Tag Archives: Top Chef

Dec 12 2012
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Eat - Cooking

Shepherd’s Poutine – Top Chef Night

Last week, on Top Chef, one of the teams completely failed in their challenge to do justice to cheese curds. Seriously?!? In fact, all the dishes were judged to be so bad last week that there was no winner. So, we’re decided to ditch making one of those recipes home cook-friendly and just show the Top Chefs how to do cheese curds the right way. Quite awhile ago, K had the idea to fuse shepherd’s pie and poutine and shepherd’s poutine was born. BOOM!

If you’re unfamiliar with poutine, it’s a traditional dish from Quebec made with french fries topped with brown gravy and cheese curds to equal 100 percent awesome. Just gather your ingredients and get started.

Recipe serves two

Fries
Two russet potatoes
2 cups (approximately) canola oil (or another high heat oil)

Cut your potatoes into fries. Cut yours thinner than we cut ours — ours were too thick. If you want to cut down on the work, you could technically use frozen fries. Just be very careful when frying as little bits of ice can cause oil explosions (please don’t ask if I know this information from experience…).

potatoes for french friesHeat your oil in a large pot to about 320 degrees F. Fry the potatoes in small batches (don’t crowd) until golden brown and drain on paper towels or a wire rack. When your first round of frying is done, turn up the heat on the oil to no more than 370 degrees F. Fry the potatoes in batches again until even golden-er, browner and crispy. When you’re done with the fries, turn the oil back down to about 320 degrees F to get it ready to fry some cheese curds.

fresh french fries

Meat and Gravy

1/2 lb ground lamb
1 TB Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 pint mushrooms, chopped
1 tsp fresh rosemary

1/2 carrot, small dice
1/2 celery stalk, small dice
1/4 onion, small dice
1/4 red pepper, small dice
1 TB garlic, minced
1/4 cup red wine
1 1/4 cup broth (vegetable, chicken or beef broth)
1.5 TB cornstarch
hot water
extra virgin olive oil

Brown the ground lamb in a bit of olive oil. In a separate saute pan, brown the mushrooms and add the fresh rosemary during the last minute of cooking. Add the mushrooms to the ground lamb and set aside.

baby bella mushrooms and ground lambHeat a bit of olive oil in a sauce pan. Add diced carrot, celery, onion and red pepper and saute until tender. Once tender, add garlic and lightly brown. Add the red wine and cook until it’s nearly evaporated then add the broth. Let cook for 7-10 minutes. Put the cornstarch in a small bowl and add just enough water to make the mixture liquid (aka a slurry).

mise en place

Add the cornstarch mixture to the gravy and stir until thickened. Add lamb and mushrooms to the gravy mixture. Add a splash more Worcestershire sauce and some balsamic vinegar for depth, to taste. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cheese curds
1 bag of cheese curds (you won’t use the whole bag)

1/4 cup + 1 TB rice flour
1/4 cup cold, lighter Pilsner-style beer (we used Kölsch)
1 egg (cold)
1 tsp smoked paprika

Pile the french fries on an oven-safe bowl and spoon a generous amount of meat and gravy mixture over the top. Dot the top with cheese curds. Put the entire bowl under the broiler until cheese is melted, bubbly and just starting to brown.

Mix the rice flour, cold beer, the cold egg and the paprika (it’s important everything is cold). Dip a few of the cheese curds into the batter and fry in the oil (temperature about 320 degrees F) until browned and crispy. Drain briefly on a paper towel and salt.

Put the fried cheese curds on top of the poutine and serve.

poutineTender french fries bursting with fresh potato taste, a tasty meat and veg mixture, melty cheese and smoky fried cheese on top. Now that’s how you celebrate a cheese curd, Top Chef!!

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Nov 28 2012
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Eat - Cooking

Rib-Eye and Morels with Tomato Fennel Reduction – Top Chef Night

Top Chef is back and we finally got back into the swing of things to cook up some Top Chef food after having Top Chefs cook for us in New York City. Did I use Top Chef enough in that last sentence?

