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Food Styling: A Retrospective

Culinary School Lesson 10 - 11

Oh, potato day at culinary school, if I see one more potato I will weep. We made potato puree, potato gratin, potato puffs, potato croquettes, potato fries, potato chips and potato baskets. As an extra treat, Chef made us some fried potato skins smothered in cheese. Chef says he likes to put a fat slice of potato gratin on his burgers. I said, “Chef, that’s double carb!” and he said “Dora, live a little!”.

Culinary School Lesson 7 - 9

In his book, Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook, Anthony Bourdain wrote that if you’re over 32 or you have eczema, you’re probably not cut out to be a chef. I think you can be anything you want, but I’m starting to see what he means. My hands are covered in eczema, cracked skin and rough patches. There’s not enough time between classes for my skin to heal. Last night in class, I sliced through my fingernail with a vegetable peeler of all things, but luckily, I didn’t break the skin. 

Culinary School Lesson 3 - 6

How in the world am I supposed to set up my station and get “mise en place” ready for 5 mother sauces in only 15 minutes when each ingredient has to be located and carefully weighed? And where the hell is the flour? And how come my scale isn’t zeroing properly? Is this salt or sugar?
 

Culinary School Lesson 2

It was another evening of running towards school with a 30 pound bag of uniforms, knives and other tools. I sweated through my locker room routine, making sure I had on my pants, chef coat, apron, neckerchief, chef hat, and hall pass. Culinary school feels so masculine; the uniform erases almost all evidence that you’re a female, and then you spend hours working with knives, fire and steel under the supervision of male chefs, but I digress...

Culinary School Lesson 1

After 5 years of playing with the idea, and months upon months of getting up the courage to sign the loan papers, I finally enrolled in culinary school. Here on Brooklyn Salt, I’ll document my experience; all the laughter, tears, sweat, blood and bernaise...

Lemon Pucker Tart

Francois Payard's lemon raspberry tart is so very tart. It also has a mound of marshmallow-like lime meringue on top and is dotted with fresh raspberries. I never knew I loved tarts until I tried Francois's. I was gifted one for my birthday and haven't been able to get tarts off my mind since then. Last week, while flipping through Ruth Reichl's book, My Kitchen Year, I saw her recipe for Tart Lemon Tart and immediately started a shopping list to make my very own lemon tart.
 

Kale, Apple and Beet Salad with Pistachio Brittle

Sometimes it takes a candied nut to help kale go down. Since creating this salad, I find it disappointing to have a kale salad with out some kind of candied nut. Don’t be turned off by the length of this recipe. You can make the dressing and pistachio brittle a day ahead. I’d even suggest making a couple of batches of pistachios so you can throw them into any salad. You can substitute the dressing below for a simple vinaigrette of your own, or use your favorite creamy dressing that has some acidity to it.
 

Procrastinator's Gift Guide

The holidays are here. I know you forgot about them because it's 60 degrees outside. If you haven't found the right gift for the last few people on your list, here's a great gifty roundup....

Nutty Monkey

On my way to gift wrap 20 coffee table books for an interior decorating firm (just call me Odd Job Jane) I spotted a juice bar and went in for a breakfast smoothie. I ordered their “Mr. Almond” smoothie which I practically inhaled through a jumbo straw. Naturally, I went home and adapted the recipe for this here blog and gave it my own silly name, Nutty Monkey. I was anti-smoothie for most of my life, but this smoothie has changed my mind.
 

Pan-Seared Peaches with Tarragon Basil Syrup

Seared or grilled peaches is a dish that's been on my summer cooking wish list for years, but sadly I never get around to it. Since I'm writing recipes for a living now, I'm spending a lot more time in the kitchen, testing and experimenting. Last weekend, I finally seared a peach. I took it one step further by making a tarragon and basil infused simple syrup to drizzle on top of the sweet, warm stone fruit. I seared my peaches in a pan with some butter because I didn't feel like setting up the grill just for one lonely peach, but if you prefer to grill your peaches, just brush them with olive oil and sear them on both sides for a few minutes until they develop nice grill marks and are warmed through.

