mizchef

posted by admin on Feb 5

Gluten-Free Italian Indulgence

Chef: Fortunato Nicotra, Executive Chef of Felidia in NYC

On February 1, 2012, I did day 5 of my internship at the James Beard House. It was the most interesting day for me thus far. First, I signed into the volunteer log book as usual. The log book has a column for the chef/event, for the volunteer’s name and signature, time in/out, and one for the volunteer’s school. I saw that another volunteer had already signed it and in the school column, it said “NG.” That meant Natural Gourmet. I haven’t seen another NGI student at JBH—most of the volunteers are either from ICE or FCI (Institute for Culinary Education and French Culinary Institute). When she walked back in, I introduced myself and found out that she graduated a couple of years ago and is now doing well with a catering and home-delivery business. (Shout out to Amy!) She lives in Western New York State and just happened to be in NYC this particular weekend and decided to volunteer.

Then, the chef and his crew arrived a short while later and as they came in, I immediately recognized one of them. She was another NGI alumnus, who graduated a few months ago, and I had helped out with her Friday Night Dinner. (Report on that FND HERE.) She interned at Felidia, which turned into a job. How about that for a coincidence? So, not only were there 3 NGI graduates there (when I was usually the only one), but one was a member of the chef’s crew, and I had actually worked on her Friday Night Dinner. I mean, I could have worked any Friday Night Dinner over the course of 11 months, and I happened to choose that person’s FND, and then encounter this person on a JBH shift of my choosing. What a small, weird world it is. (Shout out to Debbie!)

That was pretty cool. But my night became even more dramatic when, just prior to the guests arriving, two women walked in and leaned against the counter. Since all guests have to walk through the kitchen to get to the dining room, I really didn’t pay attention. I was busy spooning broccoli rabe into little shot glasses. I looked up briefly and one of the women smiled and said, “Hello.” I said, “Hello” and continued with my task. A moment later, I looked up again and it dawned on me that the other woman was Lidia Bastianich. I almost lost my broccoli rabe. Holy crap. Then I realized that the woman who had said “Hello” was her daughter, Tanya. And me without a camera! Doh!

They stood there and watched for a while as Amy and I helped the chef de cuisine (whose name I, unfortunately, missed) make little parfait hors d’oeuvres of ricotta, broccoli rabe, and saba. Lidia was watching me so I was as precise as I could possibly be. She and her daughter then went up to the private dining room and the rush of guests began.

I cut up burrata for a burrata and tomato salad. Burrata in Italian means “buttered,” and it is so named because it is made up of an exterior shell of mozzarella filled with a mixture of soft mozzarella and cream, making the texture buttery. I also sliced and speared salami with little wooden forks, dabbed homemade mustard with mustard seeds on them, and topped them with a homemade salsa of some sort (it looked like apple or pear and some root vegetables). I arranged them on a rectangular platter, the center of which Chef adorned with thinly shaved Grana Padano (my favorite grating cheese).

As usual, I didn’t get to sample everything because first priority is plating for the guests. If there’s anything left over, the staff gets to eat it. Unfortunately, there isn’t always food leftover, or it disappears before I get to grab some.

I absolutely wanted to try the Butternut Squash-Chocolate Ravioli with Butter-Sage Sauce, so I kept an eye on it. When all the servings were plated, there was plenty left for us, and I dove right in. The ravioli were absolutely divine. You would never have known that they were gluten-free. The dough was tender and fluffy, but firm enough to hold the filling, which was a delicious squash puree. The sauce was probably a thousand calories but it was luxurious. The tops of the ravioli got a generous dusting of ground pistachios. It was an extremely indulgent dish.

During the introduction/Q&A part of the evening (when everyone makes their appearance in the dining room for a round of applause from the guests), someone asked about the ravioli. Chef Fortunato talked about the process of coming up with a good gluten-free pasta that was superior to the stuff you find in the markets, but I don’t think he actually said what combination of flours they used. I think one of them was rice. I’d love to get my hands on the recipe. (Hint, hint, Chef Fortunato.)

I also tasted the beef duo of Braised Flatiron and Steak Tagliata, which were both tender and so flavorful, and I loved the Mashed Spinach and Potatoes. They were fluffy and smooth and delicious.

The cookie plates were adorable, and there were also little chocolate cakes adorned on the plate with a pistachio brittle that was worthy of a plate of their own. I never seem to be able to taste the ice cream at any of these dinners.

When dessert had been served, we were ushered up to the fourth floor, where Lidia and her guests awaited in the private dining room. I was so excited to be standing there in front of Lidia, who had obviously enjoyed the meal. The meal I helped plate! (Still getting over that.) On her way out a while later, she stated that everyone had done a great job. Of course, it was meant mostly for the main crew, but she did look at me, too, and I decided to bask in it anyway.

I truly wish I’d remembered my camera. My phone camera is completely inadequate. However, the evening’s official photographer is a great person. I had met her a couple of events ago and I will be asking her for photos of both events. I’ll put a link here when the photos are available.

I really, really need a new camera.

