Basque Stage jury and Slider vs. Slider

So I checked Facebook just a minute ago, and surfed over to the Basque Stage page (as I do quite often) and saw that they had posted the names of some of the jury members.

All I can say is... wow. I'm shaking a little bit right, now that I know the people who are reading my essay and blogs. I'm humbled and in a bit of a state of shock.

Pedro Subijana and Hilario Abelaitz are representing from Spain, and THOMAS KELLER is on the panel.

Yes, THE Thomas Keller. He's... reading my essay.

I've mentioned before about staging at his Bouchon Bistro here in Las Vegas (two times now) and I'm going back in there to stage on Tuesday. I'm a huge, huge fan of chef Keller. His food is thoughtful and so exquisitely prepared, so much attention to the finest details...

So... I don't know what else to say about this. Working at the French Laundry has been my secret goal for at least 3 years now, a lot of what I do is in pursuit of the day so far off in my dreams that I could stage in that kitchen. I only hope that the judges can see my passion, see that this really is everything to me.

And now, on to bloggy things!

Wednesday morning was my Advanced Restaurant Desserts class. We made souffles... above is the milk chocolate souffle I had for breakfast. It was poofier pre-photo, but you have to angle plates a little bit to get them into the light box, so it was an effort to keep it lofty whilst turning the plate ever so slightly sideways.

I also made this mandarin orange semi-freddo, with caramelized hazelnuts and mandarin orange sauce.

But the real point of this blog; battle slider!!

This was of course, a self-imposed challenge, and the judges were myself and my boyfriend, but I think I held my own quite well.

Entry #1: sliders by Hubert Keller, the ones he made while I was working on the set of "Secrets of a Chef", his PBS television show.

Salmon sliders with smoked salmon (in lieu of bacon,great idea).

Sea scallop sliders with bacon. Chef Keller definitely wins hands-down on presentation, his style is beautiful.

After class yesterday, I saw this truck in the parking lot next to my school. Called "Slidin' Through", this is Las Vegas' only mobile mini-burger truck. They have such a great paint job, and the staff are super-friendly. This was the true impetus of the slider vs. slider challenge, I threw in pictures of Hubert's sliders because, well, they're so pretty!

On the left; feta cheese and tzatziki, on the right; caramelized onions, blue cheese, balsamic reduction, and arugula.

On the left; eggplant caprese, on the right; pulled pork.

I took a nap after lunch, and I awoke to a boyfriend who had gone grocery shopping. He had picked up a random assortment of goods from Trader Joe's, among them mini slider buns and organic ground beef. He just showed them to me and said "I think you can do better".

Mind you, the Slidin' Through sliders were really good, but this was a challenge I just had to accept. Plus, it involved tasty mini burgers. Boyfriend set to work making flavored bacon (by adding toppings, then slowly caramelizing them in a low oven) of his choosing, then showed me what I had to work with.

Voila. My entries into the slider challenge.

Up first: Caramelized onions (I cooked mine in duck fat, the most heavenly of fats), pecorino-Romano frico (crisp cheese rounds) duck confit, haricot vert, and balsamic jelly from Italy. These worked out really, really well. They actually tasted even better than they sound, not trying to toot my own horn here but; damn.

Roasted garlic, goat cheese, Fresno jelly (a super-amazing jelly made of red Fresno chiles... my secret recipe), Fresno bacon, goat cheese, and Dijon mustard straight from France. The jelly has a really complex, roasty sweet flavor, with a slow burn of spice. The goat cheese was a great foil for the spiciness, cutting it and mellowing all of the flavors together.

Cinnamon-laced Tuscan cheese, maple bacon, maple mustard (a mix of the French mustard and grade B maple syrup), and the piece de resistance; shaved Brussels sprouts, quickly cooked in brown butter and tossed with a pinch of Piment d'Espilette. I'm going to keep the sprouts in my arsenal for a while now... I'm thinking a big bowl of them with lardons and a poached egg would be an incredible winter salad.

Oooh, this one was yummy; sauteed tri-color peppers, jalapeno bacon, Gruyère cheese, French mustard and shallots. For the shallots, I cooked them the way we cooked red onion slices for a sardine salad when I worked at Batali's B & B; I cut thick rings, then seared them in olive oil on really high heat weighted down from the top. This causes the cut sides to be nearly blackened and caramelized, but leaves the inside of the rings with a sweet flavor and a hint of crunch. I had never tried it with shallots before, but it was definitely a success.

It was a day full of happiness on mini buns, and I was very proud of my flavor combinations.

I'm super excited to hear the Basque Stage winners announced on Monday, I'm nervous as well. This would be such a monumental step towards reaching my dreams.

Wish me luck!

Adios!