Smart tip: The One-Pot Meal

 Before you write in, let me say that I realize that the dish prepared below—José Andrés's modern take on traditional paella, which he called Arroz a banda con Bogavante (rice apart from lobster, with cuttlefish)—likely required a battery of saucepans and other equipment to prepare. José Andrés (second from left) and a non-traditional paella at ICC.The occasion was a joyful one: the launch of the new Spanish Culinary Arts program at New York's International Culinary Center, which Andrés will oversee.  There was a lot of wonderful food that day including a tomato, water and goat cheese salad, and a dessert of Catalan custard with citrus and vanilla -- a peek at what the curriculum might include.

These dishes were made by pros, with the aim of teaching future pros who will in turn be cooking these sorts of show-stoppers in restaurants. But while top chefs may take their skills and their palettes home when they are off-duty, they don't take their prep cooks or dish washers with them. Nobody likes cleaning up after dinner; chefs cooking on their own time loathe it. Arroz a banda con Bogavante

The solution? One-pot dinners. “In restaurants it takes so much equipment. At home I literally try to figure out what will take the least amount of effort and the fewest objects to wash, because I don’t have my crew picking up after me," says Sang Yoon, chef-owner of Lukshon in Los Angeles. Yoon is a big fan of the one-pot meal: soups, stews, casseroles, or curries. The prep and clean-up is easier, of course. "But I also think that one-pot meals are incredibly soul-satisfying, comforting.”

Paella came up often as a favorite one-dish dinner among chefs I spoke with: Cat Cora, Jacques Torres, and Marc Murphy all make it regularly for their families or guests at home. It is a dish that can be as elevated as Andrés's presentation, or a simple as you like: use a combination of seafood, chicken, sausage, or try a vegetarian version. Murphy's easy-to-follow recipe appears in Smart Chefs: Rice, proteins, vegetables, stock all in the same pan. I'll be making it this week. Meanwhile, I wish the best of luck to the first class of students at the Spanish Culinary Arts program. And their dish washers, which is mostly likely also them.

Tomato & Watermelon salad with Goat CheeseCatalan custard with citrus & vanilla

Smart Tip: A Taste is Just a Taste

Do you taste what you're making as you're cooking? If you do, congratulations: This is a just what chefs do when they are in the kitchen.  Making sure what you're cooking is cooking as you want it to is essential in the professional kitchen. But all those little bites, tastes, dips into a sauce, samples of the sirloin... they add up. They may not feel like a meal because you're not sitting down, but they count. 

During the time that he was losing about 90 lbs. (down from 280) chef Alex Stratta became very conscious of every bite he took on the job. "I dip a spoon," he told me during our Smart Chefs Stay Slim book interview. "You don't have to taste a whole scallop."  It was one of many strategies he employed to take the weight off. Alex Stratta before, in 2006

It is instructive: Watch watch you eat when you're cooking. Marc Murphy entertains at home often, and finds that by the time he is ready to serve, he is no longer in need of the meal he is serving to his guests. He might have a glass of wine and that's it.  I'm trying to be aware when that is the case for me.  Limit those bites, or count them as part of the meal. 

Still a third chef confided that his secret was switching from tablespoons to teaspoons when he is sampling -- a 2/3 calorie reduction.  My version: Keep those baby spoons from when your children stop eating mush; they are the perfect size for sampling. (Related: I've used the measuring cup from my son's childrens Tylenol to measure out appropriate doses of tequilla -- for me, not him.) Alex Stratta, now

I'm not saying don't taste your creation -- on the contrary, cooks who don't taste what they are putting out reguarly get voted off reality shows. But don't have a whole meal before you put out a whole meal.