I almost forgot the chocolate...

Last week we had the pleasure of listening and tasting the delicate and delectable chocolates and desserts of Jacques Torres. Chef Torres is a master chef and master chocolatier and is amazing with pastries. He made these marshmellow pistacio things, cranberry pumpkin seed peanut brittle, black and white cookies, and these little fried pieces of dough that he called fried clouds. Oh, and he made some little chocolates with pistacio as well. He worked so fast but so delicate at the same time. Amazing stuff. He also made this chocolate structure that he put all the goodies on and a Louis Vuitton chocolate purse. Again amazing. I will have to wait and see how dessert week goes but i am thinking speciallizing in desserts and pastries would be awesome. Next week is the start of desserts, should be an exciting week.



Then the next day or maybe it was the day before, i really don't remember, a couple of us went to this place called Vosges. They specialize in chocolates and coffees and teas. It was great. Had this curry, pumpkin spice, chocolate chip cookie that was to die for, a great cup of tea, and a chocolate infused with taleggio cheese. It was pretty good stuff.

I highly recommend it and probably will go back a couple of times. Definitely a place if you have had a rough day and need a pick me up or just a good place to relax and have fun.

Chicken, Pork, Beef oh my!

This past week has been all about meat and a lot of it. You name it we cooked it, chicken, hens, quails, duck, rabbit, veal, pork chops, lamb chops, pork tenderloin, top round, veal liver, tripe, sweatbreads, and filet mignon. Overall, it was a good week and i can cook meat pretty well but i must say that i can see why one might become a vegetarian and the past couple of days i have been eating more fruits and vegetables. The roasted duck, anitra arrosto, the pollo alla cacciatora, and the lamb chops were the favorites of the week. Definitely the low point of the week was the organ day. Not that is was a bad day but i do not like liver, tripe, or sweatbreads. So, that is it for meats, not a whole lot to say about that.

On the restaurant front it was a very busy weekend working at Salumeria Rosi. Saturday i worked a 13 hour shift from 9:45am to 10:45pm but man we were moving the entire time. We did 141 plates at lunch alone and for a restaurant that only has 9 tables that's a lot of food. We had a half hour lull around four so i was able to eat something and prep for dinner service. During open and lunch i worked the deli counter making sandwhiches, slicing meats, and serving cheese and meat plates. Then it was off to the kitchen for dinner service. Making most of the salads and some of the smaller things that i have down pretty well now. Before i knew it the clock had hit ten and i was smashed. Even as tired as i was i enjoyed being there, i work with some great people and i learn so much every time i work. I look forward to going back on wednesday this week and hopefully will have some stories to tell on thursday.

Thankfully this week we move on to fish. We filleted some fish today and made two pretty good dishes by just searing the fish and making a pan sauce. The rest of the week is mostly devoted to seafood until friday when we have our second practical. This one i am ready to rock and want to put forth some perfection.

Running...

Running to class, running around the kitchen, running to catch trains, buses, and cabs, running across the brooklyn bridge and in central park and just running to clear my mind. Since the last 14 years of my life have been devoted to the sport and I know at least the next 14 years will also be devoted to running that i needed a post about running.

City running is a world away from the trails and mountains of colorado. Central park is about as close as it comes and even that is a far cry from "trail running" especially when there is tens of thousands of people in the park at any given time. As a runner, though, we adapt to our surroundings and make the best of it. I have taken a liking to running over the Brooklyn Bridge into lower manhattan and over to the Hudson. It can actually be a pretty peaceful run if you hit early enough or the weather is bad. Otherwise if it is nice out and in the afternoon, forget it, the bridge is packed with tourists and wall street commuters. Or there can be a demonstation or march across the bridge, like on good friday, and it comes to a stand still (yeah, major mistake on my part).

It's been a tough transition for me going from being in the best shape of my life to only running 4 to 5 times a week but i am starting to find my rythem. I am going to run the Healthy Kidney 10k in may, so that will keep me motivated. Being on my feet in a hot kitchen for at least 7 to 8 hours out of the day makes it tough to want to get out in the afternoon or evening so i try to get out in the morning. I always had an admiration for those who train and work full time and have a greater appreciation for it now that i am not just working at the running store where i had a pretty flexible schedule. But that's life and like i said runner's adapt and i am adapting to my new surroundings. Mountains for skyscrapers, trails for concrete, wildlife for taxis.