We managed to catch the first episode of season 10 before we left town and some of the new contestants are doozies. They do, however, seem supremely talented and for one of their first challenges they were to make Wolfgang Puck the perfect omelet. I love omelets. K hates eggs. This posed a challenge in deciding what to make. So we compromised — instead of Eliza Gavin’s New York strip and morel mushroom omelet with fennel tomato reduction (original recipe here) we made a grass-fed rib-eye steak with morels and tomato fennel reduction.

BONUS: The good people at BlueStar sent us an amazing cookware set and we gave it our first go for this dish. We don’t review products very often, but when we do you can be sure it’s something we’d use “in real life” and endorse wholeheartedly and boy do we endorse this cookware! These pots and pans are the best thing to happen to our kitchen since… well, probably ever. BlueStar also makes professional-quality cooking ranges for the home and, my stars — if we had one of their ranges in our kitchen we might never, ever move. They are that nice, seriously.

So, we took the new sauce pan and saute pan out for a test drive and fired up the oven for some steak.

rib eye morels tomato fennelServes two

Steak
1 large grass-fed rib-eye steak
4-6 dried morel mushrooms (or fresh, if they’re in season)
1 TB extra virgin olive oil
2 TB water
2 TB red wine
1 TB dried thyme

Reduction
1 ripe tomato, medium
1/2 shallot, diced
1/2 cup fennel, diced
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
5 TB butter, cold
1 TB chives, chopped
1 TB fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp fennel fronds, chopped

Side
1/2 bunch fresh asparagus
1/4 cup Emmental cheese, course grated

Get your steak started — sprinkle generously with coarse sea salt and pepper and let sit for 10 minutes so the salt “melts” in. Heat oven to 300 F. If using dried morels, just cover them in boiling water.

Heat about 1 TB extra virgin olive oil over med-high heat. We used our BlueStar 10″ fry/saute pan for this. Whatever you use, make sure the pan is oven-safe (no plastic, etc). When oil is very hot, sear steak briefly on both sides (about 2 minutes per side).

When the steak is nicely browned on both sides, put the pan in the oven for approximately 20 minutes (or until 120 degrees on a meat thermometer).

While the steak is cooking, make the reduction.

Peel the tomato by cutting an X in the bottom. Pop the tomato into boiling water for 2 minutes then put immediately into ice water. When tomato is cool, the skin should peel right off. Remove the seeds and tomato goop and dice the tomato flesh.

Put white wine vinegar, sugar and 1/2 cup water in a sauce pan over medium heat. As soon as sugar disappears, add diced fennel and shallot. Reduce the liquid almost completely. Whisk in the butter until it’s incorporated and the sauce is creamy. Add tomato, chives, parsley, fennel fronds and salt (to taste). Keep the sauce warm.

Boil water in a small saucepan and add asparagus until it’s just cooked through (3-5 minutes, depending on thickness of asparagus). Drain water, lightly salt and keep warm.

When steak is cooked through, let it rest for 5-7 minutes before cutting. While steak is resting, drain the morels and gently squeeze out the extra water with a paper towel. Reheat the pan juices in the steak pan over medium heat (add a little extra olive oil, if needed). Gently scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan and add the morels and thyme. When morels are tender, add red wine and 2 TB water. Reduce until sauce is almost gone.

Slice the steak, spoon the morels and red wine sauce over steak. Spoon the reduction over the asparagus and sprinkle with cheese. Spoon reduction around the plate then eat!

 

This new BlueStar cookware kicks ass! The pots and pans are weighty, cook evenly and clean easily. We only wish they made meat thermometers — ours broke and the steak overcooked, but it was still tender and delicious. The sauce was buttery and light with sweet tomato and slightly anise flavor of fennel. The smooth, rich mushroom sauce warmly enrobed the steak to great effect. And the fresh asparagus with a little creamy cheese bite was very complementary. We couldn’t ever imagine this full meal being part of an omelet and we’re sure glad it wasn’t.

Who’s your favorite to win this season of Top Chef? So far, our money is on Elizabeth (from South Africa) or Kristen (the former model) or John (the guy who keeps reminding us about all his restaurants).

 

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Oct 31 2012
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Eat - Cooking, Life

Ricotta Gnudi with Oxtail Sauce

Sooooooo our one in a million trip to New York City was postponed by a one in a million super storm known as “Sandy.” We are now scheduled to visit NYC and dine at Top Chef Kitchen in two weeks and will be there during our two-year wedding anniversary! What are the odds?!? For the record, I would now like to stop saying, “What are the odds?” in reference to this trip because I do not want to be saying, “What are the odds that the plane crashed and we survived?!”

