Cucina Testa Rossa

Champagne & Seaweed

Yes, you read that right, Champagne and Seaweed! If you think about it, some of the best pairings with champagne are fried, salty, crunchy food. Fried chicken, popcorn, french fries, and now....seaweed. Its salty, crunchy, earthy umami! 

Jeff Harding, that handsome guy above and wine director at The Waverly Inn in NYC, and I are hosting a cooking and champagne pairing on his IG LIVE this Saturday May 22 at 10am PT! 

If you'd like to cook along, channel your inner mermaid and join us!
Here are the recipes and places to find these savory seaweed. 

• Watermelon Salad with Lime, Mint and Nori - Superfood Seagreens
• Caramelized Onion Wakame Onigiri - The Spruce Eats
• Soft Scrambled Tamago - Food52
• Nori and Sesame Avocado Toast - Food52
• Furikake - Just One Cookbook 
  
  
• Good Eggs - Seaweed
• Strong Arm Farm

Jeff's bougie furikake popcorn ;)

Sea you Saturday! 

COOKBOOK: The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine ~The French Culinary Institute

I could have saved $40,000 and 6 months, endless cuts and burns, bad hair days, bruised egos, fashion disasters, gas that could peel the paint off the side of a barn, and having cats follow me home because I smelled like a mackerel!

As y'all know, I attended the full time 6-month culinary program at the FCI a few years ago (and yes I experienced all of the above... in abundance!) so when I saw this book come out, I had to buy it. Like James Peterson's Sauces, this book too could ballast a boat - all 500 pages! - but it is also a veritable treasure chest, a culinary Fort Knox if you will, of all things cooking. If Techniques is the only cookbook you ever purchase, you'd be set.

Techniques is almost verbatim our first quarter (6 week) curriculum. Really! Word for word, gram for gram, ingredient for ingredient. I even pulled out my notebook and compared the Sauces section. Exactly the same. Our first quarter was spent learning these 250 techniques. (Before I went to cooking school I burned water! I still do, just less often...) We then spent the next 3 quarters refining and practicing and expanding on all these techniques. So if you don't want to sacrifice 6 months and $40,000 and the above mentioned humiliations to attend cooking school, then buy this book and cook every recipe over and over and you will become an excellent cook. If you master all the skills and techniques in the book, you can walk into any kitchen (even in France!) and hold your own as this is the foundation of classic cooking and the language of the kitchen.

Hints and tips from the Deans and Chef Instructors pepper the book in every technique with tidbits such as "...cook beans at a constant low temperature and cool them in their cooking liquid. ~ Dean Alain Sailhac" or "Do not cover a chicken after roasting or it will steam and make the meat taste reheated." ~Dean Jacques Pepin". It's like getting a personal cooking lesson from some of the world's the greatest chefs. A few that I'm not sure made it into the book that will I will never for include, "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean ~Chef Henri Viain" and "What you put in the pot, you get out of the pot. ~Chef Pascal Beric" and God love them both for their dedication to their students.

Techniques teaches the 250 classic foundation techniques including stocks, sauces, soups, salads, eggs, potatoes, poultry, beef, veal, lamb, pork, fish, shellfish, marinades, stuffings, organ meats (my least favorite day in cooking school!), pastry dough, creams & custards, crepes, brioche, frozen desserts, meringues, mousses, and soufflés (my favorite day in cooking school! :) As I browsed through the book, 6 months of my life flashed before my eyes, intermittently cringing while remembering slicing off the tip of my thumb on the mandoline or burning my wrist on the convection oven and laughing out loud picturing the over-whipped genoise, splattered pommes anna, and over salted poulet roti grandmere dubbed "inedible" by the chefs.

Many if not all of the recipes in my humble little blog, such as the ones here and here, are based on the foundation I learned in cooking school. Techniques also explains in great detail terms in a kitchen, names of equipment and pots and pans (and the difference between stainless steel and aluminum, cast iron, non-stick and the benefits and pit falls of each), food safety, knifes and knife skills, and professional kitchen management.

If you want to become an great home chef or are considering or about to attend cooking school, I implore you to devour (pun intended) this book. If you learn all the techniques, or at least become familiar with them, then you will be leaps and bounds ahead of the game. Bon courage et bon appetit!

