Categories
General Stuff

Finally In to the pastry section

ohhhhh my word working with pastry is so much fun. We made full puff , rough puff, short paste and sweet short paste this week at school

I made a selection of different things , mince savouries, sausage rolls, apple turnovers, sweet tart shells with chocolate mousse and berries and lemon meringue pie. My tutor was very happy , she said that my pastries looked and tasted like they were made with lots of love and passion. I had a bit of drama with my rough paste which I made apple turnovers with, as somebody stole my batch out of the class fridge , the ******** *********(leave that to your imagination:o) ) and so i had to remake and didnt think it would be so great , as it wouldnt have had enough resting , folding time but managed to get another couple of folds in by getting in to class early the next day .But everything worked out great, it came out light and nicely puffed and crisp

You can have a look at the pictures by scrolling down on the “Food I have made” column and clicking on the School link (im adding all my school pics in to one album

Categories
General Stuff

Soups and sauces

This last week we have been doing assessments for school , we have made things like bechamel/parsley sauce, veloute/chasseur sauce, demiglaze/mushroom sauce, hollandaise, pesto,salsa, cream of celery soup, seafood chowder

I have also made a roasted nectarine and melon soup which was served chillied and tasted fabulous

Next week we start pastries woooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooooooooo i seriously can not wait

**does a very happy dance**

soups and sauces

there is a link over in the blogroll if you cant see it here

Categories
General Stuff

Gazpachio Soup is a food straight from heaven

Im revisiting the classics at the moment at school which is great its good to refresh the dead memory cells from years gone by.

We have been doing the base soups and sauces this week, and making things like Chasseur, Maderia, Hollandaise which for me was a breeze, but so much fun to get back to.

Yesterday we made wonderful classics such as Borscht and Gazpachio.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Gazpachio has got to be one of the most wonderful simple tastes , such fresh and clear flavours of summer served cold with freshly cooked croutons for crunch. Super fresh vine ripened tomatoes and cucumber with garlic and capsicum blended with bread and basil and left to soak for a while the passed through a strainer and seasoned with seasonings of salt and pepper and fresh splashes of lemon to give you the most wonderful taste
experiences.

A Perfect start to dinner after a long day of studying and exams.

Tomatoes are one of my very favourite foods, especially in the summertime when they are fresh and rich in flavour and incredibly abundant and having them in this way is just one of the most perfect ways to appreciate this very special food

Categories
General Stuff

Im in love with the Food Network

I have just had Sky tv put in and just loving food tv

It has been inspiring me to do different things with food at home instead of the same old same old

Last Night I made a Fregola salad with carrot, cucumber, tomato and a little soaked dried apricots tossed in a passionfruit and black pepper dressing with Chicken breasts stuffed with blue brie and soaked dried apricots and coated in panko and lightly pan fried . mmmm delicious, will post a pic of it tomoorow

Tonight I made a very easy but tasty dish of beef sausage saute with cherry tomatoes, green beans and this amazing little tastebud tempter that i have just discovered…. Smoked red baby onions , ohhhh my word it takes something ordinary and gives it a nice little flavour boost , i had this with a slice of ciabatta bread

Categories
General Stuff

Eatons Mess

oh my gosh this has got to be the ultimate in sinful but easy desserts

went to a freinds place during the week and I provided dinner and dessert, We had a power cut so just made dinner super easy, a big ole antipasto and then followed by a cheats version of Eatons Mess

It was baby meringues mixed with whipped cream and strawberries and topped with flaked chocolate

the meringues were mixed flavours, passionfruit, lime, berry, strawberry and they all worked so well together

It took 5 minutes if that to mix up and tasted like a million dollars

Categories
Restaurant Reviews

yum cha

The Chinese have the right idea when it comes to going out for brunch. Yum Cha really is the best thing since sliced bread

I love this wonderful phenomenen of getting little plates of food with different tasty morsels on them , and trying a variety of different goodies, some of them fantastic, some of them good and some that may not be your particular taste.

We went to the Sunny Town Restaurant in Newmarket today for Bruces Birthday , we have been there about 4 times now and tried lots of interesting things, and I have developed some real favourites ;……. oh my goodness im such a dumpling fan , especially the prawn ones and the pork and spring onion ones. and delicious egg tarts.

I tried chicken feet today …… really didnt like those that much but at least now I can say I have tried them.

If you have never tried Yum Cha , take it from me , you really have to go and try it sometime , you so dont know what your missing out on

Categories
General Stuff

Leahs cupcakes

Leahs cupcakesMy best freind left Auckland this week to go and live 1800kms away in Dunedin Im going to miss her terribly.

I made her a going away dish of cupcakes. They were carrot with walnuts and sultanas and i iced them with a vanilla and tangerine cream cheese, that was decorated with fondant accents and edible glitter. She just loved them . I had some spares left over and gave them away to some elderly people. Reports back from the next day were “heavenly”

Categories
General Stuff

Christmas Dinner

I was in the kitchen on Christmas day , and loving it , I cooked apple syrup glazed ham decorated with apple rounds and cloves and baked in the oven, turkey with a almond, dried apricots and sultana couscous stuffing, roasted potatoes, gravy, condiments, steamed asparagus and fresh peas , with a green salad on the side.Dessert was a lemon cheesecake, traditional fruit pudding with vanilla creme anglaise and a peach and blueberry salad , please dont hesitate to ask if you want the recipes there are photos overĀ  in the blog roll , pop on over and have a look

Categories
General Stuff

Cinammon and Spice and all things nice

I have been doing a bucket load of baking this week making gifts for people and also doing some baking for a cafe

the house has smelt amazing , i made things like shortbread, chunky chocolate chip cookies, peanut brownies, spice and raisen cookies, butter cookies, gingerbread, coconut ice and rocky road . Everything made from scratch with great new zealand butter

http://picasaweb.google.com/tessa.shoebridge/MoreChristmasBaking2007

Categories
General Stuff

I Won A Bronze Medal

I entered a food and wine matching competition at the Salon Culinare 2007 ….. www.salonculinare.co.nz This is a national hosptality competition with over 1000 competitors in most aspects of the hospitality trade. This was my first live competition in over 20 years and I won a bronze medal . I was so pleased , I was competing against people from hotels like Skycity and The Hilton so it was really a big deal for me.

The vineyard was Dogpoint Vineyards

The wine I chose was Section 94 Sauvignon Blanc and to go with it I made oven baked pork cutlets with a orange vinecotto and grapefruit marmalade , served with crackling, steamed asian greens and udon noodles done with garlic bolt and julliene carrots.

Here are some photos of the show, me with my medal and my dish which is in the last part of the pictures, all the other pictures are just stuff that i thought was amazing

http://picasaweb.google.com/tessa.shoebridge/Hospitality2007