First I got a pot of cold, seasoned water on the stovetop. I peeled my asparagus and once the water was boiling I added the asparagus and blanched for 30-40 seconds then added to an ice bath, and keeping until my risotto was ready

For a sauce I did a simple balsamic butter sauce, made by adding balsamic reduction to melted butter and kept hot

When ready to serve I dried the asparagus, and added it to a searing hot pan with oil, seasoned with pepper and salt.

For the risotto, First I started with the cutting, brunoise shallots

For the final assignment I made two of my favourites, mushroom risotto and pan fried asparagus.

For this I don’t cut the mushrooms, I just pull them. I chose Cremoni mushrooms. I added some canola oil and added the mushrooms when the oil was shimmering, cooked for around 4 minutes until brown then removed them from the pan

Then I added butter, the arborio rice, and cooked until toasty and fragrant, about 2 minutes, then I added wine.

I waited until the wine was absorbed, then I added my very hot stock one ladle at a time until al dente

Once cooked, which was about 20 minutes, I added butter and parm

With all this time inside it was the perfect time to make some kimchi! I already had the ingredients and a bit more to add just for the heck of it

I used to make a lot of kimchi, but the lack of gochujang in Newfoundland made it a little different. Instead I used some red chillies a friend left here and a LOT of garlic (like 10 cloves) to make a paste in a little blender I have that’s supposed to be for smoothies. Oh well

The process is as simple as it can be. With one hitch; The salt I had bought it much rockier than I thought it would be. It didn’t stick to the cabbage as much as I liked so it wasn’t wilted as it should be. But we meet be on. I loosely cut the veg, and I didn’t have Napa cabbage but regular worked just fine, batoned some carrots, added in some leek and green onion, mixed it all together and let it sit. after an hour it was ready to be jarred

With all this virus and isolation it made sense to make this with rice, a food I have a lot of which will be more of a staple than usual the next few weeks. Instead of burping the kimchi I didn’t close it all the way, checked everyday and pushed it down, and in a few days (I did 3 but it could go longer) there was a spicy, fermented goldmine in my fermentation station.

Note to self; next time use the right salt. But it turned out great still. The next time I use it I will be with poached shrimp, inspired from an amazing salad I had at true true a few weeks ago, when going out to eat was still an option. I can’t wait until it is again 😓

This is intro blog for nutrition! I’m Seamus, a 23 year old from Newfoundland that left law school to do culinary. Mostly for the money. Nutrition is one of the main reasons I wanted to do this. The food we eat, even though we’re in a huge country with lots of natural life to eat, is mostly canned or boxed. In the future, and seeing it on the rise now, nutrition will take a bigger role in the culinary industry.

However the industry is breaking into two; one growing movement is ultra convenience. Delivered food that’s already cheap and low quality. On the other hand there is a huge market for haute cuisine and organic local produce as well. It’s gonna be interesting to see what happens in the next five years.

One of the things that really pester me are people sharing things that are obviously untrue. One site I see a lot is ‘https://naturalcuresnotmedicine.blogspot.com’. For one, it’s not even a real website! And then the article headlines are just silly. “How cannabis cured my canine’s cancer” “How to declassify your pineal gland” and other claims that are too high reaching and too unbiased to be true. The name of the website is the first giveaway. “Not medicine”. Right!

Dietians.ca is the exact opposite: has a real domain, a genuine title and it never tries to reveal ‘secrets’ to fix something in one fell swoop. I’ll tell my mom to start posting this instead.

Soups!

For my blog I did something a little different. Due to reasons out of my control I wasn’t able to buy whatever I could to make soup (It would of been cod chowder, by the way). Instead I received and was asked what I could do with them.

Given the fact that there was leeks and potatoes, I wanted to make one of my favourites, that’s right, leek and potato soup.

First I made the stock with the veg I was given. Basic more poix: White onion, celery, carrot. Since I was making leek soup, I didn’t bother with adding leeks to the mirepoix. I first sautéd the vegetables to get a darker stock, as is the way I like it. Roasted them will achieve the same effect

I added just enough stock to cover, and let it simmer away for 45 minutes, until the dark colour and aromatics show themselves

I sweated the leeks, just to soften them. Adding a little bit of salt. I didn’t want to be picky about the greens or the white parts, because I didn’t want to waste anything at all

I cut the squash and potatoes to the same size, cubed. Saving any leftovers for stock in the future. (I keep a frozen container of vegetable leftovers in my freezer so nothing goes bad)

Then I added the strained stock and let simmer until the potatoes and squash were fork tender.

Then just blend it up! I only have a small blender but even that worked well. I reserved a bit of white parts of the leek for garnish

Although it turned out a little greener than I would hope, the consistency was amazing. It didn’t seem too starchy because I only added 2 potatoes. It was very leek forward, but the amount of celery in the more poix made it aromatic is another way. The darkness of the browned vegetables added some darkness too it as well. I didn’t see the need to add lemon or lime or another kind of acid as it was well balanced enough.

Even my roommate, who seems to consist on take out wings and cheap pizza loved it. It was very filling, easy, and not too time consuming.

Given that I couldn’t get anything else into the soup, it was a huge success. It was even vegan! I’ve made similar soups before but they didn’t have the same filling quality to them. If I make it again I’d simply add more squash, and maybe save some for garnish too.

I’m Seamus OBrien, a culinary student from Newfoundland. I’ve been in the industry for a few years. I love this industry because of how inescapable food is; you can go your whole life without seeing a painting or hearing a song, but nobody can live without food.

I work at Buca Cucina, a place that agrees with my philosophy of fresh and local ingredients, prepared in a way that honours the old traditions but isn’t afraid to move forward. This is why I love chef steps.com, although I wouldn’t make a home cook recipe with outlandish equient like a centrifuge machine

This blog will be a way to show growth in school and from experiences at work and abroad. The most I’ve learned about food has always been from my travels around Asia, Europe, and North America