What could be worse?

Last night there was a lot of change in the kitchen. A new four course menu, and new table assignments. I was assigned garde manger, responsible for the appetizer. The fish is a barramundi in an Americaine sauce, served with mussels and shrimp, and garnished with cocotte potatoes. The meat is chicken grand-mere. Dessert? DELICIOUS dessert! A simple lemon tart.

The appetizer? A poached egg with hollandaise served over a macedoine salad and garnished with tomato “julienne”. The main components of this salad are two of my least favorite things – both egg yolks. Poaching eggs last night, one after the other with no more skill than my first poached egg in Level 1 or 2, I realized that I need to learn to like, or at least like to (and learn to) cook, things I do not like. It took me way too long to poach the eggs… and eggs only poach for 2-3 minutes. It took even longer to figure out whether my hollandaise was the correct texture and correctly seasoned. I presented ten minutes late.

Once again, some downward comparison to make myself feel better…. Well, I did present second (after Julia). Everyone else was even later than me. Some students presented after the fish was served.

So why is this titled, “What could be worse?”

Well, here is how things could have gotten (and did get) worse. Not immediately, but between then and now. I am sitting here, writing this entry, on the 6:05AM Amtrak from New York to Washington. I was scheduled on the 5:30 train. I arrived at Penn Station at 5:15, picked up a cinnamon twist donut and coffee at Zaro’s Bakery *yum* and proceeded to print my ticket. Then I realized that I had some time to refund a ticket from two weeks ago, so I went over to the customer service window where I spent at least five minutes explaining to a woman how the customer service representatives usually refund a ticket (using a credit card as opposed to ID). Not believing me, she called over another customer service representative, who, after another 3 minutes of explaining, confirmed that I was right.

So I finally got my refund, just in time to get to the gate and show the “ticket checker” my ticket. I had the wrong ticket. I asked, “Is there a kiosk nearby where I can just print the ticket?” She said yes, no problem and pointed to a kiosk 20 feet away. I printed my ticket. When I returned she looked SHOCKED that I was trying to get on the 5:30 train!? The train was pulling away from the platform and I felt like I was in one of those terrible heartbreaking movies where my long lost love was on a train departing from Paris and I was moments too late. I saw him sitting in the window of a train departing for some foreign city.

So now, after multiple less than satisfactory interactions to get my ticket rebooked and a short wait that seemed like forever next to (not really, just close enough to enjoy the odor of) a very smelly homeless man in the Amtrak waiting area (note: for paying Amtrak customers only), I am on the 6:05 train to Washington.

Note to self: it can always get worse.

Time flies by

Thanksgiving came and went. New York is bustling for the holidays. Next Saturday is Christmas Eve. This year is flying by and will be over before I know it. I aced my Level 2 Exam and Practical, and am now ServSafe certified. I am two weeks into Level 3.
Level 3 moves into real production. The class is divided into teams/tables of four. Each evening each team is responsible for a four course dinner. Each student is required to produce four plates of one dish (an appetizer, fish, meat, or dessert) and present at a certain time (8:15, 8:30, 8:45, and 9 PM respectively). The responsibility is individual and it is kind of nice to only worry about yourself. On the third day, Chef added an amuse bouche due at 8 PM. The amuse bouche is a team effort and requires team work and communication.
For the first rotation the menu was consomme printainer, skate a la grenobloise with cocotte potatoes, pork chop with pommes darphin, and tarte aux pommes. Last night, our first mock mid-term, required us to produce two courses (appetizer and meat -- consomme and pork chop) and present at a time picked from a hat (I got 8:17 and 9:17 respectively). I was second to present. All students got to start at the same time, so this is truly the luck of the draw. I was ready to present my delicious consomme at 8:12, but disaster twice struck my pommes darphin and I presented my pork chop closer to 9:30. Something was wrong in the kitchen last night. Potatoes were sticking to pans and burning left and right. Some students presented pork without potatoes. My potatoes were less than stellar, even on the second take.
Everything is so busy. At school, I feel like I am just trying to keep my head above water and deliver my dishes on time. At work, we are working on a big deliverable. Outside of school and work, I have had friends visit (and stay) every weekend since the week before Thanksgiving. We had our firm holiday party in Washington, DC, on Saturday and I am heading back Thursday for a team celebration. I worry that I am so busy that I am not enjoying things as much as I used to, not savoring every moment like I want to.
I actually missed my grandmother's 89th birthday last week. I just totally forgot... I only remembered today.
I used to read other culinary students blogs and think, "Interesting that they started a blog and didn't continue. People have no discipline." Now I wonder, do I have no discipline? Am I just like the rest?
Maybe culinary school has a way of taking over. Everything is so fast-paced - class, the exam schedules, etc. They expect you to learn so quickly, and practice at home, and you do... or I did and do. I find that I am a totally different person in the kitchen today. But still I am just exhausted. I dread the alarm.

