#tbt guacamole

As promised, here is the #tbt with the guacamole recipe. I know, I know, it's a week late. But see, here's what happened. True story.

After a super awesome and fun Halloween night, I returned to my apartment to find that the internet that I have been using while the internet line that I pay for is still inactive (two months later...but I finally after two months got a bank account and phone. In France, beggars can't be choosers...) leaving me with only internet on my phone. And I do not have an unlimited data plan here, so sorry- no posts.

But for now, we're back! Also, tomorrow morning at 8am (so 2am EST), I will be entering the kitchen to perform for my final, one last time in Basic cuisine. We have been given a list of ten dishes. We will walk in there and choose one of them from a hat and proceed to write out the ingredients list, turn that in, be given the actual ingredients list, and then prep, cook, and serve the dish in less than 2.5 hours. We also have to hard-boil and poach an egg, the correct way during that time. This is 45% of my grade, so if I fail, I fail.

So, I also have not had a lot of free time this week to deal with my internet problems.

With that being said, I am back and posting on this lovely Thursday with my tried and true guacamole recipe. It's really easy and I usually, at least, double it.

2 avocados

3 Tbl lemon or lime juice (half a lime)

2 Tbl minced cilantro

1/3 c diced onion

3 Tbl chopped tomatoes

½ tsp salt

pepper

½ tsp cumin

2 cloves garlic

hot sauce

Actually, being in cooking school has not changed much about how I make this recipe. My dad found it a long time ago on line or in a magazine and then he finagled with it to get to this ratio. It's been finagled well and good.

Of course, start with the avocados- I mash with a fork. Then acidity immediately on to them to keep them from turning. From there, it's diced onion and chopped tomatoes. The quantities on those two are not exact- for a doubled recipe, I'd use 3 tomatoes (but I really like tomato), 2 onions. Mince the garlic. If you're one of those soapy cilantro people, then leave it out.

It's better if it sits in the refridgerator, so make it ahead of time, film over the top, touching the guac to keep from oxidizing or forming a skin. If you're serving immediately, it will need more salt- just a warning.

That's about it and see you on the other side of my basic final!

Game Day- Paris Style

I spent the first four years of my life growing up in Gainesville, FL.

I spent ages 8-18 living in and around Athens, GA.

The GA/FL game is not just any old college game day in the Kaplan household. It is a massive battle between two of our three favorite college teams (the other being the VT Hokies for Dad). There is one team which we always root for ahead of the other, but I'll refrain from saying as it can cause a lot of heartache and arguments!

Being in Paris was NOT going to stop me from watching this Holiest of Holy Games. Furthermore, my friend from Oklahoma wanted to watch the OK/Notre Dame game.

So, we got a bunch of people together who enjoy a good time and settled in for the day. Unfortunately for my friend, ESPN America was not broadcasting the OK/ND game. However, she is good friends with Sam Bradford, the quarterback of the Rams who were playing the Patriots in London. So, we watched that game instead after the GA/FL game. Sadly for both of us, the Rams lost. (I hate no team more than the Patriots).

Now, for the Food!

We decided on a game day menu of: Buffalo wings, guacamole, and queso!

Guacamole was my task and it was pretty easy to find all of the ingredients here in Paris. I will post the recipe tomorrow as part of #tbt.

For the buffalo wings, we substituted thigh meet for the wings as no one was able to find enough wings for sale. We also bought Franks Hot Sauce from the store that specializes in American goodies, so it was an easy mix of butter and hot sauce to make the delicious buffalo sauce after we deep fried the chicken. For the Bleu Cheese dip, we used Roquefort cheese!

It was with the queso, that we ran into the most difficulty. Turns out, the French just do not do Velveeta.

Right?? Who'd have thought the French wouldn't like super processed cheese product? Crazy.

But we are culinary students, so a lack of velveeta was not going to keep us from queso. Instead, my friend sauteed some peppers in butter until soft, and then added flour to make a roux. Then, we added cream for a spicy Bechamel sauce. From there it was just a matter of grated, mild cheeses. Once melted, in the oven for a bit and Voila!

