Poultry Lesson 4

This lesson we made


-confit of duck 

-Chicken ballontine with a kumera rosti 

-ostrich and asian salad





Confit of duck
A slow cooking method poached in duck fat
This was served with peppered havarti gnocchi, fennel and orange salad and a white wine and bay leaf foam.

I love the colours of this dish, I think it is gorgeous to look at. 

I had never eaten confit of duck before. Now I know why I commonly see it on restaurant menus!
This slow method of cooking makes the meat so tender and we finished the cooking off in the oven out of the duck fat to crisp it up.

Black rice-crusted Ostrich with watermelon salad

Chicken Ballontine with veal, chicken and herb farce. Kumera rosti garnished with oyster mushrooms, carrot and courgette ribbons with a chasseur sauce.

Easy Bread products to make this weekend! + Kiwifruit Jam!

One of the great things about the cookery course I study is the diversity in food products we learn to make!

Basic and complex bread products are part of my course.

Here are some of the bread items I have made

Bagels

Celebration Wreath

This is finished with a glazed icing which is the prefect finishing touch!

Wholemeal rolls

2x topped

2x Glazed

2x Cuts

2x Knots

Croissants 

This was my first time making croissants. Surprisingly they were easier to make than I thought! However they take a long time to make!

6 Braided plait
This was my first attempt at making this. It turned out well apart from the lack of colour :(
Just needed slightly longer in the oven!
The 2nd time I made this it turned out much better. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo :( 

Kiwifruit Jam

This jam was easy to make and was soo tasty!

Hope you enjoyed this post, let me know if you would like any recipes :)

Have a great day!

Brit :)

Sensational Soups!

After a good 4 week break from my chef course, it's time to get started again.

Following my level 3 course that I started in February, I am now onto level 4.

The first lesson was breads but today I'm sharing my first soup lesson.

We made:
Oxtail consommé
Crab Bisque
Borscht
Seafood Chowder

Oxtail consommé
A consomme is a clear soup. To make the soup clear and 'grease free' there is a strict process throughout the making of the soup. You must constantly skim the 'skum' off the stock when you are reducing it down with the oxtail bones. This is so the stock is as clear as possible when you serve it. 
The 2nd process for getting the clear soup made is to make a raft from mince. For this we mixed egg whites with mince and finely chopped vegetables and placed them in our strained oxtail soup. Bring this to the boil and simmer once the raft of mince has risen. It is important at this stage not to stir it and break up the mince raft. Then you must carefully strain out the liquid soup from under the mince.
I love making this soup as it is a very cleaver way of getting a clear soup. It also brings out the perfectionist side of me to get the clearest soup possible!!




Crab Bisque
This soup has ALOT of flavour. and as a big seafood fan, I LOVED this soup. Unfortunately there were no crabs available in the area at the time so we used whole prawns and crab meat. We broke up the prawns with there shell still on and all. I'm guessing this is what gives the soup a great flavour! Luckily the shells are all strained out at the end :) so no crispy shells in your soup..!

Borscht 
To my understanding Borscht is a popular soup around Eastern Europe. There are lots of different versions of this soup that all slightly differ from the other. The main ingredient in this soup is the beetroot which gives it a vibrant bright red. Our version used spanish onions and red wine. We garnished this soup with sour cream, soft boiled egg wedges, and chives.
I had never made this soup before but I found it interesting but definitely an enjoyable soup! Very healthy too :) Its great to get colours in the diet!



Seafood ChowderYum!
Like I mentioned above, I'm a big seafood fan. So I loved this chowder. We put shrimps, blue cod, salmon, mussels,  clams, cockles and smoked blue cod into our chowder.It is very easy to make and I highly recommend it to all seafood lovers out there!

Healthy Lunch Idea!

Hey everyone!

Just a quick post today of a healthy lunch idea :)

I know what its like when your busy throughout the day and you have no idea what to whip up for lunch. Something healthy, easy, tasty and quick would be ideal! Right?

My lunch today was an easy toastie which had chicken, pumpkin and feta cheese in it.

The reason why this was so quick was because I used leftovers from last nights tea :)
Sometimes it does pay to make a wee bit extra for tea so then you can have something ready for lunch the next day!

Beef Wellington! July #3

Hey everyone!

Here is my first time making a beef wellington!
Turns out that its actually really easy and simple to make and this recipe doesn't require many ingredients at all!

P.S : it's winter here in NZ at the moment so its great for cold nights! :)


Serves 1-2
Recipe:
150g beef fillet
1 slice ham
1/2 block puff pastry
4 mushrooms
1/2 onion
20g butter

Season your beef and seal off in a hot cast iron pan.
leave aside.

