Produce of the day; some alive and some not...

I was a littttllle bit anxious about this lesson as, let’s face it, shells, shellfish and the like are not really (really not) my favorite kind of food. Maybe it stems from the time that I still didn’t like fish, having not grown up with the stuff and while I love fish now, that took about 40 years (or so)! So maybe it will take even longer for me to ever like shellfish, but quite frankly I have a hard time believing that it might ever happen.

Take oysters for example; whole generations of people love oysters and would spend a fortune for getting a good oyster in their mouth. Of course preferably raw. I had tried an oyster once at a Chinese restaurant (a very good Chinese restaurant I have to add) and well, I didn’t like it. It was prepared so I think it might have been steamed although I am not sure of that anymore as it is years ago. I just felt it was a mouth full of snot so to speak… But of course one of the topics of the class was how to open an oyster (that was one) and then ofcourse eating one… Rob (who’s hands you’re seeing on the photo on the left) looooves oysters so he had eaten the first two already before he started passing them around. I first didn’t want to eat one, but then I figured; what the hell… you have to try everything once right? So Rob opened the oyster, poured out a bit of the seawater inside and gave it to me giving me instructions on how to eat it. And so I did…. and aaaaggghhhrrr, what a horrible mouthful of salt blubber!! Disgusting… Sorry, but that’s not ever gonna make me want another one.. Sorry for all you oyster fans out there, but how can you possibly like that? In case you are wondering; we had one of the best types of oyster around. Don’t ask me which one, but knowing Rob, he would not have cheap oysters lying around.

So did not like the oysters; then Rob went on explaining all the different animals you have, such as lobsters and their different varieties, crabs, prawns, river crayfish, scallops, clams (!), cockles, mussels, langoustine, oysters ofcourse and probably a few I forgot.

The lobsters and the river crayfish where alive, as were the clams and cockles and the scallops (for those paying attention to the photo; yes, they are open but they were closed when bought earlier that day) and after the extensive explanation on how to clean each one of them and what you could do with each one we got to choose what we wanted to do. We picked scallops to make “coquilles in safron creamsauce” and crabs, which where gonna be filled. Cleaning the scallops is not really hard. They open much easier (I had scallops that were closed) then oysters or clams and you then proceed to remove the beard and the gallbladder (? not sure if that’s what it’s called but it’s the black part) You can eat the coral (the bright yellow part) as that is very proteinrich (it’s basically the sexorgan of the shell if I understand correctly so eggs and seed and full of protein… )

Opened coquille

I actually do like scallops so naturally I picked those to prepare. We made a sauce basically by sauteing the beard (after rinsing it from sand and other debris… Wow, what do those creatures eat? Sand?? ) adding wine and fish stock, then reducing and once reduced use the mixer to puree it, add cream into the pan and reduce some more until it has the right consistency. Once you’ve done that put it through a sieve to get rid of all the beard pieces that are too big and with the handmixer put in two of the coral, which binds the sauce a little. The rest of the coral we left on to be grilled later, as it is quite edible so I am not sure why they are removed so often. I think it looks quite pretty that yellow part.

We grilled the scallops in a wok, since the grill was occupied with loads of langoustine and ended up flambeing the scallops with calvados and I can tell you they were delicious!! I would probably never have bought whole scallops without having this class but I am thinking now I will. They are quite expensive here. One piece is about 3 euro, so that is quite ridiculously expensive for a little bit of meat, but for special occassions this might still be worth it.

One of our group made scallops with the same sauce although it tasted very different so I am not sure what she added in there and with pear, which was delicious too. But it looks good doesn’t it? We sure liked it.

Scallops flambe

Then on to the crab which was ok, but I wasn’t wild about the final taste of the dish although Rob thought we did a pretty good job. We had an entire table filled with goodies by the time it was 10 pm so when we sat down to eat, it was almost ridiculous so much food we had made. Normally you can bring home a lot of the stuff you make but this was not a real easy topic to take home. Although most of the leftover went home anyway (not with us though… noooooo sir)

Ooo, I wanted to share the photo of Tom grating cheese, as I thought that was pretty funny, but I have already added so many photos here, you might get bored… Haha… You see him (yes, he is the bald handsome guy.. ) practising his Jamie look (we always joke when I want to take a photo of someone in action I ask them to take on the Jamie pose… haha and it works too!) From left to right you see Tom seasoning the filled crabs, Mike grilling his scallops, clams being prepared and the steaming of some oysters.

