Day twelve

Friday, May 16^th

Today was a productive day.  I met with my project mentor from 9:30 AM to around 11:30 AM.  The time was spent going over and editing my recipes, which is what we have been doing almost every time we have met.  This is extremely helpful for me to do because when we work on recipes, Kathy has the experience that she can pick up on the errors and mistake that make.  I finished my Cornish Hens recipe.  After this I went grocery shopping for a dorm BBQ that MLS was having, had lunch and by that time is was 1:00 Pm and I had to get back to make it on time at practice. 

Orange-Ginger Glazed Cornish Hens 

4 Cornish game hens

Vegetable oil, as needed

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced, peeled fresh ginger

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2/3 cup orange marmalade

Toasted sesame seeds, as needed

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Arrange the hens skin-side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Brush the hens with oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast the hens until browned, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, garlic, ginger, and apricot jam to make a smooth glaze.

Remove the hens from the oven, and spoon the glaze over each hen half to coat well. Continue roasting the hens, basting with the glaze occasionally, until well browned, about 10 minutes, more.

Divide the hens among plates and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Day eleven

Thursday, May 15^th

            Today was a bit it of a hectic day, I spent most of the time today in the health center.  While I was there I was able to start to write up some more recopies, and I finished my Chicken Parmesan Recipe.  I ended the day at home, which was convenient in some ways because I was as able to grocery shopping at really nice market in Dover and tomorrow I will be able to meet Kathy, my mentor, to go over my dishes. 

CHICKEN PARMASAN

When I think comfort food, I think classic Italian and Chicken Parm always pop into my head.  The crispy breadcrumb coating pared with the moist chicken and the melted cheese on top of sweet tomato sauce gives your taste buds many different elements to enjoy and you always seem to leave the meal incredibly satisfied. 

4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (about 11/2 pounds)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon water

1 cup dried breadcrumbs

1 (26 ounce) jar prepared tomato sauce

4 slices mozzarella

1 pound spaghetti pasta, cooked al dente

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Get the ingredients together for the chicken so you have a little assembly line. Put the chicken breasts side by side on a cutting board and lay a piece of plastic wrap over them. Pound the chicken breasts with a flat meat mallet, until they are about 1/2-inch thick. Put the flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. In a wide bowl, combine the eggs and water, beat until frothy. Put the breadcrumbs on a plate, season with salt and pepper.

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high flame in a large ovenproof skillet. Lightly dredge both sides of the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, and then dip them in the egg wash to coat completely, letting the excess drip off, then dredge in the bread crumbs. When the oil is nice and hot, add the cutlets and fry for 4 minutes on each side until golden and crusty, turning once.

Ladle the tomato-olive sauce over the chicken and place a sliced mozzarella on top. Bake the Chicken Parmesan for 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Serve hot over spaghetti.

Day ten

Wednesday, May 14^th

            I can tell that Wednesday is going to be short days in general.  I didn’t test any recipes for the cookbook today because there just wasn’t enough time.  Instead I worked on writing the recipes I have already cooked.  I needed a quite place to work with no distractions, my dorm was to loud, so I went up to Learning Center where I worked on and off with my learning specialist Ellen for about two hours.  I had to end around 12:00 PM because we had a lacrosse game that was away at Holderness.   

 BLT Risotto

 This recipes was shared with me from an old friend of my fathers, when I just getting real serious about cooking, at the age of fifteen.  At the time I had and knew what risotto was, but I had ever made it.  She showed me and was hooked or life.  There is a common misunderstanding that risotto is grueling hard dish to make.  This couldn’t be true in the least way.  Risotto is fun and easy to make.  This recipe is called BLT Risotto, the bacon is represented by the Italian pancetta, the tomato is self-spoken, and the lettuce is shown threw the basil.  These three flavors mixed with creamy rice gives of a sweet and salty combination that is out of this world. 

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice

2 cups Arborio rice

2 cup pancetta chopped

1/2 cup white wine

3 1/2 cups chicken stock, hot

2 cups chopped tomato

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for sprinkling

3/4 cup julianed chopped fresh basil

The broth in the pot should be simmering.

In a large pot slowly simmer the onion and the garlic in the butter, when the onion starts to turn a gold color, remove from the heat and take out the garlic.

Add the chopped pancetta and mix very well with the onion. Put the pot on heat again, add the rice, and mix very well with the onions, pancetta. This is called toasting the rice because the broth has not been added.

Add the wine to the toasting rice. After a minute or so start add the broth. Add a 4 to 6-ounce ladle of stock and cook, stirring, until it is absorbed. Continue adding the stock a ladle at a time, waiting until the liquid is absorbed before adding more.

Just before adding the last 4 to 6-ounces of stock add the chopped tomato.  Cook until the rice is tender and creamy and yet still a little al dente, about 15 minutes.  Stir in the butter and cheese until well mixed. Portion risotto into 4 warmed serving bowls and top with basil, serving with extra cheese.

