Most won't exert more effort to satiate stomachs than ordering in, yet some Penn students carve out free time for culinary creations. Faced with FroGro's inadequacies, a student budget, diminutive stoves incapable of high temperatures and roach-infested communal kitchens, five student chefs demonstrated how this Dinner: Impossible gets done. "You are what you eat," but here food choices reflect backgrounds and ranges of experience. While none cook as much as they would like, roommates and friends benefit from the juices of Penn's most creative student cooks.
Eliza Rothstein finds her usually Mediterranean-inspired dishes reflect her family's love of diverse cuisine. She prepared an arugula and spinach salad, pasta with roasted vegetables and a trio of grilled goat cheese, balsamic vinegar and fig pitas whose sprigs of rosemary crowned this dish a winner.
Clayton Robins braised pork in a sugar-salt solution (salt tenderizes meat, while sugar gives it a caramel color) and topped it with a sage, cider and onion sauce. Accompanying this dish was a side of mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables.
Noah Aptekar adapted his Thai-inspired dish from a Colorado College Cookbook. With chicken in the George Forman and spaghetti on the stove, Noah combined chunky peanut butter, Italian dressing, soy sauce and honey. Mandarin oranges provide a citrus-y balance to a dish that sticks to your ribs.
Greg Moran thanks his Italian mother for many recipes, including his rigatoni alla vodka. Greg combined cream, crushed tomatoes, basil and salt to saut‚ed mushrooms and onions before adapting the recipe to his tastes with crushed red peppers and a spicy sausage (his mother uses chicken).
Rachel Meyer wrapped up dinner with a key lime tart from a Food and Wine Magazine recipe. To demonstrate its ease and speed, Rachel poured the filling onto the crust of crushed Italian chocolate cookies and melted butter before our eyes. This luscious dessert will win over customers and patients alike.
QUESTION & ANSWER
Street: Do you plan to pursue a culinary career?
Rachel: I've deferred medical school for a year. I'm planning on enrolling in culinary school immediately after graduation and then working in a restaurant for a year (but, shh, don't tell my parents).
Noah: Given that I share my love of the kitchen craft with my older brother, I would not discount the possibility of a brief stint in some small town working a family restaurant, just for kicks sometime. But that sounds more fanciful than probable.
Street: What is your biggest cooking debacle?
Greg: Absinthe-infused sweet potatoes are definitely not a winning idea.
Street: What is your signature dish?
Rachel: I make a mean soup.
Greg: My signature dish is anything Italian: all types of pastas, Marsala, home made meatballs and parmigiana of any sort.
Noah: I guess my signature dish, which I have made most by myself here at Penn is a peanut butter pasta dish that I have brought from home. Most people curl up their nose at the idea of using such a pedestrian ingredient as peanut butter in a supposedly gourmet dish, but I have to say it is pretty delicious.
Eliza: I don't really have a signature dish. I guess I make a lot of things with roasted vegetables, but I normally just make things up as I go along. Most things I make are Mediterranean-ish. I love anything with balsamic vinegar and figs.
Street: Who is your cooking inspiration?
Rachel: Alton Brown, Thomas Keller, Julia Child ... I could go on and on.
Eliza: I grew up with both of my parents cooking, trying different kinds of cuisine all the time, so I guess they would be my inspiration. My dad is Venezuelan, and I have family in Israel, so I guess we have a lot of different culinary influences going on.
Greg: My cooking inspiration is definitely my mom seeing my dad can't cook a lick. My mom can cook anything, just don't ask her to bake.
