Where do I even begin? About 2 weeks ago I started Skills 2 (which is really skills 1 continued- same class, same room, same chef). Each day we built upon the next day until we finally started making our own meals- but the trip to that day was an adventure.
The days that mainly stand out to me were fresh pasta day, rice day, and egg day. Fresh pasta day, I wish I could have brought my camera for the blog. The simplicity of the art and the ease of it astounded me- more people should make fresh pasta. The dough is simple enough to remember: 1 pound of pasta you want: 1 pound of flour you use: 9-10oz of liquid (what ever liquid that may be!). For example a classic ratio for 5 pounds of fresh pasta would be: 5 pounds of flour: 25 oz of whole eggs (roughly 14 eggs): 25 oz of water. Now of course no one at home would ever use a recipe so huge but hey 5 is a relatively easy number for me in math- so take it or leave it. Then the best things in life I realize are made with your hands (remember this for later on in the blog). With memories of play dough everyone started mixing and kneading the pasta dough until tough and smooth. After the dough rests for a gracious time it is rolled or cut into what ever shape you please. For different colors you can add steamed spinach to the beginning dough, tomato paste, anything. In fact as the dough was rolled thinner and thinner chef folded a simple basil leave
into the dough, rolled it thin again, and cut his pasta in a beautiful circle, having the basil leaf be off center and cut off. It reminded me of the age and grace of fossils but its delicacy was visible.
Rice day was full of the pilaf method and risotto. Now by some amazing grace, my pilaf came out perfect and as fluffy as can be. My risotto, although the taste creamy and deeply rich like most risottos, came out a little over done. Risotto is suppose to be
al dente. This term I want to use lightly because it seems like any Average Joe with a webcam who considers themselves experienced in the food world use "al dente" to describe salad. This is wrong. Al dente means "not done" or "with a bite" and applies to food that are delicious with a bit of chew (not a crunch!) when eating. Risotto and pasta are most famous for being "al dente". In fact, "al dente" is not even properly used with risotto; risotto has its own word that means "al dente" it is "al onda".
Egg day...the "D" days of all days. You must understand my fear with eggs. Ever since I was a little girl, I've preferred my eggs mutilated, browned to a crisp, ruined. I think it tastes good. The very thought of wet eggs puts a horrible cringe in my body. I remember the day I was forced to try a poached egg for eggs Benedict. I filled my water class to the brim, ready to chug it down, but after the first bite I needed no use for it. It was delicious and I fell in love with sunny side up and eggs over easy. That was fear one: I had to make wet scramble eggs for my grade. Fear two....to flip the egg. I make eggs over easy for myself at home all the time...with a spatula. Now these.....5? weeks my subconscious was watching, in envy, my more experienced class mates flip food in the pan, while I stirred with my wooden spoon. When no one was looking I'd give it a try and either accomplish nothing or spill food everywhere. Today....egg day....it was apart of my grade to flip one "single" over easy and one "double" (two eggs one pan) over easy. My terror of this was unspeakable. My first fear- wet scrambled eggs- was a cheat. I saw chef was not eating any of our product today so I decided to give my eggs a
little longer in the pan. However, if we didn't flip our daily grade was gone. So as I stand in front of my burner (more to the side because a shorter girl had the front) with two hands gripping the handle as my little egg waiting in the pan. I swear it was a movie moment- too obnoxious for anyone to see- but definitely cinema worthy. I jiggled the pan to see if my egg moved, and it swirled around nicely. Next, with two hands I grip the handle of the pan, move my egg to the side, and give it a forceful push. Now... when I mean forceful...I could have been a bit more gentle. You see later on that day when I successfully flipped my double eggs over easy I only screamed because of silly fear and fear alone. But this scream that should not have escaped my lips was because my egg over easy flew a good 6 inches in the air before giving a satisfying slap onto my pan and surprisingly no broken yolk. That day I ate 7 eggs, and threw out a good 5. I still haven't been able to enjoy a good breakfast since.
As skills progresses on we make our selves full meals and the class gets a little tougher, but no meal was ever as delicious as yesterdays. Yesterday we made sauteed trout meuniere with a lemon brown butter sauce, wild rice pilaf, roasted Brussels sprouts, and glazed carrots. The meal in whole made me realize how cooking really means attention to detail. I left my trout in the pan, despite all instinct to flip it, to achieve perfect crisp brown sides and a moist flesh inside. My wild rice pilaf was removed from any access liquid to reduce, then poured back in for a more intense flavor, the Brussels sprouts roasted until brown coated in bacon and butter, the carrots perfectly cooked and still warm with a sweet chicken glaze poured on top, and a hot sizzling browned butter with lemon squeezed in for a frothy, tart, perfection. It was easily the best meal I have enjoyed here at the CIA, and my ability to identify how to improve it while I was eating, gave me satisfaction of growth.
