Salt and oil all around

Chef R roasted some pumpkin for the night's pizza special, but it came off bitter and unappealing, so she ditched it in favor of a simple artichoke and basil pesto pie. Early in the evening, a lot of kids and parents came in for trick-or-treating, up through the rush around 8-10pm. Kid, if you see a crowded restaurant, a line in the front, a crowd of people by the open kitchen waiting for take out, and and a harried staff running back and forth, then IS not a good time to demand candy.

Spent the hours before opening making cheesecake and portioning dough. Once we got rolling, I mostly plated/boxed and finished pies. Early on and near the end, Chef R showed me how to top a few pies, the main task of the lead pizza chef in the kitchen. One thing that surprised me that was not on the menu (which I spent the morning memorizing) is that every pie is topped with a swirl of olive oil and salt before hitting the oven. Some pies get less salt or oil (a puttanesca with anchovies, capers and olives just doesn't need a lot of extra salt, a zuchinne with squirt of basil pesto doesn't need to much more oil), but it's a constant.

It was a little quiet early on when usually it's a lot of kids with parents, due to the holiday. However, the delivery rush was thick and the restaurant was only 3 pies away from breaking its record of most pies sold in a night. At 10 pm, we made 5 large special order sheet pies for a wedding reception -- some dude got married on a float at the Halloween Parade and was catering his party with our pizza. I wouldn't want to base my future happiness and health tied forever with such a silly holiday, but basing it on some fine pizza doesn't sound too bad!

ADDENDA:
After I wrote yesterday's entry after dinner, felt antsy and weird. Hungry, but not hungry, just wanted to eat to entertain myself perhaps. I haven't felt this way in quite a while, and it was both annoying and a comfort. I guess this kind of feeding frenzy is ok every once in a blue moon, but any more and my pants will regret it.

Too much sugar, damn you Halloween! It's not my fault, ghosts and goblins forced all the sweets into my mouth!

LATE NIGHT BINGE: 10-12pm, potato chips, corn chips and salsa, a handful of peanut butter cups, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Was tempted to break out a frozen pizza, but thought of the shame of having to write about it.

BREAKFAST: 11am, good yogurt with honey, nuts, vanilla, .75 bowls, hunger 3/5

PM SNACK: 1pm, flourless chocolate cake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKS: 1-9pm, a little Halloween candy here and there, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, black cherry soda, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 10pm, pizza with sausage, artichokes, moz, rosemary, olives, mushrooms, cheesecake, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Purée the day away

I spent a good part of the day cooking. First I made another puréed soup, this one for a dinner party on Saturday. I figure if the leftover soup I had for breakfast was so damn tasty, holding a batch for a few days will only help.

Roasted a sugar pie pumpkin while caramelized a sliced onion, boiled a yam and a couple of carrots in vegetable stock to soft, sautéed a sliced Macintosh apple in olive oil to soft and brown. All into the blender with some grated ginger, a blob of black strap molasses, a few teaspoons of sea salt and a dash of cayenne. It's now all in the fridge mellowing and coming together. Saturday I'll make the parsley oil for the garnish, and this time I gots me a squeeze bottle.

For dinner, I roasted an acorn squash along with the pumpkin, and once it cooled, I scraped it out into the food processor with a 10oz container of marscapone, and blended to smooth. Brought a couple of quarts of chicken stock to a boil, softened a diced onion in olive oil, toasted 2 cups of arborio rice to translucent, hit it with a half cup of sherry and let it cook off to dry. As I added a ladleful of stock to the rice one by one and stirred, I prepped a half pound of shrimp and tossed it in olive oil, salt and cumin just for giggles.

When the rice had absorbed and felt right to the tooth, I salted to taste. I threw the shrimp on a hot, hot grill pan. Took the squash purée and folded it in to the rice with a cup of grated parm. The spice in the shrimp marinade browned nicely, contrasting against the pale orange risotto.

I was blazing hungry, and took me half the bowl to realize the risotto needed a hell of a lot more salt. I salted the leftovers, and into the fridge for...maybe arancini?

ADDENDA:
Looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow.

