Handpulled Mozzarella with Heirloom tomato salad

When there is a combination of harmony with respect to color, taste, presentation, this is the right salad that I prefer. I prefer hand pulled mozzarella to the one’s that you can get at the supermarket, as this is more soft and can be salted to your satisfaction. To have a soft mozzarella on your plate you need to boil a pot of hot water (roll boil), pour half the quantity of water into a flat pan and crumble the mozzarella curd into this hot water. The remaining hot water needs to be kept on the stove top with the gas burning so that you have some reserve if you need, leave the curd in the hot water for about 4 minutes and let it loosen. Before you can start doing anything with the curd, wear about 3 layers of vinyl gloves to protect your hand form the hot water. Once you are ready gently pull the mozzarella and roll them into equal round balls. Make sure to release the air trapped inside them when you are rolling, by gently spreading the surface with you thumb. Once that is done immerse them in cold water (not good to put in ice water as it will become hard), so that it retains the shape. The heirloom tomato has to be cut into quarters and marinated in olive oil, sea salt & pepper. The mozzarella cheese also has to be cut into equal quarters once it is set. The cheese has to get the same marination. On the plate spread basil pesto and around the pesto sprinkle aged balsamic vinaigrette. Both the cheese and the heirloom tomato that is marinated needs to be placed alternatively on a plate. It can be garnished with brioche croutons and also pieces of basil.

Tempura fried shrimp with honey and caramalized onion

This is a quite simple dish and also easy to make. The tiger prawns (black tiger shrimp) is dipped in tempura batter, which consists of chilled carbonated water, egg whole, all purpose flour (it is fine if there are few lumps). The batter has to be chilled until it is ready to be used. Once the shrimp is evenly coated, it is put into a deep fryer which is at 350-380*F, as this is the ideal temperature for the shrimp to be cooked and also the batter to reach a golden brown color. Mean while make a dressing of balsamic vinegarette, E.V.olive oil, honey, salt & pepper. Once the dressing is done, mix it with lettuce which could be of any variety.It can be topped with caramalized onion ( jullien onion cooked on high heat with enough oil to coat it).The best time to mix the lettuce with the dressing is right before you serve your guests, as this would wilt the lettuce and hence would turn soggy.

Thanking my family.

It was a wonderful day being christmas. It is a day for the family to sit down and have a nice feast. I wanted to cook a nice dish for my family. To the rescue came some beef and yucon gold potatoes which were readily available. My family had to go outside on work and had relied on me for the lunch. I cut the beef into bite size pieces and used the red wine and made a quick sauce with the onions that I caramelized. I cut the potato into equal size, sprinkled it with herbs. I had the fresh vegetable tossed in butter. Once my family was home i had a good surprise for them. I cooked up a wonderful treat for them. I was helped by my sister-in-law to take these photos.

My treat to the family

This was one of those wonderful days, when i decided on expeimenting on my family the culinary skills that i had learned at college. It had my family go wow! looking at the techniques that i had learned. I had preheated the oven to 400 degrees F and then bought it down to 350 degrees F. I had my mirepoix cut into equal sizes. The chicken was cleaned with a tissue paper to avoid any moisture and then i used salt and pepper to season the exterior and also the interior of the chicken. Salt is good for giving the chicken its golden brown color in the oven. I gave it about 40 minutes in the oven as it is a lot simpler to calculate the time in the oven by giving 20 minutes for every pound of chicken. The residue on the pan was deglazed with red wine and it was added to the sauce. It was a wonder experience. I am planning on doing beef stew which i will be blogging on soon.

Mussels Fantasy

This is a beautiful dish, which is basically mussels, cooked in pork broth. It is garnished with coarsly chopped fennel and is served in the shell. Topped with crostini.

The best technique to open up the shell is to cook them in white wine covered with bouquet garni (Herbs tied up in a Cheese Cloth).

Mussels are of the clam family, They are both slatwater and fresh water. In the present day of high demand in restaurants and hotels, there are mussel farms that cultivate these in large numbers.

Anti-pasti

Antipasti can refer to:
in Italian cuisine, a starter course similar to Hors d'œuvre (italian plural of antipasto)
a British band named Anti-Pasti

This is a typical antipasti platter, cosisting of cured meat. The marinated olives compliment the display.
It was a typical busy at our restaurant, a regular guest to our restaurant had bought in some of his collegues and wanted a cold cut platter, to compliment the wine. I was called in by my chef and had a quick rundown of the situation and he wanted it to be instant, as there was no time to waste. I had to rush to the walk-in fridge to check the cured meats. I assembled all the cured meats, sliced it had the olives marinated and had some grilled vegetables with crositni redy and this was the end result.

Amuse Bouche

Amuse bouche is a bite site moursel served before a meal. It is served to exite the pallet and for the guest to discover what food/cuisines can be expected from the chef.

My College

At The Culinary Institute of America, we go through a total change. This change is for us to present ourselves to the world, the image of a modern chef. There are students at the institute who have different aspirations in life. The important aspect of being at this place, is getting the contacts. The contacts are the alumni of this prestigeous college. The education is go well planned and executed that we go through the curriculum in a smooth manner. There are courses in Culinary Arts and Baking & Pastry. There is a A.O.S & B.P.S programme to choose from. The Instructors are C.M.C which stands for Certified Master Chef. There are alumni's who become Training assitants and spread their knowledge and also help the students with the imporant aspects that need to be taken into consideration during their course of studies. The best college in the world of Culinary Arts.