Monday, April 28, 2008

American Regional

It's been a while, I know, and i'm afraid it's going to be intermittent for a while. My camera took a beating on the last day of this class.

So the class was American Regional, and we learned the different cuisines of the United States. It was a very intense class. We had lecture, demo and kitchen time every day. We had pretty much an hour and a half in the kitchen every day, which definitely made things frantic. Things started tough, but by the end I feel a lot more comfortable in the kitchen.

Here are some of the dishes I made.


Here I have stuffed Chayote squash, sauteed cauliflower and broccoli with rice pilaf. This was the Floribbean region (Florida and the Caribbean).
















These next three are the Pacific Northwest.

Sauteed trout almondine (toasted almond butter sauce) with sauteed asparagus and a rice pilaf.













Poached Halibut with an apple cherry compote and sauteed asparagus with a rice pilaf.

















Sauteed duck breast with an orange gastrique sauce and sauteed swiss chard with golden raisins.












Central Plains:
Grilled Steak with mushroom sauce, sauteed green beans and tomatoes with potato celeriac mash.











Hawaii:

Pan fried macadamia nut crusted Mahimahi with a wasabi cream sauce and sauteed julienne bell pepper.










Sauteed salmon with a lemongrass beurre blanc sauce.












On the last day of class each group made a big buffet. We had 12 duck breasts, a couple pounds of chard, about a pound and a half of polenta, a port wine reduction sauce and a flourless chocolate cake. We were the Pacific Northwest, so I made a little Chinook Tribe display.