CACS Day 3: Knife Skills, Veggies, and Salads

Mixed Salad with Honey Dill Mustard Dressing

We had a new instructor for Day 3 of our Basic Skills class, Chef Lawrence Zafra, sous chef of Cafe Ysabel. He began the class by giving us some reminders and important stuff we must do and know when inside the kitchen and when handling a knife.

Peeled Tomato

Class proceeded with a demonstration and some practice of knife skills which I was terrible at. SUPER FAIL! We peeled and chopped apples, carrots, tomatoes, sayote, zucchini, and other stuff. Most notable of which was the onions, OF COURSE! I don’t really eat a lot of onions and avoid them as much as possible, so that part was kinda torture for me. MEH! We were also shown a demo of making roasted garlic, garlic paste, and other such stuff.

Chopped Carrots

After a short break, we were given our assignments. Our group was assigned to make:

• Grilled Vegetables with Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Stuffed Tomatoes
• Country Fries
• Mixed Salad with Honey Dill Mustard Dressing

Dill

MISE EN PLACE!

Honey Dill Mustard Dressing

I prepared the veggies and the Honey Dill Mustard Dressing for our Salad. It was stress-free even if I have limited knife skills. I love mustard so I would have wanted to put more but I wasn’t sure if my groupmates were mustard-lovers like me so I put just enough. It was very light and yummy. The perfect way to start a meal.

Grilled Vegetables with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Rose and Kuya Bong prepared the Grilled Veggies and the Balsamic Vinaigrette. Rose fried some bacon to top it off and add some protein to our menu. Being a fan of balsamic vinegar and all things with vinaigrette… I LOVED IT! It contrasted well with the other groups’ Ratatouille and Veggies Gratin. The acidity and the smoky flavors of the dish were really very tempting.

Stuffed Tomatoes

Earl, our resident food stylist, prepared the Stuffed Tomatoes. Unlike other stuffed tomatoes, this one was stuffed with veggies. Another light meal item that I loooove. It’s actually more of a side dish. Earl garnished it with some parsley which Chef Law said was very 1980s. LOL! Nice effort pa rin. It was yummy anyway!

Country Fries

The most challenging of our assignments, IMHO, was the Country Fries. We all learned how to fry the perfect fries. Kristopher and Kuya Bong did ours very well. The secret is in poaching the fries before you actually fry them. TONS OF HOT OIL INVOLVED SO BE CAREFUL! They then tossed it with some fresh basil and garlic fried in butter. NOM NOM NOM! It was perfect with the other groups’ Blue Cheese Dip. RAWRRR!

Ria with Chef Lawrence and the Dishes by Group 2

We were also given some points and reminders in making our dishes more pleasing and appetizing to the eyes. Our group once again did a great job in preparing and cooking our dishes well. We received a lot of good comments on our dishes. And we were also one of the first groups to finish. We’re also fortunate enough to be assigned stuff which we really like or are interested in.

Group 2 with Chef Law

Thanks Chef Law! Next week, a session with THE CHEF GENE GONZALES!