What a feast… While not my favorite kind of food, I loved this lesson again as I learned a great deal plus I am now no longer afraid to clean my own scallops. I will never be found killing a lobster, although yes, I do realize that is on the hypocritical side, but then again, there are things I just won’t do…

O and I did also try one of the prepared oysters and I still thought it was disgusting. They say it is like olives, you have to learn to eat them (and it is true, I thought olives where disgusting at some point and I love them now… mmm, weird really!) but I just think I will pass on the honour.. lol..

Again, fabulous fun, so if you want to join in the fun have a look at the website of Kookstudio Amsterdam for the latest and greatest courses. I assure you it is worth the money! (and I am not saying that because I have to, but because it is true…)

Couldn't resist: Tom grating cheese!! Now that is a sight...

Fresh fish

Today was lesson 3 of our cooking class and the topic was fish. I think I said it would be meat, but I was mistaken, which was very apparent by the looks of crates full of various fish species when we walked in this morning. We learned so much today that it is hard to remember all of it! That is probably also the biggest problem with this course; loads and loads of information and you have to keep using it otherwise.. it’s going to fade away.

So today we first received some explanation on the various types of fish; which is which and how do you recognize a fresh fish. Difference between wild fish and farmed fish, the flat and the round fish etc. Then Rob showed us (only once) how to filet a round fish and how to do a flat one. Not sure if flat and round are the correct terms, but I’m sure you know what I mean…

It all looks so easy when Rob does it, but wait untill you have that knife in your hand and you need to do it yourself..!

Tom with a flat fish

I started with the flat one, which went relatively ok for the first time ever and next came the round one. (a mackerel) You have to forgive me if I don’t write down the names of the fish that we filet or cleaned because… well, I keep forgetting which fish is which….

Once we cut the filets of the fish, checked them a bit to see if we didn’t miss any parts, we scraped the leftovers of the herringbones which we would use later to make quenelles. Heads went separate from the bones. Heads tossed out, bones were used to make fishbroth. (don’t cook for longer then roughly 20 minutes or they will become bitter. Also do not use any insides of a fish with a black inside as that is also bitter)

Next we prepared the filets in the various methods that you have; baking, smoking, frying… I don’t think we looked at cooking, but then again; I don’t like cooked fish.

Also why you need to add a little flour to the fish (so it doesn’t stick to the pan and gets a nice brown and crusty finish. Tom kept cleaning various types of fish as he is going to Norway on a fishing trip and want to make sure that he has the necessary skills to filet a fish in the wild (well, not sure if you can call a camping “in the wild”) for dinner that day…

Me with a fish

We removed the scales of a fish and cleaned them of their insides. I did a dorade; which is actually funny as that was the very first fish I ate when I started realizing that fish is not so bad.

My parents never ate fish when I was young, so I simply never learned how to eat fish. For some reason the first fishes I tasted were completely terrible and tasted ‘fishy’, so I came to believe that all fish would taste fishy and I decided I did not like fish. Years ago though, Tom and I were on a holiday in Greece and they were grilling freshly caught dorades on the barbecue. Needless to say it smelled absolutely delicious and I decided to be brave and just try it one more time.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the fish was not at all fishy and actually quite good! Over the next years I slowly started trying more fish; usually in good restaurants and more often then not I did like the fish. And now I actually really love fish…. funny how that goes isn’t it? I’m still not very fond of all the herringbones in the fish, but I guess that is just a part of what fishes are, but other then that I love most types of fish.

What else did we do? We also prepared one seabass in the oven under a saltcrust (made with eggwhite and lots of seasalt) and I also did a dorade the same way. Surprisingly easy and very very tasty. I did mess up the fish a bit when cleaning it after it was cooked. Stripped the skin ok, but when I wanted to remove the flesh I think  I missed a part so some herringbones were left (and ofcourse Tom had to be the one to get a piece of the bone… haha…) Very very tasty!

Of all the leftovers of the fish that were scraped from the bones we made quenelles which were poached in broth of some kind

Quenelles with sauce hollandaise

of broth I think (I was doing something else so heard only half but Tom was standing by so he knows… That is the good part of being together during a course like this!) and Rob also showed us how to make a sauce Hollandaise as well as beurre blanc (I think that was the name..)

