Lemon Cucumber & Tomato Salad

My zucchini plants keeled over last week. I had so much hope for them, cared for them, and resisted eating the flowers so that they could produce fruit. Alas, after battling off fungus gnats, aphids, and even maggots, it was stem rot that finally did them in. I stared sadly at the orange fungus that had eaten halfway through the base of the plant and knew there was nothing I could do to save them.

The zucchini plants weren't the only ones I mourned last week. I'm also growing an heirloom cucumber known as Lemon Cucumbers (when they're ripe they are the color and shape of lemons). For a while now they were looking kind of sad too. The leaves had developed spots of dusty white mildew, and while the fruit was getting bigger and ripening, they weren't producing any new flowers or tendrils. So I pulled the vines out of the pot. It was just in time, it seems - there was a little stem rot on one of the plants too. I sowed new seeds and they've already germinated, so maybe I'll have a second chance at some late season cukes.

I was able to salvage a few ripe cucumbers though, and it's amazing how quickly they start to shrivel up without the commercial wax coating that you get on store-bought produce. So what to do with them? Inspired by an heirloom tomato salad we served while I was at "Restaurant BB," I paired slices of cucumber with two kinds of home-grown basil and fresh tomatoes.

I've been growing both Greek Basil, and the more commonly seen Genovese Basil. You may have seen Greek Basil at the Farmer's Market, but for those of you who are not familiar, it's a bushy compact plant. It produces pretty little leaves that are smaller, rounder and more densely grouped than the Genovese variety. I tucked a bunch of seedlings into my tomato pot and they've grown so well, they actually need regular pruning.  Unfortunately the homegrown heirloom tomatoes weren't ripe yet, so I had to settle for store bought. Still, a simple drizzle of olive oil and white balsamic vinegar, and a sprinkle of sea salt and pepper was just enough to bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes without overpowering the delicate flavor of the cucumbers.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7BsEbHka6gk/Snb4pnKjFJI/AAAAAAAABNY/PHQfYF4dqaY/s512/Tomato%20Cuke%20Salad-edit.jpg

Boyfriend and I enjoyed this salad with a simple pan seared rib steak and oven roasted potatoes. If you're not a gardener, you may find Lemon Cucumbers and Greek Basil at your local farmer's market. White balsamic vinegar adds just the right amount of acidity and sweetness, but if you can't find that you can substitute sherry vinegar.

INGREDIENTS (serves 2, generously):

2 lemon cucumbers

2 medium tomatoes

a handful of fresh Greek Basil, picked

a few leaves of fresh Genovese Basil, chiffonade

2 Tbsp. good olive oil

1 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar

coarse sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

PROCEDURE:

Slice the cucumber and tomatoes. I like to use a combination of slices and wedges.

Combine the olive oil and vinegar, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Gently toss the cucumbers in the bowl first, then remove them and dress the tomatoes.

Arrange the cucumber and tomatoes on a plate. If desired, drizzle some more of the dressing over them. Then top with the fresh basil and a sprinkle of sea salt.

Call Me Cookie

Mike*, one of our garde manger cooks just took a few days off to help his girlfriend move from Syracuse to Brooklyn.  When Mike returned, Javier, the Spanish-speaking pastry cook greeted him with a loud and enthusiastic "Cookie! We missed you Cookie!"  The sous-chef turned to me and asked, "Why do you guys call him Cookie?" I explained that whenever Mike walked by Javier's station, he would scan the area for handouts, saying "Cookie? Cookie?"  So naturally Javier just started calling him "Cookie," and once everyone else heard it, the name stuck.

I'm not sure if it's true for other kitchens, but at my current workplace pretty much everyone has a nickname.  Maybe it's cultural, or maybe it's just easier to remember a descriptive nickname than one's real name, but the Spanish-speaking cooks rarely refer to one another by their given names.  Gringos are not excluded either, and most of us have nicknames assigned to us by the Spanish cooks, that are used by all.

Some nicknames are pretty obvious and present themselves immediately.  For instance, anyone of Asian descent is immediately dubbed Chino or China.  Not actually Chinese? Well then after a few reminders, one might be re-assigned Koreano or Japonesa.  One of the dishwashers is very proud of being from Guerrero, Mexico and insists on being called Guerrerensé, meaning both a person from Guerrero, and a warrior.  Another dishwasher, although he stands head to head with Guerrerense, is known as Enano, meaning dwarf  or little guy.  There's el Gordo, the fat prep cook, and Flaca, the line cook who apparently was really skinny until she had two kids.  The butcher, an older man, is referred to by the younger guys as Tío, or uncle, and Javier is sometimes referred to as el Padrino, or "the Godfather" - both names that also imply some level of respect.

