My Michelin Mission

Now that I'm done with culinary school and my externship, I've decided that I deserve a little time on the other side of a kitchen. And since its been awhile, I figure I'm going to make sure I do it right. So, I'm turning to the experts. I completed my externship at a restaurant with a Michelin star and I loved it. So maybe these Michelin folks know what they're talking about. I figured, why not find out what the other Michelin starred NYC restaurants have to offer?! On a whim, I checked out the 2011 list for NYC. I was pretty impressed that of the 54 on the list I've been to 14.

The thing is I'm in the mood for a good challenge what with all the free time I have on my hands now that I'm done school and the externship. Consequently, my new goal is to get to the remaining 40. In other words, I have a mission, a michelin mission. I'm going to do my best to tell you all about each of them!

You'll be happy to hear that I'm off to a good start with three on the calendar in the next three weeks. Aureole, Public, and Aldea. In June, I'm hoping to get to Marc Forgione and Blue Hill.

Shooting for the stars!

An Update Finally - Part III - Class Update

Class has been pretty good. I have to admit that, although I totally addicted to sugar and baking, the pastry module of school wass my least favorite semester we've had. I think perhaps its because I prefer the no frills baked goods to fancy pastries. The plating part of pastry was fun, but in general the pastry classes had a lot of down time and I wasn't wowed by most of the desserts we made. There were a lot of nights that we only made components of future dishes and no whole desserts. At the end of the module, we plated a series of desserts using some of the components we had made (including biscotti, sorbet, ice cream, puff pastry, and pie crusts). On the other nights, once we put what we were making in the oven, we'd all stand around looking at each other with an unspoken "now what?" look on our faces. In other words, everyone in the class was rather relieved when we finished with pastry late December. We did plate a series of very beautiful looking desserts:

Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta with a berry sauce, creme anglaise, whipped cream & biscotti

Banana Upside Down Cake with (melted) caramel ice cream and caramel decoration

Apple Tarte Tatin with cinnamon ice cream and caramel sauce

Lemon Meringue Tart

Chocolate Pastry Cream in Puff Pastry with berry sauce and whipped cream

An Update Finally - Part II (Christmas Feasts)

So this year, we tried a few new recipes over the Christmas holiday. A lot of them were big successes. I decided to share my three favorites with you all.

On Christmas, we made a crown roast of pork. I brined the pork in cider, water, salt and a little bit of sugar overnight and then pretty much followed the recipe for the rest of it. I really loved this, as did my dad. The stuffing needed a good deal more broth than was called for and I did cook some of it separately from the pork. I also cooked the onions with a bit more butter than the recipe called for because I love buttery onions. The only thing was that the sauce ended up pretty salty so I added a lot more broth and some water and let it reduce to dilute some of the salt. I think part of the problem was that the broth I used had a good deal of salt in it to begin with. So I'd be careful and make sure you taste the sauce as you're cooking it to make sure the seasoning is correct.

The Crowning Glory of the Christmas Table

The other fabulous addition that we'll likely make again and well we even made twice during the christmas week was pureed carrot and parsnips. This was such a simple side and it was really delicious.

My other favorite dish of the week was the salt crusted baked salmon. I can't even begin to describe how moist this fish was. Mom got an 8lb salmon that was caught the morning she bought it. Cooking the fish this way was really cool. I would definitely like to make fish this way again.

I seasoned the inside of the fish with some toasted spices (I actually would try different spices next time as I don't love coriander). As the fish bakes, the salt mixture hardens. Once the fish reached the required temperature for doneness, I took it out of the oven and then with the handle of a sharpening steel I smashed the crust. It took a good deal of force to break through the crust. The cool thing is that the salt took a good deal of the salmon bones out. This was a huge hit with the family. With the leftovers we made some fantastic salmon cakes as well.

Whole salmon baked in Salt

Both of these entree recipes and the parsnip and carrot puree are worthy of special occasions. They certainly made our holidays tastier!

