Maple Ice Cream; ACE Fall Classes starting this month; Personal Pita Pizzas with Hummus.

Post Date: 6 September 2018

 

The last installment of my Summer 2018 Ice Cream Project is a Maple Syrup one.  My first ACE class of the fall is a seasonal one, Up Your Tailgate Game followed by another iteration of Cooking Basics 101. .  I also made personal sized Pita Bread Pizzas with Hummus.

Maple Ice Cream

With Labor Day being the unofficial end of summer, I decided to conclude my Summer 2018 Ice Cream project this week with Maple Ice Cream.  I got the recipe from Bruce Weinstein’s excellent book The Ultimate Ice Cream Book.  This recipe was different from all the others I did this summer in that it used Half and Half and Light Cream, not the usual heavy cream and milk.  The result was excellent, a great way to end the summer.

Next ACE Class – Up Your Tailgate Game

With football season in full swing, this is the class to help you create a winning spread for your tailgate parties or while watching a game on TV.  The class meets on Wednesday evenings September 26 and October 3 at the Plum Center in Springfield.  We will be making some hearty dishes like chili and stews.

 

 

Pita Bread Personal Pizzas with Hummus

 

 

I found this recipe in the September 2018 issue of Real Simple magazine.  It seemed like a great dish to make for my bi-weekly sumi-e painting group meeting, so I made it for them last night and got a lot of good feedback.  It starts with Whole Wheat Pocketless Pita (who knew, right? I found some made by Kontos), then the pita is spread with hummus and topped with chickpeas, red onion slivers, Kalamata Olives (halved and pitted), crumbled feta cheese, and a quick shake of crushed red pepper flakes.  It is cooked under a broiler for about 6 minutes.  My wife Teresa suggested adding some capers and marinated artichoke hearts to the pizzas, and they enhanced the taste perfectly.

Here is the link to the recipe:

https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/pita-pizzas-with-olives-and-feta

 

 

 

Reminder – Instagam

 

Follow me on Instagram at #senseichef.  I look forward to your comments on my posts, culinary and otherwise.

 

Upcoming Classes

 

Here is my schedule for the fall term.

 

September 26 and October 3 – Wednesday Evening – Up Your Tailgate Game – Plum Center

 

October 12, 19, and 26 – Friday Evening – Cooking Basics 101 – Plum Center

 

November 10 – Saturday Morning – Holiday in Sicily – Plum Center

 

November 27, December 4 and 11 – Tuesday Evenings - Easy Gourmet Meals/One Step Further – Plum Center

 

To register for these classes, or any ACE cooking classes, please go to:

 

http://www.fcps.edu/is/ace/

 

While there, be sure to check out the other culinary courses offered by ACE’s excellent chef instructors.

 

Till next time, keep cooking.

 

Contact Chef Kevin at: KJBrady@fcps.edu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purple Pesto # 2; Guinness Stout Ice Cream; Asian Dish – Lo Mein Noodles with Hoisin Meatballs.

Post date: 24 August 2018

 

With this week being the third anniversary of my ascent of Mt. Fuji, I thought I would start off this post with a photo I took from the summit as the sun rises, a truly thrilling experience.

 

The latest installment of my Summer 2018 Ice Cream Project is a Guinness Stout Ice Cream.  With my abundance of purple basil, I made another purple pesto, this time with oregano added.  I also tried a new Asian dish, Lo Mein with Hoisin Meatballs 

 

 

Stout Ice Cream

 

I continued my Summer 2018 Ice Cream Project with a batch of Guinness Stout Ice Cream.  One of the best things about this recipe is that you get to drink the stout you do not use in the ice cream.

 

I found the recipe on the Saveur magazine website, which is based on a recipe from the I-Scream shop in Kingston, Jamaica.  The recipe recommends using Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, which I had never heard of before.  However, I found it right next to the regular Guinness at the package store. The ingredients are quite simple: stout, sugar, kosher salt, egg yolks, heavy cream, and vanilla extract.  The results looks like coffee ice cream, so your taste buds are in for a surprise after this setup.  Link to recipe is below.

 

https://www.savwur.com/article/Recipes/Stout-Ice-Cream

 

 

 

Purple Pesto # 2

 

As I mentioned in my last post, I had oregano growing next to my purple basil plants, so this week I followed through on my idea of adding oregano leaves to the basil in the food processor.  I used 1 cup of basil leaves to ½ cup of oregano.  I served it with spaghetti and blanched broccoli, and it was quite good.  I also have a spicy oregano plant in my garden, so next week I will try the recipe again with this type of oregano.

