This week we will be making – Chicken, Leek & Mushroom Pie to coincide with British Pie Week 2022- March 7-13!
Whether savoury or sweet, pies are a comforting way to enjoy a variety of ingredients. Whether encased in flaky pastry or topped with mash, pies make a hearty, meal.
No other country does meat pies quite like Britain. Once you’ve mastered the basic art of ingredient preparation the filling and flavour combinations are endless. With high quality ready-made pastry easily available these days – even Mary Berry admits to using shop bought pastry which we to will be using due to time constraints.
Our pie will have a crisp light, golden puff pastry top and a rich, creamy filling, not for nothing is chicken pie considered a much loved classic of British cooking and a hearty winter warmer.
Our chicken will be paired with leeks and tarragon often used in chicken, egg and fish dishes. With long stems and narrow leaves, tarragon has a strong aroma and intense flavour, which is slightly spicy with a hint of anise.
Mild, sweet and oniony, leeks are a fantastically versatile vegetable that adds flavour and bite to many dishes and is a perfect marriage alongside tarragon.
Leeks are from the same family as onion and garlic they are an allium vegetable packed with nutrients and crucial anti-oxidants.
What to look for when buying; is a leek that is nice and firm, they can be cooked in many ways, steamed, stir fried and can be used in lots of dishes like soups and casseroles and pies.
In this week’s dish we will be using the following skills:
It’s still cold and wintery so we continue with our theme of Winter Warmers.
This week we will be making – Pork Stroganoff with Rice
A rich and creamy stroganoff is the perfect way to warm up on a cold evening. This pork fillet stroganoff is given extra depth thanks to oak-smoked garlic paste, which infuses the sauce with a fantastic flavour.
A dish traditionally using sautéed beef in a piquant creamy sauce, the onions adding sweetness, as a counterpoint to the tangy cream and the mushrooms giving it a savoury depth.
The dish dates back to the mid-19th century, and is named after a member of the Stroganov family, who were a group of highly successful Russian merchants and landowners: the richest businessmen in Tsarist Russia.
The first known recipe shows up in the mid 1800’s in a Russian cookbook. It became an iconic dish especially in the US however the dishes image became tarnished by those pouring canned cream of mushroom soup over poor cuts of meat.
The pork tenderloin is the same tender, lean joint as beef fillet. The pork tenderloin is a long thin cut of pork which can be roasted or braised. This cut is the eye fillet that comes from within the loin. It’s a lazy muscle and as such is lean and very tender.
The key to cooking pork well is an understanding of which cooking method is appropriate for each cut. Another important tip to remember when cooking pork is that the meat needs to be seasoned well with an array of ingredients to choose from like herbs, spices or a brine to impart flavour. Overcooked pork is dry and tough, so care needs to be taken when cooking. The cuts of pork most suited to rapid cooking include loin and tenderloin fillet.
The best cut to use in stroganoff is a cut that works well with quick cooking. That means you need something that is tender to start with that you cut across the grain to further tenderise.
In Russia, you will most often find traditional beef stroganoff served over fried shoestring potatoes (French fries). In the US with pasta and the UK, with rice. All as a way, to soak up the delicious sauce.
The key to a good Stroganoff is the meat an expensive ingredient and thus important to get the cooking technique right, making this a key focal point of this week’s class.
Points to consider;
type of pan to use
when to season
length of cooking
resting time
One of the most important things to remember is the need to remove meat from the fridge at least an hour before cooking this allows the meat to cook much more evenly, resulting in a better finish.
Season liberally just before it goes in the pan, and avoid peppering as it will burn leaving a bitter after taste. Season to far in advance with and you will draw moisture from the meat.
Ensure a heavy based pan gets very hot before the meat goes in, so oil (neutral- no flavour with a high smoking point) is almost smoking, and only cook one meat at a time to avoid loss of heat.
The heat is important in ensuring that the Maillard reaction takes place where the exterior of the meat browns and creates a wonderful roasted flavour. A knob of butter at the end of cooking will add both richness and flavour.
The most important thing is to get a good sear on the exterior without overcooking the inside.
It is very hard to achieve any degree browning on slices of meat, so for this recipe we will sear as a joint and then oven cook the slice after resting.
Resting time is very important when meat is cooked it needs time for the muscle fibres to relax – cutting into it straight away will result in a loss of moisture and unattractive blood spilling out into your sauce.
