Hell's Smitten (Gordon Ramsay x Reader)

Chapter 79- Black Jacket Challenges Part 3/4

Monday, July 15th, 2013

Gordon gestures to the large red curtain in the far corner of the room. Christina, Scott, and Jean-Philippe come out wheeling carts that each hold five pies. I cast a curious glance at Gordon, who smiles and curls his finger on his chin as he watches the carts reach the center of the room.

"For your next black jacket challenge, we'll be doing something a little different." He gestures to the deep-dish pies. "Inside each of these pies is an ingredient you'll be using to cook something special. The pies on the far left are your proteins, the middle is the starches and the far right are your vegetables."

Bella looks confusedly at the pies.

"Um, Chef, how can we cook anything with them if they are already baked into pies?"

Gordon chuckles. "The pie crust is the only cooked portion– your ingredients are perfectly raw inside. Now come up and pick your pies then get in the kitchen and get cooking. You have forty-five minutes to whip up something delicious!" He opens his arms towards the pies.

Even though we have no idea what is in each of the pies, we still scramble to grab them and take them into the kitchen.

I slide my pies into my station and look at the perfectly golden-brown crust. Ingredients in pies? What will he think of next?

Dave is directly next to me and he wastes no time in punching the crust of his pies in and pulling out his ingredients.

Taking a more delicate approach, I cut out the bottom of the pie tin so I don't get any pie crust on my ingredients that might interfere with the flavor.

With my hand on the bottom of the pie, I lift the upper half off. A rack of lamb sits on the circle of pie tin in my hand.

Following suit, I cut out the bottoms of my starch and vegetable pies. I get long grain wild rice in a pouch from one and in the other, I find a leafy green I'd only cooked with once– endive.

I'm going to make it into the black jacket lounge this time. A vegetable I have little experience with won't stop me. I know I can handle this.

I set one oven to 550 degrees Fahrenheit and a second oven to 425. After rinsing off the long grain rice and the endive, I pour my rice into a medium saucepan. I cover the rice in two cups of water and add a pinch of salt. When it begins to boil, I cover the pan with a lid and set it to simmer on low heat while I work on my other ingredients.

I'm not an expert by any means at cooking endive, so I go with a simple approach. Vaguely, I remember that endive tastes mellow and nutty when cooked. That flavor would go perfectly with a well-seasoned rack of lamb.

The endive splits easily into six wedges. I spray a shallow roasting pan with nonstick spray then set the endive in carefully and sprinkle the top with olive oil, salt, and pepper before sticking it into the second oven.

Now, I set a cast-iron skillet onto the stovetop and set it to medium-high heat. While that heats up, I mix salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, lemon zest, and garlic powder in a small bowl. Once it is thoroughly mixed, I rub the mixture onto the lamb and place it with the bone curving upward in the now-hot cast iron pan.

After two minutes, I turn the lamb and brown the other side.

"Twenty minutes, Chefs!" Gordon calls from the pass. I feel his eyes on me, so I look up and meet his gaze. The knitting of his brow shows me that he's feeling concerned. I smile in an attempt to soothe his nerves, then realize how silly I am to be trying to comfort him while I'm the one with my neck on the line. Still, he returns the smile and looks calmer, which helps quell some of my anxiety.