An update...Finally (Part I - Marea)

I know, I know. I haven't posted in forever. It's not that I haven't wanted to, but it's just I've had a crazy few months. But now I have time to sit down and write all about the wonderful food that has filled these months! I promise that this series of updates will make the wait worthwhile. I'll start with the dinner we had for Karen's birthday in December.

We settled on Marea for her birthday. Ummm...go, go now. Everything was wonderful. It'll come as no shock to you that my sister, her husband, and I did the tasting menu. The tasting menu consists of four courses. For the first, you can choose crudo, oysters, or an antipasto. I had a mackeral crudo with butternut squash caponata and pine nuts. The thinly slice medallions of fish was so fresh and the caponata added a really nice sweetness to the naturally briny fish. My sister had the oysters (a total of six comes with the serving so she decided that she would have one of each on the menu). These oysters were so amazing that I've tried to convince a few different friends that we should take our chances for a spot at the bar just to get them. But truthfully, the most amazing thing about the oysters was that when they cleared our plates from this course they brought this little white circle on a plate. The three of us were extremely puzzled, until another waiter came over and poured hot water on top of the circle and viola. It magically grew into a cloth wet-nap for Karen to wipe her hands. Mo just kept repeating now that's class, as I sat there with my mouth open in awe as childhood memories of those little pills that became shapes flashed through my head. But don't let me get sidetracked, because the hands-down winner on this course was the lobster with burrata, eggplant, and basil. Delicately soft bites of lobster with silky burrata...worth every dollar of the $6 supplement for this dish.

The next course at Marea was the handmade pasta course. All of the pastas were extremely flavorful but had this nice, simple feeling. More importantly, each pasta had unique flavors that you wouldn't run into at your typical Italian restaurant. I had fusilli with a red sauce, octopus and bone marrow, Karen choose the rigatoni with shrimp, and Mo had the pasta with sausage and cheese. For the final savory course, we each had a different fish dish. Karen had the branzino that was cooked so perfectly and melted with buttery goodness in your mouth. I had the scallops with a chestnut ragu and porcini mushrooms. I loved the chestnut sauce with the scallops and the earthiness that the mushrooms added to the dish.

Sometimes, when a restaurant is this good, I worry that the dessert is not going to live up to the rest. Luckily, this is not the case at all at Marea. We had the Gianduja, the apple raisin bread pudding, and the pear tart. I think my favorite was the Gianduja, because I love the hazelnut chocolate combination. But, each of these desserts deserves a taste, or two, or three. After the desserts were cleared, they brought a plate of housemade truffles that were some of the best chocolates I've had in a very long time.

Since I went in December, I've been trying to come up with reasons to go back. I'm sure it won't be long before I come up with a good one. Like the oysters or the lobster with burrata or the truffles.

Feel free to help me out with a good excuse.

What I've been up to...

I haven't posted in a while because I've been ridiculously busy and have used all my spare time to catch up on much needed sleep! But I wanted to tell you all about what I've been spending my time doing. I'll start with class. I'm now just over halfway through culinary school (jeepers!), but after volunteering to assist chefs at events and spending a few weekend shifts in a small nyc restaurant kitchen, I realize just how far away from truly being a chef I am. But back to school...In class, we cooked our way rather quickly through France and have now moved on to Italy for la dolce vita. While in Italy, we're making homemade pasta every night. I love it. There is truly something about working with dough that I just love. Its meditative and just relaxes me for some reason. I try to take a good number of pictures of the final product of all our hard work in class and I wanted to share a few of these masterpieces. Plus, I figured it would be easier for me to just let the pictures speak for themselves rather than having to describe it. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure...

Normandy Day - Pork Chops with Apples in a Calvados & Cream Sauce

Alsace - Choucroute Garni - it was just screaming for a good beer

Alsace - Tarte Flambe (another day of loving dough - very similar to a pizza dough topped with a mixture of ricotta, cream cheese, bacon and caramelized onions - yes I do believe they serve this in heaven)

Plating Lessons - Scallops with cauliflower puree and braised cabbage - We practiced plating for a few lessons focusing on multiple colors on the plate, unity, and balance.

