Last weekend and this week in general were EXTREMELY busy, so that is why I am updating this soo late. Let's get right into it!
Meal #3:
Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009
Menu: Breakfast : "Steamed Artichokes with Poached Eggs and Hollandaise" p. 82-83
So, this one was vaguely daunting! I have heard so many horror stories about making your first Hollandaise sauce and was afraid that mine would wind up exploding in my face! So, to try and get over my fear, I made the sauce first. This proved much easier than expected except for one thing: Martha calls for 1 and 1/2 sticks of butter. As I am whisking the butter into the rest of the mixture, it starts to thicken nicely, looking just like the picture in the book. But after a while, it started to get really thick... uh- oh.... here comes the explosion! Or, so I thought. So as to stop this thickening, I stopped adding butter half-way through and re-heated it a little so as to get that smooth, silky consistency. But, even after heating, it still was the consistency, if not a little thicker than, mayonnaise..... A few tablespoons of water later, I arrived at a perfect, if not slightly diluted, rendition of Hollandaise.
The artichokes proved uncannily simple. Trim, steam, take out purple centers, eat. That easy. The poached eggs also proved to be easier than I thought. I was soo afraid that the yoke would break when I put the egg into the water, but all was safe!!
My mom and me then feasted on the fruits of my labors, which turned out to be quite tasty. Overall, I would say this was a success!
Meal #4:
Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009
Meal: Dinner: "Chicken Piccata"p. 248-249 with"mushroom risotto"p.416-418
As you can see, I wound up pretty much cooking all day Sunday!
Oh, and I had made this chicken recipe before, so I had a slight advantage* cough-cough*when I made it this time! All I can say is that it is delicious and the capers are heavenly! You know, for a person who despises relish, and the only pickled thing she'll eat is pickles, I have a real affinity for the salty, tangy pop that capers add to a meal. I just can't get enough of them! The making of the chicken was pretty straightforward, no real goof-ups or laughable tales to tell...sorry! The risotto proved to be a lot simpler than I thought too. I just remember on the Next Food Network Star ( yes, I have no life : P ) one of the contestants made risotto and Marcus Samuelsson said it was " a disrespect to Italy."Whew! Pretty harsh. After hearing that, I figured risotto was probably pretty hard to make. Boy was I wrong! This was such an easy and filling recipe that I feel like that contestant had no excuse for bad risotto! The mushrooms added such an earthy and warm flavor that really worked well with the creamy risotto. YUM!
So overall, the family approved, I approved, and if Martha tasted what I cooked, I think she would approve.
I can't wait to start cooking again this weekend and I promise I will update right after I finish the meals! Promise!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
First Two Meals
Well, I haven't been able to update anything for that past couple of days because the internet was down... it's finally working!!
So, while the internet was taking a break, I still cooked my first two meals, and first four recipes! Here's a recap of what happened:
Day 1 ( Saturday, October17, 2009):
Menu: "Sauteed Skate Wing" (p255) with "Boiled, Parsleyed Potatoes"(p.304)
Well, the first attempt was not without its problems. For one thing, while the recipe called for hazelnuts, hazelnuts decided to disappear off the shelves of every grocery store I went to! So, as a quick replacement, pine-nuts were substituted. But, with the pine-nuts came the ever present issue of toasting. In the past, when I have toasted pine nuts, I always forget about them. However, I am quickly reminded by the waft of smoke that permeates the air around me. Yes, burnt pine nuts are no fun. Thus, when I put the pine nuts in the toaster oven, I told myself, " you won't forget this time!".... five minutes later.... half the pine nuts are burnt....so much for that!
Other than that, the rest of the meal went pretty smoothly. The potatoes boiled up nicely, and though I used Cilantro instead of Parsley ( they look so similar!), they still tasted delicious.
Instead of Skate, I used the much easier to find Tilapia, and with the buerre noisette, pine nuts ( the few that weren't burnt) and grapefruit ( yup, the recipe called for it) the dish pulled together pretty nicely. The only thing I would change ( sorry Martha!) is the grapefruit. In the recipe, she says to supreme a grapefruit and put 3 slices on top of the fish and pour the buerre noisette-pine-nut sauce over top. I didn't personally find the grapefruit that, well, beneficiary.
As for the family approval, while my dad picked all the pine nuts off his fish , and my sister only ate the potatoes, my mom and brother liked the whole meal. Success!
Day 2 (Monday Oct 19, 2009):
Now, you may be thinking, what happened to Sunday? Well, let me put it simply.
Rain + sinus infection= sleep all day.
So, on Monday night, albeit a school night, I was in the kitchen cooking.
Menu: "Roasted Pork Loin"(p.134-5) and "Roasted Winter Squash"(p.313)
Where to begin on this one.... well, lets start with the fact that the recipe shows a picture of the pork loin carefully packaged in pancetta with a sprig of rosemary peeking up daintily. The twine holding it all together is perfectly symmetrical. I'll start out by saying that with a younger sister and brother comes the issue of missing things. So, the missing thing for the day would be the twine! The twine that was in the drawer, is no longer....This forced me to use my creativity when packaging the loin. So, instead of a symmetrically tied twine, I was forced to use sewing thread. I'm not even joking. It was the only stupid string I could find! When I pulled the pork out of the oven to check the temperature, my mom burst out laughing. The pork looked like it was a tailoring job gone bad. Yet, the pancetta and sprig of rosemary did manage to adhere themselves to the pork! Who needs twine....