Top Chef's Star Chef Lee Anne Wong

If you have spent the past year in a Tibetan monastery (or in France without a TV), you might not have heard of Bravo's Top Chef show. For the other four billion, you have no doubt been treated to some of the most delicious drama since JR got shot. I am the above guilty party in France sans television so when I received a flurry of emails about this Top Chef show, I had no idea what they were talking about. After more than a few of these such emails infiltrated my inbox I thought I'd best investigate. It took all of three seconds on Google to realize what all the excitement was about. In spite of her busy busy busy schedule, Lee Anne graciously agreed to an interview. Click here to hear from the Top Chef herself...

The Final Exam

Chef Henri, Chef Pascal, Chef Susan, J.D., moi at graduation where we received the tall chefs toques along with our diploma

Wednesday, November 5, 2003. The final exam. Every day for the past six months, I'd been chopping and grilling and braising and flambeing and now I had to pull it all together for our final exam. Let me set the stage. The weather in New York had been miserable the previous week and I was sick as a chien (dog). My comrades-in-knives (Beverly, Michael & Michele) and I spent the entire weekend scripting out our recipes, trying to memorize them, and were up all night the two previous nights studying and wandering the meat-packing district looking for kosher food in driving rain. Don't ask.

After driving my body non-stop for six months with stress, exhaustion, and inordinate amounts of butter, heavy cream, croissants and foie gras, it innately knew the end was near and was beginning its revolt. Had it been any other sort of a test like a physics final or a French mid-term, I would have hunkered down under my comforter and not emerged until I felt semi-human but there was no way I was going to miss this. No way, Jose (who is Jose anyways?). After everything I'd been through, after all the cuts and burns and humiliation and tears, I was going to finish this thing if it was the last thing I did, and it was darn near that.

We arrived early to start exactly at 9am. 24 of us, we each drew a slip of paper with 2 recipes and a number (A1, A2...A8, B1..., C1...) out of a hat, and had approx 4-5 hours to prepare both and send them out to a panel of judges of top chefs from NYC. Not that there wasn't enough pressure or anything..... just throw in a few 4-star chefs to the mix to turn up the heat. Thank you very much and pass the Xanax. The numbers (I was A7) were listed on a whiteboard in the kitchen with the times that your specific dishes had to go out. I was relieved to draw fish and pastry recipes, as opposed to appetizer and meat as that bought me at least an hour. My first dish had to go out at 1:21pm and my second dish about 45 minutes later. I was so sick, with a raging fever, on the verge of coughing up a lung at any given moment, but was determined to get through this gauntlet.


Michele, Beverly, Michael, moi all very proud of our pate a choux swans with creme chantilly

When the clock hit 9:00am EST on Wednesday, November 5, 2003, 24 exhausted, white-coated, knife-wielding, clog-sporting culinary students charged the kitchen and set to work. I ran to my station and filled a big plastic container with ice water. I spent the next 5 minutes drinking and breathing, gathering my thoughts, walking through the recipes in my head, coaching myself to calm down, breathe, it will be fine, you'll get through this, only 5 more hours and it's all over then you can crawl in the gutter and die...and other encouraging mantras.

I gathered all the food for my fish dish, Vivaneau Cuit Poele avec Sauce au Porto (Red Snapper with Wild Mushrooms in Port Wine Reduction), organized my station, then headed into the pastry kitchen to start my pastry and ice cream base for Tarte aux Noix avec Glace a la Creme Fraiche (Walnut Tart with Creme Fraiche Ice Cream). I made the pate sablee first, wrapped it, wrote my initials on it and hid it in one of the low fridges. People have been know to swipe others pastry when theirs hasn't turned out, I kid you not! So much for my naive everyone-is-going-to-love-each-other and we-are-all-going-to-play-nice-and-cook-together assumption. Then I made the creme fraiche ice cream base and hid that as well to chill.

OK, 1 hour down, 4 to go. You can do it. Just keep breathing and drink water. You're going to die anyways, just do it after the final. I began prepping the mushrooms and snow peas, tuiles and port wine reduction. Tuiles are a monstrous pain as you have to slice potatoes very thinly on a mandoline, a torture device that scares the devil out of me having taken a sizable of chunk of my thumb off more than once and shredded another. Sorry for the visual. At least I didn't attach the picture of it, and yes, I do have a picture of it, quite a few actually from every angle.

