This week, the Petits Chefs took a trip to gorgeous Gallery Grill at Hart House in The University of Toronto to cook with Chef Suzanne Baby. Over the years, we have been lucky enough to cook with Suzanne six times – the first time we made choux pastry, the second visit was a ravioli-making extravaganza, third time we made soufflés, on the third we made two soups together. then we made ricotta gnocchi and the last time we visited, we made maple crème brûlée. Hear that – choux pastry, ravioli, soufflés, not one but TWO soups, gnocchi , crème brûlée – all “difficult” to make dishes but Suzanne shares my philosophy that kids can do anything (until they are told it’s “too hard”) so when she told me that she had a plan to make ICE CREAM (showcasing a method where you don’t need an ice cream maker), I was all over it! The boys were too…
(listening to the recipe rundown!)
We only have a small group of boys in the club this term so there was a LOT to get done – we made salted caramel ice cream and vanilla! The boys successfully worked with caramel…
(note the clear area around the hotplate – everyone was suitably scared of the caramel to stay back from it and watch from afar!)
We also worked with a LOT of egg yolks…
Whipping them into custardy goodness…
Slowly (and carefully) adding the sugar syrup…
Then we needed to cool down our mixtures and Suzanne showed us how to quickly cool our (very hot) caramel custard over an ice bath…
(not a fancy ice bath but it works!).
Once it was cool, we transferred to another bowl to make room for the cream…
(at each step, the boys didn’t think it could get any better but it did!)
Team Vanilla worked hard to incorporate their vanilla seeds into the custard…
(they took the “gentle folding” very seriously!)
And then… the part we’d all been waiting for:
OMG – yes – we got to taste!!! SO. GOOD. The ice cream needed to chill properly though and off it went to the freezer. What a great technique – and one I can totally replicate at home too, sans ice cream maker!
And just when we thought the session couldn’t get ANY better, we were presented with this:
Uh huh. Suzanne had prepared a small serving of ice cream that had been made earlier for each boy and let them go to town with the toppings. Best Sundae Bar Ever!
Best Field Trip Ever (though the boys tend to always say this!)
What a wonderful afternoon learning in the tiny kitchen of Gallery Grill (and being surrounded by rooms that “look like Hogwarts” according to the boys…)
We are SO lucky that chefs like Suzanne volunteer their time so the boys can work with them. Thank you Suzanne for opening your kitchen (and pantry and fridge!) to us!
Follow @gallerygrill on Instagram
The Gallery Grill
Hart House, University of Toronto
7 Hart House Circle,
Toronto
Weekdays
Lunch: 11am – 2pm
Sunday
Brunch: 11am – 2pm
http://harthouse.ca/gallery-grill/
Fabulous experience for the LPCs.
So loved having all Les Chefs here again!
They are an amazingly talented group 🙂
Suzanne
We love visiting and working with you too!