Because Top Chef Kitchen is a pop-up restaurant and the chefs change weekly, it appears that we’ll now be enjoying dinner prepared by chefs Antonia Lofaso and Fabio Viviani. In honor of that, we celebrated Top Chef Night this week with a dish from Antonia’s past — ricotta gnudi with oxtail sauce (original recipe here). Here’s how we made it into a crock pot (aka slow cooker) and home cook-friendly dinner.

Serves two *very* generously.

Get yourself an oxtail. We generally get ours from a vendor at our local farmers market. They’re super cheap because they’re not exactly considered a sought after piece of meat. I can’t imagine why this is.

Oxtail
1 oxtail
2 medium carrots
2 celery stalks
1 small onion
2 TB garlic
1 TB thyme (dried or two sprigs fresh)
1 TB rosemary (dried or 1 sprig fresh)
2 sprigs fresh Italian parsley
1 TB tomato paste
1 cup red wine (we used Cabernet Sauvignon)
1/4 cup brandy or cognac
1 large container chicken stock*
2 TB veal demi glace*

* If you don’t have veal demi glace on hand, substitute the chicken stock for beef stock and skip the demi glace.

Rough chop the carrots, celery and onion. Saute in a large pan with extra virgin olive oil over med-high heat until slightly softened and just browned. Add garlic and saute until just browned. Put in crock pot (slow cooker). Deglaze hot pan with the red wine and brandy (or cognac). Let simmer for about two minutes just to burn out the alcohol and the sharp taste. Add to the crock pot. Add herbs, tomato paste and veal demi glace (if using) to crock pot. Heat a bit more olive oil and put oxtail in the pan, saute until browned on both sides.

oxtail Put the oxtail in the crock pot and cover with stock. If not entirely covered by stock, add water until covered and add 1/2 tsp salt. Set crock pot (slow cooker) to low and simmer for 6-8 hours.

Basil pesto
1 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 tsp lemon juice
salt, to taste

Blend basil, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and salt until smooth. Set aside. Wash and dry a small handful of arugula, toss with a bit of the pesto. Reserve remaining pesto.

Gremolata
1/4 cup toasted bread crumbs (we used panko)
1 TB fresh Italian parsley
1/2 tsp lemon zest

Use a food processor to pulse bread crumbs, parsley and lemon zest. Set aside.

gremolata

 

Before making the gnudi, use a ladle to remove 1 cup of the cooking liquid from the crock pot. Strain into a small sauce pan and reduce by half and let thicken (you may need to skim some fat/oil from the top). Remove oxtail to large plate and separate fat, collagen and bones from the meat. When the sauce has reduced, add the meat to the sauce and keep warm.

Ricotta gnudi
1 cup whole milk ricotta
1 egg
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
approximately 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg to taste

ricotta mixture

Mix ricotta, egg, nutmeg, salt, pepper and Parmesan in a medium/large bowl. Add flour, little by little, until mixture holds together and isn’t sticky. Remember to add the flour! Failure to do this will lead to a pot full of ricotta bits (this was our first unfortunate batch). Bring a pot of water to a boil and drop large spoonfuls of the dumpling mixture into the water. When the dumplings float on the surface, let them boil for 30 seconds longer, remove them with a slotted spoon and drain briefly on a paper towel.

Place the gnudi dumplings on a plate and spoon the oxtail and sauce over. Drizzle everything with pesto, place the arugula on top and dust the entire plate with gremolata. Boom — dinner.

Ricotta gnudi with oxtail sauceWe love oxtail. We LOVE it, have I mentioned that? It’s rich and tender and melt-in-your-mouth wonderful. The ricotta gnudi were fluffy and cheesy and the fresh basil and tart hits of lemon offset the full-bodied flavors.

Would we make this again? Yes. The ricotta gnudi is a great alternative to the traditional pasta or potatoes and we’ll never turn down the opportunity to have supple oxtail.

Make oxtail. You won’t regret it.

