Food & Drinks (Page 2)

If you enjoy playing with dough, mixing sugar and butter and coming up with elegant dessert presentations and a knack for creating artisanal wedding cakes that looks as good as it tastes, you probably would want to know how to become a pastry chef professionally.

The Traditional Road to Becoming a Pastry Chef

Many people believe that formal education on baking and dessert making is required to becoming a professional pastry chef.

If you’re taking this route, you’ll have to enroll in a culinary school and specialize in pastry. After earning your degree or certificate, you will then have to go into apprenticeship.

This is an on-the-job training where you’ll be able to apply the theories you learned from school. In some cases, an apprenticeship program could last for 2-3 years.

After graduating from your degree and apprenticeship, you can now apply as a full-fledged pastry chef in restaurants, bakeries and other related establishments.

You might also want to gain certifications from the American Culinary Federation. This will help enhance your credibility and marketability as pastry chef.

The key advantage of getting formal education is that the school could help arrange your apprenticeship program and get you a job after graduation.

Taking the Road Less Taken

However, getting a degree from a culinary school can get very expensive despite its advantages. You can still become a pastry chef by cutting some corners, doing your own legwork and being open to learning in a real-kitchen setting, all without the aid of formal education.

Take for example Caroline Schiff, a pastry chef who carved her name in the food industry … Read on Gather baltimore

There are typically two versions of the fish head curry dish in Singapore – the Chinese style and the Indian style. The Chinese style is milder, sweeter and has a richer flavor since coconut milk is used in the recipe. Canned pineapple slices are also added for sweetness.

The Indian curry version is thicker in consistency, spicy and fiery and has a sour tang to it. Assam (tamarind) paste is used to give it the sour flavor. At home, we sometimes add 2 small green mangoes, halved and with skin unpeeled, to enhance the piquant flavor of the curry.

True connoisseurs of curry fish head relish the gelatinous parts of the fish head, including the eye sockets, fish lips and areas around the jaw bone. I love the gelatinous parts of the fish but have not yet managed to bring myself to eat the fish eye. Fiona’s father loves it though, so no part of the head goes to waste at our home!

Red snapper fish head is an excellent choice for this dish. The flesh is firm and white and has lots of prized gelatinous goodness that make this dish such an exotic delicacy. Other popular fish head choices that have a lot of gelatin and firm white flesh are threadfin (ikan kurau), gold-banded jobfish (angoli) and coral trout (in picture above).

If you’re squeamish about cooking (or eating!) a fish head, you can use fish steaks instead. But if you do, you can’t honestly say that you cooked ‘fish head curry’, right?

In the recipe that follows, I use a short cut to greatly reduce preparation … Read on Gather baltimore

What a treat these tacos were. We’ve made fish tacos and bean burritos before, but I’ve never ventured into the pork or red meat category for these.

I was surprised how juicy and delicious these turned out from the crock pot! You know I love a recipe that requires me dumping things in a pot and then coming back eight hours later to a ready made meal.

Here’s what you’ll need… For the carnitas

• 2 pork tenderloins
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 poblano peppers, quartered
• 2 tbsp Fajita seasoning
• 1/2 C water

For the tacos

• Corn tortillas
• Avocado
• Fresh jalapeno
• Cilantro
• Lime

Get your crock pot out and set it to Low. Cut your tenderloins up into large chunks (about 4 pieces per tenderloin).

Add the sliced onion and quartered peppers (make sure you removed the seeds from these) to the pot.

Add a healthy covering of fajita seasoning and 1/2 C water (or enough to cover the items in the pot about 1/2 way).

Now, go and do something fun while your crock pot does all the work. Come back about eight hours later and your pork will be juicy and ready for you to pull apart.

We like to eat our tacos with fresh avocado, jalapeno and lime juice squeezed on top. Amir loves fresh cilantro, too! Here’s a tip for warming your tortillas to make sure they’re soft and fresh tasting every time.

We like to buy the big bags of corn tortillas and then freeze them so they don’t go bad before we eat all of them. Pull them out of the freezer (or refrigerator … Read on Gather baltimore

Losing weight by setting up a healthy diet plan is undisputed. So what foods should be included in the daily menu? Let’s find out in the article below.

Do you always feel worried about your weight? Does it prevent you from engaging in activities and threaten your health?

If you are obese or overweight, admit this. Evasion only makes you suffer.

There are many ways to lose weight, but one of the most effective and simple ways we want to mention this article is to set up a diet that includes weight-loss foods.

But first, let’s find out some more information about overweight and obesity.

What Are Common Causes Of Overweight And Obesity?

