Day 23 (written mostly on Day 21): The Introduction

Why Julie? Why Julia?

Now, why Coley?  Why Chef O'Connell?  Why didn't he post something about all these whys to start off the project?

First, the Coley:
Recently trained lieutenant of Marines...without Marines, waiting to start flight training in Pensacola, FL.  Currently residing in a one-man apartment right down the road from NAS Patuxent River, MD.  One man with a crappy electric stove, a small refrigerator, a couple good knives, and one set of basic, Target-bought pans.

The Book:
The Inn at Little Washington Cookbook (A Consuming Passion) by Chef Patrick O'Connell--founder, proprietor, and chef of (go figure) The Inn at Little Washington in Washington, VA.
"The Inn at Little Washington is rated number one year after year in all categories of Zagat's Washington, D.C., restaurant survey...Reviewers call it the Promised Land, and its patrons are known as 'pilgrims.'"
"This book is a distillation of [Patrick's] thirty years in the kitchen...Each recipe has a story to tell and relates to the others.  Collectively, they define a style and taste that are uniquely American, though full of influences from other countries."


The Challenge:
At the beginning of this project, there were 130 days until Aviation Preflight Indoctrination starts.  There are 110 recipes in this cookbook according to the table of contents.
Learn to grocery shop, learn to cook, learn to present, create them all.

The Why:
I don't know how to cook.  I've tried a few times these past few years to learn, but I couldn't commit.  Now, I'm living in the boonies, have some time I need to fill, and have my own place where no one's going to care if I make a disaster of the kitchen.  I also went to The Inn at Little Washington earlier this summer to celebrate Clare's leaving the East Coast.  It was an unforgettable experience--the best meal of my life-- and I walked away with the newer cookbook.  Clare got me the first one, and I decided to dive in.  Why not?

Now, I'm not Julie.  I'm not risking my marriage (completely single), my job (well, maybe my job a little), or my cat's well-being (if only I could have a pet).  I just signed on for the task to see how much I can learn and how far I'll go.

So far, it's been good.  Wish me luck.

Day 23: All is Right

I'm sitting at my desk right now with my legs in pain, talking to my mother, drinking a soda, and eating some homemade caramel ice cream because I just got my MCMAP brown belt!  Life is good.  I fought a fair amount today, and I'm probably going to eat something bad for me for dinner..but never fear!  I will still prepare something tonight.

Last night, when I was preparing this delicious caramel cream concoction, I was worried about its success.  The only time I have ever made ice cream was in my Aunt Mary's basement in Kansas.  That was more than ten years ago, so I don't remember most of it, and even then I was in the cranking ranks, so I didn't know too much about what went on before I went to work.

In this ice cream operation, it was just me and my $5 bargain ice cream maker from the thrift store up the road...and the directions that came with it, so when Patrick said "freeze according to manufacturers instructions", I actually could and didn't just have to make it up myself.

My big worry about caramel ice cream is the caramel part.  I tried to caramelize some onions last week for the miniature caramelized onion tartlets, but it didn't work too well (though the onions were still good), and I had to caramelize some sugar earlier this week for something that I'm not remembering too well, so I didn't have much faith in myself or my pans.  But, I kept the sugar-water on the stove beyond where I thought it would caramelize, putting my faith in Patrick once again.  Lo and behold, it worked!  The liquid did "begin to turn a golden amber color" and when I added the cream and whisked in the butter, I ended up with caramel.

Next was making the ice cream.  Not normally a problem for someone with a stainless steel bowl or a double boiler.  I have neither.  However, one time in the past, I needed a double boiler to melt chocolate for a German chocolate cake, didn't have one, so just held a pan over bubbling water.  It worked, it just took a careful balance.  It worked again last night.

Then, after combining the ice cream (which used the rest of my eggs) and caramel (and cooling everything off thoroughly), I put in Silkwood, set a towel down, hammered out some ice and water filter salt (it was the only thing I could find in the store) and got to cranking.  Sure enough, that tin can in a wood barrel made ice cream!  I poured it into a couple tupperwares (way more than I can eat on my own), and set it in the freezer.  Now it is creamy, caramely deliciousness.

