I'm a believer...

Hello, hello and Happy Wednesday to you. I hope that you are having a fantastic week and not shying away from trying some new recipes in the kitchen.

Now if when I said New Recipes your gut reaction was to comment back with "yeah right" or "how could I" or "Impossible" Think again my friends. This week has been one that has me thinking about the idea of trying out new recipes and building comfort and confidence in the kitchen. Over the past week I have had many people express that when in the kitchen they just get to worried to try new things in fear that they might mess up.  To me as a "chef" there are no real mistakes in the kitchen only great learning. Much like life,  working with and cooking food is a constant learning experience.

 Working as a caterer and teaching cooking lessons I am always writing menu's. Sometimes the menu's have options on them that I have never cooked before. However, it is important to continue to develop new menu's and understand what my potential client will enjoy. My fellow cooks just remember when there is a will there is a way, and making mistakes is all part of the process.

If you think i'm lying about myself learning from kitchen mishaps let me give you a few examples:

1) Once I was making 8 cheese cakes and instead of corn starch I put baking soda. An incredible lack of detail ... what did I learn: Read the recipe and take note of proper ingrediants...

2) This morning I was making toast. How simple is that. Not very simple I say because this morning is the 3rd time this week I have managed to eat charcoal for breakfast. However that is okay we will try again tomorrow.

3) A few months ago I was trying out my beer bread recipes and ended up adding far to much yeast, then overcompensating with flour and spent a good couple hours trying to massage my dough into something edible.

All these lessons would not have happened if I had been afraid to try out the 8 cheesecakes, or toast, or bread recipe in the first place. And from each of these experiences I learned a lesson and gained knowledge as a cook. (The toast I am still working on!)

Today I had to make a dessert that I had never tried before. A Maple infused Dark Chocolate Ganache Tart with Toasted almonds and a Pumpkin Spice Glaze. Did this ever frighten me at the start. Instead of running away I gave myself time and slowly made a recipe. From the dough to the chocolate ganache and then the glaze everything came together. I did learn a few things along the way, however the biggest part of this coming together was overcoming the fear of trying out a new recipe.

So fellow cooks, get out there put those fears, questions or ideas of cooking mistakes out of your mind and have some fun. Get out of your comfort zone and have an adventure in the kitchen.

Eat drink and enjoy!!!