Wine & Food Pairing - 1

In collaboration with Corkscrew wine bar in Tahoe City, I was given the opportunity to have a lot of fun with a few dishes.  The idea was to buy ingredients from the Thursday Farmers Market in Tahoe City, and then create 2 dishes to be paired with 2 glasses of wine.  Wonderful summer produce and refreshing wine made this an irresistible opportunity.


The first dish I pulled from a previous Iron Chef.  A shrimp ceviche, this time, fresh pacific Ono was used with shrimp to add some more texture.  White peaches from the market were julianned, and serranos diced very small.  Fresh squeezed lime juice, and a dash of agave nectar finished this refreshing dish.  It was paired with an Albarino. 

The second dish was a play on a couple different dishes. You can call it a deconstructed crostini, a play on chips and salsa, or something that was just plain different.  Heirloom tomatoes were diced and mixed with agave nectar and julianned basil, and hit with Meyer Lemon Olive oil from We Olive in San Francisco.  Then goat cheese was mixed with lemon zest and fresh parsley.  Finishing the plate was a generous portion of kettle potato chips.  Customers were having fun playing with the three items on the plate.  Among initial reviews, I think the potato chip crostini/salsa plate is here to stay.

Cant wait for next Thursday!

LA Rendezvous

I was very fortunate to have a booking in Los Angeles.  Andi was kind enough to fly me down to prepare a huge meal for her and her friends to celebrate her new job.  The menu was ambitious, but very fun.
Mustard dill flank steak was the headliner, however, the huge mexican scallop stole the show.  A true showcase of incredible ingredients.  I simply prepared the scallop. Nothing major, just a little bit of coconut butter and salt. Served on top of bacon risotto.  But, the scallops also yeilded another dish.  I decided to make a crudo. By thinly slicing the scallop, and then pounding it paper thin.  Dressed with fresh lime juice, jullianed radishes, and some scallions.  To top, I heated up olive oil to frying temperature, and then drizzled it on top.  The plate was clear before I had a chance to try! 

Also on the menu were my shrimp spring rolls, and a heriloom & cherry crostini derived from Iron Chef 1.  The spring rolls and crostini are quickly becoming my most requested dishes. 

The dinner was long and fabulous, accompanied by lovely wine, and some berries and angel food cake for dessert.  An absolute joy to cook, and a treat to get to see some of my friends! Thanks Andi!

Summer Ham and Corn Bisque

Easter in June??
Well, when someone presents you with a ham, you just have to take it. Researching a wide variety of recipes for the ham, I came across one that seemed interesting and built off of it. A number of chefs use a soda, like coke, in the warming process to help keep moisture.  I took it one step further.  Basically making a Jack and Coke, with an addition of some cayenne and vanilla extract. Ham added, along with a glaze which I boosted up with some cayanne, vanilla and some coffee grinds, my take on a red-eye gravy dish. 

The ham turned out spectacular. And I had repeat visitors for breakfast!


Ham - 275*
Coke, Jack Daniels, cayenne, vanilla extract

Glaze - Glaze packet, Jack, cayanne, vanilla, coffee grinds, pan drippings

Onto the Soup! Corn bisque. Had this wonderful stock from the previous post, and I wanted to treat it well.  Playing on my lobster bisque recipe, I added roasted corn, and jalepenos. Smoothed out by a stick blender and this bisque was fabulous. Definitely the dish of the night.  

Soup:
carrots, onons, celery, corn, jalepeno, olive oil, sherry, taragon, thyme, chicken stock (from the brined chicken), cream, salt, white pepper. cooked then blended. 
Topped with avocado & roasted corn

Scalloped potatoes - 375* 45 min
cream, butter, salt, garlic, thyme, parmesean

Pomegranate-Citrus Roast Chicken & Roast Corn and bread salad

So, a Sunday struggle after a large Saturday night led me to the grocery store. With no real plan, idea, or inspiration I just started aimlessly putting things in my shopping cart.  Luckily the friendly butcher was aiding my decisions on what was on sale.  45 min later, I walked out with a 6 pound chicken.  


I actually had wanted to roast a chicken for a while, so this bird was going to get the full treatment.  Starting off with a brine, I wanted to inject as much spring/summer flavor into it as possible. I started simple, then kept layering flavors in...

Water
salt
pomegranate balsamic vinegar
mustard seeds
chili flakes
honey
bay leaf
lemon peel

The chicken sat in the brine for about 18 hours (it took a bit longer for the brine to cool than expected).

Now, building this meal... Thankfully, corn is coming back into season. A roasted corn salad sounded splendid.  Adding a roast anaheim pepper, grilled green onions, cilantro, avocado, jalepeno, salt, white pepper, lemon olive oil, and some white balsamic made this salad a hit.  Also, a last minute addition, some ciabatta croutons which were soaked in the chicken jus.  

