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Kamis, 17 April 2014

Heading Back to San Francisco after Four Days in Foodie Heaven at the Food Wine Classic

Im flying back into SFO tonight after experiencing my first, and hopefully not last, Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. With so many famous cooks all crammed into this beautiful, but very small town, the best way to describe this event would be to call it a "celebrity chef petting zoo."

By the way, I highly doubt any of the participating chefs would mind being objectified in the petting zoo analogy. In fact, Im hoping they start using the phrase, and I get credit for coining it!

The chefs that come to Aspen for the Food & Wine Classic know the drill. Sure theyre there to cook, lecture, and party with their fellow foodies, but more so they are there to be photographed with fans, asked questions, patted on the back, and told repeatedly, "youre my favorite chef!"

The food and wine were amazing, but what I will remember most about this event are all the interesting exchanges between the various participants. Ming Tsai and Jacque Pepin had a classic Smackdown, which I just blogged about on my American Food site on About.

There were Top Chef winners everywhere, and they certainly enjoyed chatting and joking with each other, as well as rubbing elbows with the cult-like fans of the show. The old guard – Jacque, Ming, Bobby, and Mario (you dont need the last names do you?), all appeared in multiple venues around the event to large adoring throngs.

I have a bunch of articles lined up to appear on About.com, so Ill be sure to post links here when those go up. In the meantime, if you would like to see a few hundred photos I shot while there, I just created a photo album with Google Picasa. The shots you see here are some of my personal favorites.

I havent had time to write any captions yet, or remove bad and/or redundant photos, but they still may be fun to take a peak at to get a glimpse of my Food & Wine Classic experience.

I also shot a small amount of video footage with my very low resolution Flip Cam. The video you see here is a short excerpt from a very entertaining demo by Iron Chef Michael Symon called "For the Love of Pork." How was I going to miss that one?

The sound isn’t great, but you should be able to hear him relay a funny story of how Tom Colicchio help him with the subtleties of naming a dish. Enjoy, and stay tuned for more. And yes, I will be back in the kitchen soon!

Kamis, 06 Februari 2014

CLASSIC CHICKEN RICE BAKE

I think all cooks have their own version of this baked chicken and rice recipe. Some people use cream soups, some use broth, but they all call for baking chicken and rice together in the oven. This is our version (my favorite part is the rice). I usually put in tons more chicken than the recipe calls for, because it is a "freebie" way of making sandwich fixings (not to mention, chicken cooked this way has a wonderful flavor).
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4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons chicken bullion granules
1 cup raw long grain white rice
½ teaspoon black pepper
¾ teaspoon poultry seasoning (see note)
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped celery
16 ounce bag frozen peas and carrots
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Brown the chicken breasts in a couple tablespoons of butter then set them aside. In the same pan that you browned the chicken in, saute the onion and celery until tender, then stir in the raw rice (you stir in the rice so that it will get coated with butter and not stick together while baking). Once the rice has sauteed for a minute or so, add the soup, stock, chicken bullion and spices. Whisk until smooth. Pour this mixture into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish and stir to distribute the rice evenly. Set the browned chicken on top of the rice (push it down into the liquid a little) and top the whole casserole with frozen peas and carrots. Cover tightly and bake at 325F for 1½ hours (if the chicken breasts are large).

NOTE: I dont buy poultry seasoning because I use it so seldom and it goes to waste. Instead, I use equal parts of dry rosemary, rubbed sage leaf and thyme leaves and a pinch of marjoram. I grind these together then measure ¾ teaspoon.

Rabu, 08 Januari 2014

Veracruz Style Red Snapper – A New Take on a Very Old Classic

Fish “Veracruz” was the first “authentic” Mexican recipe I ever ate. I had it 30 years ago at the Casa Del Sol in Saranac Lake, NY, where I worked while enrolled in culinary school.

I remember trying and loving it, and being very surprised that “this” was actually Mexican food. Besides…olives on fish? That was some crazy stuff.

Up to that point, the only “Mexican” food I’d ever had was crispy cafeteria tacos made by completely non-Mexican lunch ladies. So, this kind of thing was very exciting for me. I’ve forgotten the exact recipe after all these years of adaptation, but that’s of little consequence as it’s the kind of dish you make a little different every time anyway.

I like red snapper for this, but any white, flaky fish will work. By the way, many Veracruz-style fish recipes call for pickled jalapenos, but I think there’s plenty of acidity in this from the lime and tomatoes, so I like the fresh pepper a little more.

If you don’t want to do this in individual portions like I did, you can certainly do it in a regular casserole dish, but you’ll probably need to give it a few extra minutes. Simply use the same fork-flaking doneness test as shown in the clip. Flakiness never lies.

This food wish goes out to all of you that asked for flavorful, foolproof fish recipes. I’m not sure why people get so scared to cook fish, but if you’re one of them, this is for you. Other than a few minutes of slicing, this couldn’t be easier. Serve simply with some chips, or over rice for a more substantial meal. Either way, I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 2 servings:

2 boneless red snapper filets, about 7 oz each

cayenne, salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 white onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon capers

1 tablespoon caper brine

1 large jalapeno, sliced, seeded

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1/3 cup sliced Castelvetrano green olives, or any green olive

2 tablespoon fresh chopped oregano

2 limes

*Bake at 425 degrees F. for 15-20 minutes

View the complete recipe

Kamis, 26 Desember 2013

Oh Fudge! Carnations Classic Chocolate Fudge

This video recipe for chocolate fudge is the first of two Ive been commissioned to do for Carnation Evaporated Milk.

Theyve hooked up with a select group of food bloggers to promote this classic American ingredient for the holidays.

I dont want to spoil the surprise for what the second video will be on (and I have no idea yet), but the choice for this first one was very easy. When I think of Carnation evaporated milk, I think of chocolate fudge.

There are hundreds of different recipes for chocolate fudge, most requiring a candy thermometer and a good bit of finesse to achieve that elusive rich, creamy-smooth texture. This recipe does not. As youll see in the video, this is boil, turn off, stir, chill, and cut.

The holidays are a time of celebration, but with the festivities comes the occasional need to "bring a dish." What better way to impress your hosts than with a plate of chocolate fudge? Remember, its not about how much effort you spent making something special for your friends and family, its all about how much effort they think you spent. Enjoy!

A Message from the Sponsor:

Its that time of year when we’re all looking for a little more inspiration in the kitchen. You’ll find plenty of that in this Holiday Recipe Guide from Carnation Evaporated Milk, sponsor of this post.

One delicious idea is to substitute Carnation Evaporated Milk for regular milk in your go to recipes. It makes all kinds of dishes richer and creamier.

Get your Holiday Recipe Guide as a downloadable PDF or by email.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups (4 ounces) miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional