(On a side note - I'm writing today from the Super Wash 'n Dry where I've began washing and ironing students uniforms for a little extra cash. We are only given three, and need 5 for the week, so it's tricky to get laundry done nearly twice a week just for school. So here I am, on my little laundromat bench, listening to the rinse cycle of sets and sets of white uniforms whirling around the machine.)
We began the week with Fresh Fruit Tartlettes. Much like the large Fresh Fruit Tart, this was an exercise in knife skills, fruit arranging, and imitating the chef. In this photo, the bottom left tartlette is a mock-up of the chef's, and the rest were left up to us to arrange.
We had in front of us mango, kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and oranges, which makes for an interesting combination all together. Unfortunately, the mango was not ripe enough, but, for practice purposes, we cut it up and used it anyways. For fear of seeming unadventurous, I resisted the urge to make what I consider the absolute most perfect, classic, and simple fruit tartlette - just plain ol strawberries atop the smooth layer of pastry cream. As an alternative, I opted to make a berry tart, which still involved some fruit slicing, and arranging, but was a tad more creative than just strawberry. And I'm quite satisfied with how it turned out.
As a way to challenge myself, I decided to use oranges on the next tartlette. In a sort of backwards logic kind of way, I sliced up an orange because it is otherwise the last fruit I would choose to use on a tartlette. I think it's good to go against your instinct to essentially force creativity in an otherwise uncomfortable subject area. This is how it came out. Kind of looks a bit like a flower, I think. It is the tartlette in the bottom right corner. After those three, I was left with no remaining kiwi, and no remaining ideas, either. After attempting several different looks, I sort of threw this one together. I quite dislike the mangoes, but I do like the one strawberry where the outside is exposed. I used this in the berry tart as well, and it seems to bring something really different to the table. Something I like.
Oh. My. Goodness. Next we made the single most delicious "cookie" we've made yet. Fig Newtons. Boy oh boy these are nothing like those dry, schmaky ones from the cookie isle of Safeway. A coarsely chopped, then reconstituted group of dried figs is cooked low and slow in a pot of sugar water - just enough to replump the figs, and give a nice amount of sweetness to the cookie. Then a Pate Sablee dough is made, which is quite similar to a crumbly shortbread, and rolled around the fig filling. Then baked as a log, and sliced while they're warm, these, are the perfect little treat. Not too sweet, and so so so super figgy (if that's a word!) they are splendid for breakfast, or afternoon tea. Then! In a moment of inspiration, I asked the chef if we could sprinkle the log with turbinado sugar, before baking. We were brushing on an egg wash anyways, for additional shine and color, so I figured a little crunch would finish them off nicely. I can guarantee my love of turbinado stems from my dear former boss Amy Wyatt, who loves turbinado! We used to roll biscotti in it, molasses cookies, press turbinado onto scones, etc. Good thing I put these in the freezer, because I think I need to eat one right about now - so addictive!
Next came a savory Caramelized Onion Tart with Tomatoes, Blue Cheese and Walnuts. What is better than a savory filling and a flaky crust? Not much. After tasting so many sweet things daily, this tart was quite enjoyable. This was a lesson in Galettes - free form tarts. Rumor has it next week we will be making a Fruit Galette, where you pull the crust up over a mound of fruit in the center - my favorite form of Galette.
The layout of the school's curriculum fascinates me. Although I've heard of most things on the curriculum, at first the order seemed quite strange, and random. However, since diving in full-force, it is laid out so that techniques build on techniques, more than recipes build on other recipes. For example, we have begun a few piping lessons, whether it be the whipped cream on Banana Cream Tarts, the piping of spritz cookies, or the piping of Meringue for Lemon Meringue Tarts. The Spritz cookies turned out quite lovely. A normal sort of recipe you would see in books and magazines just consists of butter, sugar, usually one egg, a little flour, and a little salt, with maybe some vanilla tossed in as well. But these have the addition of Almond Paste, which adds a really nice flavor. Then squirt a little jam in the center before baking and it all becomes delicious. And they're just so stinkin cute!
Writing this out makes me appreciate how much we got done this week! Next we moved onto Clafoutis (Klah-Foo-Tee), which is traditionally not baked in a tart shell. However, since we are in the tart unit, and for the sake of more practice at achieving the perfect tart, we put ours in a lovely Pate Sucree. Also traditionally, the pits are left in the Bing cherries. This is said to add an almond flavor to the dessert, but these days, you'd find yourself in a lawsuit pretty fast for serving pits in your fruit custard tart. So, we used pitted Bing cherries, but it still turned out wonderfully. The custard is simple, rich, and not too sweet, which in turn pairs perfectly with the sweet Bing cherries. Oh man it's good.