 

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Oct 24 2012
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Drink, Eat - Cooking, Eat - Restaurants, Life

Squab with Soy Maple Stuffing, Mushrooms and Roasted Grapes

So…here’s a fun thing: We just won a contest from Open Table. They asked people to tweet something along the lines of “I want to win dinner in NYC at Top Chef Kitchen.” So I did. And I won. What are the odds of two people who’ve cooked their way through three years of Top Chef, have a blog about cooking Top Chef food and who honeymooned in New York City winning this contest?!? I’d say a kajillion to one. But there you go, we won and I’m so excited to go to New York City next week I’m like a little kid the night before Christmas. Top Chef Kitchen is a temporary pop-up restaurant in Tribeca and different Top Chef contestants cook each week. The evening we’re there, we’ll be treated with four courses (plus wine pairings) by Tiffani Faison and Jennifer Carroll. In eager anticipation of our whirlwind adventure next week, we did an adaptation of Tiffani’s soy maple-stuffing with quail, mushrooms and grapes (original recipe here). Here’s our version: Squab sous vide with soy maple stuffing, mushrooms and roasted grapes.

First things first, spatchcock. Not only is it fun to say, it was pretty necessary to make sure the squab cooked evenly, fit in the sous vide bag and was easier to eat. Spatchcock simply means to cut out the breastbone and backbone so the bird lays (relatively) flat. Use a super sharp kitchen scissors to cut out the breast bone. Then carefully and under the skin, cut out the backbone.

Our spatchcocked squab:

Heat the sous vide machine to 148 degrees F. Load the squab into a sous vide bag and add the marinade.

Squab marinade
3 TB maple syrup
3 TB soy sauce
1 TB sesame oil
1 tsp Aleppo pepper (or crushed dried chili pepper)

Seal up the bag and pop everything into the sous vide machine to cook for 6-8 hours.

Gather your ingredients for the rest of your meal.

Stuffing
2 Ciabatta rolls (or 1/2 loaf Ciabatta bread)
2 TB maple syrup
2 TB soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 eggs
1/8 tsp Aleppo pepper flakes (or chili flakes) (more or less depending on your spice preference)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 TB toasted pine nuts
2 TB fresh Italian parsley

1/2 pint baby bella mushrooms
2 TB extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp thyme (fresh or dried)
2 cups seedless grapes (red or green is fine as long as they’re seedless)

Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.

To make the stuffing: Tear up and toast the bread until it’s golden on the outside, but still tender inside. Beat the eggs and mix into all the wet ingredients and spice. Put bread into a baking dish and pour the wet ingredients over. Mix until the bread is well coated (it’s easiest to use your hands for this). Sprinkle the pine nuts and parsley over the top.

To roast the grapes: Thoroughly wash the grapes and place individually (not in clusters) on a baking sheet.

Bake the stuffing and roast the grapes at the same time. If the stuffing is getting too brown, turn the heat down to 350.

Remove the squab from the sous vide machine and take out of the bag. Your home will smell like Thanksgiving at this point.

Place squab on a foil-lined baking sheet and put under the broiler until dark brown and crispy (8-10 minutes, but keep an eye on it — cooking time depends on the broiler).

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan and slice the mushrooms. Saute the mushrooms with the thyme until browned.

When everything is ready, place the stuffing on your plate and scatter the mushrooms over it. Lay the squab over the stuffing and add the roasted grapes to the side of the plate. Salt and pepper everything to taste.

squab with soy maple stuffing, mushrooms and roasted grapes

Would we make this again? Mmm, ummmm, mmmmm…sorry, I was too busy enjoying this fabulous meal. The grapes were soft and sweet, the stuffing crunchy with layers of flavor. The crispy skin of the squab concealed tender and rich dark meat. It was like super fancy Thanksgiving dinner. So if we happen to have a few squab hanging around in the freezer, yes … we would make this again.

Stay tuned for a report on Top Chef Kitchen and New York City fun!

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Oct 03 2012
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Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs and Potato Fennel Gratin – Top Chef Masters Night

Well, another season of Top Chef Masters has passed and we think the judges made the right decision with chef Chris Cosentino. His winning dishes truly reflected his style — offal all the way. Which meant we were unlikely to make them into our dinner. K is all about the offal. I’ll taste just about anything, but I’m not too keen on making an entire meal out of heart and liver — too much for me. So we decided to go with a runner-up dish that looked delicious: Red wine-braised short ribs with potato fennel gratin (original recipe here) from chef Kerry Heffernan. And so much for cooking together! This is a make-ahead dish all the way. Here’s how to do it up for your own dinner.

