Mama’s Virtual Cooking School

I have always intended to use this site for more than just my random ramblings, and I think it’s about time to start, don’t you?  I would like to start sharing with you some of my own kitchen tips and tricks.   (my staff has directed to me start with telling you exactly how NOT to see the grill on fire like I did Saturday night during service, but I think I might leave that for another day…)Here are two examples of the ridiculous volume of of useless knowledge I have in my head…  -  to rid your kitchen of unpleasant odors (just after cooking fish or Indian food for example), wrap citrus rinds loosely in a foil pouch and place in a 325 degree oven.  In about 15 minutes, your kitchen will smell fresh and happy  -  put your chicken (or roast, etc.) on whole carrots and stalks of celery laid out crosswise in the roasting pan.   This will lift it slightly off the bottom of the pan so that the drippings can flow more freely, and at the same time impart more flavor into the vegetables, which can then be used as a side dish for your meat, or later with the carcass for making stock I asked when I started this blog for suggestions of recipes you would like to see, or other such bits of kitchen wisdom.  I’m happy to say that I have received a number of requests, and I promise to get to them all.   So…  shall we begin?  

Mama’s Got the Giggles

I think spring must be coming.  Certainly it helps that the temps have been warmer and the sun has been out a couple of days this week (what is that weird light coming in through the window??).  But it’s more than that.  I’ve been uncharacteristically goofy this week, and we’ve all been laughing our asses off this week around the Anvil.  I think spring is rearing its lovely head in our hearts!  Can it be far away climatologically?  (that word came from Chef Vegas, naturally!)

And with the rising temperatures, hopefully will come the guests.  We’ve had a rough go of things so far this year, with the weeknights seeing an almost empty dining room.  Please come out and join us soon, and celebrate with us the joy we are all feeling of late.  I think, no, I KNOW, the renewed energy and light among our Anvil family makes the experience of dining with us even better than usual.

Speaking of better than usual, we hosted our first wine dinner this past Tuesday, featuring the wines of De Loach Vineyards from the Sonoma Valley of California.  Despite a grim forecast from the weatherman and a sudden bout of flu striking the De Loach representative, guests enjoyed a truly fine wining and dining experience — if I do say so myself!   These events give me the rare opportunity to show off my higher culinary abilities, so to speak, and I was so proud of the food my kitchen put out that evening.  I am looking forward to many more such ventures over the next few months.

Our wine list now features over 130 wines by the bottle!  If you haven’t seen the list yet, check it out on the “wine” page of the website.  We have submitted for our Wine Spectator designation, and I’m optimistic that we might just get it — not easy to do on the first try, so I’m told.

So, as March comes in like a lamb here in the heartland, I wish you the same light heart and joy-filled days that we are enjoying!

CM

yap yap yap

Lately we have been enjoying a nice increase in business, as I have mentioned.  As a result, we are starting to experience the phenomenon I like to call FGS, otherwise known as “flapping gums syndrome.”This is not my first encounter with FGS.  There are those people in the world who just can’t deal with the success of others, and as a result, they have to create drama.  Just this week we’ve heard that  1) an equipment repair person cut their finger in the restaurant and that we had to close down our kitchen,  2) that the town council wants to look into our redecorating of the restaurant (apparently they want us to have a permit to paint the walls or something…),   3) and that someone — in a fit of pique over being fired — called the health department and made up some fabulously creative stories about us.  And those are just the tip of the iceberg!I’m not much for drama, and I have nothing but disdain for people who repeat stupid, obviously outlandish and untrue dreck.  I pity them, because they have such sad, pathetic lives that they have to spread gossip about my restaurant to make themselves feel important.   We all know these kinds of people…  they are most unfortunately plentiful.   They have no idea the damage their flapping gums can cause, and no idea how silly it makes them look.  They feel powerful spreading their venom, trying to make themselves feel important, trying to make other people like them by offering up little tidbits of gossip trash in exchange for the minute in the spotlight.   I just have to keep reminding myself of the real reasons why people do this, realize that it isn’t personal (usually!), and remember that there’s no such thing as bad press!! CM 

“Foxtrot” Me!

