Stuffed pancake

Last year I attended a cooking demonstration and learned about making stuffed pancakes. I've been wanting to experiment with it for awhile, so last week I attempted my own version. The cool thing about this recipe is that it's really more about the method and less about the specific ingredients. You can choose whatever flavors you like best for the filling. For this one, I chose sausage, shiitake mushrooms, shallots, fire-roasted tomatoes and some seasonings.

How to Prep Fennel

Fennel is a somewhat awkward-looking vegetable with a broad bulb and and frilly green frawns. When raw, it has a distinct anise or licorice flavor; however when cooked, it becomes much more mellow and slightly sweet.

Student Organic Farm

With snow still on the ground last week, I decided to head out to the Student Organic Farm to visit the Yakeley Hoophouse, affectionately known as "Salad Palace."

The Yakeley Hoophouse supplies organic mixed greens to the salad bar at Yakeley Hall, and also provides greens for specialty salads at The Gallery.

Vegan "mac and cheese"

Macaroni and cheese is one of my all-time favorite dishes. I've been thinking a lot lately about making a vegan version of the dish, and a vegan friend told me about nutritional yeast, which is yellow in color and has a nutty flavor and creamy consistency.

How to Prep a Leek

It may look like a giant scallion, but the leek is actually much milder in flavor. It is native to the Mediterranean and has a thick white stalk with long, flat dark green leaves.

Most of the time, leeks are sautéed or are used in soups and salads. In my opinion, you can bring out more flavor when you braise them. Braising is a cooking method in which food is cooked in a small amount of liquid at a low heat for a lengthy period of time.

When cooking, you won’t want to use those long green leaves. The usable part of the leek is the white center stalk.

Recipe notes: Mushrooms

I’ve been working on some new recipes for mushrooms, so I thought I share some of my notes.

All mushrooms are a high in the particular flavor known as umami. Umani is the fifth taste sense, often referred to as savory (the other tastes are sweet, salty, sour and bitter).

Umami itself is subtle and blends well with other tastes to expand and round out flavors. Most people don’t recognize umami when they encounter it, but it plays an important role making food taste delicious.

Rock the Block

Students will have to chance to check out the different campus neighborhoods and meet some of the MSU chefs at Rock the Block on Sunday, Jan. 31 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

We have a great menu planned and hope you'll join us for food, fun and prizes! Each stop will feature a unique dish. Here is a sneak preview:

Brody: Tenderloin sliders served with a spicy horseradish

Riverwalk Market: Tomato bruschetta and antipasto platter

Recipes for Health

Health4U is a partnership between Culinary Services and the University Physician's Office to develop and promote a new healthful dish each month. The dishes are featured in the residence halls, and the recipes are posted to the Health4U web site.

November Events

If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend checking out the special dinners and lunches we host in the dining halls. You can learn about what’s happening on campus by checking the table tents in the dining rooms each week or by following our Twitter feed.

Just a few of our upcoming events include:

Wednesday, Nov. 11

“When Pigs Fly” at Hubbard – Dinner

Welcome

Welcome to A’la Minute, the blog for information on food and dining at Michigan State University. As the Corporate Chef for Culinary Services, I’m working with a talented team of professionals to deliver outstanding dining experiences for all the guests across campus.

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