April 2015 – the good karma cook

Now that culinary school has come to an end, I just wanted to share some photographs of food I made both at school and at home over the past year or so. Some photos are from before I even started chef school, and they continue right up to the day just after I finished. Last weekend my friend Rianna and I catered for a charity event where we made a build you own vegan buddha bowl buffet, and it was so much fun! Before attending culinary school I would have never expected I would be able to cook for so many people out of my tiny kitchen.

This experience has enriched me in so many ways. Yes, it did teach me how to create crazy difficult dishes that I never knew I as capable of. You want me to butcher and cook a whole rabbit, braise its legs, roast its saddle, make whole wheat pasta, a pasta sauce, and a rabbit jus in three and a half hours? Sure, no problem! But culinary school also taught me discipline – how to wake up at five in the morning and be in class by seven, prepped and ready to go. It taught me how to be resilient and push through making mistakes and physical exhaustion. It toughened me up, and made me feel strong, competent, and confident in myself. Most of all, culinary school made me feel inspired, as the chefs I had the opportunity to learn from all exhibited so much passion and pride in their work that it was infectious. I am so grateful that I got to have this experience, and for all the awesome people I met who made it memorable. Cue photo time!

Our time travels take us back to May 2014. I had just recently applied to the culinary program at George Brown, and celebrated by making this fresh and colourful chicken salad. It’s like a bright and cheery rainbow in a bowl, with red cabbage, carrots, cucumber, edamame, almonds, black & white sesame seeds, and cilantro bulked out with romaine and doused in a tangy citrus dressing.

In September 2014, I had moved into my boyfriend’s apartment and we enjoyed a fresh late summer dinner of baked salmon, asparagus, quinoa, avocado, and a tomato & basil salad. The basil we grew ourselves from our bay window herb garden.

Salmon dinner with avocado and couscous — A late summer meal.

When I first started school I was in a class called Cafe Production, where we worked in teams in a large scale kitchen to produce food for the student run take out restaurant. But this was no ordinary take out food! For example, this rich and creamy mushroom soup made with porcini and portobello mushrooms.

I was so inspired after class that I would come home and start experimenting in my own kitchen.

Honey Dijon Chicken Thighs with Curried Butternut Squash & Rice, and a Broccoli, Apple and Kale Salad with a Creamy Yogurt Dressing — Honey Dijon Chicken Thighs with Curried Butternut Squash & Rice, and a Broccoli, Apple and Kale Salad with a Creamy Poppyseed Dressing.

Butter & Thyme Baked Tilapia, Roasted Turnips and Beetroots, and Wilted Beet Greens with Basmati Rice.

In October, and in the spirit of Octoberfest, I made a hearty meat and potatoes meal and served it with a side of Braised Red Cabbage, Onions, and Apples.

Braised Red Cabbage, Onion, and Apple — Making the Braised Cabbage.

Also in October, I visited my parent’s country home in Cobourg for Thanksgiving. My mother is a bit of a gardening enthusiast, and her raspberries were ripe and ready to pick.

After the Thanksgiving holiday, Chef School continued and I worked on my knife skills.

Chopping away at some veggies for a spaghetti sauce.

Dicing away at some more roasted veggies to serve as a side dish.

It was around this time that I also started my baking course at George Brown so I brought home so many indulgent pastries and desserts.

Eclairs and Creme Puffs — Eclairs and Profiteroles. These were probably the most difficult thing I have ever attempted to bake before! I also (almost) ate the whole box after to console myself with how hard the class was…

Buns — Cute little buns! Made into even cuter little sandwiches!

A very simple onion quiche made with fresh pastry dough.

The best damn Apple Pie I've ever eaten in my life — The best damn Apple Pie I’ve ever eaten in my life!

Little apple pockets made with from scratch puff pastry (another one of the most difficult things ever! But so rewarding, never had better pastry in my life before!).

Chocolate Mouse Cake — Chocolate Mousse Cake

In December I continued to work on my knife skills, especially my julienne which I find the trickiest. For this dish I made a sweet and spicy Marmalade marinade for my white fish that I baked in the oven, and a quick stir fry with rice (if you haven’t noticed already, I eat a loooot of rice).

Working on the julienne! Getting a bit better?

Sweet and spicy Marmalade marinade — Sweet and Spicy Ginger Marmalade Marinade

In January I became obsessed with the concept of making take out recipes at home, especially my all time Chinese take-out favourite, Cantonese Chow Mein. Here I did a chicken and shrimp version.

Chopping and prepping all those vegetables!

Fast forward to March, and I had started my Foods of the World class. Each week was a different country. Japan was my favourite, we made maki!
Pork tacos anyone?

For the Italian week I assisted my Chef as the Sous Chef so I didn’t get to prepare the food for that week in class. But after class was over, Chef let me take home some extra beef cheeks so I could practice slow braising them in a red wine sauce at home.

Red wine stained and seared beef cheeks that are resting before braising, next to my prepared mirepoix.