Asparagus, Kalamata and Bread Salad

This salad makes me sad that most people I know don't like olives. I made it the other night as an eat-whatever's-in-the-fridge dinner and loved it. It was unexpected and the ingredient amounts were undocumented. That's ok, because salads are quite easy to put together. Here's my "non-recipe" for Asparagus, Kalamata and Bread Salad.

Chicken with Cilantro Chimichurri and Pickled Onions

Turks and Caicos is still on my mind. I had a chicken satay by the beach and even though the carrot slaw it came with was overpowered with cloves, my Dark and Stormy covered palate loved it anyway. Maybe it was the crystal blue water and white sand in front of me or the warm, salt filled air. When I got back the Brooklyn, all I wanted to eat was that chicken satay. I found a recipe that failed me miserably, made me realize I hate curry and left me with a bunch of extra cilantro. I don't like to see cilantro go to waste because I love it (I used to despise it), so a chimichurri was definitely in my future. It's an easy sauce for just about any meat or vegetable; I went with pan-seared chicken and asparagus. The pickled onions are a nice touch in this dish. If you don't like cilantro, try eating some near the beach in Turks and Caicos.

Avocado Fries

The avocado fries at Brooklyn restaurant, El Almacen, were the inspiration for this recipe. I had never had fried avocado before and was under the impression that avocado shouldn't be cooked. But apparently, it should definitely be breaded and fried. I hope my readers don't think that I bread and fry everything. I really don't. I do it just for you guys. Anyway, it's finally spring time and our porch is decorated with big, white, flower-filled planters, a white bench, white Adirondack-style chairs and maybe soon a white umbrella. Our porch might get invited to a P.Diddy party.

Turkey Bacon, Spinach and Smoked Cheese Egg Muffins

When I don’t have time to make breakfast at home, I end up eating a croissant and hot chocolate in front of my computer at work and feeling like I failed myself. I came across an article in Bon Appetit about the genius of egg muffins and thought they’d be a great way for me to get my morning protein all week long even when I hit the snooze button too many times.

Creamy Beans

Stop what you’re doing right now, go to your kitchen cabinet and find a can of black beans or pinto beans. If you do not have any, please go buy a can and come back home immediately. Make this recipe, take a spoonful, and join me in disbelief that canned beans can be so freaking good. We all know that butter makes everything better, but who knew that a pat of butter and some extra cooking time could transform a boring can of beans into beans that make you go “oh wow....oh WOW...no way!”

Crispy Pan Fried Fennel

I'm not sure why I've never breaded and pan fried fennel before now. Fennel is one of my favorite vegetables, and anything tastes ten times better when covered in bread and fried in oil. Since I'm going on a beach vacation in about nine weeks, I have to hold off on covering foods in bread and frying them in oil. But if your beach vacation has already passed, you should immediately buy a head of fennel and try this recipe, even if you don't like fennel.

 

Tamagoyaki

I’m baaaaack. I really dropped the ball on this whole blog thing didn’t I? I’ve been eating boatloads of delivery pizza and salads from Chop’t lately and haven’t been cooking enough. I did make another round of salmon fritters but I certainly couldn’t post those again. But a recipe for Tamagoyaki has been staring me in the face for weeks and on a rainy Saturday I decided I was finally going to make it happen. Tamagoyaki is a Japanese egg log that is slightly sweet and totally fun to make and eat.
 

Dad's Eggs and Bread

I remember my Dad making his famous Egg and Bread "mish mosh" when we were younger. He'd fill a mug with chopped up soft boiled egg and cubed toasted bread. Why deal with the burden of a knife and fork and the task of constantly monitoring your bread to egg ratio when you can spoon yolk-soaked bread and soft egg whites into your mouth? Over the recent holidays, my Dad made a big bowl of it for us and I was happy to take pictures of it on his sunlit marble counters.