Cooking Up A Storm

Chef Glenn walked through the empty dining room this morning, where I sat reading my paper. He paused next to my table to chat, an unusual occurence. "I love this kinda weather," he said. "It makes me feel like cooking. Do you ever have those days, where you just wake up and think, 'I'm gonna cook today'?" "Yes, Chef," I said. "That's why I'm here.

We scoured the walk-in refrigerators and came up with a game plan for buffet. Andy's team worked on paella, with Chef Glenn's 3-foot pan. Silvia started out with tamales but I have the feeling that they morphed into shepherd's pie, though I never really made it down to that end of the buffet. My team got our strategy together pretty quickly: smoked beef tenderloin with mushroom sauce (all week we've had big boxes of wild mushrooms, kinds I've never seen); scallops wrapped with bacon; roasted fingerling potatoes with green beans, kalamata olives, and feta; roasted baby carrots; and turkey breast stuffed with pesto and pistachio dressing.

The last dish was my project, the result of having tasty stuffing left over from yesterday's "torchon" experiment. We received tied boned turkey breasts from butchery, and I cut them open and pounded them slightly. Then I covered the meat with pesto made from basil, pistachios, garlic, parmesan, and olive oil. I topped that with a thick layer of stuffing with some additional pistachios mixed in, then rolled it up and tied it. After family meal, I seared them off -- there were three -- then finished them off in the oven, brushing on a glaze of reduced orange juice. Then I stood at the carving station, slicing off pieces and offering them to our lunch guests.

I was gratified to have family and friends "in the house" today, some of the people who've been part of my "rooting section" through this process. Fitz was the maitre d' today, and he chatted with everybody as they entered the kitchen, and after service he said, "You have some solid folks standing behind you." Today's classwork felt more personal -- more like "home cooking," if you want the truth -- because I knew it would be eaten by people I love.