American Regional Cuisine: Floribbean

This quarter is just flying by...we're already in the fourth week since it started. This week we did Floribbean Cuisine. Characterized by tropical ingredients, spices, and some Southern Cuisine influence, it's a type of cuisine unique to the regions around Florida and the Caribbeans. As such, we made dishes like the Jerk Chicken, Plantain Chips, Key Lime Pie, and Gazpacho. Normally I would take home as much leftovers as I could (I HATE wasting food) but had to refrain this time. My family is not a big fan of spicy and overly sour foods. Why take food home when no one (including myself...) will eat it?

I thank my teammates for allowing me to be in charge of the dessert the past few weeks... I kinda felt bad since the others are stuck doing the same thing instead of rotating. They didn't seem to mind though.

Day 1: Key Lime Pie

Other groups put raspberry whipped cream as a garnish; another put coconut milk in their pie. I mixed in some peppermint extract into the Key Lime Pie, on ginger graham cracker crust. The result--Mojito Pie. Minty and citrusy, a perfect treat for summer.


Day 2: "Chef's Choice Citrus Dessert"

Last week, Chef Instructor said that the dessert for Day 2 will be "Chef's Choice Citrus Dessert"; so we were under the impression that the Chef Instructor is going to provide us with a dessert recipe.

Turned out he wanted us to come up with our own.

I went through the rack/shelves and my brain trying to come up with a Floribbean Dessert with whatever ingredient available: tapioca pearls, mango, papaya, plantain, eggs, berries, heavy cream, among others....

"What should I do? Mango bread pudding? Mango Tapioca pudding? Mango cream pie?"

Then one of my teammates suggested, "How about a Napoleon cake? We do have some puff pastries." I never thought of that.... (Thank you, thank you, thank you Jeff!)

Mango & Jamaican Rum Napoleon Cake

I made mango pastry cream spiked with dark rum, then folded in some whipped cream to lighten it. After the pastry sheets got baked, it was time for assembly and plating. And that's where I got carried away...

"OK, for garnish....whipped cream, mango slices, cinnamon-sugar plantains, and balls of papayas!"

....over-garnished the plate :(

Chef pointed out that the cake should be the main focus here, and the garnish was too distracting. Indeed--the plate does look crowded. I also should've sandwich some mangoes inbetween the pastry layers. Darn it.

Next time...be conservative on the garnishes...

Banana Chiffon Cake

For the longest time, my mother has been begging me to make a chiffon cake--apparently, it's a rave among the ladies in Japan. People over there are coming up with every flavor imaginable--from conservative one like chocolate to the rather unorthodox pizza flavor. The latter has pizza sauce, vegetable juice, and basil stirred into the batter. One lady has perfected her skills in making it (took her two years) and is successfully selling her cakes--limited to the first 200 lucky customers per week.

A chiffon cake is based on whipped egg foams, which acts as a leavening agent, and provides the cake with its volume. It is similar to an angel food cake, but contains egg yolks, oil or butter, and may contain an additional leavening agent like baking powder. This results in a richer, more tender cake.

I have made angel food cakes in the past. And it took me a few tries before I made a decent product; the biggest issue was the cake collapsing, a problem solved by proper preparation of beaten egg whites and using cream of tartar. Chiffon cakes follow a similar procedure, so felt fairly confident in making it.

So...

Voila!

Banana Chiffon Cake with sliced bananas and whipped topping (fat-free!). It was the fluffiest cake I've ever tasted, minus the fat; I substituted the oil in the recipe with mashed ripe bananas, and also reduced the amount of sugar by 20%. According to a diabetic cookbook, the amount of sugar in a recipe can be reduced by 1/3 to a 1/4 without affecting flavor.... ironically, I then topped it off with full-sugar chocolate syrup :P

Hmmm...I just might get hooked on this chiffon cake...

Today is Earth Day, a day to show appreciation for the Earth's environment. Some celebrate it by biking to work instead of driving. Some celebrate it by making gargantuan posters and banners (that usually ends up in the dumpster) to raise awareness for our growing garbage/trash problems. But really, everyday should be Earth Day. Why set aside one day out of the entire year to appreciate the environment and then totally trash it the remainder of the year?

I opted to not use my car at all--so I stayed home all day doing homework and making this cake.

My Earth Day cake consists of Lemon Mousse and Lemon Cream layer with Angel Food Cake Base. Someday I'll get around to posting the recipes for my posts as well.

Hello to all the Bloggers out there!

My very first blog was created on MySpace four years ago. So much has happened since; some events joyful, some downright painful...and still others life-changing. I've changed and grown (...I hope) during the time, especially the last year. After the aforementioned life-changing event (which I'll blog about in the future), I now have a new direction in life; and through God, family and friends' support, I hope to continue on this path....in Culinary Arts. That's right...back in March, I quit my job as a Medical Supervisor and decided to pursue my dream of becoming a pastry chef! I am currently going to a culinary arts school and loving every minute of it!

As I blog, I will be posting a lot of pics of stuff I make, both at home and at school.

Thank you for visiting me! ...and stay tuned for delicious pics...