Cooking School Week 1

This is the first week of a long going project. This is starting with the basics, roast chicken, saute, stir fry. It's going to continue into the next few weeks with the basics, in repetition. Until, at some point you will understand the basics of cooking. There is saute, roast, braise, grill, etc... Then, you will learn to apply any product that you want to those basic cooking techniques.
Please leave comments that you may have for me. Any ways in which I can improve this to make it easier to read, understand, follow, anything... Thanks.
Heidi


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Week of February 14- February 21

MONDAY

ROAST CHICKEN, MASHED POTATOES, BROCCOLI, AND PAN GRAVY

CHICKEN: Pre-heat oven to 375F. Wash the chickens and pat dry. Season very well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place in a roasting pan and roast in the oven for about 1 hour (or so) or until a thermometer reads 160F. (The meat will carry over to the correct temperature of 165F before you eat it.)
POTATOES: Peel (if desired) 6-8 potatoes, wash, and cut into thirds. Place in a pot large enough to hold all and fill with cold water. Add a good amount of salt to the water. Allow to come to a simmer and maintain until the potatoes are tender. Heat the milk while the potatoes are cooking, about 1/2 to 3/4 C (more if needed later. Also allow the butter to get to room temperature (1/2 stick). Strain the potatoes when they are tender. Run them through a food mill or mach by hand. Add the butter, milk, salt, and pepper to taste. Adjust the consistency by adding more milk if needed.
BROCCOLI: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the heads off the broccoli into edible size pieces. Keep the stems for soup at a later day. (try putting in a plastic bag and freeze) Mince 4 cloves of garlic. Get a bowl of ice water ready for the cooked broccoli.
GRAVY: Remove the chicken from the pan. Set on a serving platter to rest. Pour in a dash of wine (whatever you're drinking), using a wooden spoon scrape the bottom of the roasting pan. Pour that liquid into a saute pan. Add one can of chicken stock and allow to boil down to a sauce-like consistency. Add a few small pieces of butter in the end. Season with salt and pepper.
*At the end of the night pick all the remaining chicken off the bone, save for tacos later in the week. Save the carcass in the freezer in a plastic bag for soup on a later day.*



TUESDAY

CHICKEN TACOS

Use the remaining chicken from the night prior and make chicken tacos. I had you buy pre-made salsa and canned refried beans for the convenience. Yes, making your own is nice, but only if you have the time.

CHICKEN: Saute in a hot pan with a small amount of canola oil, season the chicken with chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper.

Grate pepper jack cheese, heat the bean, use some of the mesclun lettuce leaves that you have.

Yes, I understand that this is just tacos and you have them all the time, but it's utilization. Using up what you have, plus, we have to start this whole cooking school thing off slowly, with the basics. And, I know that you all would have taco with drawls if there weren't tacos on the menu! :)



WEDNESDAY

TOMATO SOUP WITH GRILLED HAM AND CHEESE

TOMATO SOUP: Cut up 1 onion, 1 carrot, and 1 celery; they don't have to be perfect because the soup will be pureed. However you don't want to cut them so large that they take a long time to cook. Heat a large stock pot, add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pot. Add the carrot, onion, and celery (also known as mirepoix). Allow those to cook until the onions become translucent and the rest to soften. Add four cans of whole tomatoes, juice and all. Fill each of the cans with water and add it to your soup. Add salt and pepper. Allow all of this to simmer for about 1 hour. Then, puree in your Vita Mix blender (or you can use the handheld blender that I know you have hiding in your cupboards somewhere). Finish the soup with some heavy cream; about half a quart, and chopped basil. Finish seasoning with salt and pepper.
GRILLED HAM AND CHEESE: Spread the whole grain mustard on the inside of the bread. Lie on slices of each; ham and cheddar cheese. Spread butter on the outside of the slices. Sear on the hot flat top on the stove. Or, you could also turn on the grill and place them on a hot grill, press them with a foil-wrapped brick to press down like paninis. Don't forget to turn them half way through, to make authentic paninis; bring on the gelato and Italian wines!



THURSDAY

PORK AND VEGETABLE STIR FRY

The key to stir-frying is gathering and preparing all of you ingredients before cooking. The core flavors in Asian cooking is called "GGS"; or Ginger-Garlic-Scallions.

Get a pot of water on to blanch your vegetables, don't forget to salt the water. Then, finely chop garlic, peel and finely chop ginger, and thinly slice your ginger. Cut some broccoli into bite size pieces, slice mushrooms, and slice red pepper. (yes Dad, pepper) Get a different cutting board and cut the pork into long thin slices, make sure everything gets washed very well after cutting.
If your water is boiling, cook the broccoli just for about 45 seconds, then, same with the snow peas.
Get a large, wide bottomed pan very hot. Add a good amount of Sesame Oil. Once that gets really hot add your "ggs". Allow to cook just for a minute. Then add your pork, once the pork is almost cooked add your peppers, snow peas, broccoli, and mushrooms. Finish with soy sauce and a little of the Sambal Olek. Season with salt and pepper.