Other nicknames present themselves after a cook has been around for a while, such as the case with "Cookie."  Wil, who has been working at the restaurant for several months now, has even more than one nickname.  He apparently bears striking resemblance to a character from a Spanish sitcom named Kiko, and being tall and lanky, has also been called Shaggy (as in Scooby's sidekick).  He wasn't too thrilled about the second moniker and has since threatened the life of the el Gordo, the cook who first called him Shaggy.  Most of the time I'm called China or Chinita, which is fine with me, but there was an instance when el Gordo tried to call me Pocahantas.  Now he has two hits out on his life.

For the most part, the nicknames are accepted as terms of endearment or friendship.  What you don't want, however, is a nickname that won't be said to your face.  Sonambulo or "Sleepwaker" was one sous chef who got fired after bungling his way through a busy Sunday service while his abilities were clearly impaired by booze and prescription pills. Despite a grand effort, the sous that followed was never truly able to win over the Spanish-speaking staff and was dubbed Sonambulo dos.  Burro or "donkey," universally accepted as the world's worst line cook, was eventually fired for being completely MIA for one of his scheduled shifts.  I'm sure all three had to have a clue but never got called to their faces.

So it may seem strange in our over-sensitized politically correct world, that el Gordo and Enano never seem to be offended by being openly called "Fatso" or "Midget."  In fact they prefer it.  One runner doesn't blink an eye at being called Boludo which means "jerk" or even "prick."  Ironically Boludo is in fact more of a sweet mama's boy.  So what's in a nickname?  El Gordo knows he's fat, Enano knows he's short, and maybe Boludo can see the irony in his nickname too.  They accept it, so by using their nicknames openly and without malice, perhaps in a way it shows that we accept them too. Once when I called Enano by his real name, he said "Enano, please."   Translation? My name is Pablo, but my friends call me Midget.

*As a courtesty, real names have not been used.  Just the nicknames are real.

Watching the Garden Grow

Yes, outside of working a lot, all I've been up to these days is obsessing over my plants.  It's hypnotic, relaxing and exciting all at the same time.  Every morning before work I tend to my little urban garden - watering if necessary, and cleaning up any dried leaves and flowers.  Afterward, I leave the balcony door open, sit down at the dining room table with my coffee and my laptop and just watch.  I love seeing honey bees come and go.  If they're doing a good job of pollinating, maybe we'll actually get some zucchini or cucumbers soon.

       

Lemon Cucumber Plant

On my day off, I take care of messier and more time consuming tasks like going to the garden center to pick up supplies, re-potting plants as they get bigger, and sowing new seeds to ensure a continual supply of fresh herbs.  That's also the day I wage war on pests.  There is a lot of great information on-line about natural and organic methods for warding off all manner of pests and disease that threaten plants.  Golden Harvest Organics not only sells seeds and gardening products, but they also post extensive information about organic gardening and natural pest control.  I purchased Neem Oil and Castille Soap to combat aphids, but apparently there are a number of other methods that can be employed.  They range from placing tin foil on the soil surface to reflect light to the underside of the plant leaves, where they usually hang out, to spraying them with a tea made from tomato leaves.  I'd love to get my hands on some ladybugs to do the job for me.

Squash Blossoms

Another pest which has been a big problem is the fungus gnat, which breeds in damp conditions conducive to mold and fungus.  It has rained almost every day this June, and while everything is lush and green, my balcony is now the perfect home for fungus gnats.  It's been nearly impossible to keep my plants dry. I removed the saucers from under all the pots since they only provided a breeding ground, and I covered the soil with cedar mulch to keep the surface dry.  Despite my best efforts, some pots got really heavily infested, and I had to resort to an organic insecticide to keep them under control.   Gnatrol, which I also purchased from Golden Harvest Organics, is a brand of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis a bacteria that targets the larvae living in the soil.  Apparently it biodegrades quickly, and is widely used for organic agricultural applications.  Although most of the information on the web indicates that it's safe for people and pets, the product safety sheet that came with advises measures taken to avoid direct contact with the product.  So I take the necessary precautions, and won't harvest anything to eat until the stuff has had a chance to degrade.

A server at the restaurant also has an organic garden on her rooftop, so we've traded both plants and ideas.  She has also had a big problem with fungus gnats and is using Nemotodes, a species of roundworm that eat fungus gnat larvae.

