Day 90

Today was day two of our second baking and pastry exam. We had to present 1 slice of blueberry pie, 6 eclairs, and 1 lemon curd tart for grading.  

Knowing that there would be some down-time in class today I brought in a big bag of chanterelle mushrooms that my [wonderful] parents had shipped up to me from Carmel, CA.  A close family friend, Lynn Stokes, got my parents turned onto foraging for mushrooms about a year ago near her home and wine-making facilities in Carmel Valley, CA (find out more about Lynn's wine here). Last week's "mushroom walk" turned up 32 pounds of chanterelles in just over half an hour.   

Once he saw the mushrooms that I had brought in, our instructor, Chef Mah, quickly began working on some pizza dough and towards the end of class we made pizzas with white sauce, caramelized onions, sauteed chanterelles, gruyere cheese, and parmesan cheese. The flavor profile was insanely good and well-balanced; richness from the cheese and white sauce, earthiness from the mushrooms, and sweetness from the caramelized onions....so perfect.