Recipe: Spicy Chickpea Stew with Roasted Cauliflower

Apartment Therapy recently ran a link to our tip about how to make fluffy couscous. One of the pictures in that story showed a spicy chickpea stew over the couscous, but with no details. Anyhow, folks over there were asking for the recipe, so we put it up over there as a guest post. I make this often for dinner parties because it is hearty, satisfying, and doesn't require any last minute cooking.

Recipe: Roasted Purple Cauliflower with Sherry Vinaigrette and Fried Capers

Yep, purple cauliflower. We were invited to a somewhat impromptu potluck the other day, and I was going to make an orzo gratin with a saffron cream sauce to use up the pasta from Thanksgiving, but then Sarina told me that the host was making pasta. I got off work at 2:45 and we wanted to leave for the party about 4:30, so I needed to find something I could put together relatively quickly. I ran by the closest grocery that has some decent produce, and saw four heads of this beautiful purple cauliflower that I had never worked with before.

On the drive home I started to think about what to do with it. I didn't want to do a gratin with cheese or cream because I wasn't sure what the pasta sauce was going to be. I love the flavor of roasted cauliflower and my mind was still going in a Spanish direction. That set me to thinking about capers, and then the famous fried capers in the Cafe Flora Caesar salad, and then I remembered I already had a nice vinaigrette in the refrigerator that I could add sherry vinegar to.

A plan was set in motion, and I ended up with the recipe below, which I think tasted good. It definitely had big flavor, and the purple cauliflower really retained its color. At serving time I garnished it with a lot of whole flat parsley leaves for contrast and a fresh herbal hit.

Roasted Purple Cauliflower with Sherry Vinaigrette and Fried Capers
Serves 8 as a side dish
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Vegetarian and vegan

• 4 heads cauliflower, preferably the purple variety
• 1 c. jarred roasted piquillo peppers or red peppers, sliced thin (or roast them yourself if you have the time)
• 1/2 c. small capers
• 1/2 c. canola or other vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 c.  top quality extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 c. sherry vinegar
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 4 cloves fresh garlic minced or pressed
• 1 c. homemade or bought breadcrumbs
• kosher salt
• pepper
• parsley

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and use convection if you have it.
2. Take apart the cauliflower into large bite sized florets. Up to you if you want to use the stem or not.
3. Toss the cauliflower with 1/3 c. of the olive oil and a few pinches of salt, and roast in the oven. You should use two pans, but one of them can be the one you will ultimately serve in. They will shrink a lot during roasting. Check and toss them occasionally. Roast until they are quite tender and have significant brown spots. You don't have the real roasted flavor until you see those caramelized bits.
4. Meanwhile, rinse the capers, dry them in paper towel, and carefully fry them in the canola oil. Watch out for spattering! Fry until quite dark but not burned, then remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel.
   
5. Make a vinaigrette in the usual way with 2/3 c. of the olive oil, the sherry vinegar, lemon juice, and half of the garlic. Season highly with salt and pepper.
6. Toss the breadcrumbs with 1/4 c. olive oil and the remaining garlic.
7. When the the cauliflower is done, let it cool for a few minutes. Add the capers and red peppers. Start tossing with the vinaigrette, a little at a time until you reach your preferred level of dressing. I'd like it to be highly flavored but not drenched. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
8. Put back in a nice, broilerproof serving dish and cover with the breadcrumbs.
9. To serve, run under the broiler long enough to get the breadcrumbs nice and toasty, then garnish with lots of parsley.

Recipe: Delicata Squash Stuffed with Orzo in a Sage Brown Butter Sauce

Delicata Squash Stuffed with Orzo in a Sage Brown Butter Sauce

This is the vegetarian entree I brought to our family Thanksgiving celebration at Sarina's folks' house. It was based on an early version of an entree that my friend Kit was testing at Cafe Flora. The first time I had a bite of it, it just said "Thanksgiving" to me, with the warm flavors of squash and brown butter. Kit's final dish ended up with an intensely flavored tomato sauce with lots of orange zest, which is also fantastic. I chose to do this one with sage, pumpkin seeds, and dried cranberries to maximize the late autumnal flavors.

