Some of my portfolio from the last two years...

As promised, here are some pictures from both culinary school and a restaurant I helped open in 2008.




These are some of the very first things I made in school - biscuits! Not nearly as easy as I thought they would be, my first batch was less than successful... this attempt was much better.






This is from my garde manger class practical - it is a display of cold hors d'ouvres with a nautical themed watermelon carving in the back.



Oysters from a raw bar display with edible orchids.











Mother's Day Hat Cake made in advanced baking ... everything you see is edible. The cake is a basic yellow cake with fruit preserves in the middle, covered in buttercream icing and overlaid with fondant. The ribbon is also fondant. Everything else was piped by hand.



Millet pilaf with vegetables and a peanut butter - key lime sauce... yummy!










Asian pear dessert with hazelnut topping and a tellicherry pepper-caramel sauce with port wine reduction.


One of my all-time favorite desserts: sweet ricotta and mascarpone parfait with fresh fruit.










Shrimp spring rolls with Thai chile dipping sauce.




Salmon gravlox sashimi on cucumber slices - American Regional final.











That's all for now... please feel free to comment/question on any of these! =)

I am DONE with school!

Sorry (again!) for being away so long ... but I had to finish up my school so now I have a few weeks before I go pick up my Associate of Science degree (woot!!) and I walk in the graduation ceremony in May.

My plan for now is to continue working at The Surf Bar and Grill in Cocoa Beach while I try to get my "Chef For Hire" business off the ground. I put together a to-do list (and updating this blog was on the list) and now need to get a web page, some business cards, and join a few organizations, but hey, this is a start, right?

On a personal note, my boyfriend Brett and I celebrated our two-year anniversary in December. He's also in the restaurant industry, and is in the management program at Outback. We have three cats, which we completely spoil as our kids, and all of them are strays we adopted.

Over the next few weeks I will be uploading a bunch of pictures from school and work to build my portfolio, so keep checking back!

No, I didn't fall off the face of the Earth, I promise!

It's just been a really crazy busy hectic and overall INSANE year. In the last 12 months, I have moved 3 times, changed jobs at least 3 or 4 times, gone back to school, and changed boyfriends once... YIKES! I periodically overhaul my life once in a while, but yeah, this is kinda ridiculous. So rather than blather on about everything in ridiculous detail, the important stuff is this: I moved back home with my parents once I started going to culinary school (p.s. YAYYYYY I love it!!!), which proved to be the final straw in my 2 yr relationship with my boyfriend, so after a lot of thought and lots of talking, we agreed to part on good terms and he moved back home to Ohio. I started working at the Ron Jon resort nearby, in their fine-dining restaurant, and actually really enjoy my job, even though I'm front of house at the moment. I've just started my Principles of Foods class -- and On Cooking might just be the best book ever by the way -- which makes this my 4th month in school (only 12 months til my apprenticeship and 16 til I graduate - woot!!!). I finished Intro to Baking and Pastry last Thursday, and am very proud of all the things I made. Enjoy!



This was my table for my practical... I made everything you see here!



I am insanely proud of my strawberry rose on top of my fresh fruit tart!


I dare Martha Stewart to make a prettier cherry pie =)

SUCCESS!!!

The "full spread" - amazingly enough, there weren't too many leftovers!

I *earned* that wine!

Thanksgiving dinner ROCKED!!! I'm waiting to get the pics emailed to me from my aunt, so once that happens, I will post them on here.

Talk about a marathon! A true test of endurance - I was cooking for 9 hours straight! That's longer than I've ever cooked before, at one time. I started around 8:30(ish) a.m., and didn't sit down til around 6 p.m.! OMG my back and legs were burning in agony, I was physically and mentally exhausted, and yet, it was all worth it when my dad told me how perfectly everything had turned out, and how proud of me he was :D WOOHOO!!!!

The menu had some last-minute changes, most notably the addition of another turkey (yes, that would be 26 lbs of turkey total) and the omission of the ham, cheesecake (*sniffle* I really wanted that too), and macaroni and cheese, due to a lack of time and space in the oven. All in all though, I had a great time making everything - I made sure my iPod was fully loaded and juiced up, and ended up rocking out while cooking :)

Like I said, I'll post pics ASAP!

Hope everyone had a great Turkey Day!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I am not a baker.

