Week 6- Garde Manger

This week Stacy and I were on the Garde Manger station. We had four dishes- A Lebanese Shrimp Salad, BLT Caesar, Duck Confit, and a Sous Vide Chicken Salad. Stacy took the Duck and Chicken salads, and I took the Shrimp and BLT salads. This worked out well because you, by now, should realize how I feel about raw poultry, and Stacy really didn't want to do the emulsions which I have really come to enjoy.

The Lebanese Shrimp salad is served on grilled pita bread, with Za'atar spiced shrimp, lebneh cheese balls, pickled red onions, and a lemon parsley vinaigrette.

The BLT Caesar is served with AI Pancetta, roasted tomatoes, fresh croutons, shaved parmesan (this week it was grated because we didn't have a block to shave), and of COURSE, Caesar dressing.
(This is the photo from the food show day. I didn't get a photo of one of mine)

Prepping is easy peasy for the most part. Stacy and I are both on the same page for the most part when it comes to organization and cleanliness, and on prep days we get to have some tunes playing overhead. This class has a good camaraderie, and many of us are about to graduate. We all are comfortable with each other and get pretty silly together.

Tuesday was service. I love how much I have picked up working in the industry as far as setting up stations for service. It's pretty much second nature now, which is comforting to feel. The one comment we got from the dining room was that the pita bread under the shrimp salad was hard to eat and a little impractical. Wednesday when I came in, Chef Thompson approached me and we said, almost together, that we should cut the pita into wedges. "You knooooow, Heather...You're alright." That is Chef's classic praise in this lab when someone has done something right or thought ahead.

Next week, Stacy and I will be on sandwich station. We will see how THAT goes, since they seemed to be in the weeds the whole class this week.