When You Can't Get in the Kitchen, Get in the Bar.

It all started when Maddy ordered the "margarita" ie lemon juice with tequila and salt. When Maddy had me try it to figure out what was wrong with it, I almost spit it out and immediately called Giovanni, our server, over. I asked him how he makes a margarita, and he gave me the above ingredients. I had to save this guy, he was a crime against margaritas around the world.

Instead of being invited to the kitchen, I was invited to the bar. After making him a this margarita

2 ounces Tequila

1 ounce Cointreau

3/4 ounce Lime Juice

& Salt for the rim

he asked is he could learn how to make a mojito.

He's lucky this cook went to college. Finally, all those years of...studying...were coming in handy!

Only one problem- they didn't have simple syrup! I told them I was sorry, but I just couldn't make them a mojito without simple syrup. They asked what I needed to make it. A burner and a pot. Check out what I got.

A burner and a pot! Sweet.Mint simple syrup it is!Steeping the mint, just picked in the hotel's garden, in the syrup!
Master Muddler Giovanni stepped in to muddle the limes. Quick tip- Don't muddle the mint leaves. Two reasons. One: the leaves get caught in the straws if they are a muddled mess. Two: it just looks cleaner. The mint simple syrup carries plenty of mint flavor into the drink.
Mini ice crusher!
Going to town on mojitos! The entire staff turned into my guinea pigs for the education series "Lessons in Lemon Drops, Jager Bombs, and other Obnoxious American Drinks."
Mojitos:

2 ounces Rum

1 ounce Mint Simple Syrup

Picked Mint

Club Soda to finish

You know what I'm realizing? The ability of food, drinks included, to bridge completely different cultures is incredible. You don't even have to be able to speak each other's language to create something together. Food is such a cool medium for communication. Mannn...I love food more every day.

The Street Life

I took some shots as I wandered around Rome visiting different delis, butchers, specialty shops, and street markets. I was amazed at the products you could have at your fingertips there, but then I wondered if Italians feel this way about our markets. Like, "Wow, Sahlen's Hot Dogs with all natural casing? No way!" But most likely, they don't. I couldn't help but pick up a bunch of items I know I'd miss in the states- the olives, white truffle paste, a handful of seed packages. I foresee two problems in my near future: Attempting to get into the States with these things, and trying to start a window garden in my new NY studio apartment. I'm sending the San Marzano seeds over to Lara at the farm for next season, but I'm going to try to sustain an italian herb garden in my apartment all winter long. Definitely going to pose a challenge.

Truffles...

and Bottarga at the deli!

Some shots from the Campo de Fiori farmers market...

And my favorite picture from Rome...

Something screams wrong about this.

Culinary School Abroad

Pastry Chef Lauren at the Nell went to culinary school a quick boat ride away in Sorrento so I decided to charter the seas and visit her friends for a little authentic culinary school myself.

Chef Biagio at Mami Camilla was my teacher for the day, and he was a large, large man. Watching him move around the kitchen was like watching a car accident, on repeat. Every time he got near the stove, I feared for his life as his apron hung out over the flame. I also feared for the gigantic marble slab counter top that he might knock over every time he crossed the kitchen. Even his hands looked like they could dominate the oven! I was sweating, I can't imagine how he felt in this heat. Anyway, he was super accommodating and allowed me to formulate the menu around things I was interested in.

Look at that baby potato ricer! So cute!

As could be expected, I asked to work with him on pastas, so we made gnocci and he showed me a trick turning gnocci scrap into ravioli.

There is almost zero difference in the way Chef Biagio and I make gnocci outside of how much we knead the dough.

If you go back and read my blog called "Mint Gnocci" you'll see that I tested two methods of making gnocci with the goal of producing the softest and most pillowy dumpling possible. Here, Chef had us kneading the dough as if it were bread resulting in a rather dense version of the same thing.

Gnocci is just a 2 to 1 ratio of potato and flour and when you knead this dough the gluten develops and leaves you with a gummy instead of light dumpling.

Chef also taught me a way to turn the scraps of this dough into ravioli. All we did was add additional flour until the dough became thicker, more resemblant of pasta dough and kneaded it for a few more minutes.

