Teen battle Chef, Summer Program at Spoutwood Farm, 2013

Today was another Teen Battle Chef Day! This Teen Battle Chef session was France!

To prompt our French theme the recipes we created were Salade Niçoise and Mussels Provencal. This is one of my most favorite TBC days. The salad always turns out beautifully and the mussels are delicious. These are great summer dishes to prepare.

Let’s start with the salad.  I am always excited to put this recipe together. There are so many ingredients and the presentation is gorgeous! I am partial to seeing layers of fresh whole food carefully placed on a platter, but I think just about anyone would be after seeing this dish.

Our Chefs began with the potatoes, eggs, and green beans. They hard boil the eggs, and cook the potatoes, but only blanch the beans. When we create this recipe we want the beans crisp and green, so blanching is best. While some of our Chefs did the cooking portion of the dish, the rest clean and chop the remaining ingredients. There are a variety of fresh ingredients to slice and chop like fresh lemon and basil for our dressing.

Salade Niçoise is one of those dishes where you can place in a variety of ingredients. Traditionally we use potatoes, veggies, tuna, and egg.

While the Blue team was working on their salad, the Red team worked on the Mussels Provencal. This recipe incorporates fresh mussels, pasta, fennel, and other fresh ingredients to make a very light pasta dish.

The Red Team Chefs worked hard chopping onion, fennel, and cleaning mussels. As the Red Team begins layering their flavors they also begin creating a delicious sauce in the bottom of their stock pot. This broth-like sauce is the melding of the mussels, fennel, white wine, and stock placed into the pot as the mussel cook.
If you have never had mussels, try this dish!

It was a very hot day as we cooked and cleaned. I am glad to be inside now. The Chefs did a wonderful job encouraging one another and remembering to drink their water. I look forward to tomorrow.