COOKING CLASS # 2

                         Saturday, March 24th we got together again for some more fun and cooking experience. The class increased in alumni by 2 with our friends Sara and Joe Lombardo joining the party. Again, we all spend a great evening together with a culinary delight, featuring a seafood appetizer and a very Swiss themed main course. Kalbsgeschnetzeltes is ranked by various gourmet critics as one of the worlds 100 best dishes.

Before everybody arrives, Donna is printing out the cooking instructions

As always I like to share the recipe.


 First the appetizer :  

                         

Sautéed Sea Scallops Princess

Polenta croquet, grilled asparagus, spinach, fire roasted pepper

 Mousseline sauce

SERVES 8

                        Polenta croquet

            1 cup   chicken stock

            2 oz     butter

            4 oz     yellow corn meal

            1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

            1 tbs    flour

            1 ea     egg

            2 tbs    olive oil

           

Bring chicken stock and butter to a boil, add cornmeal, simmer for 2 minute, stirring constantly. Add the cheese and pour the polenta out on a smooth surface to a thickness of  ½ inch. Let it cool and cut into 2x3 inch strips. Flour them slightly, dip in egg and sautés in olive oil, set aside and keep hot.

                        Spinach

1 oz      butter

1 tbs     finely chopped onions

1 tbs     finely chopped garlic

1 Bag   fresh baby spinach

                        salt, pepper, hacomat, nutmeg (optional)

Sautee onions and garlic in butter until tender but not brown, add spinach and let wilt, season and set aside, keep hot                

                        Asparagus

1 oz      butter

24 ea    medium size asparagus

                        salt and pepper

Cut asparagus, blanch and sautés in butter, season, set aside and keep hot.

                        Red pepper

1 ea      whole red pepper

1 tbs     olive oil

Slightly oil pepper and roast over open fire (grill or gas flame) until burned. Place in bowl and cover air tight and let steam for 10 minutes. Peel off burned skin, cut pepper  and discard seeds. Set aside and keep hot.                      

              

Sauce Hollandais

2 ea      Egg yolks

2 tbs     white vinegar and shallot reduction

1 tbs     warm water

2 oz      clarified butter

¼         lemon juice

                        salt, pepper, hacomat

Whip egg yolks, vinegar reduction and water over double boiler until creamy, add clarified butter slowly and season. Set aside and keep warm.

                        Scallops and seafood sauce

16 ea      Scallops U/10

2 oz      shallots

4 oz      white wine

4 oz      clam juice

2 oz      scallop juice

4 oz      heavy  cream

            salt, pepper, hacomat, lemon juice

            1 tbs     chopped parsley

Dry scallops with pepper towel , season and sautés in butter until golden brown on both sides. Careful, they are cooking very fast, depending on their size, in 2-4 minutes. Remove from pan and keep warm.

Sautee shallots in same pan adding more butter if needed. Déclassé with white wine, add clam juice, scallop juice, cream and reduce to half the volume. Thicken with corn starch and season.

                        Sauce Mousseline

1 cup    seafood sauce

½ cup   hollandaise sauce

½ cup   unsweetened whipped cream

Fold in hollandaise into seafood sauce and then the whipped cream.

                        SERVE

Place polenta on flat top with spinach then red pepper, asparagus. Spoon sauce mousseline through the middle and top with scallops. Serve and enjoy.

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                             For just an appetizer, this seems to be a lot of work.  There are actually 7  recipes to make this dish . Just for that I chose this, it is great for teaching. There is polenta you will be able to us in many other meals. So is the hollandais, you can use on eggs benedict or fresh asparagus etc

Scenes from the appetizer session

Gina and Karla are preparing the appetizers 

Daniel decided to be the photographer

Separating eggs for hollandais

Explaining how to prep fire roasted pepper

I was good, observe, my Bacardi and coke is still full !

Having fun chopping parsley behind the chefs back!!

Gina seems confused over my instructions?

Knife sharpening technique

everything comes together nicely

Posers - having fun!!

Gina finishing the polenta

Done, they are ready to serve

A well deserved rest after this great performance

                         and now the recipe for the famous Swiss dish:   

SLICED VEAL ZURICH STYLE

WITH ROSTI POTATOES

SERVES 4

                     

             SLICED VEAL

                      -----------------------------------------------

                      24 oz   veal* (thinly sliced by hand)

                        3 oz   butter

                        3 oz   shallots, chopped

                        5 oz   fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced

                        4 oz   chardonnay

                        8 oz   fresh cream

                        5 oz    brown stock****

                                  salt, pepper, ¼ lemon zest, chopped parsley

                                   beurre manie **

Season the veal with salt, pepper, paprika and sauté quickly in butter until golden brown. Remove from the Pan and keep hot.  Sweat the shallots and mushroom and season. Deglaze*** the pan with wine, add the brown stock and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Thicken the sauce with beurre manie. Add the cream and reduce for 5 minutes. Add the meat, re-heat, but do not boil or cook further. Add the lemon zest and check the seasoning.

 Serve with Rosti, sprinkle with chopped parsley.   

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                    *)    Veal is expensive and not found at all meat counters so pork tenderloin is a good substitute making this dish Sliced Pork Zurich Style.

                     

                      **)       Beurre manie is French for “kneaded butter”.  It is a paste made of softened butter and flour in equal parts that is used to thicken sauces.  

                    ***)       Deglaze, after meat has been sautéed and removed from pan, deglazing is done by heating a small amount of liquid ( wine or stock) in the pan and stirring to loosen browned bits of food on the bottom. the resulting mixture often becomes a base for a sauce to accompany the food cooked in the pan.
                  
                      ****)        Brown stock is a base sauce made with Veal bones. I have always some in the freezer in 1 cup containers. Recipe in my next blog entry. (you always can buy brown stock mix in the Grocery store, but it will never test as good as your own.      

ROSTI POTATOES

                      ------------------------------------------------

1.5 lb.   raw potatoes, roughly grated

                         3 oz   onions, finely chopped

                         2 oz   bacon * (finely sliced)

                         2 oz   butter

                                   salt, pepper, nutmeg and chopped chive (optional)

                     

                      Sweat the bacon and onions in butter

                      Add the grated potatoes and seasoning. Stir well for 2-3 minutes.

                      Spread the mixture over the bottom of the pan. (like a pancake)

                      Cook each side until golden brown over medium heat.

                      Sprinkle with chopped Chive.

                      *) Bacon is optional, substitute with 2 tbs of oil. There are several variation of rosti in Switzerland changing by the region.

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                           This recipe is simple to prepare and takes no time.              

Scenes from the main course session

I am trying to get them started

Joe and Eric decided to cook the main course

Eric needed to find a good place for his Bacardi

the work begins

It is getting late, but it is ok, we had a big appetizer

Eric is watching the rosti cook with his hands in the pocket

Eric is taking on double duty

knife handling instructions

Eric cutting shallots 

making progress

Joe is squeezing  lemon juice in to the mushroom to keep them white

even the photographer is getting hungry

Finish teaching, they are serving up the dinner

Dinner is served

satisfied customers

Eric and Joe did on excellent job cleaning up the kitchen

Sara looks happy

Smoke break

a well deserved cocktail after serving up the dinner

another great evening

we are about to start a wii golf game

                              The party lasted to 1:30 in the morning and it looks like everybody had a good time and also took a little more knowledge about cooking home with them. They are all anxious to find out about the next class, when it will be, and what we are going to serve.