Serves two.

The night before your dinner, marinate your short ribs.

2 lbs beef short ribs (bone-in)

Marinade
1 large container beef broth (preferably organic)
1/2 bottle dry red wine (doesn’t have to be super great, but never cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink!)
1 TB dried thyme
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley
1 dried bay leaf
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp minced garlic

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and marinate short ribs, covered, overnight.

The next day, your short ribs will have absorbed lots of wonderful flavor and will look like this:

Prepare your crock pot fixins.

Braising ingredients
1/2 cup celery, cut into large chunks
1/2 cup carrots, cut into large  chunks
1 small onion, cut into large chunks
1 TB extra virgin olive oil

Heat oil in a large pan. Saute carrots and celery until softened and browned. Add to crock pot (aka slow cooker).

 

Add a bit more oil to the hot pan and saute onions until softened and browned. Add to crock pot. Add a bit more oil to the hot pan and sear the short ribs on all sides. While the short ribs are searing, pour the marinade into the crock pot. When the ribs are browned on all sides (just 1-2 minutes per side), add to crock pot. If cooking for more than 4 hours, set slow cooker (crock pot) on low. If cooking for 4 hours or fewer, set slow cooker to high.

Potato Fennel Gratin
1 small russet potato, peeled
1 large fennel bulb
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 TB garlic, minced
1 TB thyme (fresh or dried)

Thinly slice fennel bulb on a mandolin (or carefully and as thinly as possible with a knife). Thinly slice potato on the mandolin (or carefully and as thinly as possible with a knife). Coat a small baking dish with cooking spray (or butter, if you’re feeling indulgent). Place a layer of potatoes on the bottom of the baking dish. Add a pinch of salt, some of the garlic and some of the thyme, add a layer of fennel, add 1/3 of the cream. Repeat (potato, garlic/herbs, fennel, cream) until you run out of potatoes/fennel, ending with a layer of potatoes on top (and a sprinkle of thyme and a splash of cream). NOTE: Gratin can be made to this point a few hours before serving and refrigerated. If gratin has absorbed a lot of the cream, add another splash right before cooking.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook gratin, uncovered, for 35-40 minutes or until top is browned and crispy.

When ready to serve, remove short ribs from slow cooker (crock pot), add to plate and sprinkle with chopped herbs (optional). Cut gratin into squares, salt to taste and serve.

The verdict? This was good, not great. The short ribs had a nice, mellow wine flavor and were fall apart tender. But the gratin was underwhelming. The fennel was too subtle and the cream was pretty blah — not worth the calories. We both agreed that if we’re to make gratin again, we’d do a creamy cheese sauce instead of just straight cream.

Would we make this again? We’ve braised short ribs before and we’ll certainly do it again. Red wine is a great and flavorful braising liquid and the crock pot (slow cooker) is a fantastic vehicle for this. But when it comes to gratin, we’ll go the cheesy route in the future and/or just do straight fennel.

Cheers to another successful season of Top Chef Masters! Stay tuned for some new and exciting cooking adventures!

 

 

 

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Sep 12 2012
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Eat - Cooking

Parmesan-Crusted Beef Filet with Wilted Greens – Top Chef Masters Night

If you’re following this season of Top Chef Masters, this is for you (if you’re not, feel free to skip to the food): SPOILER ALERT :: We’re so sad Chef Takashi was sent home! Justice was not served when such a talented chef was bounced while the Taco Bell chef stayed. Boo. That said, we’ve been surprised by the quiet sneak-up by chef Kerry Heffernan. He wasn’t originally on our radar, but he’s been rockin’ it lately. Case in point? His Quickfire winning dish of Parmesan-crusted beef filet with wilted greens (click here for original recipe). Can you go wrong with meat crusted in crispy cheese?!? Here’s how we made the recipe home cook-friendly to find out.

Serves two.