But Wednesday night, I had to be. As I mentioned in my previous post, it was my boyfriend's birthday, and he had requested a carrot cake... yikes! What's a non-baker to do?

Well, fortunately I had a recipe in my box! My tried and true carrot cake was super-easy to make, and ridiculously yummy and decadent.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium - large bowl add the dry ingredients: 3 c all-purpose flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp baking soda, .5 tsp salt, 2 tsp cinnamon and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. Combine thoroughly and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix 2 c sugar, 1.5 c cooking/vegetable oil (I use canola) and 4 eggs. I like to mix very well, until everything is fairly fluffy. Once that's done, slowly fold in (preferably with a wooden spoon) the dry ingredients in small increments. When thoroughly combined, add 2 large jars of baby food carrots (this is where I cheat - I refuse to grate carrots if I don't have to, and baby food is essentially pureed carrots and water). You can also add .5 cup of chopped nuts if you'd like.

Pour batter into an ungreased bundt pan and bake for 1 hour, or until tester comes out clean. Remove when done and set on a cooling rack for 15 - 20 minutes before flipping the cake out. Let cool completely (another 20 - 30 minutes) before frosting.

Now my favorite part, the cream cheese frosting!

In a small - medium bowl, mix together 1 lg package of cream cheese (softened) with 1 c powdered (confectioner's) sugar and 2 tsp vanilla extract. Whip until fluffy and creamy. Resist the urge to eat all the frosting before it ever touches the cake!

Cajun Chicken Pasta

It was my boyfriend's birthday on Wednesday, so I made him his favorite dinner: Cajun Chicken Pasta. I normally make this with penne and dump a jar of alfredo sauce in and call it a night, but I've gotten to the point where I despise all things canned/jarred, so I figured, what the heck, I'll make my own alfredo!

I dried off the boneless skinless chicken breasts and sprinkled some of Emeril's Bayou Blast Essence on top. I preheated my oven to 350 degrees F and put the chicken on a stoneware pan to bake for 25 minutes. Then I kicked up the heat to 375 and baked another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile I set a pot of water to boil for my fettucine. In a saucepan, I melted 4 T unsalted butter and added 4 T all-purpose flour to make a white roux. Then I added a pint of heavy cream to make a bechamel. Once that was all sorts of lovely and creamy, I added 1 - 1.5 c freshly grated parmesan, and about the same amount of freshly grated locatelli romano. Seasoned with some freshly grated nutmeg (just a pinch really) and some freshly ground black pepper. Absolutely DE-LISH.

Once the water came to a boil, I salted generously, added my pasta, and cooked until al dente.

By then, the chicken was done, so I plated everything up and topped with some more grated parmesan and romano.

Everything was so scrumptious, we barely had any leftovers! The alfredo recipe was the easiest thing I think I've ever made, and by far one of the tastiest.

Let's talk turkey...

...and ham, and a gazillion sides, and desserts...

Before I get on my soapbox, let me explain my lack of recent posts... my digital camera, to put it mildly, sucked as far as picture quality, but hey, it worked... well, up until recently, that is. I think we should all bow our heads and observe a moment of silence for my dearly departed camera....

OK!

Now, I had a powwow with my dad today concerning Thanksgiving, which is always a massive deal in my family. My father is known for his brilliant gourmet menus, and Thanksgiving is a great opportunity to show off one of his new creations, while ringing in the holiday season.

Sounds fun, right? Well, my role in recent years has been to take care of 1 or 2 side dishes, which is no big deal ... until this year. My dad has to work Thanksgiving Day and won't be home til about 3 in the afternoon... which only leaves him about an hour or so before we normally eat. DILEMMA!

Guess who's making Thanksgiving Dinner now?

Yup! That would be li'l ole ME. EEEEKKKK!!! Pardon me as I panic!

"What's wrong with that, Marina? It'll be a wonderful opportunity to show everyone your culinary skills? And besides, it's only a turkey..." you may be saying. To which I must politely respond, "HA! 'Only a turkey' you say!"

