Lesson 2!

Lesson 2!

Menu:

Creamy Pumpkin Soup

Potato Gratin

Grilled Sirloin Steak

Sauces: Black Pepper, Bearnaise, Shallot Red Wine and Tartare

Lesson 2 was much more hands on with a lot more stove-work while the first was more explanatory and I must say, I'm enjoying every minute of it! I'll let the pictures do the talking!

Everyone hard at work, chopping, slicing, dicing...

Potato Gratin. Thinly sliced potatoes bubbling away in a cream sauce with a dash of nutmeg, topped with a layer of mozerella cheese, giving it a beautiful golden crust.

It's a really easy dish to prepare and impress with. Simple ingredients, minimal cooking yet bursting with flavour.

Crushing our beads of black pepper for our black pepper sauce.

Tania would say," Can't we just buy it off the shelve?"

All set for our very own black pepper sauce! Talk about being organized. I think my dad would be very pleased if he saw this at home.

Getting ready (and jittery) for the big "act".

Walah! We kinda thought stunts like that would be better left to the professional. That's called Flambe`, where you light the alcohol in your pan with a torch, burning off the alcohol. What's it for?

To look sey...

Making our own tartare sauce, which involves whisking that made 3 pairs of hands really sore. The basics of tartare is really just egg yolks, mustard, white vinegar and corn oil. The combination together with consistent whisking gives you a smooth creamy sunny yellow sauce, which in my opinion, is far better than commercial made ones.

Tadah! The 4 sauces we made from scratch. In order: black pepper, tartare, shallot red wine and bearnaise. I love the black pepper while Tanya and husband loved the shallot red wine. Now I can have sauces to go along with my steak besides plain old mustard!

Chef. Knife. Meat. Charming.

That's Aaron. The one out of two guys in our class.

Just adjacent to the cooking studio is a small outdoor area where you can grill your meats and enjoy alfresco dining.

The picture speaks for itself.

Personally, the dish I loved the most was the creamy pumpkin soup. Not only does it have a gorgeous orange glow, it has a soothing sweetness that's qualifies it as top notch comfort food! Everybody should have a bowl of this.

Creamy Pumpkin Soup

1 peeled, seeded butternut pumpkin cut into big dice

1 chopped leek

1 chopped onion

3 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp butter

4 sticks of fresh thyme

1.5 litres chicken stock

250ml cream

Salt

Pepper

1. Melt the butter in a large pot

2. Add in onion, garlic, thyme and leek, stir till it looks soft and yummy

3. Add in pumkin, cook gently for 5 mins

4. Add the chicken stock and let it cook for about 30 mins till the pumkin is soft and googey

5. Blend the soup and strain if necessary

6. Bring it back to boil and add cream

7. Check seasoning and serve with croutons!