Braised Beef Cheeks served with Steamed Asparagus, Oven Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes, Braised Pearl Onions, Mashed Potatoes, and a Red Wine Reduction — Braised Beef Cheeks served with Steamed Asparagus, Oven Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes, Braised Pearl Onions, Mashed Potatoes, and a Red Wine Sauce.

And, last but not least, the vegan feast that my friend and I made last weekend for a charity event to raise money for a school in Ghana!

So. Much. Food. — Brown Rice, Oven Roasted Cinnamon Sweet Potatoes, Roasted Curry Chickpeas, Steamed Broccoli, Lemon and Lime Massaged Kale, Beet and Cabbage Slaw, and Carrot Slivers, with home made Tahini Dip and a Peanut Lime Dressing.

So, there you have it, my year in food!

I have many fond memories of visiting the Mandarin as a child with my extended family for holiday gatherings, and while the food is not top notch quality, who can resist all you can eat sushi, Chinese fare, and desserts! Oh so many desserts. My mom and I would always go overboard at the salad bar, and my dad and I would get plates full of only crab legs. Mostly, going to the Mandarin was a fun filled excuse to pig out, but if it had never been for a woman by the name of Joyce Chen, the Chinese buffet as we know it may have never been born.

Joyce Chen was born in Beijing in 1917 and is credited for bringing Northern-style Chinese cuisine to the West. Before immigrating to Cambridge, Massachusetts and opening her first restaurant in 1958, most of what was considered Chinese food in North America centred around egg foo yung and chop suey. At this time, Chinese take-out always came with bread instead of rice, due to the cultural influence of the Irish and Italian immigrants that resided in Boston and Cambridge at this time. Chen’s restaurant (aptly named “Joyce Chen Restaurant”) changed all of that. She introduced different styles of Chinese food that were authentic to where Chen grew up, and that Americans had never seen before, such as: Peking Duck, Moo Shi Pork, Scallion Pancake, and Hot and Sour Soup.

The dish that she is most known for sharing was “guo tie”, or what we would know as pot stickers. Back in 1958, diners had never seen this style of dumpling before, and Chen was afraid that her customers would confuse go tie with the heavy dough like dumplings of the South. She wanted to convey the meaty filling aspect of the dish, so she borrowed from Italian culture and named them “Peking ravioli”. The description of these Peking ravioli from Chen’s debut menu reads as follows: “Delicious Cresents — stuffed with meat and vegetables, served pan-fried, boiled, or steamed.” The name proved to be so popular that many Chinese restaurants in and around Massachusetts continue to call their pot stickers Peking ravioli to this day. In order to increase business at her restaurants during the slower nights of the week, Chen introduced a buffet to her customers of authentic Chinese food. In order to promote unusual styles of food to patrons who may fear commiting to the unknown, Chen offered unique dishes to the buffet that were not offered on the menu.

Not only did Joyce Chen revolutionize people’s conception of Chinese food, but she also changed the way we cook it through the patented invention of the flat-bottom wok.

Her enterprise extended to running four restaurants, teaching cooking classes, creating a full line of Chinese cooking utensils, producing a line of bottled condiments and sauces, writing and self publishing a cookbook, and even staring in her own PBS cooking show called Joyce Chen Cooks. According to celebrity chef Ming Tsai, Joyce Chen is

“the Chinese Julia Child […] Joyce Chen helped elevate what Chinese food was about. She didn’t dumb it down. She opened people’s eyes to what good Chinese could taste like.”

In fact, her cooking show was even filmed on the same set as Julia Child’s first program, The French Chef.

An episode of her show, featuring her classic Peking ravioli recipe can be found here: http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/66dd64-joyce-chen-cooks-peking-ravioli — An episode of her show, featuring her classic Peking ravioli recipe can be found here.

Among her many accomplishments, Joyce Chen was also a healthy eating activist, as she refused to use Red Dye #2 or any other food colouring in her restaurant dishes. Her cookbook’s recipes did not include any MSG, and even had a forward by heart surgeon Dr. Paul Dudley White who promoted her book as being heart friendly, low in fat, and high in nutritional quality.

Her son Stephan Chen continues his mother’s legacy as the president of Joyce Chen Foods and the sales of her sauces, oils, spice blends, and frozen Peking ravioli through supermarkets in the United states. In 2014, the United States Postal Service included her in its “Celebrity Chefs Forever” series, commemorating chefs that revolutionized cuisine in the U.S., including Julia Child, James Beard, Edna Lewis, and Felipe Rojas-Lombari. Joyce Chen was not only a great chef, restaurateur, and entrepreneur, but also a creative innovator who shared her love of Chinese culture with all of North America.

References:

http://luckypeach.com/the-story-of-peking-ravioli/

http://joycechenfoods.com/about/legacy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Chen

Month: April 2015

My Year in Food Pics

Joyce Chen – Celebrity Chef, Restauranteur, Entrepreneur, & Innovator