First Week Recap!

The delay between the last post and this one can tell you something crucial about my life in the kitchen right now: it leaves me absolutely exhausted in the evenings, and I must save my little remaining energy for non-virtual social interactions, rather than for writing on this blog. Despite how incredibly draining the kitchen days are (from 7am to at least 4pm, sometimes later), they are days cram-packed with invaluably unique cooking experience, and the hours literally fly by. I am significantly less experienced than most interns I am cooking with (two of which are one year into cooking school, and one who has plenty of past experience working in kitchens and restaurants), but this is simply further encouragement to try harder, put in more effort, listen more carefully, observe more intently, and retain as much as is humanly possible. It has also been very useful in helping me realize how I want to direct my career in food: do I want to work in a kitchen? If so, what kind of kitchen? In pastry, which I am more and more interested in (especially working with our wonderful pastry cook)? If not, do I want to test recipes? Do more the administration jobs? Front of house? So many questions lie ahead...

For the lunch shift, our day begins at 7am, setting up for the day. We write our the inventory sheet, noting the quantities of everything in the kitchen that is available to be cooked with. This is a good time to learn the names of things in Italian, and to distinguish and discern between ingredients (is that speck or prosciutto? grana padano, parmagiano, or pecorino? what type of grapes are these?) We often receive deliveries during this time, which we must go pick up from downstairs, and check for quality before putting away. We have to set up work stations with compost buckets and cutting boards, bowls of grana padano and yogurt for the lunch buffet, and fine and rock salt bowls, as well as various other small tasks that need to be done before the day can really begin. Around 8am, we have a menu meeting with Mona, the chef, or Chris, the sous chef, who have by then looked over the inventory and decided the day's menu. They assign everyone a particular dish, and explain how it will be prepared from start to finish, often with a little history and context (as well as potential variations) as to its place in Italian and/or Roman cooking. In the Chez Panisse tradition, each intern is given a whole project, not just a part of a whole. When I made bruschetta pomodorini yesterday, I didn't just chop the tomatoes while someone else toasted the bread and rubbed it with garlic, while someone else chopped basil and assemble the toasts on the platter. No. Instead, each person is responsible for their dish, from start to finish, from prepping to assembling it on the platter. Of course, we can and do help each other out, as some projects have glitches or people fall behind and need support. But overall, each person has the chance to lead their dish to completion. It works very well. In this whollistic spirit, we also do most of the clean up as well, though we do have a dish washer to help us out for most of the time, as well as our wonderful bartenders who help us set up and take out food.

You guys, I have eaten so much good food so far. While I usually bore, ad nauseum, all of my friends and family with recitations of everything I have eaten, it would truly be going overboard to list each item of food I have eaten in the last five days. I'll focus instead on the highlights: there was a delicious farro pasta with pesto noci, which Camilla pounded out by hand in the mortar and pestal. The walnut pieces were particularly large and fresh, and the herbs (marjoram, oregano, and parsley) blended perfectly with the oil and garlic and pecorino. Just writing about this, I am drawn to the leftovers in my fridge, just a few steps away. There was also the beet and fennel salad with a salsa verde, which was just divine. The perfectly roasted beets and raw fennel were topped with a sauce made with sliced almonds (not chopped: no yucky almond dust!), chopped parsley, capers, and slightly pickled red onions, with generous salt and olive oil. Yum! Chris pointed out a variety of other beet salads the sauce would be good on (cauliflower and beet, cucumber and beet, etc.) Also amazing was the capponata, a slightly sweet eggplant dish with green olives, capers, celery, onions, pine nuts, and a tiny bit of tomato just to bind the sauce together. Mona pointed out it would be even better the next day-- and it was, as the flavors had melded together even more as it sat. Yesterday for a catering event, we made vitella tonnato, which was veal browned then roasted then very thinly sliced (after resting), covered with a mayonaise with capers, lemon, herbs, and anchovies (a variation from the usual tuna).

Some of the best dishes have been the simple ones, the ones that most strongly depend on the amazingly fine quality ingredients the kitchen is stocked with. The caprese I was in charge of Thursday was classic, but the tomatoes were particularly sweet, and the mozzarella! Oh the mozzarella (cow's, not buffalo) was so succuclent that it's milky softness practically melted in my hand as I tried to cut it smootly. The potato and tomato gratin, with delicately cooked onions, also was a hit. And the zucchini alla Romana, which I grilled on the flattop and then marinated with garlic, red wine vinegar, chilli flakes, olive oil and salt, will be a dish I make for many years to come, though I will try to use the traditional addition mint, which we didn't have at the time.

The kitchen is very fast paced, and I am trying to keep up as much as I can. But I am loving it and wish I could feed all of you the delicious cookies our pastry cook makes daily and the show you the glorious garden I look out on as I work! I will try to post pictures soon, but I must admit I have been slacking a bit on the photography department... I've been so busy, as you now know!