CCA: LCB Favorites of Foundations 2

Consumme in the making

French Fries :)

California Culinary Academy: Le Cordon Bleu has 6 week courses in our curriculum. Foundations 1: knife skills, Safety Sani: Safe food handling, Foundations 2: Stocks, Soups, Starch& Veggies, Foundations 3: plating full entrees with protein component, starch, veggie, sauce, and garnish. Baking&Pastry: pastries and cakes, Cuisine of cross cultures: Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Thai etc., and finally banquets& catering: hotline, hot holding food, and made to order food.

Consumme strained

Today I'll be talking about Foundations 2, which is the most current course I've completed. Yay me! :) so anyways. Foundations 2 is where the cooking began. Even though we started off with stocks, sauces, roasting veggies, and eventually soups it was still the excitement that we started cooking. Trust me, after cutting up onions and potatoes for 6 weeks straight it does get old!!

A quick over-view of Foundations 2: I made....from scratch: Chicken&Fish Veloute, Lobster (shrimp) bisque, consumme, Potage parmentier (potatoe leek soup), Creme dubarry (cauliflower soup), asperges froides with hollandaise (asparagus&hollandaise), Salade depinards (spinach salad with poached egg & Bacon), salade de lentilles ( lentil salad), gratin dauphinois (scalloped potatoes), roasted veggies, soupe a l'oignon soup (french onion soup), panzanella salad (bread salad) and many more.

My favorites would have to be: Spinach salad with poached egg and bacon, lentil salad, scalloped potatoes, french onion soup, and the panzanella salad.

Yummy scalloped potatoes

The spinach salad for starters is a healthy size of spinach with two poached to perfection eggs, bacon and a house made vinegrette. The creamyness of the poached egg and the crunch from the fatty bacon make this salad!! I love poached eggs and im not much of a salad person BUT the bacon and poached egg adds another level to the salad ...compared to putting a slab of protein on my plate and calling it dinner.

French Onion Soup

My favorite bean salad would have to be the lentil salad! The dijon mustard and cream makes a nice yummy sauce with the lentils, bacon, and mirepox ( carrots, celery, and onion diced really small). I like that the mirepox adds a crunch factor to the moist and soft lentils.

Palm Duchess

Scalloped potatoes like mom or dad could NEVER cook them!! OMG have I been having scalloped potatoes the wrong way my ENTIRE life!! who woulda thunk it!? They are super easy to make! Super cheapy! AND SUPER YUMMY! Garlic, butter, cream, potatoes, and cheese is all you need to make this comfort food! The potatoes come out SOO creamy with extra cheese piling over and the hint of garlic. I could eat these scalloped potatoes ALL DAY!!! Simple, fast, yummy and CHEAP!! I love it!

The french onion soup was made for my class by my Foundations 1 chef when I first started school. BOY did I fall INLOVE with it!! Veal stock is the key!! the onions are so sweet and caramelized from the butter but the stock puts it over the edge!! with some toasted baguette and melted cheese and I'm in heaven!! Food Coma here I come!

Roasted cauliflower w/bread crumbs

Consumme finished product

Panzanella salad!!! Oh my gosh! Carb overload! Its like one of those weeks were you tell yourself your going to cut back on carbs and then you just have that overload of cravings for some bread you MUST eat this salad!! Basically its a bread salad! You toast your baguette (to add crunch and dry it out), cube up your bread and set aside. Make a bitchin vinaigrette with red wine vinaigrette, oil, salt, pepper, basil, diced tomatoes, red onion and then add all your bread in the bowl to soak up all that vinaigrette goodness. Your bread should be crunchy but chewy and moist on the outside from the vinaigrette. You'll definitely get your bread fix with this salad! Super easy, super yummy!!

There were plenty of cool recipes that were just as yummy but those had to be my favorites of foundations 2!

Bon Appetit!

CCA:LCB Pros of being a culinary student

Ahh the props of being a culinary student! All the FREE food!!! Now it's a positive and a negative thing trust me! Positive because it's free food for a starving culinary student like myself and negative because the scale doesn't lie when you pack on those pounds! Every so often other culinary students have buffets open to all the students during breaks. Everything is made by the culinary students and all they ask is we leave reviews and comments on how we liked the food and how they could better please their customers. 

If you want a taste of what our culinary students are cooking up try making reservations at Technique! Currently being run by students like myself trying to please customers like you! I've personally been to technique and it is a fun dinning experience! Roughly $15 per person for a 5 course gourmet meal. Its a dining experience you wouldn't want to miss! Your first three courses as well as your dessert are shared with you significant other while your entree can be all to yourself; The menu is preset other than the five entree choices available. Try to make reservations several days in advance because space is limited. Come make a reservation!!

Bon Appetit!

Gabs Grubs: Berthas Mussels (Fells Point, MD)

Bertha's located in the lovely Fells Point, MD

If your ever in Fells Point, MD you have to stop by Bertha's! Bertha's is a music-enthused good eats spot! Their mussels are definitely what people come to eat! I stopped by this spot and had their steamed mussels and wasn't sure what sauce I wanted. My waitress suggested their anchovies, tomato, and garlic butter sauce because it was there most popular...I wasn't really sure I wanted to try anchovies but I went for it. WOW was it amazing! The anchovies were fresh and salty, the garlic was fresh, even the tomato came through very nicely!

Surprisingly the mussels were really nice and light and the sauce was full of flavor! I loved using the extra sauce and dipping bread in it! Yum! Established in 1972 Bertha's sure knows what their doing!

Come check out there website!

Bon Appetit!
Come check out Bertha's !!