So you place an herb in between two potato slices, brush over melted butter then place in between silpats (silicon mats) with another steel pan (or very heavy pan on top of another sheet pan) to keep them flat. The issue is you can't check on them, you have to let them cook and hopefully have done it so many times before in class that you should know when it's ready. Right? Wrong! My first batch was 1/2 overcooked, 1/2 undercooked - damn, forgot to rotate the sheet pan. I buried the rogue tuiles far down in the garbage away from the probing hands of the chefs. Round 2. Came out perfectly, the tuile gods decided to smile down upon me. Better late than never.

The chefs walked around with clip boards taking points off for messy stations, too many dishes in the sink, they even rifled through our garbage to see if we'd thrown out/wasted things we shouldn't have, exuberantly living up to their "Qualité. Discipline. Realité." motto.  

Once the mushrooms were sauteed and caramelized, the snow peas were blanched, and the port veal sauce was reducing nicely, I traipsed back to the pastry kitchen to finish the tarts and ice cream. I retrieved my pastry and ice cream base from the back of the small fridge and set my ice cream churning. Rolling out the dough and molding the tart rings, chilling them then making the batter, I was quite pleased with myself for holding it together so well and for managing my timing. My timing! Ohmigod! I looked at the clock then at my watch and it said 1:15pm! 6 minutes to get out my fish dish! OHMIGOD! RUN!

I raced back to the main kitchen, threw down the pans, fired up the burners, rubbed Chinese 5-spice on the Snapper fillets, slapped them on the pans and prayed to the fish gods. I plunged the snow peas in boiling water I borrowed from the person next to me whose dish had just gone out, fanned them at the top of 4 plates, gave the mushrooms a quick toss on a searing hot pan, placed a heaping of sauteed wild mushrooms in the center of each of the four plates, crossed 2 fillets of Snapper over the mushrooms, poured port sauce around the bottom of the plates, sprinkled chopped chives, garnished with a potato tuile and sent them out at exactly 1:21pm!

I immediately burst into tears. The tears just poured down my face. They wouldn't stop. I was just so exhausted, so sick, so relieved, so overjoyed, so everything that the emotions just flowed out through tears. Then one of the chefs said, "It's not over yet! Get in there and finish your pastry!" So I raced back to the pastry kitchen, pulled myself together, finished my walnut tart, garnished it with a scoop of creme fraiche ice cream, and a few squiggles of caramel sauce and sent it out. 6 months earlier I was saying, "I can't believe I'm here." Now I was saying, "I can't believe I did it!" The champagne popped and we started toasting.

At 2:45pm we were sent upstairs to change into a clean uniform and instructed to meet back in the kitchen at 3pm sharp. We were herded back into our 3 groups (remember, I'm A7, something I'll never forget.) and sat, as a group (!), in front of our panel of judges as they critiqued our food, yes, in front of the group! I was dreading the public humiliation and had to wait through 6 rave critiques including J.D.'s consomme that was "Michelin star quality" - no surprise that he just received a real Michelen star as head chef at Danube. Side note: I interned there during cooking school under Chef Mario Lohninger.

As the judges worked their way around the semi-circle my anxiety level shot up like a thermometer in a road runner cartoon. "Number 7", I heard. Oh God that's me! I wanted to crawl under my chair. I cringed waiting for the verbal whipping but to my absolute disbelief the chefs, including Andre Soltner and two of his former sous-chefs at 35-years-running 4-star Lutèce, told me my fish dish was perfect, as was my tart! The tears poured down my face again. I really couldn't believe I did it! I didn't give up. I didn't get scared. Well I did get scared, many times, but I didn't let it sabotage me. I didn't run off the stage, as a friend claims I do at the first whisper of success. A very unfamiliar, but very wonderful, feeling. I went to bed that night an didn't get up for 2 weeks.

After the judging I thanked Andre Soltner and he said to me that when he met me a year earlier in San Francisco he never thought I'd be able to cook like that. A back-handed sort of compliment but a compliment nonetheless and I take what I can get these days... Bon appetit!

Note: these recipes are written out as we did to study for our final. It's not the conventional ingredients then steps listing but hopefully it will make sense and give you some ideas as how to arrange those daunting recipes that go on ad nauseum for pages on end. For our purposes, the steps (1., 2., etc...) were written in a column directly to the right of the corresponding ingredients but this format doesn't allow for it so I tried to make it as easily readable as possible. Give a shout if you have any questions.

