• register for, and take a Food Safety Course
• dedicate a hand washing sink, and a dish washing sink,
• get flat surfaced tiles over the cooking area
• get the chemical strips that measure the amount of bleach in the sanitizing water to ensure that the sanitizing solution is actually sanitizing, and still safe and healthy to use (this is a bleach and water solution)
• get an acurate thermometer, and use it
• teach my students what they need to know to keep the food in the kitchen clean and keep themselves safe

• I beat my whites until stiff, but not too stiff, and I think that is what makes the shells look so lovely (that and the painstaking time I spend sifting each granuale through a sieve after grinding the nut flour with the sugar until soft to the touch)
• The temperature was low (300 F) but the convection was on, and this was the first time I used a silpat; I think if I just pulled the pans out at the 12 minute time, they may have been lovely and chewy. I left them in longer because I couldn't lift the feet off of the silpat. In the end, I could never lift the feet off, and took them out at about 13 minutes... this is why I think they are too crunchy.

Stir Fry Prawns

Ingredients

• 400g Raw Prawns, shelled and de-veined
• 3 cloves Garlic chopped
• 5g Ginger chopped
• 1TBSP White Wine
• Pinch of sugar
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 10g Oil
• 1TBSP Soya Sauce
• 20g Oil for Stir Fry

Instructions:

1. Marinate the prawns with the above ingredients for 1-2 hours

2. Place 20g oil into  TM31 bowl for 2 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 1

3. Add marinated prawns for 3 minutes at Varoma temperature on Reverse + speed 1  

4. Serve immediately     

• one lonely, but still perky leek
• a couple of fresh nantes carrots purchased from Sun Dog Organic Farms
• a large onion
• a couple of smaller red peppers
• a good bunch of fresh, plump garlic cloves (if you like garlic like I do)
• if you have celery, definitely use it (Vanja picks it out when I put it in his supper, so I either make it invisible, or leave it out)
• leftover turkey
• one package of puff pastry (I prefer Tenderflake)
• 2 -3 tablespoons of flour
• salt and pepper

1. Preheated my oven to 400
2. Sliced, chopped and minced
3. Pulled out my braising pan and tossed all of these beautiful vegetables together
4. Added a few generous twists of freshly grated pepper, a generous teaspoon of salt, and sprinkled a couple of tablespoons of flour over the top, and then tossed it in, to thicken the vegetable juices as they release when they cook
5. Rolled out the two portions of thawed pastry together so that they joined as I rolled them (side by side) and was sure to roll it large enough to cover my pan
6. And that is just what I did next: Folded the pastry and moved it over to cover the pan, overlapping the pastry on all sides
7. Crimped my edges and discarded the extra pastry
8. Then I slid it into the middle of my hot oven and Baked it for 40 minutes
9. Cooled it a good 15 minutes
10. Served it and blushed at the cheers and praise showered upon me

Mushroom Soup: Porcini with Chestnuts and Truffle Oil 

Servings: 6 - 8                           Prep Time: 5 min.                    Cook Time: 15 min.

 Ingredients:

• 10g dried Porcini
• 1/2 cup boiling water for hydrating dried Porcini
• 30g extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped roughly
• 2 plump garlic cloves
• 500g whole Cremini mushrooms, chopped
• 200g vacuum packed chestnuts, chopped
• 700g cooking liquid (chicken stock plus porcini rehydrating liquid)
• 100g heavy cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• white truffle oil for garnish

Instructions:

1. Scale 10g of Porcini mushrooms, soak them in 1/2 cup of boiling water for 10 minutes, and retain liquid
2. Scale in the olive oil and add the onion and garlic; chop for 5 seconds at speed 7
3. Clean sides of bowl with the spatula; sauté for 2 minutes at 100°C on speed 5
4. Scale in chopped Cremini and sauté for 2 minutes at 100°C on R-4
5. Scale in chestnuts, reconstituted minced porcini, stained porcini water and chicken stock to total 700g liquid; cook for 10 minutes on Varoma at speed R-4
6. Puree for one minute slowly from 1-10, until smooth
7. Add cream, adjust seaonsing and serve with a drizzle of truffle oil (2-3 drops per boil, as it is very strong) 

• 350g  flour
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, minced
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 250g butter, cut into cubes and chilled
• 125g  ice water

1. Scale the flour, measure the salt, black pepper, thyme and rosemary into the TM bowl and combine for 3 seconds on Turbo
2. Pulse three times for 1 second at Turbo speed to incorporate and aerate all ingredients
3. Add the cold butter into the TM blow; pulse it 3 tines for 1/2 second, 2 times for 2 seconds, until crumbly
4. scale in the ice water; pulse ½ second 5 times, then 2-3 seconds each 2 times until the dough comes together (watch carefully through the lid)
5. Dump the dough onto a work surface and quickly form it into a square that is about 1 inch thick; do not knead or work the dough
6. Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it for at least 2 hours
7. Roll dough on a cold surface (preferably marble) to about 1/8” thick; fold and line the molds with the dough
8. Press sides gently and dock the bottom of the tart, removing extra dough from sides once the surface area is clearly covered
9. Cover with plastic wrap and rest in the refrigerator for another hour
10. Gather the dough scraps and form them into a ball without kneading; just press the scraps together
11. Roll that ball to ¼” thickness and using a cookie cutter with a flutted edge, cut squares: these will be the crackers
12. Transfer the squares to a sheet pan lined with parchment and refrigerate for 30 minutes before baking
13. Dock the crackers with a fork, sprinkle them with black pepper and grated parmesan cheese and bake at 375 for about 15 minutes

• 50g smoked bacon, sliced and cut into lardons
• 1 medium leek, washed, quartered and diced OR 6 small shallots, minced
• 1 small stalk of broccoli, washed, and chopped; stems peeled, and minced
• 50g apple smoked cheddar, grated
• 5g salt
• 5g black pepper
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme
• 3 eggs
• 240g whole milk
• 125g heavy cream

• 25g cassis mustard
• 2-3 plump cloves of garlic
• 20g red onion
• 25g balsamic vinegar
• 25g rice wine vinegar
• 100ml extra virgin olive oil (one measuring cup full)
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Scale first three ingredients into the TM bowl and mince at Turbo speed for 3 seconds; scrape down sides of bowl with a spatula
2. Scale in vinegars, and measure in salt and pepper; combine at speed 4 for 1 minute adding olive oil slowly through the lid
3. Reseason, as needed, and toss with Greens Eggs and Ham greens (I added extra pea tendril shoots, too)
4. Pile greens on top of the tart crouton and serve