Nicolas Hebert CULA 111 1MF Friday April 13, 2012 at 6:00 6 guests

Menu
Roasted Red Pepper Soup
A creamy, delicious soup made with red peppers, carrots, and a dash of sweetness.

Caesar Salad
A classic salad that anyone will love.

Braised Chicken Quarters

A quarter of a chicken cooked slowly for fork tenderness in a mushroom sauce. Served with roasted asparagus.

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake

A classic-style cheesecake with a decadant dulce de leche sauce.

Recipes for Dinner Project Roasted Red Pepper Soup 2 red bell peppers 1 c. shredded carrots 1 stick butter 1 onion, chopped 6 cloves garlic, minced 21 oz. chicken broth c flour 1 tbsp. sugar 1 pt. Half and Half 6 oz. tomato sauce Salt and pepper to taste. Clean peppers, cut in half and take out seeds. Lay face down on a cookie sheet and place in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until skin starts to char. Take the peppers out the oven and cool. Peel skin from peppers and dice. Put butter in pan on medium-high heat. Saut onions and garlic. Add peppers, carrots, and flour and stir until well blended. Add chicken broth, tomato sauce, sugar, half and half, salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, and once it starts boiling, reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 1 hour, then serve.

Caesar Salad 1 garlic clove, smashed with a pinch of salt and a little olive oil 4 anchovy fillets 2 egg yolks 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard 3 to 4 tbsp. fresh lemon juice 2 tbsp. water c. vegetable oil c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese Salt and black pepper to taste 2 heads Romaine lettuce 1 c. croutons To make the dressing, put the garlic, anchovies, egg yolks, mustard, lemon juice, and water in a blender and process for 30 seconds until the mixture is smooth. With the blender running, pour the oil in a steady stream to emulsify. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate if not using right away. To make croutons, cut bread into cubes, and coat lightly with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread pieces on a baking sheet and bake in a 325 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.

Braised Chicken Quarters with Button Mushrooms 1 tbsp. olive oil 6 chicken quarters 1 tbsp. Paul Prudhommes Poultry Magic tsp. salt tsp. black pepper 2 tbsp. butter 16 oz. white button mushrooms, thinly sliced 1 c. sliced yellow onion 1 tbsp. minced garlic 2 tbsp. all-pourpose flour 2 c. chicken stock 2 tbsp. coarsely chopped fresh rosemary leaves 4 c. steamed white rice 2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley leaves Heat a cast-iron pot over medium-high heat and add olive oil. Season chicken thighs with Poultry Magic, salt, and pepper. Place chicken, skin-side down in the pan and sear until golden brown. Turn the chicken over and sear the other side. Remove the chicken from the pan and add the butter and mushrooms. Saut the mushrooms, stirring occasionally, until brown and most of the liquid have evaporated. Remove mushrooms and set aside. Add onions and garlic and saut for a couple minutes. Sprinkle flour into pan and cook, stirring often to make a light brown roux. Add the tomato paste, stock, and rosemary to the pan, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Return mushrooms and chicken, skin side down, and cook the chicken for 30 minutes. Turn chicken over and cook until very tender, about 30 minutes. Serve chicken over rice and garnish with parsley.

Oven-Roasted Asparagus 1 bunch thin asparagus spears, trimmed 3 tbsp. olive oil 1 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tsp. salt tsp. ground black pepper 1 tbsp. lemon juice Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F. Place the asparagus into a mixing bowl, and drizzle with the olive oil. Toss to coat the spears, then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, and pepper. Arrange the asparagus onto a baking sheet in a single layer. Place into the oven and cook until just tender, 12-15 minutes depending on thickness. Sprinkle with lemon juice just before serving.

Classic Cheesecake Crust: 6 tbsp. unsalted butter 1 c. graham cracker crumbs 2 tbsp. sugar Pinch fine salt Filling: 32 oz. cream cheese, at room temp. 2 c. sugar 1 c. sour cream 6 large eggs, lightly beaten 2 tbsp. vanilla extract 1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest 1 tsp. finely grated orange zest Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees. For the crust, melt the butter. Brush a 9 inch springform pan with some of the butter. Stir the remaining butter together with the crumbs, sugar, and salt. Press the crumb mixture over the bottom of the pan, taking care to get the crust evenly into the edges. Bake until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool. Wrap the bottom and up the sides of the pan with foil and put in a roasting pan. For the filling, beat the cream cheese on medium speed with a hand-held mixer until smooth. Add 1 c. sugar and beat until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl and beaters as needed. Slowly beat in c. sour cream, then eggs, 1 tbsp. vanilla and both citrus zests; take care not to over whip. Pour into cooled crust. Bring a medium saucepan or kettle of water to a boil. Gently place the roasting pan in the oven. Pour in enough hot water to come about halfway up the side of the springform pan. Bake cheesecake for 1 hour and 10 minutes the outside will be set, but the center will still be loose. Meanwhile, stir together the remaining sour cream, sugar, and vanilla extract. Spread over the top of the cooked cheesecake and return to the oven for 5 minutes. Turn the oven off, cook the cheesecake in the residual heat in the oven for 1 hour. Remove the cheesecake from the roasting pan to a rack. Run a knife around the edges and cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight. Bring cheesecake to room temperature 30 minutes before serving. Remove the springform ring. Dip a knife in warm water, wipe dry before slicing each piece.

