Big Boys and Girls Do Cry

Ok, I love onions. White, Red, Yellow and especially Vidalias. The flavor they add to anything they're in just makes me happy. In my onion soup at the Cafe at Middlebury Consignment, I use 14lbs of sweet onions per batch! What I don't love, is that they make me cry. I cry like a little bitch!!!!! In culinary school, onions were among the vegetables used to teach us new aspiring chef's knife skills. Chef Bru, who was my hero, was the one to teach us the proper way to handle onions. He was a tall guy from Jersey who sort of reminded me of Dennis Leary. He was funny, talented and he could kick your ass. So, when he was demoing chopping onions and he started to cry, I was shocked. In my novice head, I was convinced that tough guy like Chef Bru was immune to the tear gas produced by onions. It turns out, he was human like the rest of us. All the students were throwing out suggestions on how best to keep yourself from getting brutalized by the attack of the onion gas; light a candle; hold a piece of bread in your mouth; cut the onion on a certain angle.... nope, nope and nope. Chef pointed out that none of those things really work and not everyone is affected by the onions the same way. He said it's one of those things you sort of have to just deal with. Someone mentioned that Paula Deen and her sons would wear goggles when they cut onions. Chef Bru looked up and said we were in a kitchen, not a pool. That was apparently all he was willing to say about that. So, if you have a sure fire cure for keeping your eyes from burning (that doesn't require goggles) I would love to hear it. Until then, I'll continue trying to badass the onions and know that I'm going to look like I was just told I could no longer eat bacon.

Let It Rest.....

Happy Summer! Tis the season for the outdoor bbq. Steaks, Chicken, Pig Roasts and much much more. I was speaking with a customer recently who was telling me about a weekend bbq that upset her. She painstakingly prepared an amazing meal and was shattered when her beef and chicken ended up dry. We went through her evening step by step and the culprit presented itself at the very end. "We got the steak and chicken right of the grill and onto the carving board and sliced it right up". I knew right there the evening was done. "How long did you let the meats rest?" I was met with an incredulous stare - "We wanted to serve it right away". I smiled and said "ah!" When protein like steak cooks, it gets all juicy and starts to bubble out. When you take it off the grill or out of the oven, it continutes to cook. Which means all that yummy juice is still right at the top. If you cut right into it out of the oven, all that juice is going to run out all over your plate and leave your meat dry. (And really, who wants dry meat ;-)) Tent your steak or chicken and let it rest for ten minutes once you take it out of the oven. This allows for the carry over cooking to finish it's job and allow for the juices to settle and keep your meat juicy. Now get out there and grill!!!!!

Go Big... or Go Home!

I've never been afraid of change, or, of trying new things. Whether it's been as major as changing my career or as minor as trying a new detergent... I'm pretty willing to give something new and different a shot. Sometimes, well, a lot of the time, it's obvious I should have considered what I was doing a bit longer than I did. However, every now and then, it turns out that my instincts were right and I get a home run. Well, at least a good solid tripple anyway! Today was the first day of cold soups here in the cafe. On my drive from Stratford to Middlebury I had time to ponder what I would make... and, I decided a strawberry soup with goat cheese, buttermilk and basil would be the recipe du jour. In my trusty vitamix went my strawberries, balsamic vinegar, fat free buttermilk and basil. In my head it made complete sense. I got lucky. It came out awesome!!! Taste tests by my team and co-workers who have NO PROBLEM with honest feedback gave me a thumbs up! However, with it being a bit colder today than last week, French Onion soup was the big hit today. Not one strawberry soup sold. I'm not deterred. I stand by my soup :-) So... I figure I'll keep taking chances and just hope they keep working out!

I.... Am A Truffle Pig

Everyone has a food item/dish that if they see it on the menu, they MUST order it. I have a select few, but, on top of my list, are truffles. Match restaurant in SONO once had a truffle pasta dish on their special's menu that I am pretty sure caused me to hallucinate. Now, here at Middlebury Consignment we sell truffle products... foodies know what they are without question, but, for those who are less adventurous, I'm usually asked to explain what they are. So, for those of you who don't know what they are, here goes... Truffles, a member of the fungi (mushroom) family, are among the most expensive and prized delicacies on earth. Their being so expensive is a result of their being so scarce and hard to find. They are roundish but lumpy in appearance and intense in flavor. They're intensity and cost are reason that they're used sparingly. In Europe, specially-trained truffle dogs and pigs, both of which have a keen sense of smell, are used to locate mature truffles buried underground. (I failed my attempt at becoming a truffle pig). The fungus responsible for truffles can only survive in certain soil conditions. The fungus attaches itself to a tree root, typically oak, beech, hazel or birch, and produce one truffle per year. Truffles go well with a wide range of foods from eggs, to steak.... asparagus to cauliflower. A simple pappardelle with a truffle cream sauce is one of my favorites. Now, truffles come in lots of different varieties and forms. Here at the store we have truffle butter, truffle oil as well as whole summer truffles. If one wanted complete ownership of me, all they'd need do is present me with a black truffle. It would render me catatonic and it would be quite simple to fit me with a collar and a leash!

