Week 65 | Final Gourmet Dinner

This week was my final gourmet dinner of the semester. We made a take-and-bake dinner. This dinner was scheduled to be a take-and-bake dinner, but it turned out to be good with the state of Covid-19 in Iowa. We're seeing the highest numbers yet. 

I helped work on brussels sprouts, which we made in the wok, so that was exciting. It's super hot, so you have to keep the food moving at all times, but it creates great flavor and texture. I also helped roll egg rolls, which were filled with a duck filling. They were excellent. I also made a sweet potato purèe. It was creamy, rich, and delicious. We made a version of Crepes Suzette for dessert, but we used apricot sauce instead of orange. 

At home, I made meatballs. I used a new recipe from Alison Roman. My favorite way to eat meatballs is with polenta. I also made meatball sandwiches later in the week. 

Next week is my Advanced Baking final. It's early to end the class, but I will be glad when the class is over, to be honest. It's my least favorite class I've taken so far at ICI, which is a considerable disappointment since it was the class I was looking forward to the most. More on that next week. 

Week 64 | Election Week! 🇺🇸✨

This week was stressful and long! The election was on Tuesday, and we just found out today that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won. Thank goodness. Kamala Harris will be the first female Vice President of color. It feels like the dark era has come to an end, and we can start to heal. 

Between the election, a CE Dinner at school, volunteering for our Fleur-de-lis Gala, I haven't had much time to cook. However, I posted this photo of these super cute Pan-Banging Sugar Cookies from Sarah Keiffer. 

Week 63 | Fall Baking 🍂

Is there anything better than fall baking?! I think it might be my favorite. I'm not sure I've done as much this year as I usually do, because I've been so busy at school. I made Pumpkin Hand Pies, Pumpkin Cake with Honey Frosting, Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing, Pumpkin Sugar Pie with Meringue Ghosts, and Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Maple Brown-Butter Glaze. All recipes used are linked.

Week 62 | Gourmet Dinners

This semester I have been taking a class called Gourmet Dinners. We get to work with a Chef to create a fancy dinner for about 50 people; because of COVID-19, it's fewer people than it used to be in the past. Each dinner has a theme, and it's so fun to work with unique ingredients. We have made octopus, broken down a saddle of lamb, and made Indian food. It's one of my favorite classes this semester. I am getting to work with so many new ingredients.

Week 61 | Fresh Tomato Sauce

This summer produced a ton of tomatoes, so I made a fresh tomato sauce with tomatoes from my garden and my cousin's garden. I used a recipe called Quick Fresh Tomato Sauce from the New York Times. I used fresh tomatoes, salt, olive oil, tomato paste, basil, and a bay leaf. It turned out great, and I was able to freeze some of it too. Is there anything better than fresh tomatoes?! 🍅

Week 60 | Beef Enchiladas and Tres Leches Cake

Oh my gosh, I recently made Beef Enchiladas and a Tres Leches cake. I have never made red enchiladas sauce before. It turned out delicious. It was one of those meals that took all day but was worth it. For the Beef Enchiladas, I used a recipe from Cooks Illustrated. For the Tres Leches Cake, I used a recipe from Cooks Country.

Week 59 | Alice

Over the past couple of months, I have been making A LOT of bread. I started my sourdough starter a few months back and named her Alice. I feed her daily, and eventually, I will move her into the refrigerator and feed her weekly. Every loaf I make gets a little better. It's still not where I want to be, but I know this is a skill I'll have to develop over years, not months. So, here's to much more bread making in the future. 🥖

Week 58 | Bistro

This week I started my three-week session in Bistro. In Bistro, we work as chefs for ICI's restaurant. It's super intense, and I'm going to be honest, not my favorite class. It's stressful and chaotic. This class has confirmed that I'm not interested in working in a restaurant after I graduate. I did make some cute zucchini cakes with pistachio tuiles.

Week 57 | Yellow Cake

This week I made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting: simply perfect. I used Erin Jeanne McDowell's recipe from the New York Times. It was wonderful.

Week 56 | Drive-In Movie

This week we went to a drive-in movie. We always go once a summer, and we love it. It's so much fun! We bring the dogs, and I make a bunch of delicious snacks and picnic food. Since there aren't many new movies this summer, they have been playing old classics. We saw Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was a beautiful night, and the dogs loved it. I highly recommend hitting up a drive-in if you have one near you.

Week 55 | Italian Luncheon

This week at school, I helped out with a special lunch. I got to pick the dessert I wanted to make, and funny execute it myself. My only parameters were that it had to be Italian, serve 25, and be made ahead of time. I decided to make Tiramisu. My favorite recipe is by Alison Roman from the New York Times. It's simple and classic. I've made it many times before, so I was comfortable making it for a large group. I decided to do individual cups because it never looks great cut. I was so happy with how it turned out, and so was my instructor!

Week 54 | ICI CE Dinners

This summer, I have been working at the Iowa Culinary Institute Continuing Education Dinners. All the dinners are prepared by Chef Katie Van Dyke. She is amazing. She is a graduate of the program. She makes the most incredible food, and I'm learning so much from her. Besides her food being excellent, her platting is so incredibly beautiful.

Week 53 | Peaches 🍑

Remember last week when I talked about how obsessed I am with peaches? Well, I am. I made a Peach Galette earlier this summer for my Baking class. Peaches FOR THE WIN!

Week 52 | Summer's Bounty

Summer is absolutely the best food time of the year. All my favorite food are fresh and in season. My number one all-time favorite is peaches. I eat peaches every morning with yogurt and in every way possible. Since I'm currently obsessed with bread making, I made Peach Focaccia, and it was terrific.

