When I arrived that day I checked the board and I was right in thinking that I would get to do more than chop vegetables all day. It made me very glad I had showed him my blog so that I got to move on from the basics. I still do some basics here and there, but I actually get to cook now.
I was extremely tired when I got there, I didn't get enough sleep because I was up late making Martin cinnamon rolls for his breakfasts for work. When I headed over to get started, Rex found some habanero peppers in the vegetable buckets and leaned over and said to me. "Do you want to see how dumb high school kids are? They'll do anything" I don't know if you know about habanero peppers, but they are one of the hottest peppers out there. He walked up to a group of 3 boys working right in front of me and said, you should try this pepper. Two of them eventually bit off half of the pepper each! It was so funny, it seriously made my whole morning. One of them started to tear up and couldn't talk for a little while and they both had to go find some bread to try and cool it down.
Anyway, I was assigned to make my roasted broccoli for a party that afternoon. They just left me to it to make it however I always make it and it turned out awesome and so tasty!
I also was taught how to cut potatoes in a style called Tourne. My instructor John showed me how to cut them, and he told me they were called Tournado. Everything I have read on them and seen online calls them Tourne so I will stick with that. They are a nit picky little cut and a waste of potato. They are done for presentation purposes and they really do look nice if you want to take the time to make them. A Tourne cut on a potato (it can be done on beets, turnips, root vegetables of any sort) is usually done on a yukon gold or a small red potato. You can do them on russet potatoes, but from what I researched you cut the potato into four pieces and Tourne each piece.
I was told to Tourne 80 gold potatoes. They are shaped sort of like a football, about 2 inches long x 3/4" in diameter with 7 sides and flat ends. They had me cut ours a little bigger so we didn't waste so much of the potato. It took me probably 65 of the 80 to start to get the hang of it, and even though they are not perfect, they did improve as I went along. I even stopped at the store on the way home and bought some red potatoes and made Roasted Rosemary Tourne Potatoes for dinner to practice. I made mine really big for dinner though so I didn't waste so much of the potato.
Here are pictures I found online to show how to cut a Tourne Potato:
I also made Eggplant Parmesan to be served on the line the next day for lunch. It was an easy recipe, but I had so much eggplant that I had to keep making more and more breadcrumbs because I didn't have enough. That was probably the most time consuming part of the whole process. It looked really good and I was excited to try it the next day.
Eggplant Parmesan
Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants, cut into 1/4" thick rounds
1 Tbsp kosher salt
8 slices high quality white bread torn into quarters
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup all purpose flour
4 large eggs
6 Tbsp vegetable oil
Tomato Sauce:
3 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 generous tablespoon)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves chopped
2 cups mozzarella, shredded
1/2 cup grated parmesan
10 fresh basil leaves, torn for garnish
1. Toss eggplant slices and salt until combined and set in a large strainer. Let stand until eggplant releases about 2 Tbsp liquid (maybe 30-45 minutes). Arrange eggplant slices on triple layer paper towels; cover with more paper towels. Firmly press each slice to remove as much liquid as possible, then wipe of excess salt.
2. While eggplant is draining, adjust oven racks to upper and lower middle positions, place rimmed baking sheet on each rack and heat oven to 425.
Pulse bread in a food processor to fine, even crumbs. (You should have about 4 cups). Transfer crumbs to pie plate and stir in 1 cup parmesan, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Set aside.
3. Combine flour and 1 tsp pepper in a second pie plate.
4. Beat eggs in a 3rd pie plate
5. Put eggplant slices in flour, coat the eggplant. Remove eggplant shaking off excess. Dip in eggs, then coat evenly with bread crumbs. Set breaded slices on a wire rack set over a baking sheet.
6. Remove preheated baking sheets from oven. Add 3 Tbsp oil to each sheet, tiling to coat evenly with oil. Place half of breaded eggplant on each sheet in a single layer. Bake until eggplant is well browned and crisp, about 30 minutes. Switch and rotate baking sheets after 10 minutes. Flip eggplant slices over with a spatula after 20 minutes or when the bottom is browned. Remove but do not turn off oven.
7. While eggplant bakes, process 2 can diced tomatoes in a food processor until almost smooth. Heat olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a large pan over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and garlic is light golden. (About 3 minutes) Stir in all the tomatoes. Bring sauce to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally until the sauce is slightly thickened. (About 15 minutes). Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Spread 1 cup tomato sauce in the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish. Layer the eggplant slices, overlapping to fit. Put about1 cup sauce over eggplant, sprinkle with half the mozzarella and parmesan. If there is leftover eggplant you will need to use a second dish. Make the layers the same as the first dish. (If there is not enough eggplant to make more than one dish, use all the cheese on the first pan)
Leave majority of eggplant on top exposed so it will remain crisp. Bake until bubbling and cheese is browned about 13-15 minutes. Scatter basil over the top and serve.
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