Menu Project

Level Two is almost over... our final exam and practical is one week from today. It is very sad for me... I almost cannot believe it. I have learned so much but I feel like I have SO much more to learn and so many more experiments to try and mistakes to make.  

We have a menu project due today. The assignment is to write a menu using four of the appetizers, fish, meat, and desserts that we have learned to-date. I spent a lot of time developing the design and layout of my menu. I am graphically challenged to say the least, but am very happy with the way it turned out!  What do you think? 

I got my life back... at the expense of my sanity... and my blog

It is cold in New York now. Most of the leaves have fallen and been cleared.  The city may not be totally ready for snow (it was 60 degrees on Sunday), but ready for the holidays for sure.

Holiday decorations are lining and lighting Fifth Avenue. It is a beautiful time in New York. This is the first time I have been in New York for the holidays and I am committed to taking advantage of all that the city has to offer.

This past weekend my friend Rachel came to visit Whit’s End. She stayed in our extra bedroom and I got to play my ideal role of Inn Keeper... and I got to play tourist too! We spent Saturday exploring the city. We had lunch at my favorite pizza place (Angelo’s on 57^th Street) and dinner at one of my favorite restaurants (Blue Water Grill).

After dinner, after midnight, we went back to Fifth Avenue to enjoy the windows without fighting 1,000,000 tourists.

Bergdorf Goodman

On Sunday morning, after a delicious brunch of omelets and pommes darphin, and zucchini bread and strawberries, Rachel headed back to Washington. 

Rachel visited Whit's End for the weekend. We had a delicious Sunday brunch.

Sunday afternoon, Michael and I rented bicycles in Central Park and enjoyed a beautiful 15 mile bike ride around the southern tip of Manhattan.

It was a wonderful weekend full of good friends, good food, and good times. 

A meal fit for a medieval king

Level Two Day Three was sooo long ago, and the lamb shanks we made feel like a distant memory... but I did promise the recipe and I will deliver... and I will make them again because they are absolutely to DIE for! 

Braised Lamb Shank

Braised Lamb Shank

(Recipe taken from the The International Culinary Center Classic Culinary Arts Level Two text book)

Ingredients

2 lamb shanks, excess fat trimmed and discarded, bone trimmed if necessary 

40 g olive oil

150 g onion, cut into large chunks

150 g carrots, cut into large mirepoix

4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

100 g celery, cut in 1-in pieces

2 sprigs of thyme

1 sprig of rosemary 

150 g white wine

150 g red wine

500 g brown stock 

150 g very ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped 

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Procedure

1. Trim the lamb shanks of excess fat, leaving a thin layer on the shank. Season the shanks with salt and pepper.

2. Heat a saute pan and add the olive oil. Add the lamb shanks. Saute until brown on all sides. Remove and set aside. 

3. Add the onion, carrots, garlic, and celery to the saute pan and cook a few minutes until golden in color. Drain excess fat and add the herbs. 

4. Add the wines and scrape and deglaze the sucs. Add the stock and tomatoes and season lightly and then return the lamb shanks to the liquid.

5. Tightly cover the saute pan and place in a 300-325 degree oven to braise for approximately 2.5 hours.

6. When the shanks are tender, remove the saute pan from the oven, remove the lid, and let the shanks rest for 10 minutes.

7. Carefully degrease the cooking liquid by skimming the fat off the top with a ladle.

8. Remove the shank from the pot and set aside in a warm place, covered.

9. Reduce the cooking liquid until it reaches a sauce-like consistency. Taste and adjust the seasonings as desired. 

Optional: Cut the meat from the bone and place it into the hot sauce (to reheat for service).

Lamb shanks? I asked my mom, who said that she has cooked them before. She cooked them for my father and he was very pleased.  He told her, "This is a meal fit for a medieval king". 

Why is my dad always right?!

Nutty Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Twice in the past two weeks of craziness, I woke up with "nothing to eat" for breakfast. I hadn't been to the grocery store in days. I didn't want oatmeal... and anyway, the bananas were past ripe for oatmeal. I couldn't have cereal... we had no milk. There was no bread, no bagels, nothing. So I decided to use the bananas, purchased for 20 cents each at the corner fruit stand, to make something delicious. I made one dozen, ate two, and shared the rest with the doormen. Since the muffins, I have also shared tarts and quiche with the doormen, so now the doormen ask me every morning (including this morning when I returned from my run) "What are you cooking today?" This morning I had to reply, "I have too much work to do!" And that is absolutely true. The world of consulting is full of ebbs and flows and right now, two men down, we are trying to stay afloat. It is lunch time and between work meetings and document development and emails, I have squeezed in one coffee. After running five miles. I think it is time for food. 

