Friday, July 29, 2011

Class Demo

Valley Vista had a Career day , and Mrs. Piper asked me to to do a Cooking demo. I told her i had a recipe that would take about 30 minutes to make , and if she would allow me to demo it. "Cod and Tomato Chowder"
how did i come up with this recipe?   I received  Gordon Ramsey's Healthy Appetite Cookbook from my parents for Christmas. I had already made the chowder at home a few weeks prior. i followed the recipe but added my own twist to it. she partnered me up with Luis, he helped me by cutting up all the veggies while i sauteed them and proceeded with the demo . it was pretty cool , to have an audience and that there were a few parents that asked questions , and that i was able to answer.  the Chowder came out pretty good, we had a few of the audience come up for seconds.


Ingredients:

*  olive oil
*  butter
* 4 medium tomato, diced
* 1 medium onions, peeled & roughly chopped
* salt & black pepper  (i suggest you use Kosher salt in all your cooking)
* 2 large carrots, peeled & roughly chopped
* 2 large waxy potatoes, peeled & roughly chopped
* 1 sweet yellow pepper, cored, seeded & roughly chopped
* 14oz can chopped tomatoes ( i didn't use canned tomatoes ...I refuse to use canned anything, that is why i used 4 med size tomato's, )
* thyme sprigs
*  bay leaf
* 3 ½ cups fish or chicken stock (I stock chicken)
* green beans, cut into short lengths (I used frozen ones)
*  zucchini, roughly chopped
* Few dashes of Tabasco sauce (I omitted this, i used Pepper flakes)
* 2good size cod fillets, skinned & pin-boned
* 1 pound of shrimp, ( I had a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer , buy the shelled and deveined kind).
* Bunch of Italian parsley, roughly chopped ...use FRESH
* i stick of cinnamon

Directions:

Heat the olive oil and butter in a med size stock pot, Add onions, celery, and some seasoning, and cook, stirring over medium heat till soften and onions are clear. Add the carrots, potatoes, sweet yellow pepper,  herbs and Cinnamon and saute until the vegetables are lightly golden.

Add chopped tomato to the pot and pour in the stock. Cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender. put the green beans and zucchini in pot, give the mixture a stir, and simmer for about  three minutes. at this time you should be tasting your chowder..if all is good add your pepper flakes to your desire...i suggest maybe a tsp , just to give it a little kick.

Lightly season the cod fillets and lay them on the vegetables in the pot,  add shrimp. Cover Pot and simmer for about three minutes until the fish is opaque and just cooked through. (Don't over-cook the fish. It will cook just sitting in the broth after you turn the heat off.)

Using a spoon, gently break the fish into large flakes.serve in a bowl and add chopped parsley over chowder.

enjoy



amazing cook book , he has some really healthy recipes , easy for the home cook to make.



We have a high tech  Culinary class,  Mrs. Piper is passionate about cooking , and she makes sure that she has everything that will make  teaching Culinary  a great experience not only for herself but for us "her students" as well.



Notice the screen above me and Luis, we have 3 screens in our class



we have industrial ovens and a stove

see the other  screen on the left of Luis , the 3rd screen is on the right of me, above Mrs. pipers desk 

i sued a butane stove , to be able to get a view of what i was doing on the screen.



enjoy the video


Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Devoured Food Festival

its 6am and my mom wakes me up ...What the Freak MOM...I Don't Have to be there till 8AM!!!!!!!
she ironed my Chef Jacket ...Thanks!

we head to the restaurant , i get dropped off , while I'm getting directions on what to load up Chef goes and speaks to my parents to let them know what time i would be getting back.

I help load up the truck , Ice chest , a hibachi grill , a few tables and canopy , and some other things that we will need for the event.we headed to the Phoenix Art Museum.

we get there and WOW...there are tons of restaurants that are setting up , pulling in with big trailers and huge griddles and refrigerators and we show up with a Hibachi grill?????

we set up our area get the grill going and Chef tells me to go with him and walk around to check out the other booths. while walking around i notice that everyone knows Chef, they shake his hand and offer him samples and talk with him for a few minutes second really because we have a ton of ground to cover . i was surprised on how everyone knew chef .

so what was on the menu for the Parlors Booth ...we grilled Peppers Onions and the Octopus
Devoured_7.jpg

this was the first time i had ever tasted Octopus ...and i am now a lover of this amazing creature.

there were tons of People I had no clue we would be in something like this.

I later found out that  Howard Seftel handed out a Gold medal to The Parlor for his dish .

after the festival we headed back to the restaurant, as we get there Chef asked if i was ready to get in the kitchen...Man oh Man...was i ever , i said YES...are you kidding me an opportunity to work side by side with this amazing chef...heck yeah., so i called my mom and told her what was going , she tells me yes we already know chef told us before you all left that if it was okay for you to work in the kitchen..and they told him YES..."man ....put me on the Grill Chef ....I'm ready to COOK!!!!.

man i left that day so Tired i had been up since 6 am and arrived home at around 10pm , the one goof thing i ate some amazing food that day.

can't wait for next year!

forgot to mention , he Offered me a job, he spoke to my parents and they said yes that i could work for him.


