This week was the best ever. We made a confit of salmon salad with a mustard viniagrette, quail eggs, and roasted beets and onions. Yum. Here's a pic if you are interested. Ours didn't look quite that good, but it was pretty nonetheless. We still have a way to go. Our mise was still lacking, but we scrambled and pulled it off in the end. This coming week is pasta Heaven, or Hell, depending, but I'm sure everyone will do their best.

This weeks homework assignment was relatively easy: roast a chicken. Not much to talk about there so I'll keep things short and sweet.

I first marinated the bird in 'Mojo Criollo', a commercial Mexican marinade made from bitter orange that I recommend highly. You can find it here at Avanza. I roasted the chicken outside in the bbq grill, which gave it a wonderful smoky flavor. There isn't much left, just enough for quesadillas in the next day or two.

That's it for this week. Ciao.

Another Class Review

This week was all about fried food. Fried chicken, catfish, hushpuppies, pommes frites, as well as fried okra. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the dish, I'll try and find a picture. It was all edible, but just barely. I wouldn't have paid for any of it, if that tells you anything. The chicken was a bit over or underdone, depending on the piece, the catfish was slightly overdone, the french fries were ok, but the fried okra was dismal. I wouldn't touch it and I really like fried okra. Our presentation was weak once more, and we were again late to the table. The bright spot, if you can call it that is that we were incrementally better this time. We still aren't working as cleanly as we should, although I paid special attention to keep myself clean.

As no one outside of myself will be reading this, I think that it is about time to open up a bit. I feel as if I am hamstrung when I am in the kitchen. I have to work with people who don't really know what they are doing, and it slows me down. There is nothing we do that I haven't done many times before. I am used to working alone, and not having so many unqualified hands in the mix. If the Chef had asked me to prepare this meal, and have it ready at a certain time, it would have been done, and done well. This is what I am used to. I have to find some way to get past this. I am not use to being ashamed of my work, and it is eating at me. I want to take control, but I can't just bulldoze the rest of the class- they need to learn, but I am tired of being called out over other peoples' mistakes. (Not that I don't make plenty of my own). I am legitimately concerned about failing this class, and it has me so worried that I can't sleep at night.

This coming week is about roasting and baking. If we somehow can't roast a chicken with some veggies and a pilaf, one of the simplest meals we could make, we should all turn in our aprons and start work at some fast-food hellhole, because that is where we belong.

New Critique

When it's springtime in Nebraska, I'll be bloggin' back to you. Here is my critique of our latest kitchen fiasco. Actually, things weren't that bad. This week was everything you wanted to know about rice but were afraid to ask.

I made a chicken and shrimp jambalaya, as well as a wild mushroom risotto. I thought that they turned out fairly well. I received a number of compliments from folk that had never even heard of these dishes, let alone eaten them before. I do need to work on my presentation skills. For those of you that don't know, here is a picture of a similar sort of jambalaya.

Next week it's on to the wonderful world of frying. Time to get our grease on. Until next time, keep your knives sharp, your feet happy, and your Chef happier.