Menu

Hors d’Oeuvre

Beef Tartare
Burrata and Tomatoes with Balsamic Vinegar
Local Salami
Bagna Cauda with Vegetables
Ricotta, Broccoli Rabe, and Saba
Flor Prosecco NV

Dinner

Mediterranean Shrimp Salad with Toscanello Beans, Marinated Anchovies, and Tuna and Branzino Carpaccio
Bastianich Adriatico Friulano 2010

Butternut Squash–Chocolate Ravioli with Butter–Sage Sauce
Bastianich Vespa Bianco 2009

Vacche Rosse Parmigiano-Reggiano Risotto with Pear and Celery
Bastianich Vespa Bianco 2009

Beef Duo: Braised Flatiron and Steak Tagliata with Mashed Spinach and Potatoes and Braised Red Cabbage
Benanti Rovittello 2005

Poached Quince, Almond, and Frangipane Tart with Bourbon–Maple Syrup Ice Cream
Benanti Il Musico Moscato Passito NV

Assorted Cookies

posted by admin on Jan 30

Chef: Mitchell Kaldrovich, Executive Chef,, Cape Elizabeth,

Maine

Chef Kaldrovich had an interesting journey from his homeland of Argentina to the outskirts of Portland, Maine. If I remember the story correctly, he was born in Russia to a German father and Italian mother, grew up in Argentina, and worked in Argentina, Patagonia, Australia, and Lake Tahoe, where he met his future wife. When he attended a French culinary school in Argentina, he was introduced to the wonders of seafood. As he put it, the word “scallop” in Argentina brings to mind “a picture of the shell,” not the mollusk itself. He heard of lobster thermidor for the very first time and became acquainted with seafood cuisine. Then, while working at Lake Tahoe, he worked with Maine lobster, Maine shrimp, and other seafood that came from Maine, and he fell in love with it all. So, when he and his wife talked about where they wanted to live, Maine seemed the logical choice.

And, so, the menu that he presented at the James Beard House was a seafood menu infused with Argentinean influence. His roots show, even through ingredients that were not part of his world view while he was growing up.

I told him that I have roots in Argentina as well, in a roundabout way. My parents lived there for a number of years and my brother was born there. They didn’t come to the U.S. until he was about 6 years old. Consequently, my mother’s food was always Italian (of course) but accented with Argentinean preparations. Chef Kaldrovich said that Argentinean cuisine is partly Italian, anyway. That is true.

Lobster Empanada

While I am, admittedly, not the biggest seafood fan, I am fascinated by Argentinean cuisine, mostly because I ate it growing up without really knowing that I was eating it. It’s a lot like the way I enjoy picking out the Spanish words/phrases from the language I spoke at home—I had always just assumed was pure Italian, but after I took Spanish in school, I began to realize that what we spoke was actually more like “Italglish”—Italian, English, and Spanish. When I began doing research on Italian cuisine for my first cookbook, What, No Meat? Traditional Italian Cooking the Vegetarian Way, and international cuisines for my second book (not out yet), I saw the Argentinean influence in my mother’s cooking. I now enjoy picking out the Argentinean dishes and ingredients from the food I ate, which I assumed was purely Italian.

His Corn–Lobster Empanadas were delectable, and his lobster bisque was visually appealing with the squirt of lobster oil on top. The Malbec mustard was a condiment that I coveted (I’ll have to work on a recipe for that). He also made a vegetarian version of the Slow-Braised Beef Tripe Stew because he had received ahead of time a request for a couple of vegetarian plates (although, it became a chaotic string of last-minute requests for no dairy, no garlic, no fish). I tried it and it reminded me of a stew that seems to be universal around the world, differing in spices. The squash and the garbanzos and beans reminded me of North African Squash Stew, as well as Italian Squash and Bean Stew. It was beautiful to look at, but it also had a comforting, homey quality to it.

Personality-wise, I found Chef Kaldrovich to be really nice and he obviously loves what he does and loves being in the kitchen. And I think he loves to make his crew smile.

Bread Pudding

Here is the full menu, along with the wines that were served. More photos HERE:

Hors d’Oeuvre

Oysters
Lobster Bisque
Poultry Liver Crostini
Corn–Lobster Empanadas
Maine Crab and Apples on Endive
Il Faggeto Prosecco NV

Dinner

Fern Hill Farm Goat Cheese Croquette with Beet Tartare

Butter-Poached Lobster and Tender Gnocchi with Baby Turnips, Chantenay Carrots, and Tarragon Beurre Monté
Manos Negras Torrontés 2010

Slow-Braised Beef Tripe Stew with Pork Belly Confit, Sugar Pumpkin, Garbanzo and White Beans, and Sofrito
Lake Sonoma Winery Chardonnay 2010

Serrano-Wrapped Salmon Roast with Grilled Leek–Seaweed Stuffing, Confit Roots, Organic Quinoa, and Malbec Mustard
MacMurray Ranch Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2009

Gaucho Mixed Grill > Grilled Dry-Aged Beef Strip Steak with Chimichurri, Herb-Roasted Sweetbreads with Balsamic Syrup, and Housemade Sausage with Salsa Criolla
Crios de Susana Balbo Malbec 2009

Caramelized Chocolate Bread Pudding with Dulce de Leche Gelato, Hazelnut Brittle, and Espresso Chantilly
Churchill’s 20-Year-Old Tawny Porto NV

posted by admin on Jan 20

Over the last two days, I did two 12-hours shifts at the James Beard House for my internship. Here’s my report.