I also love corn. Every summer I make Corn Risotto, a recipe from the New York Times. It's probably my favorite dish of the year. You make a corn broth to cook the risotto. It's amazing.

We also eat Pasta with a Cantaloupe Sauce about once a week. It's seriously so good. I swear it's fantastic. I have adapted the recipe from a Rachel Ray recipe I found years ago.

That's hardly all of it, but omg, eat fresh food!

Week 51 | Garde Manger

This week for our Garde Manger final, we made a buffet as a class. It was really fun. We were broken up into teams and made dishes for the buffet. I made a green bean salad that might be a new favorite dish. It was cold, but cooked green beans, with pancetta and sharp cheddar cheese. As part of our final, we had to create a garnish. I decided to make a gremolata, which I made from bread crumbs, lemon zest, garlic, and parsley. It was so yummy and such a pretty salad!

Week 50 | Pâtés, Galantines, Roulades

This week in Garde Manger, we learned about pâtés, galantines, and roulades. These types of meat dishes aren't as popular, but honestly, they should be. They are delicious!

Pâté is a paste or loaf of forcemeat that traditionally contains liver. Galantines are the meat in a loaf, typically poultry or fish, poached and served cold, and coated in aspic. I have never seen a galantine served. It feels like old fashion Victorian type food, and I kind of love it. A roulade is something I do see more frequently. A roulade is a piece of meat or pastry that is rolled. It can be sweet or savory. You might take a turkey breast, pound it thin, and fill it will herbs and ingredients like olive, sun-dried tomatoes, pancetta, and oil. A sweet roulade is like a swiss cake roll. Both are super yummy!

We also got to help break down half a pig, which was quite exciting.

Week 49 | Bread

This week we made bread! We made a lot of different types of sourdoughs and focaccia as a class. My partner and I made olive sourdough, and it was terrific. We made eight loaves of the olive sourdough, and you can see I dropped one on the floor. Oops! I'm always messing up, but that's ok. 🥖

Week 48 | Surgery

This week I had my gallbladder out, so no school for me. My entire week consisted of oyster crackers, Gatorade, and purple popsicles. Thanks for all the love and support this week!

Here is a picture of a cute octopus I knitted for my Ben, my cousins little boy.

Week 47 | Back to School!

This week we went back to school! It felt so amazing to be back in the classroom. It's different, and it's weird and kind of hard to wear a mask all day, but it's all worth it. There are so many safety procedures in place I do feel safe.

In Baking, we started by baking cakes! Such a fun way to get back to business and more comfortable to do in a professional kitchen. We had access to rotating cake stands, which are so helpful. I could have spent all day messing with it, but I'm happy with how mine turned out.

In Food Prep 2, we made salmon, hollandaise, and roasted broccoli. One weird thing is that our instructors can't taste our food because of Covid-19. She watches us closely and judges our food off everything but taste. It's a bit of a bummer, but she is an excellent Chef and gives excellent and helpful feedback.

In Garde Manger, we talked about fermentation, which is super interesting. We made Sauerkraut, talked about preserved lemons and kimchi. We got to try some homemade sauerkraut that had been made weeks earlier, and it's so amazing! Way more flavorful than storebought.

Overall, it is just great to be back in business, and I'm looking forward to the remainder of the semester.

Week 46 | Breakfast and Reubens

This week in Food Prep 2, we learned all about breakfast foods. Like most people, breakfast foods are some of my favorite foods. We made eggs, pancakes, and bacon. For the eggs, we had to make a sunny-side-up egg, an over-easy egg, an omelet, and for extra credit, a poached egg. I spent a year working on my poached egg technique and a few months working on my friend egg technique. So, I have those two down. Eggs are weirdly hard. It's such a simple food, but you have to get it just right. I had to practice a few times on my sunny-side-up and over-easy, but I was able to get them. I think the key to eggs is low-heat or residual heat. I don't always remember that you can turn off the heat if your pan gets too warm.

In Baking, we're making a peach galette with crème anglaise. I am actually in the middle of making my peach galette because I'm going to bring it to my parent's house for the Fourth of July. The crust is a pate brisee, which is the French version of pie dough. The filling is peaches, sugar, and butter. I made the crème anglaise today. I'm going to churn it, and turn it into vanilla ice cream. I think it's going to be great. I love galettes. They are so much less fussy than pies.

In Garde Manger, we made Reubens, which is one of my favorite sandwiches. We had an entire lecture about sandwiches. How great is that?! One trick I learned is to make the sandwich open-faced. It's easier to flip. We made the French dressing, which was really good. I'm not too fond of bottled salad dressing from the grocery store. It's so simple to make. We made it with mayonnaise, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and horseradish. I will add a little pickle relish the next time I make it. I will never buy French dressing again. My Reuben turned out great.

In other news, I found out this I need to have my gallbladder removed. I have been having some stomach pain for years, on and off, but more severely in the last nine months. The doctors discovered a golf ball-sized gallstone in my gallbladder, a few others, and one lodged in my duct. Ugh. Needless to say, I need to have my gallbladder removed. I am scheduled for surgery on July 13. I'm a little nervous about having surgery, especially during a pandemic. However, I'm sure it's the right choice for me, and I look forward to feeling much better.

Next week, we'll be back in the classroom, and I can't wait! ICI is taking a lot of precautions to ensure the safety and health of the students and teachers. I'm thankful for all my teachers and classmates, and I can't wait to see everyone again this week!