Lemon Rose

GROUP 1: Cornish Pasty / Beef Onion and Potato Turnover (England) MMM!!!! they were DELICIOUS!!!

GROUP 2: Yorkshire Pudding (England) by Jose and Mitchell's group

GROUP 2: Cod Cakes (Scotland) by Jose and Mitchell's group

GROUP 3: Shepherd's Pie (England) top left made by Linda, top right by Evelyn and the ribbon price winner with flag and all by Kenny!!!

Inside view

GROUP 4: Boxty / Potato Pancakes (Ireland)

GROUP 5: Paella a la Valenciana (Spain)

GROUP 6: Pollo al Ajillo / Garlic Chiccken(Spain)

We ate food from SPAIN-PORTUGAL and THE BRITISH ISLES!!!! MMM!!!

Cooling the PORTO PUDIM FLAN (Portugal) in the freezer.

PORTO PUDIM FLAN (Portugal) This is a portuguese baked caramel custard.

Garde Manger (Week 2)

We made (group 4) top to bottom.
Cantaloupe Soup, Mayonnaise (not pictured used for remoulade), Remoulade sauce and Caper & Herb vinagrette.

Interesting lab and OH MY G.! Who would of though mayo was SO HARD to make! We made ours 4 times since our evil emulsion kept breaking.... forget Hollandaise in Basic that was piece of cake compared to try and make mayo by hand with a whip over a steamy bain marie!

Group 4!!!!

Ethnic Shopping

This picture comes from:

Saigon Taipei
(817) 460-3428
2206 S Collins St
Arlington, TX

Here you will find mainly ingredients from Vietnam as well as Thailand and Indonesia.
Many Viet and Thai fresh herbs and fruits as well as tons of ethnic canned good.
What to look for: Bamboo utensils like Bamboo Steamer, canned coconut milk for 50¢ !!! Teas, Straws and tapica to make Bubble Tea! Cafe du Monde Coffee (coffee flavored with chicory) and Viet coffee makers!!! The place even has a Vietnamese bakery and deli inside.

Asian Utensils: Bamboo Steamer, Bamboo sushi mats, Cast iron wok, herbs/kitchen shears, vegetable crimper, bamboo mat with rice spoon and Asian whet stone.

THE FIND! of the day.... a Cast iron WOK!!!!! I went CRAZY!!! When I saw it in Hong Kong Market�. It will make an excellent wok and a great frying dish!!!!

Ethnic Produce

BANANA craze! Top green bananas, center yellow plantains, green plantains bottom BABY BANANAS!!!! All of the above are used in different Latin American dishes as is green to produce different like alcapurrias (PR) or Tostones (PR, too).

Now in my fridge: Culantro leafs (recao), Vietnamese Lemongrass stalks, 3 aji chiles (sweet peppers), ginger root and 3 red jalapenos!!! FIRE!!!

Ethnic Pantry

NOW in my pantry: from top (clock-wise) Soy beans (to make home-made soy milk), Goya brand olives for Puerto Rican cooking, Canned Coconut milk for candy making, German Sweet mustard for sandwiches, Ground coconut for macaroon cookies and curries, Sazon Goya seasoning for Puerto Rican rice, Goya Brand Rice for Paella, Gandules (pigeon peas) for Puerto Rican rice and Tapioca pearls for Chinese tapioca pudding MMM!!!!

First use of the Vegetable-crimper to make french fries.

Tostonera

My 2 tostoneras (tostone/plantain makers or mashers) after the initial frying (to render the though plantain soft) it is placed in either one tostonera to shape it either as a cup to use it as hors d'oeuvre stuffed or as a disc to be eaten with rice or as desired.

Close up

TOSTONES, fried plantain fritters made by slightly frying the slice of plantain then it is mashed to give it the round look and fried briefly for a second time.

Puerto Rico's National Dish

VOILA! a very Puerto Rican plate. Arroz con Gandules (rice with pegeon peas), Tostones (plantain fritters), and a little scoop of home-made Sofrito (caribbean base sauce for many dishes it contains mainly tomatoes, bacon, and a herb called "recao" which is like cilantro).

Culantro or Recao

Culantro (Eryngium Foetidum) or "RECAO" as called in the Carribean is a flavorful herb used in caribbean cooking. Puerto Rico uses it extensively in all kinds of stews, soups, beans, asopao, etc. It is a more flavorful substitute for Cilantro for all your culinary creations.

