Strange, but delicious things are happening. . .

Authors Note: This article isn’t really about Voodoo. In fact, the only exposure I have had to voodoo comes from Disney’s the Princess and the Frog. Also, I will be talking about Seitan which is not to be confused with “Satan”. Article is appropriate for all audiences. 😉

Hello again! We have made it through week 3 at the Natural Epicurean and things are starting to flow a bit more. I feel like as student’s our personalities are jiving well and we are all a bit more confident and comfortable in the kitchen space at school. It’s nice to know a little more about what to expect day to day.

We have moved on to the Foundations section of our schooling where we are learning the basics about Tofu, Tempeh, Beans, Grains, Fruits, and Vegetables.

We started the week with tofu and tempeh and this is where the vegan voodoo began. Tofu Mayo! Can I just tell you that the recipe we used resulted in a tofu substance that mimicked mayo to a T! I could not get over how mayo-like it was! Vegan Voodoo in a blender!!!

We also made these delicious items:

Seriously- if you fall in the category of Tofu-Hatin’ come over and we will challenge that paradigm!
We headed right into a demo on beans. Our Chef Instructor demonstrated how to cook many different types of beans to perfection. As a kid I hated beans. . .I think it was a texture thing but I am now fully converted!

In our lab the next day we got to get our hands on those nutritious little beanies and we made the following:

Tuscan White Bean Hummus-Not Pictured

The deliciousness doesn’t end. . . like ever when you are in culinary school! Thank goodness we focus on health-supportive ingredients at NEACA!
We learned how to make Seitan and also a bit about Vegan cheeses and nuts and seeds in our next Chef Instructor Demonstration. If you are like me and you had no idea what Seitan is or how it is made let me tell you.

Seitan (say-tahn) also known as Vegetarian Wheat Meat and can also fall into the category for “Vegan Voodoo”: It is derived from the protein portion of wheat. It can stand in for meat in many recipes and I’ve even read that some vegetarians avoid it because the texture is too “meaty”. You basically knead Vital Wheat Gluten to form a dough that you then wrap into your desired shape and boil. You can add in different spices and seasonings if you are going for a specific flavor. It had an interesting texture but I did like it. If you have Celiacs disease or a Gluten Intolerance. . .Stay Away! It really might be Satan to you.

Now I want to just pause here for a second to let you know that ALL of the above happened in the first TWO days of class this week! We are covering so much material. It is exhilarating but also a bit exhausting which is one of the challenges of culinary school. You really have to work hard to come to each session of class prepared and ready to go. You have to try hard to get enough sleep and take care of yourself throughout.

Wednesday morning came and along with it a very fun lab on Fruit! We got to try some exotic fruits and some A-M-A-Z-I-N-G recipes. We were all SO ready to eat some fruit up after all of the beans and protein and we were not disappointed!

Apple Chow Chow-Not Pictured

And on the afternoon Menu:

Roots, Tubers, and Squash!

HAPPY THURSDAY!

Because you aren’t jealous yet here are even more pictures of the amazing food we made:

And in the afternoon we had another lab which included us all in the smaller kitchen moving as fast as we could to make the following:

And Roasted Buffalo Cauliflower- another one to dream about! Everything this week seemed extra tasty!

Whew. ..

Friday was a lovely half day where our Chef Instructor demonstrated how to cook different types of rice. She made us a DELICIOUS Saffron Rice Pilaf and Mushroom Risotto. Have you ever made risotto by hand? You stir for at least 30 minutes non-stop. Sometimes longer! This recipe will be on our practicum this coming week. I will let you know how it goes.

This week was challenging because we had multiple days where we had double labs. We usually have a lab in the morning and we switch gears and have a demonstration/lecture in the afternoons. Labs are fun and we are able to do more of the hands-on but it’s more dishes, more heat, more manual labor, etc. I felt pretty good but by Thursday my classmates and I were all pretty wiped out. In fact there was a bit of a mix up involving swapping a green zucchini for a cucumber one afternoon. Also, one of my classmates got in a minor fender bender. We were all pretty tired. This just comes back to trying really hard to take care of yourself and get enough sleep and regular meals while in school.

A personal challenge was also that we moved into our third and (fingers-crossed!) final apartment in the middle of the week. The evenings were especially hectic as we frantically moved our things out of the first two apartments and into the third. Because the first apartment was so large and had to store most of our things these last two weeks we had a lot of cigarette smoke transfer onto everything. We have literally had to do a baking soda and vinegar scrub on every toy, piece of furniture, shoe, appliance, etc. We have had to wash every stuffed animal, bag, headband, blanket, pillow, and all of our linen and clothes. We are so ready just to settle into our new and clean place. The light at the end of the tunnel is near though.

I can’t believe we will be a month in after this next week. It is going so fast. Well, until next time! I am still toying with different ideas for how to structure these posts so it might not always be a huge list of yummy food. I’ll try to keep it interesting.

Loves!
Ash

Food for Thought: Rennet. I can’t believe I’ve never really thought about how cheese is made or where the ingredients come from. Traditionally animal rennet has been used in the production of cheeses. And where does rennet come from? Here’s a brief explanation from good old wikipedia:

Rennet /ˈrɛnᵻt/ is a complex of enzymes produced in the stomachs of ruminant mammals. Chymosin, its key component, is a protease enzyme that curdles the casein in milk. This helps young mammals digest their mothers’ milk. Rennet can also be used to separate milk into solid curds for cheesemaking and liquid whey. In addition to chymosin, rennet contains other important enzymes such as pepsin and a lipase.
Rennet is used in the production of most cheeses. The mammal’s digestive system must be accessed to obtain its rennet. Non-animal alternatives for rennet are suitable for consumption by vegetarians.
Calf rennet is extracted from the inner mucosa of the fourth stomach chamber (the abomasum) of young, unweaned calves as part of livestock butchering. These stomachs are a byproduct of veal production. If rennet is extracted from older calves (grass-fed or grain-fed), the rennet contains less or no chymosin, but a high level of pepsin and can only be used for special types of milk and cheeses. As each ruminant produces a special kind of rennet to digest the milk of its own species, milk-specific rennets are available, such as kid goat rennet for goat’s milk and lamb rennet for sheep’s milk.

Not a very kind process. Luckily, there are vegetarian options. See more about this here. Cheese companies are not required to list if they an animal sourced rennet but some are nice and list this information regardless:

Something to definitely be aware of.