Dulce de Leche 1 qt. whole milk 1 c. sugar 1 tsp. vanilla extract tsp. baking soda Combine the milk, sugar, and vanilla in a large, 4-quart saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the baking soda and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low and cook uncovered at a bare simmer. Stir occasionally, but do not re-incorporate the foam that appears on the top of the mixture. Continue to cook until mixture is a caramel color, about between 1-2 hours. Strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Shopping List For soup: 2 bell peppers 2 carrots 1 onion 1 pod garlic 1 pt. half and half 6 oz. can tomato sauce For salad: 2 heads Romaine 1 can anchovies Dijon mustard 1 lemon Wedge of Parmesan cheese Bread for croutons For chicken: 6 chicken quarters 16 oz. white button mushrooms 1 onion Garlic (see soup) Rosemary Parsley For asparagus: Asparagus Parmesan (see salad) Garlic (see soup) 1 lemon For cheesecake: 32 oz. cream cheese 1 c. sour cream 1 lemon 1 orange For dulce de leche: 1 qt. whole milk

Prep Schedule Thursday, April 12, 2012 Make cheesecake so that it can cool overnight in the fridge. Make dulce de leche. Friday, April 13, 2012 3:00 start chopping all vegetables 4:00 Sear chicken 4:15 roast red peppers 4:30 put mushrooms into pot for chicken, and continue recipe 4:45 red peppers should be out the oven, and soup will be getting started 5:00 soup should be cooking already 5:30 chicken should be in the pot and covered, cooking 5:30 make salad dressing and cut romaine 6:00 serve first course 7:30 take cheesecake out refrigerator and heat dulce de leche

Dinner Is On Me Im not going to lie to you, Ive been dreading this project since it was assigned. I didnt want to spend all the time and effort that it took. Now that Ive done the project, I can see that I was right in dreading it. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, no doubt, but I feel like I could have been doing other things besides it. This is my honest account of the entire project. This project was assigned in January. I had 3 months to do this assignment, and like I do best, I waited until the last minute to do it. Maybe this wasnt such a good idea. I spent so much time thinking of how much I didnt want to do the project that I ended up really unprepared. When the time to do it actually came up, it was Spring Break. I basically composed my menu of class assignments and recipes that I had used in the past. One recipe, the cheesecake, required me to make it the day before, making it less stressful for when I actually started cooking. Since cheesecake cannot go unaccompanied, I decided dulce de leche because its the most delicious thing Ive ever tasted. I knew ever since I got a 98 on my braised chicken that I would be using it for my project. I mean, a 98s the best grade I could ever ask for in this class, so I figured it must be good. Also, I had given up meat for Lent, and actually wanted to be able to taste my A-worthy chicken. Ive always seen chicken paired with some sort of green vegetable, so asparagus was a logical choice, in my mind. I decided to do a Caesar salad because I knew my family would not take too kindly to having to eat a salad, especially when other food would be presented to them. The roasted red pepper soup was kind of a last minute addition because I could not figure out a soup, and delved into the recipes that my mom used to use in her Weight Watcher days. And thus, my menu was complete. Now was the fun part: shopping. Walmarts always a fun place to go, in my opinion. Ive been shopping there once a week since I was a fetus, so I know where every single item is in the

grocery section. I could go about shopping blindfolded. Now that I think about it, I shouldve done that and taken a picture for this project. But I digress. Finding everything was a breeze. In fact, we got everything so quickly, we forgot to take pictures, so we had to go back and take them. The total price of all the things we had to buy was about $70.00, which isnt bad, considering a lot was left over. I constantly had to keep reminding myself about the order that I was going to have to cook what. Im not the best with organization. Thursday comes around, and I make the cheesecake; no big deal. My favorite thing about any kind of baked good is that you just have to put it in the oven and forget about it for an hour. I took this opportunity to start the dulce de leche. After everything was cooked, I was relieved to be done for the day, but really nervous about the next day. I decided to start cooking at around 3, and I waited til the last minute to get ready. I had to stop for a moment because my mother had never seen me in my culinary uniform before, and she wanted pictures. I started my mis en place, and quickly saw how slow I was moving. I managed to get most of my vegetables chopped, but left small things like garlic and herbs until I needed them. I started the chicken on time, but ran into the problem that I didnt see coming. I had a small cast iron pot, and 6 chicken quarters. We tried to correct the problem by using a large dutch oven, which seemed like a good idea at the time. We browned the chickens correctly, and everything else went according to plan, but once the chickens went back in, things went wrong in the dutch oven. The chicken was sticking to the bottom of the pot, and the chicken was cooking so quickly that it was falling apart in the pan. The chicken was able to survive in mostly one piece, but it was ugly to look at. The roasted red pepper soup was easy enough, especially since

my mother helped by stirring it when I needed her. The Caesar salad was made almost right before it was served. The asparagus was also quite simple to make, but I think it turned out the best. It obviously wasnt a really bright green, but it had a better color to it than when I bought it, so I consider that a success. My family all really liked the food. My grandmother took the leftover soup home. Shed been asking for more since she finished hers in the first course. However, she was not taking my cheesecake home. I refused to let that little bite of Heaven leave my house. Even though I feel like I might have been lacking in presentation in my dishes, I kept getting nothing but compliments from my family, which is when I realized that it doesnt matter how it looks, because theyre my family, and theyre going to eat it anyways. And this is when I realized that I somewhat enjoyed this project. Now, as we end this project, I tell you that I am not going to be pursuing a career in Culinary Arts. Its just not for me. This is one of the main reasons that I didnt want to do this project. I didnt enjoy it completely, but it wasnt awful. Well, this blog thing is kind of awful. Sorry, just being honest. I dont like blogs. Anyways, I feel like if I was on the fence about continuing my culinary education, this project could have pushed me either way. Its not a terrible project, especially for freshmen. I think its important for people to learn early on how much planning goes into just preparing one meal, and that they should adapt their habits accordingly. This business is not going to adjust to them; theyll have to adapt to how the business runs itself. So, in short, the project was kind of lame, but kind of fun. I like Walmart shopping, and the food was good. Thats what its all about: good food.