Vivaneau Cuit Poele, Sauce au Porto ~
Red Snapper with Wild Mushrooms in Port Reduction Sauce

Step 1: Prep

1. Get Pans: bain marie, 3 sautoirs (pot with straight sides), 5 sauteuse (large frying pans with angled sides), bowl w/ ice, hotel pan, rings, foil, mandolin, 2 steel sheet pans, 2 silpats, parchment paper, mip cups (mise en place cups)
2. Get Herbs, Clarified Butter
3. Preheat oven to 300F for maximes.

Step 2: Sauce

1 L Brown Stock
1 L Port
1 L Sherry Vinegar

4. Reduce stock by 3/4.
5. Reduce port by 1/2 - 3/4.
6. Add to reduced port and reduce again by 3/4.
7. Add port/vinegar reduction to the reduced stock. Put in bain marie. Season.

Step 3: Fish

4 pc Snapper
8. Portion fish into 150 g pieces. Slice in ½ on bias. Score skin. Wrap. Chill.

Step 4: Mushrooms

60 g Creminis
60 g Shiitake
60 g Oyster
60 g Portobello

9. Saute each type mushroom in oil separately in hot pan. Caramelize

1 ea Shallot, fine ciseler (tiny dice)
4 sprigs Thyme
4 cloves Garlic, smash, no germ

10. Add to mushrooms, finish cooking. Remove thyme, garlic. Hold in hotel pan.

Step 5: Garnish ~ Snow Peas, Potato Maxime, Chives, Salt

24 ea Snow Peas, a l'anglais (cooked in boiling, salted water)

11. Cook. Shock (drop in ice water to stop cooking). Cut top on angle, seeds on left.

2 ea Idaho Potatoes, peeled
8 sprig Chervil

- Clarified Butter

12. Peel. Put in water. Slice paper thin on mandoline. Lay slices on silpat.
13. Put Chervil sprig on potato slice. Top with potato slice.
14. Brush with clarified butter. Cover w/ silpat/parchment. Cover w/ steel pan.
15. Bake in oven at 300F, 20 minutes. Set aside on parchment.

- Chives, chopped

16. Chop. Plate on top of sauce at service

1 mip Fleur de Sel (mise en place cup)

17. Plate on top of fish at service

Step 6: Fish

8 pc Fish

17. Rub skin of fish with back of knife to remove moisture.

- Salt, Pepper

18. Salt, pepper flesh. Pepper skin.

1 mip Wondra Flour
1 mip Chinese 5-Spice Powder

19. Sprinkle Wondra, 5-Spice on skin

Step 7: Service

20. Warm 4 plates, 12" plates.
21. Add oil to sauteuse, heat to smoking. Lay fish skin side down. Press down on fish when first in pan. Cook 90%. Flip to finish.
22. Flash snow peas in boiling water.
23. Heat mushrooms in sauteuse.
24. Put port sauce in sauteuse. Monter au beurre (whisk in cold chunks of butter to velvety consistency and shine).
25. Plate snow peas, fanned, seeds on left.
26. Plate mushrooms in center in ring.
27. Plate fish in "X" on mushrooms.
28. Plate sauce from "9 to 3".
29. Sprinkle chives on sauce.
30. Potato maxime in slit on fish.
31. Sprinkle fleur de sel on fish.




Tarte aux Noix, Glace a la Creme Fraiche ~ Walnut Tart with Creme Fraiche Ice Cream

Step 1: Prep

1. Pans: bowl on ice, chinois, sautoir, 4 tart molds, parchment paper, blind bake beans, wooden spoon, rubber spatula, paddle, skewer
2. Heat convection oven to 350F

Step 2: Creme Fraiche Ice Cream

1 L Milk
500 ml Heavy Cream
455 g Granulated Sugar
16 ea Egg Yolks

3. Make creme anglaise.

- blanchir (whisk til lightened in color) 1/2 sugar, egg yolks
- heat cream, milk, 1/2 sugar.
- temper, return to pot, cook to nappant with wooden spoon
- strain through chinois (strainer) into bowl on ice bath, vanner (stir to cool).

