Class #6: Mystery Starch

**Class date - October 4th**
Tonight's class started with our 2nd exam.  This one was a little tougher as all the questions were multiple choice instead of matching like the last exam.  I think I missed one or two but won't find out for 2 weeks as we don't have class next week due to the fall break. 

So after our exam we headed straight to the kitchen and this time we drew out of hat the starch we would be preparing.  There were 14 different types to choose from which meant no partners this time.  We were on our own!  I was excited.  Yes, it's nice to collaborate with someone but it's a lot nicer to do your own thing.  Some of the types of starches that we could end up with were: Pasta dough, fettucini carbonara, risotto, potato lyonnaise, bulgar wheat, thai rice stir fry, spaetzle, etc.  I ended up with risotto milanese and I was very happy.  I felt like I had a little advantage because I've made risotto before and knew what the end product should be.  Of course we weren't just making risotto.  We'd also have to make a protein with it and vegetables.  Luckily I had done my homework and made sure I had a chicken recipe ready on my Droid should I need to access it in the kitchen.  I had planned for a lemon chicken so when I got the risotto I knew chicken picatta would be a perfect dish.  Once I found capers in the class kitchen pantry I was set. 

I spent a lot of time with my risotto as it takes quite a bit of stirring.  Basically risotto is arborio rice (which is an italian white rice) and you start by sauteeing the rice in butter and then add a little wine and reduce it.  Then you keep gradually adding chicken broth a little at a time until it evaporates as you keep stirring it constantly.  You keep adding broth until the rice is cooked and soft.  As we had to prepare everything to time out just right I took the rice off the heat a little early in fear that it would overcook and be mushy.  I then sauteed my chicken in butter and oil after I breaded it lightly in salted flour.  I removed the chicken from the pan and then made my sauce.  I used chicken broth to loosen up the bits and deglaze my plan.  I then squeezed the juice from one lemon and added capers and butter.  A quick taste and YUM - this sauce was delicious.  I love the tartness of the capers.  The only thing that had me worried was the timing. I knew I could have this all done very quickly but the CI wasn't ready to sample our dishes just yet. I had to figure out how to make sure all the components were still hot by the time I served it to him. It was a challenge but I re-heated my risotto again and added the final ingredients - parmesan cheese and butter. A vegetable selection had me stumped as I first started with a bag of broccoli but couldn't figure out how to make it work with my dish.  So I was thrilled when I discovered some asparagus.  I quickly sauteed some in chicken broth and a little of the caper juice. Once that finished cooking I warmed up the sauce again and was pleased that everything was at the same temperature. I then plated my dish.  Risotto in the middle, chicken on the side of the risotto, the asparagus on the side and the sauce poured on top.  The only thing I wish I done differently is present this in a deeper dish so the sauce didn't run as much since it was a very thin sauce. But aesthetically, a very eye-pleasing dish.

I think my CI was pleased too as he said it was very good and gave me 25 points out of 25 for this lab - an A!  The only thing, believe it or not, was the risotto could've been cooked more.  The CI said it had a little bite to it but he still thought it was tasty and looked good. I was very proud of this dish and proud that I did it all on my own.  I wish you all could have tasted it - it was very, very good.  :)

There is no class next week due to the holiday break, but the week after that is our cutting skills midterm exam.  So I'll be practicing my cutting in the meantime. . .