FRIDAY

CLAM CHOWDER AND METROPOL BREAD

Clam chowder...mmm.
I know that you've made this before so I'm not really going to go into amounts or really telling you the details.
Remember to cook your bacon first, then remove the pieces. Cook your mirepoix in the bacon fat, and add flour. Once you've cooked the flour add the clam juice, clams, heavy cream/milk, and potatoes. Allow all to cook until the potatoes are done and the desired consistency is achieved. Then at the last minute add the bacon back.
Heat the bread and enjoy!

*REFER TO "COOKING LIKE A CHEF" MY COOKBOOK FOR THE FULL RECIPE IF YOU DON'T REMEMBER*

**Please read ahead to tomorrow about marinating the flank steak. Possibly get that marinating while your clam chowder is cooking. That will save time for tomorrow as well.**



SATURDAY

MARINATED FLANK STEAK AND MESCLUN SALAD

This is the Flank Steak from the Mabbettsville Market. So, I've had to purchase all the ingredients for the salad for lunch tomorrow. The key to this is the longer you can allow the flank steak to sit in the marinade the better it's going to taste.

FLANK STEAK: Marinate in 3 parts Soy Sauce, 3 parts Apple Cider Vinegar, 2 parts Rice Wine Vinegar, 1 part Brown Sugar, 1 part Honey, chopped garlic, and chopped ginger. Place the marinade in a large ziploc bag and add the steaks, or you can put them in a casserole pan and cover them with the marinade. Again, the longer they can marinate the better they are going to taste. Once you're ready to cook them get your grill outside very hot. Cook the steaks to an internal temperature of 125F. (that's Medium-Medium Rare)
SALAD: You can keep it basic, just Balsamic vinegar and Olive Oil. Or, you can do a little bit more if you'd like. Maybe like garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sambal olek, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, salt, and pepper. Use the common formula for vinaigrette. That's about 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. Or, just to taste. All the other stuff that you're adding to this Asian-type vinaigrette is just to taste. If you want a hotter-spicier vinaigrette add more of the sambal olek. Or if you like more garlic or ginger, feel free to add what you want... Trust me, it'll be okay, anything you want.



SUNDAY

LUNCH: FLANK STEAK SALAD

Flank steak salad... think of me and eat this.
Cut up flank steak, toast pecans, cut some celery. Mix together flank steak, celery, pecans, blue cheese, and mayo. Don't forget the salt and pepper.


DINNER: SAUTEED SALMON WITH RICE PILAF, SAUTEED MUSHROOMS AND GREEN BEANS

Get a pot of water boiling, don't forget the salt. Measure out 1 part basmati rice, and 2 parts water. Add salt to the water. Get the rice to a boil, cover and allow to be on the very lowest temperature of the stove, cook for 20 minutes. Cut the Salmon into portions that you want. Heat a saute pan, add a small amount of oil. Add the salmon pieces presentation side down first. Sear on the first side until you can see that it's starting to cook up the sides. Then flip to the other side, this should only take about 8-10 minutes, and you should only flip once. While the salmon is cooking, cut the ends off the haricot verts (green beans). Slice your mushrooms, and chop garlic. Cook the beans in the boiling water for about 3 minutes. Heat a saute pan and cook the garlic, add red pepper flakes, mushrooms, then add the green beans.



WEEKLY SHOPPING LIST
February 14-21
PRODUCE
Garlic 4 heads
Broccoli 4 crowns
Idaho Potatoes 5# bag
Snow Peas 1 handful
White Button Mushrooms 2 handfuls
Carrots 5# bag
Red Peppers 1 ea
Ginger 1 piece
Scallions 1 bunch
Onions, yellow 1 small bag
Celery 1 bag
Basil 1 bu
Mesclun Mix enough for 2 people
Haricot Verts 2 large handfuls (long skinny French green beans)


CANNED/PREPARED FOOD/GRAINS
Basmati Rice
Canned Tomatoes, Whole 4 cans (28 oz) Muir Glen Organics
Chicken Stock, Organic 4 cans, 16 oz each
Chili Powder small jar
Cider Vinegar
Clam Juice 4 jars
Clams, minced, canned (or you can buy fresh)
Cumin small jar
Honey
Paprika small jar
Red Pepper Flakes small jar
Refried Beans 2 cans
Rice Wine Vinegar
Salsa, freshly made, local
Sambal Olek will be in the ethnic food aisle, Indian Cuisine, has a green lid
Sesame Oil
Soy Sauce
Tortilla Shells
Whole Grain Mustard


MEAT
Whole Chickens 3-3 1/2# in weight, 2 ea
Flank Steak 3 ea
Bacon 1 pack get one with good meat to fat ratio
Salmon 2# Wild, ask how fresh it is, get from the head end, not the tail end
Pork 2# whatever is the cheapest and easy to cut into strips to saute
Black Forest Ham


DAIRY
Milk
Butter
Sour Cream
Pepper Jack Cheese
Heavy Cream 1qt
Tillamook Cheddar Cheese


OTHER PLACES
Metropol- bread for sandwiches, bread for clam chowder