All of our dishes were a success! However, one of our guests is a French Chef who has worked at some of the best restaurants in Paris and Australia. Now, he is opening up his own place. Try making game day food with a very talented French Chef watching you. We were a little rattled! But, we should not have been because he was just as impressed with everything as everyone else was. Or he's a good lier. Either way, we were happy.

So, despite how awfully that game was played (seriously HOW many turnovers?) and then the ugliness of the next game, we had a great game day here in Paris.

Next time, we'll probably head back to the Moose aka the Canadian Sports Bar down the street that plays ESPN America too. But, for these special games, we needed a special game day.

(Buffalo Wings!)

(My guac. With sliced baguette because no one could find regular tostito-type chips!)

(The queso! Also eaten with the baguette...)

(Delicious food on the table, good friends around, and the game on in the back. What more could a girl ask for?)

Le Maroc

Earlier this week, while we were in the kitchen making the rice and vegetables that accompanies Beef Stroganoff, the chef walked around and looked at everyone's vegetable cuts.

We were cutting carrot, zucchini, and green beans into a petit brunoise or very small EVEN/UNIFORM squares. They should be about a quarter/half a centimeter squared. So, pretty small. But more important than size is that they are uniform.

Which is very hard to do. Often, I set up my pre-cuts, so that I am set to get those perfect squares. But when I look at them all together, they are not quite even. As the chef likes to point out to me.

However, this is the way of French cuisine. This is why I am here and not at a different culinary school. Because successfully cutting carrots into tiny perfect squares means that I can go anywhere and cut anything with precision, ease, and grace.

Not yet of course, but I'm getting there.

As the chef passed around the table looking at everyone's cuts he emphasized that sloppy cuts means sloppy cooking and to be served sloppy cuts at a French restaurant will tell you a lot about what's going on in the kitchen.

"It's not for your family," he reminded us, "It's not Moroccan."

Yeah, I thought so too, Moroccan? But turns out Chef was born in Morocco and is a big fan, while understanding that their cuisine does not rely on precise cuts. This conversation led to him recommending the "Best Moroccan Restaurant in all of Paris" to us.

Well, this sparked an idea and a bunch of us ended up going there for lunch...because we always do what the chefs tell us! Oui, Chef!

But Le Maroc, as the restaurant on 9 Rue Danielle Casanova calls itself, did not fail to impress. The chef was correct. We ordered family style: sharing a tomato salad, one plate of couscous with chickpeas and raisins, a tajine of lamb with prunes and almonds, a tajine of chicken with candied lemon and carrot, and a tajine of vegetables. Then we finished with the desert platter and mint tea. Oh, and of course the wine. We ordered the Rose because according to my friend enrolled in the school's wine course, Rose is the best choice of wine with Moroccan food.

So, if you find yourself in Paris and craving some melt in your mouth lamb, go listen to some free music around Opera and eat at Le Maroc!

(inside the restaurant. It's not too big!)

(I thought the ceiling looked pretty cool)

#tbt Fish and butter sauces

As you may have guessed, learning French cuisine means that I have been focusing a LOT on sauces. Despite the fact that sauces of all kinds and I have been in a serious relationship for years, we've decided now is the right time to take it to the next level. I mean, I was the kid who ordered the "Cool Caesar Chicken Wrap" from Chick'fil'a because it was healthier but then put not one, but two large packets of the accompanying caesar dressing with it. That was until, like all whirlwind romances, it came to a screeching halt and dead end. My father asked me if I had looked at the calorie content on that magical caesar sauce. If I remember correctly, after two packets, I was ingesting about 800 calories in my dressing alone (Damn you and your logic Dad!)

But, here in French culinary school- we literally eat, breath, and live on our sauces. A good sauce can mask a badly cooked dish. However, nothing can save a plate with a bad sauce. Being a saucier (sauce-man in the kitchen) is a sadistic job where you must basically sew the chinois as an extension of your arm. Oh and never mess up of course as well.

Unfortunately for me, I have one of my weakest scores on sauce. And it drives me to drink (well only sometimes) because I focus so much on it. But I always reduce too much or not enough. Not enough salt, too much salt.

"Did you taste your sauce?" the chef will ask me.

"Oui, Chef!" I'll respond.

Then he gives me a look and says, "Underseasoned. Not enough salt." Well, shucks.

