Tamale Class, "Not Your Usual Tamales!"

Well three of the five that reserved time for my tamale class showed up on Saturday, oh well, great fun for those of us that were there.  We made those very unique cherry, pineapple and a little chipotle sweet dessert tamales.  Then we cut up some frozen brie and mixed it with some diced avocados and some candied citrus peel that we made ourselves.  Then we smoked a salmon filet on the stove top and diced some red onions and usded that to make tamales with masa flavored with lemon and dill.  Then lastly we made the traditional pork roast that was dry rubbed with coffee, chili, cumin and then cooked in dark beer.  They are all fantastic, and these three made the evening fun. 

Not your usual Thanksgiving Dinner for Chef Roy

What does Chef Roy have on Thanksgiving?  Well, it is true that in years past with a big big family (he regularly would cook for up to 35) he would smoke one turkey, then bone and stuff another with an exquisite apple sausage stuffing.  But now, far from his place of birth, he cooked a very special Thanksgiving for someone special.  It began with a somewhat interesting appetizer of roasted jalapenos that were stuffed with smoked salmon and pepper jack cheese.  Then he took a 2 lb bag of new red potatoes and cut them in half and on the cut side he cut a cross two thirds of the way into the flesh of the potatoe.  These were then put into a 14 inch skillet with 3 tablespoons butter and a one of olive oil.  tossed around a bit to coat, then all the halves were set down onto the cut side.  A generous sprinkling of fresh cracked pepper and fresh rosemary were added, then it was covered and set aside on low for an hour and a half.  The potatoes became crispy on the bottom with the tops creamy, succulent and heady with that deep rosemary flavor.  Then he took two turkey breast cutlets and cut pockets into them.  He sauteed some shrimp with a diced shallot and a half of a chipotle pepper.  A rough chop of the cooked shrimp and they were stuffed into the pocket of the turkey breast.  These were then dusted in flour and lightly sauteed in a bit of olive oil and butter after being seasoned with thyme and pepper.  When well browned, they were removed to a warm plate and another diced shallot was added to the pan and cooked until translucent.  A 1/2 cup white wine was added and brought to a boil, and reduced for two minutes.  Then two tablespoons of Chef's homemade beer mustard were added and allowed to cook for another minute.  Then a 1/4 cup half and half was added and this sauce was spooned over the turkey cutlets.  It was all served with some baby green beans that were steamed for 5 minutes, then tossed in butter that was browned with 10 sage leaves.  Yumm.  Dessert is later, probably some French Silk Ice Cream.  Sorry, Chef spent Wednesday night and Thursday morning in the hospital and did not feel like making dessert.  It took a lot out of him to make this simple dinner.  However special meals with special people make life worth living.  The only bad part of the evening was that Chef forgot the camera at the store and so has no photographic record of this very spectacular meal, or the special person he spent an evening with.

Tamale Class

November is "Not Your Usual Tamale Class" and these four young ladies came and learned all about making tamales.  We made some rather unique ones, the smoked salmon was the most popular.  However we all loved the cherry, chipotle and pineapple ones as well, pictured here served with a white chocolate vanilla sauce and shaved chocolate on it. 

Nice Words from Shannon

Shannon came to my Condiments class a while back and now I find out that she writes for this really cool blog.  check out her stuff at http://www.livemom.com/2010/11/18/thursdays-dish-healthier-ketchup/