 

Lo Mein Noodles with Hoisin Meatballs

 

 

I found this recipe in the summer issue of Food Network Magazine and it sounded delicious so I decided to try it.  Link to the recipe is below.

In a quick glance the dish may appear to be a version of meatballs with fettuccine, but the taste is definitely Asian.  You use 2 tablespoons of Hoisin sauce in the meatballs.  For the next time I am thinking of kicking their taste up a bit by using 1 tablespoon of Hoisin and 1 tablespoon of Thai Chili Sauce.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/lo-mein-with-hoisin-meatballs-5389402

 

 

 

Reminder – Instagam

 

Follow me on Instagram at #senseichef.  I look forward to your comments on my posts, culinary and otherwise.

 

Upcoming Classes

 

Here is my schedule for the fall term.

 

September 26 and October 3 – Wednesday Evening – Up Your Tailgate Game – Plum Center

 

October 12, 19, and 26 – Friday Evening – Cooking Basics 101 – Plum Center

 

November 10 – Saturday Morning – Holiday in Sicily – Plum Center

 

November 27, December 4 and 11 – Tuesday Evenings - Easy Gourmet Meals/One Step Further – Plum Center

 

To register for these classes, or any ACE cooking classes, please go to:

 

http://www.fcps.edu/is/ace/

 

While there, be sure to check out the other culinary courses offered by ACE’s excellent chef instructors.

 

Till next time, keep cooking.

 

Contact Chef Kevin at: KJBrady@fcps.edu                          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Fall ACE Schedule now available; Purple Pesto; Mint Ice Cream

Post Date: 15 August 2018

 

With my ACE classes finished for the summer, I will concentrate on finishing my Summer 2018 Ice Cream Project and getting ready for my first ACE class in late September, Up Your Tailgate Game.  I will also be working on a cookbook which I hope to have out in 2019.

Mint Ice Cream

 

I continued my Summer 2018 Ice Cream Project with a batch of Mint Ice Cream.  My mint plants are doing well, so I was easily able to get the required 1 cup of mint leaves.  With the exception of the substitution of mint leaves, the recipe is the same as the Basil Ice Cream I made a few weeks ago – milk, heavy cream, egg yolks, pinch of Kosher salt.  It was delicious and a nice addition to my repertoire.  

Purple Pesto

My 2 Purple Basil plants are doing great, so I decided to make a “purple” pesto.  Aside from the color of the basil, the rest of the recipe was the traditional one – the basil, olive oil, pine nuts, parmesan, and black pepper.  I usually do not add salt to my pesto as the parmesan seems to make it salty enough for me, but I always taste just to make sure. I served it on Farfalle (bowtie) pasta.

 

Growing next to the basil is a batch of Golden Oregano.  Later this week I’m going to try an experiment by adding ½ cup of the oregano to the purple basil when I make the pesto again.  We’ll see how it comes out.

 

Reminder – Instagam

 

Follow me on Instagram at #senseichef.  I look forward to your comments on my posts, culinary and otherwise.

 

Upcoming Classes

Here is my schedule for the fall term.

 

 

September 26 and October 3 – Wednesday Evening – Up Your Tailgate Game – Plum Center

 

October 12, 19, and 26 – Friday Evening – Cooking Basics 101 – Plum Center

 

November 10 – Saturday Morning – Holiday in Sicily – Plum Center

 

November 27, December 4 and 11 – Tuesday Evenings - Easy Gourmet Meals/One Step Further – Plum Center

 

To register for these classes, or any ACE cooking classes, please go to:

 

http://www.fcps.edu/is/ace/

 

While there, be sure to check out the other culinary courses offered by ACE’s excellent chef instructors.

 

Till next time, keep cooking.

 

Contact Chef Kevin at: KJBrady@fcps.edu                          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACE Classes – Cooking Basics 101 for Young Adults concludes; My Fall ACE Schedule now available; Sumi-e Birthday Cake

Post Date: 8 August 2018

 

The above picture has nothing really to do with food; it is a photo of a cool art installation I saw yesterday at the Sackler Museum in Washington, DC, entitled Terminal by Subodh Gupta.

