Fish & Seafood

“Something smells a little fishy around here…”

This week we learned about seafood! We had our choice of: Live Lobster, Mahi Mahi, Shrimp, Salmon, Tuna, or Swordfish. This is how I feel about these choices:

Mahi: Gross. No thanks.

Lobster: YUM!

Shrimp: YUM!

Salmon: Yumm!

Swordfish: Never had it.

Tuna: Meh. But it's nice in sushi. 

I originally was going to make the swordfish because I had never eaten it before. But I couldn’t decide between the two recipes he gave us. One was a recipe with a bunch of bell peppers and I am just not a fan of cooked bell peppers. The other recipe was swordfish that had a coat of sesame seeds and I’m not really into sesame seeds. No one chose to do Salmon. So I asked what the recipes were for the salmon and I wasn’t really sure about those either. I was feeling SUPER indecisive today and I didn’t know what I wanted to make, so I put all my choices in my chef hat and had my teacher pick! My teacher said "no" to two out of the three choices. So his 3^rd pick was marinated grilled salmon with a fruit salsa. I was down. I’m glad I ended up with salmon.

The salmon was marinated in soy sauce, minced ginger, and garlic. I was only supposed to marinate the fish for 15 minutes. It makes sense because if I left it in the marinade for an hour, it’d end up wayyyyyy too salty.

The fruit salsa consisted of:

Tomato that had been seeded

Papaya - diced

Pineapple - diced

Green onions - sliced

Jalapeno - minced

Garlic - minced

Lemon juice

Cilantro - chopped

And salt.

I used a whole jalapeno and it was pretty spicy. But good! I have never had papaya so that was new for me. It tastes like a melon. But kind of bland. It’s weird. But a pretty fruit for sure!

Today, we got to pick our starch. I could’ve made mashed potatoes but I didn’t want to make that. Too many dishes. We had some purple sweet potatoes and red sweet potatoes. I chose the red sweet potato. I sliced the sweet potato pretty thin because I wanted to do a sort of scalloped sweet potato but I went with what I knew. I added brown sugar, BUTTER, orange zest, and a little sage! OH MY GOD! CAN WE TALK ABOUT THESE POTATOES FOR A MINUTE?! They tasted sooooooo good! Like, heaven. Pure bliss. I loved it. They turned out perfectly. J

Kohlrabi

Red Sweet Potatoes don't even look red. 

For our vegetable, we got to choose between kohlrabi (kole-robbie) or okra. I had no idea how to cook either one. At Social, they make a kohlrabi puree that goes with the seitan (say-tan). It tastes really good! Like, broccoli. Or a radish, but without the bite. I julienned my kohlrabi and sautéed it in brown butter. I added a little bit of fresh basil and too much lemon juice. Next time I won’t add so much lemon. Or I just won’t add lemon at all. Too much lemon takes away from the flavor.

When it came time to plate, I did really well. I had good height, color, perfect grill marks, just everything. 

Last week, I did terribly. I didn’t like the vegetable we made. My scalloped potatoes didn’t turn out (don’t add orange zest to potatoes). We roasted a half of a chicken that turned out AMAZING. I just didn’t feel like blogging last week. I killed it this week! I want to either go down south for my externship or I want to go somewhere along the coast. I want to learn more about seafood. It’s ironic though because I am deathly afraid of live fish. I don’t even like little goldfish in a fish tank. I just can’t. I don’t like minnows. I don’t like big crazy salmon with teeth. If it’s alive, no way. I do think that seafood is beautiful. Food is art. Seafood is an art-form that I want to master. I definitely know how to cook salmon perfectly. (I can thank Noonan’s for that bit of experience.) I am good with seafood. And it shows whenever I cook it.

I’m just really excited that I’m learning and everything in my life is going really great for me. Today, the passion just flowed. I know this is what I want to do because I can feel it. I get so many compliments from classmates and my teacher. It feels good to finally be good at something. I got to make a chutney the other night at Social and it was all my call.  Winter pear and star anise chutney. I’m just really proud of how far I’ve come. I went to RVC. Originally I wanted to go into graphic design. Then I switched and decided that I wanted to cook. I got a job at Josef’s and I learned a lot there. I got my Assoc. of Arts and went to Blackhawk. I got my job at Noonan’s and got my experience up. Two years ago, I made it a goal to get into Social. I got it. I’m doing well in school and I’ve got everything that I want. My friends are the best of the best. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for my mom, dad, and sister. I’m just extremely blessed and I feel great! Everything is coming together for me and I couldn’t have asked for my life to go any other way because everything happens for a reason!

Game Time!

Today started off like a normal day. I slept for about 11 hours and woke up still very tired. Today was game day. We talked about game. Deer. Rabbit. Pheasant. ETC. I’ve never been big on venison (deer). It tastes game-y and sometimes it’s tough. I’m just not a fan. So first we talked about what we’d be making in the kitchen in class, then we went down to the kitchen. We were waiting outside of the kitchen and one of my classmates had a song stuck in his head. He started talking about it and I sang it, very badly, because I LOVE that song! Everyone laughed but I was asked to sing it again. So I did. My classmates are turning into friends, and I don’t really care how they feel about me either way. I think they like me though. Who knows.

We had four options to choose from: duck, rabbit, venison, or pheasant. I wanted either rabbit or pheasant because I had never made either one. I liked the rabbit recipe more so I chose rabbit. Another kid and I made that together. At the beginning, I wasn’t doing so hot. My mind is in the kitchen off and on at school. Today, I was dead tired so it was another day where I was screwing everything up. I just wasn’t paying attention fully. I got in trouble for it too. My mind has been on work and other things. Not really at school. I mean, it is at school and I’m not lazy. I was just tired.

Our vegetable of the week was broccoli shoots. It tastes like broccoli but has a longer stem. Our starch was potato pancakes. Our rabbit came out really well. My potato pancakes tasted really good! My broccoli got a lot of good compliments. People were impressed and that made me feel really good. I hope I don’t have people thinking that I’m showing off. I’m just trying new things that come to me. Either way, I’m having fun.

Yesterday the Epicurean Club (cooking club) went to Abreo for dinner. You had to sign up ahead of time and I’ve always wanted to try the food there and this was the perfect opportunity. Abreo is the mother restaurant to Social. Social is my dream job. The food was amazing! There were 7 of us that went out. All girls. The chef that came with us was Chef Katie. She is a pastry chef. I haven’t had her yet for a class so it was nice getting to know her and for her vice versa. The executive sous chef came out and talked to us a lot and me and her introduced ourselves because word had gotten around that I was the new kid at Social. She was super nice and very skilled! I was definitely impressed. Back to the food; we ordered one of everything on the menu. I wasn’t big on 2 of the things but everything was amazing nonetheless. I would definitely recommend the Beet Napolean or the Australian Barramundi. Go try it out!

Potato pancake mixture

Fry it up!

After being in the oven for an hour or so.

Braided broccoli shoots.

I love this picture.

Chef moved my broccoli. *Final Product*

I’ve always known that being a chef is going to be very hard, especially physically. I came to the realization yesterday that everything that has happened to me lately has happened for a reason. I’m ready to start this new chapter at Social. I want to be one of the best and learn from the best! I won’t have much time for anything but I’m ready to make this positive change and become a better chef. I’m so ready. I’m nervous but I’m confident in my abilities. I can do this!