Self-Taught Cooking Homework #1: Chloe As Cook

This is just the pure, unaltered truth of who I am as a chef: chaotic, salty, and poorly equipped.

In line with this week’s inaugural Dinner Party discussion thread, I wanted to document a recipe that I liked to show my cooking style. It’s the litmus test of my palette and a showcase of my nascent skills.

I will also be honest: I thought going into this recipe, okay, I’ve been reading a lot of cookbooks, I will be almost TOO good at this to be believed as a beginner chef.

Nope.

No. I’m not too good.

This kitchen was CHAOS.

To start, coming off Lesson #1 where I outlined what a professional home kitchen should have, let me show my kitchen.

A majority of my current cooking tools are hand-me-downs from Luke’s sister-in-law after they got married. (I helped gift the pots and pans set on their registry, so my gift made their gift possible.)

the spread

Luke has good coffee gadgets: a manual and electric bean grinder, an electric tea kettle, an espresso machine, a French press. Great for mornings.

He also supplies a wooden cutting board, a chef’s knife, and paring knife, all gorgeous gift…