Calves' Liver with Almond Saffron Sauce

Today's recipe comes from one of my culinary classes and is something that I would have never caught myself eating. I walked into class that day thinking to myself that I did not want to eat liver, much less smell it. As I entered the classroom that day, I found a giant and I mean, GIANT, calf liver on the center work table, I was actually kind of amazed at how large a calf liver could be. 

Before I start the recipe, it should be noted that if a fresh liver is acquired, there is a thin membrane over the entire liver that must be carefully removed before preparations begin. With that said let the second course commence.

Ingredients
Serves 6

4 Tablespoons    Spanish Olive Oil
1 ounce              White Bread
2/3 cup               Blanched Almonds
2 cloves             Garlic, crushed
                         Saffron, a few strands
2/3 cup              Dry Sherry, or white wine will work in a pinch
                         Salt and Pepper
1 ¼ cup             Vegetable Stock
1 pound             Calves' Liver
                        All-purpose flour, for dusting
                        Chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
                        Crusty bread for serving

Begin with making the sauce. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet. Tear the white bread into small pieces and add to the skillet along with the almonds. Cook over low heat, stirring, until the bread becomes golden brown. Stir the crushed garlic and sweat until the garlic is very fragrant. Add a few strands of saffron as well as the sherry to the skillet and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and add the vegetable stock. At this point a blender or immersion blender comes in handy. You want to blend the sauce into a smooth mixture. A food processor would also work but the mixture will not be as smooth.

Once done, set the sauce aside and dice the liver into large bite size pieces. Dust lightly with flour that has been seasoned generously with pepper. Heat the remaining oil in a clean skillet, then add the liver and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until firm and lightly browned. At this point the liver should not be thoroughly cooked. Once browned, add the sauce over the liver and reheat gently. Once at desired temperature, place onto a communal dish, top with the fresh parsley and then serve it warm, with the crusty bread!

While I might not eat this a lot, I will eat it while at any Spanish restaurant that features it as an appetizer. 

Here is a picture of my plates after all my work:

As you can see, the saffron brings out a lovely shade yellow as well as adding a unique flavor. I also plated an extra plate as an appetizer to get a different feel. Having liver prepared right is definitely a must if you do not like liver. The dynamic of the entire dish was well thought out and is a must taste even if you loathe liver.

Until next the next dish!

The Second Course!

Good day, everyone!

So it looks like I have about 20 blogs on draft that I never posted while going through culinary classes. I was so excited and thoroughly invested in my classes that I put this blog on the back burner. I honestly should not have done that but I have since finished and graduated and am now working as a Certified Gourmet Chef as well as running my own catering business. Now that everything has settled I will be revamping this blog. I plan on taking those 20 or so blogs, re-editing and posting them.

I am really excited to continue this blog. My time has leveled off and I will be cooking a lot more at home, practicing and polishing skills. My lovely wife has been eating my food and loving every minute of it...I think. (/snickers) Maybe I will also have her guest post once in a while.

Until next time, let your taste buds salivate!

Second Week of Classes

This week was great for classes.

On Monday, we prepped stocks and other items for the next day's class and practice knife skills.

It was a lot of fun.

Tuesday was great. We ran a banquet meal set up, with every class providing something.

My class provided the soup. White Bean Au Pistou. It was a delicious soup, starting with browning bacon, and sweating the celery, carrots and onions. Deglazing the pan with a bit of white wine, and adding tapioca flour. Adding 2 gallons of chicken stock, bringing to a boil. Salt, pepper and Worchestershire sauce to taste. Once a nice simmer is going and the beans a re soft, we added a little tomato pistou (a mix of tomatoes, garlic and basil) and used an immersion blender to thicken the soup a bit.

Topped with a sliced bagette crouton, a tomato-basil concasse and a freshly baked parmesan cheese crisp, it was very delicious. A nice hearty soup that is right for any occasion.

What a great week!

Philly Cheese Steak Wraps with Raspberry Chipotle Sauce

Philly Cheese Steak Wraps

Ingredients

32 ounces Thinly Sliced Angus Beef Sirloin Philly Steak
3 large Green Bell Pepper, sliced in strips
2 large Vidalia Onions, cut in half and sliced
2 or 3 Garlic cloves, minced with salt and EVOO
2 cups of shredded Mozzarella cheese
8 ounces Cream Cheese
8 ounces Butter
10- 12 inch flour tortillas
Macadamia Nut Oil with Chili and Lime
Salt
Pepper

Directions

Take a mixing bowl and add the cream cheese and the butter together and using a beater (electric would probably be best here since they will be pretty firm), beat for 2 minutes until they have combined evenly into a nice fluffy mixture. Set aside while you prepare the rest of your mise en place.

Heat a teaspoon of macadamia nut oil in a skillet and add onions and peppers. Cook veggies until tender. I like to seared a few until they are half blackened. Add salt and pepper to taste, if you like.

In a separate skillet or after the veggies are done, you can set them aside and use the same pan. if using a separate skillet then heat another teaspoon or two of the oil up.

If using the same pan as the veggies, pour a tablespoon or more of white wine vinegar into the pan and scrape the pan for any veggie particles left on the pan. Once you have a nice little sauce add your garlic. After the garlic has become tender and a little tan, toss in your philly steak and cook thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Once all the cooked meat and veggies are done, you are ready to make some wraps!

Set up an easy assembly line of all your products and make sure you heat up the tortillas for easy folding.

Using a flexible spatula, spread some cream cheese butter mix on half a tortilla, stack on some meat. Not too much so as to prevent folding/rolling. Top with strips of onion and bell pepper, as well as some Mozzarella cheese.

Fold as you would a burrito, closing both ends.

Once all your wraps are folded, using a dry and clean flat skillet, or a panini sandwich press, heat your wraps until the tortilla is firm and a bit browned. This will melt all cheese and butter and spreading it through the meat and veggies.

After the browning, cut all the wraps in half with a diagonal cut and serve hot with a cold Raspberry Chipotle Sauce as a dip or drizzled on top.

Raspberry Chipotle Sauce

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 teaspoons adobo sauce
12 ounces of fresh raspberries
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar

Directions

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in jalapenos; cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Mix in the garlic, and adobo sauce and bring to a simmer. Stir the raspberries into the sauce and cook until soft, the raspberries should start falling apart, about 3 minutes. Stir in the vinegar, salt, brown sugar, and white sugar. Mix well. Simmer until thickened and reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Pour the sauce to a bowl and allow to cool overnight before serving.

Note:

A well-rounded partner for this meal is a dark green salad.

You can find a nice mixture of baby lettuces (Green Romaine, Red Romaine, Red Oak, Green Oak, Tango, Lolla Rossa, Red Leaf, Green Leaf), baby greens (Mizuna, Arugula, Tatsoi, Mache, Red Chard, Green Chard, Baby Spinach), Endive and Radicchio at any store, usually pre-packaged. Or you can just make your own mix from anything you prefer. Top the lettuce with mandarin oranges, brown sugar pecans and feta cheese. Using the Raspberry Chipotle Sauce as a dressing will take the flavors even further. Just make extra sauce!

Healthy Options:

Use fat free cream cheese.
Change the butter to any veggie spread.
Use whole wheat tortillas.
Try low fat mozzarella cheese.

Enjoy this great meal with friends and family!!




WARNING!!! WARNING!!!

Please be aware of friends and family's allergies. In this recipe, a nut oil was used. If there are people who are allergic to nuts, please use another type of oil, such as Olive Oil.

First Week Complete!

Well my first week of culinary classes is complete!

I am so thankful to my wife who let me start this course to my dream. My excitement when I got home tonight was so thorough that I was shaking! I can't wait to get into the meat of the courses and start my projects and get to know the other students.

My guinea pigs (wife, cousin and other friends) are also excited.

Since this was my introductory week, I don't have a lot of information to share, other than it was fun.

Tomorrow I will have a recipe up and next week I will have another post concerning the classes.

Enjoy your food!!

Culinary Classes!

Well this is it! I took the jump and applied for culinary classes and will be starting them January 17th, 2012. I am really excited. I honestly can't tell you how excited I really am.

I am also hoping that with these classes I will get new insight and will start this blog back up. While I think I was doing really well, I felt I was missing something. Along with the new start up, new recipes will come in. Not just the homemade recipes, but some exotic ones as well.

So Happy New Year!

Chapati: The Bread Spoon

Chapati is an unleavened (no yeast or baking powder) flat bread and a staple food among the people of East Africa, similar to the American Indian fry bread. Chapati is normally served with other foods like vegetable and meat dishes. Tearing off pieces of a chapati and using it to pick up other foods is the norm. Chapati is a bread and a utensil. I think it goes great for thick stews and chilis!

Ingredients:

2 cups white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
oil
water

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients well. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the flour mixture and mix in with your hands until flour feels a little bit like sand. Add enough water to form an elastic dough. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts.

Roll out 1 ball into a circle and spread 1/2 teaspoon oil over it. Roll the circle up, like a jelly roll, then roll it up again. It should resemble a snail shell. Do the same for the other three balls.Let the dough sit 20 minutes to 8 hours, depending on when you make them. Roll out into circles 10 to 12 inches in diameter. Melt a bit of shortening in a frying pan and wait until it is hot to cook the chapati. Cook rapidly and watch them bubble up.

Makes 4 chapatis.

Recipe doesn't really work with doubling due to the fact that it's easier to work this recipe when the portions are smaller, but they are quick and easy to make.

Notes:

Spread some butter or margarine on the warm chapati and sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on it for breakfast.

Healthy Substitutions:

*Use 1/2 white flour and 1/2 wheat flour or all wheat flour to make a healthier chapati.
*Skip the oil used when rolling up the chapatis.
*Cook the chapatis on a dry skillet or frying pan.