food fight!

I need to come up with a really classy/creative/descriptive/fun/funny name for a food blog/business name/etc. I'd appreciate any suggestions. Ideally, I would like to use food fight, as it was the plan for a make up line I will (eventually, sometime down the road) be creating. It’s very fun, playful, and descriptive for a majority of the things I want to do.

So, I've been in school for 7 days now. Not too long at all! We've been doing a lot of technical things - "serve safe" classes, knife skills, broths, and today - sauces. I'm not going to be sharing many recipes yet (as I'm not creating a ton of things that you can't figure out yourself), but I am going to share some photos - because who doesn't love looking at photos of gorgeous food?!?

After creating homemade stocks in class -  we were allowed to take home mirepoix from our knife skills class. I decided to make a homemade broth that night, and utilize it in my first EVER risotto. It was a scallion, lime, and basil risotto - rich, creamy, and sweet! It was a Monday, the night Hell's Kitchen is on, so it was only fitting.  (By the way, Chef Gordon Ramsay is coming to Austin THIS WEEK to film an episode of Kitchen Nightmares. I emailed for reservations over 2 weeks ago, unfortunately, I was never contacted. I would have been so beyond stoked to get a chance to say hi to him or try something he had a hand in making.)

Today, we made sauces. Pesto is considered a "contemporary" sauce, and that's what I made this evening. I sauteed eggplant in a pan every so slightly coated with oil and bits of garlic, then garnished with a pesto made of purple basil, arugula, olive oil, salt, pepper, and CASHEWS. It turned out very nicely - not what you would expect of a common pesto, that's for sure. I served it with an arugula salad with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and agave nectar dressing. It was still very yummy though.

 

Tomorrow, we start talking about dry & wet cooking methods. I'll have to work after school, so I won't get to experiment 'til the weekend. Bummer city! I'll be holding dinner parties soon with the very FEW friends I have in Austin, so expect more photos & foodie updates. (Funny enough, most of the friends we're making here are from Indiana. It's just easier.)