Yes. You read that title right. I'm about to indulge all you fantastic people on the topic of my last Culinary Practical Final Exam of all time! w00t! lol. This will happen on Wednesday with four other students cooking at the same time as me, while our teachers watch us like evil hawks of doom.
First, let me discuss my program with you a tidge.
At my High School there is quite a well-known Culinary Arts program. This is part of the the 21st Century Programs that my school district has. There are other programs such as the Bio-Technology Program that my sister, TwistedCyberChick, was enrolled in when she was at my school. These programs have served to make my High School, and the others in the district, a magnet school of sorts.
My program, Culinary Arts, is a 3-hour block. I am in the class for 1st period through 3rd, which has 13 seniors in it. There is also an afternoon class, 5th through 7th period, which I was in last year. It is a two year program for Juniors and Seniors.
Now, about my final. This is the final for the Second Years (me and my class) which is different from the one for First Years.
We have to make up a 3 course menu, consisting of an appetizer (which must be an hors de oeuvre), an entree (which must have ravioli or tortelini as the starch, and fish or meat (aka: beef, pork) as the protein), and a dessert (which must be either a cake or a tart). We must prepare this all in 2 hours and 15 minutes or less. It may not sound so hard, but trust me.
It is.
Now, to tell you my menu. Ahem! *clears throat*
Appetizer:
Mushrooms en Croute:
This is basically a mushroom stuffed with creamcheese that has been mixed with fresh garlic, basil, and rosemary. Then, the mushroom is wrapped in buttered phyllo dough (a thin, flaky pastry) and baked until the pastry is crispy and brown.
Entree:
Seared beef tenderloin served with butternut squash ravioli and a sauteed vegetable medley:
I first put the squash in the oven to roast. Then I coat the 6 oz tenderloin steak with fresh ground black pepper, kosher salt, and cayenne pepper, wrap it in plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge. Then I mix the dough for the pasta and cut the veggies (red and green bell peppers, summer squash, and carrots) using various knife cuts. Julienne for the peppers, a biase cut for the squash, and paysanne for the carrots. When the butternut squash is finished roasting, I mash it and mix it with some nutmeg, cinnamon, kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, parmesan cheese, and some sugar. Once this has cooled, I fill the ravioli and set them aside. Then I start cooking the steak in olive oil, covering it with a lid. While doing this, I blanch the veggies for about 1 and a half minutes. Then I mess with the steak some, making sure to brown all sides. Around now, I make two butter sauces. One with nutmeg and cinnamon for the ravioli, the other with garlic and basil for the steak. When I take the internal temp of the steak and it is about 135, then I take it off the heat and wrap the steak in foil to rest (and stay hot). Next I sautee the veggies in some butter with kosher salt and fresh black pepper while cooking the ravioli. When they are done, I take them out of their pans and arrange them on the plate. Next, I slice the steak into five, biase pieces and arrange them in a fan on the plate and pour the sauces over the steak and ravioli. Yay!
Lastly, the Dessert:
Blackberry Cake:
This is a crazy easy recipe. I melt 4 tablesoons of butter and pour it in a cake pan. Then I mix a little flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and evaporated milk in a bowl. I pour this into the pan. Next, I sprinkle 2 cups of blackberries and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar over the batter. This bakes in the oven for around 40 minutes. I can tell you this: it tastes fabulous, but it looks like crap. lol. It's really hard to get it out of the pan and I'm hoping to be able to get a square piece out and cut it with a cutely shapped cookie cutter to serve it. That's gonna be rough....Oh, and I'm making a blackberry sauce/syrup to decorate the plate with. Neato frito.
The total time it takes to make the cake is about 1 hour, which means I should start making it after one hour. Gee. I hope that works out right...Anyhoo, when I tested out making all of this yesterday it tasted great and I got done on time, except for the cake. It was crap. I just made it right now and it worked fine, so I just have to make sure to start on the cake at the right time so I can still get done. Aaaaaah! So much stress!!!!
So, I hope I made you salivate. lol.
Sorry about this post. This is all I've been thinking about lately. I have other finals coming up (and a Japanese test tomorrow over chapter 12 of our book, not to mention the actual FINAL) but this one is the closest, so yeah. I'm freaking out. lol.
I hope that those of you who do actually cook appreciated this a little. And for those of you who don't, sorry if I just bored you to death. lol.
Toodles!
