The last 5 or 6 weeks of my cooking class focused on desserts. From classic french pastries such as eclairs and profiteroles to homemade ice cream, cakes, crepes, mousses and souffles. Unfortunately, we didn't get to make macaroons since our instructor is allergic to nuts and therefore almond flour was out but that's okay.
We learned to make pate a choux dough, which is used to make eclairs and profiteroles and of course you can make them savory instead of sweet, which we did by adding cheese. We then used the dough to make a little sandwich with bacon, onion and arugula.
We also made swans out of the choux dough and filled them with pastry cream and dusted them with powdered sugar.
And finally, we made churros from the choux dough as well. We fried them and then tossed them with sugar and cinnamon.
We also made lunch on dessert day since it's hard to eat 8 different kinds of dessert for lunch without throwing up so we made a paella with sausages, chicken, shrimp and mussels. I assure you it was delicious.
On custard day, we made creme anglais to make ice cream and of course we made creme brulee. Those little cups we filled was way too much and none of us actually finished the whole thing. It's a very, very rich dessert.
We also made a baked alaska with meringue. For some reason, I didn't really think I'd like it but this was surprisingly tasty.
And to top that all off we had a strawberry cheesecake with strawberry sauce.
For lunch we made a chicken with clementines, hummus and a barley celery salad with pomegranate seeds and roasted butternut squash with tahini sauce.
On cake day, we made a white cake that tasted like a sugar cookie it was so good and we made little chocolate lava cakes with caramel in the center. Yeah, it was rough but someone had to eat it all. We made a yellow cake with marshmallow icing and a banana cake with a sour cream chocolate frosting.
Another lunch we made to balance all the sugar was caramel pork ribs and a salad from cabbage and kale. We made caramel and then added beer, bourbon and ketchup and some other ingredients to make the sauce then roasted the pork ribs in the sauce. Yep, it was a good as it sounds.
On tart week, we made sweet and savory tarts and different types of dough. I'm fairly certain everyone liked the apple tart and the shallot tarte tatin the best. We also had a quiche with herbs and cheese that was good too.
We also had a fun filled day of making crepes. We made a 20 layer cake with a pastry cream that was really good and we made crepe suzette.
For lunch we had a spring salad with roasted asparagus, pickled onion, potatoes, peas with a honey dill vinaigrette along with a savory crepe with a filling of mushrooms, ham and cheese.
Our last class was on mousses and souffles. We made a goat cheese souffle, brined and roasted pork belly, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate souffle and chocolate mousse and a salad with a creamy mint dressing. Yes another day of eating well.
At our final dinner, we were tasked with coming up with a menu to feed 24 people from all the recipes we've cooked over the last 30 weeks. We had a few cocktails, appetizers, salad, soup, an entree and of course a dessert. We cooked and cleaned for roughly 8 hours. It was exhausting to say the least but we had a great time.
I was originally skeptical about taking a class for 30 weeks but it went by so quickly. I learned a lot and had a great time. I will definitely miss my Tuesday cooking class.
We learned to make pate a choux dough, which is used to make eclairs and profiteroles and of course you can make them savory instead of sweet, which we did by adding cheese. We then used the dough to make a little sandwich with bacon, onion and arugula.
We also made swans out of the choux dough and filled them with pastry cream and dusted them with powdered sugar.
And finally, we made churros from the choux dough as well. We fried them and then tossed them with sugar and cinnamon.
We also made lunch on dessert day since it's hard to eat 8 different kinds of dessert for lunch without throwing up so we made a paella with sausages, chicken, shrimp and mussels. I assure you it was delicious.
On custard day, we made creme anglais to make ice cream and of course we made creme brulee. Those little cups we filled was way too much and none of us actually finished the whole thing. It's a very, very rich dessert.
We also made a baked alaska with meringue. For some reason, I didn't really think I'd like it but this was surprisingly tasty.
And to top that all off we had a strawberry cheesecake with strawberry sauce.
For lunch we made a chicken with clementines, hummus and a barley celery salad with pomegranate seeds and roasted butternut squash with tahini sauce.
On cake day, we made a white cake that tasted like a sugar cookie it was so good and we made little chocolate lava cakes with caramel in the center. Yeah, it was rough but someone had to eat it all. We made a yellow cake with marshmallow icing and a banana cake with a sour cream chocolate frosting.
We also made lemon glazed madeleines, which were light, lemony and warm from the oven.
On tart week, we made sweet and savory tarts and different types of dough. I'm fairly certain everyone liked the apple tart and the shallot tarte tatin the best. We also had a quiche with herbs and cheese that was good too.
For lunch we had a spring salad with roasted asparagus, pickled onion, potatoes, peas with a honey dill vinaigrette along with a savory crepe with a filling of mushrooms, ham and cheese.
Our last class was on mousses and souffles. We made a goat cheese souffle, brined and roasted pork belly, green beans, mashed potatoes, chocolate souffle and chocolate mousse and a salad with a creamy mint dressing. Yes another day of eating well.
At our final dinner, we were tasked with coming up with a menu to feed 24 people from all the recipes we've cooked over the last 30 weeks. We had a few cocktails, appetizers, salad, soup, an entree and of course a dessert. We cooked and cleaned for roughly 8 hours. It was exhausting to say the least but we had a great time.
I was originally skeptical about taking a class for 30 weeks but it went by so quickly. I learned a lot and had a great time. I will definitely miss my Tuesday cooking class.
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