 

Now that my classes are over for the summer, it’s back to my Summer 2018 Ice Cream Project.  Next up is a Mint Ice Cream made with fresh mint from my garden, followed, hopefully, by a Guinness Stout Ice Cream.  I will also be getting together recipes for my first fall class, “Up Your Tailgate Game,” in September.

 

ACE Class – Cooking Basics for Young Adults Concludes

 

As we have been doing for the last few summers, we compressed the Basics 101 class into 3 consecutive days instead of spreading it out over 3 weeks. It is a bit intense doing it over 3 straight days, but we had a lot of fun and everyone’s dishes came out very well.  Our main courses were Pan Fried Chicken Italiano, Baked Salmon with Mustard, and Salisbury Steaks.  In the fall we will be back to the usual 3 week run for this class.

 

Pictured above is the first session’s menu – Provençale Salad, Pan Fried Chicken Italiano with Blanched Broccoli, and Blueberry Ricotta Parfait.  Below is from session 3 - Caprese Salad, Salisbury Steak with Sautéed Soy Sesame Asparagus, and Lemon Olive Oil Pound Cake.

 

My Upcoming Fall ACE Classes

 

ACE has released the fall catalogue.  I have 4 classes on the schedule from September through December: Cooking Basics 101; Easy Gourmet Meals; Holiday in Sicily; and Up Your Tailgate Game, recipes perfect for the parking lot or family room, wherever you choose to watch.  Date, times, and locations of these classes are listed below.

 

Sumi-e Style Birthday Cake

 

I baked a cake for my mother-in-law’s birthday last Saturday.  Since she used to do the Japanese Sumi-e painting and I am currently taking classes in the medium, I decided to decorate one in the Sumi-e style (picture above).  The cake was a vanilla cake with the icing made from butter, confectioner’s sugar, vanilla extract, a bit of milk, and food coloring.  The picture represents “Diamond Fuji,” when the sun is directly over the crater so that it looks like a diamond in a setting.  The branches have plum blossoms, which bloom in February.

 

Reminder – Instagam

Follow me on Instagram at #senseichef.  I look forward to your comments on my posts, culinary and otherwise.

 

Upcoming Classes

 

Here is my schedule for the fall term.

 

September 26 and October 3 – Wednesday Evening – Up Your Tailgate Game – Plum Center

 

October 12, 19, and 26 – Friday Evening – Cooking Basics 101 – Plum Center

 

November 10 – Saturday Morning – Holiday in Sicily – Plum Center

 

November 27, December 4 and 11 – Tuesday Evenings - Easy Gourmet Meals/One Step Further – Plum Center

 

To register for these classes, or any ACE cooking classes, please go to:

 

http://www.fcps.edu/is/ace/

While there, be sure to check out the other culinary courses offered by ACE’s excellent chef instructors.

 

 

Till next time, keep cooking.

Contact Chef Kevin at: KJBrady@fcps.edu                          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current ACE Class Summer Soups Concludes; Upcoming ACE Classes – Cooing Basics 101 for Young Adults and Japanese Cooking in Your American Kitchen v2.0; Japanese Stir Fry with Eye Round Steak.

Post Date: 25 July 2018

Current ACE Class – Summer Soups

This 2 session class concludes this Saturday morning, July 28^th at 10 AM at the Plum Center in Springfield.  Last Saturday we made 2 cold soups, a Romesco and a Honeydew Melon/Blueberry Soup.  For a warm soup we made Courgette (Zucchini) Soup.  Pictured above is one of the student creations.  This week we will start off with a Sweet Chili using a sweet Thai chili sauce.  We will then make 3 different versions of Gazpacho – a red, a white, and a green (pictured below).  Each team will make one then we will share and taste.  For a third soup, I am thinking of doing a cold Japanese corn soup.

Upcoming ACE Classes – Cooking Basics 101 for Young Adults and Japanese Cooking in Your American Kitchen v2.0

As we have been doing for the past several summers, we are once again offering our Cooking Basics for Young Adults for three straight nights at the Plum Center, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, August 1, 2, and 3, starting at 6:30 PM each night.  In each session we will make a full three course meal: soup or salad; main entrée with a vegetable side; and a dessert, while leaning knife skills and safe food handling techniques.