Roughly chop mushrooms and onion and sweat in butter.
leave aside

Roll out half of your puff pastry for the base of your beef wellington.

The first layer that goes on top of the pastry is your beef fillet, followed by ham, then the sweated mushrooms.

roll out the 2nd half of your pastry and gently place on top.

join the edges of pastry together so everything stays in the beef wellington! :)

Prick a fork through the pastry, so any excess steam inside can escape other wise your pastry could go a bit soggy!

brush your pastry with egg wash to give it a nice colour once cooked.
Cook in your oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 20mins or until pastry is golden brown.

Really quick and easy celebration cake idea! July #2!

Hey everyone!

Today I'm sharing with you a really quick and easy way of decorating a cake for a special occasion :)

There has been so many times when it is people birthdays and I get really excited about making them a birthday cake, except I always seem to be rushed off my feet doing other things! - (working, studying)

So basically all you need for this idea is to use your most favourite cake recipe! eg: sponge cake, chocolate cake, vanilla cake. Just whatever you feel like :)

My favourite quick go to cake is:

Chocolate mud cake (you only need one bowl!)

2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream or yoghurt
3/4 cup cocoa
200g soft butter
2 tsps baking soda
1 1/2 tsps vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups self raising flour
1 cup boiling strong coffee

Put all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat for 1 minute!

cook for 1 hour at 160 degrees celcius

Easy as that!!

now for the decorating!

I cut the cake in half and put cream and jam in the middle (an easy classic)

spread cream on the outside of the cake and this one has chocolate flakes on the sides and chopped nuts on the top :)
I have piped cream around the edges make chocolate heart decorations to finish it off.

If you have any question about this idea or want more ideas, feel free to comment below :)

Do you have any ideas you would like to share?

Brit :)

Dessert Lesson #3 + July #1!

Hey everyone!

sorry it's been a while! I have been flat out getting assignments finished for the end of the semester! But good news now, I have a 4 week break!

So for July I'm aiming to do one blog a day! I hope I manage to do this... :/

Anyhooo... 3rd Dessert lesson!

For this lesson I made:

Crepe suzette

Apple strudel

Mille feuilles

Meringues

Mille feuilles

This was my first time making Mille Feuilles and actually the first time I had ever heard of them!

From my experience I would describe them as a bit of a flasher version of the good old custard square.

This had 3 layers of puff pastry (homemade!) with layers of pastry creme in between.

My one is decorated with icing ontop.

I was really happy with how mine turned out however I am definitely going to have to practice making more puff pastry to try get some more 'puff'.

Apple Strudel

A classic dish once again I had not made before. I filled this with a delicious apple filling with raisins and some leftover pastry creme! (Didn't make my own puff pastry for this one though...)

I loved decorating mine with some leftover pink and white icing. This was a great finishing touch.

Crepe suzette

This dish made me a lot more confident in the kitchen..... flipping those crepes had always been a fear of mine since I just couldn't trust myself to do it! Basically I had to force myself to do it otherwise I wouldn't pass.  My first attempt.... was a success! woohoo!
So if you don't trust yourself to flip crepes, you should definitely give it ago. Perhaps watch  videos of others doing it. Then you can show off at that next dinner party ;)

The crepes are lightly poached in a sweet orange syrup.

Meringues

The Meringues are very similar to the pavlova I made in a previous dessert lesson.
2 egg whites with 100g sugar
Cooked in a low heated oven then left to cool in the oven until dried out.
These are filled with cream then a selection of fresh fruit.

What do you think of these desserts? Have you tried them before?

Brit :)

Dessert Lesson #2

Hey guys it's time for the 2nd dessert lesson!

For this lesson I made,

-Lemon meringue pie

-Pear conde served with rice pudding

-Orange and Lime Bavarios

Lemon meringue pie

This was probably my favourite dish made today because I just can't get enough of lemon desserts!

I just love the acidic flavour of the lemons brought down by a hint of sugar to make a match made in heaven!

The meringue on top is roughly piped on and the baked lightly to cook the egg whites and give it a slight golden colour.

This is the final image of the dessert all plated up.

It is served with cream and a mixed berry coulis :)

 Pear Conde

The pear conde is a pear poached in a stock syrup with red wine. The flavours of the stock syrup enhance the flavour of the pear giving it a soft but delightful finish! yummo!

The rice pudding to my surprise was really yum! Infact so yum here is the recipe!

Cook 75g rice in 400mls of milk with 50g sugar and 3-4 drops vanilla essence and a pinch of nutmeg. absorb the liquid into the rice and it is ready once the rice is cooked (not crunchy but not mushy)

Enjoy!

