A Little Taste of Italy

Today I was head chef in my lunch class. I created an Italian menu with the title of "A Little Taste of Italy". Here is the menu:

Spinach & Fennel Salad

with orange slices and black olives

tossed in an orange olive oil dressing

Homemade Cannelloni

grilled eggplant and ricotta filling

with sauteed broccoli rabe

Italian Cream Cake

with blood orange cream anglaise

Time was tight, but somehow we got everything out on time. SEPTA went on strike at three in the morning, so none of my back of the house staff arrived at school until 9:30am. Note that class starts at 8:30am. I was the only one there at 8:30am. So for the first hour, I started rolling out and cutting pasta into five inch squares for the cannelloni. One hundred and twenty squares later the rest of my staff showed up. By eleven the cannelloni still were not in the oven and I was getting worried. However, somehow between eleven and twelve absolutely everything got finished. I do not know how it happened, but it does not matter. All that matters is that everything got done. We even got to clean up a bit before we plated the appetizer.

Service went really well. My chef instructor trusted me enough to leave the kitchen and go sit down to lunch. Plating all the food went amazingly smoothly. All of my back of the house staff listened to me and did everything I asked. It was a quiet and peaceful kitchen and I absolutely loved it.

Everyone seemed to love the food as well. I know everyone in my class was fighting over the leftovers at the end of service. We had absolutely no food left over and it was great for clean up.

Overall I was super happy with how everything went today. Only thing I wish I had a chance to do was take pictures of the plates. Oh well, maybe next time. I think I am going to have to recreate the whole meal for my family and friends who could not make it to the lunch. Maybe I will have them help me!!