DAY ELEVEN REVIEW OF PAN FRY, SEARING AND SOUP MAKING

Today our production consisted of Roasted Butternut Squash Potage, Pan seared Scallops, Weiner Schnitzel with Lemon-Caper Beurre Blanc sauce.

The Soup Roasted Butternut Squash Potage is a thick soup made of roasted squash and garnished with seared apples and oven toasted pumpkin seeds.

1 1/2 Butternut Squash

1oz Blended Oil

4 oz Onion Parmentier

2 oz Carrot Parmentier

2 oz Celery Parmentier

1 t Garlic Minced

1ea Sachet (Bay Leaf, Rosemary, Clove and Peppercorns).

A/n Chicken Stock

TT Salt and White Pepper

1 T Toasted pumpkin seeds

3ea Sauteed apple slices

First we put the squash in a tray with heavy salted water covering half of it and we put it in the oven to cook.

Then in a sauce pan we added the mirepoix (onions, carrots and celery), to caramelize, then we added garlic and the pureed squash we cooked the mixture slightly and the we added the stock to cover, then we added the sachet and let it simmer. Then we processed the soup in a blender to achieve a liquid thick texture, then we seasoned with salt and pepper to taste.

To garnish we used sauteed apple slices and toasted pumpik seeds.

INTERESTING FACTS It was very interesting to know what is the difference from winter squash and summer squash. There is a great squash variety and the main difference is the skin. Whereas the summer squash are thin skinned and we can eat it whole. The winter squash is covered with a thick skin that is not edible.

"Coquilles St. Jacques" which is French for Scallops. It was very interesting to know that they are called shells from Saint John (translation) because it was the emblem used by Knights that fought for the church. I found more information about the subject:
The scallop shell is the traditional emblem of James, son of Zebedee and is popular with pilgrims on the Way of St James to the apostle's shrine at Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Medieval Christians making the pilgrimage to his shrine often wore a scallop shell symbol on their hat or clothes. The pilgrim also carried a scallop shell with him, and would present himself at churches, castles, abbeys etc., where he could expect to be given as much sustenance as he could pick up with one scoop. Probably he would be given oats, barley, and perhaps beer or wine. Thus even the poorest household could give charity without being overburdened. The association of Saint James with the scallop can most likely be traced to the legend that the apostle once rescued a knight covered in scallops. An alternate version of the legend holds that while St. James' remains were being transported to Spain from Jerusalem, the horse of a knight fell into the water, and emerged covered in the shells.

Our recipe for Pan Seared Scallops with Orange Beurre Blanc

2ea Scallops

A/n Clarified Butter

A/n Salt and Pepper

1 ea Shallot minced

A/n White Wine

8oz Cold Butter

1oz Orange Juice

1oz Carrots Julienne

1oz Leeks Julienne

1oz Celery Julienne

1oz Red Bell pepper Julienne

We actually do not eat the whole creature only its aductor muscle. Scallots are high in sugar and moisture, very easy to overcook and will turn to a rubbery texture.

First we remove the toe of the scallot (a little atached part to the main muscle aductor). we seared the scallots in a hot oiled pan with the presentation side down to get the desired maillar reaction and have a nice brown color. Once it is done we turned with the pan out of the heat to the other side just to cook.






Apart we did a sauce Orange Beurre Blanc. This sauce is very hard to make because the emulsion that holds de sauce is made by the orange juice and monte au burre butter and it is done au blanc, meaning that we use cold butter and we cannot allow the mixture to get browned because the desired color must be clear.






First we cut Orange supremes. This is a peeled orange that we cut in small wedges out and squeezed the juice out of the rest of the orange.






In a small saute pan we put minced shallots to sweat and we deglaze with the orange juice and white wine. Once the consistency of the mixture became almost au sec (almost dry) we added out of the heat, cold butter and the wedges (orange supremes).






Apart we did juliennes with our vegetables (thin strips) and cooked them just al dente in a small amount of water.






The plate together was very appealing with the vegetables used as a bed for the scallots and covered with the sauce an the orange supremes.

Weiner Schnitzel

Is a traditional Austrian dish made with veal cutlets coveren in bread crumbs.




3ea 2oz Veal cutlets

1ea Lemon

3ea Parsley sprigs



Breading:

2 oz Flour

2ea Eggs beaten

2oz Panko bread crumb

4oz blended oil

Tt Salt and white pepper






First we trimmed the veal out of any fat and nerves, then we pounded to achieve thin cutlets that we breaded soaking in flour, egg and panko bread.

In a hot pan with 1 inc of oil we pan fryed the cutlets then we did a lemon sauce as follows:

Lemon Caper Beurre Blanc



1/2 T Shallots hacher

2oz White wine

4oz Butter

3 T Fresh lemon juice

1 T Capers drained

Tt Salt and Pepper






In a pan we sweat the shallots and deglaze with wine and the lemon juice then we added the cold butter, some lemon supremes and capers seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.