The Japanese cooking class meets on Wednesday evenings, August 8 and 15, at the Plum Center at 6:30 PM.  In this class we will explore both Washoku (Japanese Cuisine) and Yoshoku, Japanese takes on western cuisine, such a Hanbaga (say it out loud, same emphasis on each syllable).

Japanese Stir Fry with Eye Round Steak

 

I was going through my freezer and found 3 eye round steaks, so I thawed them out and decided to prepare them with a Japanese twist.  I cut the thawed steaks into strips, seasoned with Kosher Salt and Japanese Sanyo Pepper, the marinated the strips in a mix of Sake, Mirin, and Low Sodium Soy Sauce for about three hours.

 

I did a stir fry in a large skillet with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.  While cooking the meat, I boiled the remaining marinade to use as a sauce when serving.  I served the dish on a bed of Jasmine Rice and green beans.  For the green beans, I punted, using frozen green beans (you could also use peas.)  The final dish is pictured above.  It turned out really well, so I will be adding this dish to my classes repertoire.

 

 

Reminder – Instagam

 

Follow me on Instagram at #senseichef.  I look forward to your comments on my posts, culinary and otherwise.

 

Upcoming Classes

 

Here is my schedule for the rest of the summer term.  The fall schedule will be out soon.

 

August 1, 2, and 3 – Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday Evening – Cooking Basics for Young Adults – Plum Center

 

August 8 and 15 – Wednesday Evening – Japanese Cooking in Your American Kitchen v2.0 – Plum Center

 

To register for these classes, or any ACE cooking classes, please go to:

 

http://www.fcps.edu/is/ace/

 

While there, be sure to check out the other culinary courses offered by ACE’s excellent chef instructors.

 

Till next time, keep cooking.

 

Contact Chef Kevin at: KJBrady@fcps.edu                          

Upcoming ACE Class – Summer Soups; Chicken and Peach Personal Pizzas; Ginger Ice Cream

Post Date: 19 July 2018

Upcoming ACE Class – Summer Soups

The class meets on Saturday mornings July 21 and 28.  Session 1 meets at Woodson High School and Session 2 meets at the Plum Center, 10 AM both days.  In the first session we will make both a cold and warm soup.  The cold one will be a Honeydew Melon and Blueberry Soup (pictured above).  For our warm soup (pictured below) we will be making Courgette (Zucchini) Soup which I learned from my friend Christine Blight in Provence last summer.  We add soft cheese at the end of the process to create a velvet (veloute) texture.

Chicken and Peach Personal Pizzas

I saw this recipe in the August 2018 issue of Cooking Light Magazine and it seemed so out of the ordinary that I had to try it.  The recipe calls for purchasing rotisserie chicken, but instead I bought and a couple of chicken breasts and cooked them earlier in the afternoon.  The peaches were not quite ripe, but they came out fine.  I added some yellow squash as additional topping on the ricotta/lemon zest base.  A drizzle of balsamic vinegar when serving was just the right touch.

Link to the recipe is below.

https://www.cookinglight.com/recipes/chicken-and-peach-flatbreads

 

 

 

Summer 2018 Ice Cream Project Continues – Ginger Ice Cream

 

 

This week’s installment of my Summer 2018 Ice Cream Project was Ginger.  I had a few recipes in my files, but I selected this one that used fresh ginger root rather than ginger powder.  The ginger is peeled then roughly chopped, placed in a pot with heavy cream, sugar and vanilla extract, then boiled to extract the ginger flavor.  After boiling the mixture is combined with sugar and eggs, then left to cool before going into the ice cream maker.  I was afraid that the ginger flavor might be too strong, out it turned out to be subtle.

 

 

 

Reminder – Instagam

 

Follow me on Instagram at #senseichef.  I look forward to your comments on my posts, culinary and otherwise.

Upcoming Classes

Here is my schedule for the rest of the summer term.

 

August 1, 2, and 3 – Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday Evening – Cooking Basics for Young Adults – Plum Center

August 8 and 15 – Wednesday Evening – Japanese Cooking in Your American Kitchen v2.0 – Plum Center

To register for these classes, or any ACE cooking classes, please go to:

http://www.fcps.edu/is/ace/

 

While there, be sure to check out the other culinary courses offered by ACE’s excellent chef instructors.

 

Till next time, keep cooking.

 

Contact Chef Kevin at: KJBrady@fcps.edu