Sunday, January 24, 2010

Rouxbe Online Cooking School

Portobella Mushroom Burger
I know it's a very simple sandwich, but I've never made a portobella "burger" before. I've made plenty a burger WITH bella's but not just using the bella AS the burger.
After looking at a butt load (that's a metric butt load, btw) of recipes, the common basics were:

1. Marinade the mushrooms in any vinaigrette for 30 minutes. It could be as simple as store bought Italian dressing or one you whisk up yourself. I made a simple basil vinaigrette.

2. Grill over a 450-500f fire for 4 minutes a side. Start with the gills down so during the second four minutes, you can fill the mushroom with your cheeses. I used crumbled Boursin cheese and baby spinach leaves.

3. Serve on a roll with a lot of texture, like ciabatta rolls with a seasoned mayonnaise.

I went with this mayo from the December issue of Southern Living and their "Fast and Festive Sandwich Spreads" article. Alexis and I both loved it. It brought a lot of flavor to the plate. We will definitely make this again.

Bearnaise Mayonnaise

1/3 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

2 ea shallots, minced

1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon black pepper


Cook the first 3 ingredients over medium high heat until reduced to about 1 tablespoon of liquid (about 5 minutes). Allow to cool. Stir remaining ingredients into mixture. Serve with burgers, steak sandwiches, etc.


I found letting it sit in the fridge for an hour let the flavors blend.

Rouxbe Online Cooking School
The Foodie Blogroll has a contest this month for the Rouxbe Cooking School. Any Foodie Blogroll member that signs up for the Rouxbe free 7 day premium member trial is entered in to weekly drawings for a free lifetime membership. I was so excited to find out that I have won!!!!

The Foodie Blog Roll Contests: Winner!

During my free trial, I spent a few hours at Rouxbe and even took a few lessons. Some of it, I knew, some of it I thought I knew, and I learned something I didn't know in each 8 to 15 minute lesson. I was very impressed with the quality of the content. I am thrilled to find out my free trial is now a free membership!

The things I liked are:
  • Professional grade video lessons (Not just some chef with a camcorder)
  • Curriculum based lessons complete with session objectives, the videos, practice recipes that use the techniques taught, discussion, and a quiz.
  • Recipe video collection
  • Course content
So will it prepare you to become an Executive Chef at a restaurant? Heck no. That's not their goal. There intent is to:

To help you become a better and more confident cook by teaching you basic to advanced cooking skills and techniques – the same things that chefs learn in a professional cooking school – so you can be free from being a slave to just recipes.

If you are like me, a pretty decent home cook that wants to learn to be better than you are, I recommend checking out Rouxbe. (Basic memberships are free and give you a good idea of what they are about.)

If you are a food blogger wanting more foodie traffic and info about more giveaways like this, sign up at the Foodie Blogroll.