Patina

The first night, I worked with the crew from Patina restaurant in Los Angeles, headed up by Chef Tony Esnault. Chef Esnault is a protégé of culinary legend Alain Ducasse, and earned his restaurant a four-star review in the Los Angeles Times.

The theme of the evening was Black Truffle Extravaganza. The nine different dishes that were executed all contained black truffles, including dessert. There were thousands and thousands of dollars worth of black truffles in that place. At $800 per pound, I would not be able to afford even one knotty fungi. Then, his truffle importer, Christopher Poron, brought in about 6 or 7 more pounds in a little cooler bag. These truffles were huge and very aromatic. I alone shaved and cut into little circles about $1,600 worth of the black fungus. I would say that people got their money’s worth.

Aside from shaving truffles, I picked 300 little leaves off celery, laid them out on a sheet pan, and brushed each one with egg wash. Talk about painstaking. They then put them in a low oven, where they crisped up into little chips.

It felt like I was working in a traditional French brigade kitchen. It wasn’t that all the cooks were formal or that Chef Esnault, a Frenchman, cracked the proverbial whip, but it just had that “French kitchen” vibe. And it seemed as if Chef Esnault is an old-school kind of chef who really has no use for a woman in the kitchen. [See comments below.] He wasn’t mean or rude to me; on the contrary, he was very polite to me—when he addressed me at all. I think he was just indifferent to me—I could have been there or not, he couldn’t have cared less. The only time this changed was when he yelled at me to hurry up and put these teeny, tiny little crispy celery leaves on top of these little celeriac squares and julienned celery. This was not easy. Trying to balance fragile little chips on top of a small cube AND a julienned celery is frustrating, especially when you have an assembly line going and the plates have to get out. I felt like Lucy on the assembly line at the chocolate factory. I actually thought that while I was doing it, and it made me chuckle.

It was a loooonnnggg day. We never got an official break and we didn’t get any food until after dinner service. I had to scoot away to sit down for a couple of minutes at a time and snack on a few of the food items I brought with me. I finally got out of there at about 10:30.

Here’s the menu:

 Hors d’Oeuvre
Sunchoke Velouté
Potatoes with Truffles
Vegetable–Truffle Roulades
Truffle Gougéres
Champagne Louis Roederer Premier Brut NV

Dinner
Duck Foie Gras with Poularde, Artichokes, Frisée, Mâche, and Truffle Vinaigrette
Spottswoode Sauvignon Blanc 2010

Glazed Seasonal Vegetable Mosaic with Black Truffle Condiment
Vogelzang Vineyard Reserve Viognier 2010

Seared Day Boat Scallops with Potatoes, Leeks, and Tuber Melanosporum
Pazo de Barrantes Albariño 2010

Milk-Fed Veal Tenderloin with Celery and Jus Truffé
Neyers Sage Canyon California Red 2010

Poached Pear with Brown Butter Cake and Black Truffle Ice Cream
Pavi Due Sorelle Vin Santo 2003

While I refused to sample the veal, everything I did taste was delicious.  My favorite part? The Vegetable Mosaic. Simply delicious. I wish I’d gotten a shot of it.

Blackberry Farm

The next day was a completely different experience. I worked with the chefs from Blackberry Farm in Walland, TN. The atmosphere was much more mellow and laid back. And I was so happy to see that one of the chefs was a woman. Another volunteer was also a woman, though she left at about 4. That’s not to say that they were lackadaisical about their work; on the contrary, they were so prepared that it left relatively little for the volunteers to do. We got a nice long break, which went a long way toward keeping up my energy level. But we did have things to do and once dinner service began, it was the usual adrenaline-rushed craziness of getting the plates out.

I had written about Blackberry Farm when I was Assistant Managing Editor at Travel Agent magazine because they do cooking classes on the premises. They grow their own food and have animals on the farm from which they get some of their meat and their eggs and make their own charcuterie. They also brought along a few black truffles, which had been plucked from the ground only hours before in (I believe) North Carolina. While the French truffles were, without a doubt, flawless, these locals truffles were more perfume-y and fresher tasting, which is understandable.

Chefs Joseph Lenn and Cassidee Dabney were a pleasure to work with, as they brought a sense of fun to the work. They take their business seriously, but it was clear that their attitude was that you should whistle while you work. I like that. If you have to do something all day long, it’s best to enjoy what you’re doing.

I peeled and quartered little baby red and golden beets from their garden, shucked oysters (not well), piped field pea puree onto little pieces of crisp rice thingies that they made themselves, sliced biscuits, and whatever else needed to be done. Another wonderful dinner.

