Monday, May 23, 2011

Cameron Hughes Wine shoot: Roast Chicken & Ciabatta Salad

It's starting to look a lot like summer! White wines are very popular right now, and my job was to make something to pair with Cameron Hughes Lot series #212, a Carneros Chardonnay.

For the shoot I decided to make my version of roast chicken and bread salad you would find at Zuni, a very popular SF restaurant. I first brined the chicken overnight in a very simple brine of water, sea salt, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, and bay leaves.  The brining adds such great moisture and flavor to the chicken.  I highly recommend doing this with any roast chicken, or pork.  The chicken was then rubbed with an herb butter (butter, salt, paprika, white pepper, chopped parsley) and prepped for the oven.  The twist on this recipe is that the chicken is then roasted on top of the bread for the bread salad.  Its ripped and placed into a pyrex baking dish, lightly oiled and salted.  The chicken, depending on the cuts, is then placed on top of a few slices of citrus which is then placed directly on top of the bread.  

In the 375* oven for about 45 min, the bread will absorb all of the delicious juices from the chicken and produce an amazing tasting bread salad.  Finishing the bread salad off with a simple balsamic vinaigrette and some dried currents and chopped parsley puts it over the top.  


The shoot was great. Jake did a fabulous job and everything looked just as it would on the Food Network.  Enjoy the shots and go visit www.chwine.com and check out some wine!!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Blue Moon Recipe: Turkey Sando & Potato Salad


Come the holidays you always have some leftover turkey, or roast meat of some kind.  The idea behind this set of recipes was to utilize leftovers and make a pairing to go with Blue Moon's signature beer the Belgian White. 


I love sandwiches. They are perhaps my favorite food. So, naturally a turkey sandwich was in order.  To make things a bit different and to better pair with the Belgian White, I constructed a home-made aioli with roasted garlic and lemon zest to be used as the spread on the toast.  In addition to the sandwich, I developed an easy potato salad recipe to add to this leftover inspired meal. The potato salad used red potatoes, egg, green onions, chives, and your familiar character list for a potato salad.  In addition, I used some bacon, lemon zest, and apple cider vinegar.  


Both the sandwich and salad turned out fabulous, and my roommates were going back for more. These recipes are very easy, and a great way to use leftovers.  Enjoy!


Potato Salad
2 lbs Red potatoes
4 stips of Bacon, chopped
3 Green onions, chopped
1 -2 Hard boiled eggs chopped
¼ cup Mayo
¼ cup Chives, diced
2 tbsp Whole grain mustard
Roasted garlic, 2 big cloves
1 tbsp Vinegar (apple cider is best)
Juice of ½ a lemon
1 tsp sugar or honey
1 tsp fresh cracked pepper

Method:
Boil potatoes for 30 min until soft. Remove, strain and let cool.  You can also use leftover roasted potatoes as long as they are not totally soft.  In a small mixing bowl, combine mayo, mustard, chives, onions, vinegar, roasted garlic, and lemon juice and zest. Mix well.  Once the potatoes are cool, chop into desired size, quartering usually suffices.  In a large mixing bowl, combine potatoes, egg, and mayo mixture.  Stir well.  Add bacon and stir again.  Chill and serve as a side!

 

Friday, May 13, 2011

Asian Beef Lettuce Cups w/ Macadamia Nuts

So, the story goes I had a pound of ground beef and didn't want to make tacos, bolognese, or a burger.  I was craving something asian, heavily spiked with ginger.  My friend Darcy put the idea of lettuce cups into my head... so that was my starting point. The wok came out, along with the usual suspects; soy sauce, ginger, chili paste, mirin, brown sugar, brown onion, green onions, and cilantro.

With the wok on high, I added a bunch of ginger, chili paste, thinly diced onions, and the ground beef.  Once the onions where of desired caramelized color, I added a bunch of soy, sugar, mirin, and brown sugar.  I let this cover the beef and let stew away for about 20 min until the liquid was almost fully absorbed by the meat.  At this stage I added some chopped green onions and a little more seasoning to taste, mainly ginger and chili paste.  


