Today we had a quick lecture then went right into cooking. Our goal was to have everything ready to eat by 3:30pm. We were partnered up. Most groups had 2 dishes and one group had 3. The technique we focused on today was braising. The dishes I had today were Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine with Vegetables and Mixed Fruit Cobbler with Mascarpone Cream. My partner and I started on the short ribs since they have to braise for quite a while. We started to brown the short ribs and develop the fond on the bottom of the pot. We removed the ribs and started to caramelize the shallots and vegetables. In this recipe, the veggies were carrots and turnips. Then, we put the ribs back in and filled the pot, half way up the ribs, with stock and red wine. It went into the oven to cook for a few hours. We then started on the cobbler. Our version had pears, plums, and blueberries. I started to stew the berries on the stove with orange juice and sugar. The color got to be this beautiful purple-magenta. It was absolutely gorgeous. I was very proud of it! (Side story - In between the baking class and our seminar on Tuesday night, some of us got hungry. We went upstairs to the walk in fridge, where all leftovers are stored, to see what they had to eat. There was the cobbler from another class. I took a look at it to compare and saw that there was hardly and color to their, even with blackberries in it, and the dough from the topping wasn't cooked on the bottom. I don't know if they ran out of time or what, but why would you keep it?)
As I have said before, we are now being judged on how if we get the food out when we say we will....well, today we did it!! Right on the nose even. Chef did mention that next week will be even more difficult because the food from today could sit and braise forever, but next week is dry heat cooking and everything has to be done at the same time and we will all be fighting for the stove at the same time.
The food today was awesome. It was a complete meal(s) and was really very good. It was probably the best meal we have made as a group.
Today's Recipe:Vegetable Fritters with Caper-Shallot Mayonnaise, Yellow Tomato Gazpacho, Blanquette de Veau, Beef Shanks Braised in Onions, Short Ribs Braised with Red Wines and Vegetables, Sauteed Young Turnips, Green Beans and Roasted Tomato Salad, Potato Gnocchi with Porchini Mushrooms, Mixed Fruit Cobbler with Mascarpone Cream
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