Day 32 and 33: Braising

The 2 days of braising were two of my favorites. First reason is because we made my favorite dish to date. This was the braised chicken thighs with mushroom and balsamic vinegar. A dish that will be repeated time and time again in my kitchen.

Braised Chicken Thighs with Mushrooms and Balsamic Vinegar-The flavors were heavy on the vinegar and mushrooms, and the meat was so tender it melted in your mouth.

Braised Red Cabbage 

Braised Lamb Shanks with juniper and rosemary

Second reason I loved braising was that all of the food you see below was made by just 3 people. Two of my classmates were out and since we already have a record breaking small class of 5 people there was a second where I thought we weren't going to make all of our dishes. Instead our chef pushed us along resulting in the spread below. With so much leftover I headed uptown to my dads office where my dad, brother, a few coworkers and I had a grand feast:

My tall classmates Juan and Anissa that help me reach all of the high equipment 

Osso Bucco-this is a bonus meal because it is both the osso bucco meat, as well as bone marrow

Whole Fish Braised-2 huge red snappers that I so boldly pulled the intestines out of: 

Braised Beef Cheeks-We had a long debate about which cheeks these were exactly. We concluded that we should ignore the imagination and just eat because they were so delicious:

Braised Fennel Wrapped in Bacon-anything wrapped in bacon is good, so fennel lovers or not, this was great: