Butter, butter and more butter!

Sorry for the lack of posts over the weekend. I've had a ridiculous last few days. I spent six hours cooking at school Friday morning (tomato sauces and veloutés - pretty much aced it), followed by eleven hours waiting tables at Sito's, followed by six hours the Saturday morning at Uchi, followed by 5 more hours at Sito's, followed by five more hours at Uchi Sunday morning. Sheesh! I'm exhausted just typing all that!

Anyway. This morning we made Hollandaise and it's derivatives - Maltaise (orange-flavored Hollandaise), Beurre Blanc (shallot and white wine flavored butter), Bearnaise (tarragon and vinegar flavored Hollandaise), and Foyot (veal glace-flavored Bearnaise). None of it was very photographable, but it was fun. I did get whisk wrist from whipping eggs and butter into submission. I also consumed about 1/4 cup of butter (to date we've used approximately 100 pounds of butter in my class alone). Mmmmmm....butter...... We did really well on everything. A few, "a little thick"'s here and some, "a touch more salt" there, but overall, 18s and up.

Today's story is about dinner. It's been a while since I whipped up a nice dinner for the kids here at the house. I had time this afternoon, so I figured, "what the hey?". I hit up the ol' HEB and decided on tacos, but there was no flank or skirt to be found in the meat section, so I headed to the butcher. What was on sale you ask? Bison skirt steak. Yes please! So we had bison fajitas:













I marinated the bison in Tecate, lime juice, serrrano chilis, onion, cilantro, garlic, and soy sauce and grilled it. There's also sauteed onions and red bell peppers; roasted poblanos; a serrano-cilantro crema; tomatillo salsa; oaxaca cheese; and cilantro all on home-made flour tortillas. Yea. They were tasty. The bison could've been cooked just a touch more, but overall, still very nice.

We followed that up with this:













Strawberry-banana shortcake. Angel food cake; fresh sliced banana; freshly macerated strawberries; and home-made vanilla-orange whipped cream.

Also, a quick shout out and HUMONGOUS thank you to my pal Brittany. Thanks to her, I enjoyed some lovely chocolate truffles and pralines yesterday FROM SWITZERLAND!!!!













Man them Swiss know what they're doin!!!

Well I have to hit the books. Tomorrow we make chicken consummé. And vegetable stock. And vegetable soup. And mushroom barley soup. It's gonna be a long day (and hopefully a photogenic one as well!). See ya then!