Judgment Day

I couldn't sleep last night thinking about my final today. I know it was silly to stress but I'm a worrywart and couldn't help but freak out a bit. Luckily I got the non pastry combination. I love to bake and eat desserts but definitely not under time pressure. I had to make the cavatelli with rock shrimp and fava beans and the duck with cherry sauce. I was feeling pretty comfortable with it until my pasta dough didn't come together. Turns out we were all using polenta instead of semolina! Made a huge difference. I was good on the timing for the cavatelli but was struggling to plate the duck on time....was 5 minutes late with runny sauce! The judges were not as harsh as I thought and I got pretty positive comments. My favorite was that my duck was "aesthetically pleasing."

These aren't the dishes I prepared today but this is what they look like.

Cavatelli with rock shrimp, fava beans, panko bread crumbs, lemon zest, parsley and ricotta salata.

Braised duck leg and seared duck breast with cherry sauce, frisee and herb salad with golden beets and potatoes.