Aaaahhhhhh.........

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     I'm back!  The graduation party is finally over, and I can relax and spend some time again writing, and cooking.  It seems pretty ridiculous to say that I missed cooking, considering the fact that I not only cook lunch five days a week in a restaurant, I also cooked 75 pounds of pork roast and three different kinds of salads, 150 cupcakes, and a gallon of homemade barbecue sauce in the course of the last week.  But I did.  I missed getting into my kitchen and cooking a simple meal for my family.  We actually sat down together and enjoyed it, too.  It was heaven.

     I celebrated my return to real cooking with a classic chicken marsala.  I love making this meal because it's so simple, and it really tastes like it's not.  I don't do it often because of the richness of it, but last night I was craving that depth of flavor.  I pounded my chicken breasts to about a half an inch, seasoned them with salt and Italian seasoning, and dredged them lightly with flour.  I seared them quickly on both sides in a hot pan and a mixture of butter and olive oil.  I then removed them from the pan, and threw in some sliced mushrooms.  I stirred those around for a minute or two, added the chicken back in on top of them, and poured in the marsala.  I let the whole thing simmer for 15 minutes or so with the lid partially on, and that was it.  Served with a side of pasta tossed with olive oil and a green salad, we had a nice dinner that fit well into my still slightly crazy schedule.  And I felt like a chef again.


     I realize I never completed my formal training and am not a chef, but I recognize more every day the difference between that and cooking.  What I do in the restaurant is cooking.....creating some of my own recipes but following, for the most part, someone else's menu and doing it quickly to a rushed lunch crowd.  What I did for the graduation party was cooking......creating all the dishes myself, but preparing them in bulk and over the course of several days with an eye toward ease of execution on the day of the event.  What I did last night felt to me like being a chef.  Creating from a few simple ingredients a beautiful meal I could share with people who mean something to me.

     When I own my own restaurant, and I will, I hope I remember to approach it as the kind of chef I want to be.  There will be innumerable administrative details to attend to, staff to worry about, bills and insurance and health department inspections and so on.  I'll spend most of my time worrying about the details that make the whole thing run.  But I will try to always make it about the food and the atmosphere and the people who come to enjoy it.  I'll take time to ensure that every meal is a beautiful one, and to make each guest feel as though they've sat down at my own home table.  Only then will I be able to truly call myself a chef.