Le Cordon Bleu Atelier 1

Entree: Salmon with Crepe and Avocado and Tomato Sauce.

Pan fried the salmon till it's pink and warm inside. Salt and pepper to taste. Crepe mix with fresh parsley leaves. Puree avocado and tomato for the side sauces. Wrap the salmon in the crepe and top with plain wipe cream. Decorate with some fried salmon skin.

Main dish: Chicken leg stuffed with chicken breast mousse, vegetable basket and gnocchi.

Debone the chicken legs. Add cream and the chicken breast in the food processor. Stuff the mousse in the chicken leg, pouch then wrap with the bacon. Pan fry till done. Veggie basket stuffed with roasted peppers and vegetables of your choice. Gnocchi stuffed with basil. Basil and chicken juice as sauces.

Le Cordon Bleu Superior Cuisine class is required to have two Atelier within the course. Atelier: studio or workshop. Students are given a 5 hours period to cook their designed dish. The list of ingredients are given ahead of time, so the students could better prepare and design the dish. Two dishes are required: a Entree and a Main Dish. 

The main ingredients are salmon and chicken. Bing decided to do a salmon dish for the appetizer or French Entree. He said that most people would tend to do the traditional ways: grilled salmon with lemon juice, baked salmon..etc The simple preparation. But if you want to stand out from the crowd and be recognized, you should know better than this. So, to add a signature to his dish, Bing wrapped the salmon in a crepe, and top with whip cream.  And for the main dish, he went with the stuffed chicken. I am very impressed with the little veggie basket, but I guess it's rather standard for culinary students? A tender darker meat chicken leg, stuffed with chicken meat mousse and pan fry with bacon wrapped around it. It must be very rich in flavor and distinctive in texture. Tender meat, mousse, and crispy bacon. 

Among all the ingredients, the gnocchi really caught my attention. I had no idea what it was when I first saw the picture. Silk worms were my first guess... "Gnocchi!" Bing corrected me. Well, I guess I've never had gnocchi before. Or even if I've had it, I had no idea what the name was. Pardon my ignorance please...