Now, on to the roast! After the brine, the chicken was stuffed with wedges of orange, lime and lemon which I tossed in a bit of salt, olive oil, and pomegranate balsamic.  I made an herb butter with parsley, salt and lemon olive oil.  This was not just rubbed onto the whole chicken, but also in the cavity between the skin and the breasts. The remaining wedges of citrus were placed around the chicken in the pan along with a leek.  

Using the Julia Child's method (425* for 15 min, then lowering to 350*), the bird was perfect and juicy at 2 hrs. 

Got distracted by the basketball game, so the pic was taken with the legs off... but, i think it still looks great. 
Adding a nice spinach salad, Italian red wine, and great company, everyone was happy. A new keeper. 
Now, what to make with the stock??

Sunday Health - Miso Ahi & Sugar Snap Peas

After a couple days of eating lots of greasy food, it was time to put away the butter and pork products.  Luckily, ahi was on sale. In a daze of confusion, I randomly grabbed ingredients from the store and hoped that I could make order out of chaos come dinner time.  So, I laid out and prepped all my ingredients hoping for a spark. Sugar snap peas, green onions, ginger, ahi, and a salad.  The peas, onions and ginger went into a hot pan with some peanut oil and soy sauce.  Quickly realizing that I didn't have any sesame seeds, I decided I would dredge the ahi in a miso paste sauce (white miso paste, soy sauce, and a touch of sirracha).  Some of this mixture was added to the greens.  After dredging, the fish got covered in panko bread crumbs and then seared.  Couple minutes a side and my ahi was perfectly rare.  

Add some sliced avocado, fresh cilantro and some rice, this meal was not only healthy, but very delicious.  The miso dredging on the ahi provided a great base in flavor, didn't even need the dipping sauce!

Hawaii Edition - 2

The nice meal.  Center cut pork chops. A huge can of macadamia nuts. Fresh Pineapple. Green beans. Rum. 


The idea was macadamia crusted pork chops.  Then it built from there.
First, laboriously crushing enough macadamias to cover 8 pork chops.  To coat the pork, I made a butter with paprika, chili oil, vanilla extract and salt.  The chops were dredged in the butter, then coated with a generous helping of macadamia nuts which were also tossed with some fresh ginger.  Roasted for 30 min at 350* (note, lower the temp and roast for 40 min). 
Now, for the salsa. Fresh pineapple, jalepeno, cilantro, limes, a little salt, cane sugar, and chili oil.  This was blended and left in the fridge to cool.


Once the chops were out, I got inspired and decided they needed a little warm glaze on top to contrast the coolness of the salsa underneath.  So, i deglazed the roasting pan with Mount Gay rum, vanilla extract, and some butter and sugar.  Tasty.


To complete the meal ginger scented rice, and some green beans tossed in the glazing pan. A perfect paring.  Add red wine, great friends, and the Hawaiian breeze and you get nothing happier.

Hawaii Edition - 1

Kellan's Kitchen recently got a chance to relocate to the Aloha state. With knives packed and ambitions high, I was set out to use many of the wonderful tropical flavors Hawaii has to offer.  We had an incredible house, right on the ocean, complete with a pool & a killer kitchen.  Dinners were lively and lengthy given that we were all sitting around a big round table.  Truly how I like to eat!

Upon arrival, I was so anxious I couldn't contain myself.  I was so stoked to visit the grocery store and see if I could land some fresh fish & seafood.  Sadly, I forgot that due to being an Island state, produce and meat were extremely expensive.  So, improvisation happened. 


The first night shrimp was the main ingredient. So to accompany, I picked up some local portugese sausage, a staple in Hawaiian cuisine, some sweet Ewa onions, coconut milk, cilantro, and limes.  I deided I was going to make shrimp 2 ways with some flavored rice.  The first one, almost a taste of the south, was shrimp cooked with the portugese sausage, and sweet onions. The 2nd was coconut shrimp with cilantro and lime.  

Meal turned out fabulous. The coconut shrimp was the winner of the night.  A little tweak and this recipe is a definite repeat in the summer.

Farmers Market, Kitchen Dinner

I am very lucky to have great friends who allow me the use of their beautiful kitchen, as well as taking a wonderful adventure to the farmers market.  The meal inspired by the first signs of summer, started to build around fresh greens, beautiful raspberries, and squash blossoms.  
While prepping & cooking, I made a suggestion that we just eat off the kitchen island, rather than move into the formal dining room.  This suggestion was met with lots of nodding and more refills on champagne. 
My new favorite dish, the Shrimp Spring rolls, started off the meal with a bang. Then moved to scallop & asparagus risotto topped with fresh basil, lemon zest and a drop of truffle oil. 

