back to work!

I do not bake much in the summer. My work slows down to a crawl. While we usually have 10 events or more a day, in the summer months we are lucky to have four a week. Everyone in the kitchen slows down in the heat, doing only what is necessary, lingering in the walk-ins. We do each other's jobs while our co-workers are on vacation, enjoying the variety in task. But today it officially felt like fall! The sky was still dark as I headed to the train. The day began in a fog. I arrived in the kitchen later than I had planned, after a sleepless night taking care of my sick elderly dog. It was a full day, with cheese cakes that had to be cut and plated for fifty in time for lunch, flats of strawberries to be cut and macerated, along with finishing all items for the first day of our new menu. I worked through my break, just finishing in time for the lunch parties to begin, when the Executive Chef told me the bad news-he had forgotten to tell me that a cake was needed for 30 people for tomorrow, at 730 a.m. Who eats cake for breakfast? And me with a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, not able to stay late. So I feverishly began to measure out the ingredients of a genoise in between directing the waitstaff to their platters of cookies and spooning strawberries onto cheesecake.

Then the call from the front desk came. the Health Inspector had just arrived.

Now, I work in the cleanest and most up to code kitchen that I ever have-the imitation lavender scent of fabuloso floor cleaner being a smell I will always connect to the club- but the word health inspector will get the adrenaline flowing in any chef. The kitchen staff scrambled, looking for hats, like a scene from a Julia Roberts movie. I could hear the notes of brown eyed girl in my head. we freshened plastic buckets of sanitizer, wrapped everything we could get our hands on in plastic and waited. the inspection went well, but we lost a breathless hour of work while we watched him go from station to station, computer in hand.
I managed to get the genoise in the oven and baked before I had to fly out the door, leaving instructions for the night crew on where to leave the cooled cakes for me and how to plate and garnish the new desserts. As I wrestled out of my chef whites I had the flash of what was happening-the busy season has begun!
I am excited about my new menu, and it inspired a new direction for this blog. every month I will share the recipes and techniques I use for my menu at work. I have three desserts that change, along with a seasonal sorbet, and a tiny cookie that we use as a mignardise. I will write about a dessert item each week, ending with the sorbet and cookie. I hope you enjoy it!

September's Menu

Honey Mousse with Fig cream, caramelized figs and an orange honey lace fan
Roasted Peach Turnovers with Ginger Ice Cream and a Chunky Blackberry Compote
Chocolate Hazelnut Torte with Kahlua Fudge Sauce and a Hazelnut Linzer Cookie
Fresh concord grape Sorbet