Paella 2nd try

Here are the pictures (in reverse order) from my attempt at paella. I think it turned out good I was not able to get the crust on the bottom because my husband thought that everything was going to be bad if he didn't put in a can of chicken broth at the end (he didn't want the crust on the bottom). Other than that it turned out really good, next time I will get some old bay for the seafood, no matter what. The biggest question that came out this is do you cook it the way you know it should be cooked or do you not make it crusty on the bottom because somebody doesn't like. I think that if it is not crusted on the bottom then it is just a rice casserole. Everyone that was over loved it, anyway.

I did the cross thing with the rice and it turn out great, thank you. Now I need to buy a smaller pan for my husband. This time turned out much better than the first time but then the first time the smoke pit wasn't level and I didn't add as many types of meat, this time it had chicken, sausage, scallops and shrimp. Good thing I tried it before I had company over. :) Have a great summer.

Finals....Already??????

Let me start off by saying it is much easier to stay on task at school than at home. This seemly easy meal took me almost 5 hours to prepare. Why you ask 4 kids and one not so well mom. I know to begin with that I was not feeling well, I just didn't want to go to the ER (its much easier to the doc on Monday than sit in a waiting room). Hopefully it won't happen again for finals. Then my nine year old won't have so many questions (its really hard to tell her on mother's day to go away). My boys decided to fight over who got to drive the most, they both won that one (the driving mom crazy. It was not so hard for me to tell them to take the fight else where, it was just hard for them to hear. Sorry off topic, I had to get it off my chest.

The recipes will be emailed to you Chef I couldn't get them to post.

Here it is altogether.

On the stir fry, I bought tofu for it however my husband would not let me put it in. I have been thinking on it, I think I would like to try pineapple and ham. I think it would go good over the butternut squash risotto. Will tried everything together and he liked the stir fry and risotto together. That might pull the to together. I'm going to make it again and see this week.

On the baked apples I have done these for a long time with breaburn apples in the microwave for years. I tried it yesterday with the granny smith apples and they needed alittle more time in the oven. I'm also thinking they need something else, maybe honey. Everybody else said to leave less apple but if you take away more apple then you what are you paying for?

The chicken and rice pilaf really paired up great. I am so glad that I ditched the paprika idea. I went with a mid eastern chicken with Garam Masala from Penzeys Spices. It is absolutely a great spice, I love the combination of spices. Originally I was going to try a pair the chicken up with something else until I tasted the rice pilaf. I was made for this chicken, the rosemary from the pilaf adds so much flavor to the rice. I have been looking online to see if there are any figs that are in season, I think there might be some in California. If I can get some I think a grilled fig would go great on top. Being from the south I know you can't go wrong with a fig :)I can't wait to have it again.

Plating...............

I thought about what foods would go together and what I would like to do. I thought about foods that I grew up with and loved to eat. I thought it would be easy, I had eaten the food so many times before. Then I thought about what plate I would put it on. Would I go with the square ones that I have been using, or would one of the new ones that I bought work? No I settled on the country blue ones that I had in my cabinets for awhile, since I was going with a southern meal I thought the plate would work. The ones I bought were really for a Italian meal or maybe a dessert.

Then came cooking, the meal seemed easy enough, the collard greens should go on first since they would cook the longest. Then I baked the cornbread and while it was in the oven I made the mayonnaise for the tartar sauce (even though I knew I would be the only to eat some of it).

Then I put the tomatoes in to roast and fried the catfish. I had already made the garlic chili oil for the plate.

Next was putting it all together, I made different shapes of cornbread (round and rectangle) and decided that since I was going to use a round plate that I should use the rectangle cornbread to start off the plating. Then came the greens (I remembered the little plate and it worked great) on top of the cornbread (I loved the juices soaking into the cornbread). I didn't leave the piece of ham on top so it would show in the picture. Then the catfish, I should have used tongs and not the spatula; I would not have knocked over the greens. I tried the decorative oils and again I so need more practice. When I tried it on a empty plate it worked great; when I did it on the plate with food not so good. I will continue to work on it. I treid to make a cannel out of the tartar sauce it worked until it hit the hot fish and started to melt. The tomatoes were easy I just don't know if three is enough, but then again that's another food I can eat my weight in. :)

When it came to eating everything was good. I actually needed more of the garlic chili oil for everything. The only thing I think didn't match with everything was the tartar sauce I would serve it on the side and now a day later I remember the lemon. It is still in the fridge, I guess I can make lemonade.

Chicken Marsala

When I started out on this assignment, I thought I knew what Marsala wine was. However after going to the first store and seeing that they only had a lighter Marsala I thought they didn't have the one that I wanted. So I went to another store, after talking to the lady there she said the same thing the lady did at the last store; Marsala wine can be red or a white-ish color wine. I thought the last bottle that bought was a dark red. At least I had the wine.

Then on to the cooking everything went well, I sauteed the mushrooms. Then my son who said he would never eat mushrooms decided that he wanted to try one. Bad mistake because it became a battle to keep him out of them until dinner. So I put him to work on making pasta. I was able to flambe the Marsala - again a bad mistake with both of my boys in the kitchen because now they want to do it. So if hear of a house on fire do to a kitchen fire you will know it was my boys, but don't worry one of them wants to be a fireman. :)
The other one wants to be a chef so it all should be good. Hopefully they won't do anything without me home.

