Blaine has been traveling this week (and he will most likely have a guest blog coming up this weekend as I can tell you that he attended a cultural dinner and dance and had to take the stage! I'll leave it for him to share!)
This morning was Crossfit at 8 a.m. for me. So convenient to walk across the street and get my workout in!! "Angie" was the workout today...challenging as always. Then it was a quick jaunt back home as I had cooking class at 10 a.m. and desperately needed a shower.
I made it back over to Publika with just enough time to grab a coffee before class started. Today's class was entitled "Scrumptious Dinner." You can see our menu below.
Christine was our chef today. She runs the "Masak- Masak" programs over at B.I.G. I really enjoy her - she's funny and knowledgeable and extremely helpful.
Chef Christine explaining today's dishes
We started our food prep soon after she explained the dishes. We began with the quinoa salad. Quinoa is really growing on me...and today's salad was delicious! The homemade garlic aioli made the dish! I've never taken the time to make aioli, but it was simple and can be flavored very easily to your tastes. (Mine was heavy on the garlic with some red paper flakes for a little heat.)
Food prep and the finished quinoa salad
The apple cider chicken with caramelized shallots and onions was next. We used two imported alcoholic ciders for this dish - one sweet, the other a bit on the dry side. (I will say they always provide top-notch ingredients for us to use at B.I.G.)
Ciders and the beginning of caramelized onions and shallots
I did not take a picture of my finished dish - which I should have - before I put it in my container to bring home. It had some amazing flavor with the cider and onions and a little bit of fennel and apple cubes. (Blaine is lucky as I'm saving it for dinner tomorrow night - so he'll get to enjoy the fruits of my labor.)
The final dish was churros with chocolate ganache. Christine made the ganache for us as we were running out of time and she figured she could easily whip up a big batch for us to take home.
Chocolate ganache
The churros were all on us. Just like making cream puffs or gougeres...not very complicated and not many ingredients. My dough came together nicely and soon I was shallow frying a bunch of yummy churros!
Into the hot oil
The finished product was rolled in cinnamon sugar and tasted fabulous - and made me a big hit at home for after school snack time today!
Completed churros and ganache
I was supposed to take only one cooking class this week, but, I'm embracing the whole "ing" thing - and the "go with the flow" part of things and signed up for another cooking class tomorrow since my schedule was open. Tomorrow we'll be doing a fresh fruit roulade with a homemade sponge cake and a spinach, tomato and emmentaler quiche. So Friday will be another day of exercising, cooking, and baking...with a little bit of smiling thrown in there...and perhaps a bit of drinking as Shannon sent me a message about happy hour!
And hey - be sure to check out the Google homepage today! The image is in honor of the Mid-Autumn Festival!! Mooncakes for everyone!
Caramelized shallots make everything taste good. We also need a guest blog from the boys!
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