THE CHOPPING BLOCK – CHEF PROFILES
Mary Beth Rocco
Favorite class to teach:
Handmade Pasta Workshop. I love to share with people how quick, easy and satisfying it can be to make their own pasta.
Training/education:
Boston College, Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, Food Network, Martha Stewart's "Everyday Food" TV series and magazine, CBS's "Early Show" 5-Minute Cooking School segments and cooked "on the line" at Mesa Grill in New York City.
Cooking since:
Professionally since 1999; personally as long as I can remember.
Favorite childhood food experience:
The smells of frying meatballs and simmering tomato sauce on Sundays, coming from all three floors of my grandparent's triple-decker in Boston.
What made you want to become a chef?
The desire to become a chef has always been there. I simply love food. Thinking about it, cooking it, eating it, reading about it, watching shows about it. Sometimes the possibility was hidden or forgotten through the years, but I finally gave in when I was 30 and became a chef.
What is your signature dish?
Linguine and clam sauce. A very simple dish, but perfected.
What are the 5 ingredients you can't live without?
Peanut butter, really good extra virgin olive oil, canned Italian tomatoes, anchovies and truffle oil. (…and cheese if I can have a sixth thing)
What do you love about cooking?
Sometimes it is quiet and zen. It's my creative outlet. I love the satisfaction and fulfillment of when people really enjoy one of my meals.
When you're creating a new recipe, what influences and inspires you?
Whatever I'm in the mood to eat.
What advice would you give a new cook?
Keep it simple at first and just do it. If things don't turn out very well at first keep trying and perfect at least a couple of things you can count on and build from there. Yes, you can do it.
What are you doing when you're not cooking?
Working out to counteract all the cooking and eating.
Describe your perfect evening.
A beautiful Manhattan evening, dressing up and going to Daniel for champagne and dinner or a eating pasta and drinking wine outside on a warm summer evening in Italy.
If you had friends in from out of town, where would you take them to eat?
Avec
Where are you from?
1st half of my life, Boston; the 2nd half in New York/New Jersey.
What was your favorite vacation?
A week in Tuscany one summer, eating and drinking wine in some incredibly special places that are not in any tour book or website, etc.
What are your hobbies?
This will sound crazy but, food is my hobby! Also, watching sports, playing golf, working out and reading.
What is your favorite band?
Old school U2.
What is your favorite sports team?
The New England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox.
If you could have dinner with one person, who would it be?
Julia Child.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and watching reality shows.
Who is your favorite celebrity chef?
Bobby Flay. Of all of the celeb chefs I've worked with, I've worked with him the most. It's always demanding and hard work, but it's always lots of fun. His food is always stuff you want to dive into.
What 5 tools should every new cook have in the kitchen?
A great chef's knife, tongs, a 10 or 12 inch sauté pan, a deep pot (to boil pasta, make rice or soup, etc.) and a salad spinner (there is nothing worse than a salad sitting in a puddle of water.)
What resources would you suggest for Chopping Block clients?
foodnetwork.com, marthastewart.com and epicurious.com (where one of their references is "The Food Lover's Companion" food dictionary). All of them have all many versions of whatever kind of dish you're looking for.
List/describe three of your favorite tips or techniques you use in the kitchen.
It's great to make a big batch of soup or cookie dough and freeze it for whenever you want it.
Always cook pasta 1-2 minutes short of al dente and finish it in whatever sauce you've made to go with it and a bit of the pasta cooking water.
Don't just use a microplane grater for zesting citrus. Use it for garlic, nutmeg, ginger, chocolate, Parm or Romano cheese and truffles.