Josh’s Culinary Endeavors

Lasagna is one of the quickest easiest dishes that always warrants compliments.

Last night I didn’t want to eat leftovers. I saw an eggplant on the counter and decided to make lasagna

1 small eggplant
Pasta sauce
Packaged lasagna
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Provolone cheese, thinly sliced
Ricotta cheese
Parmesan cheese
1 large egg
Fresh basil, chopped
Garlic powder
Crushed red pepper
Salt & cracked pepper to taste

Season both sides of eggplant slices with salt and pepper (removes bitterness)

Combine cheeses, egg, basil, garlic powder, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper in a large bowl. Thoroughly mix.

Pour a small layer of pasta sauce and spread to cover the bottom of baking dish. Add single layer of lasagna. Add a single layer of egg plant. Evenly spread a cheese mixture layer. Repeat layering as many times as desired.

Bake covered in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Allow 15 minutes to cool before serving.

1 lb three cheese tortellini
4 ribs celery rough chopped
3 leeks thin sliced
12-15 medium shiitake mushrooms rough sliced
2 large onions chopped
1 bulb garlic, separated, peeled & diced
1 large red bell pepper
2 carrots julienned
2 quarts vegetable stock (non vegetarian use chicken or veal)
thyme
rosemary
basil
bay leaves
black & green peppercorns to desired taste and heat
crushed red pepper to desired heat
crushed tomoto/store bought pasta sauce
1.5 C white wine

Cook tortellini al dente, rinse in cold water and set aside.

In a large pot, saute onions and garlic until tender. Add celery, leeks and mushrooms and saute until almost tender.

Add stock, wine, tomato, herbs and spices. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add carrots and bell peppers and cook for 5 minutes.

Add cooked tortellini and cook until heated through.

I was up late one night last week and got one of those wild hairs. I started poking around the Texas Culinary Academy’s website and decided to write in.

I don’t remember exactly what I wrote but I said that I am almost 30, I have a full-time job, wife, mortgage and don’t want to find myself on my death bed thinking: “I wish I’d pursued my dream of being a chef.”

I received this response via e-mail a few days later:

Josh Janicek,

We do not have enough information to determine your acceptance to this school. One of our admissions representatives will contact you soon to discuss your application to our school.

Thank You,
Texas Culinary Academy
(888) 553-2433

Four years ago Vidbook.com closed its doors for good. I was unemployed. I drove my motorcycle to the Texas Culinary Academy and spoke with a student advisor as I thought it might be a good time to pursue a new life in the F&B industry. He was a great guy and we had a nice talk. He showed me around the school and briefly explained the programs that are offered at the school. He also showed me the bottom line. Culinary schooling is expensive. I may be off a little, but I think the chef program cost was to the tune of $30,000 for an 18-month associates program.

At the time, the TCA offered full-time schooling only. That meant I’d have to get a loan for $30k, attend class for six to nine hours a day and somehow find a job that paid somewhere around $500 a week so we could barely survive on our two incomes.

I put pen to paper and couldn’t justify going back to school. I had just graduated from college, married and consolidated both of our student loans. Combined we already owed $30k to the U.S. Department of Education.

Being a chef could be painstaking and financially unrewarding. I could just continue to cook for friends and family. I could try my hand at being a personal chef…

I love to cook for Elise and myself. I love to cook for friends. If I was paid for my knifetime, that would be top drawer peachy.

I took leftover ciabatta, cut on a bias and made sandwiches with pastrami, Swiss & provolone cheese, thinly sliced pepperoncinis and a garlic and olive tapenade for dinner tonight.

Guess what garlic and Kalamata olive tapenade smells like? Central Market’s Caesar salad dressing. Blend in egg and little more olive oil and I’ll bet I finally have my recipe.

After a little inspiration from last week’s cooking class, I decided to cook duck. I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, so came up with a new pizza recipe.