Italy - Hand-rolled lamb and mushroom ravioli with a tomato cream sauce

Italy - Hand-rolled fettuccine with tomato sauce

Now for the restaurant work. It's been hard. There's a lot to learn and get used to. First of all, it's hotter than Cabo on the line. Seriously hot. Second of all, you have to move quickly in all your tasks. Before the dinner rush, you're working hard to make sure you have all your prep work done so you don't have any worries during dinner. And during the dinner rush, you're trying to move quickly enough to avoid the tickets from amassing at an alarming rate. The speed is something I haven't quite mastered. And in my various attempts to speed up, I've managed to waste a lot more time by cutting myself more severly than I would like with anything sharp I can find, including a harmless looking peeler. The thing is though, I still keep going back and I love how much I'm learning about what goes into a dish. You'd be amazed how much has to happen for your order to come together at your favorite restaurant. I've been pretty awestruck by it. The last thing I've learned from my view into kitchen life is how young the people that cook for the city are. I mean early twenties. I'm practically a grandma in the kitchen!

Well that's the update from me! I wanted to make sure you all didn't worry...I'm still cooking and loving it!

What else did I eat in Seattle???

I love doughnuts...I'm not sure why. Well, I mean, I guess it makes sense...I am absolutely nuts about dough. When I was checking out bakeries in Seattle before my trip, I found that there was a fabulous looking doughnut spot conveniently located on our walk from the hotel to the space needle. As if we needed more motivation to go get a donut!

We each ordered two (hey we were on vacation). My choices were raspberry glazed old fashioned and frosted cake with sprinkles. Jackie had the apple fritter and blueberry cake with cinnamon sugar. I think the raspberry one was my favorite. The sweet, crunchy raspberry glaze reminded me that I don't treat myself to donuts enough! The frosted cake was good but just sat in the shadows of the other three. I really liked the blueberry cake one. It had the same flavor of the blueberry cake donut at krispy kreme but the cinnamon sugar coating elevated it far behind the competition. The apple fritter was also very good and the glaze was lovely. But trust me...have one of the glazed old fashioned. It'll make the view from the space needle ten times sweeter.

Your favorite dough-nut

I'm Crushed that this Restaurant isn't in NYC...Review of Crush Seattle

I went to Seattle this past weekend for the first time ever. I'm sure it'll come as no surprise that one of the first things I do when planning a vacation is plan where and what to eat. If I'm not familiar with the city's food scene, I check out the James Beard winners, Food & Wine recommendations, and the Best Thing I Ever Ate episode guide (which I have converted to a handy spreadsheet by location! Oh yeah and that had me at Serious Pie for lunch while I was in Seattle...a great place to stop in for lunch).

The Seattle trip was partly a celebration of a good friend from college's 30th birthday. She put her full confidence in me for our dinner out, so I wanted to make it great...you only turn 30 once despite pretending to be 30 for at least 10 years. As a result, I opted for the 2010 James Beard award winner for Best Chef in the Northwest, none other than Chef Jason Wilson of Crush.

Not knowing how jet-lagged we'd be, we decided to err on the safe side and make an earlier reservation for 6:30. Umm...I don't like being the first at a restaurant...It's just a rather awkward all the servers are staring at you feeling. But oh well, someone's got to do it right?!

Crush is in an old tudor style home and the dining room is juxtaposed in white with a modern design feel that is apparently meant to be a blank slate so the food is the main feature. It's not very cozy with no one else in it (it didn't help that the night we dined they were trying out a new playlist that sounded like a cirque de soliel soundtrack mixed in with drum & bass). But, as it filled in and the food began arriving, it became quite comfortable and inviting.

