Chapter 68
The Polar Star residents were divided among several different groups.
After saying goodbye, they headed off toward their respective "battlefields."
Haruto, however, had been assigned to the same group as Ryoko.
After meeting up with the other students in their group, the two boarded a coach arranged by the academy and traveled to the site of their first test.
Around fifteen minutes later, the coach passed through an ornate iron gate and entered a private courtyard.
Unlike the academy’s modern cooking classrooms, this estate was paved with bluestone paths.
Neatly trimmed rosemary and thyme grew along both sides, while pale-purple wisteria wound around the wooden pillars of the veranda.
The entire place felt elegant yet pleasantly rustic.
Once they entered the courtyard kitchen, the students met Mizuhara Fuyumi, the guest instructor overseeing their assignment.
"I’m Mizuhara Fuyumi, a graduate of Totsuki’s 79th class."
As soon as everyone arrived, Fuyumi introduced herself without wasting time on pleasantries and immediately began explaining the rules.
"You will work in pairs for this assignment. The pairings are posted on the wooden board over there."
She pointed toward the list mounted nearby.
"Your task is to prepare a pasta dish that satisfies me. A variety of pasta has already been provided, and you have two hours."
"Begin."
With that, Fuyumi curled up on a chair, placed both fists on her knees, and stared blankly into space.
Haruto walked over to the board and quickly confirmed that he had been paired with Ryoko.
He suspected Fuyumi had simply been too lazy to arrange new teams and had copied their usual classroom pairings.
That suited him perfectly.
Ryoko also relaxed slightly when she saw the result. Haruto was an excellent cook, and working with him was far more reassuring than being paired with a random classmate.
Brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, Ryoko turned toward him.
"Looks like we’ll be fighting side by side again."
Haruto smiled.
"With a partner like you, this should go smoothly."
Ryoko had strong fundamentals, and the two had already worked together many times in class. Passing this assignment should not be a problem.
"Don’t get careless," Ryoko warned him. "Mizuhara-sensei specializes in Italian cuisine. She’ll be extremely demanding when it comes to pasta."
Haruto nodded.
He had no intention of underestimating the assignment.
The two headed toward the ingredient station together, but the moment they approached, they noticed something was wrong.
The area should have been bustling with activity. Instead, a gloomy silence hung over it.
Many students stood before the shelves with furrowed brows and troubled expressions, while several muttered complaints under their breath.
Haruto followed their gazes and immediately understood the problem.
The shelves were stocked with every variety of pasta imaginable, from long strands of spaghetti to spiraled fusilli and hollow tubes of penne.
The other ingredients, however, consisted entirely of vegetables—tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, and little else.
There was not a single piece of meat in sight.
"They seriously expect us to make vegetarian pasta?"
"How are we supposed to create something good enough for Mizuhara-sensei without meat or ham?"
Several students could not help complaining.
The soul of a pasta dish might lie in the texture of the noodles and the flavor of its sauce, but the fat, aroma, and richness provided by meat were often essential for adding depth.
With nothing but vegetables available, creating a truly impressive dish would be extremely difficult for most of the students.
...
Haruto studied the limited selection with growing interest.
If every useful ingredient had already been prepared for them, the assignment would have been far too easy.
Besides, difficult restrictions often inspired greater creativity.
He carefully examined the shelves, considering how they might overcome the problem.
When he noticed a basin of soybeans soaking in water near the corner, his eyes lit up.
An idea immediately took shape.
"Ryoko."
Haruto turned toward her.
"Handle the pasta. Use spaghetti and cook it until just shy of al dente. Make sure it still has plenty of bite."
"Understood."
Ryoko agreed without hesitation.
She trusted Haruto’s judgment and immediately headed toward the pasta station.
After selecting a package of evenly sized spaghetti, she moved to the stove and expertly began heating salted water.
Haruto hurried to the ingredient shelves.
He first chose several smooth, plump tomatoes, followed by a red onion, shiitake mushrooms, bell peppers, and a few other vegetables.
Finally, he scooped out a portion of the fully rehydrated soybeans.
Back at their station, Haruto scored a shallow cross into the top of each tomato, blanched them in boiling water, peeled away the skins, and diced the flesh finely.
He minced the onion evenly, sliced the mushrooms thinly, and cut the bell peppers into slender strips before setting everything aside.
Next, he boiled the soaked soybeans until they became soft and tender.
After draining them, Haruto spread the beans across the cutting board and crushed them beneath the flat of his knife until they resembled minced meat.
He transferred the crushed soybeans into a bowl and added two spoonfuls of soy sauce for seasoning and color.
Haruto then heated olive oil in a pan and quickly fried the seasoned soybeans for several seconds, just until their surfaces became lightly crisp, before removing and draining them.
The brief frying process sealed in the moisture while giving the exterior a firmer texture, perfectly reproducing the contrast found in real minced meat.
Haruto added a small amount of olive oil to a frying pan and heated it until moderately hot.
He sautéed the minced onion until fragrant, then added the sliced mushrooms and bell pepper strips.
After briefly stir-frying them together, he poured in the diced tomatoes and reduced the heat.
He stirred constantly as the tomatoes released their juices and gradually cooked down into a thick sauce, seasoning it with salt, black pepper, and several other ingredients along the way.
A sweet-and-tangy aroma slowly spread through the kitchen.
Once the sauce reached the proper consistency, Haruto removed it from the heat.
At the same time, Ryoko had cooked the spaghetti until just shy of al dente.
She drained it, cooled it briefly, and tossed it in a hot pan with a little olive oil, ensuring that every strand remained smooth, springy, and separate.
She poured Haruto’s tomato sauce and the soy "mince" into the pan, then tossed everything together until every strand of spaghetti was evenly coated in the rich, sweet-and-tangy sauce.
After plating the finished dish, Haruto carried the white porcelain plate toward Fuyumi.
"Spaghetti with Minced ’Meat.’ Please enjoy."
Fuyumi slowly raised her eyes from her vacant stare.
For the first time, clear surprise appeared on her otherwise expressionless face.
The spaghetti was covered in a thick tomato sauce dotted with distinct reddish-brown pieces of "minced meat."
At a glance, they looked almost indistinguishable from real ground pork.