This dish was served with cream and a reduction of the leftover stock syrup.

Orange and lime Bavarios 

We had made Bavarios before but this time we tried a different flavour. The orange and lime was an interesting one and a flavour that made you want to keep eating more because your taste buds were still trying to figure it all out! (if you know what i mean??)

I practices chocolate run outs on the plate and filled them with a mixed berry coulis and a kiwifruit coulis

I hope you enjoyed this 2nd Dessert lesson :)

Remember if you would like any recipes, feel free to leave a comment :)

Have a great week!
Brit :)

Dessert Lesson #1!

Hey guys! Its sweet treat time!

This week I started Dessert lessons!

Today I Made:

Pavalova with fruit decoration

Bakewell Tart

Eclairs (choux Pastry)

 This was my pavalova

This is the pavlova after it is cooked and cooled in the oven

and another decorated picture

I decorated my pavlova with:

Whipped Cream

Kiwifruit

Grapes

Melon

Orange Zest

Bakewell Tart

 I have never tried this tart before and I wasn't sure if I would like it or not because I thought it would have too much of a strong almond flavour but I was very surprised of the outcome and the almond flavour was not overpowering! It was delicious, and everyone else thought so too! :)

Raspberry Jam in the base on pastry filled case

Frangipane Filling

Case all filled ready to go into oven once I put the pastry top on!

All ready out of the oven! :)

Choux Pastry Eclairs!

I had never make Eclairs before - mainly because they looked so hard to make!
However I was very surprised on how easier they were!
These are definitely going to be made more often in my house :)

Hope you enjoyed this post and let me know if you would like recipes!

I really recommend making these desserts! They are all so yummy and easy to make :)

Pre-packed frozen smoothies!

Yesterday I was in an 'organizing' mood, haha.

I found an idea on pinterest of pre-packed smoothies that you can store in the freezer then get them out as you need them!

Sorry for the bad lighting of the picture, but I hope you will get the idea

My bags were filled with
#1
1 chopped banana
1 Kiwifruit
Greek unsweetened yogurt
LSA powder

#2
1 chopped banana
1 pear
cinnamon
Greek unsweetened yoghurt
Almond flakes
LSA powder

#3
1 chopped banana
1 pear
1 kiwifruit
1 apple
Greek unsweetened yogurt
LSA powder

#4
1 chopped banana
Peanut butter
cinnamon
Cacao powder


As you may be able to tell, i quite like banana in my smoothies :)

When I use these I will add milk to these. 

Give these a try for yourself and let me know how you go!

Comment below what you put in your smoothies :)

Brit :)

Here is Minnie (Glamour kitty today) Sleeping on my bed. The weather is wet and cold here today so she likes to hang out in my room with me since its cosy with the heater on :)

Dessert Competition!

Hey everyone!

Incase you didn't know, I'm a full time cookery student. This year I decided to enter in a competition like I did last year!

I entered the following categories:

-Chocolate Fantasty
-Decorated Gateaux
 

Chocolate Fantasy:
In this class the criteria was that it had to be atleast 50% chocolate.

I gave my dessert a theme of:
The 3 Elements : Earth, Air and Fire
Earth: Pistachio Macaroon filled with white chocolate rested on a pistachio crumble

Air: White Chocolate Panna Cotta with homemade lemon jelly

Fire: Dark Chocolate hazelnut tart

Looking at my dessert now, I regret my portion sizes - especially for the tart! But I'm learning from my mistakes :)

Decorated Gateaux

This had to be a decorated cake that had more than one layer

My layers were:
Base: Cocoa crumb base
Dark chocolate Hazelnut ganash
 Moist Chocolate Dream cake
Berry bavarois

These pictures were taken at about 1am in the morning when I had just finished decorating the cake - sorry for the bad lighting!

Let me know what you think! Just leave a comment :)

Brit :)

What's for dinner!? - Warm Pumpkin and Chickpea Curry

Warm Pumpkin and Chickpea Curry

This Curry is so easy and quick to make with very little ingredients!

Lately it has been getting pretty cold here! Autumn is here and winter feels like it is not long around the corner!

I have a few pumpkins so thought I would use some for dinner!
You can make this curry as hot or as mild as you like (in terms of spicy-ness)

What you will need :

About half a pumpkin (Roughly 1kg)
1 can chickpeas
2 T chopped Coriander
1 cup coconut milk
1 onion - diced
1T oil

1/2 cup curry sauce ( My one is not very hot which is why I used 1/2 cup, you may want to use 1-2T of yellow curry paste instead - depending on how hot you want it)

Rice:
1 cup long grain rice
1 onion - Diced finely
50g butter
2 cups white stock (I used vegetable)


How to:
Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius
Chop the pumpkin (Carefully!!) and peel skin off( i find using a peeler works great)
dice into cubes

Roast off in the oven for about 20-30min or until semi tender - Note that they don't need to be completely cooked through at the moment as they will be cooked later :)


While they are cooking we can cook off the rice
Place butter and onion in a small saucepan and sweat off.