But before I go and make some lunch, I have to share this delicious muffin recipe, adapted significantly from Joy of Cooking. After all I promised. And I should probably memorize the recipe because I have some more bananas getting overripe and I haven't been to the store. 

Nutty Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins - a Whit's End Test Kitchen creation

Preheat the oven to 375F. Prepare a standard 12-muffin pan.

DRY Ingredients

Whisk together:

1.5 cups AP flour

.5 cup oatmeal 

2 t baking powder

.5 t baking soda

1 t ground cinnamon

,25 t ground nutmeg

.25 t ground cloves 

.25 t salt 

Stir in: 

.33 c walnuts,

.33 c semi sweet chocolate chips 

This is really where you can stir in .66 c or a little bit more or a little bit less of anything you want. The recipe called for only walnuts. I wanted to add some chocolate chips. You could probably add coconut, different nuts, white chocolate chips, or whatever you have. Like I said, this recipe was developed when I had nothing to eat and no time to get to the store.

WET Ingredients

Whisk together in a large bowl: 

1 large egg

.75 c packed light brown sugar

1.33 c mashed ripe bananas (don't skimp on the bananas - the recipe says 2-3 but it is more like 2-4. Put them in a 2-3 c liquid measuring cup and use a whisk to mash them)

6 T veg oil

1 t vanilla 

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together with a few light strokes until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not over mix - this will make tough, yucky muffins! The batter should not be smooth! Divide the batter among the muffins - I use a .25 c measuring cup, and it usually works out about right. 

Bake about 18 minutes. Do not over cook - they will darken and dry out and they will be yucky! 

Let rest for 2-3 minutes before removing from the pan... or don't. I can never help myself from reaching in, burning my hand... and my mouth, and regretting it... but they really are delicious and they smell delicious too.

Serve as soon as possible. Don't make these ahead. They take about 10 minutes to prepare, and 20 minutes in the oven, so really... wait to make them. There is no butter to soften and nothing to bring to room temperature, so you can really make them last minute. If you ask me these muffins (and all muffins) begin to deteriorate after a few hours. 

Resetting the clocks of my life

It has been exactly two weeks since my last blog entry. I know, I know it is pretty inexcusable. I am not really going to try to catch up.... but I will summarize.

Wednesday night I cooked approximately 100 eggs. Not kidding.

Thursday morning, October 27, I woke up to find that I was locked out of my work computer. For two weeks I had been receiving reminders to change my password, but I kept pushing it off and then I forgot. And I got locked out. Lucky for me I have two other computers - one desktop and one of those little notebooks. I turned on my desktop and couldn't access the internet, so I used my little notebook until my password was reset.

Thursday night I had some much needed non-school, non-work related activity - I went on a tour of the Food and Wine Test Kitchen that was organized by school, then to dinner with a friend and her sweet little girl, and then, with a couple of glasses of wine in me, went to yoga.  Michael was in Boston for a meeting and I would join him on the weekend for his law school reunion.

Friday morning I woke up and my desktop computer gave me the blue screen of death. This is problematic and very upsetting as this is the computer that has all of my photos and that I upload photos to. In fact, at that time it was my only way of uploading photos. Now, after two weeks of having no time to take care of essentials, I have a memory card full of photos and no way to transfer them to my computer.

So Friday I also find out that I need to be in Washington, DC for a big work meeting on Wednesday, which means I will not be able to attend class and my perfect attendance award is going down the tubes. On Monday I had brought home a chicken to practice dressing and quartering (part of the Level 2 practical), so I thought to make it for lunch on Friday. I got the chicken quartered, browned, and into the oven and then got pulled into meetings and that chicken sat on the kitchen counter until I left for class, and even after I went to class. Friday evening we start desserts with cremes. I used to love dessert. I used to be good at dessert. Culinary school has taught me I need far more practice that I thought possible, and certainly more than I have time for these days.