BREAKFAST: 11:15am, half an apple, banana, homemade butternut squash soup, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
The apple was organic, but from the west coast, so it was kinda unappealingly soft and low on flavor. I gotta get local, pesticides be damned. Soup was totally awesome as a leftover, I must make some freezer stock of this stuff.

PM SNACK: 12:45pm, handful of Reese's peanut butter cups. .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I shouldn't have bought a Halloween candy that I used to love so dearly as a kid. I had a Reese's t-shirt that I wore through childhood up into high school. -sigh-

PM SNACK: 4pm, pickle

DINNER: 6:30pm, grilled cumin shrimp with acorn squash risotto, handful of peanut butter cups, quart of water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

The frozen aisle just ain't doing it for me anymore.

Just didn't feel like cooking today. After laundry and chores, ate some of last night's leftovers, but still felt unsatisfied. I needed to go to the local conventional supermarket to pick up detergent and Halloween candy (because no kid wants some sort of nouveau 'healthy' candy), so I had the idea of maybe buying some ingredients for a fresh lunch.

The packaged meats looked bleh, the fresh seafood not so fresh. I used to be a big fan of the freezer aisle, and I was stopped by a package of frozen falafel. I was about to buy it but made the mistake of reading the ingredients. About ten different spices, all dried, none fresh. No oil at all, which means you must fry yourself, microwaving not really being an option. To its credit, there weren't any preservatives in it, but that just underlined my final thought before putting it back on the shelf: shee-it, I can make this myself. Indeed, maybe next week.

This was the supermarket of my parents. Wandering around, missed them pretty hard amongst the frozen foods. Ended up just getting vegan boca burgers. Oh well.

ADDENDA:
I made falafel in c-school, it was a good recipe. For those readers who followed me here from Culinary School Confidential, just got my grades today from the 5th and final mod. Chef Al gave me the lowest grades of my experience, dipping my GPA just below what I needed for graduating with honors. However, it seems I'll be getting a grade for my externship, so no grade-grubbing necessary. Funny, I really don't care, except for that feeling of, "Oo, grade is not good enough, don't want to show my parents."

Went to yoga class today, just was not feeling it and zoned out by the time we started doing positions on the floor. Met with Ilsa about my diet n' stuff, and it seems an apple a day and some super-simple unreduced minimally cooked oil/minimal vegetable matter is in my immediate future. Baaaah!

BREAKFAST: 10am, organic chex with good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH #1: 1pm, half a leftover homemade pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH #2: 3pm, boca burger on whole wheat english muffin, ginger ale, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, pad see ew, water, small brownie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, potato chips, handful of peanut butter cups, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Oy. I didn't eat enough today. And after Ilsa's command to eat more fruit and veg...

Livin' La Pizza Loca Pt 2

The dough came out well. Speaking with Chef A yesterday at the restaurant, he said how difficult it could be to make non-ginormous quantities of dough. I started with Peter Rheinhart's recipe, adjusting with half double 00 flour and less water, which still came out really loose, adding more and more AP flour till it wasn't total goo. When the dough was taken out to work with this evening, it had set up nicely.

3 adults, 2 kids, one vegan. In the morning I churned strawberry ice cream and chocolate soy ice cream, slowly caramelized onions, sautéed criminis with garlic, prepped a tray of mise (buffalo and cow moz, parm, pepperoni, basil, thyme, raw sauce, cooked sauce).

Haven't made a proper blended soup since c-school, and it was a revelation. Easy to make and really delicious, no recipe, just threw in what I had on hand.


Peeled and roasted hunks of butternut squash. Softened a mess of diced onions in olive oil. Sautéed slices of peeled golden delicious apple. Into boiling water went peeled carrots and a yam. All went into blender, with some of the boiling water, maple syrup, salt, grated ginger, a dash of cayenne. An hour before the guests came, soup went into one large and one small pot on the stove top. To one, I finished the soup with heavy cream, the other with soy milk.