With the beef pretty much ready, and some butter lettuce cups standing by, I stired in some toasted & crushed macadamia nuts, jullianned mint, and some chopped cilantro.  The mixture turned out great. The crunch of the mac nuts and the sharp taste of the mint added good depth to the salty and sweet beef.  This is a fun dish and can be easily used as an appetizer for a large party, or a main dish to feed four. 

Monday, May 9, 2011

Blue Moon Recipe: Grilled Chicken Salad


In this edition of the Blue Moon recipe development, Summer grilling was the theme.  I wanted to do something a bit different and also something on the lighter side. I decided on a beer marinated chicken salad. My little twist was to grill some romaine lettuce for the salad.  This adds a nice smokey and charred flavor to the otherwise tasteless lettuce.  Dressed in a creamy sauce, this chicken salad is great for a warm summer day.  Grab a couple of Blue Moon's and enjoy a great lunch with friends!



BMBW Grilled Chicken Grilled Salad
Ingredients:
2-4 chicken breasts (depending on # of people)
1 head of romain lettuce
1/2 bottle of BMBW
1/4 cup of honey
2 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 avocado, diced
Orange slices.
1 tbsp mayonnaise
Olive oil
Balsamic
Pepper
1 Orange, juice & zest


Blue Moon Recipe: Cedar Planked Salmon!


In the most recent Blue Moon recipe development, I was asked to do something a little different for their new release.  Blue Moon is releasing a Vintage Blonde Ale which is made with the juice from Chardonnay grapes and sold in a 750ml bottle, rather than your normal 12oz kind.  So, I was asked to make an elevated dish to be paired with the craft beer.  The idea was to find a dish that would traditionally go with a white wine, like chardonnay, and riff off of it to create a dish that would match nicely with the Blonde Ale.  I chose Salmon as my vessel, and the subtle twist is grilling it on a Cedar Plank.  Not uncommon, but not your everyday salmon filet.  

So, on a sunny yet windy San Francisco day, I made another trip to the grill.  After smothering the salmon in a lemon-herb butter, it got planked up and thrown on the grill.  During the cooking process, I ended up snapping about 30-40 pictures.  Who knew butter on top of wood would produce flames? Fat and fire. Great friends to photographs!  

The salmon turned out surprisingly light, flaky and smokey.  An incredible tasting dish accompanied by some roasted Jalapeno cous cous, charred asparagus, and my favorite, grilled bread.  A wonderful fish dish served on Mother's Day.  
Chef's recommendation: Buy some Cedar Planks for your grilling season! Super easy, and a fun twist on grilling!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Cameron Hughes Food & Wine Pairing: Shrimp & Arugula Pasta

For our first food and wine pairing shoot, the wines were whites, and the menu was to be simple and elegant.  Two cameras were set up in the Hughes Family kitchen, and it was Jake and I getting the production underway. The filming began with a few stumbles here and there, but then we got rolling and knocked out two segments in 8 hours... long day, but totally worth it.




Thanks to Jake & Jess for making this happen! Watch for the video soon!

 Ingredients:
½ pound of Fresh pasta (dried works too)
½ pound of Shrimp (peeled & de-veined)
1 bunch of Arugula
1 clove of Garlic, chopped
1 Shallot, diced
¼ cup White Wine (Lot 240, Albarino)
¼ cup of Toasted Pine Nuts
¼ cup Flat Leaf Parsley, chopped
¼ cup Basil, Chopped
Olive oil
Salt

In a large pot, boil water with salt for the pasta.
In a large skillet, turn heat on high and add a drizzle of olive oil.  Add the garlic and shallots, and cook until the shallots are soft, about 3 min.  Add the shrimp to the hot skillet and begin to cook on high heat, turning occasionally to cook both sides.  Once the shrimp begin to turn pink, add all of the arugula to the pan, with a pinch of salt. Turn the heat down to medium, and let the arugula wilt a bit and continue stirring occasionally.  Meanwhile, drop your fresh pasta into the boiling water.  Fresh pasta only takes about 3-4 minutes to fully cook.  Once the pasta is ready, strain from water and transfer to the skillet with the shrimp and arugula.  Toss well and try to coat the noodles.  Move to a serving dish and garnish with pine nuts, parsley and basil.  Serves 2.