Cooking Class at Lund's and Byerly's

Interested in how to prepare an elegant dinner at home with ease, grace and style? Come check out my up coming cooking class with Chef Tim Pohland. We will be preparing some great dishes that will make your guests think you spent hours in the kitchen. With my simple tips your eyes will feast as well as your taste buds on the restaurant quality meal you created at home.

Click here for registration information

A chef’s job is to create dishes with incredible taste, aroma and visual appeal. A food stylist’s job is to translate the perception of these qualities for visual media. Chef Tim Pohland and Food Stylist Rachel Sherwood join forces to share their secrets for creating professional tasting and professional looking food at home. They prepare Walnut Crusted Canapé, Herbed Chicken Breast with Wild Mushroom Barley “Risotto” & Lemon Asparagus and Molten Chocolate Cakes with Raspberry Coulis.

• Date:  3/15/2011
• Time:  6-7 p.m.
• Location:  Byerly's St. Louis Park

The Chef's Table on Water

10 Course dinner with wine on the water? Yes, that is correct on Carnival Cruise lines they offer a special Chef's dinner to a very limited number of guests. On our recent vacation to the Caribbean Joey and I decided to join 10 other guests in this unique experience. I was very curious how they managed to feed gourmet food to over 3,000 guests and 1,000 crew while sailing around for 7 days.
We were greeted promptly at 6pm by Executive Chef Ajit Kumar from India. He led us into the very efficient kitchen where we had a chance to look around and have a taste of Champagne and a few appetizers.  As Afit introduced his staff he served an Ahi Tuna Tartar on a Wasabi Crisp, A Duck Confit Pot Sticker, Steak Taco and a buttery Avocado Cheesecake

All of the offerings were delicious but I must say the Duck Pot Sticker was my favorite. The Duck filling was tender and savory wrapped in a delicate yet mildly crispy dumpling wrapper. Here we learned about how this kitchen was run. The kitchen was broken into 3 sections cold, hot and desserts. For all hot foods they had stations that were designated to a particular dish. Each station had two cooks working to create just that item. They would cover and stack them out on the line when complete for the servers to walk by and pick up just like an assembly line filling their tables orders.

Ahi Tuna Tartar

One of the many plates stacked in huge racks ready to be served

Dinners for the Evening

3 hot food stations

Servers picking up dessert

Chef said there are just 110 people who work in 3 different shifts to keep food flowing throughout the boat for 24 hours 7 days week. He spends about 3 Hundred Thousand Dollars for a seven day trip on food. Now that is a lot of food and as my mind keeps thinking I move to food waste. He said any whole leftover meals went to crew but food scraps all went to the on board incinerator where they were turned to ash and then dumped into the ocean. They dump about 30 miles off shore but still adding approximately 100 lbs of waste to the ocean each day. I was not so thrilled with this news but that is a whole other topic of environmental safely and responsibility.



On a lighter note, even I got to get in on a little of the action. Here I am assisting Chef whip up one of their classic desserts. The Chocolate Melting Cake is a favorite of most guests because of it's rich center.
 Back at the dining room a show to tantalize the eyes and the taste buds was just getting started. We sat down to our first course of Beef Carpaccio with  shaved Parmesan and a Balsamic Gelee.

 Next was a fried Brie and Calamari served with charred lime and preserved lemons. This dish was heavy but the citrus was bright and refreshing. 

The base of the Roasted Tomato Soup

I loved the soup as well. The bowl was so beautifully presented like a painters pallet ready for the canvas but here they poured a Fire Roasted Tomato and Poblano Chili Bisque over it and finished with a grilled corn relish and cilantro oil.

 

I enjoyed watching them prepare all the foods. The chopped Mediterranean Salad with shaved pumpkin and Feta Cheese was a delight to the eyes.

 The entrees were on the way first a fillet of Chilean Sea Bass with wine stewed shallots, leek emulsion and sweet pea risotto. The beef was an aged Filet Mignon topped with an onion streusel and three pepper mustard.

 

Finally we come to dessert, a home made chocolate gelato with a coconut gelee served with a sweet raspberry sugar tea cake. On the side a taste of the chocolate melting cakes I helped prepare earlier in the evening.

Overall the meal was amazing and such a great experience to see what can be created on a boat miles from shore.

New Year, New Foods, New Clients, New Adventures!

I love the New Year! I always feel it is my fresh start to begin a new plan and take on the world.

I am amazed at how fast the year goes by and all the things we pack into it.  It seems it was just yesterday when I was writing my very first blog entry. Much has taken place over that time. I have been blessed to work with several wonderful clients assisting them in taking their product image to the next level. I created a new logo and fresh image for my business Impressions. Sadly, I lost one of my best mentor and friend to ALS this past August. I know she is smiling down on me. I believe with each ending there are new beginnings. With her passing it was as if a welcome sign was hung on my door. I have had several opportunities to mentor others the way she did with me. I am excited to see what other gifts I will find.

