Saturday, October 1, 2011

Homeschooled Culinary Art Student

So ever since I ran out of Grey's Anatomy episodes to watch I have been watching Gordon Ramsay's plethora of cooking shows available on the Netflix instant watch. This for me is quite dangerous because it continually prompts me to get off my couch and go shopping for things like lobster tail, lamb shank, truffle oil, and heavy cream, none of which is very cheap to buy.

I love to cook. I'm like Ratatouille constantly sticking my nose in the pots of stew and tasting the cream sauce to see if it needs more salt. I think that any time you can use mirepoix and beurre blanc in the same meal it is a great day.

This addiction can easily be an expensive one as a mentioned above but goodness, I love it.
My recent cooking experiment is to try and recreate an appetizer that I had tried at Piatti on Valentine's Day. I don't even know the name of it but I remember the flavors. Sauteed onion, beef broth, mushroom, pepper, shallot... It was served in a shot glass as a starter. Very unique and very good.
The other experiments I've been working on include learning how to properly cook eggs (which I am slowly getting to the point of actually being willing to maybe try them. For those of you who don't know, I have never eaten an egg, yes just like the girl from Julie and Julia... I'm sure it's not as bad as I think it is but still, the texture just freaks me out.) and finding a recipe that actually makes fillet of sole taste something other than bland and watery. (Please please please if there are any foodies out there who have good sole recipes, pass them over)
My favorite ingredients in the whole world are butter, garlic, and cheese. If I had it my way, every meal would incorporate these three elements. Hence the reason why I absolutely love Italian food. They almost always use all three. Cream sauce pasta? Yum.
So anyways, last Christmas my parents (who also love to cook and have worked at many different awesome restaurants) gave me The Culinary Institute of America cooking manual. It's 1400 pages of pure bliss. Ever since I have been reading through this book, my chicken has been juicier, my gravies have been richer, my beef has been more tender and my veggies have been crisper.
All my life I have been a super picky eater. But learning more about how too cook food properly, I have learned to love the foods that I never thought I'd like. Brussel sprouts, asparagus, seafood, mushrooms, steak, pork... these were all foods that I thought I didn't like, until I learned how to cook them in a way that fit my taste. Brussel sprouts and asparagus are some of my favorite veggies when cooked just enough and no more, then served with butter and parmesan. Mushrooms are the BEST complimentary ingredient anytime you want to make something with beef stock and onions. I now prefer seafood to chicken or beef (mainly because it is a great excuse to eat as much butter and garlic as I want), and the list goes on.

I'm making myself hungry. This week I think I'll just eat PB&J so I can use my grocery allowance to make something exquisite. Snow crab, tagliatelle, and asparagus maybe? Hmmmm..... :)