Food Processor

   Have you ever thought how many different ways a food processor can be used? Yes there are many! And that is the reason that I decided to right about the great technology that have been making life of chefs easier for about 40 years and can be found in commercial or home kitchens. 

   In the late 1960's a French catering company salesman called Pierre Verdan created the first food processor. Observing the time that his clients use to spend in the kitchen chopping, shredding and mixing, Verdan thought that could have a easier and fast way to do all of those types of jobs; a bowl with a revolve blade in the base. The product was evolved by Robot Coup, the company that to manufactured  the first food processor, a brand that still a world leader on food equipment. The product arrived in domestic kitchens only in 1972 and was brought to UK in 1974.

   Since then, food processor has become important tools in commercial and domestic kitchens, it can be used to chopp, puree, mix, emulsify, blend and many other ways. The web page http://pinchofyum.com/twelve-magical-ways-to-use-a-food-processor shows 12 magical ways to use a food processor, including; homemade hummus, ice-cream and different sauces. All those tasks can be done in minutes, which is very important for commercial kitchen because everything must be done fast and in large quantities. 

 

Vegetarian for a week.

  In this new assignment for Theory of Food II,  we had to choose a new diet to follow for a week. The reason that I choose vegetarian, is because despite the fact that I regularly don't follow any restriction, and have normal diet, I really respect those how are vegetarians and the reason why most of them follow this diet, which is basically ethic. To be more specific, the chosen diet was the ovo-lacto vegetarian, and as we learned in class this one composed  eggs and dairy products excluding any type of meat. And that's is how the weekend went.

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Cereal, banana, Coffee	Eggplant sandwich	Pastas with tomato sauce
Tuesday	Scramble eggs with toast	Pasta with tomato sauce	Veggie burger In brioche buns, Boston lettuce, tomato and mayo
Wednesday	Cereal, Banana	Eggplant sandwich	Falafel Pita
Thursday	Toast with peanut butter and jam	Veggie Burger	Eggplant lasagna
Friday	Cereal and banana	Pasta tomato sauce	Rice and beans with saute veggies
Saturday	Cereal and banana	Rice and beans with eggplant alla parmesiana	Butternuts quash ravioli
Sunday	Muffin coffee	Veggie Burger	Veggie pizza

  

 As we can see wasn't hard to keep the diet during the week, the breakfast didn't change at all; cereal, fruits and scramble eggs are usually there everyday. For the lunch, change the regular tuna sandwich for an eggplant sandwich, wasn't a bad idea either, but I don't know if i would be able to keep up for too long. Pasta, eggplant lasagna and eggplant alla parmesiana are stuffs that i already enjoy, but i end up having way too many eggplant in the end of the week, which to keep with that diet I would have to change. The only thing that I didn't really enjoy was the veggie burger, it doesn't deserve be called "burger". 
 Working as a chef, is really hard to keep any very restrict diet, because taste everything we do is an essential part of the job, so keep a vegetarian diet as a chef would be complicated, unless you are a vegetarian chef.
 As mentioned before, I really respect the vegetarian diet for its ethic. First because the way the animals have been treated now a days is not fair, and very disrespectful, and also, because the population of the world is getting bigger  and food in shortage. But, to became a vegetarian I would have to have not just a vegetarian diet but also be a vegetarian chef and that wasn't exactly the plans.   

   

Farmer Market

 

 We all know that a good relationship between supplier and purchaser is very important, and for Chefs and restaurant owners is not different. An approach to your supplier, in this case the farmers, is the best way to understand how your ingredients are raised and treated before get in to your walk in fridge. 

    Knowing of that importance, George Brown College, gave the opportunity to students of Culinary to a trip to a farm called Whole Circle Farm, an organic farm, located about one hour and half of Toronto. Johann the owner started the farm in 2002 and choose organic food not just for its health benefits but also as a form of protest agains all the big companies that control the food industry, where all those companies carrier about is how much long those foods are going to last. 

  The farm produces many tips of vegetables from spring to fall, and everything is treat in a craft way from the  plantation to the harvest of the products. It was the first time that I tried an organic sherry tomato and strawberry, an unforgettable moment where I could taste the natural sweetness of both ingredients, totally different from the ones we find easily in the regulars grocery stores. 

  The products of the farm are sold in their own store right there in the farm, but it also can be found here in Toronto at the The Stop's Farmer's Market located on Lansdowne and Davenport  every Saturday from 8:00 am to 12:30pm.

  The experience visiting the farm and how the organic food are produced was amazing. Vegetables by themselves are already tasteful, but the way the have been produced now a days make it the aliments lose all of the natural good flavour. Also see with my own eyes  the love that  people working in that farm have for that products make me trust even more in the products that are sold there, and also keep same felling in the food that I'll cook.