I set my alarm for 5:30 AM to give myself time to clean up the kitchen and pack before the 7 o'clock Amtrak to Boston. I roll over. It is 6:27. If it had been 6:35 I would have given up and not gone. But give up with 33 minutes to wake up, pack, and get to Penn Station? No way! So, in my pajamas, I pull the suitcase off the top shelf, throw in anything lying around, and run out the door at 6:35. And I mean RUN. I am sweating by the time I reach York and hail a cab. I hold my breath until I reach Penn Station, pay the cabbie, and continue my run down the escalator (I am thankful I didn't do a nose dive), from 7th to 8th Avenue underground, to the ticket kiosk. The kiosk will NOT print my ticket. It is 6:55. They are going to close the doors of the train and the train is going to leave with out me. I bolt over to Customer Service and attempt to cut the line by ducking the red (metal) velvet rope. The rope catches my backpack and the whole thing falls over on me. But do I stop? No. I get my ticket and get on the train as it is pulling out of the station.

Still sweating 30 minutes later, I open my suitcase to see what I packed and what I might be able to work with for the evening. The clothing selection is OK, but I do not have any toiletries. Lucky for me, the wonderful Westin hotel gives them for free and delivers them to your room! Within five minutes of calling the front desk to inquire the price, and finding out there was no price, a nice man delivered a whole bag of goodies (including nail polish remover!) to my room. Thank you Westin. You have a new, very loyal customer.

Sunday night we return home to a very smelly kitchen, because Friday's chicken lunch and all of the dishes used to cook the chicken are still sitting on the counter.

So Monday flies by, Tuesday I head to Washington to prepare for Wednesday. I stayed Tuesday night in the Sheraton there, which was quite unpleasant and lonely, but getting to bed at 8:45 PM was a beautiful thing and I was totally refreshed and ready for a work out on Wednesday morning. The meeting went well, but facilitating for 8 hours was pretty exhausting, so at 4:30 my team went for a glass of wine in our office lobby. Then I caught the Amtrak back to New York.

On Thursday I finally saw Michael again.

Friday I was refreshed. A day off actually did me good, I thought. It was a great day of delicious quiche and tarts that made up my and Michael's breakfast and dessert for the weekend, and made the doormen very happy. Saturday and Sunday were full of errands, but we did manage to have some fun on Sunday. We started the day with pastries (only one each since we are both on diets) and then drove out to Connecticut. We went wine tasting on a Travelzoo Local coupon I purchased for White Silo Farm and Winery. It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time tasting White Silo's wines. They make very interesting, very good wines from fruits and vegetables, believe it or not! The rhubarb and rhubarb semi sweet are my favorite. We had a nice walk through the farm fields, a picnic lunch in the winery, and then went driving through Connecticut.

We discovered some really delicious chocolatier in Kent, CT. Belgique. Absolutely worth a stop, or maybe even a trip. Priced at $65 per pound, you better not show up hungry.

We also found a possible location for Whit's End. The beautiful Chapel Hill at Blueberry Farm... at the base of the Connecticut Wine Trail. We are always finding "possible locations", but this one is special. So special. And so beautiful. sigh.


Then Monday. More pastries. Two awful genoise cakes - on the first I used AP flour instead of cake flour and the whole thing deflated and was like a brick, on the second I didn't butter the pan sufficiently and the cake would not come out. Even after using a knife around the edge (a pretty big no-no), it would not come out. I pulled it. Still stuck! Finally, piece by piece the cake came out. I had to rebuild it. Then? Lumpy pastry cream. Finally, and I think this is going to come back to bite me today, broken puff pastry.

I have got to get it together. I have to reset my "clocks" - my everything!

So today I woke up before 8 AM. Sounds late, for most people, I know. But I am one of those people that needs at least 8 or 8.5 hours of sleep... actually, maybe I need 10. Either way, I got up. I went for a 5 mile run in Central Park. I observed that the trees have finally begun to change color here in New York. The lake looked so beautiful reflecting red and orange leaves in the early morning sun. It is going to be another beautiful day. I can already tell. And I am a new woman. Well not new, actually old. But I am getting back to a place where I will run my life. My life will not run me....

Well, not until I start cramming for the Level 2 Exam, Practical, and ServSafe Exam... next week.

Pumpkin Pie

I have been looking all over for a pumpkin pie recipe that utilizes fresh pumpkin flesh. A whole month ago Michael and I went to North Fork on a wine adventure and picked up an $8 heirloom pumpkin. I also picked up one of those little inexpensive pie pumpkins at Agata and Valentina. I know that pumpkins are supposed to last a while but I started getting worried that my $8 pumpkin would end up in the garbage instead of my stomach. 

I went to yoga on Sunday morning at my new favorite and reasonably priced yoga studio (YoYoga). It is about 20 blocks away, so I like to run there and home for a complete workout. On the way home I passed a bodega that was selling small pie pumpkins. I realized that one of the pumpkins had six or seven stickers explaining how to make a pumpkin pie..... so I tore off the sticker and kept running, a bit faster just in case the bodega owner ran after me. 

