Fresh out of the gate

I remember the good ol' days, days when the first class of the term was spent looking over the syllabus four about ten minutes before we were all dismissed to ponder what to do with our newfound hour of freedom (usually this would be spent either sleeping or watching TV, depending on what time the class was).

Unfortunately these days are behind me, and now the first day of class not only includes going over the syllabus (with the same "don't be late, don't cheat" lecture repeated each time) but jumping right into the thick of things. It wasn't until yesterday that I found out just how thick that could be.

I stared blankly ahead of me as my fellow students started moving about, preparing for the task at hand. Had I really heard right? Create two salads, two plates each, from whatever you can find, using a protein selected by the teacher. Normally I'd jump at this sort of thing. As it stood, I had no idea what was available, would have to fight my way through a veritable zombie horde to find out, had only eaten duck once before (oh yeah, my protein was duck confit) and was running on roughly three hours of sleep.

Awesome.

My gaze turned to my cutting board. At least I had found the common sense to start setting up my workspace. Sadly its plain white surface wasn't giving me any inspiration. I look around again, blinking heavily.

Salad... lettuce... with... stuff...

Okay, so that was a start.

Knives were moving all around me, herbs being chopped, greenery being cajoled into whatever form deemed necessary, meats of all shapes and sizes being worked on to fit the greater design. I look again to my cutting board.

Still nothing.

Guess I have to fight my way through the zombie horde.

Luckily by this time most had returned to their own stations and were hard at work. I scanned the near-barren shelves in hopes of finding something to spark my interest. Boston Bibb. I remembered having seen some radicchio earlier... that could work together. My brain finally started to kick into gear, thinking of possible additions to that mix while still taking in what still remained on the shelves.

And then I saw it; Belgian endive. I'm rather a fan of stuffing things into endive. It's just about the perfect size for finger food, and comes in the perfect boat shape that just begs to be used to cradle something. So grab some endive, tuck in some dressed duck, and maybe throw something on top to give a little extra color.

That's one down, one to go. By now I was dimly recalling seeing some asparagus outside near my station. That could work as a good base. A little duck on top, a bit of something else over that, drizzle some dressing on and it's good to go.

Speaking of dressing, that was the next bit to figure out. At least by this time the gears had been turning long enough to bring me (somewhat) out of my stupor. There were enough fresh herbs that I couldn't resist an herb vinaigrette. Probably best to use that with the endive... find something a bit deeper to meld with the asparagus. Maybe a balsamic... best to see what's available in either case. So with greenery in hand I made my way to take stock of what I could use to make my dressings.

I was on a roll - white wine vinegar would work well with the herbs, and the asparagus would do well with a red wine vinaigrette.

Time to chop.

Herbs were minced, leaves were tripped, asparagus was snapped. Despite my lack of sleep, I managed to not do the same to any fingers.


Someone called out, asking if anyone needed red onion - a julienne of which would be the perfect garnish for my endive. I snag a piece, make the cut, and keep going. Later the same happens with a bit of leftover tomato. A bit of chopping later and my asparagus duck salad has its top layer.

A drizzle of dressing here, a quick circle around the plate there, and my plates are done. Two go off to be served in another room and two go in the reach in, awaiting the judgement of my peers. I'm pleased to say that I even had some time to clean up before time was called.

Getting to go home after ten minutes may have its perks, but pulling this was way more satisfying.

Now, though, it's time to get some more sleep.