Sayonara!

Today was our last day of Garde Manger meaning two things: cheese and the end of our first year.

Each team was assigned one of 6 cheeses to do research, write a paper, make a presentation, and create an original recipe featuring the cheese. My cheese was Epoisses, which we added to apples, creme fraiche, eggs, ham, nutmeg, salt, and pepper, then baked into a tart pan lined with puff pastry. The sliced tart was served with arugula and a Balsamic reduction.

The end of second semester also indicates that I'm leaving for my externship! I will return to CIA in August and resume the blog then.

Happy Eating!

Our very own Grand Buffet

I was so incredibly proud of my class at Grand Buffet today, the food was not only beautiful, but delicious.

(I will upload photos when technology and I become friends again)

shredded chicken

Once again, I'm reminded of how quickly time flies here because I am finally in that class that cooks the food for Grand Buffet ("Grahhhnd Boofay" as my chef affectionately calls it). My team was assigned one of the Asian Food Stations and our menu is as follows:

Sesame Chicken Noodle Salad
Seafood Salad w/ Wasabi Vinaigrette
Seafood Stickers w/ Citrus Mint Dipping Sauce
Pork Egg Rolls w/ Spicy Bean Paste Sauce

Today, I worked on the Chicken Noodle Salad which calls for shredded chicken. Shredding chicken sounds easy, right? Not when it's cold. I anticipated it would take 5 minutes to shred two chicken breasts into fine shreds but it took about 25 minutes. The whole time I was working, my brain was saying "There has to be a faster way to do this, there has to be a faster way to do this..." but the truth is there isn't. Sometimes, food just makes you wait.

I'm sure of it

If there were two things bread was made for in this world, its this:

1. being eaten hot out of the oven with butter
2. crusty, dipped in a hot brothy soup

again

Those grapes I peeled on Friday--- they were nasty. So my partner peeled more green grapes today. If you should ever feel it necessary to serve peeled green grapes, don't blanch them to get the skin off easier (its not that much easier and it turns them an undesirable beige color), peel them as close to serving as possible (so they also don't turn brown), and don't soak them in water to keep them green (they will taste like water sponges).

The green grapes were a garnish for a Chicken and Foie Gras terrine (above). We simmered a whole chicken with carrots, celeriac, onions, bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme, and garlic, until the chicken was falling off the bone. We picked off all the meat and shredded it. Then we strained the cooking liquid and clarified it like a consomme. To the consomme we added gelatin sheets, which we then used to bind shredded chicken, foie gras, and herbs together in a terrine mold. It was like Chicken Foie Gras jell-o :) The plate also had crushed pistachios, powdered hazelnut praline, Melba toast, Ravigote sauce (walnut oil, balsamic vinegar, chopped tomato, shallots, garlic, and herbs), and a frisse salad.

Tonight was an unusual night in Garde Manger, because we are not a kitchen that serves meals. However, tonight we served 6 different beautiful plates for free to anyone who walked into our kitchen.

photo credits: Shawn Dickensheets

one day in Garde Manger....

I peeled a pound of grapes.

the end

"Now this is a real sausage fest!"

The hanging sausage is my team's French Garlic sausage that has been poached, dried, and smoked.

The other picture includes my classmate's sausage-- we had our own little party. It was basically summer time except we were all cold and there was no watermelon.

the commraderie

Reason #574 why I'm in this industry.

I like being on a team because success is multiplied by your team mates. I like working so closely with someone that you learn things about them nobody else probably knows. I like looking across a blazing grill and hearing the person at the griddle ask me if I need anything at all. I like laughing so hard I pee in my pants because someone has spent enough time with me that they know exactly how to make me laugh. I like relying on other people to do their part and knowing they will.

snow day

It snowed again and it is simply stunning around here!