Adapt to Change

Phase 3, Week 6, Day 26

So, basically whenever anything unexpected happens at school the instructors always say, "You have to be able to adapt to change in the industry." This is a true statement, but also a cop out for when the purchasing guy messes up. Usually, it's no big deal. Today, it was a bit of a deal. Apparently, our bass that we needed for today's practical would not arrive until after 7 am. So Chef Bruce decided we'd just preform our final today and do the bass tomorrow. Our final, 15% of our grade, for this class is a mock American Culinary Federation certification test. We take the practical test that the ACF administers for a Certified Culinarian. It consists of breaking down a chicken into specified parts, starting chicken stock, various knife cuts and the completion of a dish with chicken entrée, a starch, veg., and sauce all with in the two hour time limit. It's all based on a Pass/Fail scale. In general this would be no big deal. Except, the entree part. With no warning we had not time to scout ingredients.  We are also at the end of a phase before the school closes for two weeks. Therefore pickings were slim in the walk-in and in the pantry. Argh!

The timer begins, and I begin to break down the chicken. Done. Pass. Do my knife cuts. Done. Pass, although the Julianne carrots we a bit inconsistent. Stock started. Done. Pass. I still have no idea what I'm cooking!!!!!

I head back into the walk-in..... I find a small container of capers left over from the tartar sauce from a few days ago and a lemon...the bulb goes off! A few weeks a go I threw together chicken scalipini with a lemon caper sauce for my Aunt, one of her favorite dishes. Chef Tim was able to scrounge some parmesan cheese from CAC and I grabbed the last 4 stalks of asparagus. I'll make baked chicken with a lemon caper sauce, parmesan rossito, and grilled asparagus. 

We have a plan!!!

I set to work. I had no major issues in the process and voila!, I finished with 25 minutes to spare.

Result:

"A classic dish." Rossoto, was good. I needed to slice the chicken. In banquets (where I generally work), you serve the breast whole. I fine dining, you'd slice it. Sauce was good. Bonus, Chef Bruce like capers (thanks Aunt Terrie). 98%

I love it when a plan comes together!

A classic dish