I made a smoked duck breast, mango and jalapeno pizza on ciabatta with a homemade garden fresh pizza sauce, Kalamata tapenade, smoked provolone and topped with feta.

I have to admit… that was the best pizza I’ve ever had. For dessert I made a silky coffee creme brulée.

I volunteered Elise and myself to babysit Jack over the Memorial Day weekend while John and Christine travel to Mexico to smuggle black market DVD copies of Kevin Costner’s “Waterworld” and small children who sell Chicklets.

We thought nothing of it when we offered to babysit over the long weekend. Much to our surprise, John and Christine gave both of us a gift certificate to the April 17th Hudson’s on the Bend cooking class.

The class was fun and informative. Elise took notes and I retained new information in the cabeza.

An interesting bit of information that I picked up was that cilantro is excellent in reducing heavy metal (lead, mercury, aluminum, cadmium and arsenic) toxicity. Heavy metals are often found in our drinking water, fruits, vegetables, fish and shellfish. Luckily cilantro is one my favorite herbs and I can eat it by the handful.

Elise was able to see a mandolin in action and wrote that down on what I would guess was a “need to purchase” list.

Watching Jeff and Robert prepare the meal was amazing, as always. For this class we all sat outside in Jeff’s backyard. I was sitting there thinking: “Wow - in the past few months, I’ve been cooking a lot like this”. I had never eaten any of the days’ menu items, but all of the ingredients are now mainstays in my kitchen - big, pungent, local and spicy flavors.

There was one change in the original menu. Instead of smoked buffalo quail, they made Duck Diablos - a medallion of smoked duck breast wrapped in smoked bacon with a thick slice of jicama, jalepeno and a mission fig soaked in balsamic vinegar. The appetizers were served with a fantastic red chile glaze.

Lunch at the restaurant was fantastic. We sat across from a family who had treated their dad to a Hudson’s cooking class for his 70th birthday. We had a great conversation with them.

The salad, main course and dessert were all great, but we still couldn’t get over those Duck Diablos - those things are so awesome (yes, I’m going to Central Market this weekend and picking up some duck breasts if anyone wants to come over for some gourmet southwestern cuisine!)

We came home completely stuffed with knowledge and food. It was a great time that has left us both very inspired.

Here are some photos from the afternoon.

Last night I felt the need to cook comfort food. I threw a twist on classic fettucini alfredo.

Arrabiata Alfredo Pie

Sauce
1 part butter
3 parts heavy cream

Melt butter in pot, add cream, bring to a boil and reduce heat.

Extras
Few cloves garlic, crushed & chopped
Fistfull of fresh basil, chiffonade
Mushrooms, sliced
Prosciutto, slided
Mozzerella & Provalone cheese, grated
Parmesan cheese
Crushed red pepper
1 egg, beaten

Cook fettuccini, drain and cool.
Add all of your extras into pot with pasta. Stir in sauce. Add Parmesan cheese to the point where it seems just like Alfredo. Throw in a few fist fulls of mozzerella and provalone (these are all exact measurements, by the way).

Put ingredients in a buttered baking dish and cook at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Cut and serve like a pie. If you really want to make it healthy, drizzle some additional alfredo sauce over the top. Clos du Bois is a great wine accompaniment.

Gooey, creamy, cheesy, tasty, artery-clogging Italian comfort food.

Smoked Stuffed Texas Quail with an Ancho Ginger Honey Sauce on top of Texas Wild Rice and Pumpkin Seeds

Quail
Stuff quail with venison and pork sausage and cilantro, wrap quail in two strips of bacon.
Smoke quail on grill until internal temperature is 170 degrees.

Sauce
Sautee onions, carrots and garlic until carmelized.
Add 1.5 C. veal stock (my new best friend)
Soy sauce
Ginger
Add reconstitituted ancho, sandia and chipotle peppers
Cilantro
Blend in blender or use boat motor
Add honey to desired sweetness