If I can summarize baking and pastry week three in a few words, it would be “no more pie crusts!!!” I think all I did for 8 hours this week was make pie crusts. I don’t want to do it again anytime soon. While the crusts themselves were SUPER delicious, making, and more specifically, rolling them out was a pain in the rear and a skill for which I don’t have enough patience to perfect.
First, we made dough for a quiche, the recipe for which I will post at some point. Now, I like a good quiche, but never did I think I’d be the creator of something so de.li.cous. We made a quiche on Wednesday night, I took it home, cut a slice for Terry to taste, took a bite and decided immediately that we’d be keeping this entire dish to ourselves.
Also on the menu this week was a fruit tart made with pastry cream. I really liked the process of making the pastry cream because you have to be pretty concise – you have to constantly mix the ingredients in order to make sure the eggs are cooked enough without curdling. It’s a great upper-body workout for sure. Not to mention the pastry cream tastes like heaven.
On that particular night, I was tired and realllllly just wanted to go home so after finishing off the crust and the pastry cream, I grabbed the easiest fruits to cover the tart with, brushed on the apricot glaze and promptly asked the chef where I should place it in order to get it to the café the next day. I already had a cake box full of apple pie tarts and on top of carrying my bag with my work clothes, my backpack containing the 8 lb. textbook for the class and my 15 lb. knife kit, I did NOT feel like carrying one more thing. So I took a picture and bid adieu to my fruit tart.
I vow to try that recipe again; however, I’ll be doing it in a smaller bite-sized form.
The icing on the cake this week was spending Saturday and Sunday from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm each day in food sanitation class. (Did you catch my sarcasm there?) It’s a mandatory class, and actually, I learned A LOT and question why anybody in their right mind, with all these mandates, would ever want to own or operate a restaurant. Really though, I actually found some of it fascinating and I have to say that we the public are putting a huge amount of trust into food establishments to ensure that the staff has been properly trained and properly follows through on keeping the flow of food safe for consumption.
Carrot Sticks To Your Ribs 