As part of my continuing culinary education I took the Pro 2 Series offered by my culinary school. This series of classes focused on honing our skills, working with specific cultural cuisines and wine tasting. One of our classes was a surprise, we didn’t know what we’d be learning, we were just supposed to show up. We got to class and were told to pull a number out of a bowl then go to a counter lined with trays and find the tray with the corresponding number on it. Each tray was topped with six to seven ingredients.
We were told to make a three course meal that we would enjoy using ONLY the ingredients on our tray supplementing with ingredients from a limited list that included: salt, pepper, sugar, oil, vinegar, wine, chicken broth, eggs, flour and butter. Does that sound like a lot? Trust me, it’s not!
Our instructor told us this was supposed to be fun, an exercise to help us stretch our brains but also to show us how much we already know. She said we’d be surprised by what we could do with limited ingredients and no recipes.
Going into this challenge I felt excited and confident. I watch chopped! If I can imagine what to make with squid ink, gummy bears and Sriracha, I should have NO problem coming up with three simple dishes using everyday ingredients! As I stared at my tray, the panic began to rise into my throat. No onions. No shallots. No garlic. I looked around the room and saw that nearly everyone had an onion, a shallot or some cloves of garlic on their tray. I know I have mentioned this before but once upon a time, onions and shallots wouldn’t be allowed near me without me crinkling my nose and mock-gagging in disgust. The idea of being frozen in space, unable to cook without them was pretty ironic and I might have found it amusing were I not wiping the cold sweat from my brow and trying not to roll into the fetal position.
I tried to brainstorm, looking down at the foods before me: 1. frisee lettuce 2. patty pan squash, summer squash and zucchini 3. baby cherry tomatoes 4. filet of beef 5. nectarines 6. rosemary. Hmmm, I thought, what about stuffing the patty pan with other roasted squash and tomatoes? But without rice or some other binder, that would turn into a mush pot. What about a nice creamy squash soup? Without any dairy? Or alliums? EEP! I was seriously about to pass out when I approached my teacher and meekly asked her if I might maybe, possibly, perhaps, if it’s okay, have a bit of onion? Or shallot? Lucky for me, someone had just asked her if he could NOT use half of his onion and she generously let me have it. I was flooded with relief though it was tempered with a twinge of guilt and a feeling of failure at having not easily mastered the challenge as it stood. I put those feelings behind me and got to work.
I figured that if I chopped the squash and roasted them, I could get a nice, sweet flavor that would go really well with the tomatoes and some caramelized onion in a frittata. I quickly chopped the squash into small cubes and tossed it with olive oil, salt and pepper. I put it in the oven to roast at 350 F.
As the veggies were roasting, I slowly caramelized my onions, cooking them in a skillet with a drizzle of olive oil over medium low heat.
With those items taken care of, I turned my attention to the main course. I knew I wanted to use the beef for my main but I couldn’t think of much to do with it using the ingredients at hand. I decided to saute it then slice it and serve it over the frisee as a cold steak salad. I had so many tomatoes that I figured I could use some tomatoes in the frittata and use the rest to make a roasted tomato vinaigrette. I love how even a small amount of heat makes tomatoes a million times sweeter so I tossed half of my tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted them at 350 for just a few minutes, until some of the skins had begun to burst. I let them cool and then gently mixed them with sherry vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. I let the flavors meld while I cooked the steak, sauteed in a SCREAMING HOT pan then finished in the oven. I wanted medium rare but my results were a hair under medium well. Oh well. It still tasted good to me, I am not super picky about doneness when it comes to my own meat. In high school I ordered my steaks WELL DONE (cringe!!!!) I set the steak in the fridge to cool and rest while I got back to my fritatta.
My veggies came out of the oven caramelized, softened and smelling divine. I spread them along with the caramelized onions in the bottom of a small pie pan. I whisked together a couple of eggs with a splash of water to fluff them up and then poured the mixture over the veggies in the pan. I placed halved cherry tomatoes all over the top and put the pan in the oven until the edges were just brown and the center was set.
Dessert. Yikes. All I had left to use were the nectarines and the rosemary. I would have loved to make a nectarine rosemary ice cream or a panna cotta but without any dairy, that would have been a mite tricky. I saw many people around me kneading pie crusts but I knew that was out of the question for me. My nectarines were a little on the janky side, they weren’t very ripe or juicy and the skins were a bit mottled. Our instructor drilled into our heads that we must always adjust our techniques to the ingredients and quality of ingredients we have. I decided to slice up the nectarines and soak them in some red wine with a sprinkle of sugar to give them a bit more depth of flavor and bring out some of the sweetness. After letting them soak for about 30 minutes, I took them out and sauteed them in a pan with butter and sugar to caramelize the outside and soften the inside.
To use the rosemary. I made a balsamic reduction sauce by cooking down balsamic vinegar with the rosemary until it was a thick syrup, adding in a splash of the red wine I had soaked the nectarines in and straining out the rosemary sprigs.
I must say, I was so impressed by how everyone in the class came up with creative and tasty dishes using just the ingredients on hand and the skills we know by heart. If I had access to a pantry full of ingredients, I would have done A LOT of things differently but I felt that I had used what I had to the best of my abilities and made a damn tasty meal.
Here is my final menu:
Summer Vegetable Frittata with Caramelized Onions
Frisee Salad with Sliced Filet of Beef and Roasted Tomato Sherry Vinaigrette
Red Wine Macerated Nectarines, Caramelized with Rosemary Balsamic Reduction
This review will be short and sweet because 1. I read this book over a month ago 2. It was kinda boring.