Great news!  We have a new restaurant in the area, the Foxtrot.  Actually, everyone’s running around calling it a restaurant or bar or whatever, but it’s really a supper club.  We visited last week, after they had only been open about a week or so.

I’ve been really bummed about the rash of local restaurants that have closed, so I was really pleased to hear that Foxtrot was taking over the old Levee space.  They’ve done a beautiful job with the interior, it’s very rich looking, with a warm, cozy feel.  I didn’t know it at the time we visited, but a couple past members of the Anvil family work over there too, Terri Spencer and Kerri Young.

Foxtrot had many fun, sincere, and flattering things going on, including some really innovative menu items (where else can you get caviar for $14.95??).  Our server wasn’t able to find a martini list for us, but the bar is quite nice and I hear they specialize in martinis.  We even saw one of our regulars there, sitting at the bar with the owner!  It’s so nice to see familiar faces out on the town, having a good time!!  We really wanted to have a chance to meet Mr. Faris, the owner, but he was on the phone while we were there, so hopefully next time.

Speaking of our server, Kim, she was really awesome.  She took very special care of us.  Be sure if you go in to ask Kim for the real creamer for your coffee.  She told us that normally they bring the powdered stuff, but when she has special tables and there aren’t a lot of other people around, she will bring out real milk for the coffee, but she can’t if it’s busy, because then everyone would want it.    We lucked out that night, let me tell you, having Kim all to ourselves!  Everything was really fresh and good quality.  Kim let us in on the secret of how they keep their coffee so fresh.  After they brew it all up on Sunday, they freeze it to keep it fresh until they’re ready to use it during the week.   Foxtrot’s menu lists a really great variety of different meats, including lamb chops, scallops, and Certified Angus Beef.  We were bummed we couldn’t try everything!!  The grilled rosemary that came with some of the entrees was such a nice, fresh touch, we couldn’t help but be impressed.  And four of us got out the door for only $270, before tip!

So I want everyone from the Anvil club to get out to visit Foxtrot very, very soon, and give the Faris family a warm welcome to the fine dining community!

Sincerely and with much love,

Chef Mama

Pinch Me, Parenthetically and with Elllipses

The “new” Anvil Inn has been open for something like 4 months now (no, none of us exactly recorded our exact opening date… der!). We had a record Saturday night this past weekend, in number of reservations, number of guests served, and total sales. (although every Saturday for the last month has been a record night, each better than the last…) As I sat today on the couch (unless there’s a very compelling reason otherwise — someone’s bleeding heavily or something is on fire — I try to force myself to decompress on Sunday, at least for a few hours), I was thinking about how the dining room looks, not an empty seat to be had, full of laughing and chatting and the clink of silverware on plates… I was thinking about the people that I see — that are always excited to see me if I pass through while they’re sitting at the bar — the same wonderful people that come back week after week, some driving an hour or more just to eat here, people that bring friends and family to introduce them to the experience, whose friends and family then come back and bring their friends and family, sometimes the very next night after their first visit…

You see, that’s how James and I are (ok, WERE, back in the days when we were actually able to go to restaurants and have people cook food and bring it to us — what a beautiful, far-away concept that is!!). We would find a restaurant that we loved, and we would be back the next night, often with friends or family in tow. (I never realized that other people did this… I guess I actually believed that we were the only ones who would be that enthused about a restaurant!) The fact that people are actually doing this over OUR restaurant is, well, pardon me, but inconceivable to me!!

When I used to fantasize about having my own restaurant (that, by the way, is how you get labeled a nut case by friends with more conventional material fantasies…), in retrospect I think I did so with a built-in inferiority complex. I have been to, enjoyed, examined, deconstructed, really dined at, probably more than 250 restaurants that I consider amazing in some way. My favorites among the best of the best probably number close to 50. James and I aloud, and I more extensively in my head, would deconstruct the experience a million ways. In most cases, there was always something I could find that could have been done better, even if it was just the water glass choice or the way the server described a special. I guess you could say that I’m just overly critical, but in NO way did those nitpicky things diminish the accomplishment of the restaurant, or my enjoyment of it. What it did for me was teach me so much about what I like and dislike in a restaurant, which turned into my knowledge base for what we’re doing now.

