In our final week of the Intermediate Techniques class at Publix Apron’s Cooking School, intermediate was the name of the game. We worked with rice paper to form Shrimp Rice-Paper Rolls with Vietnamese Dipping Sauce. We slow-cooked Braised Short Ribs with a Shitake Mushroom and Cannellini Bean Ragout that was to die for! We formed Andouille Potato Cakes with a Roasted Corn Salsa, and we did the tedious job of working with delicate phyllo dough for the delicious outcome of Mango, Banana and Peanut Strudel. Chefs Bob Vitiello and Mike McClure were our guides throughout the involved, but very fun process. Read on for some of the tips from this week’s class.
When making potato cakes, be careful not to leave any large chunks of ingredients, making them liable to fall apart. Another key factor in binding the ingredients is to chill the mixture first. When you use this technique, you can use less bread crumbs as filler because you don’t need as much binder. As with peppers or other vegetables with tough skin, when cutting sausage into pieces, cut with the skin side down. Panko is the preferred breadcrumb of the Apron’s chefs. This Japanese bread crumb is not as fine as your typical breadcrumb, giving a crunchier texture. When coating the potato cakes, the method is to use one dry hand and one wet hand as you dip first in flour, then egg, and finally breadcrumbs. Part of the rationale is to prevent from moistening the breadcrumbs, although Bob admits you won’t have a dry hand for long—I suppose it’s always best to start with good intentions.
Roasting corn can be done in a couple of different ways. Whichever way you do it, drizzle it with olive oil, salt, and pepper first. You can wrap it in foil or toss it on a cookie sheet and cook at 400 degrees.
Phyllo dough, which we used for our strudel, is temperamental to work with. It will dry out quickly and tear. Therefore, keep it covered with plastic wrap while you are working with other pieces. For best results, thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before working with it. If the sheets stick together when you try to separate them, just use both sheets. Brush with butter between layers. Use at least 3 layers of phyllo. Putting parchment paper underneath and then using it to help you form a roll is a good idea.
To braise, cook very slowly in the oven or stove over low heat. Leave the bone in meat when braising for added flavor. Cook with the bone side facing up. Don’t cover the beef entirely with stock, only about three-quarters of the way.
Dried mushrooms and the water in which they’ve been reconstituted add a wonderful flavor to stocks, sauces and in this case, ragout. To reconstitute dried mushrooms, cook in hot water for a minute.
When cooking vegetables in wine as we did for the ragout, reduce the wine by one-half, allowing the flavor to penetrate the veggies. To take the stem off of shitake mushrooms, simply twist the stem. You could also use the stems in stock. Once again, we were encouraged to spice without measuring; our minds were put as ease as we were told it’s “really, really hard” to mess it up. What I’ve learned (or at least been told) over and over again in these classes is to loosen up in the kitchen, take risks, be creative and you’re sure to succeed. Just look in the fridge and see what you have to add to whatever you might be making. Sounds so simple, doesn’t it? It's starting to seem like it is.
For the rice-paper rolls, we soaked each individual paper in warm water before filling it. I, of course, was the one to tear my wrapper—but true to my teachers’ words, it was a simple mistake to hide. We used another rice product, rice sticks which is akin to angel hair pasta as part of the filling. To cook the pasta, we simply brought the water to a simmer and put the rice sticks in the water. When it was time to fill our wrappers with the rice sticks, shrimp, cilantro, mint, basil, bean sprouts, julienned carrots, and napa cabbage, we soaked the paper, spread it to dry on a towel and then rolled it on the counter. And for the dipping sauce, as with any good marriage, the more time the flavors have to marry, the better.
As with the Basics of Culinary class, the Intermediate class ended with much discussion about where to go from here—the class about mother sauces, the holiday-themed classes, the Advanced class where we’d even make our own pasta and gnocchi. I’m beginning to get the picture….No class at Apron’s really ends. The last class is always the beginning of another, with all of the class members putting their heads together about which one to take next. You leave the class knowing you will meet again. You leave the class addicted...See you next time.
Comment by Amy Warren, LMHC / WQ Mag Columnist on October 7, 2009 at 11:41am
Comment by Marcy Stern on October 7, 2009 at 11:28am
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