The Sounds of A Restaurant Kitchen

I had an interesting experience yesterday. I was in the kitchen at Cafe Flora, pureeing the lentils, onions and pecans for our pate platter and feeling vaguely irritated with myself for choosing a messy way of dealing with the several batches that needed to go in the robocoupe (a big food processor). I was tired at the end of a long shift and ready to go home and catch a nap before Mini-Me was up and ready for an afternoon of fairy-fireman-spin-dancing. (You'd have to see it for yourself).

Anyhow, I turned off the robo, and suddenly I heard every sound in the kitchen at once. It was one of those strange moments of hyperawareness. Behind me to the left, in the dish pit, I could hear plates banging, the dishwasher running, and accordions on Spanish language radio. In front of me, the brunch crew was prepping for the weekend and the radio was playing the Decemberists on KEXP. From my right came the whing-whing-whing sound of the big Hobart mixer straining to grate parmesan cheese, while a few feet farther was the low whir of a KitchenAid mixer churning icing. And behind me on the right I could hear the crackle of sauteeing while the line cook called orders to the pizza station and passed plates to the intermittent stream of servers coming in and out.

The funny thing was that rather than making me grumpier, all the noise completely lifted my mood. I could feel the whole rhythm of the kitchen as we went about our various tasks, wrapping up lunch service and preparing to hand off to the dinner crew. I felt my sense of place in the larger organism that is the restaurant and it was comforting.

Isn't it cool when those little spiritual moments sneak up on you from nowhere?

[where: 2901 E. Madison St, Seattle, WA, 98112]

Cheese and Grapes Four Ways

Cheese and Grapes Four Ways

I'm not really sure what got me on this track. Probably reading the completely insane El Bulli book that Sarina got me for Hannukah, although I certainly don't mean to invite any comparisons! Anyhow I was thinking about how many different forms grapes can take, and that made me want to pair several of them with cheese on the same plate. And then I've also been germinating ideas of dishes that combine or contrast industrially processed and "normal" foods. Not necessarily in an ideological way, not to make fun of the processed food, but just to let it speak for itself.

Anyhow, here is what I came up with for a first try:

1. Feta with quickly sauteed grapes, olive oil, and fennel pollen
2. Morbier  with cubes of wine gelee (made with agar agar so as to be vegetarian)
3. Shards of pecorino romano with 15 year aged balsamic vinegar
4. Kraft singles with Welch's grape jelly on a Ritz cracker

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Jewish Christmas Tamales

The Christmas season is a funny time of year for us Jews. Hannukah was a couple of weeks ago, so now while everyone who is Christian is running around buying last minute gifts and then settling in for family visits, we're mostly chilling at home and trying to figure out how we can survive without an espresso bar for two days. Visit a Chinese restaurant on Christmas night and you'll find it full of Jewish folks polishing off big plates of mu shu.

Anyhow, I look at all this time off as an opportunity to take on cooking projects that are bit more labor intensive than usual. So when we were figuring out what to have for our weekly family dinner with my brother and his girlfriend and her brother (visiting from DC), tamales seemed like just the thing. And then while flipping through recipes on the web, I found out they are traditional Christmas fare! So I think we might have to make it our new Jewish Christmas tradition.

This is only my second time making them, and I stuck with Rockin Robin's excellent pictorial directions that I used last year. Of course I made my own vegetarian fillings, but she shows you just how to mix the masa, make the tamales, roll them, and steam them. The only thing I would add is that you should aim to spread the masa fairly thin on the corn husk so it doesn't overwhelm the fillings and the filling itself should be slightly saucy, not too dry. The MaSeCa brand of masa harina she recommends definitely has a better corn flavor than the health food brand I tried this time, I'm switching back next year.

I made two fillings this time. I can't really give you recipes for them since I didn't write anything down, but the first was roasted portabella mushrooms in a red mole sauce, and the second was roasted and peeled poblano peppers with corn (frozen), onions and cheddar cheese. We had them with refried beans, guacamole, and a delicious salad that girlfriend's brother made with honeycrisp apples and a stellar blue cheese.

If you go to make them, figure about 3-4 tamales per person, but you may as well make extra. They reheat easily in the microwave and freeze well. In fact I think I need a leftover poblano one right about now.