Cooking Lesson with a Master Chef!

           

            The other day I had the honor of cooking with Chef Helmut Holzer, a certified master chef in the United States and Europe.  The chef currently works at Atlanta Foods International, creating spectacular dishes for restaurants and caterers.  

             Chef Holzer and I decided to make an intricate twist on a traditional American dinner.  There is so much I could say about what we cooked, so I think I'll explain picture by picture.  

On the menu:

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf with a Mushroom Log Center

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Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

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Green beans with Roasted Pine Nuts

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Passionfruit Mousse

Chef explained to me how he puts flavors together in his meatloaf.   We used onions, mustard, garlic, worcester sauce, salt and pepper, ketchup, eggs, and panko in ours.  

I sauteed mushrooms and onions
 in butter for the meatloaf filling.  
We also added garlic, cream,
and cornstarch to the mixture. 

Final bit of salt before we put the mushroom filling into
 the glass chiller to cool off.   Once it was cool,
we rolled it into a log using parchment.

"You notice I'm not using water.
Water is for fish to swim in."

Putting the meatloaf onto the finest bacon money can buy

Our mushroom log center in action

I'm very jealous of his spice cabinet.

We cooked our food in the world's coolest oven.  It bakes, roasts, steams, smokes, and grills.

The chef taught me that putting the hot cooked
 beans on ice helps them retain their color.

We made scalloped potatoes by layering
 sliced potatoes, cream, herbs, and cheese.

Our finished scalloped potatoes 

To finish the meal, we made a passionfruit mousse for dessert.  We used whipping cream,
sugar, sour cream, rum, passionfruit puree, and the chef's homemade vanilla extract.  

Chef Helmut Holzer and The Teenage Foodie

I had a wonderful time cooking with Chef Holzer.  I love anyone who puts cream and garlic into pretty much everything they make. :)  I look forward to cooking and experimenting with the inspiration and knowledge he gave me.

Thank you Chef Helmut!
The Teenage Foodie

The Everything Pizza Post

            Pizza takes many forms.  It is also one of my guilty pleasures within the realm of food.  From traditional italian to cold pizza for breakfast, pizza is awesome.
            I grew up ordering delivery pizza at least once a month on a Friday night.  The conclusion I've come to is that they're all the same.  They all have garlic smothered crust and tomato sauce and heaps of cheese.  Dominoes' thin crust pizzas that have fresh ingredients (tomato, basil, etc) are a good change of pace for a not-too-pizzalike-pizza.
            I've definitely come to appreciate the kind of "middleman" pizza franchises, like Mellow Mushroom and Fellini's.  Their pizza tastes like it was made by a human rather than a machine.  I also really enjoy the tough chewy crusts they have.  I usually ask for some ranch to dip them in when I'm done; I'm afraid my teenager side really comes out around pizza.
            To show that I had room to be talking, I made my own the other day.  I thought I'd make something a little different, so I made my own interpretation of a white pizza.  I knew I wanted completely fresh ingredients, and I knew I wanted to keep it simple.  Publix sells pre-made pizza dough in the bakery.  I bought one of those to take some of the hard labor out, and I added a decent amount of salt.  Salty crust is the key to authentic tasting pizza.  I made my own pesto for a base using fresh basil, olive oil, and garlic.  Then I added feta cheese and lots of fresh mozzarella.  I put lots of spinach on top and drizzled it with olive oil to keep the spinach from withering dry. Then I baked it until the crust was golden and the cheese was bubbly.

Fresh Ingredients

Basil Pesto

Feta and Mozzarella

Spinach

My White Pizza!

            I must say my pizza was very delicious.  My family approved as well.  Fresh ingredients are really the only key to a good pizza.  It wasn't very difficult either, and it was fun to make!  Maybe next time we go to call pizza hut I'll make my own instead.  

Thanks for reading!

The Teenage Foodie

Sushi Avenue

            FINALLY I have time to post some more!  Of course it's a day that I'm sick and staying home from school (and supposed to be resting) but here I am.
            A favorite restaurant of my family's is Sushi Avenue in Decatur.  Incidentally, there are two in town within a mile of each other, but I've only been to the one on West Ponce.  The other one is on the square, right next to Raging Burrito.  The restaurant is very cute and hidden, with one room opening into another and then another.  The atmosphere is very chic; my only complaint is that the tables are a little close together sometimes.  As for the service, they're usually very attentive, but sometimes a little slow when there's a big crowd.
            Every good japanese restaurant has miso soup and a house salad with ginger dressing.  However, I've never had anything as good as they have.  Not joking, I often order two soups and two salads to start.  One time I even got my mom to pick me up some miso soup to go when I was sick.  As for an entree, I usually just get one sushi roll which is eight pieces.  With my two soups and salads, it's definitely enough food.  My parents really like to get the Bento Box.  It's a big plate split into a bunch of compartments, a couple pieces of sushimi (raw fish over rice), a couple appetizer-like bites, a few veggies, a piece of tempura, and a good sized piece of what you choose, like fish or teriyaki.  As for the TONS of kinds of sushi they have, I've never tried one I didn't like.  I almost always get the spicy crunchy tuna roll; it's absolutely delicious.  My mom really likes the eel roll, with a nice slimy piece of eel on top ;)  I'm afraid that one's a little too fishy for me.

Miso Soup and House Salad         

                                                                                               

Eel Roll

Bento Box with Salmon

Spicy Crunchy Tuna Roll!