Add the rice and coat the rice in the butter

Add the white stock
Cover with a lid and bring to a boil then simmer
This is cooked once the rice is soft to bite and has soaked up all the liquid.

Back to the curry!

Place oil and onion in a large saucepan and sweat off

Add the curry sauce, coconut milk, roasted pumpkin, chickpeas and coriander,

Cover with a lid on a high simmer for about 20 minutes

Finish with cracked pepper for seasoning.

Serve with rice and enjoy!

Brit :)

Healthy Breakfast Idea!

Hey everyone

Porridge is one of my favourite breakfast for cold mornings.
It fills me up, keeps me warm and gives me long lasting energy throughout the day.

This is an amazing cinnamon and almond porridge that you must try!
 

• 
  
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1 cup low-fat milk
  2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon honey (optional)
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
  
  Place the oats, cinnamon, mixed spice, milk and water in a pot.
  Heat on a medium to high heat.
  You want to bring it to the boil but stirring occasionally so it does not stick to the bottom.
  Once it boils, simmer for about 3-4 minutes or until it thickens.
  
  Serve with Slivered almond and drizzled honey.
  I also served mine with peaches
  
  Enjoy!
  
  Brit :)

Sugar free update week 2

Hey everyone!

Welcome to week 2 of "sugar free"

I put sugar free in quotations because this isn't a completely sugar free diet as I have been eating some fruits.

This week has been an interesting one.
I have been feeling like I have been replacing my sugars with fats which I am not really comfortable with.
I've never been a big fan of fatty foods mainly sweet ones so more fat is not making me feel great.

I'm trying to eat more fresh food this week, like my spinach wraps have been a hit at lunch time with some lean venison or lamb.

Just like last week, I have been super thirsty all the time!
So I have been drinking a lot more water which fills me up, so no room for sugary treats!

My breakfasts have generally been the same with my homemade muesli, poached eggs or toast with Vegemite.
On Saturday morning my boyfriend took me out for breakfast and I had the corn fritters which came with a poached egg and fresh avocado! It was so yummy and I wish I took a photo! (sorry guys!)

My dinners this week has been a "cous-cous" week haha, well I mean I have been having cous-cous most nights! Its becoming one of my favourites!

My Snacks have been consisting of fruit, cucumber, rice crackers with cheese and mixed raw nuts.

To finish off, here is some pictures of the sun set from my bedroom window tonight :)

Hope everyone had a great week!

Brit :)

Meat Lesson #2

Hey Everyone!

For my 2nd meat lesson we made:

-Roast Shoulder of lamb
-Navarin of Lamb - (made from leftover shoulder meat)
-Chicken Ballotine

This is the chicken Ballotine. We had to take out the chicken leg bone ourselves which was a great thing to be taught! This will be a handy skill for the future

Roast Lamb - This is from the lamb shoulder.

To make this roast we took apart the shoulder from scratch. This was completely new to me so I had no idea what I was doing! Lucky I had people to help and show me how to do it! I can't wait to do this again since I am more confident at it now. We stuffed it with a herbed breadcrumb stuffing - yummy.

Bones out

 Ready to roll

All tied up to roast.

Let me know if you have any questions about this lesson.
Hope everyone has had a great week!
Brit :)

Meat Lesson #1

My first Meat lesson for the year!! woo hoo!

okay so maybe not really "woo hoo" since meat isn't my first choice of favourite food. But... I did learn A LOT in this lesson which was great!

The dishes we made in the lesson were,

-Lamb cutlets with polenta roulade
-Shank of Lamb with Rice risotto
-Rack of Lamb
-Saute chicken chasseur with a mushroom sauce

For the lamb cutlets and rack we had to french our own rack which was a new experience for me since the racks I usually have at home are french racks.

We also had to take apart a chicken and its individual pieces for the saute chicken. (another new experience)

Shank of Lamb with rice risotto

This was the first time I had ever cooked lamb shanks and it was easier than I thought :)

Lamb Cutlets with polenta roulade
I'm not a big fan of polenta but this was a cool way of serving it :)

This is the Rack of lamb with a mustard and herb crumb and fried potatoes.

(sorry about the parmesean cheese in the background... :O )



If you would like any of these recipes feel free to leave a comment :)

Brit :)

P.S I though I'd leave you a picture of my 2nd cat Minnie