Sunday, July 15, 2007

Saucy Details

Busy weekend. The systematic, one-who-loves-routine me shall go about giving an account of my Saturday afternoon at Palate Sensations first.

Module 2 - we learnt how to make creamy soups, and various types of accompanying sauces for the beef. We started out by making the stock first (last week was fish stock, this week's chicken stock). This would be the essence behind the creamy pumpkin soup we were taught how to make next.


I finally got the opportunity to try my hand at making croutons and sundried tomatoes. I love sundried tomatoes. Ours were not sundried literally though - we learnt the trick of using the oven. Topped with some whipped cream, both the croutons and sundried tomatoes lent a very nice added texture to the creamy pumpkin soup.


Making the sauces was hard work. Tedious. While I would be excited about trying these recipes out at home some day, I thought it would be a lot easier getting these sauces off the rack, somehow. Plus, knowing exactly what kind of ingredients, and the proportions that go into the making of these sauces, I'd think twice about taking them in the future. They are PURE FAT! Still, when we got to flambe the black pepper sauce and I successfully made my first tartare sauce, IT FELT GOOD!




Next, we tried our hand at slicing the beef and grilling them to make steak. Looks easy but it definitely comes with practice and experience to get the right doneness, with the right amount of juiciness.





By the end of 3 hours, we were happily tucking into our labour of love. I love the pumpkin soup. I'm so gonna try this out at home next. Check out The Boy's reaction when I fed him some of the grilled steak later on. I need to get that grill pan soon!!



13 comments:

Anonymous said...

that pumpkin soup caught my eye. the color and texture looked so good!!!

eh, u can consider career switch in another year or 2??!!!

syun said...

looks great!! :)

the module 7 - cakes and tarts course looks good.. i'm so tempted to go! though i wonder if i'll be baking my own tarts at home after..

Little Miss Snooze said...

yes, a grill pan is definitely good! Oooh, pumpkin soup looks good.

So tempted and inspired to go for cupcake/muffin baking class but the thought of standing throughout the class is daunting though!

mummybean said...

i love my grill pan, and i only got a cheap one from ikea :) love the pro-looking chargilled lines i get on my food. haha.

everything looks so good! jem couldn't wait to eat huh? looks like he was tucking in as soon as you got in the car!

~tif;fany* said...

ya man, you CAN consider a career switch!

the steak looks yummers!! i love beeeef.

Anonymous said...

Feed the man well and he will buy more paintings for ya!!! :P

Anonymous said...

looks like we really have a potential restaurant opening up in the east soon..

Anonymous said...

ooh! looks sooo yummy!! Btw, I have a grill pan, but I haven't the slightest idea how to use it! Is it possible to share your grilled steak recipe pls?? :)

Anonymous said...

PURE FAT!! omg.. that's it.. no more sauce for me :(

anw, your pumpkin soup and steak look greattt! so pro! you should tell him how lucky he is! hehehee

michelle said...

it's seriously looking very very good!!!! jeremy is must be feeling so blessed...

Jemej said...

imp > ha, not sure whether I can replicate that at home though! =p

lingz > i think that should be fun too, if you've always got a sweet tooth. COME JOIN ME!!! :D

lilsnooze > yeah, we really had fun with the cupcake course. true, it's 3 hours, so you might want to consider about having to stand throughout though. don't want you to get tired out.

beanbean > nice! is it non-stick? think the cleaning can be quite tough after? the chef's funny, heh.

tiffany > i hope my beef will turn out the same way at home too!! ;)

domesticrat > now now.... that's ANOTHER way of looking at things. hope it comes along with some shoes and bags too ;)

silver-crv > attend one-time course can open restaurant ah? haha!

wollendrums > well, from the 2 lessons i've had so far, just slap the chicken or sirloin (marinated with salt & pepper, some olive oil and thyme/other herbs) onto the grill pan and that's it! for the sirloin, it was more of the accompanying sauce that took more work. for the chicken, put it to bake at 220 degrees for another 5 over minutes and you'll have nice smelling chicken! accompany with some sauteed potatoes and blanched carrots and zucchini.

it's the way you angle the meat on the pan also, to create that criss-cross patterns. have fun!! :D

sharon > I KNOW! tell me about it. we used egg yolks, LOTS of oil, clarified butter. *shudders*

michelle > haha, well, tell him it's time to fold/iron the clothes, see what he says.

Anonymous said...

guess what?
stacey and i have signed up for the module 5 class!
hee... ;p
just need to send in the cheque and we're good to go.
this is going to be so fun!!! can't wait!!!
see ya soon!!! *grinz*

Jemej said...

vanessa > yipee!! see you in 3 weeks' time then...fellow classmate! ;)