The Weirdest Thing I Ever Ate.....

I love food... shocking I know. Monday's are my day off and I found myself making chicken paprikash and watching lots of television... well, movies and television. One show I love which is intersting and gross at the same time is Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern... I see the things he eats and I wonder how he hasn't died of a rare disease! However, it made me think of some of the strange things I've eaten. Moreso, it made me think of the reaction from people when I tell them about some of the things I've eaten. I think I might have had a little more in common with Andrew Zimmern than I thought! While in Zurich, my host took me out to a lovely cafe and ordered for both of us. One word in the Suisse-German stuck out in my mind but I couldn't place it and it was causing my brain to itch. Another glass of wine later and it hit me. "I THINK HE JUST ORDERED ME HORSE!"... so, as delicately and with as much class as I could muster I said "Did you just order me steak from an animal that I could have potentially named, saddled and rode?!?!?!?!" Not one of my finer moments. He assured me it was delicious and that if I didn't like it we'd order something else. My Horse Au Poivre arrives and I looked at it as though it were something from a horror movie. Then I took a bite. My horror movie turned into a love story. Now, I want you to look at yourself in the mirror at the face you're probably making. My dear friend Nanette has a horse farm and cries every time she hears I've eaten horse. I will admit I have a little guilt when I remember how tasty it was. Now, some people's icky is someone else's tasty. So, for me I was a yes on horse and a yes on most everything except maybe for tripe. So, for you my dear reader, what's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?

Organizing Your Dinner Party

When I first started throwing dinner parties, I spent an awful lot of time being excited about what was on the menu. Something with Foie Gras?! YES! Ooooh, tempura bacon! A night of cheese and tapas???? All of these thoughts plus a bottle of wine could easily provide me with a night of fun. However, what I didn't spend a lot of time on was how long it might take me to actually COOK everything... and plate it. Thank god my friends and family are kind. And patient. It was many a dinner party that didn't sit down until 10pm! The biggest complaint was my guests saying I spent too much time in the kitchen and not enough time with them. Then came school! One of the best things I learned in culinary school was time management. It's not an overnight fix, but, it's a start. Whether at home, teaching class or private cheffing, I make a complete production list telling me which items I can make in advance as well as the order in which I should make them. This helps to keep me from forgetting things. Forgetting to make bacon (me forgetting bacon, I know I know)for my BLT bites was a quick reassurance that I needed my lists. I use multiple timers and alarms. My probe thermometer that goes into the oven the same time my roast does keeps me from burning my main course! I set up multiple alarms on my iphone to keep me on track too. My last piece of advice... if you're easily distracted, limit the amount of things going on in the kitchen while you're cooking. I have a small tv in my kitchen at home and I LOVE to watch movies while I cook. However, I learned I can only put in movies that I can listen to as opposed to watch. It once took me an hour to make mashed potatoes because I was stuck in a Lord of the Rings marathon. I also can't put in peppy music. I end up dancing and singing around my kitchen as though I'm in a bad 80's montage. Catching a reflection of myself dancing with a raw chicken to Annie Lenox's "Walking on Broken Glass" was both hysterical and disturbing. I now listen to classical music when I cook.

