Day as a private chef in Los Angeles series

This is what I made as a personal chef in Beverly Hills. My days always start with grocery shopping. Depending on whatever I'm cooking, I'll have to visit up to three markets before I actually head to my client's house. Unfortunately for me, I had to go to two this morning. Whole Foods was out of bronzino, so I headed over to Bristol Farms. They actually sell the largest bronzino out of all the supermarkets. First thing I did when I got to their home was rinse some rice until the water ran clear and let it drain. I sweat down some diced onions and olive oil, added in grated garlic, and let that toast. To the drained rice, I added cumin and turmeric and mixed to coat the rice. Then added the seasoned rice to the garlic and onion mixture. Gently toast and add chicken stock. Using the finger method to measure the amount of liquid. Brought to a boil, covered, and into the oven to cook. I wanted some sort of bright salad component as the sauce for the bronzenos. So I pitted these Tajesa olives by pushing down on them to easily pull the pit out. If you haven't had Tajesa olives before, they are these small Italian olives that are slightly fruity, mild, a little bit sweet, and not too bitter. They're delicious. I chopped them up alongside these colam olives. I added some diced shallots, pickled red onions alongside the liquid for sweetness and acidity, and some quartered cherry tomatoes. This will be a nice bright and sweet salad for the bronzino. I haven't sharpened my deva in a while, so I hit the stone a few times before breaking down the bronzino. I quickly broke them down and cut the skinny tail sides off for my lunch. Bristol Farms bronzenos are a bit too large for my clients, which is bad for them, but good for me. Season simply with my client's favorite blend of salt, onion powder, and garlic powder. I get some hate for using dried herbs and spices, but unless you're the one paying my bills, I'm going to keep cooking to my client's preferences. After cooking the rice for 25 minutes and letting it steam for 20 minutes, I give it a quick fluffing and let it sit until it's time to serve. We got some skinny asparagus from the farmers market. So instead of peeling them like I usually do, I just hit them with a little olive oil salt and into the broiler to cook quickly. I pat dry the bronzino and get them ready to be seared. If you're having trouble with your fish skin sticking to your pan. One of the reasons is probably because the skin isn't dry enough. So always give them a quick pat with paper towel before cooking. It'll also lessen the amount of oil splatters. You'll also want to gently press down on the fillet so that the skin crisp out evenly. They do have a tendency to curl up at the beginning. Just let them gently cook without trying to move them. Once the skin gets crispy, it'll detach on its own. The more you try to force it at the beginning, the higher the chance that you're going to mangle your fish. Just be a little patient. I like to cook them almost 80% on the skin side. Just a quick flip onto the flesh side and then pull off the heat. Dry overcooked bronzino is criminal. Straight to jail. And now let's drop my seared proteins onto a paper towel to absorb any excess oil. To plate, I spooned a olive tomato pickled red onion salad on the bottom. Place the fish on top. A little bit of that cumin, turmeric rice, roasted asparagus that I hit with a little lemon juice. And off they go. Nice and simple. If you look quickly, you'll see that one of them asked for spinach instead of asparagus, which I will always happily oblige.