500 g Creme Fraiche

4. Stir in creme fraiche w/ rubber spatula.

Step 3: Pate Sablee

250 g Flour
90 g Confectioners Sugar (10x)
pinch Salt

5. In kitchenaid w paddle, combine flour sugar salt.

150 g Butter, cold, cubed
2 ea Egg Yolks
1 T Vanilla Extract
1-2 T Ice Water, if needed

6. Add in butter, mix to sandy texture.

7. Add yolks, vanilla extract. Mix til solid. Flatten, wrap, rest, chill.

Step 4: Dough

8. Roll out dough to 1/4" thickness. Cut with ring mold.
9. Mold dough into tart pans. Freeze for 5 mins.

Note: If ice cream is ready, now scoop onto plate and cover.

Step 5: Walnut Filling and Tarts

200 g Chopped Walnuts

10. Lightly toast in oven. Chop.
11. Blind bake tart crusts w/ parchment, beans at 375F, 7-10 mins

2 ea WHOLE EGGS (I capitalized this because when I made this during class I wasn't paying attention and only used egg yolks and my tarts were a disaster!)
70 g Granulated Sugar
100 g Creme Fraiche

12. In kitchenaid, combine eggs, sugar, creme fraiche. Don't overmix.

60 ml Grand Marnier
45 g Butter, melted
75 g Brown Sugar

13. Add. Mix well.
14. Put 1 layer of nuts in tart pans.
15. Pour in filling 3/4 up sides.
16. Bake 375F, 15 - 20 mins.

Step 6: Service

Get 4 - 10" plates.

- Apricot Glaze

17. Brush with Apricot Glaze (In cup, add glaze, water. Microwave. Strain.)

- Caramel Sauce

18. Place drops on center of plate to anchor tart. Plate tart.

- Chocolate Sauce

19. Alternate chocolate, caramel sauce dots around tart.

20. Run skewer (paring knife) through dots.

4 scoops Ice Cream

21. Scoop ice cream on center of tart.

And after that, a big whopping Bon Appetit!

Also posted here: KQED Bay Area Bites

Merci Chef Auguste!

Brown veal stock is the foundation of this port sauce

Last week I prattled on about consomme and how to make consomme from stock to finish but a few people wrote me asking just how to get from start to stock. Stock (les fonds), also known as boullion or broth, my friends, are nothing less than the foundation of French cooking.

"Les fonds sont pour la cuisine, ce que les foundations sont pout la maison." Stocks are to cooking what a foundation is to a house. -Auguste Escoffier

So there you have it. Straight from the horse, er, father of French cuisine himself. It is so important that.... Click here to read more about this horse, er, key creation of French cuisine....

Manger! Boire! Vivre! ~ Eat! Drink! Live!

Wise words to live by indeed, as well as the theme for this year’s 19th Annual James Beard Foundation Holiday Auction & Dinner. French chefs from around the world were on hand for this “Celebration de la Cuisine Française” at The Essex House in New York City. Click here to feast your eyes....

I loathe SuperShuttle!

I don’t mean to complain but this is getting ridiculous. Really. I am sure there are worse stories than mine, much worse, but I need to vent...  I loathe SuperShuttle. I really really really loathe them, them and their ubiquitous blue vans crawling about the city like cockroaches. So where does such enmity come from, you ask? Well, let me tell you.

I had a 9:30pm flight out of JFK and having blown the budget on meals decided to be prudent and take SuperShuttle ($19). I would have taken the subway ($8) and cool new airtrain but I overpacked, comme toujours (as usual), and knew that schlepping my beast of a suitcase up and down flights of stairs would wreak havoc on my back. Had I known what was really in store, I would have walked to the airport...but I digress...

I reserved a place on the 6:20pm shuttle as the agent said to plan on an hour to get to the airport. The longest it’s ever taken me to get to JFK was an hour and a half on a Friday afternoon of the 4 of July weekend. 6:20pm, no problem. Or so I thought... Did I mention that I loathe SuperShuttle? Anyways...

As I was checking out, a SuperShuttle van stopped by the hotel at 5:20pm so I thought pourquoi pas (why not)? I hopped on. I figured I’d get to the airport early, hopefully upgrade or at least get a better seat, and treat myself to a badly needed manicure/ pedicure/ neck massage. Sounds like a good plan to me. Unfortunately God, that prankster that he is, had another plan in mind as he so often does...