(As an aside to all you kids out there, you can be anything you want to be… Just become a very devoted student of your field of choice. Learn everything about it, experience it from every angle, even if it’s on paper, until you find your way in the door. And as for how you know when you’ve found your true calling… it’s when you’re working 100 times longer and harder than you ever have in your life, but you never even so much as THINK “I have to go to work now,” you’re there.)

So anyway, when I would do these post-mortems on restaurants, I would sometimes dare to think about how I would do it if I had a restaurant. But even safe in my own head, I didn’t dare to hope to ever have anything like those places. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting in ANY way that our humble, small town restaurant competes with all those in my top lists. But when I see people — whose tastes and opinions I trust and value — coming back again and again to the Anvil, and bringing friends and family, well, it has started to make me think. Until recently, I’ve been absolutely convinced that people are being polite, trying to be supportive, trying to be nice. I can’t dare to think that, well, maybe we’re really doing this?? I mean, am I really doing this?? Today, on the couch, drifting in and out of that happy-nappy place, I dared to believe — just for one second — that maybe so.

In my daily post-mortem of service, I fall asleep cataloging in my head the things that we need to fix, add, do differently… And I still know that our restaurant doesn’t complete with any of those on my top lists. But at least now I can qualify that with, “not yet!”

livin’ the dream…

CM

Late Nite Tennis (and other random thoughts)

I was thinking today at how different my life is since giving birth to the Anvil Inn.  Not having children of my own, I know (I know I know I know) that I can’t speak to being a parent.  However, it took 9 months for the Anvil to be ready, and now I literally have to care for it 24/7, I can’t leave it alone, it takes all my money, and I no longer have any life outside of the Anvil.  I only talk about the Anvil when around other people, because I have no other frame of reference.  You get the idea…

James and I are big tennis fans (why is it that people give me that completely incredulous look whenever I say that?).  Well, many of the big events are held in other countries.  Consequently, the live coverage takes place at odd hours, like oh, say, 3:00 AM.  When we both had day jobs, it got a little awkward falling asleep in big meetings because I have been up half the night watching a tennis match.  (People tend to often not understand that…)  Well, restaurateur (yes, please note that there is not an “n” in that word) hours work much better with the Australian Open schedule.

Then there is the issue of the purse.  I used to carry a fairly large handbag, full of all manner of necessary things, without all of which I couldn’t leave the house.  Well, since my house is now about 15 feet from the workplace (every bit a curse as well as a blessing), I really don’t have much call for purse type things.  I mean, I occasionally go to the grocery or whatever, but really, what do I need for being away a whole hour?  Who needs to carry a purse for ID, credit card, and, well, nothing much else?  So what am I supposed to do with my extensive handbag collection?  Sigh…

Which leads me to my extensive collection of shoes.  And clothes.  And costume jewelry, and lingere, and hair ornaments, and sunglasses, and hats, and…  Well, you get the idea.  All useless.  If it doesn’t work in the kitchen — and face it, nothing I’ve collected to date really does — it just doesn’t have much use in my chef life.  Ebay, anyone??

New Plans for a New Year!

Ok, so it’s been literally MONTHS since I’ve even visited my blog.  (And to think I scoff whenever I hear a story about adults not being tech savvy… )  Shame on me.  Busy is busy, but I actually enjoy this, so there’s no real excuse.  Funny thing is, the only reason I’m even posting today is because there was a comment that someone posted that I had to moderate, and I figured, “while I’m here…”

Which does lead to a good thing to mention at this juncture…  All comments have to be moderated and approved by me, in order for them to get posted here.  This allows us to completely avoid spam comments, and to filter out any inappropriate comments.  I have yet to approve the comment from yesterday — posted by the eponymous “Chef Nobody” — because I’m confused by it.  It was in reference to the doorectomy I described in a previous post, and didn’t really make any sense, although Chef N was literate enough to use quotes and not screw up the spelling and grammar too awfully bad, but I have no earthly clue what it meant.  Yet he went to all the trouble to set up a gmail account (i.e., a disposable and supposedly anonymous email address) in order to post.   Still, all I can think about here is a running chorus of, “Chef Nobody blogged today.   He logged off when I asked his name.  Well I wonder, does he think he’s being clever?  (cle-ver)“   See?  We can all be cryptic!  This is a fun game!!

