I've been working and I'm changing jobs (yet again) so have neglected this blog. Since Shalee mentioned me I figured I better stick something (recent) in here for y'all to look at.
Chateaubriand is a big steak (link to wikipedia); named after François-René de Chateaubriand.
So I went walking in Madrid the other day. I had a few errands to attend to.
I'll skip one picture that would give too big a clue about something involving an upcoming birthday.
Dropped some shoes off to be fixed. Not in one of those keys, shoes, door openers franchise places - since that type of shop declined to attempt to fix these shoes (whose insides were shot). I had to find a real artisan type shoe repair store; of which there are not many remaining.
Stopped by to browse in a knife store (we chefs like/love knives)
They even have swords in the window & I obviously need a polarizing filter (it was a nice sunny day)
Stopped for a cafe con leche (coffee & milk) with a croissant in a typical cafe (most streets have 2 or 3 of them; I wonder how they all stay in business).
Cruised down to the Plaza Mayor. Passing by the spot where the Spanish Resistance stood up to Napolean's army (& failed - I believe). It was built in 1617 or so and restored in 1790. So sort of old. People actually live in the apartments overlooking the plaza.
This is/was the royal bakery.
This is the place where I first ate dinner and shared/split plates of food with my S.O. - before we knew that we were to become an "item". Founded in 1642; it's a newish place...
...compared to Botin (just up the street) which is the oldest restaurant in the world (since 1500 or thereabouts).
A little further down the street I ran across a ¡ cork shop ! Just cork.
This is a picture through the front glass (they were closed for lunch). All cork all the time.
I just love little (or big) specialty shops. There's usually someone behind the counter who's enthusiastic and knowledgable about their trade. Few and far between these days.
And finally a shot of part of the construction surrounding Madrid. Literally the town is circled by construction projects. This one is the south part of the ring road that circles the center of town. They're putting an 6 lane highway underground and are going to let the old river flow above - like it used to before they build the ring road back in the 60s. Yes, they're burying the road. A great idea - but has made quite a mess while they're doing it.
I was intending to post a few photos (!) of my walk in Madrid yesterday; just a normal day, cruising around with very little purpose. Just enjoying the day and the city.
But this program I am using to post the pics is going to take some getting used to / practice to get correct. It involves Picasa and Hello and synchronizing my iPaq to the ThinkPad and who knows what else (not me, that's obvious).
This post was supposed to have something like 9 pictures in it. It doesn't.
Was cruising pretty good the last couple of days. Last Friday evening and Saturday afternoon were lousy. But Saturday night and through to today (Monday) were just fine. I believe I'm getting the hang of the pizza station. The professional kitchen is about rhythm - and confidence - and not hesitating - and speed - and not making errors. And lots more. But that's at least the first few important things.
Things are so slow of Sunday night that we spent the shift cleaning stuff; Monday lunch was slow too so I was doing other prep for stuff on the menu. One item was the filling for the crepes.
This is exactly what I did
Ingredients
Still no photos.
Well I'm now doing the pizza station. & I Love pizza. Oddly enough they're rectangluar rather than round.
The list:
No photo, but here's what we actually do...
Spent a week just getting the hang of things; then a week more or less doing pastas; then came a week or so on salads and other stuff that originates in the big walk-in cooler. This is the Garde Manger position (that's French; it's Cuarto Frio in Spanish); Cold Kitchen in English. And a very typical starting role in the professional kitchen since it doesn't involve large chunks of expensive protein products (meat).
The salads we have are fewer than the 41 pasta combinations - so that's nice. But the action starts with the very first order and goes pretty intensely all shift long.
And there's a bunch of other stuff that the Cuarto Frio has to prepare too; like carpaccios, brochettes, gazpachos, terrines, some lasagnas, and the occasional melon (dessert).
I'm really writing all of this up as a study-aid. So I'll (possibly) remember it all when I'm working.
I did a recipe for the spinach salad already. I'll get some of the other ones written up too.
Here's a bad picture (phone-camera) of a Spinach Salad (Ensalada de Espinacas):
Spinach is a touchy, fragile, green leaf vegetable. The resto gets bags of prewashed spinach and after a couple of days they're usually ½ "dead" and not viable for use in a salad.
Yesterday I was making salads on the fly (as the orders came in) -
Ingredients:
Procedure:
Drop by the restaurant and you can cover for me during my break
It's a holiday in Madrid on August 15 (tomorrow) so today is what's called a "bridge"day (puente).; the day between the weekend and a holiday that gives an extra extra long weekend (4 days).
I'm not working so I decided to go to Segovia for lunch.
The aquaduct. 2000 years old. Phone-camera. Sort of fuzzy edges.
Segovia is only 60 km (40 miles) away and I took the "old roadway" instead of the main highway, it takes 10 whole minutes extra and you don't have to pay €6,05 in tolls (each way).
The obvious attraction is the aquaduct; built by the romans in about the year 50. Still standing. Good workmanship I guess.
Lunch was traditional slow roasted suckling pig preceded by Morcilla (a riced-up version of black pudding).
Cochinillo for one. Wine: a very nice house Rioja. Water: Vichy Catalan (bubbly)
The place was Restaurante Duque; which has only been around for 111 years; but it's still nice. The meal went for under €40 (starter, main, wine, water, coffee). As an aside we will recall that Botin, in Madrid, is the oldest restaurant in the world.
I forgot to list the nine sauces
This post made with Windows Live Writer (Beta). We'll see how it looks. Maybe with a map.
Note: Inserting the map abended a little bit and the location that displays is not what I plugged in. But it was fun to try.
It's been a while since I've really worked on someone else's schedule and got paid for it. Damn, but it's tiring.
I've been working the salad & cold-stuff station because the person currently doing it is leaving next week and their replacement failed to show up last Monday. I've also been doing the pastas the last couple of days. Easy enough - except for trying to remember the 12 combos of pasta/sauce for 5 different tables at once; without having anything written down. The chief chef just shouts out the orders from the other end of the kitchen and I'm supposed to catch it in one go. It's Not happening quite that way yet.
This is (some of) what I was doing last night at the new resto.
It would be good to have a small old very used cast-iron frying pan whose bottom is "crepe-sized". Or teflon might work. About 6 or 7 inches.
These reheat well; they're good cold; and probably freeze okay.
Makes a whole lot; about 40 or so
Fast, dead easy, keeps well. The only trick is that you need a pressure cooker (or you have to use the useful poaching instructions I put in the notes below).
What with the new job and all, summer, sun, vacations for the lucky ones - - I needed something fast (to not heat up the kitchen) and lasting (so it could be "grazed" on from the refrigerator while I was at work)
Short version:
Okay, this time I realy do have a new job. Locked in. Contract signed. And actually worked the first day today. So there.
Simple cookery in a small chain (14 restos) here in Madrid that does Italian-Argentinian. Not fancy gourmet cooking at all. Modest; but I'm sure there's lots to learn. And it's really close to home.
And they work you in quick there. Usually the first day at a new place is cutting vegs and making salads; this place has me trimming meat and doing pasta and the occasional salsa (sauce) on the very first day. Although, more in line with past experience, I also hand-cut 10 kilos (22 pounds) of potatoes to make fries.
