Chilaquile Casserole

This would be better with roasted diced chicken, but as it is the students ate almost everything they made. Always a good sign. I learned something from the students too about roasting poblano peppers. Much more efficient to just put them in the flame and turn with tongs. Recipe follows below. It doesn't have to be done over two days; we just do it this way in class because of timing.

 

Chilaquile Casserole with

New Mexico Green Sauce

Ingredients:

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

4 poblano chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded, finely chopped

1 jalapeno chili, seeded, finely chopped

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 C half and half (fewer calories than whipping cream)

¼ tsp. salt

10 corn tortillas cut into ½” strips

2 C shredded light cheese

Day 1: Cook onion, chiles and garlic in oil over medium heat until onion is tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in half and half and salt. Store in airtight container.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray baking pan with Pam (over sink). Spread tortilla strips on pan and spray strips lightly with Pam. Bake 5 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool and store in airtight container.

Day 2: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Layer half the strips in bottom of greased casserole dish. Top with half the sauce, one cup of cheese. Repeat with remaining strips, sauce, cheese. Bake 20 minutes.    Yield: 7-9 servings

C-CAP Senior Award Winners

Careers Through Culinary Arts Program - teen chef competition winners

Photos by Dean Musgrove/Daily News Staff Photographer

High school students Sandy Valle, Maria Gomez and Emily Gordon are one step closer to becoming top chefs.
They took home the largest scholarships in the Careers Through Culinary Arts Program competition for local culinary students held over the weekend.
Each of the three earned a two-year Associate of Arts culinary tuition scholarship to the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of California (with locations in Orange County, Santa Monica and North Hollywood). Each is valued at $58,016.
The scholarship competition went beyond an application form, an essay and letter of recommendation. Thirty-seven high school senior culinary students competed on Saturday at the stoves in the kitchens at the International Culinary School's North Hollywood campus. They represented 24 area high schools in the Los Angeles, Glendale, Pasadena and Acton-Agua Dulce school districts.
"We are targeting food classes and underserved children (usually with financial needs) in inner-city school districts," notes Richard Grausman, who started C-CAP in New York City schools in 1990 and brought it to the Los Angeles area in 1995. Grausman was one of the judges, viewing and sampling dishes on Saturday. |

Student Food Demonstrations

I know it was a lot for one day, but we had six student food demos in class two weeks ago. Just look at the variety of dishes everyone brought in; from Empanadas to Tempura to Lasagna! Students bring in the recipe and samples for the entire class. They explain the procedure for making the dish in front of the class, which the other students copy into their notebooks.  At the end of the semester every student will have a notebook full of recipes from around the world, along with measuring equivalents, a mini food guide pyramid, and relevent cooking and nutrition terms.

I'm always amazed by the talent in my classroom. I guess I shouldn't be after almost 10 months with my students, but I don't think I ever cooked like this when I was 17.

A reminder for the students who are reading the blog this week: The last demo date is Friday, June 3rd. If you don't have a demo date scheduled or if you missed your date, please see me. I really don't want to see anyone's grade drop! After that we will begin group projects where you will plan a themed catering event. This will include a written and verbal presentation, as well as a display.

Roasted Tomatoes

Used the recipe from our Earth Day event at school for the Roasted Tomatoes at home. I added a sprinkling of jack cheese and oregano. Really tasty, and I'm not even a big tomato fan.

Using Roma Tomatoes, cut them into quarters, scoop out the seeds and place the tomatoes on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 15- 20 minutes, until soft. Add cheese and just a sprinkling of oregano if desired.

The original recipe we used at school was for Caesar Salad. We added tomatoes to give it some color since most foods we served were green (pesto, salad) or white (homemade pasta, garlic bread). Here's the salad and dressing recipe. The dressing is also good lightly drizzled on garlic bread.

CAESAR SALAD and DRESSING

Salad:

2 pints cherry tomatoes
olive oil
salt and pepper
2 large heads Romaine lettuce
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Dressing:Update

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 lemon, juice of

1 teaspoon hot sauce

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

salt

coarse black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 15- 20 minutes, until soft.