I do think I like the veal better, the chicken wasn't bad it just wasn't as tender as the veal. My kids loved it, even my nine yr old. It probably become a regular in our kitchen.

I have to leave off my pictures for today, my computer is not recognizing my phone (I should have used the camera) I have to wait til Jess gets home to try and fix it. If she can't fix it I won't be able to get it fixed until Saturday when my husband gets home.

As you can see Jess was able to get the pictures off my phone. Now if she can just help rearrange the pictures. Good thing I'm not taking a computer class.

Health care

I went to the following link (all the what at the end) and read up on some of the pending changes due to the new heath care reform. So far as a chef and as someone who is interested in healthy eating I do agree with putting the nutritional information where people will see it before they order it. Then people can make a informed decision about what they eat, it is still their choice of what to eat. Really my aversion to whole thing is what this bill does is take away one of our rights to choose. However now that this Bill has passed it has paved the way for the government to take away more of our rights. It might be slowly, but it will happen and some of them are just going to be taxed if we choose to partake in them. Somethings we will just be forced to do or pay the fine for not. In 1961 Mr Ronald Reagan gave a speech about government healthcare, it's long but worth the time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRdLpem-AAs It tells you about things to come.

It says that if you own a restaurant and have more than 50 full or part time employees then you will need to provide insurance for them or pay a fine. I understand that people need insurance but at the cost per person, if you are already just trying to staying in the black then you might have to cut you staff. I have heard many people say this is what they are going to do.
I know if I work somewhere and it is a smaller business (under 49 employees) I'm ok for now I have Tricare from retiring from the Air Force. I do worry about my son who is going into culinary with me and he will be off my insurance when he is 26 (earlier if he gets married) but then again I have the same problem with all of my children.

My oldest is going to college to be a doctor and is paying close attention to the bill because it is a double or even triple whammy for her. 1. her insurance 2. her pay and 3. if she is in a business she will have to provide insurance for her employees.

Another thing that is going to affect things is the upcoming ban on salt and sugary foods. We all know its coming. I wonder how that will affect the pastry chefs. I am hoping to have a menu for diabetics and for people who need to watch their salt intake. That way people with diabetes and hypertension can eat out without having to worry. All of the nutritional information will be on the menu. This will cost more money in the long run but worth it in the end.

"It's difficult to believe that people are still starving in this country because food isn't available." Ronald Reagan

I know alot of people are just looking at it as we need to take care of the people that don't have health insurance. Some people don't have health insurance because they don't think they need it. Some don't have it because they can't afford it. Some don't have it because they don't have a job. For what ever the reason they don't have it, it is a choice. For the people who say they can't afford it there is Medicaid (I know its not the best but what do we think we will have have now). For those that didn't have it because they didn't have a job then they could get a job, or not.
My Dad was physically disabled for 15 years and couldn't work. My parents lived in a small town 125 people, no jobs. My Dad had Medicare and my Mom had nothing but they survived until my Mom made her way through college. They moved to Oklahoma City and got real insurance, when Mom got a job and it couldn't save my Dad from cancer.

http://airbornecombatengineer.typepad.com/in_decatur/2010/03/how-will-health-care-reform-impact-decatur-restaurantspubs.html

Class vs Home

This week in class was really cool. We cooked foods from many different countries with a common ingredient cabbage. Which I don't think I have found a bad way to eat. I was able to work with the Pot Stickers (which is another food that is totally awesome and now I know how to make). They are great to make because you can do the prep work up front and cook them when you need them. They do take alot of prep work, and you have to watch when you steam them so that they do not touch each other or they will stick together and rip. You make them not rip apart but then you have a "lumpsticker" . While still edible it does lose the plating points.

I did try the other cabbage dishes and I am a big fan of stuff cabbage, I have had it all of my life my Mom made it. I don't think you can go wrong with cabbage. I wish the rest of my family felt the same way, mostly it is just my nine year old that doesn't like it. I'm hoping she will grow into it.

And then back in the real world...where I actually have to cook the weight watchers meals and make them something that even the boys will eat. Tonight we had a low point meal 4 points. The only thing that counted for points was the meat. Everyone on weight watchers was limited to 4oz of meat and unlmited amounts of green beans, onions and tomatoes. The seasoning in everything has to be simple so Hanna (my 9 yr old) will eat it. I think she's having the hardest time with the changes in our diet, she would have prefered to have had mac & cheese. We will see how it goes. :)

Rice Pilaf and Fried Chicken

In frying the chicken the oil temp doesn't only drop when you add the oil but also when you turn the chicken. In one of the pictures I thought you would be able to see that the chicken is done but you can't. I was able to see that it was done.

The rice was easier. The only problem that I had was keeping other people out of the cooking process. Everyone seems to think that they know when rice is done, but looks can be deceiving. I don't know about you but I don't like my rice crunchy.

The really bad thing is since I am on weight watcher's I can't really eat either but my boys will get to eat it.