Before we get into all the good food, there is a little story to help this whole thing along. After The Tyler Place, I searched relentlessly for a quality position here in Burlington. It seemed everything was assisted living based or short order fry cook misery. Then it happened! Healthy Living was looking for a sous chef to run their operation! I applied and landed the job within a few days. I thought that the food would be amazing and the staff would be skilled. I was so wrong!! I was basically suckered in, set-up and pushed around by the owners. Has anyone ever heard of a sous chef that isn't allowed to cook? Everything was either Sysco or Us Foods bullshit in a can. Thankfully, this position ended right after the new year.
I always love to eat whatever is in season, it just makes your soul feel good. Chicken is such an abused piece of protein. Many home cooks shy away from this marvelous bird because of two things.... First they think it is too time consuming to prepare, or they have had a bad experience in the past. I say, don't fret! The art of preparing a delicious home cooked chicken dinner is extremely simple! First find yourself a decent bird. Stay away from the store brands or big name suppliers. Some of these chickens are so modified they can't even be called chickens. Spend the extra $2.00 and get a legit bird. Here in Vermont it is Misty Knolls.
For a fabulous chicken dinner cut in half two lemons, slice one half stick of butter, salt and pepper and finish with some butchers twine. Rinse the bird under cold water thoroughly. Place the cut lemons inside the body cavity of the bird. Working with your fingers find where the skin meets the meat of the chicken and distribute the butter evenly.
Once these steps are complete, time to truss this bird. There are several ways to do this, pick one that is right for you. You can go simple or extremely complicated. I place the back end of the bird facing me and put my twine under the tail and cross it over the legs.
Pull tight and spin the bird around until the neck is facing you. With your fingers on the cutting board pull the twine towards you and over the wing sections.
Next, flip the bird over and wrap the twine around the neck section and tie tightly. There it is! Simple! Roast, or smoke this until and internal temp of 160 degrees is achieved. Have any accompaniments you like with this. This will feed a family of four no problem!
The job market in February was pretty scarce. There were positions available, but they were at Buffalo Wild Wings, or Longhorn Steak House. I would rather die than work for one of these shady outfits. For a little while, I was helping a former instructor of mine at a local soup and sandwich shop. This was fun for a while, but making sandwiches every day sucks. Again, luckily this was temporary. This was an epic winter for snow here in Vermont. This made the winter a drag.
During the winter doldrums, I stumbled upon a unique recipe for a smoked salmon lasagna. The most interesting part is that this recipe doesn't call for pasta! It's almost like a smoked salmon gratin. At your local market try to find out if they sell smoked salmon scraps.
Smoked Salmon Lasagna
1. 2# Smoked Salmon Scraps
2. 1 Bag Baby Spinach
3. Small Bottle Clam Juice
4. 1 Qt. Heavy Cream
5. Four Cups Graded Gruyere
6. Salt and Pepper
In a well greased 2" baking pan, start with the potatoes and make a thin layer. Next add the salmon and spinach and gruyere. Repeat this until the ingredients run out. Mix the clam juice and heavy cream together and pour over the lasagna. Don't empty the whole contents onto the lasagna! Just until you can see it in the pan. Cook at 375 for forty minutes and enjoy!!
Winter seemed to take forever! I didn't know how much more I could take! It didn't matter how much snow we got, the food was unbelievable!! Spending all day making dinner with the utmost attention to detail!! Finally, I recived a phone call from Jeff Towle from The Tyler Place about the upcoming season. It was great to hear his voice again. Hope and anticipation were now tangible things! We got the band back together with the addition of Chef David Coolidge. Chef Dave was one of my instructors at school and has an unbelievable energy level. I think he can find a way to have fun anywhere! He is a welcome addition to the TP crew. Sadly, Jeremy Ratta left for Pittsburgh last week. It was a sad moment in TP history. I still can't believe he isn't there. Hey, life goes on for everyone, including Jeremy.
With all the sadness of the departure of Jeremy, I had to slow smoke some pork belly! If you have the means, pick one up, if not, beg your butcher! Pork belly is like the holy grail for the home cook. You can do anything to this piece of meat. I like to rub it down with molasses, coco powder and red pepper flakes. This is definitely next level pork belly maneuvers. A few blogs ago I have a great recipe for pancetta. Check it out! Anyway, slow smoke the belly for three hours at 180-200 degrees. This will melt your face!
On to today! The TP is in full swing again! Our new crew is quickly learning to daily procedures and developing their own short cuts. It's fun to watch. We have to be hard on them in the beginning. Some can handle this pressure and some can't. The biggest u-turn has been from our garde manger chef. Justin started out a little rocky, but has gone into overdrive and is quickly turning heads. He has super ninja skills and definitely deserves respect for this. Not too shabby for a rookie!
I can finally play in the kitchen again and all is well. The fourth of July came and went without any calamities, and everyone had fun! Isn't that the point of cooking anyway? I went back to my pastry roots and found the time to make a fun little cake for the occasion.
There is much more to come! Stay tuned and peace out!