This driver must have hijacked the van because I spent the next three hours in hell.  I was his first stop then we headed to the heart of Times Square for a few other pick-ups. Most weren’t ready so we waited and circled and waited and circled. Circling Times Square. At 5:30pm!  Gas. Brake. Gas. Brake. Gas. Brake. An hour and a half later he had picked up two more travelers and then headed to the airport...or so I thought. 

Gas. Brake. Gas. Brake. Gas. Brake. One more Gas-Break and I was about to hurl my turkey sandwich. A half hour later we stop at a hotel downtown! And wait and wait and wait. I asked him what the you-know-what we were waiting for as I was supposed to be at the airport, uh, now!  He ran in to the hotel and a woman followed him out and jumped in the front seat. No doubt a friend...an unofficial friend that was obviously not on the official SuperShuttle reservation sheet. I was steaming.

Visions of my manicure/pedicure/neck massage at the Spa in Terminal 1 quickly vanished. I was going to have to pull an OJ Simpson (run through the airport, not kill a spouse) to catch my plane. So two hours out and I am still in Manhattan!  Lucifer (as I have now named the driver) assured me that I will make my flight and that he is headed for the airport. Why am I not buying this?  For the next hour we careened through the bowels of Brooklyn, gunning it at the green lights and slamming the brakes at the reds, passing and weaving and swerving. My temples were throbbing and my turkey sandwich was in acid reflux.

I once again began bargaining with God (never a smart thing to do). I promised him that if I got to the airport on time and in one piece... well never mind the Spa in Terminal 1, just get me there alive and uninjured. An hour later, so three hours in all, that blue van from hell screeched up at an angle to Terminal 1 wedging itself in between two limos. I flew out, grabbed my suitcase, threw my cash at the driver and ran to check in. I asked the attendant if I could have a better seat. He laughed. You see, I was the last one to check in!  Did I mention that I loathe SuperShuttle? 

It gets better...

I finally get through security, held up because someone didn’t take their laptop out of their bag! Hello!?  Unless you’ve lived under a rock the past 4 years, you know that near stripping is required to get through security and that you must take your laptop out of the bag. Anyways, I drag myself to the gate, glancing bitterly, enviously, resentfully at the people reclining in the spa, blissful smiles atop relaxed shoulders. Grrrrrrr.

I try to call SuperShuttle “customer service”. They no doubt trained with the United Airines “customer service” team as I was on hold for 20 minutes before I gave up. Either that or there were a lot of complaints that evening. I’m inclined to believe the latter. We start boarding within a few minutes. I sat down, stowed my carry on items, and fastened my seat belt low and tight across my waist. I immediately fell asleep. I guess I was a little, oh I don’t know...EXHAUSTED!

As we are taxiing to the runway, I wake up. My arm is wet, as is the seat next to me. I first thought I spilled my bottle of water but then I rememebred I didn't have water. I look up to see the stewardess wedging a napkin into a crack in the overhead bin. It seems the air conditioning is leaking. She said it usually happens just before take off when the plane is warming up. Excuse me? Did I hear that right? They know about this?! Now I’m flying Lufthansa so I can’t even blame United for this bit of abject incompetence.  She places a stack of napkins on the top of the seat next to me to replace the napkin currently wedged as it becomes too wet.

I am officially in hell. Really. The van-ride-from-hell and now Chinese water torture on a German airplane. Someone please kill me. The woman in the row behind me graciously agreed to take over napkin-wedging duty for a while so I gulped an Ambien and sleep for the next 6 hours. I woke up in the City of Lights, never happier to see the Air France bus, and ready to kiss the Champs-Elysees.

But it gets better....

I am now sick as the proverbial chien (dog). Between the van-ride-from-hell, the water torture, and the sheer exhaustion, my throat revolted. I dragged myself across the street to my pharmacy and feebly tried to explain to the pharmacist that I have a sore throat, that it hurts to swallow. Ma gorge fait tres mal, il blesse pour avaler. At least that is what I thought I said. I have no idea but the look on the poor man's face did not express pity at my malaise. I pointed to my throat, made a face, tried to swallow, made another face. I think he finally got it as I stumbled out with a pack of lozenges, some nasty throat spray that makes me gag, and a serious dose of vitamin C.  Someone please wake me up from this nightmare...

