Chicken Pot Pie

I have been craving a chicken pot pie for days.  So yesterday I made one.  My roommate picked up a fresh chicken at the farmers market and cut it up. 

First I made a chicken veloute seasoned with onions, garlic and summer savory.  A veloute is stock thickened with a roux, basically a thin gravy. 
I then sauted the chicken. Mixed the vegetables, veloute and chicken all together and put in a casserole dish and covered with store bought puff pastry. And baked it in the oven. 

Easy as.........pie!  lol

Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart

So.....I tried another round with my tart.  This time with a peanut butter filling and the easiest tart crust ever! 

I made a few changes to the recipe.  I have made it plain but I wanted a chocolate crust. So I added extra sugar and cocoa.

3 ounces margarine

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used canola)
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 ounces of cocoa
3 3/4 ounces flour

I did everything the same as David Lebovitz's recipe I just added the cocoa to the flour.

It must have been tasty......because someone decided to lick his!  lol

Curried Vegetables with Brown Rice

Tonights supper was julienned vegetables, tofu, madras curry paste, coconut milk and brown rice.  A quick, spicy meal. Great for leftovers too! 

Poutine Cook Off

Friday in class Chef divided us into groups of two, and gave us a poutine challenge.  We could use any ingredients on our floor of the kitchens.  Only rule was we had to cut our own fries. It was fun to see everyones ideas.  No two alike and all pretty tasty!

Goat cheese, 3 year old cheddar, bacon, caramelized shallots and garlic( cooked in duck fat) The gravy is made with a duck fat roux, chicken stock and duck glace. 

Mushrooms in a duck glace gravy, gruyere cheese, fried prosciutto.

3 year old cheddar, apples, tomato concasse, and a spicy gravy.

Battered sweet and regular potatoes, peppers, onions, bacon and cheddar.

Maple sauce, pork belly, onions and fries cooked in duck fat.

Veal sweetbreads, mushrooms, beef glace gravy.

Chorizo sausage, onions, jalapeno havarti cheese.

Sauerkraut and Smoked Meat

Exciting news!  I am making sauerkraut and smoked meatat school!  In a couple of weeks I will be making rubens for break at school.  I happened to mention to Chef about my love for rubens and he said I could try making my own sauerkraut and smoked meat! And I will be making sourdough rye bread to go with it.

Here is day one of the fermentation process of the cabbage. Simply shred 5 pounds of cabbage and sprinkle with 4 tablespoons of sea salt. Rub the salt into the cabbage until it starts to release juices. Then cover with plastic wrap and a weight. Store in an area approximately 50 degrees. I will be checking it in 2 weeks

And here is the brisket in the brine.  Mustard seeds, pickling spice, salt, garlics,bay leaves and curing salt. (also known as Prague Powder Number 1) all mixed with some water.  Pour over the brisket and let set.  Again I will be checking this in 2 weeks.  Hope it works!

Bacon covered in Chocolate.....

I have been wanting to make this since the first time I heard of it!  It sounded so good.  Chocolate and bacon!  My two favorite food groups! 

And it is so easy to make.  Cook your bacon until crisp then dip in melted chocolate. I sprinkled this one with a little bit of sea salt. Looks nice but not really necessary.

Puttanesca Sauce and Fresh Pasta

Puttanesca Sauce

1 small can of diced tomatoes, I used some with garlic added in
1 tablespoon oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
kalamata olives, to taste
green olives, to taste
capers, drained and rinsed, to taste
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Method:

Heat oil add onions and garlic.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent.
Add the drained tomatoes to the skillet.
Raise heat to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
Stir in olives, capers, and pepper to taste and continue to simmer until your pasta is ready.
Serve over pasta. I added a bit of parm too.

Fresh Whole Wheat Pasta

1 1/2  cups of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup of white flour
2 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Mix dry ingredients place in food processor, add liquid and blitz.  How easy is that!!??  You can do it by hand but why?  lol

Dump onto counter and start to knead the dough. Adding as little flour as possible.

Once dough is smooth let it rest undercover for at least 15 minutes.

Divide dough into 4 pieces and flatten slightly.  Start rolling through press on the widest setting.

Keep rolling dough gradually going down in thinness.  The above picture is starting on #6.  In the below picture the dough in the back is on #3 and the one in the machine is #2.  Crazy how much it stretches! 

The dough is then run through the cutting side of the machine, and hung to dry.