Internship: Day 17, 12/01/05

The first day of December, and it was lovely to watch the snow fall outside the big picture window in the front of the restaurant. I don’t usually work on Thursdays as I have to work evenings at the Chopping Block, but I wanted to make up for my lost hours on Monday. The snow seemed to put the lunch crew in a festive mood, and they teamed up with the pastry kitchen to make pancakes. T topped them with a mixture of bananas and apples sautéed with butter and cinnamon. A wonderful way to start the day!

Lunch was busier than it has been, and we had a bit of a rush. I handled the bulk of it by myself and T was downstairs working on soup, and I feel that I didn’t do half bad. When things slowed down, we worked on peeling and cutting salsify into a brunois for soup garnish. I left earlier than usual to head to work at the Chopping Block.

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Salsify [SAL-sih-fee] This root vegetable is also known as oyster plant because its taste resembles a delicately flavored oyster. The parsnip-shaped salsify can reach up to 12 inches in length and 2 ½ inches in diameter. The most commonly found salsify has a white-fleshed root with grayish skin, though there are varieties with a pale golden skin, as well as one with a black skin (also called sorzonera). Though salsify is more popular in Europe than in the United States, it can be found here from June through February, usually in Spanish, Italian, and Greek markets. Choose well-formed roots that are heavy for their size and not too gnarled. Refrigerate, wrapped in a plastic bag, up to a week. Salsify is generally eaten plain as a vegetable, or used in savory pies and soups.

Definition compliments of the New Food Lover’s Companion.