For garnishes, I roasted and steamed three multicolored peppers, then diced them together for a smokey relish. Took a head of parsley and blended it to smooth with a small amount of olive oil and a heavy dash of salt. I had no squeeze bottle on hand so the spooning of the parsley oil was a bit sloppy. Regardless, this mildly sweet soup was an excellent opening round. I stamped 2" rounds out of one flattened dough and painted them with garlic-infused olive oil and a shake of salt for a cracker-like garlicky pizza accompaniment for the soup.

After popping out a round of kid-made pies, whipped off the adult pies. I ran my oven at 500 instead of 550, and for convenience's sake used parchment under all the pies to get them in and out of the oven easier. (Right now I have a folding metal peel that just sucks, doesn't hold lubricating flour very well, need to get a short-handled wooden peel.) The temp, the paper, and perhaps the dough didn't lend itself to good browning. Next time, I'm gonna go hotter, lose the paper and perhaps add either a dash of sugar, honey, or milk to the dough, in a quest to find the ideal dough for the oven I have. Cow margarita, buffalo margarita, mushroom & cherry tomato, and a few variations, nothing that crazy.


For dessert, in addition to the ice creams, I balled some extra pizza dough into little nuggets and dropped them into about 400 degree peanut oil. Took a few minutes, but they browned nicely, not greasy at all, and puffy and steamy in the middle. Finished with powdered sugar, they were mildly sweet, yet had that certain yeasty tang that makes pizza dough pizza.

ADDENDA:
Probably the trickiest part of the night was having 2 non-English speaking kids assemble pizzas. Fortunately, the dough wasn't too loose and they got the concept of stretching pretty ably. I've never actually sat in front of my oven and watched the pizzas cook, but sitting with them was a mini-revelation, watching the yeast rise the dough in the first minute, the cheese melting into pools, then finally just bubbling away and browning.


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, bagel and cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3pm, spinach pumpkin ravioli, chocolate bar, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5 Ravioli is a bit disappointing, I rolled the dough a bit too thick, so it came out a bit too tough. The pumpkin filling is pretty good though, the balsamic reduction plays well against the pumpkin and marscapone.

DINNER: 6:30pm, butternut squash soup, various homemade pizza slices, vanilla ice cream with deep fried pizza dough balls with powdered sugar, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Livin' La Pizza Loca Pt 1.

Monday night is a slowish night at the restaurant. I came in at 3 for a 5 opening, and I popped out a round of tiramisu, assisted on a balsamic reduction for topping the night's special pie (a butternut squash creation) and blended a load of basil and parsley into olive oil to create a basil pesto of sorts for another special pie.

Early in the evening I was sent across to the sister restaurant (which is closed Mondays) to slice some prosciutto and some spicy salami. I haven't spent much time on the slicer -- I think the amount time spent warning me about the slicer is greater than the time I've ever spent on one. Oddly enough, the owner was poking around the restaurant and gave me a tutorial on the slicer, ending up doing 4/5 of the slicing I needed to do. Then he showed me how to clean it properly, ending up pretty much cleaning it himself.

The rest of the night was mostly stretching dough, finishing pies, plating and boxing, cutting bread, and just ebbing and flowing with the personalities in the shop. A customer came in, a regular, in which everyone nick named 'the penis', as he has an oddly bell-shaped head and acted overly ingratiating and needs a lot of attention. I wonder if I've ever been given a nickname by the staff at any restaurant?

ADDENDA:
I spent the morning prepping whatever could be done in advance for dinner tomorrow night, when the HVS will swoop down with a small crowd of her family in town from Israel. I made some triple chocolate soy ice cream, a batch of creme anglais (which will become vanilla and strawberry ice cream), and a batch of pizza dough. The dough will be used for pizzas, garlic bread (to go with some squash soup), and some sort of deep fried pizza balls with powdered sugar to go with the ice creams.

It's a bit weird spending my morning making dough, letting it rise, then scaling and balling it at home...then going to work and doing the same thing. Living la pizza loca!

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, toasted onion bagel with homemade hummus, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5

LUNCH: 5:30pm, 2 slices, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9:30pm, small portion of spaghetti with meatball, root beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 11:30pm, quart of water

EVENING TASTING: 11:45pm, spoonful of vanilla ice cream