The recipe below calls for delicata squash, which is really nice to work with because it is relatively small and the peel is delicate and edible (thus the name). One half of a squash is a perfect entree size, or one quarter would be a good side dish. If you can't find delicata, you could use acorn or any other winter squash.

Full disclosure: I made this by guesstimating amounts and without writing anything down as I went, and I did 16 portions, so the recipe below isn't precise. But it should be close enough that you can fine tune it to your own preference. You can do most of this recipe a day or two ahead and just heat and garnish when you are ready to serve them. Don't be put off because the recipe has 12 steps, it actually goes together pretty quick.

Delicata Squash Stuffed with Orzo in a Sage Brown Butter Sauce
Serves 4 as an entree
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Vegetarian, vegan if you use olive oil instead of the brown butter, gluten-free if you omit the breadcrumbs

• 2 delicata squash
• 10 T. unsalted butter
• 3 leaves fresh sage
• 6 oz. orzo pasta
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 1/2 c. dried cranberries, halved
• 1/2 c. pepitas (green, hulled pumpkin seeds - or substitute chopped almonds)
• 1/2 c. breadcrumbs (preferably homemade; not panko)
• handful of fresh pomegranate seeds
• italian parsley
• salt
• pepper

1. Carefully halve the squash, remove the seeds (a tablespoon or ice cream scoop works well), rub with oil and roast in the oven at 375 degrees until thoroughly tender. When they come out, rub the inside with a little butter.
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 8 T butter and allow it to keep cooking until it develops a nutty / caramel aroma and light brown color, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Taste (carefully), it should have a caramel flavor as well. If not, you haven't cooked it long enough.
3. While the butter is still hot, tear the sage leaves and add them in, allowing them to steep for awhile.
4. Boil the orzo according to package directions, being sure to leave it al dente.
5. Drain the orzo. Strain the brown butter, add the lemon juice, and toss with the orzo. You may not need all of the butter. If you have some left, try it on popcorn or brussel sprouts.
6. Toast the pepitas in a skillet, toaster oven, or oven until slightly browned and smelling good.
7. Add the cranberries and pepitas to the orzo.
8. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
9. Mound the orzo into the squash.
10. At this point you can refrigerate them for later use, or serve immediately.
11. To serve, sprinkle on a good layer of breadcrumbs and heat in oven. If reheating from cold, start covered with tinfoil and remove for the last few minutes.
12. Garnish with the parsley and pomegranate seeds, a good finishing salt (such as Maldon), and a grind of black pepper.

Note: an even better way to do this ahead would be to make the orzo mixture without the pepitas, and wait to add them and fill the squash just before heating. That way the pepitas will retain their crunch.

Review: Tamarind Tree Vietnamese Restaurant, Seattle, WA

Vegetarian Coconut Rice Cake at Tamarind Tree

Hidden in the back of a business complex in the Little Saigon neighborhood, tucked into an impossibly overstuffed parking lot, Tamarind Tree serves up the most sophisticated and tasty Vietnamese food in Seattle, and is very vegetarian friendly.

From the moment you walk in the door, you know you've stepped up a level from most of the (often wonderful) neighborhood restaurants. The decor is sleek and modern down to the slick cast concrete bathroom sinks. The outdoor patio features a waterfall, and indoors there is a fire pit surrounded by three tables.

The menu offers many dishes you won't find at any other restaurant I'm aware of, and makes an effort to preserve regional flavors instead of turning everything into either a rice plate, a vermicelli bowl (bun), hot pot, or soup (usually pho).

The steamed coconut rice cake (banh man cu cai chay) you see above is a perfect example. The rice cake itself is soothingly warm and tender, delicately scented with coconut and topped with faux shrimp. Ignore that they are supposed to be shrimp, the resemblance ends at the visual. But they are wonderfully tasty little charcoal grilled morsels, with a pleasant chewy bite. The dish is served with vegetarian dipping sauce (like nuoc mam, but without the fish sauce), and a little shredded carrot salad. At most restaurants the salad would be an afterthought, but here is has been doused with coconut water or vinegar, providing an exciting, different coconut taste paired with the rice cake.

