Fish, Truffles and Graduation

Just got back from dinner at Hundred Acres in Greenwich Village with Nicola, my “table mate” at school. Had a lovely meal of deep fried squash blossom stuffed with ricotta; dandelion and escarole salad with anchovy dressing; and crispy smashed creamer potatoes accompanied by a couple (okay three) of glasses of Entre Deux Mers Chateaux Turcaud from Bordeaux. It was a wonderful way to debrief from the last two weeks at the Natural Gourmet Institute. Nicola is an amazing young woman from New Zealand who has been traveling for the last year to explore new opportunities and came to the Natural Gourmet Institute because of her passion for healthy eating and natural foods. Ironically Nicola and I discovered just today that we had both worked as auditors for the same international accounting firm – Coopers and Lybrand – and now here we both were at cooking school! The last thing Nicola said to me when we said goodbye was “stay true.” I will keep those words with me as I continue my journey.


Today’s menu – our last day of class – was about fish. Here are Chef Judith’s tips for buying a whole fish:

1. Poke the fish and make sure it is “taut.”
2. Smell the fish to insure that it doesn’t smell “too fishy”
3. Check the fish’s eyes – they should be clear and bright – not cloudy
4. Look at the fish’s gills – they should be red
Chef Judith took us through three recipes – wild salmon en papillote (parchment paper), roasted whole branzino (a Mediterranean fish), and braised Alaskan halibut. I had never done “en papillote” before and it was fun to wrap the fish along with potatoes, carrots and fennel but I have to say this is a challenging way to cook fish. The problem with “en papillote” is you can’t check the fish for doneness so you’ve got to be a pretty good judge as to how long to cook the fish. As it turned out ours was overdone.

Salmon en Papillote

The branzino was cooked whole on a bed of sliced onions, tomatoes and limes. We prepared the fish by cutting of the fins and scoring the fish on each side with a cut every inch or so. We then salted the fish, filled the scores or cuts with thinly sliced garlic and filled the cavity with thyme and lemon slices. This was baked in the oven then finished off in the broiler until the skin crisped up. Our third fish was Alaskan halibut. The fish was braised in a mixture of sautéed onions, garlic, tomatoes and seasonings. All these dishes were flavorful but I have to say for me there is nothing like salmon on the grill. Just doesn’t seem worth all the extra work. Unless of course it is my friend Bill Dunn’s famous salmon dish. If I can wrangle the recipe from him I may share it with you on the blog some day.

Whole Branzino

After lunch we made chocolate chipotle truffles and celebrated our last day with Prosecco and watermelon. Chef Judith presented us each with a certificate of completion as part of our “graduation.” So hard to believe it is all over.

Graduation Day

Tomorrow afternoon I leave my home in the city to return to my life in Maine. Many of you may ask (and I ask myself the same question) – what’s next? As Shakespeare once said, “Ay, there’s the rub.” What is next? Anything, everything, nothing at all. I guess that’s up to me. What I’ve learned about myself these past two weeks is that in spite of the wonderful life I have in Maine I don’t want to return to the same exact life. I am somewhere between wearing Dorothy’s ruby slippers that will take me home and Cinderella’s glass slipper that will bring me to a new life. At least I’ve already got Prince Charming so that part of my life I’ll keep. As for the rest, only time will tell. I do plan to keep my blog going but will turn it into a weekly recipe blog hopefully smattered with new and exciting stories about my journey. I hope you will check back from time to time.

Thank you all for sharing this experience with me. I hope you all get to follow your passion some day. My advice to you is to talk about your passion and your dreams with your family and friends because I know one thing for sure. I would NEVER have done this if it weren’t for the positive vibes I received from the people I love. Seems they have a lot more confidence in me than I do! Thank you all.

That’s all for now folks. Eat, drink and be merry and above all stay healthy!

Maura