Pokey cook ISO her inner speed demon.

There was lots of culinary action @ Chez Chefty last night. I was impressed that my stove held up. It may be tiny & electric, but it gets the job done.

The night began with chicken stock. I started with a whole bird. It took me forever to section that chickadee into parts. As I hacked away, with very little attention to form or efficiency, I toyed with the idea of going to Costco and buying a box full of whole chickens so I could butcher one every day for a week. That's a lot of fowl, I know--though I could make heaps of stock, which would be great to have on hand to satisfy my occassional risotto cravings.

***Tangent Warning***

The point is, I am in desperate need not only of skill practice, but also speed & knife drills. Being out of school and out of a professional kitchen has not helped me in this department, where I've always needed all the help I can get anyway! I received my evaluation from Hearth a few weeks ago and overall it was pretty strong except for...

Areas of Weakness: Speed

I recall the first day I trailed there. I had to dice very finely and uniformly carrots, fennel, and celery for a sardine dish. It took me about four hours, seriously. I asked the cook how long it typically took him to do that same piece of prep and he was like, uhh...45 minutes? (Slaps forehead.) Needless to say, I never got to do that job again. But with time I got better and faster. I know it's all about continuity and repetition, and the task before me now is to find a way to recreate these patterns in a home kitchen. One solution may be to invest in a stopwatch. Timing all my prep tasks will probably take some of the fun out, but it will be good training.

***Tangent Over***

After the mildly frustrating chicken deconstruction, I tossed the pieces into the oven to roast up a bit. I got the stock on the burner at around 9 and let it simmer all night. This morning it was a lovely golden hue and I was very pleased indeed.

With the cooked chicken, I made a sandwich salad for lunch. The dressing was an experiment and it came out pretty tasty... two types of mustard, a spot of mayo, some white wine vinegar, minced chervil, and a spoonful of honey. Also added some green apple for crunch. I love it when you can cook one thing and get multiple dishes out of it. Ah, economy!

Between the stock and the chicken salad, I made a dinner that was unexpectedly terrific: kale & cannellini beans. Sounds very vegan, I know--and it was!--but it was delicious. I had never eaten kale before and if you haven't either, I recommend you check it out. It is a curly green, so when you cook the leaves, they soften but they don't lose their structure and become mushy. The texture is pleasant and silky. Taste-wise, I'd say kale beats most other cooking greens easily; it's mild and almost sweet. Oftentimes you'll see recipes for collards and other greens that include ham or bacon--with kale, that amount of fat would probably be overpowering. I made the kale last night with onions, roasted garlic, a mix of sweet dried herbs (fennel, lavendar, thyme) and some white wine. I reduced the wine till it was almost syrupy, then added the kale (which got simmered in salted water first for about 8 minutes) and a can of cannellini beans. With a final squeeze of lemon juice and a bit of zest, dinner was on the table. Really satisfying and flavorful. I'm going to look for kale at the market this weekend so I can experiment some more.

So that was Wednesday. I've got a pile of dishes awaiting me at home, even though I washed as I went! The plight of a cook with a small kitchen, limited supplies, and no dishwasher.

On the menu tonight:

Whole wheat pasta gratin with beans, fresh pesto, tomato & ricotta.

Reality check.

There are a lot--and by a lot I mean THOUSANDS--of really great food blogs out there. Chefty needs to be competitive.

I met a woman here recently who is equally mad for food & cooking--let's call her FGF (foie gras fanatic). She suggested we start a food blog together that focused on Seattle & the PacNW. I like this idea, and feel it could have the potential to become a kind of local blogging collective.

So, dear reader. If you're reading this blog you're no doubt bright and creative and love to eat & cook & all that good stuff. You may also be my friend or relative. It of course goes without saying that you are an arbiter of exquisite taste. What do you think?

*Fleshing out Chefty into a really excellent blog would mean a considerable allocation of resources on my behalf.

*Working with this other fine foodie would also be expensive in terms of commitment, but it would be a shared one that would likely produce more content and better content (scroll down for a digressive footnote on 'more' and 'better').

*I'm uncertain how much of what I might have to say--at this early point--is really distinctive compared to some of the great blogs already out there. Not sure that I need some kind of challenge to sustain me, but there should be a cohesive thread. I have some thoughts about what a compelling angle could be and welcome your feedback--particularly since many of you are pretty familiar with my (virtual) voice.

*What are the chances that I could make a really terrifically fun and informative blog and land myself a job at Gourmet let's say four years from now? Gotta dust off your crystal balls for that one. :)

I have to say, I am feeling bubbly about a new enterprise. I know my posting practices have not been stellar thus far, but I know that they can be!



