Day one hundred twelve

Our plate today

How to make perfect fresh pasta.

We are getting closer to the practical. Today we have met with the proctor of the practical. I have a really great chef for the practical. Also there are going to be a series of skills assessments for the next few  days. Tomorrow each of us should grill a steak with a sauce Béarnaise.  Probably there will be also a consomme to make.

Today our team cooked the following menu:
Saute Chicken, Sauce Fines Herbs
Glazed Carrots
Buttered HaricotsVerts
Fresh Pasta
Manhattan Clam Chowder
Mixed Greens with Blue Cheese Dressing.

We were short today for one persone. He did not show up. As the chef said
'less is not always bad'. Three of us were able to finish all dishes on time. We got very good review from the Chef, and indeed, our dishes were really good and tasty.

I made fresh pasta and also helped with some other dishes.

Working on pasta, rolling it

To make a good fresh pasta you should mix dough first (which is obvious). The dough should not be too dry, and definitely not sticky. To have a good texture, really silky, you should kneed the dough, so gluten will have a chance to develop. To kneed this dough is really difficult, as it it not so soft and elastic at the beginning. The much more efficient way is to mix it, let it rest for a half an hour, and then roll it using pasta machine. Set the machin on the widest opening and fold and roll pasta a few times. Then let it rest for another hour. When it is well rested, roll dough to the desired thickness and then cut it in desired shape. This way the machine can do all heavy job and you do not kneed it by hand.