Vegetarians are well treated at Tamarind Tree. There are probably a dozen dishes clearly marked as vegetarian, and they are conscientious about making sure there really is no little bit of meat or fish in them. And many of the staff speak excellent English, so you can clarify any questions you might have. One small nitpick: several of the vegetarian dishes include a grilled lemongrass tofu. It is good, but it is the same in all of the dishes so if you pick more than one of them, it can feel redundant.

Today I also had the excellent Tamarind Tree Rolls, pictured below, which are the soft rice paper rolls wrapped around green leaf lettuce, mint, fried tofu, peanuts, and little crispy packets of fried wonton skin for a crunch factor, served with the same vegetarian dipping sauce.

The total for a very satisfying lunch was only $9.25. Generally speaking, dinners will run maybe 20% more than at competing Vietnamese eateries, but that is easily justifiable for the more sophisticated cuisine. At dinnertime and especially on weekends, Tamarind Tree does a roaring business, so arrive early, make a reservation, or be prepared to hang out for awhile!

Recipe: Warm Winter Greens and Bread Salad

Warm Winter Greens and Bread Salad

This morning I had leftover braised greens in the fridge, from a dish I tested last week at Cafe Flora. They became one of those delicious breakfasts that kind of get composed while the frying pan is already heating, and you don't really know what you are going to eat until you stick a fork in it.

Although I had it for breakfast, in retrospect I think it would be really nice served as a warm salad for a wintry meal. A winter panzanella if you will. Add a soup and you would really be in business.

You can put this salad together in just a few minutes of active time, and of course it is amenable to any number of flavor variations - different greens, different bread, lemon zest, caraway seeds, whatever suits your mood and pantry. Here's today's version:

Warm Winter Greens and Bread Salad
Serves 1 as a main course or 2-3 as a side salad
Vegetarian, vegan if you omit the parmesan

• 2 big handfuls of winter braising green mix (or a single green of your choice)
• 2 slices rustic white bread
• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 T. lemon juice (or 1 T. olive oil and 1 T. any good vinaigrette)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 1/2 t. chili flakes
• parmesan for grating

1. Remove coarsest stems from the greens, rinse, and put in a large covered pot with 1/4 c. of water and a pinch of salt. Cook over high heat for a few minutes and then reduce to a simmer. Check occasionally to make sure there is still a bit of water, you don't want them to scorch. Cook until they are thoroughly tender.
2. Carefully (don't burn yourself) squeeze most of the water out of the greens and chop them to bite-size.
3. Put the bread on to toast, rather darkly for maximum flavor.
4. In a skillet, heat 1 T. of the olive oil over a high flame. Add the garlic and chili flakes and sizzle for a few seconds. Add the greens and toss to coat with the oil. Season lightly with salt.
5. To serve, tear the bread into bite size chunks and put in a bowl. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and lemon juice (or vinaigrette). Top with the greens and toss lightly. Garnish with grated parmesan, a grind of black pepper, and a nice finishing salt (such as Maldon).
6. Eat right away, before the bread gets soggy.

Product Review: Vitasoy Peppermint Chocolate Soymilk

Occasionally folks send me products that they think would be of interest to Herbivoracious readers. My standard for reviewing them is the same as if I tripped across them myself in the store: if it is so good that I would want to tell a friend to go out of their way to get it, then I'll mention it.

This VitaSoy winter seasonal treat easily rises to that level. I'm a sucker for anything chocolate and peppermint, and this is a fine entry in that genre! It is very tasty either cold or hot. Of course you could make this yourself from plain soymilk, but this is so good I don't think you need to bother.

There is also an eggnog version, with a lot of nutmeg flavor, if that suits your fancy. Either one is a great option for vegans or anyone looking for a healthier alternative for the holidays.

Four. Thousand. Dollars. A. Pound.