Then next course was a new one. In the squash blossoms, I stuffed a mixture of ricotta, goat cheese, lemon zest, and fresh italian parsley.  These were then dipped in a very light beer batter and deep fried. I tasted one of the blossoms once it had cooled and realized it definitely needed a sauce.

So, I took some fresh raspberries, white balsamic vinegar, and some agave nectar, and macerated the mixture until it became a sauce.  It paired nicely with the stuffed flower. Id say a new keeper. 

The last course, though we probably didn't need it, was a piece of skirt steak marinating in what I am calling a Florentine style chimichurri. The traditional steak sauce took on an Italian flavor by substituting fresh basil for the mint, and white balsamic for the red wine vinegar.  Also added was the juice of a lemon.  This turned out fabulous.  Succulent, juicy, and tangy. Perfect over a salad or on a toasted ciabatta.  Also good eaten with your fingers because you are too impatient to grab a fork. 

All in all this meal was fabulous. Everyone smiling, laughing, drinking, and dancing around the kitchen island.  However, there was one small food related injury.  As the steak was resting, glasses were getting refilled, and relaxation was happening, a full glass of champagne made its way in to Jake's hand.  Let's just say for the sake of this short story he had a few, and was feeling the effects of the good food and alcohol.  As I was slicing the meat for presentation I heard a sudden break in the conversation, and a "Holy shit!" I turned, and saw Jake running to the bathroom with his hands over his mouth.  I looked down and saw a shattered champagne flute.  It took a few seconds to register.  Jake had aggressively taken a sip of champagne and slammed it into his teeth, shattering the glass, cutting his nose, and lodging a few shards of glass in his teeth.  10 min, 1 yard of floss, and one embarrassing band-aid later, Jake emerged unscathed by the events.  We handed him a coffee mug for his beverage and then continued to laugh until we hurt.  Sorry Jake, had to tell it.

Easter Blackout

Easter dinner; nice collaborative meal, complete with an extension on the table and lots of wine. With assistance from Ali, Jerry, and Amanda on the main dishes, this was an easy meal to plan.  Except for losing power an hour before people showed up.  My dish was an old Tuscan recipe that required an oven. Amanda's potatoes required an oven.  Ali's asparagus required some light to prep. It felt like a Top Chef challenge, and I had fun with it.  

Luckily, my chicken was prepped before dark and all that was left was to cook it. The recipe is one from the cooking school in Siena which I was fortunate enough to have taken a few classes.  A traditional Tuscan dish, usually made with turkey, is stuffing the breasts with garlic, butter, sage and rosemary.  Then wrapping it up in butchers twine and roasting it with some white wine.  My version used chicken which was then wrapped in bacon, and tied.  Now, with out an oven this got a bit tricky.  So, i found some deep metal baking dishes, and cranked up the BBQ.  My two pans were directly on the grill, with Amanda's pyrex dish on the bun warmers. Ali was in the kitchen with lanterns and flashlights chopping and frying.  It was an awesome team effort. Below is a picture of the chicken, with the aid of a flashlight.

Candles lit, dishes completed, all without major disaster.  Luckily I had some battery powered speakers, the meal was saved (except for those east coast baseball fans pining over the opening day game). 

Happy Easter! What an awesome meal. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup - finally

This post comes about a year late, but it isn't every so often I make my version of Chicken Tortilla Soup.  The hardest part about this recipe is the base of the soup.  The stock is made from a previous meal involving Mexican style chicken.  The stars aligned, and time was on my side, thus making an incredible base for this soup.  I could never remember my recipe for this off the top of my head, so every time I made it I had to rummage through old emails to see who I emailed the recipe too and what exactly I put in the soup.  
With out further adieu...

Soup Base (Made at least a day ahead of time):
3 half chicken breasts (bone in), dredged
Yellow onion, quartered
1/2 bunch of cilantro
1 Jalapeno quartered
1 Bottle of Budweiser
Celery
Carrots
Salt
Lawreys Seasoning
Chili Powder
Chili Flakes
Cumin
Old Bay
1 Bay leaf
2 cloves of garlic
Water


This simmered for about 3 hours (or 4 weeks of Tecmo Bowl)

Strained and saved.


Now, for the soup. 
Start with 2 breasts of chicken, dredged and browned in vegetable oil & garlic. Once browned, add in saved stock.
In separate pan, jullianed white corn tortilla strips are crisped in oil, with 2 small leeks, and 1/2 of a white onion.  Once wilted, add in 1 can of diced tomatoes.  This is added to the chicken & stock. Along with 1 jalapeno, seeded & diced, and a hand full of cilantro. Depending on how much stock, some additional chicken stock should be added for consistency. This then simmers for about an hour until the chicken is able to be shredded easily.  Once shredded, add chicken back into the pot.  


Toppings:
Tortilla strips
Diced tomato
Diced avocado
Cheddar cheese
Cilantro


Served with a simple quesadilla.

This recipe finally has a home!