Dinner Party

Last monday, at the end of my baking techniques class (Monday 9AM to 1130) the head instructor Andrea asked for volunteers to help with a dinner that night. Scott and I volunteered and we were asked to come in at 3 with our chef gear on. We got there a little early and were put right to work. My school had just opened a restaurant called Ganzo (means cool in italian) near Santa Croce which was staffed by student volunteers and had food cooked by students from the masters class. The affiliated art school (FUA where Brittany went last semester) helped design many parts of the restaurant and menu layout. Anyway due to the restaurant being open almost everyone was always halfway across town so they were short handed for a dinner they were putting on at the school for about 50 english doctors and scientists and their families. As soon as we got there we began prep work. I cut up quail eggs, atichoke and asparagus in assorted shapes and sizes. After the chopping was done I made a fondue out of 600 ml of milk which i brought to a weak boil and then took off heat. I stirred in a large bag of parmesian and put on heat for about 30 seconds, after which i periodically added milk out of the 1000 ml carton while the pot was off heat until all the milk was added. When the consistency was right I added salt and a little nutmeg. After the fondue I was put to work creating the appertivo. First I used a pastry bag to spread a salmon mousse onto crostini and then put canals of caviar (canal is a technique using two spoons to put thick sauce or puree on a plate in an attractive way) topped with a sprig og green and they were done. I also cut up pecorino and arranged it on a plate with walnut and honey.We spent about an hour putting together all kinds of appertivo. After the antipasti were finished we began to prep the main courses. We made gorgonzola gnocchi, toasted the artichoke risotto and seared beef with rosemary and olive oil . Andrea was skilled with molecular cooking so we mixed olive oil with a powder that was odorless and tasteless and made the olive oil a solid. It was placed inside ravioli and had a excellent taste. For pasrt of the dessert they made a foam out of espresso and baked a special kind of sugar in silk sheets that created an amazing crystal, glass effect that looked like ice sculptures. At about 5 we all ate a meal of pasta with ragu and red wine. Once guests arrived we started cooking! We finished the risotto and cooked the ravioli, which we plated with lightly sauteed radicchio and the fondue. We cooked the gnocchi with a tomato confit (lightly cooked) and plated it with basil and other herbs that we had fried previously. The sauce was a saffron olive oil. We also had a broccoli quiche that was excellent. It was fun actually cooking and plating food for real people instead of for ourselves or teachers. Second course we finished the beef which we plated with a blueberry sauce and an edible flower in applesauce. For desert there was a tomato sorbet to cleanse the palate and then tiramusu with the sugar crystals and coffee foam. After the night was over we had spumante and relaxed. It was alot of fun and a little taste of what working in a restaurant could be like.