Fresh White Truffles

Sarina spotted the news that DeLaurenti's market, a superb Italian specialty store in Seattle's Pike Place Market had received a shipment of white truffles. Oh, just one little thing. They cost $4000 dollars for a pound.

Now this isn't actually as gruesome as it seems. That works out to something like $8 / gram, and even 5-6 grams (the size of one of the truffles in the picture above) will flavor the heck out of enough pasta or eggs for 2-4 people. So for the the cost of only a middling restaurant meal, you could instead have something superb and rare at home. Maybe not so bad? Certainly one of the greatest vegetarian indulgences imaginable.

So we trekked down to DeLaurenti's, which Sarina calls "the happiest place on Earth". The folks at the counter were happy to help, allowing us to pick out our own truffles and watch them weigh them on a special little postal scale. While we were there we felt compelled to come back with housemade porcini butter (astounding), housemade fresh mozzarella, Calabro ricotta, Porcini Harvest Bread from Macrina, grilled artichokes, and a pound of fresh tagliatelle which they roll and cut to order. And some chanterelles from another store. Picture below. This is a family blog so let me just say: Oh heck yeah.

This is my first experience cooking with white truffles. I've had black ones a couple of times. There is a distinct difference in flavor. To me, the black truffles are more cleanly aromatic while the whites have a pungent characteristic a little bit like garlic. I actually think I might prefer the black truffles (and they are only like 1/5 the price), but the jury is still out.

Most of the reading I did suggested infusing black truffles into sauces, risottos and so on, while white truffles were to be reserved for grating or slicing on top of a finished dish. So that is what I tried first, the classic preparation of simply grating them on top of scrambled eggs with lots of butter. For whatever reason, this didn't do it for me. It was good, of course, but the aroma didn't send me reeling back with pleasure.

So tonight we used up most of the rest of them in a simple parmesan cream sauce for pasta. The recipe is below. The main trick is to infuse the truffle in the cream for 15-30 minutes so the flavor can fully develop. Good parmesan cheese seems to me to be one of the ultimate matches for truffles, enhancing the heady earthy flavors. The results this time were as astonishing as I'd hoped. Outrageous really.

Tagliatelle in White Truffle Cream Sauce
Serves 2 as dinner or 4 as a first course

• 1 lb. fresh tagliatelle
• at least 5 grams of fresh white truffle
• 1 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 3 oz. parmigiano reggiano cheese, grated
• sea salt
• fresh ground black pepper

1. Set a large pot of salted water on to boil.
2. In a small skillet, heat the cream to a simmer and let it reduce for about 5 minutes, until slightly thickened, and then remove from the heat.
3. Stir in most of the parmesan cheese.
4. Grate the truffle into the sauce with your finest grater (i.e. a microplane). Don't waste a hair of it.
5. Cover the sauce and let rest off the heat for at least 15 minutes.
6. When you are ready to eat, drop in the pasta and set the sauce back over lowest possible simmer to reheat gently.
7. When the pasta is al dente, drain, portion into individual heated bowls, toss with the sauce, top with a bit more parmesan, a few grains of sea salt and a grind of pepper.
8. Experience rapture.

White Truffles, Roasted Artichokes, Porcini Butter, Fresh Mozarella, Fresh Tagliatelle, and Chanterelles

 

Welcome To The Weeds

Friday night at Cafe Flora, and I'm working the pizza / grill station for the third or fourth shift. The past few times have been pretty straightforward, never more than a few things to make at a time, and plenty of slow moments when I could get my station back together and even help on prep, although the line cooks had plenty of tickets.

Tonight started out much the same, maybe even a bit mellower than usual. A Portobello French Dip here, a Purple Potato Pizza there, no stress. I was wishing I'd get a few tickets to make things interesting. Then K., the expediter says "here's a ticket that is all yours" (which is rare) and hands it to me. Three burgers, all with special requests, and a French Dip. No sweat. Those are easy things to make, you just put them on, set up your plates, and serve 'em up. Let the line cook know when you need them to drop fries. No sweat. "Michael, you need any help"? "Nope, I'm good".