This past weekend i quietly snuck away to Boston for the weekend and it just happened to be the weekend of the Boston Marathon. First of all what a great weekend! As much as i love to cook and be in the kitchen it was nice to get away and play hookie for a day. I got to visit with some "colorado friends" as i refer to them with my "new york friends" and it was great to see all of you. The weekend was great, the race great, and the company great and it fueled the fire to keep getting out on the roads and running. Also a congrats to all who ran and completed the marathon.

Practical #1

So, the first practical is behind me and i am thankful for that. Overall not a great day but not a horrible day and for those of you who know me well than i don't need to explain any further but here is how the day went. I would say today was like a quick fire challenge or an episode of chopped.
The day started off well with our second theory test which was giving the ingredients and procedure for besciamella.
That part i aced. Moving on to part two of chopped.
From there we were given two recipes from our text that we had covered in the previous weeks and specific times when we were to present our plates. The first was caponata which is a great eggplant and pepper antipasta.
That part i also aced. Moving on to part three of chopped, the final.
From there it went downhill.
The second dish was ravioli filled with a spinach and ricotta filling. Making the ravioli was the easy part. However, making the butter sage sauce was a bit more difficult for me today. Actually i made it perfectly but my timing was off by about 3 minutes and that 3 minutes threw everything off. I was early and therefore had to take it off the heat and my sauce broke, meaning the butter, oil, and water seperated and when i tried to bring it back it just didn't happen. Therefore leading to my downfall and my dissapointing grade on practical #1. If i was on chopped, i would have been chopped here and lost the money.
Thankfully my caponata and my knife skills were dead on today because that is what saved me. Apparently i have some of the best knife skills in the class, so that is a positive.
After the dust settled i was above the average for the class but below my standards and where i expected myself to be today, so, on to the next day to keep learning and keep practicing.
Theory Test #2 = 95%
Evaluation #1 = 86%
Practical #1 = 75%
Language Test #2 = 97%

I look at it like my running, when i don't perform well i look at how i have trained and what i have done leading up to that performance. I look at how i was mentally prepared and if i was focused on the race and i analyze what i could have done better and what did go well. It's the same in the kitchen, i look at what was good and what needs improvement. It's a progression, you stack consistent training on top of consistent training and you reap the benefits on the road, track, and in the kitchen. I think that is why i love being in the kitchen because it is so much like running because you control so much of what you produce. You get out of it what you put into it. If you run a little and put a little time in here and there than average you will be and if that's what you want then great. But if you want to be one of the best then you have to be willing to put in the time and effort, no one is going to hand it to you. The same goes for the kitchen, if you want to be a great chef you have to have the passion and the willingness to put yourself out there everyday. My standards and goals are always lofty but what would life be if it wasn't a challenge, if it didn't teach you, if you could always just get by...to me that wouldn't pay respect to what we have been given here in this life and it just wouldn't be fun.

Anyways, off my soapbox, now on to the new week and to start proteins, starting first with chicken. Should be some good stuff cooking in the kitchen over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned...

Amazing

That is how i would describe my week. After a rough start on monday when i wanted to throw pots and pans across the kitchen the week could only get better from there and better it did. On tuesday i made some pretty darn good gnocchi, "fluffy and decadent", those were the words from Chef Guido and Chef Haley, so needless to say i quickly forgot about monday and was on cloud nine.

Wednesday was a very long day with language in the morning before heading to the kitchen and then immediately leaving after class to head to my first day at my internship. I am interning at Salumeria Rosi which is a little Italian restaurant/deli on the upper west side. The restaurant is owned by the dean of the program i am in. To date it is the best Italian restaurant i have ever eaten at. The food is so simple but so deep in flavor. Working the dinner shift wednesday night was an eye opener and i learned so much that night. Everyone in the kitchen working together to get dishes out on time and just right. It is a very small kitchen so you always have to be on your guard and watching every step you take. By the end of the night i was helping prepare a few dishes and eager to return to continue to learn.