The Blackberry Farm menu was:

Hors d’Oeuvre
Biscuits with Pork Belly, Blackberry Farm Preserves, and Pickles
Capers Blades Oysters with Muscadine Mignonette
Blackberry Farm Charcuterie
Carolina Gold Rice with Field Pea Purée
Domaine des Terres de Velle Auxey-Duresses 2009

Dinner
North Carolina Trout and Beet Salad with Watercress, Preserved Lemon, and Trout Roe
Domaine Saint-Marc Bois de Blagny Meursault 2009

Blackberry Farm Pencil Cob Grits with Sorghum, Benton’s Country Ham, Pickled Ramps, and Hollandaise
Domaine Alain Jeanniard Les Saussilles Pommard 1er Cru 2008

Guinea and Dumplings with Poached Egg and Black Truffles
Domaine Durieu Cuvée Traditionnelle Rouge Châteauneuf–du-Pape 2009

Roasted Lamb with Blackberry Farm Peas and Greens
Domaine Paillère & Pied-Gû Gigondas 2005

Blackberry Farm Blue Cheese Cheesecake with Pears and Pecans

More Photos HERE!

posted by admin on Jan 10

If you read this blog, or know me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter, then you know that I just graduated from The Natural Gourmet Institute on January 6. I briefly reflected on this event, and now I thought I’d share the menu with you.

Every meal at The Natural Gourmet Institute is a fabulous one. I’ve done shifts working Friday Night Dinners for other classes and guest instructors, but on this Friday evening, my class was being served. We got to sit back and enjoy the meal without working, fussing, freaking, and, best of all, cleaning. The menu was created and overseen by instructor Chef Elliott Prag, who did a great job. So, here’s what we had:

Appetizer

Trio of mushrooms:

Mushroom Sherry Soup with Cashew Cream

Mushroom Walnut Paté with seeded (gluten-free, homemade) crackers

Mushroom Tempura with Shoyu-Yuzu Dipping Sauce

Entrée

Shepherd’s Pie with hazelnut crust, spiced and seared tempeh, root vegetables, and sweet potato topping

Roasted Brussels sprouts and cipollini onions

Salad of Frisée and radicchio with olives, raisins, and pickled shallots in sweet rice vinaigrette

Dessert:

Cardomom-ginger poached Seckel pear

Pecan-cranberry granola

Hibiscus syrup

Gluten-free ginger tuile

This was a completely vegan and gluten-free meal.

Everything was expertly plated and looked beautiful. But, more importantly, it all tasted delicious. I enjoyed everything, and so did everyone else at my table. What’s interesting is to see people who are usually carnivorous, or just meat-and-potato people, taste the food at Friday Night Dinner and surprise themselves by enjoying it. The look on their faces of utter astonishment that they could possibly enjoy and be filled by a vegan meal is priceless. And I know a few people who enjoyed it so much that they plan on going to more Friday Night Dinners.

What made the mushroom appetizer trio particularly good was the fact that they used several different mushrooms—cremini, oyster, chanterelles, porcini, and perhaps others. Singly, these mushrooms all have their own distinct flavor—some earthy, some woodsy, some with nutty undertones—but together, they create something that is flavorful and complex.

The shepherd’s pie was a  clever combination of tempeh and root vegetables and rather than be accompanied by sweet potatoes, they were topped by them. At the risk of insulting Chef Prag, I want to say that the pie was so cute! I don’t know if he would appreciate the word “cute” being applied to one of his entreés, but I mean that in the best possible way. They were these little, individual pies, decorated in a way that was both classy and quaint (see photos). And dessert was sweet and gratifying without being too much after such a filling meal.

I am getting sad writing this. There was something electric about going to class that you don’t get just anywhere. Friday Night Dinner was always a rush of adrenaline, and the frenzy and excitement always outweighed the anxiety over doing a good job. Ultimately, we always did a good job.

Thanks to everyone at NGI. It was an experience I’ll never forget.

posted by admin on Jan 7

Last night was my graduation ceremony and dinner at the Natural Gourmet Institute. While it was a little sad saying goodbye to my classmates, there was a sense of excitement in the air. The kind of excitement that comes with knowing that there’s a whole new world out there waiting for you. The kind of excitement that lets you know that you’ve accomplished something wonderful and that will take you somewhere.

I always said, right from the beginning, that I wanted a culinary degree because I felt that it was the one credential that was keeping me back from getting the kind of job that I wanted, and I’m still hoping that it will open up those doors for me. But the truth is, I have absolutely no idea where I’m going to end up.

It’s exciting and scary at the same time. But I’m going to grab that piece of paper and wave it around for all to see, because if that’s what it takes, that’s what I’ll do.

I’ve got to complete my 100 hours of internship now. I have to start over because I had to bow out of the internship with vegan dessert instructor/author Fran Costigan. I felt terrible having to do that, but circumstances forced me. So I will now be interning at the James Beard House.

I’m almost there.

posted by admin on Jan 1

We had our next to last class at the Natural Gourmet Institute—Indian cuisine. It was an amazing feast filled with beautiful, deeply flavored dishes.

chicken tandoori

First, we had the usual lecture to introduce us to the cuisine of India and how it varies from region to region, and we were introduced to some of the common elements, seasonings, and utensils of Indian cooking. Indian cuisine has evolved over thousands of years and influenced by many cultures that passed through the country.

The most common seasonings used are black mustard seeds, chiles, cumin, cardamom, fennel, coriander, turmeric, coriander, and fenugreek. Common herbs are cilantro, kaffir lime leaves, curry leaves, and mint.

Vegetable Curry

The nice thing about Indian food is that it’s great for vegetarians. Thanks to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Janism, vegetarianism is commonplace throughout the country and anywhere one goes in India, a vegetarian will always find plenty to eat.

