Today’s Special

Last week trailed off uneventfully. I was dining room host on Thursday, then spent Friday as the dishwasher. Friday happened to be our most successful buffet so far, 97 guests and a lot of dirty dishes and pots and pans, but I managed to keep up pretty well.

Today’s Special

Herbed Lamb Hash

Potatoes, Lamb, and Herbs with
Two Eggs

and A Side Of Our Breakfast Salad

$5

Yesterday was my turn to produce the Special of the Day. Since I had this well planned, there were no real problems except that I’d forgotten to remove my diced lamb from the freezer on Friday to thaw over the weekend. So I came in an hour early to get the frozen lamb lump thawing. After class started, I diced my potatoes and fried them on the flattop, by which time (and just in time, since service was to start soon) the lamb was 90% thawed and could be cooked, too. Then I mixed the potatoes and lamb together to make the hash, seasoned it with salt and pepper, added rosemary, thyme, mint, and garlic, and passed it off to the chef and line. Gave the menu inserts to the host, and done. And it was successful! There were nearly five pounds of hash to start, and I took home all that was left, a small takeout box half filled. I happened to be sitting in the dining room eating (the special, of course) and was able to overhear the table behind me; one person had ordered the special and was very pleased with it. That table turned out to be having dinner before their evening wine class, and they stopped to say how much they’d enjoyed all their food. Satisfying.

This will be a short week in the kitchen; our last buffet will be Thursday. In meat Fab we’ll be working with fish. Meat test Friday.