But sometimes I get it right and those are the best moments. Like today's recipe: Beef Strogenoff (Yes, it is a Russian dish, but was apparently created by a French chef working for an aristocratic family in Russia so they claim it here too). I cooked a perfect sauce. Boo-freakin-ya!

Another time that I cooked a perfect sauce was for the Lemon Sole (a fish) day. This was the second class ever and I was so proud of myself.

So, for today's throw-back, let's look at the (White- Sole or Tilapia) fish in lemon-butter sauce that I used to make, but with a few new, super-sauce-making powered differences.

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½ cup all-purpose flour

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 fresh sole fillets, 3 to 4 ounces each (I would now suggest buying the fish whole and fileting them yourself, but this is too difficult to explain how to do by writing right now)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 lemons)

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

(I would also add two shallots-finely chopped to this as well)

(potentially white wine as well)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. 

Combine the flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a large shallow plate. Pat the sole fillets dry with paper towels and sprinkle one side with salt.

Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large (12-inch) sauté pan over medium heat until it starts to brown. Dredge 2 sole fillets in the seasoned flour on both sides and place them in the hot butter. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 2 minutes. ( I would just start at the medium-low temp instead of changing) Turn carefully with a metal spatula (DEFINITE MUST or you'll break the fish) and cook for 2 minutes on the other side. While the second side cooks, add ½ teaspoon of lemon zest and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice to the pan.

Carefully put the fish fillets on the ovenproof plates and pour the sauce over them. Keep the cooked fillets warm in the oven while you repeat the process with the remaining 2 fillets. When they’re done, add the cooked fillets to the plates in the oven. (I would then add more butter back to the pan, melt it, then sweat the finely chopped shallots. Once they had given up their water, I would deglaze the pan with more lemon juice/a little white wine. Whisk in any more butter to give it the right consistency. The right consistency is when your sauce coats the back of a spoon. Once there, pass through a chinois right on to those fish!) Sprinkle with the parsley, salt, and pepper and serve immediately.

Other changes:

This first way is easier, but if you are looking for a tender-er fish and not breaded, then I would do the sauce step I wrote at the end of the last paragraph of directions FIRST in the recipe,  but add fish stock or water after the while wine/lemon juice deglaze. Then fold the fish onto itself, placedit in this braising liquid and into the oven at 350 fahrenheit  for about 5 mins only. Take it out, remove the fish in the same way. Then place the sauce on the burner, whisk in extra butter to get to the right consistency, pass through the chinois, over the fish, parsley, season, plate.

Good luck with your sauces!

Prepping at the New Zealand Embassy

This weekend, we had four days off! It is the longest break that we get during the whole course. I hadn't done much this weekend besides being sick, buying my halloween costume, running a few errands, meeting people for lunch/dinner, and watching the Gator and LSU games. However, today, I joined 9 of my classmates and one of the LCB chefs at the New Zealand Embassy to prep for a dinner they are having, I believe, tomorrow.

I had signed up a couple of weeks ago when the chef had come into our demo to ask for volunteers. Every few weeks or so, one of our chefs gets the opportunity/is hired to cook for an event or do a demo, etc. Then they ask the students to volunteer to help prep/make the food. I had not signed up for the first opportunity, which had ended up being something to do with Slow Food and one of my classmates ended up meeting and talking with the president of Slow Food France while volunteering! She reported that it was a great learning experience volunteering and working that day.

So, I did not want to miss another chance, especially when I realized it was on a 4 day weekend for which I had no real plans.

So, this morning I got myself out of bed at 7am to make my way over to the 16arr and the New Zealand Embassy. Since, we are just Basic Course students, we only got to do the prep work today. Tomorrow, the more experienced students will get to go in and actually cook most of the food.

My American friend and I volunteered to work the day together and we were given the job of prepping the mini-mixed colored salad meant to serve 150 people. This meant a lot of chopping of vegetables.

We started with the carrots. Have you ever ordered a house salad and it comes with little match-sticks of carrot? Cut those match-sticks in half, long-ways, and you'll have what we were chopping today. All pieces- exactly even and matching.

Then we did the same thing with celery.

Then fennel.