India has a very distinct flavor profile—complex flavors and lots of spices—but it is similar to other countries in that the use of spices and heat levels vary from region to region. The more south you go, the hotter the food, which is the same way it is in Italy, the U.S., and many other countries. That’s because the more south you go, the hotter it is and eating spicy foods make you sweat, which cools you off. See, it all makes sense.

For the class, we concentrated on Moghul (or Mughlai) cuisine, which is the upscale Northern Indian cuisine that is most commonly found in Indian restaurants in the Western world. The Moghul Empire in India was extremely influential in many areas. This is from Cuisinenet.com:

The Moghuls were Persian Muslim princes, descended from both Genghis Khan and Tamburlaine, and nothing they did was anything less than glorious. They built the lavish and ambitious palace fortresses, mosques, and tombs that have become emblematic of the country, the most famous example of which is the Taj Mahal, the tomb built by Shah Jahan to honor his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. At its height, the Moghul dynasty was known for its cultured tolerance, even enthusiastic support of and participation in, local customs, arts, and religions.

Chapati

This lavishness extended to food as well, and to this day, Northern Indian cuisine reigns as the standard Indian cuisine.

So, we spent the next few hours cooking dal, vegetable biriyani, golden cabbage, vegetable curry, spiced spinach and mushrooms, spiced chickpeas, sambaar, dosai, masala dosais filling, raisin tamarind sauce, pakoras, mint relish, cucumber raita, cilantro-onion relish, chicken tandoori, chapati, almond milk fudge, firni, chai tea, and mango punch.

Makind Dosai

I made the cucumber raita and cilantro-onion relish and tried my hand at a dosa, which is like a crepe. It’s filled with various ingredients, or it’s rolled up and used much like we would use bread. Learning to make dosai is a tricky thing—you have to make the batter the right consistency, then spread it in a pan with a ladle-like spoon (they have a special utensil just to do this) to the proper thickness, then flip it over. In between dosas, we greased the pan with an onion half dipped in oil for extra flavor.

I think my favorite dish of the day was the spiced chickpeas.

Dosai

And because it’s one of the easiest Indian dishes to make, I’m offering you the recipe below.  Enjoy!

Note: If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can cook the chickpeas in a pot. If you don’t want to make chickpeas from scratch, use two 15- or 16-oz. cans.

Cilantro-Onions Relish

Spiced Chickpeas

Copyright ©Jenny Matthau/NGI

2 cups chickpeas, soaked and drained
6 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded* and chopped
6 tbsp coconut oil
2 onions, cut into small dice
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp turmeric
1 large pinch cayenne
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
Salt
½ cup bean liquid
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 bunch cilantro, minced

1. Rinse chickpeas thoroughly and place in pressure cooker with 2 inches of water to cover. Bring to full pressure, lower heat and cook for 30 minutes or until very soft. Reserve bean liquid.
2. Fry onion in oil until soft.
3. Add garlic and spices. Cook a few more minutes
4. Add tomatoes, tomato juice and salt. Cook for 5 minutes.
5. Add chickpeas and bean liquid. Simmer, covered for 15 minutes.
6. Remove cover and cook on medium flame until thickened, if too thin.
7. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice and cilantro.

* Press seeds through a sieve and reserve the juice; discard seeds.

Spiced chickpeas

posted by admin on Dec 28

On Thursday, December 25, my FND team began preparations for our Friday Night Dinner at The Natural Gourmet Institute. We arrived in Kitchen 3 at 4:30 p.m. and had a huddle. We needed to prep the various components of the appetizer, main, and dessert courses. The main entrée, a Peruvian causa, alone involved 4 separate elements.

Causa is a Peruvian potato cake with several different layers. Traditionally, this dish would have layers of meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, or other combinations, but always, there a potato layer.  For our version, we had 4 layers:  purple potatoes, cauliflower and almond, pureed fava beans, and seasoned tempeh.

Everything  that needed to be done was written on the board. We then broke up into teams and divvied up the tasks.  As expected, it fell to me to prepare the potatoes for the causa. I’d been responsible for that layer all along, so it made sense that I took ownership of it during FND prep.

We had prepared the entire dinner for 10 people a couple of times, but this time, we were making it for 100 people. Boiling and milling 4 lbs. of potatoes is one thing; boiling and milling 40 pounds is another. I filled three huge pots with purple potatoes and because the potatoes were all different sizes, they cooked at different rates. I tried grouping similar sizes in each pot, but still some potatoes cooked faster than other within the same pot. This meant that I had to skewer test and scoop out potatoes at intervals. Which was just as well because there was no way that I would have been able to pick up and drain these commercial-sized pots of boiling potatoes! If I had tried, it would have been a disaster of monstrous proportions. And I probably would have landed in the burn unit.

Lots of onions

It took hours to peel and mill all of these potatoes, even when one of my classmates stepped in to help me peel. My arms got an incredible workout. After several hours, I needed a break and asked one of my other classmates—who was actually on the other FND team, but was there to help us out—took over the milling for about an hour.

