Fall Culinary Banquet Prep

 So much to do in such little time. In Class Molly and I made 16 sheets of puff pastry completed with either a tri fold or completed all the way to a 3 book fold. After the 3 book fold was completed Nick a second year student had to sheet it out to about 4 feet long so we could cut out circles to make a puff pastry.

Tri Fold in a puff Pastry dough, So much butter!

 

Once puff pastry was baked off we added a persimmon sauce and topped with whip cream and black berries.

Crunchy Brussel Sprout Salad

Brussel sprouts, red cabbage, Frisee, candied walnuts, goat cheese

Dressing: orange juice, sesame oil, red wine vinegar, honey, shallots

Brisket

16 huge chunks of Brisket Chef Scott Cut and I seasoned and Seared in the oven then took out for him to Braise. Then the next day when it was done we portioned it out into 3 ounce plate portions.

De-boning Chicken

Everyone who was there for the first prep day  got to learn and de-bone a chicken there was about 16 or so of them, it was interesting we cut them open from the back and left the skin and all the cuts of meat in tack so we could stuff and roll the chickens.

Chicken Galantine
We used the chickens we just de-boned, and stuffed them with a medium dice day old bread crumbs, rosemary and sage and egg mixture with sliced prosciutto, and Swiss cheese, then rolled it up and wrapped it in tin foil and bake and slice.


Purple Gnocchi with Chanterelles Mushrooms
Surprisingly this is not hard to make and is very tasty and has a bright vibrant color. You need to steam the potatoes, then rice them, add in flour, nutmeg, and salt and mix with dough hook in a mixer slowly add in oil until dough like consistency. Then roll out ropes and cup 1 in pieces and roll with a fork.  and boil. Saute mushrooms tell partially done and gnocchi and saute until browned add rosemary and port wine.

Barley Risotto with Delicata squash
This risotto takes for ever and ever to make, first you have to saute the onions and garlic add barley and saute until toasted, de-glaze with white wine and vegetable stock one cup at a time stirring continuously. You Keep adding one cup at a time until barley softens, then add Parmesan cheese, squash, and cream, salt to taste.

Letter of recommendation from Jim Wiltens

Mikaela:

Mikaela took on a co-cook position at Deer Crossing Camp, www.deercrossingcamp.com, for the summer of 2012. Mikaela was responsible for cooking meals for 50+ people, three times a day. Cooking in our wilderness location is considerably more challenging than cooking in an urban setting. There is no road access so she had to order food and then assist with food pick ups by boat, once a week. The food then had to be physically lifted and transported to the lodge after arriving by boat. Storage is also challenging due to the critter population which includes bears, marmots, squirrels, and mice. This requires constant monitoring, cleaning, and pest vector control. In addition she had to learn how to start generators, water pumps, and run other parts of the infrastructure associated with the kitchen which again is more challenging than a modern kitchen. As the director I was pleased that she was a quick study and picked up the protocols and procedures necessary to run the kitchen in a short period of time. She got along well with the other staff and campers and kept a can-do attitude for the summer. A number of times she offered cooking classes to the campers, who were enthusiastic about working in the kitchen with her. I think she will find that working in any food service organization is considerably easier after working at our wilderness camp and I wouldn't hesitate in hiring her again. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

Jim Wiltens
(650) 369-3902
www.jimwiltens.com

The Kitchen at Deer Crossing

Pecan Pie for the Holidays

Pecan Pie is my all time favorite pie around this time of year. It is so rich and delicious and is great eaten all by its self. I was surprised when I made it for the first time at school how easy and how few ingredients it takes to make this pie, the pie crust takes the most work but using a 3 2 1 recipe even that is simple.

Yield 6-9 pies

Sugar 4 lb

Butter 4 oz 

Salt 1 TB

Egg beaten 24

Corn Syrup 1 qt

Vanilla 2 1/2  TB

Pecans 1 LB 8 oz

1. Cream sugar and butter

2. Add eggs and salt mix well

3. Pour pie filling into pie shell and top with pecans

4. Bake tell done at 350 degrees Approx. 40 minutes 

Chocolate Sprite Cookies

Chef Dale at school had the other student on short dough station and myself  use his recipe for these cookies to sell at the student commons

These were such a hit with the students, sold out day one!