Before I even got those fully on, "Fire a purple (pizza)". Ok. I can do this. "Make that two purple". Surfs up! Get out the dough, and the double pizza peel. The dough has been sticking so use lots of cornmeal. Make the pizzas. Recheck, darn, one is still sticking. Lift it up and put more cornmeal under it. First one goes in the oven fine. Second one sticks. Shove again. Bad move, it bends over on itself and catches on the oven roof. Gonna have to get it out of there and remake.

Just then "Fire two quesadillas and another French with salad". My head is now spinning. I've got a doomed pizza that needs to get out of the oven, a new one to make, plates and garnishes to set for all that other stuff, gotta figure out all the special orders, and I can't even remember what else I haven't fired yet. Don't know what to do next. Realization: this is it, I'm "in the weeds".

Every line cook has been there, many many times. Fortunately, we have a lot of experienced hands in the kitchen and they all know I'm just getting started. I'm actually proud of what I did next. Rather than trying to tough it out and getting in a position where the line cook was going to come up with all her food and I wouldn't have my stuff, I just said "ok, K. I need some help over here". K. jumped in and fixed the pizza situation and made the French while I finished the burgers and five minutes later we were buzzing the waiters and life was back to normal.

So, ok, good. It sucked to be in the weeds. The part I didn't like was that it wasn't simply that it was going to take awhile to make everything. What was annoying was that I was slightly paralyzed, unsure of which thing to try to take care of next or even what all the things I needed to do were. And of course this is a laughably small amount of orders to get in the weeds over. Experienced line cooks often have 5 times as much stuff as that fired at once, and all of it more complex than anything I was making.

But I also have to be realistic with myself. This is all new for me, and I'm going to make mistakes. With more practice I'll understand the interlocking timing of these dishes better and be able to keep the mental to-do list ticking away smoothly. One thing that works in my favor is I have a good internal timer. I know without having to watch a clock when the pizza will be just about ready, and when it will be time to flip a burger or quesadilla. So I just need practice and concentration, and it should get easier. Wish me luck...

Eat Ethiopian Tonight (Including some Seattle Recommendations)

When time turns to thoughts of lunch (for me, that is usually before breakfast), one of my first dreams is always of a good Ethiopian combo plate. If you are a vegetarian and haven't tried this cuisine, you should run, not walk! It has everything you could want: it is crazy cheap, filling, nutritious, super-tasty, and there are lots of 100% veggie options.

The basic starch of Ethiopian food is a bread called injera. It is traditionally made from teff flour, not wheat so it could be good for folks who don't eat gluten - but be sure and ask because apparently some restaurants substitute part or all wheat. The dough is fermented and then baked into big, holey, spongy and slightly sour flatbreads which can be served warm or at room temperature. As you can see in the picture above, one injera is always served under the food, as a sort of delicious plate that soaks up the flavors and is savored last. A bunch more injera are served on the side to scoop everything up.

Ethiopian food is almost always served family style, with a big plate in the middle, and you eat with your hands and the bread. Of course if you really want individual entrees and a spoon to eat with, I'm sure they'll take care of you, but a lot of the joy is in the communal meal. Naturally kids love this. The grownups are eating with their hands! Customarily you use only your right hand to eat (reserving the left for less sanitary purposes). Believe me, that is much easier to do with nice soft injera to tear than it is in India, where the nan requires a deft maneuver

As to the dishes themselves, the basic vegetarian items are usually a few types of lentil stews (wots), some mild (alicha) and some deeply spiced, long-cooked greens, cabbage and potatoes, and a salad. There are usually a few other vegetable choices, and maybe a different salad of torn up injera and tomatoes which is a type of fit-fit that can be quite nice. At least until you become familiar with the dishes, you should go for a veggie combo plate. Individual entrees are usually around 8 bucks, but the combo plate you see pictured above (at Assimba) is $11 and is easily enough for two meals (or to feed two people at one sitting).

I believe the vegetarian dishes and the injera are all vegan as well, but if that is important to you, be sure and ask.