 

Meat
1 lb. grass-fed/pasture-raised beef filet (two pieces  per person)
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
2 TB high heat oil (like canola or safflower)

Wilted greens
2 cups bitter greens (arugula, baby kale, etc.)
2-3 pieces bacon
1 medium Yukon gold potato
2 tsp red wine vinegar (or sherry vinegar)

Sauces
2 TB balsamic vinegar
2 TB butter
2 tsp sage (we used dried)

If you have one large beef filet, cut it into four pieces. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Dip one side only in flour, dip the floured side into the beaten egg then dip the same side into the Parmesan cheese.

 

Cut the potato into a small dice. Cook the bacon in a saute pan. When crispy, remove and drain on paper towel. Keep the bacon fat on med-high heat and cook the potatoes until crisp. Season with a bit of salt and pepper, to taste. When potatoes are browned, remove and drain on paper towel. Keep the bacon fat on med-high heat and wilt the greens.

Heat the canola oil (or other high heat oil) in a large saute pan. When the oil is hot (medium heat so not to overcook), place the beef in, cheese side down. Cook until golden brown (about three to five minutes, depending on thickness of meat).

While cheese is browning, make the balsamic syrup. Place balsamic vinegar in a small saute pan and reduce until it thickens into a syrup. WATCH IT CLOSELY! It can overcook quickly and become sticky, gummy balsamic “candy” (not good candy).

When the cheese has browned (like this):

Flip the meat over to the non-crusted side and cook for two to three additional minutes.

Turn the heat back on the wilted greens, add the red wine vinegar and stir. Add the potatoes and bacon and toss together thoroughly. Melt butter in a small saucepan and when bubbling lightly, add the sage and stir.

To serve, place the wilted greens and potatoes on a plate, stack the Parmesan-crusted beef on top. Drizzle the balsamic syrup around the plate, drizzle the sage butter on top of the meat.

 

So, can you go wrong with meat covered in crispy cheese? No, no you cannot go wrong with this. The beef was perfectly cooked and the crust unctuous, salty and crunchy. The sweet, herby butter was nicely rich and the balsamic syrup cut through all the decadence. The greens were bitter, but it was offset by the deep saltiness of the bacon and the tart vinegar. Lovely. Note: We reduced the beef stock and also drizzled that on the plate, but it turned out to be completely unnecessary.

Would we make this again? Yes. In fact, we have decided to crust all future beef filets in cheese because we enjoyed this so much.

Soundtrack: Everything from Flight of the Conchords to Journey.

 

 

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Aug 30 2012
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Agedashi Tofu and Eggplant with Chicken, Ginger and Mushrooms – Top Chef Masters Night

We both believe chef Takashi Yagahashi is a dark horse contender to win this season of Top Chef Masters. We had so many amazing-looking dishes from which to choose, but ultimately it was our need for speed that led us to make our version of chef Takashi’s agedashi tofu and eggplant with chicken, ginger and mushrooms (click here for original recipe). We were making Top Chef Masters Night food and then going dancing at DJ Jake Rudh’s Transmission tribute to John Hughes. So it was time to get fryin’!

Serves two.

Sauce

2 TB extra virgin olive oil
2 TB soy sauce
2 TB mirin
2 TB sesame oil
1 TB sugar
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tsp chili oil
1 tsp lime ponzu sauce (or lime juice + soy sauce)
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1/4 tsp fish sauce

Proteins

1 small eggplant
1/2 lb ground chicken (or pork)
1/2 package extra firm tofu
2 tsp dried ginger (or 1 TB fresh minced ginger)
1 small package Enoki mushrooms
1/4 cup shiitake mushrooms (fresh or dried)
2 green onions
1 TB minced garlic
Olive oil, as needed
Approximately 1 cup vegetable oil (or other high heat oil such as safflower oil)
Corn starch

1/2 cup Jasmine rice

Slice your eggplant and tofu about 1/2-inch thick. Gently press the tofu between paper towels to remove some of the moisture. Dredge in corn starch.

Make your sauce by mixing all sauce ingredients together. Taste as you go along to make sure there’s a good balance of sweet, sour, salty and depth.

Cook your jasmine rice (we use a rice cooker, but you can easily cook it on the stove top as well).