Spicy Pineapple Pickle

  As learned in class, the main reason to pickle a ingredient is to preserve, but pickle can do more than that, it also change the flavour and texture, and that's why I decided choose to pickle a pineapple.
  According to the web site UrbanFarmonline.com (http://www.urbanfarmonline.com/urban-gardening/backyard-gardening/how-to-pickle-vegetables-and-fruit.aspx) the method used in this recipe is called quick-pickle where the fruit is cooked until tender and a heated pickle liquid, usually made with vinegar and water, is poured over the the fruit. In the recipe bellow http://www.food.com/recipe/spicy-pineapple-pickle-acar-nenas-230719?photo=269372 the pineapple is cooked in the pickled liquid with; sugar, ginger, soy sauce and red chilli pepper (in this case changed for a thai chilli pepper) and than poured into a jar.

First time tasting a relatively spicy pineapple with a sweet and acid taste was really good. The liquid was reduced to a syrup, leaving not enough liquid to pour into the jar, so next time add some water to it would make the pickle better.

Soup - Canja de Galinha

   For a long time, when talked about soup, the only thing that used come to mind was "Canja de Galinha". During the winter time, that was the best meal besides our famous "Feijoada" (black beens stew), and also used when sick and cold. The term "Galinha" literally means hen but became the the generic name for chicken, and the origem of the soup is Portuguese. In Brazil it's usually made with whole pieces of chicken cooked in broth with, onions, garlic, rice, carrots and potatoes more cooked than normal; parsley, green onions and a good bread for deep, are well come too. The recipe bellow is the one made for my mother and uses chicken breast instead of whole pieces.

                                                             Canja de Galinha

Chicken - 1 breast small dices

Carrots - 80g Macedoine 

White Potatoes - 100g Macedoine

Rice - 1cup

Onions - 1pc

garlic - 1clove

Chiken broth - 1L

Salt and Pepper

Sliced baguette for garnish.

1- In a saute pan cook the chicken in high untill brown.
2 - In a large sauce pan sweat onions and garlic; add the rice.
3 - Add carrots, potatoes and chicken.
4 - Add chicken broth bring to a boil and than to a simmer. Cook untill the rice and vegetables are soft.
5 - Serve with slices of baguette.

  I gave the soup to a roomate to taste, he liked it. Said was good, but is a very simple and maybe needs more colour ans add some more flavors. I totally agree, the soup doesnt seem very appetitive, and add a spice bag with bay leaf, pepper corn and parsley stem could  fixe it. To give a better visual and a diferrent taste, add some diced tomatoes which also give tome different texture to the soup.

In the end of the day I realize how our taste, and standards changes. The soup that was amazing when a while ago, is just "Ok" now, and need some changes.

Fruit Hunting "Dragon Fruit"

     What if I ask you to choose one, only one woman in a party with the prettiest women in the world, would it be a easy task? No. That's how I describe the Fruit Hunting work. In the most beautiful section of the market, or grocery store, made buy fruits with different shapes, sizes and colors, how to choose the one, the most attractive, beautiful, and taste fruit. But as in that party, if you take too long to choose you end up been chosen, and that is what happened. After check one or two different markets with no successes, I was just shopping at Fresh.co on Dufferin and Dupont when I was hunted by the "dragon" the dragon fruit. The color and principally the shape make the name of fruit really appropriate and interesting but the main reason that the fruit was chosen, was the one that drove me puzzled: How was the inside, color and texture? How does it taste like?

     Despite cultivated and imported from different parts of Asia the dragon fruit, also known as "pitaya", has its origin in Central America and was probably brought to the New World by the Europeans. Cultivated by Vietnam for over 100 years, just recently received the attention of farmers from different parts of the world, including; Israel, Australia and US. Its a fruit of the cactus species, tolerates poor soil conditions and temperature variations, the tropical climate is the best one to produce the fruit and the best season is summer and the early fall, but thanks to the off-season production technics it can be found almost throughout  the whole year.

Due the high quantity of water, the sweet taste is light, but combined with its texture make the fruit very fresh, which certainly would be very appropriate for a drink or used fresh in a fruit salad (recipe for the salad. http://www.soberjulie.com/2014/05/dragon-fruit-salad-recipe/) on a hot summer day

    Fruits are amazing, vitamin source they are very good for healthy and also taste pretty well with there natural sweetness. There are so many types, beautiful colors and shapes, and different taste. But

the good thing is that the difference of the fruits from the party with the prettiest women in earth is that we can try at least one every single day.

Culinary Biography

     Graduated in Business Administration in Brazil , came to Toronto in feb/2013 to learn English. As my first job, got a dishwasher position at Amsterdam Brewhouse. With a very difficult communication at the beginning, worked hard and start to make my way to the line. Salads and pastry were my first station, and as I started learning more, my interest about food and cooking began to grow which made me be more curios and learn different stations as pizza, fryer, flat top and currently learning Sauté our busiest station. In 2 years working as a cook I still know only very little about it, but these same 2 years were enough to make me proud of my profession and passionate about food which make me desire be a great Chef in the future.

     Now, you might be asking yourself what were my knowledge and experience before Canada? That question has a easy answer, and is "none", never cooked, not even at home and thats why come to Culinary School is so important for me and hope from that get as much as I can to improve myself and be a better professional.

Great and perfect foods are all about details.