Allow me to share with you my daddy-approved menu:

Roast Turkey, approx. 18 lbs., brined overnight and roasted to perfection served with Apple Walnut Sausage Stuffing and some sort of lovely turkey gravy (made with drippings, of course)
Orange-Honey Glazed Ham, approx. 5 lbs.
Roast Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes with butter, cinnamon and sugar
My uber-creamy macaroni and cheese
Cranberry sauce (definitely NOT the canned stuff)
Green Bean Casserole
Butternut Squash soup
Bread Pudding
Biscuits (probably buttermilk)
And for dessert... Pumpkin Cognac Cheesecake

Oh, and my mom can be counted on to bake a ridiculous number of pies, and get in my way in the kitchen...

And did I mention that no, contrary to what the above menu implies, we are not feeding a small army? Most likely, it'll just be my parents, my boyfriend, myself and maybe 1 or 2 of my cousins, although we are inviting at least 7 or 8 other people.

Anyway, anyone have any thoughts on the menu? Any turkey day staples I may have overlooked that should be added?

3 weeks suddenly seems like an awfully short amount of time to prepare...

Oh. My. God.

I went over to my parents last night, to cut and color my mom's hair (yes, I am a frustrated hairdresser as well) and to cook dinner for them. Yes, you heard me correctly: I cooked dinner for my mom and (more amazingly) my dad. The master chef himself was deigning to grace my dinner table, coming down from the heights of Mount Olympus to dine with us mere mortals.

Now, before you think I am mocking my poor father, you really have to know the man first. He is an amazing chef, and I can honestly say that I learned 99.99% of everything I know about cooking from him. I have always played sous chef to him, and I truly believe that that is the best way to learn how to cook.

When I still lived at home, I'd have to let him know, well in advance, of when I planned on using the kitchen, so as not to disrupt whatever menu he had in mind for dinner. And even when he would (grudgingly) consent to me taking over the kitchen for an hour or so, he would spend an inordinate amount of time looking over my shoulder, stirring unnecessarily, tasting frequently, and providing me with a running commentary on what I should be doing... then, when dinner time rolled around, he wouldn't be hungry and would end up leaving my mom and I to dine alone... only to stroll in right after we finished, and eat dinner while standing at the stove. GRRRR! Then he'd admit (once confronted) that whatever I had made was good, BUT needed a little more of this and a little less of that, and I should have plated it a little nicer... and so on and so forth.

This is (apparently) how good cooks become great cooks... but it's still really annoying.

Fast forward to last night.

I decided that the best way of impressing him (or at the very least, inviting the least amount of constructive criticism) was to K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid! - which is one of his favorite phrases) and bearing that in mind, I settled on Balsamic Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and a nice light salad (which my mom was good enough to make).

Frazzled as I was, going out the door to their house, attempting to remember to bring my mom's hair color, my cutting shears, a comb, a change of shirt and a jacket, I forgot to bring my camera!!! OY.

So I have no photographic evidence of the wonderful meal I made! And it was wonderful, according to my dad (!!!) who had quite a good size serving and left the table with a clean and empty plate.

I swiped the recipe for the Balsamic Chicken from my very good friend (and super chef!) Lea then simplified it down to its most basic parts.

My dad had thoughtfully taken out the chicken (about 6 good-sized boneless skinless breasts) the night before and marinated it in milk, so I rinsed and patted the chicken dry while the oven was preheating. After trimming off the excess fat, I mixed up the oil (.5 c), balsamic vinegar (.5 c) and about 4 cloves of garlic (peeled and rough-chopped) in the measuring cup and poured it into the casserole dish. I added the chicken and let sit for about 5 minutes or so, before adding 2 small yellow onions (quartered) and tossing everything to thoroughly coat. I cooked that for about 35 minutes at 375 degrees F, then kicked it up to 400 for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, I rinsed about 4 lbs of red potatoes and chopped into smaller pieces. Rinsed those off and added them to a large pot; added enough cold water to cover and set those to boil until soft. Once they were done, I drained them and added unsalted butter (4 T, or about half a stick), milk (uhh... not sure exactly how much, but I'm guessing about .5 - 1 c), mayo (again, not sure on the exact amount, but somewhere around .25 - .5 c), sour cream (about .25 - .5 c) and sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Mashed it all together, and served it with a pat of butter.

Wonder of wonders, my dad thought it was "very tasty" - YAAAAYYYYY! And... more importantly, we all sat down and ate together at the same time... all in all, it was a very nice night.