Fancy Pants Foodie

Foodie news, reviews and how-tos from Arkansas and beyond.

  • Home
  • About
  • Gluten Free
  • PR/Ads
  • Contact Me

Stupid computers and Twice-Baked Potato Bites

September 10, 2011 by arfoodie

Finished potato-y goodness, minus some paprika and parm we sprinkled on at the end.

I wrote a long, satisfying blog post yesterday, forgot to hit “save,” and left the computer in a hurry. Turns out autosave only works if you’ve manually saved at least once.

Bleh.

I told the long version of this week’s restaurant service at school, most notably when I nearly cut off the end of my left index finger with a peeler. Typing this is extremely difficult. I hope you’re feeling the love through my efforts here.

I suppose I’ll try to rewrite it, because it was actually quite good. Dangit. So I’ll just give you a brief rundown of what we did in another class this week.

In banquets and catering, we had a long (looong) discussion on the business end of starting a catering business: insurance, taxes, and pricing to make a profit. If you’ve ever priced an event and nearly fell out at the cost, I now know it’s with good reason. In our book’s example, the caterer had to build about $1300 into every job just to cover overhead. Wow.

At least now we know how to actually make money and not blow it on the light bill (and rent, and salaries) we forgot to work in.

A fellow student pipes the yummy potato mixture back into the baked shells.

Afterward, we went into the kitchen to make some appetizers for an event the school was catering. My group made the most awesome tiny, twice-baked potatoes. We were given some leeway on how to flavor the filling, so my friend Deborah and I came up with chives, goat cheese and a splash of worchestershire. Oh, and a buncha butter. And salt and pepper, of course. Turned out great.

I started to type a recipe, and quickly found I have no idea how to quantify it. But basically, you get size “B” red potatoes (the smallish ones), cut off the ends, and cut the whole thing in half. With the larger (from the middle) side up, scoop out some potato with a melon baller or teaspoon. Oil and season the “shells,” and bake at 325 for about 40 minutes, or until they’re browned and done all the way through.

Meanwhile, boil all the scooped out potato in some salted water, and when it’s tender, drain, reserving some of the water. Put in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and some butter, and mix until smooth. Now the fun part: mix in cheese, herbs, whatever you want. If the mixture is dry, pour back in some of the starchy water.

Put the resulting yummy goodness in a piping bag and pipe into the shells. (Or, you could just use a spoon if you want.) Top with paprika and shredded cheese if you like. We froze them at this point for later use, but you can go ahead and brown them in the oven some more and serve.

These were yummay! I’m starting to think it may not be so horrible to cater an event. The idea horrified me before. These little bits of deliciousness were inspiring.

What kind of little goodies have you made for formal events? Ever cater anything? Let me know your thoughts.

Filed Under: Appetizer, PTC_ACS Tagged With: appetizer, Arkansas Culinary School, banquets, catering, culinary school, Pulaski Tech

Eggshibition Cookin’

March 28, 2010 by arfoodie

The baguette chips and spicy cheese crackers I made. You're welcome.

Friday night, I had blisters on my hands, sore feet, cramped up legs and a knotted back…and I was happy as a lark.

I got to cook all day for the Eggshibition, an annual fundraiser held for Youth Home in Little Rock. Pulaski Technical College Arkansas Culinary School was the caterer, so to speak, and I volunteered to help cook and work the event.

For most of the day before the event, we cooked and prepped food in Pulaski Tech’s south campus main kitchen, used for their Finish Line Café. The only thing I can honestly say I made from start to finish are some spicy, cheesy crackers (one fellow student praised them, saying they were “like a kick-a** Cheez-It”) and some baguette chips, made with olive oil, fresh parsley and pink Himalayan sea salt. My blister comes from the constant paper-thin slicing (oh, the slicing!) of the baguettes. Thanks to Chef Ginocchio for teaching me some technique on that one. (Stand open, ninety degrees to the table, curl up those fingers, use a gentle sweeping, sawing motion on those slightly-frozen baguettes.)

Other than making crackers, I helped slice and skewer the duck, helped pack and load the vans to the venue (at University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Jack Stevens Center), helped set up the lavish cupcake and cream puff table, and generally ran like crazy the later the night went. At some point I threw on my proper chef’s hat (was previously wearing a net, since my hat is really a tad small), without checking my hair. Not the extended beauty prep I used to do going to these sort of events in my PR days!

During the event, I spent most of my time making new appetizers as the crowd devoured them.

The teeny shrimp and grits with fennel jelly on a teeny biscuit, being assembled.

My station ended up being out in a hallway, making these tiny little shrimp and grits on a tiny biscuit with fennel jelly. Nice.

Although we had plenty of volunteer help whose job it was to serve the goods, I snuck out to disperse a couple trays myself. It was fun seeing some of my old PR buddies and being the bearer of fun, tiny, yummy things. Plus, I do still feel like a rock star in my white chef’s coat, which was a hit with my friends. They could have told me about the hair, though, which I later found to be sticking out wildly from my too-small hat.

I told one of my chef instructors during setup that, although I didn’t think I wanted to do catering, it’s growing on me. The events are exhausting, especially one of this size, but exhilarating at the same time.

After a nice, hot bath, I may be up for another event. Just don’t ask me for another month or two.