I was surprised when the ravioli turned out decent considering the ingredients for the dough. I’d never make ravioli this way in the future, but it was awesome to find a way to put scraps to work.

We also learned the traditional method of “salt baking” whole fish. I’d seen Chef Ryan do it before, and fish showed up on the menu this way all over Italy so I asked to be walked through this process.

I couldn’t believe how simple this was. Seriously, give this a try at your next BBQ, it’s impressive and deliscious. Call me if you need any more assistance- Screw shish-ka-bobs, I’m never having another summer gathering again without a salt baked fish.

Salt Baked Fish

Ingredients

Whole Fish

Salt

Pepper

Herbs

Lemon

Steps

Either buy a whole fish that’s been cleaned and scaled, or get your hands dirty and gut the fish, scale it and give it a wash and pat it dry.

Use your judgement on the size and type of fish or ask your fishmonger the size of fish you need to feed the amount of people.

As far as type of fish to buy, stick to fish that's not endangered- heres a link to a handy guide for sustainable fish consumption. I keep one of these in my wallet just for reference when I'm planning a meal or out to dinner.

Season the fish with a little pepper. Stuff the fish with whatever accutremont you want. I’d throw some lemon slices, thyme, rosemary, and garlic in.

Line a baking dish with about ½ inch of kosher salt, put the fish in, cover it with more salt.

Put it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.

When you take it out of the oven, the salt will have formed a crust which you need to peel off then filet the fish as best you can for serving. Watch for bones.

I serve it with a little O.O. drizzled over the top and lemon wedges.

My step sister and her friend Maddy requested to make these fantastic Madelines:

Equal parts by weight of the following (start at 100 g of each)

Almond Paste
Sugar
Butter
Flour
And
1 Packet of yeast

Mix the first 3 together until smooth.
Mix the last 2 until evenly distributed.
Mix them together, pipe them into floured molds, bake at 350 for 10 minutes or so.
These were so good that the girls attempted to smuggle shirt fulls of them home, leaving a Madeline trail from the school until where my hitch hiking finally paid off and we got a ride to the ferry.

I couldn't finish my last blog about Capri without including some shots of my dream retirement restaurant. Nestled in a cove only accessible by boat, this restaurant has become famous for it's simple, delicious food in the most incredible setting.

Since it's only accessible by boat, you can anchor down outside of the tiny bay and swim in or wait for the never present transport canoe to come scoop you up. I swam.

Simple, fresh food done really well. I'm in love with this place.

Ciao Capri!

The Hunt for the Perfect Gelato

The quest for the perfect gelato has just ended at 70 Via Di San Simone. Let's be real, there's no way I could have tasted every gelato in all of Rome, but my wallet and my dress size can’t afford to buy three gelatos a day, but I think it's safe to say this is seriously good gelato. So this is it. The best gelato in alllllll of Italy.

No, it’s not Viagra gelato, but I stumbled across some horrendous flavors before landing on the good stuff.
Here’s the good stuff.

I wandered down a few alleys, random back streets, and passed at least 50 churches before ending up at the Gelateria Del Teatro.

I tried everything, literally everything, before deciding on Garden Sage and Raspberry. Why was this gelato so great? The flavor was subtle, not overpowering. The texture was smooth and light, not grainy. It wasn’t your typical tiramisu and chocolate truffle concoctions. The owners are ex-pastry chefs turned gelato artisans who hand make each flavor from the finest ingredients. Their lemons come from the Amalfi coast, and their pistachios hail from Sicily. You could taste the love put into each spoonful.

Another notably fantastic flavor- Lavender and White Peach.

Mission accomplished. Next time you find yourself in Rome, you know where to go.

Want to know where not to visit in Rome? The National Museum of Pasta. Why? Because it doesn't exist. Someone rained all over my parade when I showed up there today. I just can't fathom that such a fantastic museum would be closed due to a lack of visitors. What kind of person doesn't want to know the history of something they eat so often? They will gladly visit the most useless museums in Rome to see a bunch of random artifacts that are totally irrelevant to their daily life, but they didn't plan a visit to the most super awesome, informative, relevant museum in Rome? Don't worry, the Museo del Corso is open! That's a museum of a road. A road. People visit this but not the late museum of pasta...Hmmm...

