PUTTING ON MY APRON AT APRON’S: I’m Ba-a-a-ck!

[Amy Warren, LMHC / WQ Mag Columnist]

The Basics in Culinary class at Publix Apron’s Cooking School was so much fun that I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to extend my culinary training with the Intermediate Techniques class. While most of my fellow students from the Basics Course intend to continue as well, many of them are waiting for another time when the timing is better for them. I, however, have never been into delayed gratification. So even though my plate is more than full at the moment, I begin this series with many new classmates--most of which, like me, have long held an affection for Apron’s classes.

This series began with a teaser of all the other fun options that Apron’s is offering during the holiday season including carving pumpkins, making gingerbread houses, baking holiday cookies, and galas on Halloween and New Year’s Eve. From the enthusiasm around the room, clearly I’m not the only one interested in attending additional classes this holiday season.

Chefs Jim Hendry and Mike McClure were our instructors for the evening. The format is the same as in Basics: we all cook together, they clean (another class bonus), we eat, drink and take home the leftovers. Now that we are advanced students, the recipes are going to be a bit more involved. The view is that we need less instruction, so there’s more time for hands-on cooking. Obviously, the menus are going to be just as, if not more, decadent than the Basics of Culinary series. The night’s menu was: Thai Noodle Salad with Grilled Skirt Steak, Grilled Vegetable Strata with Roasted Tomato-Goat Cheese Mornay Sauce, Seared Sea Scallops with Crispy Pancetta and Truffle Emulsion, and Fresh Peach Crostata.

Making Thai Noodle Salad with Grilled Skirt Steak
According to other Apron’s staff, Asian cooking is Jim’s specialty so when he found himself without the Ponzu sauce called for in the recipe, he was not to be deterred. Right before our very eyes, he improvised and devised a sauce which made us all proud. Jim’s dressings have the characteristics meant for Asian food: sweet, salty, bitter and spicy. It’s always good to hear the recommendations in someone’s area of expertise. When cooking Thai food, Jim’s preferred sweeteners are honey, brown sugar or palm sugar. Recommended noodles are lo mein, soba, buckwheat or rice vermicelli. When tossing noodles in Asian dishes, toss with mirin, sesame oil, or rice vinegar to keep from sticking.

Other tips:
 Remove the skin from ginger by scraping with a spoon.
 If you have sensitivities to glluten, La Choy soy sauce does not contain wheat.
 Skirt steak comes from the diaphragm of a cow and can be tough so it’s best to marinate it.
 To make any meat tender, marinate and slice across the grain.
 When marinating, plastic bags are ideal to use. Make sure to get out all the excess air so all of the marinade goes to the meat.
 Only use the white part of scallions when cooking, due to the bitterness of the green part.

Making Grilled Vegetable Strata with Roasted Tomato-Goat Cheese Mornay

Mike showed us the basics of grilling vegetables and roasting tomatoes. The tomatoes were then added to the mornay sauce (cream sauce with cheese added). The combo of roasted tomatoes and goat cheese in the sauce was amazing.
 When grilling, slice onions round to lessen the chances of falling through the grill.
 Scoop seeds from tomatoes to remove bitterness.
 For grill marks, turn whatever you are cooking once at 45 degrees.
 If you’re opposed to the bitter taste of tomatoes, scoop out the seeds.
 To clean a grill, brush, then put oil on a rolled dish towel, and roll across the grill.

Making the Sea Scallops

Pancetta, Italian bacon derived from pork belly, was rendered crisp and sprinkled over the sea scallops which were then drizzled with truffle emulsion. Once again, Mike led us in utilizing the technique of emulsification. The addition of truffle oil lent an exotic flavor that stole my heart.

Tips:
 If the scallops you buy have a muscle attached, remove this abductor muscle. Otherwise, you’ll chomp down on something tough and chewy.
 After rinsing or thawing scallops, place them on a paper towel to catch the moisture and dry them off. Otherwise, the scallops will poach themselves.
 Put scallops into a hot pan. If they stick to the pan, the pan isn’t hot enough.
 To salt foods, hold salt in fingertips up high over the food and sprinkle back and forth.

Making Peach Crostata

Jim showed us how to make both a free form tart called a Crostata (which we cooked on a pizza stone) and a traditional tart in a tart pan. When we did the taste test to compare, most of us seem to prefer the bulkier crust of the Crostata—although both versions were delicious as well as appealing to the eye.

Tips:
 Always refrigerate dough when making pastry. Let rest for ten minutes at room temperature before rolling.
 Maintain flour underneath dough to keep from sticking.
 When rolling dough, roll forward and backwards, then give one-third of a turn, and keep repeating.
 Roll crust to one-quarter inch thick or less.
 When making a tart, place dough over the pan and unroll, lift up and tuck into corners, press up against the side. Then take a pastry cutter to scrape excess. Press into the flutes of the pan. Then prick with a fork to keep from expanding.
 Leftover dough can be kept in the refrigerator for one week or frozen.
 Always use fresh whole nutmeg. Grate for a fresh powder and incomparable taste. I learned this tip long ago and follow it always.
 Use about a 4 to 1 ratio of cinnamon to nutmeg.

I had no regrets about signing up for the Intermediate class after this delectable experience! In fact, I was back the very next night for the Grilled Seafood class.
Interestingly enough, there was a chef of 25 years amongst the students who found there is always more to learn. I’ll be back and anxious to learn more at next week’s class. Stay tuned for one of these delicious recipes in the Recipe of the Week later this week.