 Thanks Chef for an amazing Experience!!!!

The Phone Call

while in school i received a call from some unknown number. after school i check my voice mail and low and behold ...it's chef , calling to see if i can help at Devour Culinary Festival ...man i was supper excited, called my mom and told her if i can do it, she said YES....!!!

a few days latter i called Chef and asked him for all the details , He tells me it's on Saturday March 11th , to be at the restaurant at  8 am

NICE...getting my foot in the door.

The Parlor

After preliminaries my parents and i decided to go have lunch at "The Parlor" ...let me go back to October of 2010........ C-CAP hosted an information workshop at a  Restaurant supply store. here they spoke to us about what is expected of us as students and competitors, we heard from 2 C-CAP alumni , one of the guys that spoke to us had earned a $5000. scholarship  and was currently attending a culinary school here in Phoenix, he also demonstrated the competition salad ( my mom and i thought he took way to long to make it) the other person was Jared Porter, he too was awarded a scholarship  i believe it was for 2 years...( many years ago)  he is now the executive chef of  The Parlor , he spoke to all of us about his journey and what made him decide to be a chef, he later explained to us how to make Pizzas, everyone that was there was allowed to make pizzas , we even got to take some home. My Father Auggie spoke to Chef Jared Porter about the Industry and if he can explain to me that it's not all Glitz and Glamour like TV Network Portrays Chefs to be. Chef Jared explained that it's hard, long hours and simply no time for family of personal life , that the restaurant life consumes every part of your personal life. he handed us his business card and invited us to his restaurant and to call him before we head to the Parlor.




Chef Jared Porter, explaining to us about the dough

Teaching us how to  stretch out our pizza dough







 now let me fast Forward to February 2011.... so my parents and i go to the parlor after the C-Cap competition to have lunch at the Parlor. we called in advanced and unfortunately Chef Jared was not in. We get to the restaurant and get seated and we ask the waiter if chef was in , he said yes and that he would let him know we are there. we place our order, minutes later chef comes over and speaks to us, he remembered us from the workshop(auggie must have left a big impression , big bald guy ...how could he forget him), asked how i did , explained to him that we won't know for about 2 weeks. we just start talking for a while, he leaves we get our meals and the food was fantastic, home made pizza's, Cheese, pasta's , breads, they also have a garden outside at the 'entrance of the restaurant . i believe the best part of all was that he sent over a few complimentary dishes ...something we were not expecting , he even sent us deserts yummo.

after we have our dinner he once again came over asked us how we enjoyed our meal and ...MY MOTHER opens her big mouth and ask if they were hiring ...URGHHH...i could just die...Chef say's to fill out an application and if something comes up he will call me...i fill out the application and we head out ....Lets Hope he calls. 

Monday, July 25, 2011

C-CAP Banquet

Results.... Gotta love Mrs. Piper...she called my mom the moment she received the email and told her i made TOP  10 ...and that we were going to the Banquet.

At the Banquet , they award 3 of the top 10 Juniors a trip to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park NY) Johnson and Whales, or to The Arts Institute of Phoenix. Mrs. Piper told me she knew i had made top 10, she did not doubt my cooking and my ability to impress the judges,now it's just about finding out if i made top 3. 35 seniors were invited to the banquet , they will all receive some sort of scholarship ranging from $2000.00 to $130,000.


Day of Banquet... Grandma Lupe and Peter came to AZ to have breakfast and to join us for the award ceremony. They served us breakfast , a muffin egg, potatoes and fresh fruit and muffins .

after the breakfast they start with all the Juniors . they call up all top 10 juniors and introduced us , lets everyone know what school we go to. then they award the summer scholarships, this year was the first time ever that they awarded a summer culinary scholarship to all 10 juniors, 8 of them were awarded  to go to the AI of phoenix for their summer program, one of the other juniors was awarded a Johnson and Wales  summer program ( i really wanted this one) and i received the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) summer program scholarship.  we were all super excited , especially my mom and mrs' piper.

once they gave all the juniors their summer program scholarships , they awarded all the seniors their scholarships , their was over $750,000 dollars awarded in scholarships.

 note to all ....C-CAP does not give out scholarship just for cooking...one has to hold a GPA of 3.0 or higher, NOT only do we have the  capability to cook.... were also Smart !!!








Richard Grausman  (founder of C-CAP Careers through Culinary Arts Programs) and Jill Smith (president of the Arizona Chapter)

Chef , helped me on my ACF recipe


a little bit about Richard Grausman.....he is the Founder of C-CAP, he studied at the Cordon blue in Paris alongside with James Beared , for all you foodies YES The James Beared...for all you who are unaware of who James Beared is  , he is a master of 5 star Restaurants, many chefs and restaurant owners try their hardest to earn a James beard award, to try to earn a 5 star award.  one day I will make my way to eat at a James Beared award winning restaurant and i will let you know the difference from a regular restaurant and a James Beared award Restaurant. He started C-CAP to help students to prepare for college and careers  opportunities in the restaurant and hospitality industry,he has awarded over 4,000 , scholarships valued at over $3.2 million to Students to attend Culinary schools and universities. in 1997 he was awarded the Presidential service award by President Bill Clinton. he is an Amazing Chef and person.






