Monday, November 5, 2012

Get Stuffed AKA The 5 Little Peppers


So this morning I'm in the kitchen chopping vegetables for stuffed peppers and as I'm finely dicing a handful of button mushrooms I flash back to my first restaurant job in San Francisco.

It was located on Nob Hill, there was a  Swiss chef, a kitchen full of ambitious young male cooks and me.

I was hired as prep/dessert cook.  In the hope of discouraging me from staying in the restaurant I was thrown (literally) 25 pound bags of onions to peel and dice, the same  amount of potatoes to peel and slice, gallons of cream to whip and baskets of mushrooms to chop. I don't discourage easily though.

I quickly learned the difference between 1/4 and a 1/2 inch cube and the importance of each.

I honed my knife skills here but there was many a slip between the knife and the skill set.

One of the slips took off a finger tip forever lost in 10 lbs. of mushrooms.

After a quick tip to the emergency room, I was back at work.  When you're 5'2, 90 odd pounds and you work in a male dominated industry you don't make a big fuss over accidents. 

So bandaged and wrapped I was working the dessert station mixing ice cream with fresh fruit.  I piled it in a dish and topped it with a dollop of whipped cream and a bit more fruit.

One dessert got an extra touch, it got my finger shaped bandage.  I didn't realize it was missing until a scream was heard from the dining room.

That dinner was comped :-)

Tonights' dinner of stuffed peppers has a filling of sauteed onion, garlic, mushrooms, kale, ground turkey, quinoa, feta cheese, a few teaspoons of tomato paste and S&P, I prebaked the peppers in a 350degree over for 15 minutes and will stuff and bake them tonight at the same temp for about the same time.




No fingers were lost in the preparation of this dish.



16 comments:

  1. And what did the finder of the fingertip in the mushroom duxelle receive?

    What time is dinner?

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    1. It was never found.....this would have been a good Halloween tale.

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  2. The dessert/bandage scream--ha! Funny. Funny because it wasn't my dessert. I lost a bit of thumb while I was in college, working in a sandwich shop during the lunch rush. I recall feeling very dizzy, yet wrapping it tight and finishing the all-important (or so I thought) rush. Sheesh...

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  3. ewwwww jane!:)

    haha, i remember standing next to boxes of produce that were as tall as me. man, those were the days.

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  4. That is a great story. You are a tough gal! :)

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  5. So glad you finished your dinner with your remaining digits in place. The dish sounds wonderful and the leaf...beautiful. Enjoy your week.

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  6. I really want to read your book. And I really want to see the movie!

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    Replies
    1. Hmmm who's going to play the young crazy jane?

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  7. My favourite! Stories.

    Did they fire you?

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    Replies
    1. No, I did, after all, lose the tip of the finger in service to them:-)

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  8. Obama is President.

    A collective sigh of relief from this side of pond.

    Every other word on the BBC was Virginia.

    It made me think of you.

    The other word was Ohio, but i don't know anybody there.
    x

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    1. I heard the sigh, it woke me up.(with a smile on my face).

      It's a big, big day in the Capitol!

      xo

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  9. Funny and horrid story. At least the fingertip was found - imagine how much you would have wondered and worried if it hadn't? Accidental cannibalism..... Doesn't bear thinking about.

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  10. Waaaaaa! I LOVE your cheffy stories, in fact I love all your stories! Reese W for the part of Jane? Bxx

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    1. I love your style. Reese W.? Absolutely fabulous.

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