Bronze!!! And it feels so good!!!

 

I apologize for having this posted a couple of days late, its just been crazy with the start of school. The competition was this past Saturday (the 22nd). What a thrilling experience!!! It was 2 hours and 30 minutes from start to plating. The competition is part of the annual ACF
(American Culinary Federation) Salon. It was a category F which is a two person team. I teamed up with my awesome friend from West Boca, Paige Desimone. Paige is  a Junior at WBHS and she is quite the teen chef. We had been practicing since July. Every Monday and Tuesday we would come into the West Boca Kitchen with Chef Hall ( our coach and head of the culinary academy) and practice techniques. The objective was to execute a 3 course regional ( native to FL) menu. The menu was as follows           

The Menu

Everglades Shrimp Salad

Spring mix with seasoned shrimp,

Tomato Concasse, Diced Florida Avocado

Dressed in a Key Lime Vinaigrette and served with an Herb Sea

Salt Cracker

      Sauté Snapper with a Grapefruit Butter Sauce

Fillet of Snapper covered in a Grapefruit Butter Sauce

and served with Tourne Potatoes, Sauté Spinach, and a Trio of Vegetable

Coconut Panna Cotta

Topped with a Tropical Fruit Salsa and served with Lemon Madeleine’s

30 Minutes for Set-up

(We had to bring everything)

  

Creating Salt Crackers for the salad

 

 Paige prepares the Dessert Plates, while I turn to check the stove
 

For the last 5 weeks my goal was to master the technique of filleting a snapper and well, I’m not sure if I have actually mastered this technique but I did a really great job of it. Lets say that there were many and I mean MANY snappers in my refrigerator. I had enough carcasses to make plenty of fish stock. I also deveined shrimp, made  herb sea salt crackers, cut and sauteed the vegetables and made the Panna Cotta. Paige sautéed the shrimp, piped the chocolate, tourned the potatoes ( which were marvelous), cut all the fruits, supremed the grapefruit and made the madeleines. When we first entered the room we were incredibly nervous and having the floor judges watching our every move didn’t help. There was a moment in the competition when a floor judge walked right up to my fish, picked it up, and inhaled its fishy odors. The pressure is on as they smell your cutting board to make sure its sanitary, measuring all your knife cuts, etc. 

Working on fillets with two judges looking over my shoulder

 

The Salad

  

There were four teams in the kitchen, each had their own work station. Each team starts off with a gold medal. Points can be deducted as you proceed. They check for sanitation, team work, food storage and technique. Two hours and 35 minutes later it was over.When it came time for the judging I almost passed out. Its incredibly intense to have your food critiqued by master chefs who know just about everything culinary. They had only a few criticisms and alot of good things to say. After us, they critiqued the 3 professional teams ( thats right, Paige and I were the only High School student team!). To our surprise we were both awarded a bronze medal! This was one of the greatest culinary experiences I have ever had. I definitely recommend you try a competition with your local ACF chapter or even if it’s a recipe contest. It’s okay if you don’t win something your first try ( hey, we weren't expecting to win anything) it’s all about the experience, learning new techniques and having FUN! Thanks to everyone who supported Paige and I, especially our parents, who shopped for ingredients, drove us to practice and kept us cooking. Well I'm off  to clean the dishes..... Keep on Cooking!

 Plating the Snapper

Happy Birthday Julia!!!

So yesterday I slaved over a stove for 9 hours for the birthday party of a lifetime, the only thing is, the guest of honor would not be attending. If you haven't read my blog on Julia Child I would suggest you do. It’s August 15, 2009 and Julia Child would have been 97 today. She died in 2004 at the age of 92. Some might remember her as the French Chef on TV (way before I was born) or the woman who wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but to me she was an inspiration. 

Julia wanted to change the way a home cook cooks (no TV dinners for Mrs. Child). Julia didn’t just change home cooking, she also built a bridge between the average person and the professional chef. I thought about what she had accomplished and her undeniable passion for food, and that inspires me. It’s that passion that is driving me to bring a generation of teen chefs together.

All of the dishes I made were from Julia’s book. On the menu today were six dishes (really 5, but I’ll get to that later), 9 hours of preparation and lots of butter! I started off with a French vinaigrette for a basic field greens salad. Then started the Petitis Chaussons Au Roquefort (Pastry turnovers with Roquefort Cheese). This was definitely a hit, even though I used blue cheese as a substitute. I then made a Tarte Aux Pommes (apple tart) and I made the dough from scratch.  Afterwards I made the esteemed Coq Au Vin (pronounced -Coco Van) which is a decadent stew of chicken in red wine (3 cups to be exact) with onions, mushrooms, and bacon. Next up was Ratatouille (sound familiar?) which is a delightful Eggplant casserole- with tomatoes, onions, peppers, and zucchini. The aroma from the Ratatouille filled the kitchen and I was soon thinking about Provance just like Julia said it would. The final dish was risotto but time had run out, so that would have to wait until next time. I had just enough time to clean up, look presentable and greet my guests, eight of my close friends (all teens).

My friends and I sat down to dinner and made a toast to Julia. We had some wonderful French bread and enjoyed the rest of our meal. It was like Julia was there with us (there was a place setting just for her), watching my friends and I enjoy the wonderful food. My friend Matt who never eats vegetables said he loved the Ratatouille and would not have eaten it any other way. Seeing my friends try new dishes and talking about the meal made it all worth while.  So thanks Julia and Happy Birthday!

Bon Appetite!

Practice makes perfect

    Sharpen your knives!!! I’m entering my first culinary competition this month. The competition is being held at the Florida Culinary Institute on August 22nd. I have entered the Category F competition, which is a two person team. I'm working with my awesome friend Paige Desimon from West Boca. We’ve been practicing for the past couple of weeks and things have been crazy. We’ve created a regional menu meaning its Florida inspired. 

We have fish, tropical fruit, and classical techniques. Supposedly the key to this competition is techniques. If you’ve mastered a technique such as tourneying a potato or filleting a fish you keep your medal. At the beginning of the competition you start out with a gold medal (how awesome is that) however, if you should make mistakes you are deducted points and move farther away from your gold medal. The panel of judges consists of teachers and master chefs (it’s nerve wrecking). Everything counts from your uniform to cleanliness. So far Paige and I are the only student team in the competition going up against 3 professional teams. Forget what you know about Iron Chef or Chopped, this type of competition is the real deal. There’s no secret ingredient, no room for accidents and 2 hours. There are other competitions on the same day known as the ACF Salon. Well that’s all for now but I’ll fill you in as the competitions gets close  ( 2 weeks!!!).  LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!