My dear friend had never done a tasting menu before (I know...basically a cardinal sin to me), and having heard me speak so lovingly about them, she was easily convinced that this was 100% the way to go. Thank goodness! We ordered and settled in for the 6 course meal with wine pairing.

It began with the arrival of a glass of Veuve Cliquot (not too shabby a start...cheers to 30!) and shortly thereafter the paired amuse bouche - A parsnip flan topped with maple syrup reduction and bacon infused creme fraiche. It was a delightful little mix of thanksgiving and breakfast that had me beyond thankful that I chose this spot. The sweet, earthy parsnip flavor and the maple were the strongest components. I loved this dish!

Some chive and cheese gougeres arrived next. I was pretty underwhelmed by these but sometimes I'm not a huge gougere fan, because I find them a bit eggy. Shortly after, the bread arrived, but I paid zero attention because our next wine, a Rose, also appeared. This is another problem with being the first...it often results in the food coming incredibly quickly. For the first three courses at Crush, it felt like a race between us and our servers to see if we could finish our food and wine before they came by with the next. Thank goodness this slowed down after three courses. The rose was paired with a small piece of fresh salmon with morels and radishes and mustard horseradish-like sauce. A good, fresh dish, but nothing that will stand out in my mind compared to the rest of the courses.

Next up was a lovely white burgundy that was just shy of being memorable, because the dish paired with it was revelatory. Hand-rolled potato gnocchi that had a semolina crunch to it with peas and corn in a wonderful light buttery sauce with fresh herbs that let the corn and peas speak for themselves. What did they say? That they were straight from the garden just picked mere minutes earlier. I would work tirelessly on a garden if it meant having this pasta dish even once a week!

I'm not entirely sure I have the words to describe what came next. It was BY FAR my favorite dish of the night and it even ranks with some of my favorite plates ever. Largely it stands out because I'm shocked at how well all the flavors worked so together. But more than anything, I'll remember it simply because it was amazing. Beautifully seared scallops atop a cauliflower puree with brown-butter currants and curry sauce topped with thin slices of fried cauliflower that added a nice texture. I took one bite of the dish and knew I was in love. The tender scallops with a nice crisp exterior, the puree of cauliflower with a very mild curry hint, and the sweet buttery-rich currants had me reminding myself to slow down and enjoy every last morsel of food on the plate. When they came to clear our plates, we had been so meticulous about savoring it that it looked like no food had ever touched either plate. Oh and it was paired with this fabulous red wine that I liked so much that I had them write the name down for me (Dobbes Griffins 2007 pinot noir).

Full, so full. Thank goodness our waiter took pity on us and gave us a nice long break before the next dish. After our break, we began with a plum and magnolia sorbet atop a sprinkling of this magical sweet green dust. I begged the waiter to tell me what it was...basil dust (fresh basil ground up with sugar). Brilliant. And I would like to take this moment to say how much I like the mid meal sorbet thing. I am a firm believer that more places should start doing it again.

Our final savory dish was a braised short rib in a red wine sauce with pureed potatoes and buttered baby carrots with a parsley pistou. I swear that there was truffle oil somewhere on this dish but I couldn't pinpoint where exactly. Regardless, this was very good but a tad too generic and wintery for me after some of the other plates. This was also paired with a red wine that was very nice and bold with the short rib.

After another very much needed reprieve from eating, we were brought our final wines - a sparkling dessert wine and a sherry. You know what that means?! Instead of us getting two of the same desserts they brought us each a different dessert! As if I didn't love this place already. The one they placed in front of me was PB&J - a creamy rectangle of peanut butter with crunchy brittle and a thin layer of chocolate with strawberry jam sauce and a housemade strawberry soda with a white chocolate straw. Beautiful plating and really nice flavors. The other dessert was a blueberry torte with a pastry cream. The blueberries tasted as if they had just been picked that day, the crust was light, and the cream was light and airy.

All in all, this was a fabulous meal and an excellent introduction into the tasting menu world. You can't dine here without leaving with a huge crush on chef wilson.