Many US cities have concentrations of Ethiopian immigrants and their restaurants. Seattle is especially lucky in this regard. On and near Cherry Street between say 12th and Martin Luther King are at least eight options. Below you will see my current favorites. The food is great at all of them. Ras Dashen is the newest and has the nicest decor. Meskel has a lovely deck for eating outside in the summer. Assimba has great flavors and is really fast, and Cafe Selam across the street is tiny and homey, with really warm folks running the place. They also do breakfast, which is another realm of deliciosity with fascinating bowls of fool beans with eggs and tomatoes and crusty french rolls. But I digress!

Recipe: How to Make Fluffy Couscous

Fluffy Couscous - just steam it in a casserole instead of a pot

I make couscous all the time, whenever I want a break from rice or pasta, or when I just need something that cooks super quick with minimal attention. I know there is a proper way that it is prepared in its native lands, involving multiple steamings in a basket over boiling water, followed by breaking up with your fingers and steaming some more. I'm sure this is fantastic but I've always contented myself with the quick "package directions" version where you simply add the couscous to boiling water, turn off the heat, cover, wait 5 minutes and fluff. It isn't bad but it isn't all that fluffy or delicious either.

Joyce Goldstein's wonderful book Saffron Shores (about the foods of the Jewish diaspora in the southern Mediterranean) just showed me a much better way. Hardly any more work than the quickie version. The trick is that you pour the boiling water over the couscous in a low flat casserole so that the weight of the grains and water doesn't keep it from expanding. I was blown away at how much fluffier and tastier the results are. I'll never do it in the pot again. Here's the schtick:

Fluffy Couscous
Serves 6
Vegetarian and Vegan

• 3 c. couscous
• 4.5 c. boiling water
• 1 t. salt
• 1 T. olive oil (optional)

Add the salt and oil to boiling water. Spread couscous evenly in the bottom of a large  casserole so that it is in as thin a layer as possible. Add the water and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Wait until all the water is absorbed (about 15 minutes), then fluff with a fork. Enjoy! Here's a picture of it topped with a simple spicy chickpea stew with cauliflower, potatoes, and leeks.

Spicy Chickpea Stew Over Couscous

How Many Rams Could a Rambutan Tan if a Rambutan Could Tan Rams?

Allow me to introduce you to my little friend, the rambutan. Sarina brought one home for me from Whole Foods the other day. You can also find them at markets that specialize in Asian produce. I could share with you lots of exciting facts about rambutan but we'll let Wikipedia handle that. Instead I'll just tell you some of the fine things you can do with them once you track them down:

1. Use as a bottle brush for votive candle holders
2. Freak your children out by leaving one in their bedsheets
3. Dangle a string of them festively from above the windshield of your 63 Lincoln with suicide doors

If none of those strikes your fancy, you could just cut one open, remove the seed and eat it. The flavor is strongly reminiscent of fresh lychee, but a little less flowery. Juicy, fleshy and fairly sweet but with a pleasing sour undertone. I think the best way to enjoy them would be to buy a big bunch and sit around with friends peeling and eating them after dinner.

Recipe: Rice Bowl - Your Stir Fry, Elevated

I think many vegetarians have a stir-fry as their go-to dish when they need something hot, fast and nourishing on the table. Some folks are more purists who make traditional Chinese dishes like asparagus and tofu with black bean sauce, while others will throw in the whole kitchen sink of vegetables and top it with tahini-orange-soy sauce.

There is another, similar category of dish that I use as a basis for improvisation that I find offers a fresher range of flavors. In our family we call it "rice bowl". I guess it is inspired somewhat by  Korean bi-bim-bap. (And there is also "noodle bowl", inspired by Vietnamese bun, but otherwise much the same).

The basic idea is that you make a short grain rice (like Niko Niko or Thai Jasmine), and while it is cooking you make a few sauteed ingredients and a few fresh vegetables, and a quick sauce to complement them, and then take a minute or two to arrange them attractively and garnish before serving.

By keeping each of the items separate you have the opportunity to control how each one is cooked and seasoned for maximum flavor, and it is still attainable as a weeknight supper.

