“I think that fish is nice, but then I think that rain is wet, so who am I to judge?” -Douglas Adams, British satirist and mastermind of the incredible Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which every human being should read at least once

Level 3 almost killed me.  But it’s true what they say, you know, because instead it made me stronger.  Better.  Faster.  (You know, like the Daft Punk song that Kanye stole and ruined. )

Level 3 is notorious at the French Culinary Institute.  Right on the cover of the Level 3 textbook it says the word “DISCIPLINE” in big scary all-caps letters.  Ladies cried in the locker room afterward.  My classmates’ dark sides came out.  It was Lord of the Flies for culinary students.  There we were, marooned in a cramped kitchen where the ovens and burners didn’t work quite right, the ceiling was falling down, and somehow we had to make do.  The idea was, we stick with a small body of intense and difficult recipes for the entire 6 weeks of Level 3.  We get insane “ready times,” and I mean down to the minute, like you start at 6:00 sharp, and finish at 8:37 with your first dish, and 9:25 with your second.  You can’t be early, you can’t be late, and you have to make two really complicated things, like beef consommé with spring vegetables that are each cut perfectly and cooked separately, and then a whole roast chicken with like 17 different kinds of complicated garniture (ok I’m exaggerating, it was 4 kinds…..), butchered perfectly and served with a perfect sauce.  Oh and also, 4 plates of each dish, exactly identical, and at the perfect temperature.  You can’t work on one dish at a time.  You have to work on a whole bunch of things at once and hope and pray that it all winds up ok in the end.  Now, if you’re a seasoned chef, this is nothing – this is everyday life.  But I’m, um, NOT that.  I’m just a girl who loves to cook and nerd out and know about yummy things, and for the love of God, this level almost killed me.

I was terrified going into it.  I had heard stories.  I learned that my brilliant new chef was the first woman EVER to cook in the kitchen of Le Cirque (she’s totally Colette from Ratatouille) – I mean, seriously, what an amazing honor and privilege…..and not at ALL intimidating.  (Haha – NOT.  But my Daddy would be so, so, so proud of me!)  Curiously, I wound up LOVING the challenge and intensity.  The pace was scary fast – one minute it was 6:00 and then you’d blink and look up at the clock and it would be 9:45.  I loved that with each attempt at a dish, I saw literally 5 or 6 entire minutes come off of my ready times.  I loved having 2 burners, 6 pans, and 3 things on my cutting board going on at the same time, and being able to eventually manage all of them without much of a problem.  I have literally never seen myself get so much better at something in such a short amount of time.  I learned to conduct a symphony of food in Level 3, and you know what?  I never cried once.  Mostly, in fact, I smiled.

One of the dishes we did over and over and over again was this one.  Sautéed Skate with Grenobloise Sauce and Potato Vapeur.  It’s a wonderful dish – one of those things that’s technically pretty simple but there’s still a fairly narrow window for success.  It definitely took me several tries to get right, but it’s a dish I felt that I was “good at,”so I’m passing it on to my readers.  ”Grenobloise” is a very classic French sauce named after the city of Grenoble.  It always involves brown butter, lemon, capers, croutons, and parsley, and is wonderful on most white fish.  If you don’t like skate or can’t find it easily, try it with a filet of striped bass or cod or orange roughy.  It will still be awesome.

Potatoes are a classic accompaniment to fish courses in France, so I’ve done a “potato vapeur” with this dish, as we did in class.  Potato Vapeur is not fancy.  It’s fancy in name only.  In practical reality, it’s boiled salty potatoes dipped in parsley.  That’s it.  I made them into fancy cocotte shapes but you don’t have to do that at all to have a successful dish.  You just have to cut them in even sizes and shapes, and then use the same cooking technique I describe below.  As always, any questions, let me know!  I’m always happy to help.

Ingredients:

1 large skate fillet, divided into 2 even portions

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 slices of frozen white bread (NOTE:  I used Brioche), cut into square croutons about 1/4-1/2″ in size

Extra virgin olive oil

1 stick (8 tbsp.) butter

1 1/2 tsp. capers

Flesh of one lemon, diced

1 large handful flat-leaf parsley, washed, dried well, and chopped fine

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 large red bliss potatoes, washed, peeled, and cut into evenly-sized lengths

Instructions:

1.  Fill a large saucepan with cold water, add evenly-cut potatoes, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

2.  While waiting for the water to boil, rinse skate fillets very well and dry with paper towels.  Dump flour onto a plate and give each piece of skate a dunk in the flour on both sides, patting off the excess.  Season each piece of skate liberally with salt and pepper.

3.  Place a frying pan over medium-high heat.  Add enough olive oil to just coat the bottom of the pan.  When the oil is very hot, add the croutons and sauté until golden brown, about 5 minutes.  When the desired color is achieved, turn off the heat and transfer the croutons to paper towels to drain.  Immediately season with a sprinkling of salt.  Reserve.

4.  Rinse out the pan well and return to medium-high heat with a coating of extra virgin olive oil and a tbsp. of the butter.  When the oil and butter are melted and hot, add the skate, one fillet at a time, and allow to cook until a deep golden-brown color is achieved.  Resist the temptation to keep turning it every few minutes and just let it cook on each side until a nice, lovely, sexy, deep golden-brown color is achieved on each side.  When done, reserve the skate fillets on a plate lined with paper towels.  Keep warm.

5.  As soon as the potato water starts to boil, turn off the fire and drain the potatoes.  Reserve for service time on paper towels.  Bring a clean pot of water to a boil with a handful of salt included in the water.

6.  Prepare several small containers of ingredients to get ready for the sauce.  In one container, have the remainder of the butter cut into small pieces.  Keep this container cold.  In the next container, put the capers.  In the next container, put the lemon flesh.  And in the last container, put half of the chopped parsley.  The other half of the parsley should be reserved in a separate container or plate.

7.  When the salted water is boiling, drop the potatoes into it.  On a separate burner, begin the Grenobloise sauce in the clean frying pan.  Melt the butter over high heat and allow to continue cooking past the melting point over medium heat.  First a foam will form, and then the foam will dissipate and the milk solids will begin to brown.  This is good.  When the milk solids are nice and dark brown, but not burned, add the capers and lemon segments.  Remove from heat and stir to incorporate.  Add a nice big pinch of salt and a few turns of freshly ground black pepper.  At the last moment, add half of the chopped parsley.  Plate a fillet of the cooked skate and top with some of the reserved croutons.  Immediately spoon over some of the Grenobloise sauce.  Remove a few of the potatoes from the salted water, dip the ends into the rest of the chopped parsley, and arrange neatly on the plate.  Serve immediately.

Yield: This is a “dinner for 2″ situation, people.  Mulitply the recipe accordingly.