Medium Rare Filet, Rib-Eye or Strip Steak with a Peppercorn Sauce

This was a homerun!! Another receipt on found the Food Network and it came from Emeril Lagasse. I bought 3 filet mignons that were 6 oz. each. The receipt called for seasoning of the steaks with just salt and pepper. Next I pan seared them for about 2-3 minutes per side then put them in the oven at 400 degree from 10-12 minutes. While they were baking, I started my mushroom/peppercorn sauce. Honestly I was a little concerned with the ingredients for the sauce mainly 6 tablespoons of brown sugar. I had never made a sweet sauce while prepare steak before and these steaks were very expensive so naturally I didn’t want to screw up anything. As it turns out, my wife and brother in-law just absolutely raved about how good it tasted.

Cobb Salad

This receipt had a ton of ingredients and it took me longer to prepare my mise en place than it did to make the actual salad. It was a hearty dish for being a salad and I was amazed on how my vinaigrette turned out on the salad in the end because by itself I didn’t really care of it. I probably should have whisked the olive oil more slowly when making the vinaigrette instead of dumping it all in at once. Hopefully I’ll do it correctly next Thursday during my final. I really enjoyed all the protein on the dish - ham, chicken breast and eggs. The avocado also worked well but I probably would make it with another cheese next time instead of blue cheese. One major mistake I made was taking it to work the next day and the avocado had oxygenized to a nasty looking dark brown color. It still tasted okay but very unpleasing when looking at it. All and all it was a nice dish and something I’ll probably make when we want something fairly lite to eat.

Chicken Fried Steak, Gravy & Mashed Potatoes

I found this receipt on the Food Network website. It was created by Paula Deen. This receipt has never really sounded to appetizing to me so I’m not tried this dish either. (As I type up all these summaries I’m realizing to myself my lack of variety when I eat out or make dishes at home). Anyways this receipt was fairly simple and I would probably make it again. I tried it but wife wasn’t very interested that day so I took it over to my parents’ home that evening. My dad normally orders this dish when they go out to breakfast so I was very interested in getting his opinion on how it was prepared. He didn’t like the lack of breading on the steak. The receipt only called for the steaks to be dredged in flour but he believes there is always bread crumbs that coat the steak like panko’s or something. Also he thought the steaks should have been deep fried and not pan fried but he loved the gravy. I remember in class a comment Chef O’Donnell made about Thanksgiving; he said people don’t really care of the taste of turkeys; it’s all about the gravy so I really focused on this part of the dish. In the past, I wouldn’t have seasoned it the way I did here because I would have thought I added too much salt but it turned out nice. Also I added flour to the gravy towards the end to thicken it up but it created a lot of lumps throughout so I whisk them out for a long time. The potatoes came out okay but I should have used a hand mixer and not a hand masher.

Stir Fried Rice

I made the receipt was from the one demonstrated in class by Chef O’Donnell’s wife. I’ve tried to make this dish numerous times at home but failed miserably. Prior to taking Foundations, I have never had my ingredients all portioned out before so I was always scrambling on what was needed next and next thing you know I was burning a lot of meals. This receipt cooks up very fast and it’s wasn’t hard as long as you had everything laid out ready to go. I’m sure it will take me another five or ten times to prepare before I feel like I’m creating this dish correctly but I’m sure it will be one of my wife’s favorites since she orders it for takeout often. Also I must confess that I always have bought instant rice in the past and this was my first experience cooking with Jasmine rice. A lot of it was stuck to the bottom of the pan so I probably over cooked it but it still yielded a large portion of rice. Another ingredient that made me laugh was ¼ cup of carrots, brunoise.  I have yet to find many receipts that utilize our knife skills. I’m sure as my education continues these knife cuts will come in handy someday.

Whole Roasted Chicken

This receipt was probably the easiest one to make. The favor was good and the chicken didn’t dry out in the oven. Once again I’ve never prepared a chicken this way. I’ve always cooked either the breast or thigh depending on what the receipt called for. I would definitely cook this dish again because not only was the favor very good but it yielded a lot of additional meat. Normally I would pay $6 to $7 for a pound of chicken breasts and I believe I paid $10 for the whole chicken. I’m now very eager to take the Soup and Sauce cookery class to learn how to make stocks out of the chicken bones.  I need to practice on tying a chicken together. Chef O’Donnell did demonstrate how to do this in class but like everything it looks easier than it really is. I think next time I prepare this dish; I’ll experiment with other herbs and vegetables to see how they influence the taste of the chicken.

Olive Oil Poached Shrimp - Part 3

Mise en Place… Mise en Place – if this is overlooked while trying to create this receipt, I think you’ll find it’s nearly impossible. This was one of the most challenging dishes I have ever had to make; in fact it took me almost an hour to get everything ready to cook. I probably burned the coriander right from the start. I don’t think my syrup got thick enough for what the receipt was looking for and I only cooked the shrimp for 2 minutes. Cooking the poblano chile over an open flame was pretty cool. I have never done this before and might try again when I make salsa. All and all this receipt had a lot of moving parts and I probably would never attempt to make it again for my family. It seemed like a lot of work for not a ton of food to eat in the end. Not to mentioned I used a whole bottle of oil olive and figured I probably couldn't recycle the oil so I threw it out.

Extra Credit - Part 2 (Pulled Pork Tacos)

I really enjoy this receipt and it’s one that I will definitely make again for my family. Even though there are a lot ingredients within this receipt and it’s very important that you have your mise en place together before you begin cooking. Also the pork shoulder I purchased was a really fatty piece of meat but do to the duration of the cooking most of it was cooked away in the cockpot. I would say this was one of the easiest dishes to make out of the receipts offered for extra credit.