My last post was about a great restaurant I went to called Nuba. You can read about that here. I mentioned the delicious cauliflower called “Najib’s Special” that was served with “La Feast” that I ordered. I knew once I tried it that I had to recreate it at home, and I must say that my version is tasty and much healthier, as it is roasted in just a bit of oil, instead of deep-fried. The lemon flavour is strong, but that’s exactly how it was at Nuba- yum!

Once again, go to Nuba and try Najib’s Special out for yourself- this is just my take on it!

Also…if you are wondering why my cauliflower looks green it’s because I used a “broccoflower”, a green cauliflower!

We also made 3 different kinds of danishes from one danish dough. We learned how to make rolled, or ‘pigs-in-a-blanket” style danishes, as well as pinwheels, and also diamonds. We filled the rolled danishes with frangipane, the pinwheels were filled with pastry cream and apricot halves, and the diamonds were filled with a fruit mixture. They got a bit squished on the ride home, but you’ll get the jist.

Adding to the panic, we were given 15 minutes to put together a black forest cake from start to finish, with no ingredients prepped. In the process, I managed to cut two of my fingers while cutting the layers for the cake. After digging up some bandaids and gloves, my partner and I pulled together our cake. Slightly sloppy, yes….but we did it.

Lastly, (and the best-tasting) we made a lemon sabayon tart with a Swiss meringue and it was soo delicious. I normally dislike anything ‘lemon meringue-y’, but I really enjoyed a bite of this. We used a pate sucree base, and created the lemon sabayon filling. The Swiss meringue was so fun to pipe on and then torch!

Roasted Beet Salad (adapted from KCTS Cooks Salads)

• 4 medium beets, tops trimmed
• 1tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 8 cups mixed baby greens (these can be left out in order to just make a side dish with aspargus/beets/walnuts/etc)
• 1 apple (I used Graventstein from my apple tree)
• 1/2 cups walnuts
• 3 tbsp sugar ( I used organic unrefined cane sugar)
• 6-8 asparagus spears
• 1/4 cup blue cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss beets with olive oil, salt, pepper. Place in shallow baking dish and bake for 40-60 minutes (until tender). Cool beets slightly and then remove skins and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

Wash and drain greens and cut apple into small chunks. Place sugar in a frying pan and heat until melted. Add walnuts and stir to coat. Turn nuts onto a lightly oiled dish to cool, then coarsely chop.

Wash and trim asparagus, then cut into pieces and blanch 1-2 minutes and then plunge into cold water. Drain.

Combine all elements together, drizzle with orange vinaigrette and sprinkle with blue cheese.

Orange Vinaigrette

• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/2 tsp orange zest
• 1 shallot, peeled and minced
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients and whisk in oil.

On another note…I start my full-time cooking school experience on Monday!!!!! (Before I was only taking one class). Now I really get to step into the kitchen and learn and I couldn’t be more excited….and slightly nervous! You may have noticed a new tab at the top of my blog, entitled ‘culinary’. By clicking this tab, you will be located to posts purely about my cooking school experience. I will continue to blog about food + recipes (of course!!!) but I hope you also will enjoy reading about the mayhem I will create for myself in cooking school bahahah. They don’t know what they’ve gotten themselves into!!

Yes…that is me as a young’n with who knows what on my face (let’s just hope it’s face paint). For some reason I always closed one eye in pictures when I was a kid….