• High-fat diet

This is the first and also the most common cause of overweight or obesity. Fast foods, processed foods, and carbonated beverages are foods that have very high-fat contents. As a result, consuming them regularly will lead to excess energy and fat accumulation.

• Stress

Stress, anxiety, and depression are also the causes of weight problems. Stress causes the body to form peptides, which form fat masses, especially in the abdomen.

There have been many studies conducted to understand the relationship between obesity and stress. The results showed that with the same diet, people with stress could gain twice as much weight as those who did not experience this mental condition.

• Gluten food

Gluten is a type of carbohydrate that causes weight gain and many health problems such as constipation, indigestion, and intestinal inflammation. It is abundant in bread, pasta, pizza, cookies, and pastries.

• Metabolic disorder

Metabolic disorders are common in people with psychological … Read on Gather baltimore

One great thing about being married to a Persian man – Persian food! Of course there are many other perks, but since I’m obsessed with food, we’ll focus on that one.

A lot of Persian dishes center around a ‘Khoresh,’ or a sort of stew that is served over rice. This can be made with okra, tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, etc. This one if quite different from most Khoresh dishes in that it is a stew of walnuts, pomegranate and chicken. Weird, right? It’s amazing.

When my mother-in-law first made this dish I fell in love. Now, every time we visit I secretly say a little prayer in hopes that she is going to serve Fessenjoon for dinner. I finally decided it was time for me to learn to make this dish so I didn’t have to rely on her for my culinary happiness.

On her last visit we did a Fessenjoon cooking session, and I’m excited to now have the recipe to share with you all! This is a unique dish with a mix of savory and sweet flavors, and it won’t be for everyone’s taste, but I think it’s amazing!

Right now, I’m working with leftovers, and I’ve been rationing it out to myself to make sure I don’t run out too fast. It’s that good!

Fessenjoon Khoresh Recipe

Here’s what you’ll need… For Fessenjoon Khoresh

• 4 C walnuts
• 3 C water
• 1 medium onion
• 2 chicken breast (this can be made with stew beef as well)
• 1/2 bottle of pomegranate molasses
• 2-4 tbsp sugar

Rice

• 4 C long grain, basmati rice
• 1/4 C vegetable oil
• 1/4

For the past year I have developed a knack for making meals ahead of time. Let’s face it who has time after coming home from a long commute to make dinner from scratch?

I must admit it requires some planning and organization, but its doable. One of my favorite meals is make ahead meatballs; it’s easy and red-meat eating men friendly.

*This recipe can be easily adapted to a slow cooker recipe too! Please see note below

I have found that the best tasting meatballs require a mixture of meats. You can use one meat if you like. I like buying from my local butcher the “meatloaf” mix of ground meats.

It contains a mixture of ground pork, ground beef and ground veal. This saves me a lot of time from grinding my own meat. I don’t own a meat grinder and I can’t say I can justify buying an accessory meat grinder for my kitchen aid.

Plus, I’m trying to save time and make less work for myself. If you have a personal preference to grind your own meats, by all means go for it.

Let’s start!

Place the ground meatloaf mix into a large bowl.

Next, add all the seasonings and gently mixed until well combined.

It should look something like this.

If you have the time to hand roll the meatballs, roll them into a walnut size ball and gently coat with breadcrumbs…but I use an ice cream scoop!

This makes the process a lot more streamline. Don’t worry about the meatballs having one flat side, the meatballs will round out when you roll them … Read on Gather baltimore

I’ve become accustomed to expecting a lovely green hue with my smoothies (or, as my dad gently put it, pond sludge-esque?). Whatever, whatever, they taste delish.

There is something almost secretly bad about drinking a smoothie that tastes sooo good but is still healthy. I was looking for a bit of a shake up this week, however, and rummaging through my cabinets for some flavor additions.

Despite the best of intentions and my best game-on face, this week threw me for a loop…highlights included a rather wicked electrical fire at my gym that involved six fire trucks, assorted police cards and some of New York’s finest.

I have to say, I was not expecting to be smelling toasted marshmallows when I was on the treadmill. Everyone was fine and so is the building but the events of Wednesday left me a little drained.

Don’t miss my recipe: Fessenjoon : My Persian Comfort Food.

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to attend a conference hosted by Bloomberg LP. While the panel and networking sessions were geared toward business development, there were some useful takeaways and advice about ‘dealing with it all’ when the stress monster come around.

One of the greatest pieces of advice I received came from Suzy Walther, Bloomberg’s Chief of Staff, Industry Verticals, and centered around the idea of ‘reframing’ a situation. Broadly speaking, this has to do with collecting your thoughts and moving on.

When something not so fantastic happens, give yourself the brief moment to take it in, reflect, then put it aside. Any additional time or emotion you use on this past action … Read on Gather baltimore