Mise en Place... Say What?!

A Fajita-tastic Mise en Place

Hola, Folks!

Ahhh, Fajita Night... What a wonderful weeknight meal to come home to! This has always been one of my family's go-to meals. What's not to love about deliciously flavored meat, sauteed onions and peppers, and any other number of yummy toppings all wrapped in a soft, warm tortilla? I can't think of one thing. BONUS: fajitas are SUPER easy to make!

So to make cooking fajitas (and everything) all that much easier, I'd like to share a tip with you, a little thing called a mise en place (pronounced [miz on plas]). Yeah, that's right it's French, my friends. So if you suffered through a bit of college or high school French and the "Foreign Language" section of your brain has yet to be totally cobwebbed over, you may still be able to make out that mise en place means "things in place". I was introduced to this concept by one of my favorite writers/chefs/TV show personalities, Anthony Bourdain in his very funny, but very informative book Kitchen Confidential (go read it now!). Bourdain discusses the mise en place and its place (no pun intended) in professional kitchens. If you have worked in a kitchen, then you already know what I'm talking about. Each station (e.g. the grill, sauce station, fryer, etc.) will have their own mise (for short), or set up. This means that most of the ingredients that they need to create the dishes that they are responsible for are right there, chopped/sliced/diced and ready to go into the dish. So think about this concept with your own cooking...

The next time you go to your favorite recipe website to find that perfect quiche to make when your in-laws are coming over, remember this and create a mise en place. Your life will be so much easier! As you can see from the fajita night pic, I cut up the onions and peppers and since they were going to cook at the same time I threw them together on a plate. Paper plates, people... embrace them! Next I cut up 3 chicken breasts and kept them separated since I was going to cook the chicken in batches so as to not crowd the pan. You'll also see my salt and pepper and a sauce mix that I decided to try. In general, I hate sauce mixes and flavor packets, but I came across this one from a chef that I really respect and I know has made his name learning about and cooking with Mexican flavors, so I decided to give it a try... Eh. I probably wouldn't use it again. You also see some limes there, for a little freshness after everything is cooked. And let's not forget, the glass of wine, a very important and necessary tool in any kitchen :) Having my mise ready to go with the ingredients that would need to be cooked, allowed me to be able to grate the cheese, cut up the avocado, and prepare all of the other things that would go into the fajitas that were uncooked. 

This concept can be used when cooking almost every single thing you make. Just make sure that you read the entire recipe before you begin! I can't tell you how many times I have skimmed a recipe or just read the first part and completely missed an important step or instruction. So read fully, prepare your ingredients accordingly and go forth and get your mise on, my friends!

Cheers!
KB