxious because I didn’t know anyone at school and fretful about Brian’s mom. I just needed someone there to give me a hug. Thankfully his mother is doing much better, she’s still in the hospital but will be transferred to a rehab facility this week, but the situation was very scary at the beginning of it all.

I went down to Houston with Brian the weekend after my second week of school, and by that time his mom had woken up and was conscious and we were able to give her the good news that we will be moving to Houston after I’m finished with Culinary School, next summer. I’m so happy to be moving. I love Austin, but I really want to be closer to our families. We will be in the same city as his and only two hours driving time from mine, as opposed to the five hour distance we’re at now. His mom was very happy to hear that we would be closer, I hope that little bit of good news helped with her recovery.

For Thanksgiving I didn’t do any cooking really, other than Boudain dip (one of Brian’s favorites). I left this year’s cooking up to my mom and step dad, and it was quite delicious. They had a deep fried turkey and since Brian is, unfortunately, allergic to poultry, also had a smoked ham. Of course all of the side accoutrement like green been casserole, cornbread dressing, cranberry chutney and pumpkin pie, which is my favorite. My dad gave me my Christmas gift a bit early because it was cash and he wanted me to buy my own gift so I’d have it for Christmas. So I was able to go buy a bran new and very appreciated camera to take better pictures of food!

Today I requested my work hours at Star Nine be reduced even further, so now I will have Tuesday and Thursdays off to look for a new job. I think that Michael, my replacement at Star Nine, has things pretty well under control and I’m so eager to get to work in a kitchen it’s unbelievable. So I sent out about ten resumes to places that wanted them sent via email and tomorrow I have about six other places to apply to in person. I don’t have much real professional kitchen experience, but I just hope my energy and passion will wow somebody and they’ll give me a chance. I just want to work; I want to do what I love doing, but for other people to enjoy.

This coming weekend, we’re having our pot-luck “Thanksgiving” with our friends at our house. We usually have it the weekend before Thanksgiving, but because of the craziness that was going on we had to postpone it. So I will be making gumbo and boudain dip! I think we’re going to sort of transform it into a Christmas gathering, because Brian’s going to set up our tree tonight. I’ll definitely be taking pictures and posting the recipes, and hopefully things will calm down some and I’ll be able to post more often than just every three weeks!

I start school tomorrow. I’m beyond excited and nervous and any other emotion you can think of. In preparation this weekend I’ve been doing homework. I got my books last Wednesday, so I’ve read and taken notes on chapter 1 of Professional Cooking, and I’m going to read chapter 1 of Serve Safe. I want to have two chapters from each book finished by the end of today. Does that make me a huge nerd? Ya know, I don’t really care if I’m a huge nerd or a know it all. This is what I love to do, so I’m going to get ahead and do my best, and my best is really good.

I just hope that all this work pays off. I’m not doing the Culinary Arts Associates degree program because I already have a bachelors degree in print journalism. Instead I’m doing a Culinary Arts Certificate program, which they’ve only had for about a year at Texas Culinary Academy. I asked if they had any statistics about the marketability of the students who did the associates degree versus the students who did the certificate. Unfortunately, because it’s so new they didn’t really have any statistics about that yet. So in an effort to make up for the name of the thing I’m working for (certificate not degree) I have set incredibly lofty goals for myself.

Expecting Culinary Excellence

I expect to be, and have set the goal of being an ‘A’ student. To me there is no reason I can’t be exemplary. This is what I want to do, and I want to be the best that I can be. This is something that I can physically practice if I don’t do it perfect the first time. I suppose I could have practiced journalism by continually writing stories, or web development by using things like javascript every day, but those things are more abstract. There isn’t a tangible end product that can be compared to the one that was previously made. I know some people are so passionate about reporting that they’re always thinking of stories to write, but I was just never that into it. But when it comes to cooking I do what journalists do, I constantly think of new recipes. I don’t have to try to get the creative juices flowing either, I just slip in to day dreams about things like the difference in flavor of parmesan, asiago and romano cheeses and which one I should use as a funnel shaped receptacle for my avocado ceviche…?

Getting My Money’s Worth

I also want to have exemplary attendance. TCA doesn’t want students to skip classes, but why would anyone want to? In college I skipped classes probably more than I should have. I think I skipped because I was never very excited about class. A four year university is so drawn out and long I think that many students lose sight of their goals and lose the passion for education that they may have had when they started. I started to forget why I was getting a degree, I just knew I needed to get one. When I finally did and it came time to get a job, I didn’t really want to be a reporter nor did I really want to be a programmer, but I was going to have to start paying back loans pretty quickly and needed an income. After working as a web developer for over a year, I now know what I want to do, and I’m going to do everything I can to do it perfectly. Since I’m only in school for 7 months I have to make the most out of every single class. I can’t skip if I want to stay ahead, not only that, but if you have 98% attendance you get red ropes to wear at graduation. I want those red ropes!

