Culinary School with Ally Phillips

Pony learns how to make a Springtime feast for four under $40

Courtesy of Mushy Pony.com

In this first installment of our culinary school series, we learn how to cook Prosciutto Fish Rolls alongside Roasted Garlic Potato Wedges and Creme Fraiche for dessert. Our Head Cowgirl (a pathetic cook at best) took some pointers from chef and Sobeys recipe developer, Ally Phillips on chopping, roasting, serving, and everything in-between. The end result? Some seriously stuffed and satisfied ponies. Follow along and learn how to make this easy and healthy dish!

Ally: The important thing to remember is to buy in season because it will help keep your costs down. Also, less is more. When you fuss around too much, you end up stressing yourself out and you never make that dish again. You want to keep it simple! So we’ll start with the dessert because it needs to set in the fridge for about half an hour. It’s a sweeter version of your typical Creme Fraiche – but I’m going to instruct you so that you end up preparing the meal for us.

Pony: Oh Jeez.

Creme Fraiche with Berries

500 ml = 1 lrg container Low Fat Sour Cream (or full fat if you feel naughty)

1 Can of Sweetened Condensed milk

1/2 Lemon (juiced)

1. Mix together sour cream and condensed milk, squeeze in juice from half a lemon.

2. Stir until mixed thoroughly.

3. Chill in fridge until ready to serve. (at least 30 mins)

Courtesy of Mushy Pony.com

Ally: When you juice the lemon, you can cup the lemon with your other hand so that you catch the pulp and it doesn’t fall into the mix. A lot of people are scared of entertaining, but it’s really just about planning ahead. Such as this dessert, we’re making it now so that we don’t need to worry later. At George Brown, we learned a lot through trial and error. Combining something sweet with something salty such as chocolate and sea salt. Now let’s get started on those potato wedges.

Roasted Garlic Potato Wedges

3 Baking or White potatoes

3 cloves of Garlic (chopped or press through a garlic press)

Healthy pinch of salt

Healthy pinch (1 tablespoon) of dried oregano

Fresh ground pepper to taste

1/4 Cup of olive oil

1. Cut potatoes into wedges, making sure they are all similar sizes to ensure that they cook at the same speed.

2. In a bowl, toss potato wedges with seasoning and olive oil.

3. On a baking sheet, spread out potato wedges and bake in oven at 400 F for 40-50 minutes until cooked.

Courtesy of Mushy Pony.com

Pony: How do we cut these potatoes?

Ally: Cut them into segments so that they are all the same. That way they cook evenly. With the garlic, you want to rock the knife back and forth – never lifting it from the board. Point your fingers down (the ones holding the potato) instead of towards the blade that way you avoid cutting yourself.

Pony: Alright, now that we’ve got our roast on, let’s get to the hard stuff. Fish time.

Prosciutto Fish Rolls

4 Fillets of White Fish (Tilapia, Cod or Sole) Tilapia is one of the least expensive fish and is very mild in flavour.

4-8 Slices of prosciutto (depending on their size and thickness you may need 2 to wrap the fish, make sure that it’s as long or longer than the fish!)

1/4 Cup honey dijon mustard

8 Wedges (2 thick slices from the deli) Havarti Cheese (or any other soft cheese like oka, or mozzarella)

12 Springs of asparagus (3 springs for each fillet)

1/2 Cup white wine

1/2 Lemon

1. On a cutting board lay slices of prosciutto down and place fish fillets on top.

2. Spread with mustard.

3. Roll up 2 sticks of cheese and 3 spears of cooked asparagus in each ham/fish layer. Tie with butcher string to secure.

4. Add olive oil or butter to pan and melt.

5. Once hot, add fish rolls to pan browning each side until ham is cooked. Remove from pan and add white wine and lemon juice to deglaze the pan.

6. Add fish rolls to skillet, cover and place in oven at 400 F for 10-15 minutes.

7. Remove from oven and serve.

: Courtesy of Mushy Pony.com

Courtesy of Mushy Pony.com

Pony: Is this your own recipe?

Ally: My mother introduced me to it using chicken, but you can play around with all the ingredients. You may need to tie the rolls up with string because the fish will expand in the frying pan (chicken doesn’t expand quite as much as fish does). Make sure you also don’t pack the rolls too much because they may overflow.

Pony: And how should the end result look on the plate?

Ally: You want to let everything fall naturally. If you want to get fancy, you can build the wedges up like a tower to give the dish some height. Then rest the fish on top like so:

Courtesy of Mushy Pony.com

Pony: Well, I may have snapped the wrong end off the asparagus, and let a little bit of pulp go into our dessert, but the one thing I’m a pro at is eating it!

Ally: And that’s all that really matters!