Pictured Above: Caitlyn Roland cooks pan-seared maple dijon salmon with garlicky broccoli rabe along with Antoni Porowski.
Darnell Henderson | The Crow’s Nest
By Caitlyn Roland
Queer Eye is a show about five fantastic men changing the lives of heroes across the country. Not the kind of hero you’d see in a cape and a spandex suit, but the everyday hero.
The openly gay pastor who wants to break down barriers between regigiousity and the LGBTQ+ community. The mother who’s a first generation immigrant, college graduate and medical doctor. The sisters who own a business to share family recipes with the masses. The teacher who dedicates her life to the success and well being of her students.
These heroes have life changing experiences, leaving their week on the show with a new wardrobe, a new hairdo, a madeover house, some cooking expertise and a new sense of mental wellbeing.
Antoni Porowski is one of the stars of the show. Every episode, he spends time with a hero and teaches them how to cook a dish. Through this process, he shows them how rewarding cooking a dish can be. Whether the hero’s goal is to spend more time with their family, eat healthier or leave a great impression on their guests, Porowski is there to help them realize their capabilities.
In the midst of COVID-19, with the show on hold, Porowski took up an Instagram web series called “Quar-eye,” in which he filmed unedited videos of him cooking dishes during quarantine.
This week, Porowski took to Zoom and joined a handful of USF students for a virtual cooking event. As soon as I discovered this event on the USF Sarasota-Manatee events page on BullSync, I immediately signed up, smiling at my “Antoni in the Kitchen” cookbook from across the room.
This was a chance to meet and hear from one of the celebrities I admire the most. So I RSVP’d, drove to Target and went shopping to gather the ingredients to make pan-seared maple dijon salmon with garlicky broccoli rabe.
I stood in front of my laptop with my ingredients and cooking supplies in front of me and my cookbook strategically placed behind me so Antoni could see.
Once I was let into the Zoom call, I came to the unfortunate realization that my video and audio buttons had been disabled by the host. Perhaps USF Sarasota-Manatee only wanted the host and Porowski to see and speak with each other.
Regardless of the reasoning, the host was politely informed by Porowski himself that he couldn’t turn his camera on. When the host enabled his video, she must’ve accidentally enabled it for all of us. So I enjoyed a glorious ten minutes of knowing that Porowski might have seen my face before my video was disabled again.
Amidst all of this, I scrambled around my kitchen and frantically asked my friend and Crow’s Nest Creative Director Darnell Henderson to help rinse and dry the broccoli rabe while I seasoned the salmon. While the salmon and vegetables sizzled away in their separate pans, the host asked Porwoski questions that were submitted by students prior to the beginning of the event. I was thankful to see that he was engaging with students in the chat, since we could not speak to him in any other way.
He chatted away, talking about the latest Netflix shows he’s been watching, his experiences on Queer Eye and tips he’d give to beginner cooks.
“There’s always ways in which you can make a recipe better, no matter how simple it is,” Porowski said.
He recommended that beginners ask themselves why they want to cook, “find something that you’re excited about” and “start off simple.”
While discussing his latest activities during quarantine, he emphasized the importance of maintaining mental health. As a hesitant-turned-avid meditator, he explained that morning meditation gives him a sense of clarity and calm to start every day.
“Mental health is something that is so incredibly important,” Porowski said.
Porowski explained that he has been seeing a therapist on-and-off for 20 years: “It’s something that’s helped me a lot.”
He recommended that students connect with the mental health services that are offered at the university. I relate to this notion, since therapy has had a positive impact on my life.
When asked about TV shows, Porowski raved about 90 Day Fiance, Housewives, The Mandalorian and Queen’s Gambit.
When asked about his opinion on Bridgerton, he shared that he was only two episodes in. I took to my keyboard and wrote, “I appreciated the show for the costumes.” The 19th century England era dresses are a spectacle to say the least. Porowski quickly responded, making my heart skip a beat.
“ I did appreciate it for the costumes as well,” he said.
At the end of the night, I sat at the dinner table, gorging myself on my carefully prepared dish. I have never been a fan of mustard, but the maple-dijon glaze turned out to be a perfect complement to the salmon.
However, I quickly found that I didn’t care for broccoli rabe. It was far too bitter for my taste. Next time I prepare the dish, I’ll be sure to substitute for plain broccoli.
I would encourage anyone to give this meal a shot in their own kitchen:
Recipe:
** salmon
** maple syrup
** dijon mustard
** salt
**pepper
**1 bunch broccoli rabe (or head of broccoli)
** fresh garlic
**olive oil
** 1 lemon (juice and zest)
Procedure:
- Season both sides of the salmon filet with salt.
- Rinse the broccoli rabe and dry. Take a clove of garlic and chop it into small discs.
- Heat a pan on medium high heat and drizzle with olive oil once hot. Place the salmon on the pan skin down and monitor until it has browned.
- While the salmon is cooking, in a small bowl or mug, mix together a one-to-one ratio of dijon mustard and maple syrup. Season with pepper.
- Pour the glaze around the salmon (not on top) and continue cooking until salmon is fully cooked through. Lower heat if the pan starts smoking.
- Heat another pan on medium high heat and cook the garlic until golden. Then, add the broccoli rabe until cooked through (test this by poking a fork through the thickest stem you can find and see if it easily goes all the way through). Take off heat.
- Grate the zest of half a lemon over the broccoli rabe. Then, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon.
- Plate and serve.
Darnell Henderson | The Crow’s Nest
