# Ideas for competition dish



## Jet1wa1 (Oct 19, 2017)

hi all,

I’m participating in a competition for apprentices in a few weeks and was wondering if anyone had an idea for a carrot side for a dish comprising off
Chicken roulade with a thyme duxelle
Chicken mushroom veloute
Fondant potatoes 
Grilled green beans and asparagus with lemon pepper

Thanks in advance

J


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## chefwriter (Oct 31, 2012)

Equal parts carrots and celery, very finely chopped, mixed together with butter. Not really a puree, just extremely small pieces, like if you over processed them. 
I don't know if the picture is of your work, but I think the green beans are one minute too done. A brighter green like the asparagus would be better. That can be tricky but a watchful eye, a couple of nibbles to test and a quick ice shock should do it. 
Best of luck with the competition.


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## Jet1wa1 (Oct 19, 2017)

Unfortunately the beans were a frozen product, if they’re not fresh on the day I’ll probably drop them tbh, thanks for the idea


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

I'm not going to give specific ideas, but your dish looks pretty "classic" so if it were me, and I was looking for inspiration, I'd be pulling out my cookbooks on classic French cooking, or my books on classic French techniques.


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## Jet1wa1 (Oct 19, 2017)

You mean all the books I don’t have at this time thanks for the suggestion, my main issue is deciding on a traditional accompaniment or something to add a different texture


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

I would just pick a cut for the carrots that compliments the green beans and then cook them as properly as you can. That means color, texture (firmness, etc) taste (salt, sugar) mouthfeel (butter) and make sure you time it correctly so temperature is correct on the plate.

Try the same with the green beans. Frozen or not, you can still get most of it right.


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## Pat Pat (Sep 26, 2017)

I'd go with just a steamed baby carrots (the kind with the green top). You can glaze it if you want to be fancy, but steamed would go with the dish just fine.


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## capecodchef (Jan 19, 2014)

Jet1wa1 said:


> You mean all the books I don't have at this time thanks for the suggestion, my main issue is deciding on a traditional accompaniment or something to add a different texture


May not have cookbooks, but you can Google.

Maybe it's the photo but the chicken looks undercooked. And whats in your the duxelle? It looks funky. Also, lots of brown and green. Need to punch up your color imo. Carrots would help. Steamed, buttered and herbed rainbows would be my thought. And ditch the green beans.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Some great answers.

Now, what are the judges looking for? 
As long as you have a 
(1) consistent cutting style,
(2) good flavour (nothing that masks the flavour), and 
(3) can produce the dish in a timely manner, 
then you’ve pretty much ticked off all the boxes that the judges are looking at.

Hope this helps


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## Jet1wa1 (Oct 19, 2017)

foodpump said:


> Some great answers.
> 
> Now, what are the judges looking for?
> As long as you have a
> ...


So far the dish I have comes in just under the time requirements and my chef is reasonably happy with the flavour but has suggested an orange or red element as I have gone fairly traditional and with the basket of food we've been given I'm looking at carrots as I can't see capsicum/red bell pepper working with the other flavours, thanks for the feedback


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## Jet1wa1 (Oct 19, 2017)

capecodchef said:


> May not have cookbooks, but you can Google.
> 
> Maybe it's the photo but the chicken looks undercooked. And whats in your the duxelle? It looks funky. Also, lots of brown and green. Need to punch up your color imo. Carrots would help. Steamed, buttered and herbed rainbows would be my thought. And ditch the green beans.


Chicken was cooked but I cut it thicker than my previous test plate to see how it went texturally but it does look under so will be looking at dicing finer the duxelle is just onion mushroom and thyme


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## someday (Aug 15, 2003)

juice some carrots
poach the carrots in carrot juice
reduce to a glaze
season with salt and pepper 
mount with butter
add fine herbs
adjust seasoning
serve


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## Chef_Aaron_B (Jan 11, 2018)

Since your dish is very traditional I would just go with like a Tourne of Carrot. Steam it and hit it in a hot pan with a little butter and Salt.


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## mgm0 (Nov 27, 2012)

How much time do you have to make the dish? 

Do you have to make asparagus and green beans? One should be enough especially with the other two side dishes.

You could make a very mean carrot pure with a bit of that veloute, steamed carrots, olive oil, smoked paprika, salt, white pepper and some sherry vinegar. Get a bit of color in there.


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## Jet1wa1 (Oct 19, 2017)

Chef_Aaron_B said:


> Since your dish is very traditional I would just go with like a Tourne of Carrot. Steam it and hit it in a hot pan with a little butter and Salt.


Have been practicing turning carrots for the last week, probably going to wimp out and do battons instead, unfortunately it's not a skill I have needed at work or something we have been shown at school(the Butcher background doesn't assist with this either what I did do though was poach in chicken stock and coat in a honey mixture(will look at glazing once coated)


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## Jet1wa1 (Oct 19, 2017)

mgm0 said:


> How much time do you have to make the dish?
> 
> Do you have to make asparagus and green beans? One should be enough especially with the other two side dishes.
> 
> You could make a very mean carrot pure with a bit of that veloute, steamed carrots, olive oil, smoked paprika, salt, white pepper and some sherry vinegar. Get a bit of color in there.


The guidelines was 2 veg and the beans originally was 1 of those, I've since dropped them from the dish, we have 30 minutes to prep 1 hour to cook, plate and serve and 30 minutes to clean down we also have a set amount of pots and pans, thanks for the suggestion


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

I had two fallback carrot side dishes I made a hundred times in the fine dining banquet room.
One was honey baked baby carrots. Though I actually steamed a large batch to medium soft,
then sauteed them in honey, lemon juice and butter, dash of white pepper, reducing to a syrupy 
sauce. Plate, then dust with fine chopped fresh italian parsely or basil. The orange with green 
highlight presentation is dazzling. I liked the baby carrots because the thickness is pretty 
consistent.

The second dish were the small fancy carrots, tops left on. Peel completely,
baste with butter-honey mixture and bake. Apx 5 or 6 per serving.


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## Jet1wa1 (Oct 19, 2017)

competition is now not on due to lack of numbers so all entrants go direct to finals, now just waiting to receive guidelines for next cook


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## Jet1wa1 (Oct 19, 2017)

competition is now not on due to lack of numbers so all entrants go direct to finals, now just waiting to receive guidelines for next cook


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## someday (Aug 15, 2003)

Jet1wa1 said:


> competition is now not on due to lack of numbers so all entrants go direct to finals, now just waiting to receive guidelines for next cook


Congrats my man way to go! Glad we could help!!!! YOU DID IT!


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

How are you doing your Duxelles? You should blitz them then into a dry skillet - no oil - you need to cook off all the water. Steamed rainbow carrots are a good idea.


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