Spice is Nice

Growing up in a Jewish home, my mother wasn't big on the hot pepper or the jalapeno's! Garlic.... rosemary... salt... pepper... they were the constants. So for me, spicy food was always something that meant burns going in and out! When I got to college in upstate New York, I discovered real "Buffalo" wings. These were nothing like the wings I'd seen before or since. When presented with a "suicide" wing, I was immediately aware of how well named these little crispy nuggest were. However, with a bit of blue cheese on them, I found it to be not just tasty, not just hot, not just juicy, but addictive. Every week without fail, we'd order our wings from Sergio's - 2 dozen wings a piece with extra blue cheese, carrots and celery. Originally for me, college was about being on my own and discovering alcohol... now, it was the quest for buffalo wings. After college, it was all about blackened food. Spicy cajun rubs for fish, chicken, steaks and shrimp. You could practically order anything blackened and I think everyone did. Then the big spice craze was wasabi. The one spice I can handle as hot as it comes is wasabi. Horseradish heat cleans my head, literally. And I LOVE it. So, now at the cafe, I've been looking to add new sandwiches and salads to the menu. My memmories of blackened spices came right back and I knew, right away, that a blackened chicken sandwich and a blackened chicken salad were in order. The sandwich gets a nice chive and key lime aioli and the salad gets goat cheese, candied pecans and a strawberry vinaigrette! We're going to have the salad on the menu this Sunday for mother's day. I may have grown up without the hot and spicy, but now, I find that it's definitely something that I can't imagine having ever lived without!

What's Your Comfort Food?

As I woke up this morning, I noticed that it was raining and grey and all I wanted to do was stay in bed... with a bowl of mashed potatoes. Yep... Mashed Potatoes! I am not ashamed to admit that mashed potatoes are one of my most favorite foods. Why do I love them so much? I think it could possibly be because of the creamy texture. Or maybe it's because I put an extremely generous amount of butter and cream in them. Or maybe it's just that I have yet to meet a potato that I didn't like! Yesterday was my day off, however, a friend of ours who is a massage therapist was coming over to help out with pinched nerves and sore muscles, and in exchange for massage, he requested fried chicken. So, 2 dozen pieces of crispy buttermilk fried chicken, macaroni and cheese and coleslaw were prepared as payment. Fried chicken is another comfort food for me. This one is easier to explain - IT'S FRIED CHICKEN! Seriously.... it's dangerously delicious. It turns out, our massage therapist lists fried chicken as his ultimate comfort food. In asking those I work with what their comfort food is, it became more exciting to find out not just what their favorite was, but, WHY it is. Linda told me that her comfort food is soup, or a pot roast. Ashley turns to her mother's special chicken dish. Jade turns to chocolate. After talking to all of them, it seemed comfort food provides comfort in many ways; texture, taste and smell which for some leads to positive memories. For whatever reason, when asked what their favorite comfort food was, they all made the same happy faces as they brought out their answers! What's your favorite comfort food?

Out of Season - Yet In Style

This week in the Cafe, I've brought back my pumpkin soup to be our "seasonal soup". Several customers over the past weekend had remarked that they couldn't wait until fall when pumpkin would be back in season. So, that got me thinking.... people do "Christmas in July" why couldn't I do pumpkin soup in the spring? Now, we have certain dishes we love that we associate with either a certain time of year or for certain holidays. For me, apples have always meant fall; watermelon was only for summer (for that matter so are Gin and tonics!); veal paprikash is for winter; chicken and asparagus are for spring. Mostly, these associations are directly related to when ingredients are in season. However, more and more products are being grown year round in warmer climates, making a lot of "seasonal food" always available. So, while I don't think that I'll be regularly serving a heavy stew in the heat of summer or a light fruit salad in the middle of winter, you may just find a gem from seasons past popping up in my kitchen every now and then. And, with so many of you having asked, listed below is my recipe for pumpkin soup - to enjoy ANY time you want! Pumpkin Soup 2 lbs large vidalia onions, sliced thin 1 lb carrots sliced thin 1 lb celery sliced thin 4 tbs unsalted butter 1 tbs dried sage 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp all spice 1 tsp clove 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 28 oz cans pure pumkin puree 8-10 cups chicken stock Melt butter in large sauce pan over a medium-low flame Add carrots, onions & celery and sweat covered for 20 minutes Add dried spices and combine well, cover and let cook for another 15 minutes Stir in brown sugar and cook for another 10 minutes Add pumpkin, mix well and remove from heat and let cool for fifteen minutes In the blender, fill half chicken stock and half with pumpkin mixture and puree in batches and return to pot. Once all pumpkin is pureed, heat over low flame and rewarm. Garnish with a sprinkle of dried powdered cloves

Dinner from the Pantry

How many times have you been too tired (or, if you're me, too lazy) to leave the house to head to the market to shop for dinner? Now, as I happen to actually love shopping at the market, it's not too - too often... but, every now and then, I find that on my way home from work, I just don't want to stop at the store. In my head, I start taking a mental inventory of what I think I have in the fridge, freezer and pantry and I start making up a menu. And every time I get home, I find the store in my head is usually much more plentiful than the one I'm stuck with! This however, is where the real creativity comes in.

