Stepping It Up

This week marks the first week we have class in a new format. We are no longer in our teams of 2. Instead, we are in teams of 4, and each team needs to make 1 dish from each of the 4 stations - this basically mean each person is responsible for the creation of 1 whole dish. That is, of course if you actually have 4 people on your team. My team is the one team of 3, so each night one of us doubles up and makes 2 dishes. I actually think this is good becasue it gives us more practice on making 2 dishes. Additionally, your team has to produce the 4 dishes no matter what. So, if 2 of your teammates are absent its up to the the rest of the team to get their dishes done. This is to prepare us for real restaurant service. If the fish guy calls in sick, the cooks in the kitchen need to step up and cover for him. You can't not serve any fish becasue someone is out sick....

We have also finally been introduced to the amuse bouche. This is a single, bite-sized hors d’œuvre served at the beginning of the meal. When we get to class, there is a list of items on the board that we can use in producing the amuse. We dont need to use all of the ingredients, though. The amuse needs to be up at 8pm, and then the rest of dinner service starts at 8:30pm with each course after that in 9 minute increments.

Here was our list for the amuse:

Zucchini
Radish
Cucumber
Mozerella
Aged balsamic
Jalapeno
Squash
Basil
Cipolini Onions

What we made - a chilled cucumber and basil soup with a hint of jalapeno and garnished with a shave of fresh radish. I must say, it was quite tasty! We served it in little shot glasses to create the "one bite". Credit goes to my teammate who came up with the idea!