In the example above, the cooked ingredients are crisp-browned slices of tofu and zucchini and the raw elements are cucumbers, red onions, avocado, and basil leaves. For the sauce (more of a paste in this case) I threw some Thai chilis, garlic, green onion, sesame seed, cilantro, salt, pepper and lime juice in a mortar and pestle and gave them a rough pounding.

The thing I like about this method is that you can adapt it to just about any ingredients you have on hand in any season of the year, as long as you think about your flavor combinations. When in doubt, just stick to things you've seen paired before or that are common in a cuisine that you like.  The dish above would be pretty purely southeast Asian in style with the possible exception of the avocado, but avocado is in a happy family with the onions and chilis and cilantro, so that works.

I don't know if you really even need a recipe, but here's an outline to get you thinking:

"Rice Bowl"
Serves 4
Vegetarian and Vegan

• 2.5 c. short grained rice (I usually use Niko Niko)
• 1.5 lb tofu, or 1 lb tempeh, seitan, spicy vegetarian sausage, etc.
• 2 big handfuls each of 1-2 vegetables to pan fry (zucchini, broccoli, eggplant, bok choy, ...)
• 4 handfuls total of salad items: lettuce, red onions, fresh herbs, mango, papaya, avocado, carrots, corn, peppers, ...
• herbs and spices for making a spice paste, or a bottled sauce of your choice (sweet chili sauce works well)
• toasted sesame seeds, citrus zest, crisped bits of garlic, sliced green onions etc for garnish. Or you could go the bi-bim-bap route and top with a sunny-side up egg.

1. Cook the rice as you prefer, on the stove top or in a rice cooker.
2. Wash, dry, and slice the salad items, keeping them all separate. If you like, you could give any of them a quick pickle in rice vinegar.
3. Prepare the sauce.
4. Slice the protein item thinly and pan fry in a little oil until brown, season with salt.
5. Individually pan fry the vegetables, season with salt and pepper, or a little soy sauce if you like.
6. To serve, put about 1 c. of cooked rice in the bottom of a bowl, arrange the salad items around it, and top that with the cooked protein and vegetables, then drizzle or mound the sauce and sprinkle on the garnishes, finishing with a few grains of sea salt and a grind of black (or szechwan or balinese long) pepper.

Fresh Porcini in Italy and Seattle!

Porcini at Cafe Flora in Seattle

Depending on where you are in the world, it is fresh Porcini (aka Cepes) mushroom season. The picture above is of 21 pounds of these beauties that were delivered to Cafe Flora the other day. I couldn't stop looking at them. They were so freshly picked that the gills were practically glowing olive green. The cell phone picture doesn't really capture it, but those puppies were around 10" tall!

Below you see the same mushrooms at the market in Florence, Italy from the end of September. It was just the early part of the season there and every good restaurant was featuring them in specials. I had them on pasta, pizza, risotto, and broiled in a tin foil packet with butter and white beans at Cibreo, a spectacular Florentine establishment. The flavor surprised me, it is mild compared to the intense musky flavor of the dried ones I use to make broth the rest of the year.

Have you seen these in your area? What do you like to do with them? What is the best way to really feature their unique qualities?

Porcini at the market in Florence, Italy

Working at Cafe Flora, Part 2

(For those of you just joining the program, the internship story starts here.)

So I've been at Cafe Flora for nearly a month now, generally working 4 shifts a week. I thought it would be a good time to take stock and see what has changed since I began, and what I'm learning.

The first couple of weeks, like at any job, were primarily about getting to know people and trying not to screw up anything too badly! I did push a sheet pan into a two-sided rack without looking and knocked some papadums out on the floor, but that isn't an uncommon occurrence. I've seen a number of small accidents of this kind - mushrooms scorched, buckets of stock knocked over and so forth. Everyone is used to there being occasional mistakes and deals with them cheerfully.