As for the side dish, it was a little daunting. Well, I kind of made it hard on myself. At the store, instead of buying a smooth, easy to cut butternut squash, I opted for a more exotic looking, lumpy, hard squash ( I don't remember what kind it was). Cutting and peeling that thing was a nightmare. I couldn't figure out where to start cutting! So, after essentially butchering the darn squash, I dashed on some maple syrup, olive oil, salt, pepper, and sage leaves. I admit, I varied a little from Martha's recipe, but that is the way I love to cook squash.
The dinner was a hit, even after the threads of string were painstakingly un-threaded. It was quite an ordeal, but, one that I can look back on and just laugh.
So, while the internet was taking a break, I still cooked my first two meals, and first four recipes! Here's a recap of what happened:
Day 1 ( Saturday, October17, 2009):
Menu: "Sauteed Skate Wing" (p255) with "Boiled, Parsleyed Potatoes"(p.304)
Well, the first attempt was not without its problems. For one thing, while the recipe called for hazelnuts, hazelnuts decided to disappear off the shelves of every grocery store I went to! So, as a quick replacement, pine-nuts were substituted. But, with the pine-nuts came the ever present issue of toasting. In the past, when I have toasted pine nuts, I always forget about them. However, I am quickly reminded by the waft of smoke that permeates the air around me. Yes, burnt pine nuts are no fun. Thus, when I put the pine nuts in the toaster oven, I told myself, " you won't forget this time!".... five minutes later.... half the pine nuts are burnt....so much for that!
Other than that, the rest of the meal went pretty smoothly. The potatoes boiled up nicely, and though I used Cilantro instead of Parsley ( they look so similar!), they still tasted delicious.
Instead of Skate, I used the much easier to find Tilapia, and with the buerre noisette, pine nuts ( the few that weren't burnt) and grapefruit ( yup, the recipe called for it) the dish pulled together pretty nicely. The only thing I would change ( sorry Martha!) is the grapefruit. In the recipe, she says to supreme a grapefruit and put 3 slices on top of the fish and pour the buerre noisette-pine-nut sauce over top. I didn't personally find the grapefruit that, well, beneficiary.
As for the family approval, while my dad picked all the pine nuts off his fish , and my sister only ate the potatoes, my mom and brother liked the whole meal. Success!
Day 2 (Monday Oct 19, 2009):
Now, you may be thinking, what happened to Sunday? Well, let me put it simply.
Rain + sinus infection= sleep all day.
So, on Monday night, albeit a school night, I was in the kitchen cooking.
Menu: "Roasted Pork Loin"(p.134-5) and "Roasted Winter Squash"(p.313)
Where to begin on this one.... well, lets start with the fact that the recipe shows a picture of the pork loin carefully packaged in pancetta with a sprig of rosemary peeking up daintily. The twine holding it all together is perfectly symmetrical. I'll start out by saying that with a younger sister and brother comes the issue of missing things. So, the missing thing for the day would be the twine! The twine that was in the drawer, is no longer....This forced me to use my creativity when packaging the loin. So, instead of a symmetrically tied twine, I was forced to use sewing thread. I'm not even joking. It was the only stupid string I could find! When I pulled the pork out of the oven to check the temperature, my mom burst out laughing. The pork looked like it was a tailoring job gone bad. Yet, the pancetta and sprig of rosemary did manage to adhere themselves to the pork! Who needs twine....
As for the side dish, it was a little daunting. Well, I kind of made it hard on myself. At the store, instead of buying a smooth, easy to cut butternut squash, I opted for a more exotic looking, lumpy, hard squash ( I don't remember what kind it was). Cutting and peeling that thing was a nightmare. I couldn't figure out where to start cutting! So, after essentially butchering the darn squash, I dashed on some maple syrup, olive oil, salt, pepper, and sage leaves. I admit, I varied a little from Martha's recipe, but that is the way I love to cook squash.
The dinner was a hit, even after the threads of string were painstakingly un-threaded. It was quite an ordeal, but, one that I can look back on and just laugh.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Introduction
The Martha Stewart Project:
As a young cook, there are many chefs that can be looked up to, and many that I wish to one day have the same skill as. From Marcus Samuelsson to Mario Batali, the range and style of a chef varies greatly. Yet, many young people (high school students) are given very little exposure to the culinary world. Yes, there are Home Economic classes, but do they really give us the insight to the life of a chef, and the many different techniques used? This is one of my goals in this project. To expose young people to the techniques, challenges, history, and art of cooking.
To do so, I will not only research the history of cooking, but cook through Martha Stewart's Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook. Almost everyone knows about Martha Stewart, even those who don't cook. Not only does her name grace the many cookbooks she has written, but she has a whole line of items that bear her name too. Now, people might think, "Hey, this sounds eerily similar to what Julie Powell did!" and I admit that part of my project was inspired by what she did. But, it will vary in that I am doing this for a school project, and will also do more background research on cooking and the ins-and outs of being a chef in addition to my actual cooking. I have been cooking with my mother from a young age and this will definitely be a project close to my heart. I hope everyone finds this project as exciting and interesting as I am expecting it to be!
I guess it's time to start cooking!
Grace
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