I went to Italy to watch my best friend get married, I fell in love with a Polish boy and learned how to make Perogi as well as other interesting treats. I watched the movie Food Inc. and have been learning even more about how our food system really works. So far it has been fun seeking out resources from local farms. I have ate at several amazing restaurants and a few not so grand. My dear friend says I "need" to try this deep fried Twinkie that I currently avoid on a lunch date. Oh, and I must say that watching my 1 year old nephew Evan dance after he had a bite of my apple pie was one of the funniest things I have ever seen and the best complement I have ever received.

I have a feeling that 2011 will be full of similar festivities and great new learnings. Currently I am getting ready for a trip to the Caribbean. It is time to leave the bitter cold of Minneapolis for some sunshine, fresh fruit and relaxation. I am thrilled to meet new people and experience new foods. When I get back I jump right back into business with another set at Shop NBC, new recipe development projects and plenty of new restaurants to explore. It will be a good year! I can't wait to share it with you.

Cities 97 Sampler

Today is the day! Go get your new Cities97 Sampler volume 22 at Target stores. Take this opportunity to get your hands on one of a kind music and support local organizations. A special thanks to Spangler Design for inviting me to participate in creating this years cover. I was thrilled to give my services and to support such a great cause. I hope you enjoy it!

Food Mosaics

I had a blast making food mosaics today for a great client of mine. This is one of my favorites made our of celery, red grapes, blueberries and black beans. After much time, and plenty of patients I think it paid off as a beautiful piece of art.

Pumpkins and Pests

OK, Speaking of how much I love pumpkins I recently went out to pick a few very cute ones from the pumpkin patch.

 However, today I realized that some one else had already made a healthy snack of out them.

The culprit was caught with cheeks full of pumpkin.

 I guess squirrels also enjoy this fall treat. He seems to prefer his pumpkin seeds raw. Sadly I will not be carving these but I do get to go and pick out more. If you have any advice on how to keep squirrels away from my pumpkins I would love to know.

Pumpkin Time, Sweetened, Salted or Spiced

It’s that time of year again and I have to be honest it’s my all time favorite. There is something magical about the way the light shines through the colored leaves, the warm sun during the days and cool crisp earthy air at night that makes me so happy to be alive. It is this time of year that I love to bake and take in the joy of pumpkins. I have always loved pumpkins ever since I was a little girl they have been special to me. I don’t know if it is because my birthday just happens to land in this month or if  it’s the comfort of warm pumpkin pie or pumpkin soup. I love cleaning them out to make faces for Halloween and just letting a little one sit on the table as a decoration to brighten my day. I think pumpkins are one of the best things of earth.

With pumpkin time and all the many uses of pumpkins there is also a special treat, the seeds! Not only is pumpkin good for you it gives us tasty little seeds to snack on as well. When you are carving your pumpkins this year don’t miss out on these tasty treats. Which brings me to this challenge what tastes better, sweetened, salted or spiced seeds. I have three delicious recipes below for enjoying these seasonal seeds. I would love to know what one is a Halloween hit at your house this year.

Here is how to get started:

Basic Salted:

All recipes are for approximately 2 cups of seeds

1.     1.  As you carve, separate the seeds as best you can from the pumpkin flesh and the slightly slimy membrane (I love this part)

2.     2.  Put the seeds in a large bowl of cold water to clean then. The seeds will float to the top. Rub then between your fingertips to remove any extra pumpkin that may have made it into the bowl. Remove the seed and rinse them in strainer.

3.      3. Lay out two clean kitchen towels on the counter. Pour seeds on one of the towels and use the other to lie on top and help dry off the seeds. Allow to rest as oven heats so they will continue to dry out.

4.     4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrease. Transfer seeds to a baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil, 2tsp Worcheshire sauce (optional) and sprinkle with season salt.

5.     5. Bake for 20-40 until seeds turn lightly brown and become slightly crisp, stirring every 5 min to prevent burning. (If your seeds are too wet, this will take a bit longer to achieve)

6.     6. Remove from baking sheet, allow to cool and enjoy. Store in an airtight container.

Spiced:  

Follow directions above but instead of sprinkling with olive oil and salt in step 4 melt butter in a small pan; add all the spices listed below. Toss the seeds in the spiced mixture and bake as directed in step 5 above.

       1 1/2 tablespoons butter

      1 tsp cinnamon

       ¼ tsp nutmeg

       1/8 tsp allspice

       1/8 tsp cumin

       1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (more if you like them really hot)

       1/8 tsp salt

Sweet:

1 ½ teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 teaspoon Salt

½ cup Sugar

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Mix the spice, sugar, and salt. Blend well.

1.Bake seeds as directed above with just a little olive oil on them

2. Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-to-medium high heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and then the sugar mixture. Stir constantly.

3. Keep stirring until partially caramelized on to the seeds, leave partially sugary. Do not allow to burn. The sugar should be mostly melted but with a bit of un-melted sugar remaining.

4. Pour out onto parchment paper to cool and enjoy.

Now it’s your turn try one or all three. Maybe even get a little adventurous and make up your own. I would love to hear what you do to make these little seeds an unforgettable treat.