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Digression: Hip hop slang doesn't work once you're off the streets.

In a work meeting last week I flubbed and said 'more better' to describe something and then, because I thought it would be funny and felt the need to counteract my flub, I said immediately 'mo' betta,' while donning what I would assume to be a gangsta-type cadence.

Crickets.

Chicken Soup for the Toothless Soul

I picked up some chicken soup on my way back from a meeting. I went to this place Specialty's that is usually pretty reliable with the lunchables, soup in particular.

I like my chicken noodle soup brothy, with lots of chicken, lots of crunchyish veg, and a good handful of noodles. Up front the Specialty's preparation looked like it would fit the bill. And hey, peas and corn in there too? Swell.

Sadly, all sensory recepters were disappointed today. What they managed to choke down instead was a low-sodium, chewing-not-required, mush. Now, if I were in the practice of gumming down my food, this would be a perfectly fine lunch. But I'm not -- my bicuspids are alert and ready to go! They want al dente noodles! And tender, buttery bites of chicken--white and dark!

I write this not to bitch & moan necessarily--but to bemoan a poor take on what is a universally loved dish. If I were the soup guy , I'd keep the noodles (cooked until just shy of al dente) in a separate pan and scoop them to order--so that every cup had nice, fresh, chewy noodles, bathed in a rich chicken-and-vegetable soup.

Hale and Hearty in NYC used to do their noodle soups this way...yet another reason why I love that town. But more on that later...

Hullo, what's this?

A new post! Fancy that.

Apologies to all faithful readers for the lag in new content. Given my current occupation and my general tendency towards chattiness, you'd think that writing regularly would be a cinch. I'm putting my best clog forward today and hope to have something new up each and every day.

Coming up later in today's broadcast...

Reflections on my old stomping grounds
Some thoughts about what's next for Chefty
A culinary challenge: can I make dinner tonight w/o having to go to the grocery store?

Redemption!

Last night I made a kick-ass dinner that made up entirely for Saturday's disaster. Roasted pork tenderloin with rosemary and shallots. Red Bliss mashed potatoes. Sauteed zucchini with pine nuts. Not entirely detoxified, but not over the top either.

I'm hopping back on the wagon today. The last few days of weak will have actually been very instructive (yes, that is the smell of a grand rationalization wafting towards you). I really felt the difference when I started eating the restricted foods (booze, toast, gelato, etc). I felt more tired and puffy in the morning, and then, puffy again after I had eaten. Now I understand why gluten is an inflammatory food. I am looking forward to experiencing the leaner, more energetic feeling of Week 1 again (well, Week 1 after the cravings anyway). The hardest thing, my Achilles heel if you will, is beer and wine. I like my libations.

Got to get back to the grindstone over here but more to come later.

I did not end up making the fava bean salad, but it's on deck for tonight.

I am thinking about making a blueberry pie for my co-worker's birthday. Does anyone have any more creative suggestions for a blueberry dessert that's not too high maintenance and easy to transport?

Swing and a miss

I made salmon with a mustard garlic glaze & sugar snap peas for dinner.

The salmon was a wee bit past its prime going in. But I figured the mustard would perk it up.

It didn't. Tastes funny. Not edible.

But there are the peas! Crisp and delicious. Or rather, they should have been. But they taste dry and stringy, not sweet and delectable like they usually do. It's possible I undercooked them, or that I just got an old bunch. In any case, I'm left with a plate full of bad food. This depresses me. I know how to cook, this dinner should have been a cakewalk! Where are my mad Chefty skillz?

I wish John Irving would write a sequel so I could find out what Garp's been up to. Surely if he were here (and existed, and, like, came over for dinner), he'd know where I went wrong.

In other news...detox during week two has been up and down. I did OK during the week and was feeling pretty good. Um, except for 4th of July--when the rest of the country was scarfing down burgers and potato salad, I had Mexican, and then some pre-fireworks candy. But last night, I really fell off the wagon. Got on the booze train, then joined the P-funk revolution.

This morning...felt a bit bleary and knew that the only cure was eggs & toast & coffee.

This afternoon...there was the hazelnut gelato that, seriously, no one could have resisted.

And tonight...is Bollywood night. Which can mean only one thing:

Gin & tonics.

Phaedras said last week that sometimes, life assaults. Ain't that the truth.

Menu for tomorrow still under review but likely to include a delicious corn/pea/fava bean salad from this month's Food&Wine.

In the meantime, how good does this sound?

Ramekins would be a swell present for Chefty, if anyone's asking.