I just have to figure out what to do with it and what to do when I make the rest of these ice cream recipes.

Day 21: The Sleepies

I brought my apple-walnut roses in to work today, and I think everyone liked them. There was one slight scare when I gave one to a pilot about to go out on a flight and he commented, "these are pretty good, is there alcohol in it?" My mouth dropped open a bit before I realized the dark rum that I baked the apples in was okay (unlike, I'm convinced, the Virginia Riesling wine that was in the Peach Puree I had a couple weeks ago).

Then, I got back after MCMAP, showered up, read my book a bit, and fell fast asleep for a bit. After that, I went to get some more cream from the store, came back and decided you know what? I'm just going to make some Campbell's soup (chicken and dumplings...delicious), clean up the apartment a little, and go back to sleep early tonight.

So, I'm hitting the rack/futon and saving the granola, caramel ice cream, and if we're lucky, the spicy pecans for tomorrow evening. Hopefully a brown-belt celebration!

Day 19 (Part 2): Filet O' Fish

I have never filleted a fish before. I have never filleted anything before. And I certainly don't have a fillet knife. So, I'm glad that I had four fillets to work on tonight. That meant I could almost completely destroy the first one, merely maim the second one, do okay on the third, and make a beauty (if I do say so myself) out of the fourth. I sliced the potatoes thinly with the

wonderful Santoku knife that my mom got me for my birthday (that thing is great!) and laid them carefully in a fish scale pattern on the fillets.

Then, I fried them in the same order I cut them. This also ended up being a good decision with the last set of potatoes having just the right amount of crispiness and the fish cooked just perfectly. The other fillets weren't bad (as evidenced by their rapid disappearance from my kitchen), but I definitely improved even within this one meal. I wish I had bought a few more fillets so I could have kept a couple for breakfast. Hopefully, this week I'll get some granola made to make my breakfasts more interesting.

Rainbow Trout in a Potato Crust is the easiest meal I've made so far, and probably one of the most striking when made right. I think I may end up making this again even within the project because of how quick and easy it is (especially if you don't have to take apart the trout yourself).

Oh, and another note before I forget. I almost titled this post 'He's on fire!' If I had a gas stove in this apartment like I did in Springfield, I would probably not be typing this right now. Hot oil over a stove is a dangerous thing to be splashing fish and potatoes around in. Fortunately, God protects me from my own stupidity and clumsiness when even Patrick's warnings don't do the trick.

"Gently lift each fillet by sliding one hand underneath the waxed paper and carefully flipping the fillet over into the pan (potato side down), being careful not to splash the hot oil."

Day 19: A Delicate Rose

I'm writing this as I break into my first Apple-Walnut Rose. It is delicious. And probably the most fragile thing I've ever made.

It's supposed to be shaped like a rose, but I don't think I quite hit the mark. Partially because of my general lack of floral knowledge, and partially (mostly) because I have never worked with phyllo pastry dough before. I can't imagine working with that stuff regularly. It was easy to cut...with a knife or with my hands pulling it out of the package. And then, after I used my clever little paint-brush to cover the sheets with butter, they were slightly harder to tear while I was wrapping the walnut cream into them in a rose shape. Patrick claims that "The presentation is so striking that your guests will think you studied pastry making in Austria". I don't think I'll have to deal with that problem, though.

As I was talking to my dad while assembling the roses, he came upon a point that Julie saw during her week two. He mentioned that a good side effect of the Coley/O'Connell Project is that I'm learning not just how to make recipes, but also some general ways to use certain ingredients. Patrick's book isn't set up to be a series of cooking lessons quite like Mastering the Art of French Cooking is, but I am definitely learning how Patrick uses certain ingredients to achieve certain effects. In this one, I improvised a little with exactly how I was brushing the butter since it was taking me so long to assemble the roses. I'm also acquiring a good amount of kitchen-wares. Perhaps I won't need all of it in the future, but I think most of it will be fairly useful.