Chef Barbie cooks: Culinary School

Garde Manger

April 18-19, 2011

Objectives: Cold Soups and Sandwiches

Recipes: Chilled Blackberry Yogurt Soup, Cured Salmon BLT, Vegetable Chips, Reuben Sandwich, Duck Prosciutto with balsamic glaze and fig jam, Southwestern Turkey Wrap, Chilled Roasted Tomato Soup with Basil Crème Fraiche and Parmesan Tuile, Lamb Pita, Vada Pav, Croque Madame, Club Sandwich

Summary Day 1: This week we worked on sandwiches and cold soups. The thing about Garde Manger is consistency. A lot of the things that are produced in the Garde Manger kitchen are going to be used in buffets so each item that is the same thing needs to look the same.

I really liked the Chilled Blackberry Yogurt Soup. We did leave it in the freezer a tad too long to keep it cold and it was almost frozen but it was delicious! I don’t like salmon so it didn’t care for the Salmon BLT. The Reuben was good but I would have put more meat on it. I am used to seeing Reuben sandwiches stuffed with meat. I was really surprised by how delicious the Duck Prosciutto was I was hesitant to try it but after I did, I could have eaten it all off the tray I was using to store it on. I let my Balsamic Glaze go just a little too far and release too much moisture so it was really thick. We didn’t get any figs for the jam so I used Apples and Dried Cherries. I really liked that. I think it would also be good as a side for a roast pork loin. The Southwest Turkey Wrap was really good. I liked the flavors in it.

Chilled Blackberry
Yogurt Soup

Classic Reuben

Cured Salmon BLT

Duck Prosciutto Salad

Southwestern Turkey Wrap

Summary Day 2: More Cold Soup and Sandwiches today. I really enjoyed the Chilled Roasted Tomato Soup with the Parmesan Tuile. With the little dollop of Basil Cream on it, it was the perfect starter. Then we had the Grilled Lamb Pita. Sadly, our lamb was under cooked so I didn’t try it but I made the Tzatziki Sauce so I knew it was good. Chef suggested that next time we make the greens smaller so that the sauce would be a little smoother. I think I would also add some fresh dill. I didn’t like the Vada Pav. I am not a huge fan of chickpeas. The flavor from the spices was nice. The buns that Shari made were perfect for it. I love a good Club Sandwich. The only change I would have made to ours was add more bacon! Bacon makes everything better! Chef said that ours were properly dressed. I think some of the teams may not have had the mayonnaise on both sides of the middle slice of bread. The last sandwich from tonight was the Croque Madame. This is basically a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with a sunny side up egg and some béchamel sauce. We used a Veloute. It was as good as with the béchamel. The difference is that the béchamel tends to form a skin on it if not eaten right away and the veloute tends to stay viscous. Either way is fine with me. I mean, how can you go wrong with cheese and ham, right?