This past week has been something quite different. As a class, we were given Monday and Tuesday off in exchange for having classes on Friday and Saturday (yes, a saturday!).
On Thursday, for fun, Chef pitted us against each other in a competition to see who could sell the most desserts. In pairs, we all came up with different desserts we thought would win. The only stipulations were that the dessert had to use what we already had in the kitchen. We also had to come up with a tantalizing name to entice diners to choose our dessert over another. :)
Want to know the secret to a winning dessert? See if you can guess by the end of my post.
This time N took the reigns and we came up with a duo: chocolate mousse dome with feuillitine and a vanilla and strawberry carmelized mille feuille (napoleon to us North Americans). What is feuillitine? It is crunchy little wafer pieces. Think of it like corn flakes, but smaller, and no corn. Mixed with chocolate mousse, it adds a wonderful crunchy texture. So good!
For the napoleon, I layered filo pastry with butter and sugar to create crispy carmelized deliciousness. I then made a vanilla mousse and a strawberry mousse and layered it all together. Decorated with a simple dollop of chantilly cream and a mint leaf, it looked so cute.
We served the two with a spoonful of strawberry sauce and a little strawberry. An overall simple dish but with all sorts of textures and a mix of creamy, crispy, and tart. N named it "Strawberry Eclipse".
Here are the desserts created by my classmates:
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| Brownie with chocolate mousse and ice cream (not pictured) |
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| Dark chocolate creme brulee with coffee mousse |
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| Salted caramel panna cotta |
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| White chocolate creme brluee |
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| Deconstructed lemon meringue tart |
Can you guess who won? We did! Actually, we tied with the white chocolate creme brulee at 11 plates each. The dark chocolate creme brulee and brownie tied for second at 10 plates each. Following was the salted caramel panna cotta and the deconstructed lemon tart. The salted caramel panna cotta was so good! I'm sure if the diners could have tasted it first, it would have been the most popular dish. I didn't get a chance to taste the lemon dessert, all the extras were scooped up by the cooks before I could get to it!
As a prize for winning, Chef let us pick from a little bag of goodies. As a consolation prize, everyone else got a chocolate bar of their choosing.
Did you guess the secret? It's chocolate! Chocolate desserts almost always do well. I'm not sure if it is because everyone loves chocolate, or if it is just that those who love chocolate always save room for dessert.
Saturday night was the 100 Club dinner where supporters of our program are treated to a themed dinner. This years theme was James Bond, 007.
The class was separated into groups and each group handled a different part of the prep for this event. N and I made mini buns.
The dessert featured recipes from the school's new cookbook, Seasons.
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| Left to right: Chocolate mousse, pumpkun brulee, spiced fruit salad |
That wraps up plating and pairings. It was short but sweet. Next up is classical desserts. Only three more weeks before the big capstone! Capstone is a four day examination period where we are given a list of products to make and present throughout the four days. After that, it is smooth sailing through the last class, right to the end. :)
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