Union Square Café ~ New York

While I was in cooking school I volunteered for every culinary event imaginable and I also worked at Degustibus,  the cooking school in Macy’s Herald Square (headquarters for the Thanksgiving Day Parade) assisting the chefs -- one in particular, Michael Romano of the Union Square Café.

Michael Romano and his team of cooks were an absolute pleasure to work with, no egos, fun and appreciative of the help—a rare occurance in a kitchen and a thrill for a new, deer-in-the-headlights culinary student. Someone pinch me. I had purchased the Union Square Cafe Cookbook in anticipation of this class and not only the chef but everyone on the team signed it. I practically skipped home that night.

So whenever I am in New York I always make a point to visit. After meandering through the Greenmarket,  I popped in for a quick lunch at the counter.  They had just celebrated their 20th anniversary—in restaurant years that’s worthy of a personal birthday greeting from Willard Scott himself!

and....Larry David (Seinfeld & Curb Your Enthusiasm) was dining there! ;-)  My one star-spotting for the trip....

A beautiful basket of fresh sourdough, flat bread and whole wheat sesame rolls with a bowl of sharp, chewy olives

Black Bean Soup with Lemon and a Shot of Australian Sherry (this was so good I ate the lemon!)

Roasted Butternut Squash & Mascarpone Raviolini with Sage Brown Butter and Parmigiano Reggiano
~ with a glass of Pinot Noir from Monthélie, Pierre Morey, Côte de Beaune 2001

I was going to order the Vanilla Panna Cotta with Pomgranate Syrup and Tangerine Sorbet but as I had a big dinner coming up, I thought I’d best save some room. What was I thinking!? Next time....
__________________________________________________



Union Square Café
21 East 16th St @ Union Square
New York, NY 10003
212-243-4020
www.unionsquarecafe.com

Union Square Greenmarket ~ New York

New York's first Greenmarket launched in 1976 and has grown, pun intended, into 54 strong throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island. The largest market at Union Square is open 4 days a week with up to 175 farmers participating -- all organic! It's not my little Place Monge market and no foie gras man to give me a hug and a few samples, but it's pretty darn good.

In case you were wondering where brussel sprouts came from.....



Please click the link just below to see all the pictures and info on
the Greenmarkets in New York....

High Tea at The Pierre

UPDATE Jan 2012: Sadly, I haven't been to New York City in years, well since at least 2007 when the Pierre was renovated, so I wasn't aware that High Tea has been moved to the Two E Bar/Lounge. My apologies for the inconvenience the hotel staff has incurred at my misinformation! I can't wait for my next trip to New York to experience their wonderful tradition in their beautiful new setting. It looks SPECTACULAR! My mouth is watering thinking about that little scone, creme fraiche and lemon curd :) If you get there before I do, which is pretty likely, please drop a note below and let me know how it is! Here are a few pictures the hotel sent over from the new High Tea. I <3 NY

      

Below is my post from November 2005:



High Tea in the glorious Rotunda at The Pierre is a treat indeed, one kindly bestowed upon me by a friend that I met while cooking for her and her entire family this past summer at a certain swanky chateau.  The Rotunda is famous for its trompe l'oeil murals as well as it's Rotunda Tea, a traditional English afternoon tea, served every day from 3:00pm to 5:30pm. While catching up on the past 6 months, we snacked on egg salad, cucumber, chicken wrap and salmon finger sandwiches. Moving from salty to sweet, we savored buttery moist scones with fresh strawberry jam and creme fraiche. And for the crescendo, petit-fours of raspberry tarts, financiers and chocolate eclairs!  All while sipping a fragrant, passion fruit tea. Lovely.

The Rotunda at The Pierre
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The Pierre
Fifth Avenue @ 61st Street
New York, NY 10021
(212) 838-8000
www.tajhotels.com

Gramercy Tavern ~ New York

After a luxurious afternoon of High Tea at the Pierre, Gerrie and I walked the 40-some blocks, to work up an appetite of course, to Gramercy Taven window shopping along the way. The Country Music Awards were the next night so in swanky store after swanky store, parties with people in big hats and bright eye shadow were getting under way. We did see some great shoes though.

I'd never been to Gramercy Tavern so I was stunned when we walked in from the cold night air. I felt like I'd just entered a very luxurious mountain lodge, one with a roaring fire in a huge stone fireplace and skiers apres-skiing. The most delicious smells from their open wood-burning oven and grill wafted throughout the restaurant and enveloped you in warm convivialité. All I needed was a pillow and blanket to be more relaxed and comfortable.

