Lesson 54: Last day of plating design

I was telling my mom a few weeks ago how sometimes I go to school and I can't believe that this is all real.  I feel like I'm playing make-believe, getting dressed up in a costume with a silly cap and ugly checkered pants.  Then, I grab my "toy" tools and play in a kitchen for a few hours.  I think, "did I just really take a train to NYC, walk to the top of a building in the center of Manhattan, and cook for four hours?!" Yep, this is my life now.. and I'm loving every minute of it!

I waited until this morning to blog about yesterday's class because I had a very strong feeling that today would be a snow day.. I was right! :)

After reviewing the menu for the day and going over all of the recipes, we all got right to work.  We prepped for all three courses and were planning on plating our appetizer course at 2:45.  That definitely didn't happen..   Class was more chaotic than it should've been because the recipes really weren't that hard.  The thing that threw us off was the lack of pans and space to actually cook.  I was squished at the stove with the 3 other boys as we all slowly stirred our risottos.  Risotto is a timely dish, since you have to keep gradually adding stock and constantly stir for about 20 minutes.  Needless to say, we all burned ourselves several times while reaching over the hot pans and trying to get the stock in our pans with the burning hot ladle.  Usually when I get burned I kind of ignore it and forget that it happened.  I was too busy thinking about all of the other things we had to get done.  It wasn't until I got on the train to go home and my hands were on fire, that I realized I had tiny burns and cuts all over my hands.  Ugh..welcome to culinary school!   

Anyways, I finally finished my risotto and plated it to present to Chef Erica.  She looked at my plate and asked, "is it perfect?".  I prayed that it was and said "umm.. I hope so?"  She tasted it and said it was excellent.. great texture and flavor (yes!)   

I quickly dumped the rest of the risotto into a container (and shoved some spoonfuls in my mouth) and cleaned up so we could start cooking the second course.

Yet again, stove space was an issue so we had to all take turns at the stove searing off our top round of lamb.  This took a lot of time, since we also had to let the meat rest and make a pan sauce.

We finally got the dish plated.  Here is the Top Round of Lamb with a Dijon-Horseradish Sauce, Fondant Potatoes, and Sauteed Spaghetti Squash:

We showed Chef Erica to get her approval and continued to shove the food in containers (and in our mouths) and get prepped to cook the final course.

I honestly did not think we would get this course done.  It was nearing 4:30, the kitchen was a mess and we all had to cook a tournedo of beef and pan sauce.  Surprisingly enough, we did get it done and plated!  Unfortunately, because of the time issue we did not get a picture.  Actually, I forgot my camera so all of these pics are courtesy to my buddy Matt :)  Thanks, Matt!!

The dish was: Tournedos of Beef with Truffle Sauce, Pommes Anna, and Peas & Haricot Vert.

We really hustled to clean up the kitchen and get out of there by 5.  We all worked really hard and got it all done!  It was a difficult day..when I got home I felt like I could barely talk because I was so tired.  I will definitely appreciate this snow day today!!