Chef Barbie cooks: Culinary School - Week 6 Central Plains

Feb 14-15, 2011

Central Plains
Day one

The Menu:
Wisconsin Cheddar and Beer Soup
Beet and Apple Salad with Horseradish Vinaigrette
Planked Green Onion Whitefish
Mashed Celeriac and Potatoes
Pickled Pearl Onions
Sautéed Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes
Brownie Pudding Cake

The Food:
Chef said that our soup got a little too hot. That caused the cheese to break and make the soup grainy. The beet salad was ok. I don’t like beets but I liked the apple and the greens with the vinaigrette. Cooking the whitefish on the planks gave the meat a really good flavor. The celeriac and mashed potatoes were good. The pickled pearl onions and the sautéed green bean were what you would expect. The brownie pudding cake is one of my very favorite cakes!

Summary:
Tonight was a busy night in the kitchens. My new team has only 3 people so we had to hustle to get everything done. Our cake was not ready right at our presentation time. If we had been in a real restaurant we would have had to explain to the customers that the cake was delayed and comp drinks or something. Although the cake wasn’t ready at service time, in my opinion it was the best tasting of all the groups.

Beet and Apple Salad

Cheddar Beer Soup

Brownie Pudding Cake

Mashed Celeriac and Potatoes
Green Beans with Tomatoes and
Pickled Pearl Onions

Day Two

The Menu:
Barley Beef Soup
Kansas City Barbecue Ribs
Steak Fries
Cannellini Beans with Tomatoes and Basil
Roasted Chicken with Wild Rice, Walnuts, and Dried Fruit Stuffing
Winter Vegetables with Thyme
Soft Pretzels

The Food:
Barley Beef Soup is a pretty common thing. I grew up with it. This was really good. I liked the Cannellini Bean salad but I think it needed a little more salt. The Roasted Chicken with stuffing was really pretty. The BBQ sauce for the ribs was really good. It paired well with the fries. In place of a dessert tonight we made soft pretzels. The one we presented to Chef was a cinnamon sugar glazed.

Summary:
I don’t normally eat meat on the bone but I did eat a rib tonight. It was really good. I really liked the bbq sauce we made. The Cannellini bean salad was really easy to make and would make a great side dish for a bbq or picnic. The pretzel we presented to Chef was a really big twist. I would re-think that next time and make a few smaller pretzels.