Carb-tastic!

Today was a day o' carbs (not that I'm complaining...). My group was assigned Tuscan Roasted Potatoes, Glazed Sweet Potatoes, Polenta, and Rice Pilaf. It was quite hectic at times, but (as you can see in the photo), we pulled through and came out with some very tasty, starchy foods.


We did make a few mistakes, though...

1. We over-boiled the Russet potatoes before roasting them, so they kinda fell apart in the oven. That's what happens when you are trying to worry about the three other dishes you are working on.
2. Before making the sweet potato dish, we had to bake them. I completely forgot to poke holes in the little devils and they exploded in the oven. Not very pretty. That didn't affect the taste or what the finished product looked like, but we sure felt stupid.
3. The rice pilaf actually went pretty well. We almost burned it, but ALMOST doesn't count.
4. Ahhhh the polenta... polenta, in case you didn't know, is basically yellow grits. You can serve it like grits, or you can spread it in a sheet pan, chill it, cut it into shapes, and grill/saute it. We wanted to do the latter. So, we made the polenta, added some reconstituted sundried tomatoes, rosemary, and garlic, and spread it into the sheet pan. Our sheet pan, however, was too large. So, when we pulled our polenta out of the fridge, we noticed it was about as even as the Smoky Mountains. Drat. We also ran out of time, so I cut them into uneven squares... not the most attractive polenta shape out there, I might add. But, they tasted great and had the right consistency. If only they weren't square...

So, all-in-all it was a sucessful day. We made the four dishes we were assigned, they tasted delicious, and we got to eat LOTS of carbs at the end of class. What could be better?