Saturday, July 02, 2011

New job New Adventures

Who wouldn't want to work at the happiest place on earth. As a kid Disneyland is so real. The characters are really them and the rides are small trips to galaxies far far away. Now as an adult it all still there, even if you know the truth, its nice to forget about that and go with the illusion. Well working here is the same way. I started working in The Grand Californian about two months ago. My coworkers really are the happiest people. I love working with them. I had gotten so used to negative emotions around me that this has been a real treat. Plus I get to go to Disneyland when I want to!
I work in the Banquets kitchen under Chef Ralf. I really like working for him. He gives us a lot of creative power. When we have a banquet and get a vegan or even sometime the vegetarians we get to come up with the dishes. The last two times I had the chance to make the dishes. I had a lot of fun coming up with them and finding ways to make sure they were vegan. 
So here they are:
So this one right here is Ratatouille inspired. On the bottom we have white beans. In order to  make them creamy reduced soy milk. Soy milk adds a lot of sweetness so you have to be a little heavier on the salt and pepper to keep it savory enough. then I layered grilled Portabello, Eggplant, Zucchini, Yellow Squash and Red Bell peppers. For a garnish we blistered some cherry tomatoes with sliced garlic, then drizzled some herb oil. Finishing touch was a sprinkle of Espellte.


I loved the way this dish turned out! I came out so much better then I imagined it. Underneath the Portabello is a bean mixer with sauteed spinach. I marinated the portabello is a wonderful lemon olive oil that we have.
The filling for the mushroom was made with: Crimini mushrooms, red bell peppers, eggplant, and yellow tomatoes. I stewed all these down then I added reduced soy milk and panko to bring it all together.
After we baked them I added a panko mixture on top and flashed it. I garnished the dish with a balsamic reduction, herb oil. and chili oil.

I really looking forward to improving my vegetarian and vegan cooking. More fun dishes to come!

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