When I got home, out of breath from outrunning the imagined bodega owner, I realized that this pumpkin pie sticker recipe was not particularly detailed or useful. But I was determined to make the pie as I have never made a pumpkin pie before and I already went through so much effort! Also, since I have gotten into a weekend routine of making pie.... I have also started a potentially bad habit of eating leftovers for breakfast. What would I eat in the morning if not pie?

So I sliced and seeded the pumpkins, put them on a cookie tray, and baked them for what seemed like forever. I removed them from the oven when they were easily pierced and peeled with a fork. Some were done in approximately 45 minutes (the slices from the smaller pumpkin) and others took almost two hours! I pureed the pumpkin in a food processor while it was still warm. I decided to go back to my Joy of Cooking cookbook (my new weekend friend for pie recipes) and substitute cooked, pureed pumpkin in place of canned pumpkin. I used cream and milk instead of condensed milk. The finished product was a fluffy, flavorful pumpkin pie. 

Michael gets the first slice of pumpkin pie... his favorite

What about this is appetizing?

Level Two Days Four and Five. Offals (organ meats) and Farces. More things that I will NOT serve at Whit's End. ... I know these are meant to save money/make money on typical "waste" products, but... who wants to order this crap anyway? And then, if you spent the resource to make something out of nothing where there is no return because your customer isn't interested.... you're more behind than you were in the first place.

The Offals evening consisted of lesson on giblets (poultry heart, liver, and gizzard), head cheese (see photo below), lights (cow or sheep lungs), sweetbreads, trotter, tongue, testicals... should I continue? Recipes included kidneys, liver, pan-fried sweetbreads, lamb (ended up being cow) tongue... etc.

Per Chef, Kidneys are "Like a bad night at Penn Station". Hmmmm.... enough said? No. Wait, one more thing to share... and then I am done. I promise.

Head Cheese

 Decide for yourself.

Braised Lamb Shank .... a delicious Saturday night dinner for Michael

Level Two Day Three focused on mixed cooking techniques. The Classic Culinary Arts Level 2 text book explains, "A braised dish (un plat braise), or braise, differs from a stew (un ragout) in that a stew uses more liquid and is mostly utilized with smaller pieces of meat and vegetables, as in a ratatouille." These techniques are very new to me. The only mixed cooking dish I made before entering culinary school was Boeuf Bourguignon by Julia Childs from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. A slightly adapted version is available here online.When I made that Boeuf Bourguignon I did what the recipe asked and it turned out alright, though I didn't really understand what the recipe was instructing.

On Wednesday we had two recipes -- braised lamb shank (jarret d'agneau braise) and rabbit ragout with vegetables and pommes puree. From the looks of these recipes and the types (rabbit?!) and cuts (shank?) of meat, I was slightly turned off. But these recipes were both fantastic! Yes, I just said that rabbit was fantastic! It is kind of like chicken, but a bit more meaty and flavorful. Also, the pommes puree turned out almost perfect.. Chef said, they were "delicious". His word this time, not mine. The secret to delicious potatoes in a restaurant? A LOT of cream, milk, and butter. Let me clarify "A LOT". We used two potatoes for our pommes puree. I added over 4 oz of cream, over 4 oz of milk, and over 4 oz butter. A delicious concoction? For sure! A wonderful dinner for a culinary student.

Rabbit Ragout with Vegetables and Pommes Puree

I am tired... and it is only dinner time!

Next, we finished out the lamb shank. We plated it on top of some lemony currant polenta.

Jaret D'Agneau Braise

This was absolutely a class of first experiences for me. This was the first time I worked with rabbit, or lamb shanks, and couscous  -- I grew up in a a steak and potatoes or lamb and rice or something and pasta home. When I moved out on my own I didn't feel the need to fix what worked. Now I realize that there are so many other options! So when Chef said there were extra lamb shanks and we were welcome to take them home and practice, I ran over to the fridge and grabbed myself a couple -- free dinner for Michael and me.

Saturday night, I made these lamb shanks again... they were so easy to get in the oven and it was nice to have some time to sit and relax and have a glass of wine with Michael before dinner!

Lamb Shanks ready to go in the oven

Dinner time! 

I used a couple variations here based on what I had in the house...  I quickly cooked some asparagus, made pumpkin rosemary couscous with some pumpkin I had cooked for a pumpkin pie, and chopped some leftover beets from lunch and tossed them on top. The finish took less time than it took me to reduce the sauce. The timing was perfect. It was terrific! This really worked out to be the most flavorful, colorful, wonderful meal.

Next time you have still fresh leftovers try tossing them in your standard recipe for something new. Let me know how it goes! As Chef Greg would say, "Great success or horrible disaster?"