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chiffonade
[shihf-uh-NAHD, shihf-uh-NAYD]
Literally translated, this French phrase means "made of rags." Culinary, it refers to thin strips or shreds of vegetables (basil, sorrel and lettuce), either lightly sautéed or used raw to garnish soups.
The gnocchi class literally made us giddy with excitement. Cooking was going to feed into my obsessive compulsive behaviors. I could not get enough, I wanted and needed more. Julie continued to sign us up for classes making us experts in pizza, lemoncello, pasta, lemoncello, biscotti and oh yes lemoncello!
Taking a little jog south found us in a Spanish cooking class learning how to make paella where I first met Chef Wayne Johnson, Executive Chef of Andaluca. I was so taken with his drive and passion for food; the pure ingredients, the varied textures, the amazing smells and unforgettable flavors.
Julie and I paired up and we were assigned our task of gathering ingredients for the paella. First we read through the recipe. Of course this is what all experts do… Julie has her BA in Finance and has a natural sense of order just as all of her numbers do. When Julie gathers and prepares, every utensil and ingredient has its place. It’s like she’s Martha’s sister from another mother. I on the other hand do not command so much order. I am happy with all of my ingredients in front of me like a concert audience. Can you see where this is going? We continued to read the recipe, looking up at each other at exactly the same time. "Chiffonade?" What’s that," Julie asked? We immediately turned back to our workspace, picked up every package, box, bag and container disrupting any sense of order. We could not find a chiffonade! We reread the recipe and had an ‘aha’ moment. It was basil chiffonade! Clear as mud!
Chef Wayne was working his way through the students giving direction and explanations. We both felt a pang of panic…we still hadn’t found the basil chiffonade! We confessed to Chef Wayne that there was an item missing. With the very slightest upturn to the corner of his mouth he told us he would be happy to show us. He gently pulled off several tender basil leaves, laid each one on top of the other then rolled them like a cigar. He picked up the knife and cut diagonally across the basil, leaving us with beautiful aromatic confetti. He moved on to the next students while Julie and I nearly laughed ourselves into tears.
It’s been seven years since that first class with Chef Wayne and many things have happened, including culinary school. Since then I have attended many other classes with him and have been fortunate enough to work along side him at several charity events, the last one just a few weeks ago for the March of Dimes. While helping to make a risotto for the event I had an opportunity to show Chef Wayne my ‘chiffonade’ skills! I reminded him of that first class oh so long ago. Thank you Chef Wayne. Reservations next week at Andaluca…until our next meal, roux the day!
1 Sassy Tomato
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Roux the day...
roux [ruː]
n pl roux
(Cookery) a mixture of equal amounts of fat and flour, heated, blended, and used as a basis for sauces
Recently I was dining with some friends at a neighborhood joint in West Seattle. As usual our conversation drifted to food, not just what we were eating but the love of food that we all shared in so many ways. We talked about dishes we were planning to make, restaurants that some had just visited, a recipe that sounded so exciting I couldn’t wait to get home to try it. Somewhere along the way the idea of creating a food blog came up and someone asked me why I wasn’t writing about food! My mind suddenly drifted back to the beginning of my adventurous life with food and how it all really began.
My dearest friend Julie would often call to ask about some culinary delight she wanted to cook to impress the new or current man in her life. One of our conversations led to sauces and specifically a cheese sauce followed by none other than…”how do you make a cheese sauce, she asked?” “Start with a roux, I said.” “What’s a roux she asked?” I had to stop and think, she is just a couple of years younger than me, and we both grew up on farms and at our grandmother’s apron strings – so, what, what, what? I thought a roux was basic home grown, farm girl staple cooking. So without much more thought my reply was; “maybe you should take a basic Betty Crocker cooking class!” “If I do, you do, she shot back.” Thirty minutes later we were enrolled in a cooking class at Blue Ribbon Cooking School.
Dear Betty Crocker, no disrespect meant, but our first class was a bit beyond the basics. Julie had enrolled us in an Italian class making Gnocchi, those succulent little potato dumplings slathered in a rich nutty brown sage butter. Oh yummmm!
Something inside me came alive. We talked about this class for days. In fact weeks! The excitement barometer was on the rise. I started pulling my cookbooks off the shelf and reading with a new interest. Special trips were made to the grocery store to find new food treasures. Did my grocery store really carry that item before? My shelves were filling with bottles of this and shakers of that. Who cared if I was going to use them or not I was just excited at a new food find!
I’ve never thought of myself as a writer. In real life I am very animated, my hands are always moving and my face tells its own story. So writing a blog about my adventurous food world is a challenge that I am genuinely excited about. I think my excitement will spill onto the page and you will hopefully enjoy the world of food as much as I do. My love of food covers a wide spectrum, from shopping for food, cooking for my friends, being a private chef and having the opportunity to work with some the most well regarded chefs in Seattle and throughout the country. Not to mention just dining out! So until our next meal…roux the day!
1 Sassy Tomato
n pl roux
(Cookery) a mixture of equal amounts of fat and flour, heated, blended, and used as a basis for sauces
Recently I was dining with some friends at a neighborhood joint in West Seattle. As usual our conversation drifted to food, not just what we were eating but the love of food that we all shared in so many ways. We talked about dishes we were planning to make, restaurants that some had just visited, a recipe that sounded so exciting I couldn’t wait to get home to try it. Somewhere along the way the idea of creating a food blog came up and someone asked me why I wasn’t writing about food! My mind suddenly drifted back to the beginning of my adventurous life with food and how it all really began.
My dearest friend Julie would often call to ask about some culinary delight she wanted to cook to impress the new or current man in her life. One of our conversations led to sauces and specifically a cheese sauce followed by none other than…”how do you make a cheese sauce, she asked?” “Start with a roux, I said.” “What’s a roux she asked?” I had to stop and think, she is just a couple of years younger than me, and we both grew up on farms and at our grandmother’s apron strings – so, what, what, what? I thought a roux was basic home grown, farm girl staple cooking. So without much more thought my reply was; “maybe you should take a basic Betty Crocker cooking class!” “If I do, you do, she shot back.” Thirty minutes later we were enrolled in a cooking class at Blue Ribbon Cooking School.
Dear Betty Crocker, no disrespect meant, but our first class was a bit beyond the basics. Julie had enrolled us in an Italian class making Gnocchi, those succulent little potato dumplings slathered in a rich nutty brown sage butter. Oh yummmm!
Something inside me came alive. We talked about this class for days. In fact weeks! The excitement barometer was on the rise. I started pulling my cookbooks off the shelf and reading with a new interest. Special trips were made to the grocery store to find new food treasures. Did my grocery store really carry that item before? My shelves were filling with bottles of this and shakers of that. Who cared if I was going to use them or not I was just excited at a new food find!
I’ve never thought of myself as a writer. In real life I am very animated, my hands are always moving and my face tells its own story. So writing a blog about my adventurous food world is a challenge that I am genuinely excited about. I think my excitement will spill onto the page and you will hopefully enjoy the world of food as much as I do. My love of food covers a wide spectrum, from shopping for food, cooking for my friends, being a private chef and having the opportunity to work with some the most well regarded chefs in Seattle and throughout the country. Not to mention just dining out! So until our next meal…roux the day!
1 Sassy Tomato
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