August 29, 2011

samples!

The day before PCR opened we ran a mock service, in which all of the menu items were plated and photographed, then served to the third semester students (because they're running the front of the house - serving and bussing and otherwise interacting with the customers). The entrees came out looking rather professional and I couldn't help but be proud. So without further ado:

Mushroom Pate Crostini

The Amuse Station's first creation: Mushroom Pate Crostini with Creme Fraiche and Chives. The amuse is served as a free appetizer to all PCR guests, and it changes on a daily basis. So for the first day of service it was this, but after that we had Thai Beef Salad in Wonton Cups, then Grilled Zucchini-Wrapped Prosciutto with Gruyere and Capers.

Oyster Shrimp and Andouille Sausage Po-Boy

Sandwich Station: Oyster, Shrimp and Andouille Sausage Po-Boy with Remoulade Sauce and Side of Fries. The oysters and shrimp are battered with cornmeal with cajun seasoning and fried. The remoulade sauce is a fancy tartar sauce. And the fries I have since nixed because they were coming out stiff and hard to chew - we replaced them with potato wedges. So customers can chose from potato wedges, side salad, or fruit salad as their side, and sometimes we have specials like macaroni salad.

Turkey Avocado Sandwich

Also Sandwich Sandwich Station: Turkey Avocado Sandwich on Whole Grain Bread with Fruit Salad and Pickle Spear. Pretty straight forward. Someone remarked that the pickle spear looked somewhat phallic. That was my (unintentional) doing.

Roasted Vegetable Sandwich

Also Sandwich Station: Roasted Vegetable Sandwich on Ciabatta Bread with Balsamic Vinaigrette and Side Salad. Also pretty straight forward. The roasted veggies are a mix: eggplant, zucchini/squash, tomatoes, onions, red bell peppers.

Poached Pear Salad

Salad Station: Poached Pear Salad with Black Forest Ham, Bleu Cheese, Roasted Figs, Glazed Walnuts and Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette. I contributed to this dish by poaching the pears, which I had experience with from pastry side last semester. These pears were slightly different though as they were poached whole, with less sugar and lemon + star anise + cinnamon + cloves for flavoring. Easily my favorite salad for all the sweet savoryness of it.

Shrimp Louis Salad

Also Salad Station: Shrimp Louis Salad with Bay Shrimp, Cucumber, Tomato, Hardboiled Egg, Asparagus, Poached Mushroom and Assorted Greens. The louis sauce involved brandy (or, alternatively, cognac), which was a little scandalous. Anyway, I thought this salad looked like a little "forest of delight", especially with the scalloping done on the mushroom and the lemon peel (can't wait to learn that type of detail work).

Heirloom Tomato Salad

Also Salad Station: Heirloom Tomato Salad with Basil, Fresh Mozzerella and Mixed Herbs. You can't go wrong with this salad. I've done this salad at home many times with regular tomatoes, and it's not any inferior as long as the tomatoes are ripe. I want to try the parmesan chip next time though - can you believe it's made just by baking some shredded parmesan and olive oil? Crazy.

Beef Medallions

Entree Station: Sauteed Beef Medallions with Three Peppercorn Sauce, Mashed Potatoes and Root Vegetable Batonnets. Here's where the beef medallions went! In the future we should shape the beef so it's more medallion-like, but the dish is so delicious that the non-medallion-ness of the beef is easily overlooked. The root vegetables we used were parsnips, carrots and kohlrabi (which taste like the insides of broccoli stems). Oh and the gravy is to die for.

Sautee of Lamb

Also Entree Station: Sautee of Lamb with Artichokes, Oven Dried Tomatoes, Mushroom Pilaf Croquette and Grilled Squash Medley. Here's where the lamb cubes went! The oven dried tomatoes are bomb with their concentrated tomato flavor, kind of a cross between fresh tomatoes and sundried tomatoes. And I made the mushroom pilaf croquette so there'll probably be an entry about that in the future. And the grilled squash medley is eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash.

Chicken Paillard

Also Entree Station: Chicken Paillard with Mashed Potatoes, Ratatouille and Jus Lie. Here's where the chicken pieces went! The jus lie is a slightly thickened jus - I can't wait to make that and demi glace (gravies for the previous two entrees) - after all, I really wanted to get into sauces when I was thinking about culinary school, and that hasn't changed.

Grilled Portabella Steak

Also Entree Station: Grilled Portabella Steak with Whole Grains Pilaf and Roasted Baby Vegetables. For a while this dish was just vegetarian because there was butter in the pilaf, but it soon became vegan because we substituted olive oil. For baby vegetables we have carrot, zucchini, turnip, beet and pattypan squash.

And lastly there was a vegetarian entree: a Pasta Primavera - Fettucine with Bechamel and Broccoli, Asparagus, Red Bell Pepper and Portabella Mushroom. This entree changes out every week or so.

And besides all of this we also have specials that rotate daily (or really more like every two days). More on that later!

No comments:

Post a Comment