Activities and Involvement

Aside from good grades and perfect attendance, I want to get involved. I want to be a part of the community of the school. I plan to join the Bleu Print, which is TCA’s online news letter. I’ve read it over the last few months, and it’s not bad, but it could be improved so much, and I think I could help. It’s a PDF, and I’m not sure what program they’re using to create it, but I could help by using Adobe InDesign to clean up the layout a bit. They’re also using a scanned in image for the Le Cordon Bleu logo when they could just take a screen shot of an online version of the image if the don’t already have a vector graphic version. A made for web version would look so much better than a scanned in version. Also, I do have a journalism degree, I might as well use it; I would love to write stories about food. Food writing might be a direction I want to take my career eventually, so I think getting a start while I’m in school is a good idea. There are a few other student clubs that I would love to join like the American Culinary Federation (ACF) which hosts competitions and participates in certification exams, but I just don’t know if I’ll have time since I’m still working 30 hours per week. I think they would both be a lot of fun and would look great on my resume.

Presenting the Winning Dishes

Not only am I going to try to do all of those things, but I also want to get this whole thing paid for with scholarships if possible, so I’ll continue to compete in recipe competitions. There is no recipe with today’s post because I’ve been working on recipes for the Chilean Avocado recipe contest. I don’t want to give away my recipes before the contest is over, but these pictures are of some dishes that I will be submitting.

Starting tomorrow, I have a long and hectic 7 months ahead of me. The end result will be well worth the work, and I can’t wait to get started.

I’ve never won anything before, so when Lucy from Splenda called me this morning to make sure I’m enrolled in culinary school (my title still says Web Developer) I started thinking something might be going on. I thought, “maybe I’m in the running, it’s probably nothing though.”

When she called back this afternoon and said that my Fallen Carrot Souffle won first place in the Splenda Dessert Fame Recipe Contest, I nearly lost it. I was in complete disbelief. I think I said something to the effect of, “Holy crap, are you kidding me?” She wasn’t kidding! I won $3,000! Holy Crap!

Every little bit helps, so $3,000 is just awesome, but the real prize here is the sense of accomplishment, and recognition. I finally feel like I am actually good at this, and someone else thinks so too, and they’re going to give me money for it!

My confidence is through the roof because I can now say I’m a national scholarship and recipe contest winner. For those of you who don’t know me, I don’t usually toot my own horn, I’m not a horn tooter (yeah, I said it), so don’t worry I’m not going to start going on about how amazing I am. But I am definitely going to enter more contests, so I hope you enjoy reading about them.

I already have a degree in journalism. Lately I’ve really had trouble justifying taking out more loans to go back to school for a completely different career. Winning this contest has made me feel like culinary school was the right decision. Cooking makes me happy, I like to do it. I will never have to be forced to cook for someone. In fact, cooking for someone is what I like the most about it.  It’s like another creative outlet, and It comes easily to me. For example, I threw this recipe together in an afternoon; I think it might have even been a weeknight! It was such an easy recipe I didn’t even have to go to the grocery store! So I hope you try it and enjoy it!

Haley’s Original First Place Fallen Carrot Souffle

• 1lb baby carrots
• 1/2 Cup melted butter
• 1 tablespoon butter for greasing
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 Cup Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 Cup Splenda Brown sugar
• 3/4 Cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener Granulated
• 4 teaspoons Splenda No Calorie Sweetenter Granulated (divided)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 and place rack in center of oven.

Boil carrots until tender. Drain and mash with a potato masher in a medium mixing bowl. Some small chunks remaining is okay.

Grease four 7oz. ramekins with butter and coat with Splenda No Calorie Sweetener Granulated. Dust off excess Splenda and position ramekins on a foil lined baking sheet.

Mix eggs, flour, baking powder, Splenda Brown Sugar, Splenda No Calorie Sweetener Granulated, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt with carrots using a whisk until combined. While whisking, slowly pour melted butter into mixing bowl until incorporated.

Fill ramekins to 1/4-inch from rim and sprinkle the top of each with teaspoon of Splenda No Calorie Sweetener Granulated. Bake for 30 minutes.