You only have to bake these or a short period of time so they stay soft and chewy.

Yield 2 - 3 dozen

1 lb Sugar

1 lb Butter

1 cup Milk

8 oz Cocoa

2 lb 2 oz Pastry flour

1/2 oz Salt

Trace Vanilla

Place cookies in chocolate chips after slicing

1. Cream butter and sugar

2. Add milk and vanilla Mix well

3. Sift Cocoa, Pastry flour, and salt mix well

4. Form into tube slice disk

Dutch Chocolate Mint Cheesecake

Dutch Chocolate Mint Cheesecake

So many ingredients for a little cheesecake

so easy to mess up.

"There is no such thing as failure as long as it is a learning experience"

The cheesecake wasn't pretty when it came out of the oven, but there is almost always a way to make your product pretty again. Garnishes are always your friend! My eggs were over whipped into my batter so the cheesecake rose then fell, leaving my ending product a sunken cheesecake. With the work of a knife to flatten out the top and my garnish of sour cream mint frosting topped with shaved chocolate transformed this cheesecake.

Crust: 

12 oz. Chocolate Cookie Crumbs

6 oz. Semi-Sweet Chocolate

6 Tbsp. Sugar

7 oz. Soft Butter

Process and press into spring form

 Cake:

16 oz.  Chocolate

2 2/3  lbs.  Cream Cheese Frosting

2 1/3 cup  Sugar

3 oz. Cream

2/3 cup Cocoa

6 Eggs

2 tsp. Vanilla

2 1/3 tsp. Peppermint Extract

On low speed cream the cream cheese and sugar, add chocolate, cocoa, scrapping and creaming after each addition. Add cream and flavorings. Add eggs. Bake at 300 degrees until done.

Attempts at a pastry cream (culinary school)

It's so surprising how much you can learn in only 2 days with very letle guidance.

Fall term of school I will be in bakery station and the first 3 days I''ve started in costars, alone. This had me nervous when I heard this having never made a custard before. So the weekend before actual class in the kitchen started I made 3 custard pies. Number one was an avocado coconut, which turned out very well. Number two was white chocolate mixed berry also super yummy and turned out great. Third my personal favorite caramelized onion blue cheese and pear.

I thought I had prepared my self for what was to come Monday in class, but not quite, chef Hurley had me doing a completely different method then I practiced at home.

I made pastry cream, half for a coconut cream pie and the other for danish custards. My first batch I screwed up in the step after tempering the milk into the eggs then pouring the mixture back over the heat to thicken, turns out I more or less had scrambled eggs in the bottom of my pot.

I was mortified, it had taken me so long to get to that step and I had to start over. The second time I attempted it, it wasn't as bad, I didn't make scrambled eggs, I did get worried when the starch started to clump up in the same step my eggs had scrambled before, but it turned out I just needed to whisk like crazy so my custard thickened.

My end results turned out great, every last slice of coconut cream pie sold, which means I did something right.

Avocado Coconut Milk Custard Garnished with Fresh Sliced Avocado

Individual custard garnished with fresh avocado and a dot
of sriracha sauce

Custard with crust, garnished with shrimp
and a dot of sriracha sauce

Ingredients
2 large avocados
1 T lemon juice
1 can (13.5oz) coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp kosher salt
 1 tsp sriracha sauce
2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks


1. Cut avocado in half remove seed and slice Fill 1 cup of sliced avocado press down. Left overs can be used to garnish
2. In food processor blend avocado, lemon juice, coconut milk, garlic powder, salt, sriracha sauce, blend until smooth
3. Whisk eggs and yolks in a mixing bowl
4. Whisk avocado mixture into eggs until very smooth
5. Pour mixture into prepared pie crust or individual custard dishes

         - if in custard dishes fill and place in a pan with water surrounding dish and bake in middle of oven

Bake for 60 minutes in middle of oven at 325 degrees
turn off oven and let set with door cracked until room temperature.

Complements to apronstringsblog.com
Altered custard recipe from site