Calamari

He also showed us how to clean a calamari. And – not unimportant – how a well prepared squid should taste!! I think we have all had our share of rubbery squid-rings right? The ones which are soooo hard to eat because they are very badly done. I tasted the above squid and I can safely say that it was delicious with just some salt and not much else…

I think I probably missed half the stuff that we did today as it was so much. Tom and I will be writing most of it down tomorrow together so we don’t forget.

Tomorrow I am going to attempt to remake the photo in Lara Ferroni’s challenge, which you can also find on Flickr in the group SLW: Photo remakes, plus I will be baking the recipe that I have been holding on to for a while from Foodjunkie, Chocolate nougatine with hazelnuts.

Kookstudio Amsterdam

Yesterday was the first day of the cooking class that Tom and I had been looking forward to for months and it realy exceeded our expectations!! It’s a 6 week course; every saturday for the next 6 weeks we will be spending the afternoon in the kitchen you see above which is located in Amsterdam.

I had a familyshoot in the morning, so I was a little anxious that it would take too long and we would be late, but I was home on time to go to Amsterdam. Ofcourse we did not take into account the dramatic parking facilities that you can (not) find in the centre of Amsterdam, so we spend 10 minutes looking for a parking spot. Finally managed to find one at the Hobbema kade (for a “meager” 20 euro!!) , but then – obviously – still had to walk to get to the studio, so we arrived a little past 12. Class was planned to start at 12.30 with lunch beforehand, so actually right on time.

The group is quite large; I think about 13/14 people, but it seems to be a fun group. Our teacher is Rob, who had two restaurants and basically spend most of his lives cooking or at least doing something with food. The aim of the course is to teach us to start cooking without recipes or cookbooks, by giving us the basic tools needed to be able to make decisions on how to cook something or what to throw in the mix.

Me cutting my veggies!

The first lesson was all about cutting, techniques on how to hold your knife and how to cut various vegetables. We used leek, onion, carrots and a potatoe to practice. Ehhmm… maybe not look at the photo for the best technique though…:) Then Rob showed us how to make a good mayonaise base, how to make a roux, how to make the best home made fries from the potatoes we had all been cutting. I made a fabulous mayonaise which is now in the fridge here, so I have to think of a good way to use it this week, as it will not last forever… Making the mayonaise was actually quite simple; just a little vinegar, an eggyolk, some mustard, stir untill it starts to form bubbles a little, then slowly add the (sunflower) oil untill it starts to bind and then you can pour the oil in quicker untill you have a good consistency. You can then add whatever you like to make a mayonaise to your taste. Basic flavour would be to add salt, pepper and some lime… Anyway; I might think about something to use the mayonaise with this week, so I can take some good photos of them as the ones taken during the course are obviously not the best ones.. (taken with my little compact with very bad light in the kitchen…)

Tom with Rob behind the frying pan...

The lesson ended with everyone baking their fries (first prebake ofcourse!) and eating them with our own lovely homemade mayonaise! We learned an awful lot in just one afternoon, so much so that we will probably forget half of what we learned right away. During the kitchen session you don’t really have time to write stuff down and Rob tells so much that it is hard to remember it all, but I think the  keyword here is practice, practice, practice!

Professional chef baking fabulous fries!

The next lesson are all gonna be about finding the perfect ingredients (how to spot a good chicken from a bad chicken) and how to prepare them, cut them, filet them etc. Next lesson is going to be about birds and vegetables, then meat, then sweet stuff and at the end we have to prepare a three course dinner per two persons from scratch. Going to the market buying fresh produce and then making something out of that!

Soupmeat

He has already shown us the importance of making bouillon as a base of quite a lot of things (ragout, sauce, soup) and how to make one. Well kind of….

So now we have a week to make sure we are going to use our knifes in a proper way without cutting of our fingers and trying to use the stuff we learned… and finish of my mayonaise… If anyone has any good tips on what to do with mayonaise other then eating it with fries…?

Today we’re going to have a luxurious lunch at a restaurant in Haarlem. Friends of ours invited us as a kind of belated birthday present so I’m really looking forward to it!

More to follow!