Begin heating your vegetable (or canola or safflower) oil to about 350 degrees. While oil is heating, put a bit of extra virgin olive oil into a saute pan and start cooking your ground chicken (or pork). When about 75 percent cooked through add ginger and garlic. Stir and cook for about one minute. Add mushrooms and onion. Stir and cook for about one minute. Add half of the sauce to the saute pan. Cook for about two more minutes to let sauce thicken. Turn off heat, but leave in pan.

When your oil is up to temperature, drop the tofu in. Don’t put too many pieces in at a time or they’ll be overcrowded and the oil temperature will drop.

When it’s golden brown, remove tofu with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Salt the hot tofu. Working quickly, fry the eggplant. When it’s golden brown, remove tofu with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Salt the hot eggplant. During the last batch of eggplant, put the meat back on low heat to make sure it’s warm.

Put your rice down on a plate, pile on some of the meat and mushroom mixture, stack the hot tofu and eggplant alongside. Serve the remaining sauce in a bowl on the side so nothing gets soggy.

Hoo-ah, this hit the spot! Anchored by the fragrant rice, the gingery ground chicken and funky mushrooms were mild and lovely. The stars were, of course, the melt-in-your-mouth fried eggplant and tender fried tofu. When dipped into the sweet/salty/sour sauce, we just wanted to keep eating and eating! I’d highly recommend eating the eggplant first because it’s best piping hot.

Would we make this again? Absolutely. It was actually a pretty quick dinner with lots of protein and just a little starch. We don’t fry food very often, but this is a great and easy treat.

Soundtrack: K’s ode to John Hughes as a warm up to our big dance night (fueled by agedashi tofu and eggplant, of course).

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Aug 22 2012
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Eat - Cooking

Rabbit, Sweet Potatoes and Agrodolce — Top Chef Masters Night

Rabbit is a depressingly delicious thing to cook because it looks like … well, a rabbit without feet or a head. It also (strangely) looks a bit like chicken. We’ve both eaten (and enjoyed) rabbit before, but have never cooked it. So when chefs Chris Cosentino and Patricia Yeo fired up their wild outdoor cooking station for this rabbit dish, we knew it was time. Here is the original recipe for his rabbit and its bits, acorn squash and agrodolce (click here for recipe). Here is how we made it home cook-friendly (and took out the squash because Fun Fact: I HATE squash. Beets too.)

Serves two generously.

Braised rabbit

Rabbit legs/thighs (four pieces in all)
Chicken stock
1 shallot

Grilled rabbit

Rabbit loins (two)
Rabbit bits (liver, kidneys, heart)
2 pieces of bacon

Potatoes

1 medium sweet potato
rosemary (fresh or dried)
thyme (fresh or dried)
extra virgin olive oil

Agrodolce

1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 shallot, diced

I found a whole rabbit (already cut into pieces) at the local upscale grocery (Byerly’s), but they are generally also available at specialty meat/butcher shops. Early in the day, I took it out of its packaging, rinsed it, dried it with paper towels and separated the legs from the back/loin and bits.

I refrigerated the back/loin and bits and seared the legs in a hot pan with a bit of olive oil.

When the legs are browned, pop them in the crock pot and cover them with chicken stock (or generously salted water). Slice a shallot in half and put it in the liquid. Cover the whole thing and let it simmer for several hours.

Later, thinly slice the sweet potatoes, toss in extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with rosemary, thyme and salt. Put into a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes until brown.

Make the agrodolce sauce by caramelizing the diced shallot in a little olive oil. Add the other ingredients and simmer until the liquid reduces by about half — about 10 minutes. If it starts to get too thick, turn off the heat before it turns into candy!

De-bone the back/loin and sprinkle with pepper. Wrap the meat in bacon. Heat a grill pan (or grill — we didn’t use our grill because the bacon fat causes flare ups) and sear the bacon-wrapped meat until cooked through.

Meanwhile, add a little extra virgin olive oil to a saute pan. Generously salt and pepper the rabbit bits and sear them in the saute pan 3-5 minutes. Be careful not to over cook or they’ll get too tough.

Put your warm sauce on the plate, take the legs from the braising (crock pot) liquid and put onto the sauce, put the grilled loin/back next to the legs, add the bit and sweet potatoes and dinner is served.