When I was finally done milling, the other elements for the causa were just about ready, too. But we had issues with the other elements. We had started out with a lima bean puree but at some point, we switched to fava beans (I’m still not quite sure why). To our dismay, the fava bean puree was not as green as the lima bean puree had been, probably because we didn’t have enough parsley, and the minced rosemary that had been added to it was too overpowering. Fortunately, we had enough color on the plate to compensate for the bean puree’s dullness, and the rosemary flavor was tempered when the puree was combined with the other elements. To ensure that all the elements worked together, we took scoops of each layer and placed them in a bowl to taste. (We learned to do that after the last run-through because, as we discovered, each element on its own may have been perfect, but together with other elements, it may have not have been quite right, and vice versa.) We continually adjusted until we felt everything worked, except that the cauliflower remained a little crumbly.

Elyse, who had made the bean puree and was disappointed, wanted to cut out the puree and just do three layers, but I knew that this was a bad idea. We had tried the recipe 3 times using 4 layers and it might have been disastrous to use just 3, because the cauliflower was too crumbly and it needed the puree to adhere it to the causa. With tout the bean puree, it would have been a mess.

We layered 6 full-size hotel pans with the 4 elements and wrapped them up. The next day, we inverted them onto sheet pans and began cutting the portions. This was not as easy as it sounds. We had to make sure that all the portions were the same size in both width and height. We tried cutting straight down, with a sawing motion, with knives with teeth, knives with no teeth, dental floss, and bench scrapers. Despite our best efforts, we wound up with a lot of oddly shaped pieces. Fortunately, we had a lot to spare to make up for the discards.

The next problem to solve was how to serve them. We had settled on squares but now we went back to triangles, which we had abandoned during our last run-through because we felt that triangles would be too unstable. Then, as we cut the squares into triangles and tried to move them to sheet pans, we saw how fragile they were. Through a couple of hours of trial and error, we discovered that the pieces stayed together a little better if we put them on the sheet pans and heated them upside down—that is, with the almond side down. It seemed to compact that layer just enough that we could handle them. Of course, had we known we were going to do this, we would have layered the 4 elements in reverse order.

The next day was a flurry of activity in K3 as we began preparation for service. I took it upon myself to start assigning stations for everyone on the line. Then, it was time for service. We all took our positions and began plating. Would you be surprised if I told you that we had a little bit of a rough time plating the causa?

We fiddled and fudged with a couple, trying to get a feel for the pieces. We finally worked it out that I would lay down one piece and Elyse, across from me, would lay down the other piece, the triangle that would stand up. At that point, things started moving. We got those causas plated and moved them down the line for the rest of the components.

We hit a bump in road, though. We had marked certain sheet trays to keep for the” house” (i.e., for ourselves), as they were the least pretty of the batch, the ones that had crumbled or that were oddly cut. Somehow or other, a couple of these trays got pulled out before the “good” ones. When we realized the error, we popped the good ones in the oven, but the plating came to standstill while we waited for the good ones to heat up. Chef B told us that we needed to get more plates out and so we had no choice but to pull the scruffy ones together and do the best we could with them. Finally, the good ones were hot, and just when we had pulled them from the ovens, Chef B said, “Stop.” We were done. All the guests had been served. And we all groaned with a great big old “Damn it” in our voices.

In the end, it was okay because no out in the dining rooms knew the difference. All they saw was a beautifully arranged meal bursting with color and form and texture, and when they tasted it, regardless of how it looked, it was rich with complex flavors.

We also took some time to decorate the classrooms with garland, lights, and flowers. My classmate, Angie, sewed table runners and made tassels for the menus, Elyse took charge of the decorations, and I created the menu. There was a lot to be done and tensions had run pretty high as everyone struggled to make time to work on FND while still carrying on their daily lives. But we pulled it all together and we had one hell of dinner.

My brother and sister-in-law were there, as well as numerous friends and acquaintances, and I was so happy to see them all there. With the exception of one person, everyone enjoyed the dinner very much. Success!

It sucked when the next day, one of the instructors said that after dinner, she became violently ill, but since no one else had that effect, I chalked it up to some weirdness with her stomach only.

I won’t lie. It was a bitch to plate those causas, but I am very proud of my team. We created a great meal and pulled it off despite bumps along the way. As we walked out into the dining rooms for our bows, we all held our heads high for a job well done.

For some fabulous photos of the prep and dinner by my classmate Elyse’s husband, David Prince, click HERE.

And for some less than spectacular, but still nice photos by me, click HERE.

By the way, the meal was entirely vegan and gluten free. The menu is below, as well as a recipe for Quinoa Croquettes, which got raves.

Thanks to Chef Barbara, the students of CTP 197W, the kitchens assistants, and all the guests who helped make our Friday Night Dinner a memorable night.