This morning on my way to work, it hit me that I sold out of all of my seasonal soup on Sunday and that I hadn't ordered anything for soup for today. My reaction? Aloud I said "crap in a bucket" and then proceeded to go through my mental work refrigerator. Once again, the real refrigerator was much less full! However, there was garlic. And onions. And vegetable stock. Could it be that simple? Would it work?

So, with about 60-70 cloves of garlic and three onions spread onto a pan and then lightly drizzled with oil and salt, pepper and rosemary, I crossed my fingers and placed them into a 350 degree convection oven! Thirtyfive minutes later, I removed the VERY frangrant tray and let it cool, and then combined it in the Vitamix with veggie stock. It was delish. All day I've been handing out the recipe.

I'd like to say that I was quick enough to come up with a cool reaction about the soup but being the over excited gerbil that I am, I simply said "I realized this morning I needed to make a soup and forgot to order supplies. This is the result." Not so cool or witty, but, hey, it's the truth! Come on in this week for our caramelized garlic and onion soup!

Here's to the Ladies (and Gents) Who Lunch!

Ok, so, I have to admit, I've never been much of a lunch person. In my corporate life, lunch was that quick blip of time where I pretty much decimated a sandwich and chips between meetings. I'd like to say I tasted my food, but, I'm pretty sure my priority was to keep my blood sugar levels in place.

My friend Eric, pretty much my "brotha-from-anotha-motha" is all about lunch. Before I worked weekends, Eric would always say "wanna have lunch?" My go to plans were always meeting for cocktails or dinner... but lunch? Who has time????

Now that I serve lunch 6 days a week, I'm seeing what Eric was so nuts about in regards to lunch! Our customers come in... they sit... they are away from work, so, conversation isn't about work. In other words, a true "break" from work. And when they leave, they seem to be refreshed and ready to go back to work. (Though once we have our liquor license I'm wondering if anyone will be calling out for the afternoon????)

I had the day off yesterday and Jack and I actually "did lunch". It was fish and chips. And chowder. And I loved every minute of it! I wasn't working. I wasn't watching the clock. I was sitting, eating and loving every minute of it. It made me realize that a lovely afternoon meal can absolutely change the rest of your day! It also made me realize that almost every day, I have the awesome opportunity to change somebody else's afternoon for the better.

Now, since I'm serving you all lunch 6 days a week, I'm thinking I can still stick to the cocktail hour in order to stay caught up with everyone! Martini anyone??????

Soup's On!

So, every week at the Cafe, we have a different seasonal soup. In the beginning it was a pumpkin soup. I love pumpkin soup and really happen to love my recipe for pumpkin soup. Thankfully, our customers did as well! It remained on the menu for close to 3 months! Any mention during the winter of changing the pumpkin soup was met with threats of me losing an appendage! However, now, we're on a weekly soup. The fun part is coming up with new creations each week.

Inadvertently, I've created somewhat of a following for my seasonal soups, as usually, they're a cream-less puree of some type. I like to blend whole vegetables (and a lot of them) together with stock to create a nice thick and creamy soup that doesn't include cream. You can do this at home providing you've got a good blender. At work I use a Vitamix and at home I use a Breville. Both work beautifully. I'm not so much into the hand blender as I don't think it gives you as silky of a texture that I like.

This week, I've come up with a sugar snap pea and vegetable soup with fresh herbs. On my way to work today I was thinking about what I don't like about pea soup and what I do like about it. Usually, I find it grainy and not so much silky. Also, I find that dried peas just aren't my favorite. I do love the heartiness of a good thick pea soup, but, that's more of a winter soup. Sooooo.... sugar snap peas, some carrots, celery and onions sauteed down with some butter and herbs makes the base... this blends with a nice strong vegetable stock and voila! A silky and delicious soup that doesn't have cream. However, being known for my love of all things butter and cream, I had to add something to finish the soup. So, just before serving, a few crumbles of goat cheese are placed right in the center. It's delicious!!

Now, tomorrow, April 4th, Scott Haney will be at the store for a visit, and from what I heard, he should be there around noon - LUNCH TIME! Scott loved my pumpkin soup, so, I hope he'll feel the same way about the pea soup!!

Dress It Up!