Day nine

Tuesday, May 13^th

            Today was a magical day.  Last week I had promised Patty that I would bring in some tasty treat for the last advisory of the year and was not going to break a promise with P Pond.  I woke up on the later side around 9:00 AM and had to get right to work.  I had planed out the menu for advisory last night and had gotten all of the essentials.  I made it simple, nothing complicated.  I was going to make scrambled eggs, cheesy biscuits, and bacon.  I was a little rushed, with only an hour to get everything done, but had to make it work.  Everything was going well, the biscuits were done, and scrambled eggs were almost there, when I started to smell something burning…I forgot about the bacon.  Feeling like an idiot I took out the blackened bacon and by that time it was 10:15 AM.  I packed everything up, including the burnt bacon and was off to advisory.  When I got there I didn’t matter, the crew loved the prepared breakfast and odd enough even enjoyed the bacon.  The highlight of the gathering was when Patty presented me with an early graduation present.  A hand crafted New West Knife Works chef knife.  I was in awe; it was one of the coolest knives I had ever seen. 

            After this I plane don cooing the ribs that I had been marinating overnight, but thought I would be rushed and save the task for tonight.

            After practice I hurried back to the dorm, exited to cook the ribs.  I quickly took them out of the refrigerator, put them in a heavy-duty alumni pan, covered them with foil and baked them for an hour and a half.  I quickly grilled them for about five minutes on each side after, lathering them with BBQ sauce.  Ben, Brooks, and my mouths were all water I we watched myself cut into them divisor bones.  The table was already set, and the ribs were accompanied with mashed potatoes and grilled onions.  We all raise a rib and said cheers as we dove into the ribs we had been waiting for.  It was magical.  Each bite was packed with so many flavors.  The room went silent and our faces and hand got extremely messy, but we loved it.  It was a real “man’s meal” we kept on saying as devoured the meal with out hand, we gave up on the forks after the first minute.  After the ribs were gone, we all had smiles the reached from one end of our face to the other.  We all agreed they were some of best ribs we ever had.  

Day eight

Monday, May 12^th

Today was the eighth day of my senior project.  My day was very predictive.  I stayed at home last night because I wanted to meet with my project mentor.  I got up around 9:00 AM and fortunately my project mentor only lives about ten minutes away from our house so I was there by 9:30 AM going over what I had been up over the past week and talking about my recipes/dishes I have cooked and plan on using in my cookbook. 

We worked for about an hour editing my recipes and talking about what worked and what didn’t go over so well, which was extreamlly helpful because even though I have had a lot experience cooking and reading/following recipes, I have not had a lot of experience writing them.  One thing that Kathy told me during the time we spent together today that really stuck with me was that she told me that this cookbook should always be in my own voice.  After I thought about it, it made so much sense and was so true.  This cookbook is needs to have my flavor in it and should resemble myself.   

By the time we were done going over my cookbook it was 11:00 AM and a friend of hers from Seattle had arrived to help her have what she calls a “test kitchen” for her up coming cookbook which it center around fall holidays.  They invited me to stay and help them, which was awesome and fun to change tracks from my cookbook to Kathy’s.  I could only stay for about and hour because I had to get back to school for practice, so at 12:00 PM I left, had lunch with my mom and headed back to Proctor. 

I had brought beef ribs back to school that my mom had picked up over the weekend for me because she knew I wanted to add them to the cookbook.  The problem was that that all I had for the recipe and nothing else, so Ben and went to the trusty Hannaford’s in New London to pick up spices to make a dry rub the ribs.  We got there at 8:50 PM and only had ten minutes to shop before they closed.  We ran to spice isle and threw the great efforts of team work, I yelled the spices to Ben as ye pulled them off the racks as fast as he could, grabbed what we needed in only ten minutes and were out.  I ended the night making the dry rub and coating the ribs so they ca marinate over night to make even more delicious for tomorrow. 

Week One Reflection

Sunday, May 11^th

            Today ended the first week of my senor project.  I felt the week went great and I am really having a fun time with it.  Even though it has only been week, I can tell that this project will go by fast.  I say this because even though I got a lot done this week, I still fell that there is quit a ways to go writing my cookbook. 

            The week started out with the reality of moving into my test kitchen in Ben’s apartment.  This took time and patience to get used to.  The kitchen stated out with nothing, but more and more each day the kitchen stared to come together.  My mom was big help in the process of converting a bar kitchen into something that was suitable to cook in.  She found a cooking supply store in Tilton, which is good to have on hand in case I ever need anything last minute. 

            There was a lot of goof cooking that went on this week.  I started the week off with my steak supreme burritos that took a long time to make, but were worth the time and efforts.  A later in the week Patty came over and we made BLT risotto, which was fun and came out extremely tasty.  The weekend was very beneficial.  For mothers day I made fried chicken, sweat noodles, and cheesy biscuits.  All of these dishes are recipes that I plan on using in the cookbook, so I feel that I am off to a good start coming out with five recipes from the first week. 

            This week should the same as last week, more of cooking and writing up recipes.  I think I am going to cook on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  I will write on wends day because it is a short day and meet with my mentor on Monday to edit the recipes that I have already written.