Inspiration

Inspiration

Where do I find inspiration?

Where do I get my ideas?

How do I think creatively?

Often I plague myself with with these kinds of thoughts. To me it seems it has a lot to do with where and how I grew up. In my early years I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by art --  my family has owned an art gallery since before I was born (www.galerie-angerer.com). Vibrant colors, shapes and forms were in my daily life as a toddler. Growing up in that enviroment made me receptive to looking at ordinary things differently and think abstractly. 

When I moved into my apartment living there felt often somewhat empty in the beginning --  it was clear to me that something was missing. I always had art on the walls in my old places. Since I was moving together with my girl friend at this time I decided to put many paintings in storage given the new place’s size. Once we agreed what to hang on the walls in the new apartment it felt like a real home to me. It seemed to trigger a creative button in my mind, an entourage of ideas and a wave of creativity came over me. I felt like I was dumping lots of mental clutter. Nowadays when I feel mentally exhausted a quick visit to one of the beautiful museums (www.moma.org, www.whitney.org) in New York is like an injection of mental drugs.

I used to have too much “brain garbage” just lingering in my mind. I decided to make enough space in my mind so I could send my brain to work in terms of creativity.

I got some good guidance from a few books. One I was fortunate to pick up in the store a few years ago www.theartistsway.com by Julia Cameron. Reading this particular book and mastering the excercises described in it became my focus for quite some time. By now I am able to balance things better in life. Besides beeing a working chef my life is filled with endlessly paying restaurant bills, meeting this deadline, having that person to talk to etc. I was constantly running behind in my personel calendar. It never seemed to get better, no end was in sight and it certainly did ware me down.

My fiance (she was the girlfriend in the first paragraph) took me to one of her yoga classes which I found kind of interesting but that did not fit too well into my schedule between picking up fresh vegetables at the Greenmarket and cooking till the wee hours seven days a week. 

Besides reading The Artist Way I was intodruced to a wonderful yoga teacher Jean Koerner.  www.jeankoerner.com.  She was kind enough to jot down a few notes about the right way of breathing and she sketched little matchstick men drawings of yoga poses on a piece of paper. I am lucky enough to have a gym in the building where I live so I try to exercise as often as possible throughout the week and incorporate those yoga exercises into my exercise routine daily.

Spätzel Mac & Cheese with Truffel Crust

(recipe makes 4 portions)

Spätzel

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 pinches of cayenn
• 5 gratings nutmeg 
• 1 – 2 cups water
• 3 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 
• 4 tablespoons heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons grated cheese Cheddar, Swiss, Parmesan, Gruyer

Bring a large, wide pot approximately two gallon sized, filled with salted water to boil.

Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl. Make a well in the middle.

Mix the eggs in a separate bowl and pour into the well. With a whisk mix flour, salt, cayenne nutmeg and water until combined then add the eggs and yolks until well combined, add more water to get to desired consistency. A more runny batter will make shorter pasta than a thicker batter. It should have a pancake like texture.

Push the batter with a rubber spatula through a spätzel sieve or through a colander over boiling water so that little pieces of dough fall into the water. Stir occasionally with a slotted spoon and bring to boil, transfer the pasta into an ice bath. Drain spätzel and toss with vegetable oil.

 

See Question & Answers for more info on spätzel

 

 

To fanci this pasta up add this topping!

Truffle Crust

• 4 slices pumpernickel bread
• 1 cup truffle slices in Madeira
• 1 tablespoon grated cheddar cheese
• Sea salt
• 2 pinches cayenne

Chop all ingredients on cutting board finely, season with sea salt and cayenne

Plating Instructions: In large pan sauté spätzel in vegetable oil, add cream and cheeses and top with truffle topping. Spoon into oven proof bowl plates and sprinkle truffle topping over the spätzel. Transfer plates into 400°F hot oven and bake for five minutes. 

Chef’s tip: sprinkle coarse fleur de sel over the truffle topping and stick cripsy spaghetti pasta in it for a nice salty crunch and visual apeal.

 

Inspiration!     

Carbonara anybody?

I made my own pancetta for this carbonara style pasta and it was a combo of house-made spaghetti and oven dried pasta to add some texture. Before it was sent out in the dinning room it was finished with a dollop of rainbow trout caviar.