Since we opened the Cafe in October, the house vinaigrette has been a pretty large topic of conversation. The staff love it and many of our customers have asked me for the recipe! Salad dressing is a personal thing - some want only oil and vinegar while some want the ever pleasing ranch. Salad is usually the first "go-to" lunch or dinner meal for those who are focused on a healthy diet. Often it's fortified with chicken, nuts and seeds or various fruits and cheeses. I myself do that when I choose to make salad my meal. However, I have to say that when I dine out and salad is what I'm in the mood for, it's the dressing more than anything else that can sway my choice.

Our vinaigrette at the cafe is comprised of three ingredients; white balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard and canola oil. Yes, canola oil. Now, I'm sure many of you have the same reaction that a lot of my customers have, "Why aren't you using olive oil???" Well, I'll tell you. In my opinion, the type of oil I use in a dressing will vary with the kind of greens I'm using. For a heartier lettuce with lots of crunch but without a lot of flavor, I want a heartier oil such as olive oil. For a salad comprised of a more delicate lettuce, such as our spring mesclun mix, I want a lighter oil that won't hide the greens flavor so I choose canola oil.

White balsamic vinegar - I cannot tell you how often a customer will swear to me that there is lemon juice in my dressing. The white balsamic is a bit lighter and much fruitier and when blended with the dijon, it gives just the right balance of acid, fruitiness and tang. Simple? Yes. Delicious? Yes, I think it is!

So, since many have asked, here's the recipe for our vinaigrette:

1 Cup White Balsamic Vinegar
1/8 Cup Dijon Mustard
2 Cups Canola Oil

Whisk together the vinegar and mustard until thoroughly combined. Very slowly whisk in the canola oil until fully incorporated and you have a light emulsion. Transfer to small air tight container and keep in the refrigerator. *If oil congeals, set it out of the refrigerator and bring to room temperature. If the dressing seems to have broken, simply whisk until well combined!

Now go on and toss your salad!!!

The Cafe at Middlebury Consignment... My new Home!

Hello everyone! It's been a while since my last post and I'm back with lots of news and lots of changes. The biggest change is that in the beginning of October I started a new job - as the Executive Chef of the The Cafe at Middlebury Consignment! Now, when you think consignment, you're probably picturing something like the Goodwill or Salvation Army. Middlebury Consignment is NOTHING like that! It's a spectacular building with 4 floors filled with gorgeous furniture (both new and consigned) as well as a chocolate parlor, Dylan's Candy Bars, Juliska china, Mackenzie-Childs, a design center, gourmet cookware and a whole lot more. You can see the store and learn more at www.middleburyconsignment.com

The Cafe is absolutely amazing. Gorgeous granite, Sub-Zero appliances, Wolf stove, state of the art EVERYTHING!!!! The best part for me is that I'm not sequestered away in a kitchen that customers can't see or observe. The entire kitchen has been designed to make customers feel like they're in someone's home. People literally sit at the island right across from me and can watch me cook their lunch! In addition, we have a formal sitting area equipped to seat 36 people at a time. AND, come this summer, our patio will be open with outdoor seating which will feature stunning views of our new waterfall wall and rock garden which is currently being built!

When Dean and Linda hired me, my first task was to create the menu for the Cafe in hopes that we'd be able to start serving within a month. Well, after four days of playing with recipes and providing samples to the team as well as customers, Dean told me it was time to open. We have had an amazing response and business is just getting busier and busier. The menu contains French Onion Soup and a changing seasonal soup (broccoli soup will be featured starting today!), quiches, meat pies, baguette sandwiches, salads with oatmeal crusted chicken as well as a wide range of desserts, coffee, cappuccino, lattes, Harney & Son's iced teas and more. We're open for lunch Tuesday through Sunday from 11:30 am - 3 pm.

As if all of this wasn't enough, we offer cooking classes! For the past year or so, Middlebury Consignment has been offering classes in a wide range of cuisine with local chef's from around the area. No matter what cuisine you're interested in learning, we have a class for you! This weekend I'll be teaching a steakhouse class and a few weeks later, I'm teaching a class where my beloved BACON is star of each dish! You can even book private cooking classes for you and your friends. Confirm a date with us and then we'll work together to customize your menu! You can bring your own wine, get down and dirty or just observe and then sit in the dining room where we will have set a gorgeous table and serve you a great meal which you cooked.

So, I'm cooking full time now and loving every minute of it. Keep an eye out for regular new blog postings containing recipes, tips and information about upcoming events.