Serendipitous

Chapter 8

Today is Thursday. Raven or Miss O'conner had mentioned earlier in the week that a highly rated chef would be coming in during our class today to cook us a few sample dishes and give us future tips. The whole class is looking forward to today's session.

While we waited, we were given 'menus,' which basically consists of a list of the dishes that will be prepared and the ingredients that will be used in each dish.

The first dish was pan-roasted cod with crisp potato balls and a handmade hollandaise sauce; the second was a pork-based meat served with a rich wine sauce; and the third was a pasta dish packed with a nut-based humous and topped with a lemon sauce.

Mia turned to me and Skye, signalling that she was done reading the menu. "I'm really looking forward to this; I can't wait to see how the third dish is made; I've never seen anything like it before." Skye nods in agreement, "I agree, who would've thought that nuts, pasta, and lemon would be a good combination."

"Well, the person who came up with the meal probably realised it was a goo-" Two pieces of paper hit me on either side of the head, one being Mia's and the other Skye's, effectively cutting me off.

We all turned to the door as we heard someone clear their throat and saw a man in his early 30s looking at us with amusement. "Do you happen to be Miss O'conner's catering class?" "No, actually, this is paper swatting class 101," I said sarcastically making Mia and Skye giggle beside me.

When I felt a hand on my shoulder and recognised it as Miss O'conner's, I realised it was time to stop talking. "Hello, I'm Miss O'conner, and I'm delighted to meet you." We all watched as they shook hands and she walked him to the front of the classroom before introducing him.

"Right, class. This is Philip, our guest chef for the day, and he'll be cooking us all a few dishes and giving us pointers along the way." She moved to the front station, which was facing the rest of the class and removed the cloth that was covering it; there were three different trays with what appeared to be the ingredients for each dish.

She then took a step back and motioned for Philip to take her previous position. "Hello there, students. I'm pleased to be here today. I hope you enjoy it and learn something from it. If you have any questions, please ask them at the end. That's all really; I will now begin making the first dish."

Before getting to the ingredients, he quickly washed and dried his hands. We all watched as he picked up a fish and moved its lips up and down to make it appear to be talking, which elicited a few chuckles from the class.

"So, first and foremost, we must fillet our cod. This entails removing the head and tail, slicing an even cut along the spine through its centre, removing the guts, and picking out any bones that are still on the fish."

As he said this, he performed the movements, eliciting a few squeamish looks but nothing too serious. He lightly seasoned the cod before placing it in a medium-sized pan on the stove. "Usually you will want to cook cod at a low-mid heat because it can burn easily, try not to touch the fish too much otherwise it will break apart," he said.

We watched as he returned to the pile of ingredients and took a bowl containing what appeared to be mashed potato and three separate bowls containing bread crumbs, egg, and flower.

"Now, normally when cooking a dish, you will need to prepare your food in advance, so here I have some potatoes that have already been boiled, peeled, and mashed to use." He must have had Miss O'conner prepare the ingredients for him before he arrived, this was confirmed by her slightly relieved expression after he had studied the ingredients with a grin on his face.

We observed as he rolled a small quantity of potato into a ball, then dipped it in the egg, flour, and breadcrumbs, repeating the process until it was completely covered; he did this a few times to create a small pile of potato balls.

He put the balls in an oven that had been preheated to 180 degrees. He next checked on his fish, which had darkened to a somewhat creamish hue. "The colour of the cod will indicate when it's done."

We stood there watching as he grabbed a jug and the ingredients for hollandaise sauce. He mixed the egg yolks and other ingredients together in the jug until they produced a light and slightly frothy yellow mixture. He returned to the pan with the cod and turned off the heat.

He picked up the pieces of cod with tongs and placed them on a plate, then set the pan down and used an oven mitt to remove the potato balls from the oven and place a couple on the plate. Finally, he grabbed the jug with the homemade hollandaise sauce and lightly poured it over the top of the meal.

"And this is the classic pan-baked cod with potato balls and hollandaise sauce from my restaurant." The entire class applauded Philip, who appeared to be in his element as he glided around the work station, whipping up sauces and food within minutes.

I could tell that we all had a similar thought process as I looked around the class to gauge everyone else's reaction. As she smiled at the man's dish, I could see Miss O'conner's admiration.

Mia was the first to speak up, beaming, "That was incredible to watch, Philip!" "There's a lot more where that came from." He winked at her, causing her to blush slightly, while me, Skye and surprisingly Miss O'conner glared at him. Not on our watch, Patrick.

He chuckled awkwardly before putting his used equipment to one side and getting started on his second dish.

A//N I feel like explaining all three dishes would've been a bit boring. I did enjoy writing this chapter though.