FORAGING FRIDAY: MANGO ON A STICK

Foraging Friday documents Kitchen Toro's exploration of New York's diverse restaurants, neighborhoods, stores and their ingredients and flavors.

I'm sure you can find them elsewhere in the city but I've always seen mangoes-on-a-stick just off Union Square. The mangoes are peeled and sliced so that the look like big orange tulips. Several of them are usually peeled and sliced, under plastic on sticks, upright in cardboard. I had never had one until a recent visit.

The mangoes are usually sold by Hispanic women on the corner across the street from the steps in the park, either on the corner where there's a Jamba Juice or South a block across from the church.

I love mangoes, especially when they're cold and not overripe. The fruit has a wonderful consistency, like a firm jello. For a few dollars a mango you've got a choice of eating it with hot sauce and salt or lemon juice, honey or any combination of those ingredients. On this ocassion I had mine with lemon juice, hot sauce and a dash of salt. I probably should have gone wone way or the other, lemon juice or hot sauce and salt. It wasn't as cold as I'd like but it sure was refreshing and as I walked down the street under the summer sun it seemed as though the juices of the fruit would never stop flowing even though I'd eaten it down to the big, flat pit.

If you've never had one, give it a try. As much as I love Mr. Softee, the mango-flower is a cheap, wonderful summer treat.

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THURSDAY THE LONG WAY: TOWNHOUSE DINER

Thursday highlights food from out of the way places, food memories that have formed the way I view food, both cooking and eating it. They may be inspired by recent meals, the food-media, or anything at all.

The Merrick Townhouse Diner-- scene of my most frequent restaurant meals throug the first eight years of my life. It's on the corner of Sunrise Highway and Frankel Blvd. (my street) in Merrick on Long Island about 45 minutes drive from Greenpoint, Brooklyn where I live now. It's where I learned about restaurant spaghetti and meatballs, greek salads, challah bread, rice pudding, whipped cream, Napoleons and eclairs.

Not only that, it's where I learned appropriate dinner table behavior via the two occasions my father carried me out over his shoulder after having promised me that if I didn't behave we were going to have a talk outside (not that this happened often but god bless my pop, kid's these days, I swear, parents let them get away with way too much). I didn't like these "talks," there wasn't much talking involved in them-- it was more like an eruption that scared you the hell back to the dinner table, quiet, hungry and business-like.

I didn't know it until this past weekend when I went out to visit my folks, but the diner, left behind a chain-link fence, is closed. My parents heard that the owner lost the place when he went into bankruptcy because of gambling debts. I couldn't even tell you if the food was any good before it closed because I hadn't been there to eat in ages. The current incarnation whose neon lights and reflecting mirrors resembles a D-movie UFO or a solar-powered satellite, was a renovation of the original I remember from childhood with mahogany-formica table-tops, 70's yellow-tinted water glasses, red fake-leather chairs with brass buttons and jukeboxes at every booth. The new floral patterns on the chairs and the big windows looking out on Sunrise highway made me feel like I was in a nursing home, not in the small-window world of the old diner, a protected, cozy place that only seemed to care about jello, belgian waffles and mints with liquorice inside them in a bowl where you paid the bill at the register, a bowl with a spoon which any kid could use to try and guess which white mint hid find his favorite flavored liquorice.

Probably my most fond memory of the Diner was dessert. After joining the "clean plate club" (who'm I kidding, I was a hungry kid-- my parents didn't need to use a club to get ME to finish dinner) I'd stroll over to the dessert display case to pick out my real meal. Three shelves of pastry and pudding, jello, cakes and pies behind a curved glass window at least eight feet long (it seemed endless). Farewell, Diner, old friend, my only regret is not ever having taken my folks there and picking up the tab.

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COMING OUT SMELLING LIKE SARDINES

Full disclosure: despite my taste for all things salty I'll admit to never having particularly craved sardines. On that note, part of my culinary education is refining my palate away from salt (not to abandon it but to better use it), to appreciate the subtleties of flavors. Though the concept of rolling small fish with stuffing is an appealing idea, and one you might be able to play with in both sweet and savory dishes, I've tasted the rolled sardines made by other groups and found them both too salty and stinky for my liking.

DISH: Baked Stuffed Sardines in the Style of Monaco (Cote D'Azur), Sardines Farcies Comme A Monaco.

RECIPE: Scale, eviscerate and remove the head and central bones of 1,200g of sardines, leaving two fillets connected then set aside.

Dice 400g of bread and soak in 500ml heavy cream for 30 minutes

Stem 200g of swiss chard and blanch leaves in lightly salted water for 2 to 3 minutes (or until tender). Drain, refresh and squeeze out excess moisture

Chop the chard coarsely and mix with two eggs, 140g grated parmesan, 8 petals of emondee tomato, 20ml olive oil, two minced garlic cloves, soaked bread, and two teaspoons each of chopped parsley, chervil, and basil. Season well.

Lay the sardines open on a work surface skin side down. Season lightly with salt and pepper and put stuffing down the center. Enclose stuffing with fillets keeping the original shape of the fish. Place the stuffed fillets in an oiled pan, side by side and bake at 400 F for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on size. Arrange the stuffed sardines on a plate, drizzle olive oil over them and serve with a lemon wedge and a sprig of parsley

BREAKDOWN: Wow, between the three quarts or so of brunoise I'd done at the Tribeca Grill and the standing up all evening in the kitchen at school I was exhausted at the end of the night but it was almost one of the most fun evenings in a while. Not because the dish was great (though it wasn't overly salted as before), but because everyone was playful. I know working in a restaurant is work but having worked the past two days at a place where I wasn't familiar with my co-workers made me realize how much more fun you can have when you're working with people you know, or have come to know. But we're here to cook, not to make friends, right?

While we doubled the number of fish in the recipe, we used the same amount of stuffing and still had some leftover. Also, we didn't use any eggs. Chef W., said it wasn't necessary to use eggs to make the stuffing hold together and she was right, the rolls stayed rolled. The Level Four group was doing scallops so customers were choosing between that and our sardines. Which dish do YOU think was selected more often? We had a lot of sardines leftover. The waitstaff likes them so we handed them off on a platter with lemon wedges and discussed the entremetier dishes (the vegetarian dishes) for next week.

NEW BOOK: We also received our new recipe books for the summer menu which begins next week. Some of the dishes we'll be making follow.

Monday:
Baked Snails with Garlic Parsley Butter
Sauteed Fillet of Flounder with Eggplant and Tomato Compote
Braised Sausage and Mushroom-Stuffed Beef Escalope with Carrots
Fig and orange gratin, Lemon-Thyme-Honey Ice Cream

Tuesday:
Chilled Cream of Avocado with Spiced Crabmeat
Fillet of Sea Bass in an Anchovy Sauce with Fennel and Sunchokes
Beef Tournedos with Eggplant Monaco-Style
Warm Pine Nut Tart with Plum Ice Cream

Wednesday:
Tartlet with Leeks, Roasted Peppers and Tomato Vinaigrette
Rare Pan-Seared Tuna with Gazpacho Vinaigrette and Black Olive Couscous
Sauteed Chicken Basque-Style
Poached Peach with Raspberries and Lemon-Verbena Ice-Cream

Thursday:
Steamed Mussels with White Wine, Shallots and Parsley
Salmon Fillet with Clams, Fennel and Mint
Veal Stew with Tomatoes, Mushroom and Pearl Onions
Summer Fruits with Grand Marnier Mousse

Friday:
Chilled Cream of Zucchini
Fillet of Hake with Manila Clams Riviera Style
Herb and mustard-glazed roasted leg of lamb
Sweet Cheese Mousse with Berries

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TOP CHEF RECAP

As I wrote two days ago, my first experience cooking outside the FCI kitchen, L'Ecole, was Tuesday with Chefs Harold Dieterle ahd Stephen Asprinio at the Tribeca Grill. I returned yesterday at 11 a.m. to help out again before class at FCI.

So here's the inside scoop folks, it was a fun first experience in profesional kitchen and it was certainly an honest day's work but boy when this day ended I was beat. I started where I left off Tuesday, doing more brunoise for a dish Stephen had coined called, "Tuna Nicoise," described on the menu as Olive-Oil Poached Tuna Loin, Nicoise Brunoise & Nicoise Water."

Brunoise was my business. Other volunteers were peeling, deveining and flattening shrimps with the bottom of a frying pan for a "Shrimp Cocktail," Ruby Red Shrimp, Avocado, American Sturgeon Caviar & Lemon Verbena Vinaigrette. When I told Stephen the amount of brunoise we had and explained we could get done what we needed but that I'd be on brunoise detail all day, he agreed and my fate was sealed. My brunoise mission: two quarts red bell pepper brunoise, two quarts celery brunoise ("Do you know how to do celery brunoise?" he asked and then demonstrated) and one quart of cucumber brunoise ("You're going to be the master-general of brunoise before the day is over," Harold said. "You'll always remember your worst job. This one's pretty bad. Mine was mashed potatoes. Man I hated that.") I couldn't find the pepper brunoise I'd done the day before though I looked through all the low-boys (fridges below our work-stations) and even asking someone else to look through them too in case I'd just missed them. I got busy cutting some more ("Hey, hurricane, stop talking so much," Harold said, smiling. "I'm just trying to cut these brunoise quickly without cutting my finger off," I answered. "I like the way you think," his reply).

Well, after we'd done an extra quart of the brunoise when Harold was organizing the mise in the kitchen, the bell pepper brunoise reappeared, "Always in the plastic containers," he said to me as he pulled them out.

There wasn't time for lunch and that was kind of understood with the later start. But when we moved to the downstairs kitchen (so they could prep and organize the kitchen near the private dining room they'd be using for the 120-person dinner) and one of us the volunteers cut some bread, we grabbed some, smuggled some butter and had a little something to tide us over. Towards the end, I had some help with the celery brunoise while I finished the cucumber quart and Harold was lightly roasting the shrimp from one side through with a blow-torch and Stephen came by to check in on us and noted that I'd probably be cursing his name because of all the brunoise. Chef Lee Anne was also there in the afternoon working on some of the dishes but it was 4:15 p.m., my back was killing me and I still had a class to get to so unfortunately I wasn't there to see the final cooking, serving and the end result.

Both Harold and Stephen were both very gracious and thanked me for helping out but, dear readers, when you're on deadline for service you don't exactly start asking to pose for pictures so you'll have to take me on my word here (as though this were something glorious to make up...).

In case you think it's all glory in the kitchen (!), at left, a burn from pulling lamb bones out of the convection oven where they'd been roasting for stock. Below, I sliced off the tip of my thumb while doing brunoise at the same place I'd badly cut myself in Level One. Here I'd thought I'd learned something.

The cut wasn't anything that prevented me from working, just slap a bandaid on and a glove and keep cutting. Just don't cut any closer. Keep that thumb back!

I looked around on the internet a bit to see if I could find out how service went but alas, nohting. For your interest and perusal, their full menu:

A Summer Evening with Stephen Asprinio, Chef Harold Diterle & Chef Lee Anne Wong at Tribeca Grill

"Canapes" by Chef Lee Anne Wong
Oysters Mignonettte, Happy Family Foie Gras, Ham & Apples, Kampachi & Cucumber Soba

Guava-Yuzu Margaritas, G. H. Murrith Cordon Rouge Champagne NV & Passion Fruit-Vanilla Mojitos

"Guess Who?"... Harold or Stephen?
"Shrimp Cocktail"
Ruby Red Shrimp, Avocado, American Sturgeon Caviar & Lemon Verbena Vinaigrette
Ruggeri Prosecco "Gold Label," Veneto, Italy NV

"Tuna Nicoise"
Olive Oil Poached Tuna Loin, Nicoise Brunoise & Nicoise Water
Pegasus Bay Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon Waipara Valley, New Zealand 2005

"Duck A L'Orange"
Duck Breast Tataki "Sous Vide," Celery Leaf-Duck Crackling Salad & Tangerine-Ponzu Variations
Domaine Audoin Marsannay Rose, Burgundy, France 2004

"Steak Au Poivre"
Grilled Colorado Lamb T-Bone "Au Poivre," Sunchoke-Creamed Spinach, Cnanterelle Mushrooms & Red Shallot Puree
Col Solare, Columbia Valley, Washington 2002

"Cheese"
Trio of Prima Donna, Robiola Rochetta & Roaring 40's Blue Cheeses with Garniture
Mission Hill S.L.C. Riesling Icewine, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia 2003

"Creme Brulee"
Saffrom Creme in White Chocolate-Kirsch Mousse, Rainier Cherry Compote,
Pistachio Brulee & Rice "Crispies"

Hosted by Drew Nieporent & Myriad Restaurant Group

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WEDNESDAY WASH-DOWN: SUMMER'S HERE, REALLY

Wednesday is food day, when most newpapers publish food sections, thus, Wednesday Wash-Down. Highlights, best first:

#1 LAT: 4:20 Dude! Pot Steak, Home wood-grilling, Vinegary side-dishes, The Lobster 1.5*'d, The Find- Swinging Door, Where to go..., do-it-yourself smoking
#2 WPOST: BUTTER CHICKEN!!!, Eve 3*'d, Majestic Cafe 2*'d, Caverna Cretekou 1.5*'d, Summer cookbooks, Kebabs, Scratch Baking Co.
#3 NYSUN: Vegas upping food ante, Soup dumplings, Ditch Plains, Kitchen Dish
#4 NYT: Mr. Chow Tribeca 0*'d, $25 & Under: Daisy May's BBQ U.S.A., cold meats with rubs, "Berries" and "Tomatillos," Off The Menu
#5 DAILY NEWS: NYC clambake, Chef "secrets" revealed, Latest Dish
#6 NYPOST: Harlem Food Rennaissance
OUT OF THE GAME: NYOBSERVER

Things I missed since last Wednesday:

DAILY NEWS: Hungry-Girl Goes to Print, Top 10 Brands in U.S.
NYT: Pies!, It Died For Us
NYPOST: Strong on Organic Greenmarket

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NON-ALLITERATIVE TUESDAY: MIDTOWN PIZZA

Non-Alliterative Tuesday: no obligations, no rhyme, reason or methodology other than that it's something relevant to food and goings-on in Kitchen Toro...

Ah, Times Square, my former workplace and most favorite area in the world. Okay, maybe that's an ever-so-slight exaggeration, as in my past life I was too often the beleagured, grumpy face in the background of several million tourist's pictures rushing too and from work past and through throngs of tourists. Let's just say we go way back, Times Square and I.

And just off Times Square, on the corner of 8th Avenue and 42nd Street near my favorite movie theatre in the city (it's huge and the seats are the most comfortable in Manhattan-- show me better seats and I'll pay for the tickets) you can find the sign above and to the left which reads "A New York Original Since 1964."

The sign belongs to a place called "Villa Pizza." Now I don't have anything against Villa Pizza. For what it is it's pretty good-- it gives Sbarro's a run for it's money: the pizza is decent. Not the best slice I've had in New York (fyi, if you love pizza and haven't checked out this site you've got to go) but that's not why you'd go here. As someone who lives in New York, you'd go here because you're catching a bus at the Port Authority diagonally across the street or you're rushing to see a movie or catch up with a friend who has already eaten and you're starving.

The thing about Villa Pizza is that like La Famiglia one block away (my midtown slice, if you go to the deli/pizza parlor on 43rd b/n Broadway & 8th you just don't know pizza, sorry) is that it gives a decent slice. The crust is passable and the sauce is better than decent which carries it.

But like I said, we're not here today to talk about the philosophy of the slice (that's for another day), we're here to talk about the sign above. It's genius-- it looks like it's been there forever. The facade doesn't look new, nor obviously does the garish red and green sign. But between the old school subway-style tiling and the wear on the metal letters this installment of a "New York Original" has been there for only a few years.

According to their site, "started in 1964 as a tiny pizzeria next to the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City," Villa Pizza (the vision of founder Michele Scotto, originally from Naples, Italy, whose dream it was to open 'pizzeria where he could continue to practice the craft he had learned back home working in the restaurants and cruise ships in and around Naples') claims to now have "over 300 locations and 5 restaurant concepts."

What's my point? Well, now that I'm no longer angry at you, dear tourists, with your slow walking, your stopping on the street corners to look up at the lights, the signs, and your questionable habits of spending Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights here, I'm very concerned about you, I want you to know you shouldn't go here expecting a slice of a New York Original! Check out all the varieties of Ray's and Ray copy-cats, stop into some of the small places around town.

Above all, when buying a slice, wait for a fresh pie to come out of the oven, or just bring grandma and the kids and share a fresh pie yourselves. If you're going to go to Villa Pizza that's fine just don't take pictures of it, please, for your own sake. And for the love of god and all things holy and sacred, you're in New York, do not go to the Olive Garden. If you find yourself nearing the door handle stop and cross the street. Stay away from Red Lobster while you're at it too. You're still slow and silly but I'm saying this out of love and concern for you. I swear, it's true, take a look at my profile picture, tourist-friends, I won't ruin your pictures anymore, I'm smiling.

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3'S A TREND-- 2'S WHY I'M NOT A REPORTER

For about a month and a half I'd been planning a new occasional feature I planned to call" 3'S A TREND-- 2'S WHY I'M NOT A REPORTER." I hoped to highlight trends in food I couldn't take to the next level, story ideas I wouldn't pitch to a newspaper editor because I hadn't been able to find that last example to pull the story together. I had two installments ready to go, hidden Asian restaurant/bar/lounges and bars offering free pizza with drinks. I still have those two installments planned, the only problem is I found a third example for each one.

In the meantime, favorite New York City food-porn site, Eater, has started their own lazy Two's A Trend feature ('two's the new three')! Drats! Well, due to the fact that I still think my headline is better, I'm going ahead with the feature. Look for the first two installments soon...

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AT THE TRIBECA GRILL WITH TOP CHEFS

Last night at school Chef Lee Anne Wong asked for a volunteer at the Tribeca Grill for Top Chef Winner, Harold Dieterle and Stephen Asprinio. So, this morning I'm going to the Tribeca Grill to cook for them. It should be interesting at least to have my first experience in a professional kitchen (outside FCI and L'Ecole) at the Tribeca Grill with the Top Chefs! As you can see from the release I've included below from the Tribeca Grill website, it's a 6-course tasting menu that will be served Wednesday.

An update tonight...

THIS EVENT IS CURRENTLY SOLD OUT.

The stars of Bravo's hit show Top Chef, winner Harold Dieterle and runners-up Stephen Asprinio and Lee Anne Wong will be preparing a special 6-course tasting menu with wine pairings at Tribeca Grill on Wednesday, June 28th. If you are a fan of the show, this is a unique chance to meet the stars and taste their food. Canapes and cocktails will be served from 6:00-7:00 PM and dinner will begin promptly at 7:00 PM. The price of the dinner will be $95 all inclusive. If you would like to attend this exclusive event, or if you have any questions, please RSVP to the Tribeca Grill at (212)941-3900.

We also invite you to attend a wine tasting at Crush Wine & Spirits on Tuesday, June 27th from 5-8 PM. Top Chef's Stephen Asprinio will be making an appearance and talking about his favorite wines for the summer. Stop by to taste a flight of Stephen's top picks for the season. For details, please call (212)980-9463 or log on to www.crushwineco.com. This event is free to the public.

UPDATE: I arrived ten minutes early but several other volunteers had already arrived. We were introduced to Harold, shown the upstairs kitchen we'd be using and then we changed in the well-worn locker-room and helped load up a cart with food, stocks and supplies. Harold seemed like a nice enough guy, serious certainly about his food. He asked me if I really planned to wear the standard-issue FCI neckerchief all afternoon ("Come on man, you're going to die in here!") started me on lamb T-bones, separating bone from the meat to use for a stock, handing me a cleaver and telling me, "Now go slow. Don't chop a finger off. This is a shitty job!"

I'm not crying by any means but so you can see what your hands can go through while learning what you're doing (and even when you know what you're doing...) I've included a picture (left) of my pointer finger which I shredded with the top of the cleaver somehow. After the meat I minced garlic for a marinade, crushed peppercorns with the bottom of a frying pan because we couldn't find a grinder (about six handfuls of pepperrcorns), added some Vietnamese chili paste, honey, oil and perhaps mustard. I got busted on for having dirtied the fridge handle with the marinade ("you're losing points and you're a Yankees fan..."), he said my finely minced shallots were sloppy (there were, slightly, but I worked them over again--I need practice) and he kept calling me "handsome." It was either "brother," "handsome," or "buddy." I've been called worse but I'll have to add that to a post-in-the-making about kitchen-language.

Chef Lee Anne Wong wasn't in the kitchen with us and Chef Asprinio was otherwise engaged most of the day though he did stop in to give us copies of the menus, instructions as to how to prepare his dish, a Tuna with Nicoise Brunoise. We had lunch at about 1:30 p.m down in a side-room of the restaurant. It's a huge place, at least three floors with labyrinthine storage hallways, walk-ins and prep areas-- at least it seemed that way today.

There was much discussion of the show during lunch brought up mostly by the other volunteers (I would think they'd be done talking about it by now), talk about what some of the contestants were doing, stories about Stephen's feisty interactions with front of house people not quick enough to seat them in some bar/club/lounge place, college stories about his proclivity for wearing a smoking jacket and being able to tell Grey Goose vodka from rail-subsitution, as well as investor and restaurant space conversations. There was also, as you might imagine, much good-natured ribbing of Stephen by Harold during lunch ("You going to pick up a knife today?), discussion of the class of Top Chef versus the lack of it on Hell's Kitchen (Gordon Ramsey's new tv chef smack-down), and talk of cameos on the second installment of Top Chef (sans Katie Lee Joel as I understand it)..

I had the hamburger (okay, not as good as Dumont or the Shack) but Harold and one of the volunteers seened to enjoy the brisket sandwich. I tasted the peekytoe crab rolls which another volunteer ordered, those were tasty. Speaking of the other volunteers, everyone was pretty cool. We've all had common experiences at least as we were all from FCI-- two of them graduates, one an instructor visiting from Philadelphia who told me something I've heard repeated recently, that when you leave school you go out into a real kitchen where you supposedly get your butt kicked, humiliation in the quest for perfection. You're in the ARMY I mean kitchen now, kind of break you down build you up deal (more on this and having fun later...I have a feeling I'm going to hear "Smile America! If you want to have fun go work at Chuck E. Cheese").

Back upstairs in the kitchen what was supposed to be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. had flown by pretty quickly but turned into 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. While we got a tomato water drip going for Stephen's dish we didn't quite finish the two quarts of red bell pepper brunoise (some further instruction on how to do this more quickly from Harold was really helpful). Harold was using a Shun knife with a 70/30 blade edge and at the end of the night he was using a polishing stone of sorts to sharpen it. That's what I need for my own new Japanese knife. I'm going to look for it at Korin when I get a chance to go there.

While I only thought I was signing up to help out today, they need us again tomorrow so I'll be returning for an 11 a.m. call at the Tribeca Grill before class-- a double-shift! To be continued.

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GARDE-MANGER : SALADS FOR L'ECOLE

Tonight is our first night at the salad station. There seems to be some work to do early on but a lot of down-time. Our dish for this evening is the Leek and Mushroom Flan with Spring Pea Sauce (Vielle France), Royale De Poireaux Et Champignons, Coulis De Pois Frais. I haven't done a savory flan yet so I'm interested in tonight's recipe. More to come after class...

Before I describe what the dish was like or how we prepared it, let me tell you what happened a few minutes into the beginning of preparation.

Chef Lee Anne Wong came to Garde Manger to ask one of the Level Four students (who was also in the new FCI commercial) if he could come to cook for the winner of Top Chef, Chef Harold Dieterle, and Chef Stephen Asprinio at the Tribeca Grill tomorrow. If you've never worked in a professional restaurant (outside of school) and you're going to pop your cherry you might as well do it at Robert DeNiro's restaurant for the most recent celebrity chef, right? I volunteered and have to show up at the restaurant at 10 a.m. with my whitest whites wearing a baseball cap. I'm just supposed to say I'm there to cook for Harold and Stephen. As to whether this means I'll be cooking for them or cooking with them or what this is exactly for, I have no idea.

It is kind of funny that a friend called me today because she'd seen Stephen in midtown telling someone on the phone that all they needed to do was to pick up some bags. I tell you, in a city of 8 million stories that's a pretty funny coincidence.

DISH: Leek and Mushroom Flan with Spring Pea Sauce (Vielle France), Royale De Poireaux Et Champignons, Coulis De Pois Frais

RECIPE: Boil 250 ml chicken stock and cook 340g frozen peas til tender. Drain peas, reserve stock, shock them under cold water but don't soak them. Let stock cool off. (Left, Level Four Salad Station, Garde Manger)

Emincées two shallots, melt one tablespoon butter and sweat shallots. Add ½ teaspoon curry powder, 250ml heavy cream bring to a boil, simmer and cool. Place in a blender with the stock and peas, purée, strain, season with salt and pepper and reserve.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Emincées mushrooms and sweat them in 50g butter. Add lemon juice and 225g leeks. When mushrooms and leeks are soft, add 125 ml dry vermouth. Reduce the liquid by ½ and add 250ml heavy cream and one tablespoon of cornstarch, then reduce by half and cool. Add 250 ml cream, three eggs, three yolks, the vegetable mixture, then season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and fill pam-sprayed ramekins with custard. Place ramekins in a hotel pan filled ½ up ramekins with hot water and put royales (the flan in the ramekins)in oven for about an hour or until they are set and don't jiggle.

Prepare garnish: three tablespoons of cooked peas, three tablespoons diced tomatoes, émondées and two tablespoons of chives cut on bias 3/8 long. For service, remove royales from ramekins, serve in center of the plate surrounded by sauce and fingerfuls of peas and tomatoes. (Recipe above is for up to eight servings.)

BREAKDOWN: At right, the Level Three Salad Station (Garde Manger, below the table to the right is a refrigerator filled with stocks: veal, chicken, and marmite) ready for service. There were a few changes in the recipe. First, for restaurant service we multiplied everything by three. For the coulis (the sauce desribed above first) we added the peas at the last second before it was puréed. For the royale (the custard) we sweated the leeks first (emincée then soaked in a bain-marie to remove the grit) and then added the mushrooms and as per Chef W.'s instruction, we allowed them to get a little color before adding the vermouth.

For service we pulled the flan gently away from the sides and put it in the center of the plate. If you sauce the plate first the flan slides around on it so we sauced afterwards; you just have to be careful not to make a mess with the sauce. We garnished around the flan with three fingerfuls of peas alternating with three fingerfuls of tomatoes, sprinkling chives all around.

Aside from making the leek and mushroom flan, we were also responsible for making the digestive salads (right), the dish served after the entrees and just before dessert. It's a light salad, some brisee and romaine lettuces and watercress in a citrus dressing (lemons, limes and oranges with oil, salt, pepper and mustard) just to cleanse the diners' palates.

One of our group wasn't here tonight and another expedited for the fish station. That left three of us for service. Two of us focused on making marmite stocks leaving only one of us to plate during much of service. There were a few hurried moments where we had to make ten salads at a time and even twenty but really it was low-key, especially after working the line at fish (Poissonier) and meat (Saucier). While Chef W., was our station chef, Chef R. (right, who was one of our other instructors in Level One), was also working with us tonight. Mostly he gave everyone a hard time.

This was one of the more time-sensitive Salad Station (Garde Manger) dishes to do because the flan takes about an hour to cook and Garde Manger is the first dish of the prix fixe menu. Even so, it was pretty easy (there was time for some fun, left, Meg, Chad and Tim hamming it up) and we may want to see if Chef W., wouldn't mind us making the Tuesday and Thursday salads during our down time.

