Simple Dry Heat Cooking….

School’s officially started last week, and we didn’t have our first cooking opportunity until 3 days ago on Monday. It was a ‘colorful’ start as we were taught knife skills by Chef Martin & practiced the different basic cuts on LOADS of carrots & potatoes. Here’re 4 different cuts we did:

1. Julienne
- stick shaped
- dimensions: 1/8″ x 1/8″ x 2″ or 1/16″ x 1/16″ x 2″ (called ‘fine julienne’)
- called allumette when used with potatoes

2. Brunoise
- cubes of lengths: 1/8″, 1/4″, 1/2″, 3/4″
- can be obtained from julienne cut

3. Tourner
- football shaped, blunt ended cut with 7 sides
- done with tourne knife

4. Batonnet
- classic batonnet is a stick shaped cut (ie french fries) of 1/4″ x 1/4″ x 2″
- width comparable to standard chef knife’s rivet

They’re all in French, & the cut wasn’t as easy as it looks! (as least for me) Especially when obtaining fine julienne from a carrot…

No matter, we took all the little juliennes, brunoise etc, saute them with onions, added water, brought to boil, sprinkle of salt, some whipping cream, blended the ‘what was’ clear soup in the blender and voila! We’ve got deliciously smooth vegetable soup that has a bright yellow orange color!

There you go, a short casual recipe of carrot/potato soup =)

Today, we cooked Fish Curry with Lady’s Finger & Yellow Dhal – Indian cuisines (one of my total fave!) but I shan’t dwell into that.

*points at title* To practice dry heat cooking, Chef Andreas taught us Pan Fried Chicken Breast which was yet another simple delicious recipe. I couldn’t help trying it out at home again as I had all the ingredients on hand (being a big fan of spices..)

The chicken breasts were sitting in orange juices as I didn’t have lemons and the sweet citrus of oranges is much more preferable to me anyways =D Learnt that one really important factor’s heat control, I wasn’t used to the school’s crazy professional stove & the heat it produces hence the chicken ended up overcooked on the outside and was a little dry. Home’s stove? Perfect!………. Gotta start building new relationships with the new kitchens.

I’m not sure if we’re allowed to place the recipes here but the spices – oregano, basil, paprika.

One of my favorite spices is oregano as it has such special aromatic flavors, my nose really likes it too xD

There are a number of different varieties of oregano. The strongest is considered to be Mexican oregano (Lippia graveolens), which is actually from a different botanical family. Mexican oregano is also known as Mexican marjoram or Mexican wild sage and if your recipe calls for this specifically, try not to substitute. Spanish (Origanum vivens) and Greek (Origanum heraclites) oregano follow in depth of flavor.
- about.com Homecooking: Oregano Recipes & Information

Oregano is taken by mouth for the treatment of colds, influenza, mild fevers, indigestion, stomach upsets and painful menstruation. It is strongly sedative and should not be taken in large doses, though mild teas have a soothing effect and aid restful sleep. Used topically, oregano is one of the best herbal antiseptics because of its high thymol content. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, used oregano as an antiseptic as well as a cure for stomach and respiratory ailments. A Cretan oregano (O. dictamnus) is still used today in Greece to soothe a sore throat.
- wikipedia.com