The first few plantings

Sadie in our urban oasis

The garden has become a great learning experience.  Through trial and error, and some help along the way, I have learned things like how to replant seedlings with enough of their stems embedded so they form strong root systems (thanks to an info sheet sent to me by Golden Harvest with my FREE mystery tomato seeds).  Sadly, some plants did succumb to my bumbling - to much water, too little water, not hardening off properly etc, but despite all the factors working against it, my little garden is showing lots of promise.  Most of the plants are in their permanent pots now and are growing rapidly. I've even been able to re-plant cuttings from overcrowded pots and get new plants.  The zucchini plants are producing squash blossoms now, and the lemon cucumber vines have already grabbed hold of the balcony railing and are threatening to take over.  There's cat grass for the feline members of our family, and best of all, I get to bond with our 9-month old puppy Sadie, who seems to love the garden as much as I do.

Sadie checking out some cuttings

Zen and the Art of Staff Meal

One of the most difficult tasks in a professional kitchen is the minimization of waste and the effective practice of kitchen economy.  The french term garde manger literally means "keep to eat."  In a kitchen it is the station where a beginning cook usually starts, and is responsible for all the cold preparations, such as terrines, pates and cured fish and meat.  Traditionally these delicacies are made from the scraps and by-products generated by the other stations, such as meat and fish trimmings, organ meats, and vegetable trimmings.  Items that can't be incorporated into a menu offering may be used for staff meal, more commonly referred to as "family meal."

I always find it funny when people assume that cooks always eat well, or gourmet.  The other day my dinner consisted of cheese fries and a scoop of coffee ice cream.  The reality for me as a beginning cook is that I am up to my neck in student loans, and I have two geriatric cats whose vet bills are through the roof.  For the most part my only meal of the day is probably family meal, so all I care about is that it's simple and delicious.

Some larger restaurants have cooks solely responsible for family meal, but not where I work.  There, the line cooks are also responsible for family meal.  On a busy night, that responsibility can get passed around like a hot potato.  I have a million things to do to be ready for service and on top of that I have to make family meal? But I've actually grown to enjoy making family meal.  You see, there is a lot of pressure to perform when you are cooking for paying customers at a Michelin starred restaurant.  Expectations are high and it is your job to fulfill them with every perfectly executed, perfectly identical plate you send out.  By comparison, making  family meal is actually kind of relaxing, like cooking for friends at home.  I follow a simple mantra:  stick to what you know and like to eat.  In fact, the more familiar the better - and for pete's sake if it's something you've never made before, there is no shame in starting with a recipe.  With all the other things I need to do every day, there's no time to waste trying to be the next Wylie Dufresne.

To make family meal as stress free as possible, I always take note of recipes in books or magazines that make use of the items we always seem to have for family meal, and can be made with inexpensive ingredients we always have in house.  Also as I cook, I make note of any new tricks I can add to my arsenal.  All recipes contain techniques that can be applied to new situations and ingredients, and boy do they come in handy trying to figure out how to make something tasty from randomly discarded food items.  Sure, there are a hundred and one things you can do with chicken wings, drumsticks, and ground beef.  There's Buffalo wings, Southern Fried Chicken, Beef and Black Bean Chili, Beef Gyros, Sloppy Joes, and Lasagne.  But what about fish scraps, beet greens, Swiss chard stems, and just the disgusting yellow hearts of Brussels sprouts?

A few months ago, the restaurant closed for five days for an on-location film shoot.  So a few days before Hollywood arrived, I was handed a crate full of brussels hearts, beet greens, and swiss chard stems and told to make sure they somehow got used for family meal before the movie shoot started. Because we had a couple of vegetarians on our front of house staff, I would usually try to incorporate these trimmings into hearty vegetarian options instead of simply making them into side dishes. I found that a Vegetable Torte was an excellent way to make use of the swiss chard stems, and eggs leftover from brunch.  More recently I used the recipe to get rid of leftover grilled leeks, peas, and potatoes.  To make my life even easier, I just omit the pastry crust and call it fritatta.  This made the vegetarians on staff quite happy.  One of our line cooks also brought a recipe from his last restaurant for Grilled Swiss Chard Stems dressed in a broken sherry vinaigrette with chili pepper flakes, which was also a crowd pleaser.

So what about those darn beet greens and brussels hearts?  Well, I love Indian pakoras, or vegetable fritters.  Made with potato, cauliflower, or spinach and onion (my personal favorite), they are absolutely delicious with fresh mint chutney.  Throw in a little mulligatawny (lentil) soup and nan bread and you've got a meal.  Voila, there was the solution to my beet green and brussels hearts challenge - vegetable fritters.  I simply substituted wilted beet greens for spinach, mixed them with grated onion in a flour and egg batter, and fried those babies up.  I blanched the brussels hearts in boiling water, then coated them in seasoned flour.  They fried up just like cauliflower pakoras.  Both were a hit.  The beet green fritters were crunchy on the outside and kind of custardy on the inside.  The brussels hearts were also nice and tender on the inside with just a little crispy crust.  They were so simple to make, and after all, deep frying makes just about anything taste better right?