Gabs Grubs: The Prospector (Twain Harte, CA)

The Prospector is a small restaurant full of flavor! Chef Robert is whippin' up his own idea of pizza and pizza oven cooking! If your the type of person to ask for alterations in the menu maybe this spot isn't for you. The Prospector has a strict no substitution rule (unless of course you have a medical/personal reason behind it!). The Prospector is a very small and intimate dining experience where everyone is welcoming and friendly.

They have an excellent beer & wine list as well as honest tabs. You simply choose your beer or wine and keep your own tab till the end of the night. Each wine glass has a fill-up-to line and refills are all on you! Robert wants his restaurant to feel like home! With a very relaxing environment you just might think your in your own kitchen!

The Prospector's menu is always changing! Chef Robert uses the best fresh and local ingredients to create each dish .....while keeping in mind what he feels like cooking! My favorite is when he gets creative with his dessert pizzas! His honey lavender pizza was amazing! The honey caramelized on the thin crust making it a sweet, chewy, slightly crunchy delight!

The Prospector: Sweet dumpling squash filled w/chicken chorizo 

I went up to Twain Harte in early December and had the best food ever! It's nice when your parents can take you out to a dinner you can't afford yourself! Anyways we had the gnocchi in garlic butter sauce! Can I just say OMG!! The Gnocchi was light, fluffy, airy, creamy goodness! I believe it was heaven in a bowl! It was soo creamy and decetant! Just the thought of having it again is making my stomach warm with love of the buttery goodness!!

 Along with the excellent gnocchi we ordered their sweet dumpling squash filled with chicken chorizo, onions, and Montasio cheese. The presentation was spectacular! The squash filled to the top and the Montasio cheese trickling down the side! To die for! It was a very good night is all I can say! The sweetness of the squash and the rendered down onions combined perfectly with a little mild nuttiness of the cheese! The chicken was moist and cooked to perfection!

Robert really knows how to work his pizza ovens!

The Prospector (Twain Harte, CA) : Paella Pizza 

Feel free to visit their website and learn more about Robert and his crazy creations!

-Bon Appetit!


Come check out The Prospector!

Gabs Grubs: Miyukis (Watsonville, CA)

Miyuki's: Watsonville, CA

Ahh Miyukis! The best I mean BEST sushi in Watsonville! My personal favorite I've been going to since I was at least 9! Every birthday they give you the embarrassing disco ball happy birthday song! It never fails! With a warm and friendly environment its a small little sushi place that serves up AMAZING food! You can choose to sit at the bar and enjoy a casual conversation with Chief who has owned and served the restaurant since it's been open!

Sake @ Miyuki's

A tight-knit restaurant where you know your waitresses by first name it's definitely and inviting place to come checkout! A personal favorite of mine since I began loving and eating sashimi and sushi alike. I've had my favorites over the years including their seafood salad which is a combination of all the fresh fish he has tossed in lettuce, soy sauce and garnished with dried shrimp shavings. I've also been through their Tataki salad which is his fresh albacore tuna, onion slices, soy sauce, ginger, and horseradish it's honestly AMAZING!! The albacore melts in your mouth and there's not a hint of fishiness. Its all fresh and its GOOD! I can't forget my old time favorite pork tonkatsu which is breaded pork fried to deliciousness and served with a tonkatsu sauce (which is fancy for Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and soy sauce).

Any meal you choose at Miyuki's you really can't go wrong! Go ahead and try something new, you might be surprised at what Chief can whip up for ya! If your lucky he just might buy you a drink, or a sake on the house!
                                                               Bon Appetit!

Gabs Grubs: The Wooden Nickel (Freedom/Watsonville, CA)

Wooden Nickel: 1819 Freedom Blvd. Freedom, CA

Another hot spot in the fresh Watsonville would be the Wooden Nickel in Freedom, CA! They hands-down have the best burgers in town! There skirt steak isn't too shabby either! With local meat from Freedom Meat Lockers a girl can't go wrong with her steak from the W.N!

Skirt steak, home fries, slaw, bread, and a small piece of cake is what they got to offer....and boy does it taste good! Their skirt steak is selected from Freedom Meat Lockers and it is the best marinaded steak EVER!! Each skirtsteak is tender and a mouth full! If you think their steak is amazing go ahead and feast on the Nickel Burger! They even give you some slaw with little sweet pineapple surprises with every meal.

My favorite invention of theirs??? The "lets-add-a-piece-of-cake-to-the-madness-we-already-got-to-offer". As if I'm not already gonna be full by the time I finish maybe half of my skirt steak serving! You really get your bang-for-your-buck at this place! Lets not forget about this dessert!  Dessert after every meal?? I think so!! Thats if you can hold off to eat your cake at the end! Same sides for every meal (Fries, Slaw, Cake) you really can't go wrong!

                                                                                          Bon Appetit!

Gabs Grubs: Mi Pueblo (Watsonville, CA)

Mi Pueblo is a Mexican grocery store in a small agricultural town called Watsonville. A predominantly Hispanic area much of Watsonville's food is, well, Mexican! What you ll be amazed to know is within this small community, are some good eats!! One of my favorites being Mi Pueblo! Normally you go into a grocery store to get groceries BUT I come here for the sole purpose of getting myself a juicy Vegetarian burrito! I order my burrito and watch as the burrito guy makes my food. He does it in an almost whimsical way. My mouth is watering as I see him whip up my over stuffed burrito with rice, beans, guacamole, salsa roja, jalapenos, lettuce, and extra sour cream...all by the way is made fresh every morning!

My favorite part is the end. with all the juices absorbed in the giant tortilla its a bittersweet feeling when you finish it. Satisfied with its awesomeness and sad you ate the whole darn thing and now its gone! Next thing is a food coma or hitting the gym after that feast!

Cubano Torta: Mi Pueblo (Watsonville, CA)

                           Bon Appetit!