Learning how to cook and my funny spinach soup

My friends and I attended a 4-day Basic Culinary course this week – our first serious attempt to learn how to cook. Haha...  

Everyday, there was a short lecture, a quiz and a cooking demo of the menu for the day. 

After the lecture portion, to apply what we've learned, we would break out into groups to cook the menu ourselves consisting of soup, salad, main dish and dessert - this would also serve as our lunch.  

Among the recipes we cooked were Eggplant Parmigiana, Salisbury Steak, Mushroom Risotto, Chicken Veronique, Pasta Alfredo  and Creme Brulee.  But nope, I didn’t really cook any of the dishes – I just assisted my highly skilled group mates who were seafarers working for oil tankers, cargo ships and cruise liners.  They are already experts in the kitchen but they only needed some culinary certification as part of their work requirement. 

So what were my tasks if I didn't cook? I chopped veggies, measured ingredients, stirred the risotto and washed the dishes.  In the kitchen hierarchy, I was the Commis 3 or the kitchen helper! Haha…

But there was one time I had to poach eggs and another time I had to cook Spinach soup on my own since 2 of our group mates were absent, thus, each one of us in the group had to take one recipe.  

So for spinach soup, on my own, I prepared the roux (butter and flour), osterized the spinach with milk, chopped leeks and celery and cooked the soup.  

As we were winding down, one of the kitchen staff went around to check the consistency of our soup. When she checked on mine, she noticed floating tiny pieces of leaves in my pot.  She asked - “Ano ‘to?” (What's this?) but before I could answer, she concluded  “Ah…. the spinach”.  

But I corrected her. I said “Actually, that’s the celery.  I osterized the spinach.”  

Then she goes, “Ah ok.  So you also included the celery leaves para mas malasa.” (So you also included the celery leaves so it's more tasty.)  

Uh-oh.  Why did she say "also included"?  So I said "Yes, I've put the leaves because I thought we're supposed to... ?".   Then I realized, OMG, I should have chopped the celery STALKS and not the LEAVES!  Wahaha…  Everyone just laughed at me! 

My funny spinach soup. Haha...

Today, on our last day, we had some kind of Iron Chef competition.  Each group had a secret ingredient and we had to make use of whatever ingredients were available in the kitchen.  Good thing, my group mates are all good cooks and they whipped up yummy dishes.  My contribution?  Writing down the recipes. Wahaha… 

 

 

Two of my group’s winning dishes. Declared as best risotto and Salisbury Steak (left) 
and best dessert, a nicely garnished Caramelized Pineapple (right).

But I’m so happy that we all passed and that I actually survived!  My friends and I felt drained at the end of each day! Haha…  

I learned a lot too from our teacher, Chef Rory, and from my classmates -  not just about culinary tricks but interesting ocean adventures and close encounters with Somalian pirates. :)