Day 10 - Lasagna, Ravioli and Polenta

Day 10 wrapped up my first two weeks at the school and I have to say it was my best day yet. By far. I'm not sure if I'm just getting the hang of the industrial kitchen or if I really understood today's assignments but I really did well today.

The first thing I did was to make the fresh Bechamel for the Lasagna Bolognese. It's a cheaper and in some ways tastier replacement for Ricotta Cheese. Since the Lasagna Bolognese was done in teams of two, my partner Chanell and I then layered, wrapped and popped it in the oven. By the way, Chanell is 17 going on 18 and is an absolute a delight to work with. She gruaduated high school 2 years early so she could get a jump start on the business. Besides being bright, Chanell is sweet, funny and has such an infectious personality that I know she's going to be a huge success. I'll have a new partner next week but It has been great cooking with and getting to know Chanell.

I then moved into making the Polenta. We were instructed to make Soft Polenta and Fried Polenta Cakes with Bolognese. We added Mascapone and Aged Blue Cheese to the Soft Polenta and that added wonderful flavor to something that really has no flavor at all. Chef Perez called it "outstanding." To me he is the tougher of the two chefs to please so I was thrilled. But it wouldn't be my last "outstanding" of the day.

I then moved to Fried Polenta Cakes with Bolognese. This is where you take the soft polenta and flatten it into a sheet and chill it for about an hour. Then you cut it into shapes and fry it in some olive oil and present it with some sauce and cheese. Chef Reyes said it was "excellent" but to make sure I fry both sides of the cake the same amount. One side was a bit darker than the other but because it wasn't really something we had discussed in class, I doubt he took off points for it.

Then came Mushroom Duxelles Ravioli with Pesto Sauce. We had made the mushroom filling on Day 9 and the dough on day 8 and Chef Reyes made the Pesto sauce so all we really had to do was roll out the pasta and shape the raviolis. I presented this to Chef Perez and he said, "Great flavor, nice texture, perfect." This is when I started thinking that I might actually be getting the hang of this whole chef thing.

But the best part of the day was when Chanell and I present our Lasagna Bolognese.


Chef Perez said, "Wow...outstanding." He then took a second bite. That never happens!

Then the chefs said the students in PCA4 (which is the highest level of students in the school) asked if we could send some lasagna over to them to try. Since they are constantly bringing us some of their tasty dishes, I gave up a big piece that I had planned to take home and brought it down to them. After they ate it, one of the Instructor Chefs from the class came to our class and told me that it was absolutely delicious and almost as good as his Italian grandmother's. He then shook my hand. That was awesome!

So heading into week 3 I'm feeling as confident as ever. Sorry there aren't more pictures today but all of the pictures I took at school came out blurry and I didn't have time to figure out why. I snapped the lasagna picture after I got home. And then immediately ate it for dinner.