Thursday was egg day and we prepared a frittata, a fiorentina, and a Pontormo Salad which is amazing. The pontormo salad is an original from my dean that he is famous for and can be ordered at the salumeria. Its full name is Insalata Uova e Carne Secca dell Pontormo and the recipe is as follows:

extra virgin olive oil
70g diced pancetta
2g parsley
2g marjoram and thyme
2 eggs
salt and freshly ground black pepper
mixed greens
red wine vinegar
balsamic vinegar
First you can make your dressing by whisking together the herbs, oil, vinegars, and some salt and pepper. Then in a small saute pan heat up some oil and put the pancetta in to render some of the fat. Cook until it just starts to brown then put in your two eggs. Just crack the eggs and put them right in and sort of scramble them with a spatula. You want a nice mix of yellow and white from the eggs. Cook for only a few minutes and leave the eggs just a bit wet. Toss your greens with your dressing then toss in the egg/pancetta mix. Toss that all around and plate and serve immediately. It is a fantastic dish.

Like i said the week only got better and we ended on friday with pizza day. We made the traditional pizza margherita and pizza bianca con rucola but then we were free to make as many pizzas as we wished with whatever ingredients we had in the kitchen. My favorite of the day was a calzone i made with roasted vegetables consisting of peppers, eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, onions, and asparagus then topped it with ricotta cheese, some browned sausage and a spicy tomato sauce i made earlier in the day. Wrapped that all up and baked it....Amazing! At the end of the day we made some focaccia that was also pretty decent although i think we could have done a little better. Either way it was a great way to end the week.

Yesterday i worked my second day at the salumeria and worked the deli counter. You have no idea how many different kinds of salumis and hams there are til you come in to our store. And we sell it by the truck loads. The owner (my dean) currently has a whole walk in refridgerater dedicated to all the meats we have and has about 70 prosciutto di parma hams curing in Italy as we speak. Pretty amazing stuff. Again it was great to watch and help when i could with that area of the business because it is so different from the kitchen but at the same time we have to help eachother out with so many different tasks. So, an amazing week and thankfully i just get to relax today and hang out on a beautiful day in the city. Also, 7 weeks til Italy! Let the countdown begin!

Pasta, Pasta, Pasta

Fresh pasta, dried pasta, stuffed pasta, every type of pasta you can think of we know how to make. Needless to say i was pretty excited about this week because more than half of my diet is pasta. Made a great fettuccine dish on tuesday, preped the lasagne on wednesday, then made the lasagne, ravioli, and tortellini on thursday. The lasagne, which as it happens i am eating some right now as i type, is the typical northern Italian lasagne with a meat ragu, besciemelle sauce, grated parmaggiano reggiano and grana padano cheeses and pasta verde. Pasta verde is fresh spinach pasta rolled out into lasagne noodles. The ravioli had a ricotta mixture in it and the tortelli all bolognese was stuffed with a mixture of ground turkey, pork, veal, prosciutto, mortadella and herbs and spices that we cooked earlier in the week. These later two we made with a simple butter, sage reduction sauce. The sauce is relatively easy because all you need is butter, sage, and some of your pasta water but the tricky part is the timing: too short and its all buttery, too long and its burnt butter and burnt pasta but just right and its a creamy, light, and very delicious sauce.



Another exciting part of this week was witnessing chef extraordinaire Jacques Pepin work his magic. He dismantled a duck with surgical precision and then used every part of it creating four amazing dishes.
1.) Zuppa di Farro except in French and with duck just can't remember the name of it but it was made with the duck carcass and a bunch of different vegetables and herbs. It was amazing.
2.) Duck pate served on toasted baguette, also amazing and i am not a big fan of pate
3.) Chinese pancakes with roasted duck skin, celery, cucumber and carrot with a miso glaze
4.)Seared duck breast
All was amazing and i don't think i can truely say that enough to get my point across. It truely was a once in a lifetime opportunity to watch, listen, and taste from the hands of one of the greatest chefs to ever walk on this planet.

One last thing I wanted to mention is that I will be interning at Salumeria Rosi. The restaurant and salumeria is located on the upper west side at 73rd and Amesterdam. I will get to work both in the kitchen and at the counter of the salumeria. It is definitely one of the best restaurants i have ever eaten at and i am so excited to have the chance to work there and get some real experience in a new york kitchen. It is also owned by the dean of my program, Cesere Casella, who grew up in italy and learned from some of italy's finest chefs. I start this wednesday and i am sure i will have stories to tell so stay tuned.