last week was very exciting in the world of cooking schools as my alma mater celebrated the renaming of all of their campuses around the country!  i am a graduate (a very long time ago) from the now named le cordon bleu school out in scottsdale.  it is great that all of the schools have taken on the name that has been respected and looked up to in the culinary world for so long!

to celebrate, the schools hosted cooking challenges for alumni at campuses around the country.  guests were able to come and enjoy food and wine, and all proceeds went to the ronald mcdonald house.

at the le cordon bleu in chicago (formerly the cooking and hospitality institute), radhika desai from top chef, ron aleman from aria and me all got to cook our own versions of chicken with herbs.  it was great to be in the kitchen with both chefs, along with a fun group of students.  it always brings me back to my days in culinary school, and i love seeing the eagerness to learn.  of course at the same time it makes me feel pretty darn old

my dish did not go exactly as planned but it had a couple of tasty elements.  i decided to take the skin off the breasts and bake it separately until crisp.  what i learned was that the sheet pans need to be very very flat, and need to be weighted down very very evenly for the plan to work.  chicken skin chips are not exactly a healthy snack but i am sure that just like pringles, it would be hard to eat just one.

i did make a tasty salted caramel to drizzle on top of the dish.  very easy to make…

1cup sherry vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
thyme
cilantro stems
dried fennel
peppercorns

bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.  let reduce until just syrupy.  add in:

1/4 c heavy cream
1 T fish sauce
1 t soy sauce
1 t sambal
salt to taste

let simmer about 10 minutes more then strain.  finish with fresh chopped herbs and serve over chicken or fish.

the event was a blast even though i was not the winner of the evening.  chef ron made some delicious roasted chicken with a secret marinade (well sure he would share it if you asked) and a tasty salsa verde.  bold and delicious flavors won over the crowd!

congrats to ron, and big congrats to le cordon bleu on successful events around the country!

and of course thank you to all those who attended.  was great to see so many familiar faces!!