Speaking of menus, the restaurant will be changing to their Summer menu and we'll be getting new recipe books. That means our second time around on Level Three we'll get to learn new dishes. Woohoo!

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RECIPE TESTING: THAI ICED TEA ICE CREAM

In Level One I had the idea to make a Thai Iced Tea ice cream. This deep, reddish, smokey, tea mixed with half-n-half and sweetened, condensed milk is a creamy treat that should be a perfect ice cream. The first step was finding the tea (right) which I did easily in a place called Tongin Mart Inc., in Chinatown.

Now the testing begins. I tried to adapt a recipe for Earl Grey Ice Cream from "The Ultimate Ice Cream Book" by Bruce Weinstein, the ice cream book I've been using since I bought my Cuisinart ice cream maker a few years ago.

THAI ICED TEA ICE CREAM 1.0
1 Cup Milk
3 Heaping Tablespoons loose Tea or five to six bags
3/4 Cup Sugar
6 Large Egg Yolks
2 Teapoons all-purpose flour
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Half-and-Half
1 Cup Heavy Cream

1) Bring the cup of milk to a boil in saucepan, remove from heat. Stir in leaves or bags, cover and steep for 15 minutes.
-At right the thai tea steeping in the milk in a saucepan on the stove. Next time I'll remember to cover it.

2) In a mixing bowl, beat 3/4 cup sugar into 6 egg yolks til thick & pale yellow (blanchir). Beat in 2 teaspoons flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set Aside.
- At right, the yolks and sugar whisked and at rest. By the way, the ingredients on the bag in which the tea came were: Thai Tea, Star Anise Seed, Food Coloring FD & C Yellow #5. A 16 oz. bag of the tea was just $3.95.

3) Strain leaves from milk, add half-and-half and simmer. Slowly beat hot milk and half-and-half into egg yoks and sugar. Pour mixture back into pan on low heat. Stir with whisk til custard thickens slightly. Don't boil or scramble! Remove from heat and strain into a clean bowl. Cool then stir in one cup of cream. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight.

4) Stir the chilled custard then freeze in your ice cream machine per manufacturer's insctructions.

I have a Cusinart ice cream maker (left) which I bought about three summers ago. I've used it over the past three years for making successful flavors from coffee, vanilla, cream cheese and peppermint to less successful ones like Roquefort. The machine is easy to use. There's an on/off button, a switch for one or two bowls to churn at a time, two churning bowls, two plastic pieces to churn the ice cream as the bowls turn, and two plastic covers so that the ice cream doesn't spill or splatter.

One thing I learned quickly was that the ice cream wasn't thick enough after the first 20 minute go round in one of the churning bowls. I think there's a salt water within the walls of the bowl (to keep the temperature of the bowl very cold) but after twenty minutes that water starts to melt. If you want to serve the ice cream immediately it needs to go through a second churning in the second bowl (still frozen in the freezer). Otherwise it's like soft-serve.

I followed my standard practice of putting the ice cream through once in a churning bowl for 20 minutes and then a second time in the other bowl then let it harden in a plastic container in the freezer overnight.

The next day it wasn't as red as I'd imagined. It tasted good, but I realized it missed something from some standard recipes: condensed and evaporated milk. Next time I'll substitute the recipe's sugar with condensed milk.

Using a scooper I balled up the ice cream and then rolled them in two test coverings, one a lightly toasted coconut, the other a finely ground popcorn powder I thought of the other night trying to fall asleep.

The winner here was the coconut rolled ice cream. I still think it would need to be served with something else, perhaps some sticky coconut rice (I'll have to test some recipes) and a little bit of chocolate syrup (or a lighter thai iced tea ice cream and a deeper red reduced thai iced tea cream as a syrup instead). I'm not done with the popcorn powder but it needs to be sieved to remove the small bits of kernel and it's not suited for this type of ice cream. The popcorn powder could be done in two ways, salted or sweeted with sugar. More to come.

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SALMON WITH SORREL SAUCE FOR MY FAMILY

Tonight is our last at the Fish station (Poissonier) and we'll be cooking the Sautéed Salmon With Sorrel Sauce (Lyon), Filet De Saumon À L'Oseille. I've been trying to arrange reservations at the school restaurant, L'Ecole, for my family for the past few weeks and I finally got them in at 8:30 p.m. tonight. I'm not sure how it works out with being able to see them but it's certainly exciting. An update after class...

DISH: Sautéed Salmon With Sorrel Sauce (Lyon), Filet De Saumon À L'Oseille

RECIPE: The recipe that follows is for 8 servings and is multiplied for restaurant service. Breakdown salmon and slice eight fillets, 100g each. Use trimmings to make a stock. Place in hotel pan, cover and refrigerate.