Our server, Remington or Preston, or some such name, was very congenial, though he talked a bit the way those people who pronounce the ski town Gstaad (sh-tod) with clenched teeth and was a tad formal (read: affected), as though he should really be serving at per se rather than pandering to the bourgeois. That aside, a very fun evening with a good friend and food that was creative but not too over the top and unmistakably delicious. I didn't want to leave which I guess is the ultimate compliment.

We started with an amuse-bouche of celeriac and spinach purée (at top) and a 2002 Unti Syrah that Remington/Preston(?) recommended. It "needed to breathe", as Gerrie diplomatically critiqued upon tasting. Though as the night went on it did indeed mellow and melded smoothly with our dishes. I got a little carried away with the color adjustments hence the deep purple hue... ;-)

I selected the Autumn Tasting Menu which began with a Torchon (slice, but literally it means towel) of Foie Gras with Quince, Hazelnuts and Mint. Whenever I can, I order foie gras, especially since I will soon be illegal in California, thank you Ah-nold.



Langostino with Artichokes, and Autumn Truffles followed and this was delicious. The broth was foamy, light and the langostino was succulent, not dry or overcooked at all the way so many shrimp are served. I love slicing chives, for some odd reason. I loved the perfect tiny circles they formed and the way they looked sprinkled on a dish. It's the little things.....



Sea Bass with Swiss Chard, Chanterelles, Lemon and Cardamom I {HEART} Sea Bass and this was no exception and though the foam is a bit overplayed, like Brittany Spears on AM radio, I do love the little chives. The chanterelles were chewy, earthy - a great combination with the swisschard and lemon.



Bacon with Quince and Mustard Seed. To be honest I was a bit scared of this at first. It appeared fatty and odd. But one bite and I was converted. The sweet and savory mustard-quince sauce complimented the tender, moist bacon.

Rack of Lamb with Savoy Cabbage, Cauliflower and Dates. Like foie gras, I love lamb and order it whenever possible. Cooked perfectly pink, paired with seared cauliflower and sweet pureed dates in a "light" cauliflower-cream sauce, a delicious combination.

Chocolate Tasting Dessert Chocolate gelato on a crumbled chocolate cookie, a chocolate mousse cake and a chocolate tart. Chocolate three ways - how can you go wrong? My favorite way to eat dessert, a sampling, a bite or two of each, rather than an enormous slice of thick chocolate decadence of which one can only eat one or two bites before you want to assume the fetal position under the table. But I digress...

Gerrie selected the VegetableTastingMenu so we could try a little of each. She started with the very visually stunning Tapioca with Basil Oil topped with a Shortbread Cookie and a Passion Fruit Sorbet Quenelle. I love passion fruit anything and the basil oil swirled with the tapioca and the shortbread cookie was a melange of tastes and textures from the creamy tapioca to the crunchy cookie to the cold ice cream and back to the tepid tapioca.

Eggplant Napoleon with Piquillo Peppers and Lemon

Penne with Savoy Cabbage, Cranberry Beans, Autumn Truffle and Parmesan Pasta and truffles in a truffle-parmesan-cream sauce. Stick a fork in me, I'm done!  Earthy truffles and the tangy parmesan sauce with the textures of beans and pasta was incredible. Yes, I could have bathed in it.

Roasted Beets with Wax Beans, Garlic Chips and Chervil I know some of you out there hate beets, I know, I used to be one of you, but anymore! Years ago I attended a political fundraiser catered by Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard and the starter was a beet salad of a rainbow of sliced beets in a raspberry vinaigrette. At first I made a face but oohs and aaahs and ohhhs around me convinced me to take that first bite. That was all it took. The fat lady sang. I was a beet lover.

Mushroom Tart Tatin with Mushroom Foam and Pickled Mushrooms I didn't try this but Gerrie said the mushroom tart was delicious, earthy, wonderfully caramelized, crispy pastry but the foam was too much and the pickled mushrooms too strong.

Raspberry Tasting Dessert A raspberry napolen paired with a raspberry pastry cream cannoli in a tuile with fresh raspberries. A sweet, light, refreshing way to end a perfect evening.

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Gramercy Tavern
42 East 20th Street
New York, NY 10003
212 477 0777
www.gramercytavern.com