Hors D'Oeuvres 2 (Blinibonanza!)

Today was the second day of hors d'oeuvres with Chef Al. I took on the Buckwheat Blini with American Caviar alone, and though I intended to do the Goat Cheese Mousse with Beet Quenelles with Squarehead, I ended up doing it myself as well. The blini was straightforward: activated yeast in warm milk with a pinch of sugar, then mixed it into equal portions of buckwheat flour and AP flour and a pinch of salt. After it doubled in an hour, I gently mixed in an egg yolk and a small amount of beer. Separately, I whisked the egg white to soft peaks and folded it in to the batter. On a hot griddle, I ladled on hot clarified butter and squirted batter onto the grill through a pastry bag. As both came off the griddle, 2LG helped me top them with little bits of crème fraiche, black caviar, and a sprinkling of minced chives.

Upon presentation to Chef Al, he said that if he were presenting, he would have placed a hot plate on a cold plate for heating the blini (while keeping the hand cool).

The Goat Cheese Mousse involved simply melting some gelatin sheets in hot cream. Blend goat cheese in a blender with boiled milk, throw in some roasted garlic, crème fraiche, olive oil, cumin, and walnut oil with the melted gelatin. Poul over a mess of freshly-ground walnuts and minced chives, put into an ice bath to set. Roundhead cooked some beets and peeled them, I minced them fine then mixed them with a little olive oil, sherry vinegar and salt. After about 30 minutes to set the mousse, I poured it into shot glasses via a spouted pitcher. I spooned beets over the top with a 1/4 teaspoon measure. Chef Al said it was delicious.

After we cleaned up, Chef Al got into the mechanics of the graduation grand buffet for which we'll be cooking for one week. Everyone is responsible for 2 hors d'oeuveres, which we must decide on tomorrow morning (so we can arrange for placing an order for whatever ingredients we need. Later this week we'll be making terrines and pates, which take a week to ferment or something, so those will be served at the buffet, too. We'll roast some meats for a carving station as well. I think I know what I'll be choosing, but tomorrow we'll be going over the mechanics -- if we end up with 28 deep-fried items, that would cause a jam-up....so we'll see.

When I was a graphic designer, sometimes I would refer to a boring job as 'making sausage'. Tomorrow, I'm making actual sausage.


ADDENDA:
Yesterday's ride was relaxing, but not particularly challenging because I just didn't push it. After class, went to yoga with my favorite teacher. Was hoping to snickle-snack with the HVS, but when she was a no-show, just went home to do the Monday chores. Kinda forgot to eat enough, which is very not me. Guess the end of school coming up has made me feel a little odd.

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, banana, hunger 2/5
Didn't feel hungry, but when I take my dirtpill (mulitvitamin) without food, I get a bit nauseous.

AM TASTINGS: 10-11am, blinis with cream fraiche, chicken skewer, beef skewer, veggie fried thing, salmon crepe, shrimp mush on little tarte thing, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I put Dora's thing in my mouth, turned, and spit it out.

DINNER: 5:45pm, pasta with shrimp and homemade sauce, Ben & Jerry's Half-Baked ice cream, water 2.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
Made the pasta from the weekend again because it was so damn good. Used a better quality of dry pasta, added cubed fresh moz and again it was pretty damn good, except maybe again I made too much. Despite being really hungry, wasn't able to finish. After 30 minutes, found space for ice cream!

EVENING WATER: 7:30pm, quart