Then today. Such an interesting day...
First of all, there are only 8 students in my class (as opposed to the max of 12 pastry students per class) which is just fantastic. It means we get loads of one-on-one time with our chef, and that we tend to finish things really quickly and efficiently, so we often have an extra 45 minutes or so at the end of class. We have possibly the best chef for this situation. Some chefs in the school tend to talk through this lag time, but ours very creatively comes up with additional little technique practice, or simply fun things to do. The school, now called The International Culinary Center was once just The French Culinary Institute. We are students in The French Culinary Institute at The International Culinary Center, because we are still receiving a VERY classically French education. However, the addition of an Italian Culinary program resulted in the name change. So one afternoon, with an hour or so to spare, Chef pulled a Biscotti recipe from the Italian program. This actually spurred from the turbinado rolled Fig Newtons. We started discussing uses for turbinado, and decided to make biscotti - which are perfect for a little sprinkling of turbinado.
But today we made Meringue cookies! They are in the oven as we speak. Still, at 8:13pm, they're in the oven. For a nice dry Meringue cookie, it is nicest to heat the oven to 200, put the cookies in, and turn it off, shut the doors, and leave them to dry out overnight. Picture of those to come soon! That little addition happened to be both practice in developing a nice, still French Meringue, and also and exercise in piping Meringue, which I think has been the most difficult medium to pipe yet. Because of the intense amount of sugar, the raw Meringue is stinking sticky. So, as you release pressure on the bag, and drag it across your design for the finish, it tends to leave a longer tail than say, the little Spritz cookies, or even the whipped cream. So, we practiced. Some guys in the Pastry 2 class told me about a splendid little idea for practicing piping. We've become friends because one guy, Peter, from Taiwan, offered me some hot sauce with our family - style lunch one day. Up for an adventure, and always up for tasting something new, I unscrewed the lid to that sucker, and began splashing the sauce around my pulled pork. Then, a thought flew into my head - What if he was giving me the hot sauce as a sort of initiation/hazing to the culinary world?! Was I going to die of the heat? Lucky for me, Peter's a super nice guy, and genuinely wanted to enhance my dining experience - thank goodness! We eat lunch together pretty regularly now, and Peter always has a nice little something to bring to the table. While discussing Meringue, Peter and Aaron presented their very clever idea. During their Pastry 1 course, they saran wrapped their table at home, and practiced piping over, and over and over, without having to wash any surface. They just piped, and unwrapped the table. So clever. And I might just have to try it soon. But alas, here are the tarts which inspired our soon-to-be-eaten Meringues. (Pictures will be coming soon - but mine have vanilla bean seeds and coffee extract in them - yum!)
This one above is my particular favorite...
If this one (above) didn't have that funny little bloop in the bottom left hand corner it would be quite pleasing. Just not satisfied yet...
Even though raw Meringue is not my favorite thing, (I'd much rather have whipped cream on top...) they turn out very pretty with the dark edges, and the shiny interior. Then finished with candied lemon peel and voila! A tart.
And it continues! So. Many. Tarts.
This one, from today, I sliced up, and put in the freezer for when my mother, father and sister come to visit. Mom, if you read this - get excited. It's so yummy!
Made with a Meringue base and nut flours in replacement of regular all-purpose flour, this tart is just slightly sweet for a thin layer of jam between the shell and the filling, and slightly crunchy from a layer of sliced almonds sprinkled over the raspberry jam. This tart would make the perfect brunch pastry - slightly slightly sweet, great with tea or coffee, and not so rich that it leaves a gut bomb behind its wake. The texture becomes almost cake like. So so yummy. Then, we all had fun cutting templates for our tarts. Many girls did hearts (with Valentines day coming up soon) and there was an interesting range of using negative space and (regular?) space. Whichever the opposite of negative is. Positive space? Not sure. One student even made a deer head for hers, after becoming inspired by our lunchtime discussion. In German, the word for a tramp stamp (lower back tattoo), when translated back into English translates as Ass-Antlers. I learned this from my dear cousins Magdalena and Mimi, while staying with them in Austria this fall. With that thought fresh in her mind, Sophie put a deer head on her tart. And it turned out very cute! It almost looked wintery. Wish I had snagged a picture before leaving class.
Cheers.
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