Visit Simple, Good and Tasty for one of my last culinary school updates for the semester. This time we change gears as I share what I’ve learned from my menu planning course.
This past weekend, Jake and I headed to the Twin Cities for the wedding reception we never had. We had said our vows in October at a small ceremony and were finally able to extend the celebration to family and friends.
Neither Jake or I enjoy planning party details such as color schemes and table decorations, so our family turned the reception into a beautiful, food-filled surprise at the Embassy Suites near the airport where Jake’s uncle manages the food services. Bites from the evening included Rustica’s bittersweet chocolate cookies, absinthe cocktails, crab salad served in tiny, edible spoons, and rosy roast beef with my favorite creamy horseradish sauce. I’ll share more as we collect photos from friends. We are continually humbled by the kindness and generosity of our family and friends and extend our gratitude to everyone who planned and participated in the reception.
We stayed with both of our families, who spoiled with home cooked foods. We also managed to grab a few meals out. Here are a few tastes from the past week:
Los Paisanos Taqueria, East St. Paul, MN
Tortas are essentially impossible to purchase in Fargo-Moorhead, so I always find one whenever we stay with my husbands folks in East St. Paul. A while back, I wrote about a torta I ordered from By More Taqueria. Afterwards, a reader recommended Los Paisanos Taqueria, noting that it’s his favorite place to grab a torta in East St. Paul. This was my second visit since he left the comment.
The restaurant is located down the road from the Rainbow Foods on Arcade. It’s painted in bright colors and looks a little worn. Those who are concerned about sanitation might notice the current ServSafe Food Handler certification prominently displayed near the register. My typical order of a small horchata and beef milenesa torta costs about $10.
As culinary students, we’re invited to attend Fargo-Moorhead’s food service shows for free. Last semester, we visited US Food’s sprawling show held in the Fargo Dome and this week, we attended Sysco’s show at Scheel’s Arena. I have a mixed feelings about Sysco. Obviously, they make purchasing convenient for restaurants, but also seem to be making efforts in purchasing meats from distributors who raise their animals humanely, supporting sustainable seafood practices, and increasing partnerships with local distributors. On the other hand, I wish more restaurants would more intentionally seek food from local suppliers and farms and make their own foods from scratch instead of relying on pre-made convenience products. But what kind of fool turns down free food? Albeit, most of the food is frozen, canned, jarred, of a mix, or pre-baked, but it’s fun, nevertheless. As the token Korean, I took it upon myself to try a Korean empanada, a new product from one of Sysco’s internationally-themed lines. I found that it tasted surprisingly. . . Korean. Nicely done. My classmates seemed content to end their tours with ice cream cones dispensed by the Blue Bunny cart.
Spring semester is nearly over.
Stop by Simple, Good and Tasty where I provide my latest culinary school update about our morning kitchen labs, the heart of our program. Plus, I share a recipe for a North Dakota favorite, knoephla soup.
I’ll meet you there
In culinary school last semester, I spent a couple months in baking lab and bragged about making this fantastic pistachio-crusted citrus cheesecake.
I even promised to share the recipe, soon. Apparently, “soon” means five months later.
It’s worth the wait.
Typically, I don’t order cheesecake because I find it overly rich and cloyingly sweet. In my worst nightmares, I’m being forced to eat a brick of cheesecake in a flavor like mocha-nut-fudge-bomb, or something that might be served at The Cheesecake Factory.
This cheesecake is much lighter and gently flavored with citrus zest, while a thin nut crust replaces the heavy cookie crusts. For those like myself who struggle eating super sweet desserts, I’d recommend serving this cheesecake with a tart berry sauce.
When we made this cheesecake in class, the student in charge of purchasing bought small bags of shell-on pistachios. I spent a long time shelling the nuts until we reached one pound, so buy shelled pistachios if you can. If the nuts are salted, they’ll add further contrast to the sweet cream cheese filling.
Late is better than never, so here’s the recipe, as promised.
Pistachio-Crusted Citrus Cheesecake
Adapted from the recipe for Pistachio Citrus Cheesecake, recipe 35.22, published in On Cooking: A Textbook Of Culinary Fundamentals, 4th Edition.
The original recipe makes 4, ten-inch cakes. I halved the recipe for home use. Use any type of citrus zest and feel free to combine different types of citrus zests. Grate it finely or further chop with a knife because large pieces of zest, though pretty, will remain chewy. The original recipe also instructs one NOT to use springform pans. I suppose springforms might ruin the delicate nut crust.
Ingredients:
Butter, melted (salted or unsalted). Enough to coat the insides of the pans.
1/2 lb pistachios, roughly ground. We used a food processor.
3 lb. 5 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 3/4 oz. flour, sifted
1 lb. sugar
9 eggs
5 oz. heavy cream
4 Tb. citrus zest, finely grated.
Instructions:
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