Friday, March 6, 2009

the protein lottery

It's Friday and I'm exhausted. Here's a recap of my hectic evening in my advanced sauces class last night...

To begin, we were given a bucket filled with different proteins. We blindly picked one then had 20 minutes to prepare it with the sauce of our choice to present for critique. After we were finished, we picked another protein and repeated the same process for the next four hours. After cutting my finger open (nail included) and my legs almost falling off from exhaustion, I got 6 dishes out and I was pretty dang proud of myself :)
They were:

Protein 1: Catfish (ugh...)
Dish: Cornmeal-crusted catfish pan-fried with lemon-sauteed spinach and a horseradish yogurt
Critique: Oversauced but nice balance of flavor

Protein 2: Bone-in pork chop
Dish: Grilled pork chop with a rosemary balsamic reduction, blackberry coulis and fried rosemary
Critique: Good presentation, juicy chop but a little on the sweet side

Protein 3: Boneless pork loin
Dish: Orange glazed pork with roasted fennel
Critique: Pork a little over but liked the flavor combination

Protein 4: Shrimp
Dish: Grilled skewered shrimp with a scallion, honey, lime, orange and jalapeno salsa
Critique: Would have been a home run if I added a bit less pepper to the salsa (grr....)

Protein 5: Cod
Dish: Sliced almond-crusted cod (on the top only) with a preserved lemon and thyme white wine sauce
Critique: Fish cooked perfectly, loved the concept but the sauce was a bit tart

Protein 6: Boneless, skinless chicken breast
Dish: Sauteed chicken breast with sourdough croutons and a rosemary, apple butter sauce
Critique: Chicken cooked perfectly, pretty presentation, a bit too much rosemary

Whew...what a night!

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