ENTREMETIER: BEET RAVIOLI REIMAGINED

We didn't have any orders for the dishes we created on Monday at Entremetier so we were hoping that our new dishes were a little more tempting. The brainchildren of one of our group members last night's dishes were a little more interesting and popular though not so well-planned. The storeroom didn't have any beets so we substituted them with sweet potatos.

DISH: Sweet-Potato and Goat Cheese Ravioli With Poppy Seed-Butter Sauce

RECIPE: Bake sweet potatos in tin foil. Make pasta: mix 200G flour on table surface. Using a fork beat two to three eggs with 5G salt and 10ML olive oil then combine mixture with flour and knead for ten minutes then cover with plastic and cool for a half hour in the fridge so the activated gluten in the flour can relax. Mix sweet potato with goat cheese, parmesan, a teaspoon of sage, and salt and pepper. Roll pasta flat and place a tablespoon of filling between two pieces then brush edges with egg wash, seal and cut with pastry-shaper. For service drop ravioli in heavily salted boiling water and cook for about two to three minutes. Dress lightly in salted butter with a touch of sage, parmesan and poppy seeds.

DISH: Panko-Crusted Fried Brie With Black Currant Sauce and Brulee Figs

RECIPE: Cut wedge of brie and dip in egg wash then pat with panko bread crumbs and drop in heated oil until panko is golden-brown and cheese inside is soft. Heat blackcurrant jam, slice a fig and cover open side with brown sugar and use gas cannister to brulee the sugar.

BREAKDOWN: I tasted the sweet potato filling and it was smooth and luxurious with a slight tang from the goat cheese but didn't get a chance to taste the finished dish because we had a lot of stocks to take care of. The cheese dish was popular in the kitchen but I think it needs to be scaled back for service. We started with a full wheel of brie and cut it into about six wedges. There are at least two problems with a dish like this. First, it's fried brie--melted brie isn't exactly ground-breaking. Second the dish is meant to be a full course, not an appetizer, so the amount of cheese you have to serve is ridiculous (look I'm the guy who during the cheese lecture ate all the samples before the instruction began--hey no one gave us any indication of how the lecture would proceed!). When the guest is going to be eating five courses you don't want to serve them a three and a half inch wide, five inch long piece of fried brie.

There were a few interpersonal issues last night as well. The recipes were supposed to be emailed to everyone and the weren't. We were to arrive early to work on the pasta and then didn't have recipes and the order form sat unsigned at the storeroom. There were no beets had to replace them with the sweet potatos. Things felt messy and unprepared and there was the general feeling that one person was treating the others as sous-chefs, not teammates and that a little more elbow grease when it comes to cleaning and stocks would be appreciated as well by those teammates.

I'll be getting a break from these ill-feelings on Friday with my first absence since school began. A nerd, I'd been hoping to get the perfect attendance award but my good friend from college is getting married on Friday and I'll be celebrating with her. When I next return to class we'll be returning to Pastry. It seems that the new recipes are allowing the Pastry Station a lot of down-time so we should have plenty of time again to do the Tuesday and Thursday desserts. I may try to do the Gulab Jamun again and I'm also interested in trying another Spago dessert recipe that I found in Chef A.'s stash of copes called Omar's Cocount-Appe Haystacks.