Making Use of a Mise en Place

That’s right I’m getting all fancy on you and breaking out French cooking terms! Cause that’s what Tuesdays are for (apparently).  “Mise en place” basically means “everything in its place” and refers to having all of the ingredients you need on hand, ready to go when it comes time to make a dish. It’s how professional kitchens operate---because if you had to wait for all your ingredients to get prepped it would take a lot longer for your meal to be made and served (which means the restaurant would not make as much money). Using a mise en place is good for the home cook as well—with all the prep work out of the way, you can pay more attention to cooking things appropriately and efficiently instead of getting distracted by those herbs you still need to chop.

Since I work at home and don’t have much of a commute, I am “home from work” a lot earlier than Jason.  Lately I’ve been doing all my prep work (building my mise en place if you will) as soon as work ends and then when Jason calls me and lets me know he’s on his way home, I can start the actual cooking. And still have dinner on the table when Jason walks in the door!

The use of a mise en place is particularly critical when making things like Pad Thai. Tonight was my first attempt at the dish and I would say it was mostly successful. But the cooking process is really all of three minutes so you have to have everything chopped and ready to go ahead of time. I decided to dip my toes into these untested Pad Thai waters with a scaled-down version that comes from this month’s issue of Everyday Food (where else!).  Jason liked the dish but as someone who has eaten Pad Thai a hundred times at various restaurants, I found the flavor to be somewhat lacking. However it was easy and good for a weeknight. And it’s inspired me to looking into more authentic Pad Thai recipes—so stay tuned!

My mise en place--peanuts, soy sauce mixture, scallion whites and garlic, cilantro and scallion greens

 

 

 

Vegetable Pad Thai
Adapted from Everyday Food

Ingredients:
6 ounces dried, wide and flat rice noodles
1 TBL brown sugar
2 TBL fresh lime juice
3 TBL soy sauce
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
¼ cup chopped peanuts

1.Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Turn off heat and add rice noodles and soak for 4 minutes. Drain. Rinse with cold water and set aside.
2.Once you have your mise en place ready to go, heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add scallion whites and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for about 30 seconds. Add eggs and cook, scraping with a rubber spatula until eggs are cooked, about 30 seconds. Remove egg mixture and set aside.
3.Add noodles and soy sauce mixture to skillet. Toss constantly until noodles are soft and coated with sauce—about 1 minute. Add egg mixture and toss, gently breaking up eggs and letting it all mix together.
4.Top noodles with cilantro, scallion greens, and peanuts and serve.