Ok, sorry about that.  I just couldn’t resist.  

So it’s a new year, and in Anvil Inn Land, that means a bunch of new and exciting things.  I have committed to a few things for the new year, as I’m sure many of you have.  In the typical resolution vein, I’m going to get my life a little more organized, I’m going to try to take a little better care of myself, and I’m going to finish my Christmas shopping before Valentine’s Day.  But I also intend to spend more time working on our website, my blog, etc.   I intend to work on more and better specials.  I intend to continue to grow and refine the Anvil Inn’s menu.  I intend to seek out more exciting, new, fresh and fabulous ingredients for our food.  And I’m serious about doing some things that will be exciting both for those of us making the food, and those of you eating the food.

Along those lines, I would like to invite suggestions.  You can even take a page from the Chef Nobody school of thought, and post anonymously.  Please let me know what kind of things you might like to see us do, cook, etc., and what kind of things you don’t want.  For example, I’m going to drop a couple of dishes from the menu, and replace them with new and exciting ones.  I want to start a “risotto night.”  I want to have some themed special nights, like cajun night,  cuban night, etc.  I want to add a prix fixe menu option, and do more chef’s tasting menus.   Let’s come up with some ideas together!!  It’s easy, just click to add your comment at the bottom of this page.

Don’t forget to make your Valentine’s Day reservations, BTW.  It’s going to be a busy one, I suspect.  We will have our full menu available, but also some special menus and menu items to choose from.   Watch the website for more info.

Go here http://www.blistexpresents.com/ and watch “4 Alarm Feast.”  I don’t know why this dumb thing tickles me so much — and I hate blistex — but I actually saw it on a TV commercial and it just cracked me up.  Just a fun little way to waste a couple more minutes playing on the internet, donchaknow!!!

The Highs & the Lows

This past weekend was hands-down the best we have ever had at the Anvil. The guest flow was healthy and steady, but it was the quality of the guests this weekend that made such an impression on me.

I jumped the gun and took out my own stitches Friday morning, which was a really, really (are you listening kids?) STOOPID thing to do. My finger was so not ready to have the stitches out. I did it because I absolutely have to get back in my kitchen, and I couldn’t function with all those little stitch ends poking about. Well, now I’m right back to being 9-fingered again, when I was almost up to 9.75. Consequently, although I did prep Friday, there was no way I could work service. Besides, my bartender is in Spain, and I had a poor, lost substitute behind the bar. So I hung out FOH.

I had the great fortune on both evenings to talk with many really amazing and wonderful people. I couldn’t believe how many people were back for second or third or (yes!) fourth visits. I was able to sit and visit, make new friends, and greet returning ones. I am hearing so many wonderful things, and everyone is so complimentary of the Anvil experience. It’s humbling and wonderful and awe-inspiring and scary all at once! I also learned that I am — most unfortunately — a passable bartender.

Last weekend really made me realize how lucky I am to be doing something that I love, and how important that is to doing it well.

Then Sunday came and we had our first bar fight! Ok, it wasn’t a bar fight. Nobody touched anyone else, and nary a chair or punch was thrown, but somehow an 85 pound jealous little wife had a whole glass of wine and wasn’t happy when hubby took notice of another, so as she went storming through a door to demonstrate her displeasure, ripping the damned thing from its hinges! Cat- and dog fights were averted and the blushing bride and ogling hubby were summarily dispatched to continue their discussion elsewhere. Unfortunately their bar tab and the repair bill for the door were the real casualties of the evening!