Stem 160g sorrel leaves and cut ¼-inch chiffonade. Cover with wet paper towel and refrigerate. Place 2 small finely ciselées shallots, 2 liters fish stock (fumet), 80 ml dry vermouth, and 160 ml dry white wine in a large sautoir and reduce until syrupy (à glace). Add cream and reduce until slightly thickened and 400ml remains. Set aside.

For service, season two filles with salt and pepper on less presentable side. Film a hot nonstick pan with corn oil and sear salmon briefly on both sides, presentation side first, keeping them slightly underdone. Remove from pan to paper towels.

Degrease pan and deglaze with 50 ml of sauce. Add 15g sorrel and soften over moderate heat stirring with wooden spatula. Stir in 10g butter and adjust seasoning along with a squeeze of lemon juice. Spoon sauce on plate, place fillets on top, presentation side up. Sprinkle each fillet with sea salt and serve immediately.

BREAKDOWN: In the image to the right are three of the four other members of my current group. From left to right: Chad, Megan, and Jane. We had some down-time before service tonight as the dish wasn't very difficult to prepare and in addition to being committed to making good food, we're also pretty quick and efficient. Despite the fact that we weren't rushing, the chef even came over and told us that we didn't have to always hurry.

At left, checking the fennel is Tim, the other member of our five-person group.

The recipe (above) which we followed from our Level Three menu books didn't call for fennel, but Chef N., suggested we use it as the base on which to place the sorrel and fish. We thinly sliced and sautéed several fennel bulbs in butter and seasoned it with salt and pepper.

The star of this dish is the sorrel (image at left, c/o wikipedia). I don't remember having had sorrel in the past. It looks a little like dandelion but isn't as bitter and tastes sweet and sour, almost citrusy, especially the stem. It's a very delicate leaf and bruises easily. We cut it in thick strips, put it in a square-boy, covered it with a wet paper-towel and put it in the fridge. I'd like to play with it.

The expediter put four salmon dishes up on the board at the front of the kitchen for table #1 and having told my family (a group of four) I'd be cooking the salmon I suspected this was their order. I went out into the dining room with the permission of one of the chefs who told me, "Of course you can go out there. Go out there like you own the place!" So that's what I did.

It was strange leaving the kitchern's chaos for the restaurant's dimness and quiet. My family was sat in a banquet booth around the corner eating the steamed mussels with white wine, shallots, and parsley (Bretagne), moules a la mariniere. I said hello and returned to the kitchen where Russel, their waiter, suggested the vegetarian plates. I asked Entremetier to prep their dishes, tempura and guacamole, and a vegetable risotto and told my group the next order was for my folks. They helped plate. I cooked the salmon.

The recipe says to cook the sorrel in the sauce but Chef instructed us differently. We put it atop the fennel centered on the plate then ladled hot cream sauce over it which wilts the sorrel. Then we drizzled lemon juice on the sauce, placed the salmon fillet on top and sprinkled a few grains of fleur de sel on the fish.

We brought the plates up to the front of the kitchen and ten minutes later I stepped out to ask my folks about the food. It was the second dish of their wine-pairing and everybody was really enjoying it including my mother (image left, me and mom after dinner).

My grandfather (left) also really enjoyed the meal and I was told later that no one else came out of the kitchen to visit a table that night so they really got a kick out of having a chef come out to ask how the food was! After dinner, when most of the clean-up inside the kitchen was complete I took them on a tour. They really seemed to enjoy the dinner and it was pretty exciting to be cooking for them in a professional environment for the first time.

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FORAGING FRIDAY: SCHOOLBOOK EDITION

Foraging Friday documents Kitchen Toro's exploration of New York's diverse restaurants, neighborhoods, stores and their ingredients and flavors.

I was hoping to bring you bubble tea from Chinatown this week but things took a more practical turn. Somehow on Wednesday after cooking in the school's restaurant kitchen, I lost my recipe book. I looked everywhere for it but alas, it had disappeared and I had to go over to the bursar's office for a replacement book ($10).

But while I was there there were a few other things I decided to pick up, namely, a new uniform (I've only got two right now) so I don't have to do two washes a week which is truly a pain when you don't have your own washing machine.

I also picked up three new books (books, always more books!). My growing interest in pastry has led me to ask a few pastry students if I might borrow their books for the levels they've completed so as to practice their recipes on my own. But I've waited long enough and it would just be better to have my own copies so I bought the three pastry books and hope to start playing with the recipes soon. Not working a day job means turning into a consumer, full-time, but I think it was money well spent. I'd also be interested in buying the recipe/textbook used by the course on international bread-baking but that might have to wait, at least until I've worked my way through some pastry recipes.

The last thing I picked up was the black binder and plastic sleeves (image above, background) to clean up the mess of menus, recipes and receipts I've been collecting since the beginning of Kitchen Toro. Time for a little housecleaning!

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