Football Season

We're three weeks into the college football season and even though our beloved Wolverines are struggling (I'm being polite), we're enjoying the best part of being couch potatoes on Saturdays.  The eats!

Week one was a bit sad.  G & I were both sick so we had homemade chicken noodle soup.  I had just made some chicken stock the week before so we benefited from that, but still...BOR-ING.

Week two was definitely a step up.  Some friends stopped by to sample a menu of slow cooked pork carnitas tacos, roasted tomatillo salsa, and lime custard tart.  Oh, and we watched the game too.

Week three was at Mom's house.  The games were sad, but we weren't.  We feasted on turkey chili with all the fixins--minced onion, shredded cheddar and Jack cheeses, sour cream, cilantro, and oyster crackers.  Mom also made some dips for us.  A salsa dip, French onion.  I was in dip heaven.

Week four is a bye week so I have some time to think up what the menus will be for the rest of the season.  I feel the need to impress since the team sure isn't doing that.

First Day of School

Ah, charcuterie.  From the French, literally cooked meat or in Italian, Salumi, the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, pates, and confit, primarily from pork (courtesy of Wikipedia).

The chef for this class is world renown for his skill and passion for charcuterie.  He has two restaurants in the Detroit area, Five Lakes Grill and Forest Grill.  His text, co-authored with foodie writer Michael Ruhlman, is THE book on the subject.

On day one, the chef gave us a brief tour of the classroom and the equipment we'll be using:  sausage stuffer, smoker, meat grinder.  Then we partnered up and started production after an introductory lecture.  "All hail the pig!"

This week, my partner and I are working on products that will be smoked.  Today, we soaked whole chickens and duck breasts in brine and set them in the cooler overnight.  We sliced up some beef and mixed it with a spice rub for jerky.  We prepped smoked salmon, again by mixing a spice rub and leaving it to sit overnight.

I hear that we'll be tackling confit by the end of the week.

Ravioli Day

I was lucky enough to spend the day with my friend, Mary, earlier this summer.  She is a fantastic cook.  Even better, she's a fantastic Italian cook.  Back when Mary & I first met, I was domestically challenged.  And proud of it.  She would bring these fabulous leftovers for lunch everyday and make everyone else envious while we ate crummy fast food or humdrum frozen "entrees'.  Once we became friends, Mary would pack extra food and share her lunch with me.  I don't think I'd ever seen a yellow squash until she introduced me to her summer squash stew.  At Christmas, she'd make black bottom cupcakes and I couldn't get enough of them.

So fast forward and here I am in culinary school.  First of all, I believe that Mary is still shocked about that development.  Every fall, Mary makes a huge batch of raviolis for her family, "Ravioli Day".  I asked her if she wouldn't mind having a mini-ravioli day with me so I could learn from her expertise.

We made the pasta dough and the filling.  Then she taught me how to use the pasta machine and the molds.  We laid out the raviolis on the dining room table to dry.  

It was one of my favorite days of this summer.  I think we made 130 cheese raviolis, not to mention some fettucine noodles as well.  We stopped for a lunch break and Mary served some raviolis tossed with olive oil, parmesan, and blanched broccoli from her garden.  A simply perfect lunch.