The Michelin Man

When I booked my solo reso at the two Michelin star restaurant, L’Olivo, I didn’t expect to be plating the same dishes 24 hours later, but life is just surprising like that. Both the dinner and the stage were incredible. I had yet to eat at a restaurant boasting two Michelin stars, so I was pretty excited.
Outside of one of the servers delivering me their number as a pre-dessert, the service was flawless. Even the bread service was impressive. All of the baguettes are made in house daily served tableside with your choice of salt cod brandade, tomato sauce, or sautéed chicory, along with a selection of various small breads like roasted tomato croissant and olive bread. The only disappointment of the dinner was my fault. I don’t like steamed fish, the texture is revolting unless it's juxtaposed with something crunchy. But, I trusted my server to choose my main. He ordered me Spigola al Vapore con Ostriche Gelatina di Mare e Verdure. It’s a beautiful dish. When it arrives, white anise steam pours out from under the fish laying on a bed of haricots de mer, sea beans. It’s intensely pretty, but the lack of texture contrast totally put me off. Unfortunately, to add to the horrific texture combo there were multiple whole oysters hiding on the plate. The steam that blurs the photo is created by dry ice, Pernod, anise seeds, and fish stock held in the basin under the perforated fish plate. Regardless of my opinion, it really is a beautiful dish.

Before I actually refer to this as a stage, you first have to visualize this stager. I was a little caught off guard by the opportunity to work in the a two Michelin star kitchen last night, but I wasn't going to miss the Grand Ball because I didn't have the right dress. So, picture me in a gray short sleeved tee, black skinny jeans, pink Nikes, and not a single knife to to wield. Got an interesting picture going? It’s probably accurate.

The Stage
I expected to be stiflingly intimidated by Chef Oliver Glowig. He's a German-born, French trained chef with with a total of Three Michelin Stars and I was wearing pink Nikes. They turned out to be a nonissue, I turned out to be not intimidated at all, and Chef Oliver turned out to be an incredibly nice and fun guy. We wandered around the coolers while I asked 5,000 questions regarding his products, gathering all sorts of information about dried pasta purveyors, olive oil, butter, cheeses, flour, I even got to the bottom of where and when the anchovies were caught.
He explained to me why he brought in French butter instead of using domestic Italian. This is Chef stealing the tag off for me: Beurre de Baratte de Normandie.
That's when he opted for some fresh air. We went upstairs to the outrageously pretty garden.

Chef showed me his San Marzano vines that he clipped and brought over from a friend's crop in Sorrento.

Capers!

I'd never met someone with such accolades- I couldn't help but grill the poor guy! When I asked what actions led his feat of the second star at L'Olivo he told me, "Consistantly holding high standards...Consistency through everything." This was evident all over his kitchen. Each station is equipped with laminated recipe sheets with pictures for how each dish needs to plated every time.
Every thing cooked in that kitchen gets timed. The only instance I use timers at work is during prep for my 4 minute eggs since they are pretty easy to forget about and seriously expensive to screw up. Additionally, the eggs come from my farm so each lost egg hurts twice as bad. Here, different pastas have different cooking times, and believe me, those are observed right down to the last second. After the risotto has been par-cooked perfectly, it get's ten minutes on the pick up, every single time. There's no room for human error because it's cooked within seconds of how Chef wants it, as regulated by timers.

Every station has at least two timers on it. Constant alarms become the chorus to service.
Further, each station either cryovacs individual portions of garnish or wraps them in timbales so that when they have to pick up the dish, the amount of vegetables that make it onto the plate are the precise amount expected and always the same quantity. It was all very consistent, just as Chef likes it.

The language barrier made translating recipes into an intense game of kitchen charades and allowed for some interesting discoveries of the english words for chicken wing, ham hock, and pig ear. I think the most mind boggling game of charades was the path to finding the word for "quail." I have never seen a grown man do such things.
The absence of an understanding of the entire Italian language made for a difficult work environment. Everything had to be visually explained, and slowly. I was of no use during service. There's no time for visual explanations with 15 tickets on the board so it's not like I could pick up on little things being called out and help. Tickets sounded like jibberish and attempting to read them was a joke so I got out of the way and did universal tasks- cleaned spoon water, emptied trash, and scrubbed the line. And why is it that everything sounds angry in Italian? I never knew what Chef was saying, but even when he was smiling, I am pretty sure he was angry.

