day 99: mexico: churros

Today was supposed to be a trip through Spain, but I think I went on the cheap and headed to Mexico instead.  The churros got chocolate and caramel sauce, which was delicious.  But the horchata just tasted like sugar-y water...I guess two hours isn't quite enough.

day 98: france: poulet sauté à la normande avec la purée de céleri-rave

We visited France on the first day of International, really a radical departure from everything we've done so far.  Or not.  I guess slapping that Camembert on the seared chicken breast makes this "in the style of Normandy"...uh, whatever.  Hopefully, the final three weeks of school will be a lot more exciting.

day 97: mushroom terrine

Garde Manger has to be my least favorite class of all.  Aside from the bacon that we cured, I can't think of a single thing we made that I care to make again.  Thank God that class is over.  Unfortunately, Garde Manger is probably one of the first jobs I'll get in a real kitchen.

day 96: sushi

Sushi is a nice snack, but I don't know how you get a whole meal out of it unless you're just wiping your ass with cold hard cash.  Even then...for raw fish?  Pass.  And the sticky rice reminded me of enrobing chocolate truffles...a big hot mess all over my hands.  Double pass.

day 95: antipasti platter; caprese salad

Today, I made Caprese salad with the mozzarella we pulled yesterday...it was a million times better than the chunks of sliced mozarella I put in the one for our BBQ buffet. We also had heirloom tomatoes instead of the usual roma tomatoes, which was a lot nicer. Chef Pastore likes to meander past our plates a lot this term even though he's not our teacher, and he tried to take credit for the inspiration of my stacked Caprese salad.  Sorry Chef, Jacques Pepin beat you to it! But your plate was impressive, nonethless. I also made a ton of different kitchen cheeses yesterday, and I oven dried some roma tomatoes and soaked them in olive oil, garlic and basil overnight. It was delicious with the baby artichokes Jennifer marinated, and the crostini we toasted in butter and rubbed with garlic. And kudos to Brittany for iPhoning a beautiful platter presentation for us. An antipasti success!

day 93: chicken galantine, vegetable terrine and pate en croute

I might vomit if we have to do another week of meat pastes. Or meat jellos. I thought sandwich day was pretty silly in Garde Manger 1, but it was so nice to get Monte Cristo sandwiches from the other class today. Too bad all we had to give back was meat jelly bread. The chaud froid platters were sort of fun to make, but I don't remember signing up for arts and crafts. I told Patrick yesterday I felt like Martha Stewart, but hey, if I could become a billionaire making these platters, I'd do it.

secret ingredient challenge: mangoes

After convincing myself it was going to be an herb, the secret ingredient turned out to be a fruit.  Sweet!  I toasted some crostini with olive oil, rubbed it with garlic, and topped it with a salsa I made out of mangoes, tomatoes, pineapples, onions, jalapenos, lemon juice and some basil.

 

The dish that sunk me.  My mango beurre blanc never came together.  I didn't score my fish skin all the way so it curled up.  The mango rice pilaf sucked, and there is way too much of it on that plate.  But worst of all, I missed my plating window and was promptly disqualified.  This just happened like an hour and a half ago, so...I don't really know what to say.  I'm pretty disappointed in myself for this dish.  I could have done better.

 

And because of that snafu, they never even looked at this.  So all I had for judging was stupid crostini and salsa.  I steeped mint into my simple syrup, and the mango sorbet was really cool and refreshing.  I knew it would be a hot day, so this was going to be my secret weapon.  Which I never got to fire.