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                          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACE Class – Dolci Italiani/Italian Desserts II Concludes; Upcoming ACE Classes – Summer Soups; Two More Ice Creams – Rum and Basil Flavors; Cedar Plank Salmon

Post Date: 11 July 2018

 

The above picture has nothing to do with food, but it was one of the coolest things I have seen in a long while, so I decided to start off with it.  It is a Catalonian Human Tower which was part of the Folk life Festival on the Mall in Washington, DC.

 

 

ACE Class – Dolci Italiani II/Italian Desserts Concludes

 

Pictures in this section are courtesy of and used with permission of Leti Labell, one of the class participants.

 

This class finished on Saturday, June 30.  Ricotta cheese seemed to be the theme of the day.  We started off by making batches of fresh Ricotta, then made Ricotta Cheese Cakes.  I brought in cannoli shells, and we made the filling.  Each of the 2 teams made biscotti, one made chocolate and the other orange/cranberry, then did a swap so everyone had some of each kind to take home.  In addition, as an offshoot of my summer ice cream project, I had made Strawberry-Raspberry Italian Ice which I brought in and shared with the class.

 

Pictured below is another dessert which I had made earlier and brought in to share with the class, even though, geographically speaking, is half the world away from Italy.  They are called Mount Fuji, a riff on the Mint Blanc dessert, and I got the recipe from Kimiko Barber’s Japanese cookbook, Cook Japanese at Home.

 

To make them, you fist make meringues shaped like a volcanic crater, then when done top with sweet red bean paste and a mixture of marscapone cheese (so maybe a bit of Italian here), plain Geek non-fat yogurt and some sugar.  Matcha (Green Tea Powder) is then sprinkled on top just before serving.

 

Upcoming ACE Classes

 

I have one more ACE class on my July calendar; on Saturday mornings July 21 and 28 I will be doing Summer Soups.  This class will feature both cold and warm soups, with the final menu still to be decided. Session 1 meets at Woodson High School and Session 2 meets at the Plum Center 10 AM both days.

 

 

Cedar Plank Salmon

I bought some salmon fillets for dinner last Saturday, and my wife Teresa reminded me that I had cedar planks for grilling which she had given me a while back.  So I did a very simple prep, salt and pepper, then a glaze of honey and low sodium soy sauce.  They tasted great and better than baking them on a hot day.

 

Summer 2018 Ice Cream Project Continues – 2 New Flavors

 

I made 2 new ice creams since my last post. The first, pictured above, is rum flavored.  As you can see from the picture, I used Myers Dark Jamaica Rum, the same I use in my tiramisu.  The rum flavor is quite prevalent.  In fact, I would not recommend driving after having a second bowl.

 

For the basil ice cream, pictured below, I used the leaves of 4 different varieties which I have growing in my garden – Lemon, African, Purple, and Greek Columnar.  The flavor is unique and a bit surprising, as this is not a form one usually associates with basil, but it is quite good.

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.

 

July 21 and 28 – Saturday Morning – Summer Soups – Session 1 at Woodson High School; Session2 at the Plum Center.

 

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