Shellfish Pt. 2

Today was the completion of our shellfish class. Lecture focused on crustaceans and cephlopods. Lecture seemed relatively short compared to the last few. We discussed crab, lobster and squid. The best part of lecture was when chef said we are very lucky to be living so close to Maine since they have great lobster there. It made me think of dad...I was so close to telling everyone how my father hates Maine because the don't have lobsters!! I bit my tongue on that one though.

Once in the kitchen I got right to work. I think this was the quickest I have even done my mise en place. The recipe I was in charge of was Gratin of Seafood. For seafood, it had tilapia, swordfish, king crab, and scallops. The sauce that went over the top was a bechemel that had a lot of paprika, mushrooms and cream in it. It was a very rich dish. I would have been done well in time for lunch, but the seafood people the school deals with was delayed in their delivery and did not arrive until the late morning, so I had to wait until that arrived. This also happened to most people in my class. While we waited, we made some 'optional' dishes. My classmate and I focused on the Coconut Dessert. It was a really quick coconut 'mousse' that was topped with Mango Coulis, toasted coconut and toasted macadamia nuts. Once the rest of the seafood arrived I assembled my food in 6 individuals bowls normally used for French Onion Soup. We were still a while off from having the main course, but this recipe could be put together and sit in the fridge until ready to fire. While I had down time, I made the mayonnaise for the fried apps we were having. This was squid, mussels and veggies all fried. Chef demonstrated how to clean the squid. As a defense mechanism, cephlopods have ink that they release. While you are cleaning the squid, you have to be careful not to puncture that sac or you would be stained with black ink for quite a while. In the culinary world, people will use the ink to dye food. You can have something like black pasta...very handy to remember for next Halloween!

We munched on the apps then got to cooking the entrees. Mine took about 30 minute to cook and turned out great. Again, it was very rich, so we also had a Papaya and Avocado Salad with Lime Dressing that helped to cut the richness during the meal. I don't think there was too much I was thrilled about this week as far as recipes. I think I may have been seafooded-out after last week!

Today's Recipes:Warm Salad of Soft Cooked Eggs and Smoked Fish, Mixed Fry with Sage, Gratin of Seafood, Roulade of Swordfish, Scallop Shell of Puff Pastry Filled with Salmon and Vegetable Pearls, Lobster Risotto, Papaya, Avocado and Jerusalem Artichoke Salad, Coconut Blanc Mange with a Coulis of Mango and Macadamia Nuts