California Roll (After a few bites)

            Overall, Sushi Avenue has my vote for any occasion.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for something a little different.

Hope to have time to post more soon!
The Teenage Foodie

MY Fried Bologna Sandwich

            I'm sorry I've been so lazy about posting!  Sophomore year has been kicking my butt.  Soooo, back in July I reviewed The Pinewood, and I spoke very highly of their fried bologna sandwich.  Shortly after, I recreated it myself!
            There were three main components in the sandwich, just like I had at the restaurant: egg salad, fried green tomatoes, and of course, fried bologna.  I tried to plan out all the preparation so it'd be ready to put together at the same time, a skill that all good cooks must possess.  I started by slicing some green tomatoes from my dad's garden, dipping them in egg, coating them in a dry mixture of cornmeal, salt, and pepper, and finally putting them into hot crisco in a cast iron skillet. (If you're gonna do Southern, you have to do it full out.) Then, I put together a simple egg salad, boiled eggs, mayo, mustard, dill pickle relish and a dash of paprika.  I mushed that together and put it into the fridge to chill so that I would have a variety of temperatures as well as textures.  Now, frying bologna is something I didn't have much experience in, but I figured it was just like frying anything else.  In a fresh pan, I threw in another dollop of crisco, let that melt, and laid down four pieces of the despised lunch meat.  I flipped my tomatoes once they were golden brown, trying desperately not to lose their cornmeal surrounding.  Once the bologna puffed up like a balloon, I flipped them too.  I was nearing the end of the cooking, so I toasted four pieces of bread and smothered them with plenty of my egg salad.  As the bologna and tomatoes finished frying, I put them on too.  Finally, I cut the sandwiches into triangles and added some sliced dill pickles for presentation's sake.
            They weren't quite as good as the one from the restaurant, but it was pretty tasty!

Nothing like messin around in the kitchen,

The Teenage Foodie

The Pinewood

          I went to the Pinewood this past weekend with my family trying to get a sense of what this new Decatur restaurant was like.  The Pinewood is on the corner of West Ponce, in the location that Cakes and Ale used to be, and it is definitely trying to fill the big shoes left there by Cakes and Ale.  From huge mason jars to fried bologna sandwiches, they've got the hipster twist on Southern food DOWN.
          Right when we walked in, unfortunately I was a little disappointed.  First of all, there's a curtain right by the door that cuts off the whole restaurant.  I felt like I had to be let into the "club" before I could see behind the big curtain and into the dining area.  Also, the couple in front of us told us that there was an HOUR long wait.  We were prepared to find a different restaurant, until the hostess began to seat us right away.  Apparently the hour wait was for a table for two, but four people could sit right away.  That didn't make very much sense to me, especially because there were at least four open tables inside, but they were for six people, so two person parties had to wait an hour until one of the few small tables opened up?  The atmosphere in the Pinewood screams old Southern.  Old carbon lights and chalkboards line the wall, and all the tables and chairs were wooden and wicker, creating a nice feel in the room.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Spinach and Beet Salad

          We got fried green tomatoes for an appetizer, and my mom got the beet salad to start as well.  The fried green tomatoes themselves were unremarkable; I've made better.  The remolade that topped them however was magnificent.  I could eat it on anything.  My mom's beet salad was also really tasty.  Usually I think that people have to be "beet people" to enjoy beets, but anyone would love this salad.  The sweetness of the beets was balanced out with a terrific herby goat cheese, and it was topped with some candied walnuts.  The dish epitomized a creative version of the kind I talked about in my post about THE Salad.  (http://theteenagefoodie.blogspot.com/2012/06/salad.html)

Fried Chicken and Collards

Fried Bologna Sandwich

          The only two entrees I tasted were my mother's and my own, so those are the only two I can speak for in this post.  I got the fried chicken which came with mashed potatoes and homemade gravy.  I would say that this wasn't as much of a twist on Southern food as it was a solid interpretation of it.  It was really good, crispy fried chicken, with really creamy mashed potatoes, and a really good gravy.  However, the flavors didn't keep me enticed, or make me want to go rushing back for more.  I got a separate side of collard greens, and they were pretty good.  They actually came out cold (not on purpose,) and they had a little too much sugar for my taste.  Now, my mom got the fried bologna sandwich.  It. Was. So. Good.  Even though I like to think of myself as a Southern girl, I'd never had a fried bologna sandwich before this.   The sandwich had fried bologna, a fried green tomato, and a spicy egg salad on toasted white bread.  My first bite left me beyond intrigued.  I wanted to know what I was tasting, and how so many intricate flavors could work so well together and taste like something I 'd never had before.  My second bite just made me wish that I had gotten that instead of my one-toned plate overflowing with rich comfort food.

Lemon Jar

Funnel Cake

          For our dessert, we got two out of the three that they had.  We got a "Lemon Jar" and a funnel cake.  The lemon jar was a lemon custard in a mason jar topped with whipped cream and fresh berries.  It was really, really good.  I detected I super subtle hint of goat cheese in the custard; that was a very nice touch.  The funnel cake tasted just like what it was, and it was also very good.  I'm not sure if the whipped cream on both dishes was homemade, but it tasted like it.
          Overall, the Pinewood is definitely worth some attention.  It will be a force to be reckoned with among all the hipster Decatur restaurants, and I look forward to returning soon.

The Teenage Foodie