In this week’s dish we will be using the following skills: weighing, measuring, chopping, cutting, slicing, mixing/combining, blending, simmering, boiling, straining, searing and resting.
It is Chinese New Year and 2022 is the Year of the Tiger. Chinese New Year 2022 falls on Tuesday, February 1st, 2022, and celebrations culminate with the Lantern Festival on February 15th, 2022. The tiger is known to be king of all beasts in China and comes third in the Chinese zodiac. People born in a year of the Tiger are predicted to be brave, competitive, unpredictable, and confident.
This week we will be making – Prawn Chow Mein with a side of Shitake and Pak Choi
Food plays an important role in many New Year celebrations with families coming together for reunion meals and feasts.
There is so much more to Chinese cuisine than just your local takeaway. Chinese food is fairly healthy as dishes usually contain lots of vegetables. This country’s cuisine is fascinating and differs from many others as it lacks the creamy, butter-based sauces found in many other cuisines.
Food is central to Chinese New Year and festive dishes are chosen for their symbolism in bringing good health, long life, luck and prosperity into the coming year. Red is a symbol of luck and yellow for wealth.
Noodles, along with long beans, are traditionally eaten at Chinese New Year, as the long strands symbolise longevity for the year ahead. The preparation of the noodles is generally up to personal preference, as long as the noodles are not cut or broken as this would signify shortening of life, which would definitely not be a good start to the year!
This week we will be combining umami flavours with prawns and vegetables to create a tasty dish that is a more authentic version of this beloved Chinese takeaway. Our focus will be on Mise en place – a French term for having all your ingredients measured, cut, peeled, sliced, grated, etc. before you start cooking.
Chow Mein translates as ‘crispy noodles’, is mostly associated with takeaways, but when freshly made at home it makes for a satisfying tasty meal. There is a lot of speculation as to the exact origins of the dish, as most regions of China seem to have a version, but with such an array of interchangeable ingredients you can see why it is difficult to know its exact origins.
Chinese New Year is the pinnacle of the Chinese calendar and is also known as the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year. Celebrated by more than 20%, of the world; it’s the most important holiday in China and to Chinese people all over the world.
Five facts about Chinese New Year
· It is the longest Chinese holiday
· The festival causes the largest human migration in the world due to family reunions
· Children receive lucky money in red envelopes
· Firecrackers are always set off at midnight
· The Chinese decorate everything red for Chinese New Year
This week we will be using the following skills: measuring, chopping, and mincing, cutting, slicing, mixing/combining, boiling/simmering and wok frying.
Post-Christmas and cold weather equals a time for hearty, comforting meals.
This week we will be making – Classic Lasagne
Making a lasagne is a labour of love, one where the rewards are evident in every mouthful. This classic lasagne is hearty, comforting and will leave you wanting more. Just perfect for cold days when you need something warm and filling.
Lasagne is, for many, the ultimate comfort food – rich mince, creamy béchamel sauce and layers of tender pasta are all a match made in heaven. Our dish will have a slight variation with the addition of bacon which will give the beef a boost of rich flavour.
This is a structurally sound dish that combines a slow-cooked, meaty ragù, smooth béchamel sauce and layers of pasta sheets with a little bite… Béchamel sauce is the most classic white sauce, one of the five mother sauces of French cuisine. Traditionally used as a base for other flavours, such as cheese or parsley, it is also a main component of lasagne, cauliflower cheese and fish pie.
Our Teen Chefs will learn what an onion pique is and the difference between that and an onion clouté is and where is it used?
Both are French culinary techniques used widely in French cookery. They are used to add flavour in stocks and sauces without adding colour or texture.
We will take a small onion peel and then cut in half and attach 1 or 2 dried bay leaves to the cut-side of the onion stud with cloves securing the bay leaf, this will be used to flavour our milk for our Béchamel. Once infused the onion will be removed cloves, bay leaf and all, as it would have served its purpose. The milk will then be thickened with a roux essential to the dish, the simple combination of equal parts fat (usually butter) and flour is a technique used to get the perfect sauce consistency.
Skills used include: Weighing, measuring, cutting, frying, peeling, chopping, sweating, browning, mixing/combining, simmering, reducing, infusing with an onion pique, making a sauce using a roux, layering and baking.
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