Score One For Sanity

Remember how before the holidays I said that it was becoming increasingly obvious that my sanity was waning, and I needed a break?  Well, I was right.  The two week break did me wonders; I came back refreshed and kicked insanity's ***, like I said I was going to do.  How do I know that?  For one, I can complete sentences again and have regained every day skills like counting.  Yet, I knew the leap back to sanity was complete when Chef deemed my rack of lamb and accompanying "veg" perfectly cooked on the first day back in the kitchen.  Believe me, I let out a huge sigh of relief when I heard him say, "Parfait" after presenting my plate to him.  My transformation back into a functioning human being was complete.

Here are some pics from Tuesday's class where we cooked Carre d'Agneau Persillé - Parsleyed (if that is actually a word) Rack of Lamb.

Chef didn't have to tell us that "we have ze lucky" to be able to each have two racks of lamb to cook.  We all knew that that doesn't happen at most cooking schools. 

Taking off the excess fat.

Trimming fat and meat from the bones for nice presentation.

Popping the joints open so that the bottom can be deboned properly.  This is possibly one of the most time consuming and frustrating tasks we have had to date.  If I never have to debone a rack of lamb again, it will still be too soon.

Here are my two pieces of lamb - cleaned, deboned and ready to be cooked.

We seared them in a skillet and then popped them in the oven until rosé - rare.

Next, parsley and other herbs were blended with breadcrumbs.  Room temp butter was added to that mixture until smooth.

Then put in a plastic bag and rolled until only 3 mm thick (there goes that metric system again) and put in the blas freezer.  Side note: Chef calls the blast freezer a chilly freezer and thus everyone else does, myself included.  Just a quick example of  how I speak a very distorted version of English every day. 

After the "chilly freezer," we cut the herb butter mixture and placed it on top of the lamb.  It was then put under the salamander, which you probably call a broiler.  See what I mean?  Distorted English.

Finished product.  As you can see, along the way, I turned a few "veg" as well.