 Menu

Appetizer
Vegetarian Ceviche
Buttercup Squash Soup
Quinoa Croquettes with
Pumpkin Seed-Almond Dip

 Entrée
Causa
Escarole with Garlic & Lemon Dressing,
Botija Olives, and Caramelized Pearl Onions
Salsa Verde and Smoky Tomato Sauce

 Dessert
Chocolate Turrón
Tamarind Ice Cream
Saffron Poached Seckel Pear

QUINOA CROQUETTE

Yield: 10 two-ounce servings

Ingredients:

¾ cup quinoa (combination of red and white), rinsed well
1 1/8 cup water
2 medium parsnips, large dice (¾ cup)
1/2  onion, medium dice (½ cup)
2 cloves garlic, fine mince
1 tablespoon EVOO
½ cup cooked lima beans (1/4 cup unsoaked)
¼ bunch parsley, fine chopped (1/6 cup)
2 scallions, thin slice
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, lightly toasted and coarse chopped
1/2 teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ lime, juiced
1 teaspoon sea salt
Oil for frying

Procedure:

1. Cook quinoa with water.  Cool.
2. Cook parsnips until very soft.
3. Sauté onion and garlic in EVOO until soft.
4. Blend together parsnips, lima beans, parsley, scallions, sunflower seeds, oregano, cumin, lime juice and salt to form a paste.
5. In a large bowl gently stir quinoa and onions and garlic together with paste mixture.  Quinoa may be fragile so do not over mix.
6. Form into 2 ounce croquettes.  Pan fry in oil.

PHOTO: David Prince

posted by admin on Dec 11

My practical exam for the Chef Training Program at the Natural Gourmet Institute is finally over. After stressing about it for weeks and really stressing for days and spending hours plating last Sunday (although I wish I’d done it more than that), it’s behind me.

The exam was taken on 2 separate days by the 2 Friday Night Dinner groups. My group (B) was up first because group A was gearing up for its Friday Night Dinner. We had to create an entrée incorporating 5 elements: bean, grain, green, sauce, and garnish. My plate was—

Grilled Portobello Steak
Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Cilantro-Lime Dressing
Herbed Polenta
Cracked Chickpea Salad
Sauteed Kale
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Lime zest curls for garnish

My final plate

I did okay, but to be honest, my score was a huge disappointment. It wasn’t a bad score, but it wasn’t what I was hoping for. The instructor complimented my dish in many ways, but I got points off for numerous things. Here’s the rundown:

Bean: He really loved the chickpea salad. It was “sophisticated” with just the right amount of seasonings and heat. Not to little, not too much.

Green: The kale was chewy and not very edible. He said it was the nature of the kale they’d been getting at the school lately—tough. It lent itself more to a moist heat method of cooking, rather than the way I had prepared it, which was to sauté it in garlic and oil. I knew it was chewy, but I didn’t think it was that bad.

Grain: He loved the way the polenta looked. It was vibrant, and he could tell that I’d thrown the herbs in towards the end because it retained their fresh look. But it needed to cook a little more. I’m used to using a finely ground cornmeal, like my mother uses, and that’s what I practiced with. I should have been more aware of the fact that the school uses coarsely ground cornmeal as polenta. However, upon research, I learned that most people will call for” cornmeal” or “coarsely ground cornmeal” for polenta recipes. Yet, one of my classmates, who was born and spent part of her life in Italy, said that she was used to the finely ground kind as well. Anyway, I was a little thrown off by the coarse grind, but I stopped the cooking when I thought it was done. My instructor apparently did not agree.

Sauce: The sauce went well with the mushroom but there wasn’t enough of it. He had to scrape together what I had put on the plate to accompany one bite of mushroom. To plate that dish again, he said, pool some underneath the mushrooms and just hint at the sauce on top.

Garnish: No comment. I took this as neither good nor bad.

Plating: He was glad to see that I’d used techniques taught at the school, such as the fanning of the mushroom and sweet potatoes. However, he felt that there was conflicting movement on the plate. The school teaches students to plate food in some kind of geometrical movement, upward and outward or circular. The elements on my plate were “competing against each other.”

Other comments:

The dish needed more acidity. I put a cilantro-lime dressing on the sweet potatoes, which should have taken care of the acidity. But since my dressing came out better at home than at school and because the jalapeno was strong, I didn’t want to put too much, so maybe he didn’t really pick up on the lime.

It needed more crunch. I put raw bell peppers in the chickpea salad, as well as walnuts. I asked him if he hadn’t picked up on them. He said he hadn’t.

Overall, though, he said that my dish was something he would enjoy if he had it in a restaurant. Considering that he used to be a chef at Le Bernadin in New York, that’s a great compliment.

It was rather heartbreaking to learn that at least 4 other people (out of 8 ) had received higher scores than me, and I got the feeling that out of a class of 15, the majority will have gotten higher scores than me.

In the end, no one will ask me what I got on my practical exam, but I will know what I got. I will always know that, despite my years of experience cooking, I received a less than stellar score.

But I have to shake off the baggage that this is putting on me and move on. I have to remind myself that not every day will be a red-letter day. Not everything I do will turn out the results I want.

And that’s okay. A score is just a number, not the measure of my worth or a mark of my capabilities. It’s not the individual brush strokes that count but the entire painting. This is a personal demon of mine, one that taunts me at every opportunity it gets. It’s time I kicked it to the curb.

Besides, if the chefs on Iron Chef, Chopped, and all those other chef competition shows have to deal with blows to their creations–not to mention their egos–then I guess I have to, too.

posted by admin on Dec 5

We’ve been in the thick of the food and wellness portion of our program at the Natural

Squash-Sea Vegetable Salad

Gourmet Institute. I don’t know whether other cooking schools have anything like this, but I don’t think so. This is what sets NGI apart from other schools: Its focus on health-supportive cooking. And part of that is understanding various diets and lifestyle programs/principles (for lack of a better way of putting it), such as Macrobiotics and Aryuveda.

