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What to bring to a pot luck when your current status as a culinary school student has been widely advertised?
I brought a dish designed with 2 goals in mind: 1) help balance the menu, and 2) practice my knife skills
There was a lot of starch-heavy items on the menu and the hostess promised 3 different desserts (they were delicious!). I decided on a Brazilian-inspired* chicken salad that provided a lean protein that’s easy to eat in summer weather. But really, I picked it so that I could practice my knife cuts. It looked humble and dismissively easy to compose but it ended up taking me 3 hours to make.
What went in:
- small dice potatoes
- freshly shelled English peas
- small dice carrots
- small dice apples
- corn kernels from freshly shucked cob
- chopped (canned) artichokes
- chopped olives (not shown in the picture)
- quartered grapes
- chicken breast poached in a court bouillon that included fresh corn cobs
- freshly made mayonnaise
the court bouillon (poaching liquid) alone contained 8 ingredients and was reduced for >30min prior to use. Unfortunately I have yet to master the heat control on poaching and the chicken wasn’t as succulent and juicy as what I tasted during Foundations I’s demo. Will need to work on that.
Each vegetable was prepped and cooked separately then chilled.
I had a great time putting it all together and was making furious mental notes for my own education.
Response at the pot luck? I don’t know. There were quite a few impressive dishes. I may have just earned myself a little breathing room for the next gathering. I doubt anyone’s going to expect a superstar dish from me after serving a homely chicken salad, hehee.
*Brazilian-inspired: chicken should be shredded, not cubed. potato more likely in shoestring form, not small dice.
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