I find it less pungent than cilantro more of a mild pleasant, less fruty notes.

An-nat-to

Home made "Achiote Oil" (annatto oil).
Annatto or achiote is like the Saffron (Spain) or Turmeric (India) of Latin America; it adds a subtle orange-yellow color to any food for example to color masa for Mexican tamales or Puerto Rican rice (Arroz con Gandules).

It is made by heating briefly some oil then adding ground annatto seeds stir to dissolve and blend color and flavor. Then when cold strain and save in a glass container/bottle. Then just use as regular oil for rice, tamales or to add color to fritter dough, etc...

an-nat-to
NOUN:
pl. an-nat-tos
In all senses also called achiote.

1. A tropical American evergreen shrub or small tree (Bixa orellana), having heart-shaped leaves and showy, rose-pink or sometimes white flowers. Also called lipstick tree .
2. The seed of this plant, used as a coloring and sometimes as a flavoring, especially in Latin American cuisine.
3. A yellowish-red dyestuff obtained from the seed aril of this plant, used especially to dye fabric and to color food products such as margarine and cheese.

: : : TIRAMISU : : :

Finally!!!! got a chance to make some homemade TIRAMISU!!!! I had been craving some GOOD Tiramisu for well over a month and honestly the La Madelaine's slice was YUK! (see 08.08.06 post) / FORK presentation...used a fork stencil + cocoa + coffee syrup

Spoon presentation...used a spoon stencil + cocoa + coffee syrup

THE INGREDIENTS!!!!

THE COFFEE!!! used a moka espresso maker..coffee is Lavazza's Espresso Blend (100% Premium Arabica)

LADYFINGERS!!!!!!!!

First layer.... espresso soaked ladyfingers + cream

Between the first layer and the second

Last layer

Finished tiramisu before applying lettering... I used Hershey�s Special Dark Cocoa (Dutch processed) which produced a very dark desirable color but unfortunately was lacking the acidity and mild chocolate flavor of regular unprocessed cocoa.

Behold the TIRAMISU!!!

in the depth of the tiramisu

Sfogliatine

This is a box of italian cookies "Sfogliatine" they are slices of puff pastry topped with a sugar and apricot cross hatch topping. Bought this at Jimmy's Food Store (Italian Market, see 08.08.06 post)

HOW cool is this! the diamond crosshatch pattern is made of sugar with a underlying apricot filling!!!!

LOCATION: Patty's Pantry
(817) 265-8824

1523 S Bowen Rd
Pantego, TX

So this is where I spent my summer!!! LOL Doing my Practicum (internship) to graduate. Patty's Pantry "Home of the Texas Cheesecake" with 30+ cheesecake Flavors!!!!

Patty’s Pantry History, a local bakery with 20+ plus years in business started as a single mom business by Patty Ramsey who took an old family recipe and a borrowed a pizza kitchen and through hard work and perseverance founded a local landmark. Patty's Pantry has been providing the Pantego, TX and surrounding areas with the finest cheesecake, cookies and brownies ever since. In 1993 Ms. Ramsey sold Patty's Pantry to local businesswoman Edith Morehouse.
Mrs. Morehouse and her daughter Cynthia continued the tradition of creating fine cheesecakes and baked goods. They further refined Patty’s recipes with their own heirloom English recipes. In 2001, Mrs. Morehouse moved the business to a larger storefront, doubling the size of the bakery. They also added a cafe area to the business offering not only coffee but also baked breakfast pastries, and a bigger dessert line

After more than a decade in business the Morehouses decided to retire and sold Patty’s Pantry in April 2006 to the Chawdhy sisters & mom; A California family new to the DFW area. The Chawdhys had always desired to own their own bakery-business to make a living in a less ‘corporate America’ way and to keep with old family traditions of fresh baked foods and in Patty’s Pantry they have found their dream come true. They have pledged to keep with Patty’s tradition and until this day Patty’s Pantry cheesecakes and brownies are prepared in the same way Patty did from scratch in small batches and on the premises using the same recipes and ingredients. The Chawdhy family plans to add their own mark to Patty’s Pantry with future plans to further expand the business and offer a more modern cafe area with espressos and lunch menu to grow their customer base.