Summer Squash with Pesto

We’ve also learned about food and healing for specific illnesses, such as heart disease and cancer, and for keeping the immune system strong, and a couple of weeks ago, we had a cleanse and detox class. This class discussed the digestive system, specifically the kidneys, liver, and colon, and how to cleanse toxins from them.

This week, we had another detox class, except that this time it was “living foods”—i.e., raw foods. We prepared and ate numerous dishes that were completely raw, and it was surprisingly filling and satisfying. We had:

Sweet Potato Pie

Filbert Sweet Milk
Vegetable Soup
Mixed Nut and Vegetable Pate
Jicama Salad
Cinnamon Beets
Squash-Sea Vegetable Salad
Summer Squash with Pesto
Sweet Potato Pie with Cashew Nut Cream
Sunflower Spread
Raw Chocolate Brownie

Sunflower Pate

We started the meal with a shot of wheatgrass-apple juice. When they hear “wheatgrass,” most people think of 1970s hippies living in communes and subsisting on alfalfa sprouts and brown rice. But wheatgrass has so many health benefits, such as helping acne and skin problems, reducing inflammation, and aiding digestion. Its shining quality is that it contains chlorophyll. In fact, wheatgrass is the best living source of chlorophyll, and the health benefits are extensive.

Wheatgrass does not exactly make people go “Mmm, mmm!” but when combined with freshly juiced apples, as we had it, it’s actually quite tasty. We also had homemade kefir, which I can’t honestly say I was crazy about. It had a funky, bad-cheese flavor to it. But some people like that, and to those who do, more power to you.

Mixed Nuts Vegetable Pate

Personally, I would never be able to survive on a raw foods diet (not happily, anyway). I need hot foods, especially in winter. Can you imagine going home at the end of a dark, dreary, freezing winter day and having all cold, raw foods? As delicious as they might be, I would not feel satisfied. In fact, when I got home after class, I had the urge to have a bowl of hot soup. Which I did. And I was happy.

But a raw food diet is a great way to detox, particularly if you’ve gone through a heavy eating period, or a “bad-food” period. On a temporary basis, it wouldn’t be so bad. If you’re interested in giving it a try, here’s a simple recipe for Cinnamon Beets to try. Adjust the seasonings until it’s to your liking. Enjoy.

Cinnamon Beets

Cinnamon Beets

Adapted from Dining in the Raw: cooking with “the Buff” by Rita Romano

Makes 4 servings

2 medium beets, peeled
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon tahini
Juice form 1 orange
1 ½ tablespoons Nama shoyu*
ginger juice**
splash lemon juice
salt

1. Make long strands of “angel hair” by putting beets through a spriralizer. [If you don’t have one of these, just grate the beets using the large holes of a box grater.]
2. Blend cinnamon, tahini, orange juice, and shoyu, along with ginger juice, lemon juice and salt to taste. Pour dressing over beets. Let sit 1 hour and drain well before serving.

Note: For a different taste, substitute one teaspoon chives for the cinnamon and add one teaspoon dry mustard.

*Nama shoyu is unpasteurized shoyu, available in health food stores.

**Make ginger juice by grating fresh ginger and squeezing it in cheese cloth.

posted by admin on Dec 3

Phew! This morning I took my final written exam. I think I did pretty well, but I know I didn’t get everything right. There were so many questions that were not on the study guide they gave us, and I studied all this stuff (based on the guide) that was nowhere to be seen on the exam. It was a little frustrating, but I think I did well enough regardless.

I can’t believe it’s over. Well, that part of it, anyway. This week, I have to take my practical exam. That will involve making a gourmet entrée that includes a grain, a bean, a green, a sauce, and a garnish. Those five elements must be there. And it must be a dish that follows the Chinese Five-Phase Theory (a complicated theory of food selection and preparation that involves the five elements of earth, fire, water, wood, and metal). It has to look appetizing, it has to be plated in an appealing way, the elements have to complement each other, it has to be balanced, and, above all, it has to taste good.

The good part is that they told us ahead of time what will be available to us, so we don’t have to go in there cold and improvise on the spot. I wish I had time to test and retest until I got it right, but with everything going on, I haven’t been able to. I have only one chance to test and plate my entrée and that’s tomorrow. And the only reason I have that time is because my internship person cancelled our meeting for tomorrow.  I cooked my greens and made my sauce yesterday, figuring that if I made my meal piece by piece, I could just put it all together one night to plan my plating. Now, I’ll be able to make everything else and plate it tomorrow.

I have a take-home exam to do this week, and in a couple of weeks we have another practical exam that does involve improve, but that one will be done in teams, I think. At least that’s the way the other improve classes have worked. And that will be it. Classes end in a month and then I’ll continue with my internship until I’ve accumulated the required 100 hours. Then I will have a culinary degree.

I was sick this past week and it’s no wonder. This is just way too much stuff going on for a person my age. But I’m much better and I’m hoping that I get through the month.

Thanks for checking in. I’ll be back soon.