FOOD PRESERVATION AND SALADS!!

HEY GUYS!!! I'M HERE, EXCITED AND READY TO WRITE!!

I thought about writing about Tuesday's class but I felt like there wasn’t much to write so I decided to combine Tuesday and Thursday’s class!

Tuesday was about food preservation, salting, curing, brine's, canning and everything in between. Its funny how back in the day what people discovered as food preservation for droughts and famines, we now use because IT TASTE GOOD!!! Well, in any sense, we owe it all to Nicolas Appert, who first discovered canning and sterilization (aka appertization). So on the menu tonight included gravlax and duck confit. Gravlax is cured salmon, and duck confit is cured duck that is later cooked slowly in its own fat. The duck taste amazing: I didn't try the gravlax on Saturday, it’s still curing. Then we preserved jardinière vegetable and lemons (two separate recipes. Lastly we made brandade and codfish fritters; both these recipes included salted codfish but in the brandade it’s mixed with mashed potatoes and for the fritter recipe its mixed in a batter and deep fried…again BOTH WERE GREAT!!!

TO MAKE CANING SOUND EVEN MORE INTERESTING (and if you love summer fruit and alcohol) read this link, a classmate (thanks Rebecca) sent it to me and you might find it interesting: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/dining/22appe.html?_r=1

BTW…I can’t remember if I stated that last week I misplaced my ladle…IT WAS FOUND YAY!!!

So for Thursday’s class….aaalllll about salads, believe it or not but it was an intense lesson. We learned about simple salads, mixed salads, and composed salads, we learned about various lettuces, salad greens, and several salad components such as beets and bell peppers. I have pictures of 2 or the 3 salads me and my (new) partner made (we changed partners again today and I love her, she’s so sweet!)

This is a cooked vegetable salad: carrots, turnips, peas, & string beans, tosses in a mayonnaise and basil puree dressing, topped with a tomato fondue, on top of cucumbers

This is sweet and bitter greens with tomato and herbs, tossed in sherry vinaigrette

Hope you like them!!! (disclaimer, the third salad tasted really good but my presentation wasn’t the best, so I didn’t take a picture, but it’s called salad niçoise: tuna, anchovy fillets, plum tomatoes, red skin potatoes, hard boiled eggs bell peppers and haricots verts, boston lettuce, drizzled with vinaigrette

Unfortunately classed ended with a classmate almost chopping her finger off and having to go to the hospital…WE LOVE YOU MAURA!!! GET WELL SOON!!!

On my way out of the classroom and making good with the bread people, I was able to take home a French baguette, a loaf of rye bread with flax seeds, and another bread with raisins and nuts (apologize for not remember the name) but my family and I are enjoying the free bread!

So that was my week at FCI, looking forward to tomorrows class, all about potatoes….and a class outing after class, should be interesting!!!

*smooches and deuces*