After the smoke cleared and the evening wound down, I started to lament not having written about the wonders of the weekend before the defenestration of my bar door cast a shadow over the warm fuzzy of the night before. But then I realized… DUH! That’s how it’s supposed to work! The bardoorectomy doesn’t take away from the beauty of the weekend. It just makes it that much clearer and more beautiful. Plus, it’s a great story!

Recipe: Persimmon Flan

Everyone is raving about Pastry Chef Stacy’s Persimmon Flan. I thought I would share the recipe, since it is the season for this fun fruit!

2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon canella (mexican cinnamon) NOTE: regular ground cinnamon can be used
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 eggs
1 cup persimmon pulp
2 cups evaporated milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or substitute your favorite liqueur, such as kahlua, amaretto, frangelico, etc.)
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup brewed chai tea (any type tea can be used)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup buckwheat honey (any type honey can be used)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix 1 cup sugar with canella, coriander, and nutmeg.   Add eggs one at a time using an electric mixer on medium speed.  Add the persimmon pulp and mix just until mixture holds together.  Add evaporated milk, vanilla, and lemon juice, and mix until the smooth. Set aside.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the remaining 1 cup of sugar with the tea.   Cook over medium heat until the mixture caramelizes, about 10 minutes.  IMPORTANT:  Once the sugar has dissolved in the tea, do not stir this mixture until it has finished cooking!!  When the sugar has turned a medium caramel color, immediately remove from the heat to stop cooking.

Very carefully distribute the caramel into the bottom of 6 ramekins or custard cups.   IMPORTANT:  the caramel mixture is extremely hot!!   Pour the persimmon mixture into the ramekins, and set the prepared ramekins in a deep-sided baking dish.  Place pan into preheated oven,  and pour enough water around them to reach halfway up the sides.  Be very careful not to get water into the ramekins.  Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the flans are set.  CAREFULLY remove from the oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate each flan, covered with plastic wrap, to set.

Just before serving, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.  Slowly drizzle in the honey and continue to whip until incorporated.

Prior to serving, remove the flans from the refrigerator and place them in a small pan of very warm water for approximately 5 minutes.  Run a small paring knife around the rim of each.  Invert a plate over each ramekin and flip over.  Shake the ramekin slightly if needed, to make the flan release onto plate.  Top with whipped cream.  Drizzle a small amount of honey over the top, and dust with fresh grated nutmeg.  Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

A warm cup of chai with cream and honey makes a lovely accompaniment, as does hot cider, with or without a splash of brandy…

Cheers!

The Great Halloween Finger Incident of ‘07

The Anvil’s first annual Boo Bash was a smashing success, right up to and including the moment I cut the end of my index finger 3/4 of the way off!

Dressed as a bloody zombie chef, I wielded a bloody cleaver (named Beaver) all night, telling people I hoped they were hungry, since I had just finished killing a cow for them to eat.
But when we had a few orders in and there weren’t too many people in the kitchen, I put Beaver down and picked up a knife to slice veal for an order of marsala. Whoosh! went the knife through the veal, out the other side, and into my finger. Fortunately there was a bone in the finger, so the knife didn’t come out the other side of it! After a resourceful busboy fashioned me a self-tightening tourniquet out of the rubber band from a bundle of asparagus (bless your fuzzy little heart, Mark!), I clamped down on it like a vise and made the 6 mile run to the closest ER. Imagine the fun I had walking in there completely covered in fake blood!

I was fortunate enough to be accompanied by Gretchen and Rex, who were dressed as a cowgirl and a priest, respectively. Which gave rise to, “So, a chef, a priest, and a cowgirl walk into a hospital, and the priest says…” Some day we might finish that joke.

3 x-rays and a tetanus shot later, I got my first stitches ever. Unfortunately, the 4 hideous shots into my finger to numb it didn’t work so well, so I had to tough out 3 of the stitches. But Mark the ER tech was SO incredibly cool, we actually had fun. Mark even brought and put on me my own hospital halloween mask..

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So, the moral of the story is… Oh hell, I hate stories with morals!! I can’t wait to see what happens next year.
Cheers!