EVENT PHOTOS:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Filed Under: PTC_ACS Tagged With: Arkansas Culinary School, catering, Crackers, Eggshibition, Pulaski Tech, special events, Youth Home

Cooking for a Crowd (Recipes Included)

March 8, 2010 by arfoodie

Photo of me and a parent helper taken at the event, which went great.

Today, I’m cooking for my first big(ish) crowd, my daughter’s aftercare program. They started a new tradition this year of having dinners every couple months for the families of the children. What I thought was going to be 20 or so folks when I agreed turned out to be more like 60+, which is cool. I love a challenge.

The menu:

  • Leek and potato soup, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day
  • Spring mix salad with choice of ranch or homemade orange vinaigrette dressing (see below)
  • Spaghetti with meat sauce (loosely based on marinara recipe posted here earlier, just the tomato products, herbs and garlic)
  • Italian bread with parsley garlic butter (It hurt me to not bake the bread, but we gotta draw the line somewhere. I made the garlic butter, though.)
  • Cupcakes with homemade chocolate buttercream (see below)
  • Tea (sugar syrup on service table)

The challenges for  this event included figuring quantities and portions (already using that culinary math they taught a couple weeks ago in school), figuring out where to buy stuff (some from Sam’s Club, some from the grocery store, and some from Ben E. Keith), and remaining mindful that about half of the audience is children, who will usually eat less and often not the same stuff as the adults.

I must say that I felt pretty cool buying from Ben E. Keith, our local large-quantity foodservice supplier. They are letting me start small on some things, since I’ll probably be a customer from now on, either for catering events, doing classes or whatever I decide to do when I grow up. My daughter and I went to their customer service dock on Saturday to pick up a big box of leeks, two boxes of salad, the dairy products (cheaper there than elsewhere) and some other random things.

Saturday, the director of the aftercare program helped me make the sauce and the base for the soup (everything but the dairy products), and put it all in the fridge. I also cooked all the spaghetti to al dente, rinsed with cool water in a colander and tossed with olive oil, zip-bagged it and put it in the fridge. Not the optimal way to treat pasta, but great for cooking for a crowd — we’ll just hit it with hot water tonight to revive it for service. (My Food Production I instructor told me that trick. Thanks, Chef!)

Today, I’ll brown meat for the sauce (forgot that part Saturday), bake off the cupcakes, make the buttercream, warm the bread, make the vinaigrette (also from my Food Production I instructor), make the sugar syrup (it blends better than anything granulated), and generally freak out. But I’m sure it will be fine.

While planning the last details, we remembered that it’s Lent. So we’ll hold out some of the sauce to be without meat for anyone abstaining. The soup will also be a good option. (I would have had a lentil and mushroom dish available if we had any true vegetarians coming, which we don’t.)

So. All this to say, this is my first big crowd, and I’m a little nervous. But it’s for kids and their parents, so it’s a low-risk proposition. It all boils down to a great practice opportunity for me, as well as a good time for a great bunch of folks.

YOUR ASSIGNMENT: Please comment below and let me know if you’ve ever cooked for a crowd of, over, let’s say 30. How did you figure out portions and ingredients? How did things turn out? Where did you get your product? Any war stories, tips or suggestions? I look forward to your input.

Orange Vinaigrette Dressing

  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 2 T. balsamic vinegar
  • 1 T. Dijon mustard
  • 2 tsp. honey
  • 1/8 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

Whisk ingredients together in a bowl. Or, place ingredients in a small jar with a tight-fitting lid, cover and shake until combined.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

  • 1/4 lb. (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1/4 lb. (1/2 cup) shortening
    Note: May use 2 sticks butter and eliminate shortening. Frosting will have a better mouth feel but will be less stable.
  • 1 lb. powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 3 tsp. cocoa powder
  • 2 T. cool water

Cream butter and shortening (if using) together in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Add sugar in several installments, scraping down the bowl occasionally. In a cup, mix cocoa and water together; add to fat/sugar mixture along with vanilla. Beat until smooth and lightened.

Simple Sugar Syrup

  • 1 cup granulated sugar (may substitute all or half with turbinado sugar for a more natural, deeper-flavored product)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 small sprig of any type of mint, optional

Simmer all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When all sugar is dissolved, cool for a few minutes off the heat, then pour through a sieve (if mint was used) into a squeeze bottle or other container, I also recommend you to check this ginger mint cooler mocktail recipe for a special occasion like this. Perfect for use in cold drinks.

Filed Under: learning, Uncategorized Tagged With: buttercream, catering, cooking for a crowd, dressing, frosting, leeks, potato, recipes, soup, spaghetti

Let’s keep in touch!

Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links meaning I earn a commission if you use those links. If I recommend something specifically, you can trust that I've used it and I love it.
Fancy Pants Foodie
Tweets by @ARFoodie

Recent Posts

  • I’m Still Alive (And Eating a Weird Diet)
  • Arkansas Hospitality Conference a Food Lover’s Dream (PHOTOS)
  • Culinary Classic Offers a Taste From Arkansas’ Best Chefs (GIVEAWAY)
  • Diamond Chef Arkansas 2016 at Pulaski Tech CAHMI
  • 2016 ProStart Arkansas Competition

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress