Mid Atlantic 2

Mid Altantic Day 2 Menu:

Navy Bean Soup
Tomato, Egg & Cucumber Salad
Shaker-style Turkey Cutlets
Croquette Potatoes
Spaghetti Squash Noodles
Green Beans

Navy Beans got their name because of their use by the Navy. Why did the Navy use them? Dry beans are perfect for a mobile kitchen. They have a very long shelf life and can be cooked in sea water. In fact, before you start cooking them, you'll need to soak the beans, preferably an overnight cold soak to reabsord some moisture. A hot soak on the beans will work but the beans just won't taste as good. Don't soak em too long though, because the beans can get water logged, overnight is long enough. The beans have a thin skin and a creamy interior when soaked and cooked properly. It first starts as a simple clear soup, cooking bacon, aromatics and chicken stock. The beans are then added as the thickener to this soup and a ham hock is added for seasoning. The hock is very salty, so you need to taste before adding any additional seasoning to check for salt. The soup then simmers until the beans are tender. At this point, you can break the thin bean skins and mash out some of that creamy bean meat to give the soup some real body. To garnish, add some diced pieces from the hock and some chives. John did an excellent job on our soup and it tasted great. The only real critique we got was that ours needed a bit more liquid. Ours ended up more like a chili than a soup.

This salad is entirely about presentation. It has very simple ingredients put together rather well. Slices of tomato, egg and cucumber around a cup of bib lettuce filled with celery, cucumber and radishes and dressed with a red wine vinaigrette. Careful knife cuts and proportional plating are the focus.

--To get totally off topic for a little bit, did you know that the definition of Beefsteak Tomato is any tomato with a diameter of greater than 3"? Neither did I. Now we all know. Ok back to food. --

I was responsible for plating the salad. We were a little in consistent on the cuts for the center part of the salad but the cuts on the rest and the overall presentation was good. The vinaigrette turned out well and was added appropriately. You want the dressing just to cling to the salad and not pool on the bottom plate.

After baking the spaghetti squash halves, you pull a fork across the short side of the flesh releasing strands that look like spaghetti noodles. The noodle-like squash pieces are then sautéed before service.

With the turkey cutlets, we cut out about 3 oz portions and then pounded them into 1/4" pieces. We then dredged them in flour sautéed the turkey until golden brown. The sauce for the cutlets is called an "A la minute" sauce because it is made after cooking the the protein and just before service... at the last minute. The sauce was based from pan-drippings and reduced wine and stock with fresh tomatoes added in. The turkey turned out very moist with a sauce with a great flavor and consistency.

After 2 weeks in this class, I realized that I really like plating salads. It gives an opportunity to make a statement with the food that you are putting in front of others.

--Rees