Mrs. Piper...she is an Amazing Culinary Teacher !!!

Can't wait for next year... i will continue to Practice making French Omelets , a Cucumber Salad, for Preliminaries, and begin to to practice the Senior dishes , i will have to Tourne a potato, cook a chicken French style, make crepes, and a chocolate sauce....not only will i have to cook but also plate for presentation.

if you all have any ideas on how to plate crepes...send them my way

Friday, July 22, 2011

Awards Ceremony...

Next day , yeah we had to wait a full 24 hours to find out if  I had won Gold and the MONEY$$$$$.

they started with the professionals...Gold...Then Silver Then Bronze.

next were the Junior Competitors (that would be my Division)... Woot Woot...wait everyone was being called up for a Certificate of Participation where's the..Gold and Silver???

Then they called my name..Chris Andrade....BRONZE MEDAL...Woot Woot. Cool... not the gold medal or the money... just glad I left with a medal and not a certificate of participation .

everyone was wearing their Chef Coats ...where's mine you ask?.... Mrs. Piper dropped it off  after the competition to get my name embroidered on it.


C-CAP

back in October of 2010 Mrs. Piper entered Luis (a senior in my Culinary class at Valley Vista) and myself to compete , Luis for a Scholarship. and since i was a Junior  i could not compete for the scholarship i was able to compete for a spot ion the top 10 Juniors. the competition was in February 2011

what is  C-CAP  you ask.... C-CAP stands for Careers though Culinary Arts Program. it's a program that started many years ago by a man named Richard Grausman. the program works with high schools who have culinary arts programs , they help the students earn scholarships , ranging from $50Thou to $130thou  per student.

So you want to know what i had to do?.... as a Junior i get to participate in the preliminaries competition.All Seniors compete in preliminaries as well. This determines the top 10 Juniors (who get to go to the Banquet, and also serve all the Seniors at the final competition),  and the 35+ seniors that will compete for the scholarship

What did i have to cook... a French Omelet  (to Perfection) what is perfection you ask? nice golden yellow color, seasoned perfect, tri folded, not runny but moist when they cut into it,  and a salad  that consisted of Bell peppers, jicama cucumber and a vinaigrette dressing. easy you say , but it's not , you have to slice cucumber circles and place them in a ring mold and then season your dressing perfect, dice your veggies all the same size and then place all your diced veggies in the ring mold , remove the cucumber bowl that you have created and hope it doesn't break apart. 

So after months of practicing and my parents tired of tasting the salad , the day finally came to Cook for the judge's....




 here is my finish product.   

Omelet



i had not cooked the Omelet for my parents till the day before the preliminaries, ...hmmm...it was funny , my father wanted to barf, a french omelet is a little under cook ,  the egg continues cooking as you take it off the saute and fold it, and then as it goes to the customer it continues cooking so that when the customer received his Omelet , it is finally cooked , moist and well done as a French omelet should be

Salad

I was very confident by this point , when i walked out to place my plate under my number , i noticed there were a few salads that had were falling apart, i even turned to my mother and Mrs. Piper and gave them a thumbs up.




NOT GOOD, slices were to thick and not tight

this was Luis' Salad ...he was mad ...he practiced this day after day ...and the day  it counts ...The one thing you don't want to happen.... happens

This was #13 a senior , perfect

another disappointment ...what happened...did he not practice???


 i was in the first heat of the preliminaries, there were 3 more to go. we did not get the results after a week of the competition....





waiting for the call to go prep our area

Luis and I registering, the lady is explaining to us what time we start prepping our area





My Number 26


My prep Area

Luis preparing his area










all the competitors ...

Judges...they were all Chefs , one guy was a C-CAP alumni,







parents or Teachers were not allowed to go to the Kitchen Area during Competition

Mrs/ Piper ...getting all her Goodies for her Culinary Class

Omelets are out and getting judged for color

Judges cutting in to the omelets to taste  for seasoning and check to make sure it was cooked perfect



After the competition one of the judges , signed her cookbook  for all the students and teachers...Mr's piper getting her book. 


a little something about Mrs. Piper...she has a walk in Pantry, half of the pantry is a collection of cook books from top to bottom and wall to wall...next time i go to her house i will take a picture and post it for all to see, she literally has a cookbook library.



Luis getting his Cookbook







Results.... Gotta love Mrs. Piper...she called my mom and told her i made TOP  10...and that we were going to the Banquet, at the Banquet , they award 3 of the top 10 Juniors a trip to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park NY) Johnson and Whales, or to The Arts Institute of Phoenix. Mrs. Piper told me she knew i had made top 10, she did not doubt my cooking and my ability to impress the judges.


Heading home!!!