Secret Ingredients

Some restaurants I've been to have secret ingredients which they put in almost everything to make it taste unified and delicious. One place in Boston keeps a container of pesto out on the counter, and every vegetable that gets sauteed on the hot line gets a dollop of pesto for some color and flavoring. It also adds a pretty flecked greenness and depth of flavor to everything.

I'll let you in on what our secret is at the restaurant here. We have these dried sweet peppers which we just call "pepperone" which is an ingredient from the south where Chef is from. They have a mild, kind of paprika-flavored sweetness to them, without the grassiness that you find in fresh peppers. When we do up all of our vegetables we always saute them up with a pepperone, our sauces as well get the pepper treatment. We deep-fry these things to use them as a garnish on dishes, and crumble up the deep fried ones to use as an ingredient in the egg portion of the veg platter. Pasta for staff meal is sometimes just made with a sauce of oil, garlic, and cooked pepperone. The only thing I'm surprised about is that we don't ever rehydrate them and make a paste to use as a sauce or rub on any of our meats. But if I were to look at the menu, I would guess that about 75% of it includes at least one dish with this random ingredient.

I can't believe I'm leaving in just one week! The time has been flying by, but I feel ready to head home, like I've gotten a lot out of my experience here. I'm going to be doing dinner with friends, celebrating my birthday somehow (maybe), packing up, going to a "graduation" ceremony at school, finishing my stage, and getting on a long flight to the states.....