Then bell pepper. (All of these vegetables must be peeled before being chopped)

We peeled baby tomatoes and pitted black olives from Nice which were about the size of your index-finger nail and the pit just did not want to come out. I have pitted a lot of olives in my day and these were by far the hardest!

This salad will be mixed with an assortment of herbs and thinly sliced radishes (some one else cut those today!).

Then we cut some sole (type of fish) into fish-stick-like size.

Everyone had a different task: someone made 150 shortbread crackers. Someone else broke into and separated 150 clams. Someone else prepped the Wagyu beef. Someone rolled salmon escalopes. Someone else started a slow roast of beef. There was something going on everywhere all day long!

We worked from 9am until 4pm, so it was a decent day. I wasn't too tired when I got home, but I did pick up a falafel pita instead of making dinner. We all just wished we could see what the finished products/plates will look like tomorrow.

But, I guess we will have to wait until we are in Intermediate or Superior Course for that. Tomorrow it is back to school!

Hugh Acheson wants to meet me!

So, I have a confession to make:

I kinda follow chefs like other people follow celebrities. On my twitter feed, all the pops up are tweets about food, chefs, the food industry, farming, ingredients, restaurants, tasting menus, food markets, and my sorority (I follow a lot of sorority sisters too).

So, a few weeks ago when the Executive Chef of Five and Ten Restaurant (in Athens! And one of Hugh Acheson's restuarants), Chef Dean Neff followed me back on twitter, I got super excited. Some girls hope for Justin Bieber to retweet their tweets, I die when Andy Rappaport (Editor in Chief of Bon Appetite Magazine) replies to one of my tweets.

Once, the James Beard Foundation retweeted one of my tweets and I had to sit down.

So, when I saw on Friday that Chef Hugh Acheson was going to be doing a demo at the Athens Farmers Market (of which my family attends weekly without fail), I told my parents they just HAD to go. Now, I don't know what they said to him, but apparently-

HE SAID HE WANTS TO MEET ME! Me, a lowly culinary student and my favorite chef of all time wants to meet me.

Seriously, Mom and Dad, you are the best networking, promoting team I could ask for!

Chef Acheson is my favorite chef of all time because, well 1. He's an amazing chef 2. He is a James Beard winner and lives in Athens, so the publicity he has brought to Athens' cuisine has been amazing.

See, the thing about Athens is that there are a lot of really great restaurants. I live in Paris and I can tell you that Athens has amazing dining options.

The best Pad Thai that I have ever eaten is at Siri Thai.

The Pork Shoulder at The National (Another Acheson restaurant, Executive Chef: Peter Dale) is life changing.

When I crave Fried Green Tomatoes, I'm remembering The Last Resort's appetizer

Seafood? Square One's got your fished cooked to perfection. Their low country boil requires a loaf of bread because you just can't leave any sauce not sopped-up.

La Dolce Vita and Etienne Brasserie provide the Italian and French flavor with great spaghetti and steak frites, respectively. (They also have much more interesting dishes as well, but I highly admire a place that can present a perfected basic)

Then we have places like Weaver D's and his Automatic for the People made famous by REM that are not high dining, but still absolutely delicious and a must-go if you are in Athens.

I had sorority sisters in DC asking me about Mama's Boy's Peach Stuffed French Toast (not my favorite of their breakfasts, give me that biscuit with that raspberry sauce!)

There are so many other places and so many places that I haven't even been to yet, but Athens has great options cuisine wise. The other thing that makes me love restaurants in Athens, the great atmospheres. All of the restaurants mentioned above are different, but all of them feel comfortable, warm, and a nice place to eat. I hate eating dinner in what feels more like a nightclub than a restaurant. Those places don't exist in Athens.

So, thank you Chef Hugh for bringing the national attention it deserves to our little Athens. I've always felt like he is "our" chef. Just like we as a city claim REM, I've always claimed Chef Hugh as "my chef" when discussing chefs with friends (yes, I discuss chef's with people, they just pretend to care and listen while I talk).

Therefore, he is my favorite chef. AND HE SAID HE WANTS TO MEET ME!
Did I mention that yet??

(Chef Hugh making steak and porcini mushroom)

Sick

I am sick and heading to bed. No #tbt this week. See you next week!