Now I pretty much know all the folks that work in the kitchen and many of the front-of-house staff as well. Moving out of the "who is this new guy" phase, which is nice. Everyone has been incredibly supportive of what I'm doing, and happy to show me how to do the million little tasks that make up a day in the life of a restaurant.

There are lots of new things to learn. Where do I look in the storage room for red miso? What is the best (fastest, safest) way to empty a boiling hot 5 gallon stockpot into hotel pans for cooling? Where should I store the collard greens I just cleaned for the brunch crew? If we are out of Port in the dry storage, can I use some from the line to make this sauce? And so on.

Of course so much of restaurant cooking is knowing the good "tricks". For example, I needed to open 12 cans of cranberry juice to make our cranberry-ginger drink. Our sous chef L. showed me how I could open one and leave it upside down to drain in a china cap strainer while I opened the next one. These kinds of things help a home cook as well, but it is that much more crucial when you are cooking for hundreds of customers.

The other night I needed to make gnocchi. When I make them at home I might make 30. At Flora I helped make nearly 1000 (!) one night and then another day I made a few hundred by myself. When you do that many you become very aware, for example, of how the temperature of the dough affects your ability to roll them off the fork. When they get too warm, the tine marks kind of just mush. I also learned that I get better results by putting the piece of dough vertically on the tines instead of laying down like a log. I find this sort of experimentation fascinating.

The same is true of knife work. I'm getting a callous at the base of my index finger from the overhand grip on my blade. It isn't unusual to be chopping for 45 minutes straight if you have a lot of onions or peppers to get through. I want to work on making more consistent and accurate cuts, as well as getting faster.

In a fairly small, fast paced kitchen with sometimes as many as eight folks working at once around shift change time, and waiters and dishwashers coming in and out too, and hot, heavy, and sharp objects in constant use, you have to pay close attention. You have to be sure and say "behind" whenever you pass in back of someone, and if it is really important you shout "hot behind" or "knife behind". You make similar announcements when leaving oven doors open, putting hot trays in racks that others might grab unknowingly, leaving hot pots in the dish pit and so on. And you get used to the tight quarters. While you are chopping away, someone may need the salt from above your head or a lid from below. Depending on the situation you can either just lean to the side and keep going, or step out of the way for a second and jump right back in. Given all that activity, it is a good idea to try and gather a lot of what you need for a recipe or prep job before you start, so that you can kind of settle into a spot and not have to run around behind everyone a bunch of times.

So I guess the big thing now is that I want to transition from focusing on being able to hold my own in the kitchen to being able to do everything better and faster each time. There is a lot of room for improvement! I watch some of the other more experienced folks and they can easily start on 5 prep tasks at once, with everything mentally timed so that the pauses in one job (like waiting for a sauce to reduce) will match up to the active parts of others. I'm not there yet, though sometimes I can have two tasks "away" at once without getting myself too hosed.

This past week I started to train on the "pizza" station, which really does a lot more than pizza. On the current menu, the station has two pizzas, a black bean burger, the portabella french dip, the quesadilla, part of the plating for the coconut tofu, a hot dessert, and a handful of childrens items. There is a lot of prep  and cleanup for this station of course, but the actual last minute cooking and plating isn't that hard.

The trickiest part is that you have to work in close concert with the line cook and the expediter to time all of the dishes for a table, and you don't have duplicate tickets to work with. So you have to use reminders to keep track of what dishes you have fired, with what special requests (vegan, extra sauces and so on), and which ones you have ordered but aren't making yet, waiting for the line.  Similarly you have to understand what information the line cook needs to be able to time their half of the dance.  (Me: "Flipping my burger",  Line: "Ok, dropping fries. Two minutes on the wellys.")

Right now this seems a bit intimidating or at least challenging, but I think with a few shifts under my belt I should be able to manage it. It clearly is a step up in difficulty from the pantry station where there is not much timing and you can refer to the tickets.

So that is the brain dump of where I'm at in this process. I'm getting exactly the experience I was looking for: spending time in a professional kitchen, seeing what makes it tick, finding out if I have the ability and desire to be a part of it, doing the physical work, enjoying the folks, learning lots about food... and having a great time.