3. Wash the lettuce leaves carefully and dry in a salad spinner. Stack the leaves on a cutting board and cut them crosswise into 1½-inch slices. Place them in a large mixing bowl.

4. For the dressing, mix everything in blender until thickened.

5. Toss the lettuce with dressing. Add 1 cup grated Parmesan and tomatoes, and toss.

Yield: 8 Servings

Chocolate Tulip Cups with Strawberries

Finally! Uploaded a few photos from the tulip cups the students made last week.  Chocolate drizzle over the strawberries with crushed almonds as garnish made these treats truly decadent!

Some triva on tulips:  

The Dutch ate tulip bulbs in lieu of onions during WWII when food supplies were cut off.

I wouldn't try it now though - modern modified tulip bulbs are NOT edible.

Tulips didn't originate in Holland; they were imported from Hungary.

During the short week for CST testing I thought we'd use up the chocolate in the pantry and make these great tulip cups. I filled them with strawberries, but any berry or even a custard would be good.

Recipe follows:

Chocolate Tulip Bowl

Ingredients:

1 bag (12 oz.) chocolate chips

½ lb. large chunk chocolate

1 C pastel candy wafers

1 lb. strawberries, hulled and sliced

8 small balloons, blown up and knotted

Waxed paper, Baking sheet, Candy thermometer, Rubber Spatula

Directions:

Melt chocolate chips in plastic container for one minute in microwave. Remove and stir until smooth, heating another 30 seconds if necessary until temperature reaches 105.

Add two large chunks of chocolate, stirring and scraping off pieces of the chunks to “seed” the chocolate chips. Continue stirring and scraping until temperature reaches 90 degrees. Remove chunks of chocolate and set aside on waxed paper. Save for next class.

Heat pastel wafers in microwave for 30 seconds. Stir until smooth. Drizzle in to chocolate.

Tilting the balloon side to side, front to back, dip in chocolate until thin “petals” form on balloon. Remove and place on baking sheet covered with waxed paper. Repeat with remaining balloons and refrigerate baking sheet for 5 minutes, or until chocolate has hardened.

Fill with sliced strawberries. Top with mint leaf for garnish and serve.

Summer Rolls

Day One: Students completed the cabbage and carrots in class - some very good julienne methods!

Also sliced the mint using the chiffonade cut. The marinade was delicious! It's being stored overnight and then tomorrow we'll add the bean thread noodles and wrap everything in rice paper rounds.

Found all the ingredients at  99 Ranch Market in Van Nuys.

They have everything! Asian, Mexican, Middle Eastern ingredients - all there.

Day Two: The summer rolls are wrapped in rice paper rounds and garnished with nasturtium flowers, which have a peppery taste. 

Here's the recipe, courtesy of my fabulous master teacher at Taft High School, Kathy West:

Vegetable Summer Rolls

¾ C Purple Cabbage

¾ C Napa Cabbage

1 large Carrot

¼ C Mint Leaves

2 t. Powdered Ginger

2 t. Brown Sugar

2 t. Sesame Oil

2 t. Rice Vinegar

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 oz. Bean Thread Noodles

12 – 8” Rice Paper Rounds

Day 1: Cut the cabbage and carrot into very fine julienne strips. Chiffonade the mint.  Whisk together ginger, sugar, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Toss together with vegetables and mint. Store overnight in sealed container.

Day 2: In large bowl, cover bean thread noodles with boiling water. Let stand 15 minutes. Drain, pat dry with paper towels. Chop into 4” strands.

Fill shallow pan with warm water. Soak rice paper rounds, one at a time, for one minute, until pliable. Transfer round to dry towel and put ¼ C of vegetable mixture across top quarter of round. Fold top of round over filling, fold sides and roll “burrito” style. Moisten bottom of rice paper to seal. Place on serving plate, seam side down.

Serve with dipping sauce.

Chili Lime Dipping Sauce

1T. Lime Juice

1 T. Rice Vinegar

1 T. Water

1-1/2 t. Sugar

¼ t. Red Chili Flakes

¼ t. Sesame Oil

½ Green Onion, minced

Whisk together in a small bowl and serve with Summer Rolls.

Apple Pie Food Lab - Lots of beautiful pies made this week!