PRACTICUM @ Patty's Pantry :: CHOCOLATE VALENCIA ::

This is how I spent my summer!!! YES decorating cheesecake (and sampling it TOO!!) @ Patty's Pantry for my internship (practicum).

OK if you haven't been to PATTY' S PANTRY after all my postings here let me tell you are MISSING OUT!!!! Here is some proof! This is their ::Chocolate Valencia Cheesecake:: MMM to DIE FOR! it has a chocolate crust with a layered filling of Grand Marnier and chocolate cheesecake topped with chocolate and mandarin sections!!!! Forget Starbuck's Mocha Valencia! this is much deeper in flavor and texture! MMM this is my favorite cheesecake out of their 30 Flavors!

Last day @ PRACTICUM

Last day @ of PRACTICUM!!!! (Internship) we got some food flavorings in passion fruit and papaya flavor and here I tested them with some cake icing; which I later used to top some muffins. Colored each flavor accordingly to make passion fruit yellow and orange color papaya. THEY WHERE YUMMY!!!!!!!!

PRACTICUM: Mini Tartlets

Made some mini tartlets at my practicum site...they wanted to get rid of some mini tart shells so using the ingredients on hand I came up with this fruit tarts. (Top) Chocolate-Almond Mousse, Raspberry chocolate, Blueberry-Lemon Curd and Raspberry-Lemon Curd.

THE FILLING, lemon curd and rapsberry tartlets

Made 40 lemon curd filling tartlets then topped 20 with rapsberry filling and 20 with blue berry filling to make Raspberry-Lemon Curd and Blueberry-Lemon Curd mini tartlets

Chocolate-Raspberry mini tartlets. Raspberry mousse filling with a raspberry jam and chocolate topping.

Almond Chocolate Mousse mini tartlets

view from top

Import Food Market

LOCATION: HALAL Import Food Market
(817) 265-8875
701 E Pioneer Pkwy
Arlington, TX

Ever read Claudia Roden (A Book of Middle Eastern Food and The Book of Jewish Food) or Paula Wolfert (The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean) and wonder where you could find all of those impossible to find ingredients they talk about in their recipes such like: Zaatar, Fennugreek, arab and greek cheeses, middle eastern peppers, sumac, tahini, pomegranate syrup (molasses), rose and orange blossom water, etc... Well right here in Arlington there is an import food market HALAL that carries all of the above and so much more!!!!

No need to mail order!!! In Halal you will find all sorts of Middle Easter, Indian, Greek, and even some Mexican food ingredients. As well as a few food items from Croatia, England, Germany and Russia. The variety of items is huge: produce, canned goods, all kinds of spices 2 huge aisles with great prices!, syrups, jams, cookies, many cheese varieties, halal meats, yogurt (laban) mediterranean cooking utensils, Arabic coffee, basmati rice, Indian and Arabic flours to make pita and chapattis, beauty products and soaps etc… so many products so little space to list all!

Though I must warn you this is no picture perfect market where all is priced and clean still worth the visit as you will find prices to be so much cheaper than at specialty import markets like Cost Plus World Market and such. So do expect some dusty cans and missing price tags but, aside from that expect to find lots foreign products you havenever seen and will never see at Wal-Mart and such. Halal has its own bakery and restaurant on premises. The bakery produces pita bread in various varieties and sizes and some other middle eastern, Indian and African breads like: chapattis, paratha and ingera.
The prices on the bread are super! as you get 4 pitas for $1. Halal supplies its pita bread to groceries like Whole Foods Market where they resell it for 3.49!!!!! same 4 pitas you get for $1!!!!!!!!

I love to go to Halal and take my time to explore the isles and write down the names of ingredients that I don’t know for later research. Some of my favorite finds at Halal are: Falafel maker, mamoul cookie mold, import dates, zaatar mix, Turkish delight, baklava, fresh feta, kasseri (greek cheese), dry mint for tea, Neapolitan Wafer Cookies by Manner (from Austria), ‘Cortas’ brand syrups and flavorings (pomegranate syrup, rose and orange blossom water) as well as fresh made pita bread. After seeing so many yummy foods on my way out I pick up some freshly made Samosas!!! MMM A common Indian street food, samosas are delicious bubbly pastries filled with a savory filling.