Day 5 - Friday September 25, 2009

Day 5:
I can't believe the week is over already. It went by so fast, and it was a fun week. I don't think that I could get up every morning at 6 am (I am not a morning person at all) and go to .. say a boring english or math class. My class is definitely fun enough to get me out of bed in the morning.

Today I got to class and was assigned to heat my Eggplant Parmesan for lunch today and to chop more vegetables for a party tonight. Before I got started, Rex came in and decided to have me make a Roasted Red Pepper and Basil Salad for the party as well. I was glad because I hate just standing around doing nothing. I would prefer to have something to do until the minute I leave.

I started my morning by making the salad because it needed to marinate for a few hours. I had to start by roasting 10 pounds of red bell peppers. Rex assigned a couple of the high school girls to help me so it would go a little faster. We roasted, peeled, cleaned and sliced the peppers up. I mixed the dressing and had a small bowl of the peppers set aside to taste test it with the basil chiffonade in it. It was so good!



Basque-Style Pepper Salad

Ingredients:
10 Bell peppers (Use mostly red, if you want some color add just a couple of either green or yellow or one of each)
2 cups Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup White wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste
Handful of fresh basil, cut into a chiffonade

1. Roast and peel the peppers.
2. Cut the pepper into strips about 1/2 inch wide and you can either leave them the length of the pepper or cut them in half lengthwise so they are easier to fit in your mouth.
3. Combine the oil, vinegar salt and pepper to make a dressing. Pour over the peppers in a bowl and marinate for at least 2-3 hours.
4. Just before serving, finely shred most of the basil leaves and mix with the peppers, reserving a few leaves for garnish.
5. If you want, serve with bread to dip in the dressing.



After I finished the salad and set it in the walk in to marinate, I heated up my Eggplant Parmesan for lunch. Because I was the one who made it, I got to have a piece to taste and it turned out really good! I love eggplant parmesan and it really was easy to make and I'm sure I'll be making it at home.




After I finished those two tasks, all I had left to do today was to cut 25 ounces (each) of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots for the party tonight. It was fast work and I was done by probably 11:30. Kacean came by because Mart got home from work early and she just visited with me and Rex. He had her as a student when she was in High School and he wanted to visit with her again and talk to her about going to pastry school. He also asked her to come by sometime and do a demo on something she learned from Pastry School. (She just recently graduated from the Western Culinary Institute in Portland). She looked interested and will probably come do a demo on chocolate work because that is her favorite.

I left about a half hour early today because I had nothing left to do and I stayed 45 minutes late yesterday working on my Tourne potatoes.

All in all it was a good week and I did learn a few new things.