I was late for school today cause I stopped to help Carl with his computer. He's been having lots of problems lately. Oh, well....he's going to call his IT guy and have him come over this afternoon to continue working on it.
We're having cheese for dessert today, so I worked on a variation of a Charlotte Russe. I made a vanilla bisquit-type cake and baked it in a flat sheet pan. Once it came out of the oven, Chef Lexie and I rolled them (I had enough dough for two) in a cloth to cool (so they would cool wound up. Once they were cooled, I brushed them with a white rum flavored simple syrup, spread some pureed strawberry jam on them, then rolled them up again. They are wrapped in plastic in the walk-in. Tomorrow I will slice them, then line a bowl or pan with them, fill the pan with some Bavarian (cream), put more slices on top, then chill this. It will be unmolded onto a plate and served along with the Semi-Freddo. It is going to be a dessert buffet so I am sure we'll be making more things!
Geoff finished making the Gateau Basque-the tart/cake will have to make for our final. It tasted pretty good, but we now have to figure out how to plate it attractively. That requires imagination! We are going to make our three bread doughs tomorrow afternoon, that is the only thing they are going to let us do ahead of time. Otherwise, we have about two hours to get everything done we need to get done AND plate them attractively AND serve them to the judges. Chef Lexie decided today though, that we need to make two Gateau Basque tarts, one they can look at and judge and one that we cut and serve (to check taste, presentation, etc). I think we'll do ok.
Chef Pete lectured on Southern Italy. This includes Umbria, Calabria, Campania,the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, Marches, Latium (this region contains the large city of Rome), Abruzzo, Molise, Apulia, and Basilicata. Quite a lot! Umbira is the only southern landlocked area. All the other regions border the Mediterranean Sea, the Tyrrhnian Sea, the Tonian Sea and the Adriatic Sea. So as you can imagine, lot of fish and shellfish. The geography of these regions is mountainous, rocky, hilly and hot. There are flat areas along the Adriatic coast.
Southern Italy was colonized by the Greeks in about the 8th Century B.C. The Greeks brought grapes and olives. In the 3rd century B.C. the Romans invaded and unified the peninsula-the first step towards social and economic developments. In 1030 A.D. the Normans invaded, bringing salt cod to the area. In the 1700s the tomato was brought over from the New World. 1861 was the year Italy was unified. From 1880-1920, 5 million immigrants from Italy came to America (4 million are actually from southern Italy, bringing Italian foodstuffs and styles with them.
The pillars of the southern Italian table are bread, wine and olive oil. Pig is "king" meaning, there are lots of pork products from this region-bacon, mortadella, pancetta, sprressota, capicolla and coppa. Olive trees thrive here as do citrus trees-lots of lemons and blood oranges. Artichokes, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, figs, tangerines, quince, almonds and pomegranates are also grown here. These regions eat lots of fish-tuna, shrimp, squid and swordfish.
The wines of this region are Montepulciano d'Abruzzi, Trebbiano d'Abruzzi, Marsala, Rose, Frascati, Primitivo (zinfandel), Vermentino and Orvieto. You will also find grappa and Limoncello here.
It was back to our kitchens after the lecture to get ready for lunch. Breads today were our usual French bread, semolina bread and ciabatta. Collin has done a great job all by himself this week, turning out bread! Like I said, not much for Geoff and I to do for dessert, as they cheese was delivered from the Truffle Cheese Shop and only needed to be plated.
Our appetizer was Affettata-which is a cold plate of cured meats, served with olives and roasted red peppers. GardeMo also roasted some red grapes-they were better than I thought they would be! The grapes were left in a bunch, rubbed with olive oil and salt and pepper, then put under the salamander (broiler) for 4-5 minutes, then removed. This is definitely something I will try at home! GardeMo also make Fried Fish Marinara-fried cod served with vinaigrette dressed salad and marinara sauce. Our entree was Braciole with Orzo. Braciole is flank steak pounded out flat, then spread with, in our case, an olive/garlic filling, rolled, tied, seared and then braised for several hours. It really was delicious!
We cleaned our kitchens, then I made it home in time before it started to rain, complete with thunder and lightening! Some of the students are getting together tonight to practice slicing and dicing, but I needed some time to myself so am staying home tonight. Tomorrow night, I am going to have dinner with my friend Kim and her husband, Eric, out in Castle Rock. Another nice break from the stress of this week (although I seem to be affected by other people's stress more than my own!).
Thanks to everyone who has been reading this blog. I appreciate the support. I will try and continue with it while I am in Europe so you will hear about all I learn and all I see.
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