Vegetables and Herbs

Today was my first day. It went really well and I am still really exciting about cooking, so I guess that is good! There are 9 students in my class. We started out having a 2 hour lecture about vegetables and herbs. We saw a demonstration on how to blanch green veggies and then we tasted a variety of herbs. After the lecture, we were pretty much right into the kitchen cooking our dishes. I was teamed up with another woman because our recipe was a larger quantity, so the Chef had us divide it in half. I was a little disappointed in the recipe I as given because it was something that I have made a million times. It was a frittata (mine is pictured above). I wanted to have a recipe that was either something that I had never made before or some technique I don't use. Oh well, there are still 36 more classes, so I am sure I will get my opportunities.




We had to set up our mise en place and have the Chef's approval before we could begin cooking. When it was time to cook the frittata, Chef said we could run upstairs and broil it, bake it in the oven or flip it in a pan. This was 12 eggs, in a 12-inch skillet he was expecting me to flip!!! When I told him that I would flip it he gave me two more options. I could be brave and flip it in the same pan or I could be a wuss and use another hot pan and turn it into that. Of course I said I would be brave an flip it in the same pan. Well, the time came to flip. Everyone in the class was watching. I am thinking to myself 'I've done it will 2 eggs before, how much harder could 12 eggs be?' Well, I flipped that bitch like a pro! I even got a round of applause with some 'oohs' and 'aaahs' as well! It was good to show some of the more experienced people that I had skills of my own too.




The cooking was cool. We would all collect around some one's dish when an important technique was being applied or to taste and adjust seasoning. The Chef was really good about asking our opinions of the seasoning and explaining to us what we are tasting. We ended up eating at 3 different times as some dishes were done before others. Chef did warn us though that this was our 'easy' class and to expect things to get much more difficult. I personally cannot wait! We are also expected to have one sit down mean where all of the dishes are made and ready at the same time by the 5th week. We'll see what kind of challenge this poses.




Anyways, I had an awesome day and I am sure I left a lot out. Below are pictures of all of the dishes we made in class. The Old-Fashioned Grated Sweet Potato Pudding is already in high demand at my house! Enjoy!

Today's recipes: Gazpacho Juice, Fresh Green Beans with Basil and Tomatoes topped with a Garlic Basil Dressing, Hungarian Mushroom Soup, Herbed Frittata with Herb Salad with Dressing, Pasta Primavera, Baby Beet Salad with Mint and Tarragon, Old-Fashioned Grates Sweet Potato Pudding