After service, Chef and I chatted about working in hotels, sharing similar views on accommodating obnoxious high-paying clientele. Speaking of my Mom…who puts in a room service order as long as a sonnet while their daughter is in the kitchen? She actually decided to write her own menu last night. Chef walked over to me and showed me their ticket. He shakes his head and says, “Flan? We don’t even have that!” Later we agreed that special requests won’t be handled so cordially in our own restaurants, even if it is my own mother. His eyes lit up with fire when a few orders came in requesting “sans sale.” Without salt. "Why eat!"
Chef sent delicious panna cotta up to her room today to quench her "flan" thirst and later gave me the recipe. He was a seriously nice guy.
When the guys saw the burns on my arms, they asked where I got them. I thought that was a strange question coming from a bunch of cooks. Chef said, "Shannon, we don't sleep in the kitchen, we sleep at home." Funny.
I walked away with a handful of ridiculous recipes including the one for the best risotto I've ever had in my life. Turns out we don't do much differently in preparing the actual rice- props to Chef Ryan- but the exquisite flavor came from the lemon butter it's finished with. I'm forever cherishing the recipe! I also landed his versions of Ravioli, Tagliatelle, and Papardelle dough. It feels like Christmas morning with the amount of recipes I scored. The grissini recipe I was going to bribe the room service guy to grab was mine simply via asking. Anyway, enjoy some pictures of the kitchen.

The making of Baccala Tripe.

First, take all the skin off the belly and boil it for two hours.

After being dried in the oven overnight, they are deep fried and puff up like pork rinds for bar snacks.

Mediterranean Blue Lobster with Saffron, Black Lentils and Cacao.

Bar snacks including the Baccala Tripe, freshly caught anchovies with heirloom tomatoes, fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with...zucchini, smoked mozzarella wrapped in pancetta.

The making of Minestra Maritata, a classic regional dish created out of necessity to utilize day old bread and meat scraps. Similar in concept, the Ribolita made back at the Nell is just a Tuscan version of this classic.

Executive Sous Chef Dominico and Daniel making Sea Urchin Pasta and Lemon Risotto, respectively. Ravioli Caprese

Sea Urchin Pasta
Both mine and Chef's favorite dish on the menu.

The pasta is accompanied by a salad inside the urchin body.

The lemon butter used to finish the risotto. Check out that color. You will never guess where it comes from!

Shrimp and Zucchini Tortello
The egg in this dish racks up .80 E. That's insane. I thought our eggs were steep at .50 cents. That's the most expensive egg I've ever seen, but isn't that tortello gorgeous?

It was a great night. My favorite discussions with Chef occured over post-service drinks. Apparently pink Champagne is always Chef's drink of choice after service. I could not believe this was the same guy I was scared to talk to earlier in the day...he was ordering Laurent-Perrier Rose. If there was any hint of intimidation left at this point, it all just disappeared. The next song I requested at the bar was "Lady in Red."
Anyway, over Champagen, we discussed why he chose Italian food considering his background in German and French food. We love it for all the same reasons. Your food can only be as good as your ingredients. Italian cuisine focuses on the quality of the ingredients and respecting them. Even the variety of tomato used in your cooking effects the final flavor exponentially. French food, he said, involves too much butter and cream. By the end, you can't taste what you started with. The more you mess with your ingredients, the more you take away from what made them wonderful to eat to begin with. The challenge in Italian food is it's sheer simplicity.It's a challenge that we both embrace.
I think I’ll go back tonight… I just can’t resist the kitchen.




And I did.
Here's some photos from the second, equally awesome night.

Quail with Foie Gras, Quail Eggs, and Asparagus. The Chef de Partie on this station had me rolling a few of these to order. Talk about being in the weeds.


1 month-old suckling pig- beautiful preparation of ribs and thigh meat.

Conchiglie Pasta with Octopus Ragu and Black Mashed Potatoes.

The bounty of micro herbs that come off Garde Manager including baby oyster leaves, onion, garlic, and beet sprouts.

Seafood Mosaic

The plating of the Sea Bass

Chef Oliver, me, and Executive Sous Chef Dominico.