This was truly a gourmet meal. The legs/thighs were so tender they fell apart, the back/loin was meaty and bacon-y flavorful. We were worried the raspberries in the sauce would be too sweet, but agrodolce literally means sweet and sour and the sauce was exactly that. It didn’t overwhelm the delicate meat, but instead complemented every bite. The potatoes were crisp and chewy and had a lovely blend of herbs.

Would we make this again? Yes! We don’t always make rabbit, but when we do … we’ll use this preparation again.

Soundtrack: Everything from the Evening Rig to the Wombats.

 

 

 

 

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Aug 15 2012
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Eat - Cooking

Chicken Fried Rice with Orange Guava Sauce – Top Chef Masters Night

Pardon me for being a food snob, but I feel that if Chef Lorena Garcia is going to compete on Top Chef Masters, she should NOT have a line of menu items at Taco Bell. The words “Top Chef Masters” and “Taco Bell” just don’t fit together. Taco Bell is about dehydrated not-quite food that gives you food poisoning (I can personally and painfully attest to this) and, as of the last episode at least, Garcia didn’t use fake soy and oat binders and fillers and rehydrate them to make a winning meal. Guess she only does that for Taco Bell.

While she might have sold out and be a shill for YUM! Brands (if you have to YELL it and include an exclamation point, odds are it’s NOT YUMMY!), we were interested in her take on fried rice with a twist. So we used *real* food to make her chicken fried rice with orange guava sauce (original recipe here). Here’s how we made it home cook-friendly.

Recipe serves two very generously.

Gather your ingredients.

For the rice:

1 chicken breast
1 orange
1 lime
1 egg (optional)
1 cup jasmine rice
1/4 cup shiitake mushrooms
2 TB garlic, minced
1/4 cup red peppers, diced
1/4 cup yellow (or green) peppers, diced
1/4 cup asparagus, chopped into large pieces
2 TB dried cranberries, chopped

Cilantro for garnish

For the sauce:

1/8 cup scallions, chopped
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup orange juice (from the orange in the rice ingredients)
1/8 cup guava juice (can be found in the juice aisles of most grocery stores)
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced (or finely grated)
1 tsp honey
1 tsp sesame oil

Using rice cooker or stove top, cook jasmine rice.

If your chicken has skin and bones, remove them so you’ve got a skinless, boneless chicken breast. Tip: Skin+bones=very inexpensive organic chicken breast.
Using a fine grater, grate orange and lime zest over the chicken and pat into both sides. Season with salt.

Using a wok pan or a large saute pan with deep sides, add a bit of oil and scramble your egg (if using). Remove egg, add a bit more oil. Let the oil get hot and saute the chicken breast until cooked through. Remove and let cool. When chicken has cooled, chop into bite-sized pieces.

Combine all ingredients for the sauce and mix thoroughly. Set aside.

Chop mushrooms, asparagus, peppers and dried cranberries. Blanch asparagus in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Drain.

With all your ingredients prepped, you’re ready to rock. Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in the wok/pan and add veggies. Saute until crisp tender and just starting to brown.

Add chicken and saute for 1 minute. Add cooked rice and mix thoroughly. Let saute for about 4 minutes.


Mix in scrambled egg, if you’re using it. Add sauce and mix thoroughly. Let heat through for about 2 minutes, mixing the entire time.

Garnish with chopped cilantro. Season with salt to taste.

With about 20 minutes of prep and five minutes of cooking, you’ve got dinner.

Despite my early reservations about the cranberries and guava being too sweet and Lorena Garcia selling out, this was really, really good. Lots of color and fresh vegetables, nice bite from the garlic and ginger, a little bit of funk from the mushrooms and just the all around tastiness that comes with a good pile of fried rice. A little sweet, a little savory, a little crisp, a little sticky — hits all the right notes.

Will we make this again? Yes. In fact we already have plans to make it again because we’ve got guava juice to use up (and because it’s that good)!

Soundtrack: K’s tribute to MTV’s 120 Minutes.

Are you keeping up with this season’s Top Chef Masters? Who’s team are you on?

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Aug 08 2012
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Eat - Cooking

Sesame-Coated Salmon with Egg Noodle Cake – Top Chef Masters Night

Chef Mark Gaier got hammered for making this dish on Top Chef Masters, but we fixed his problem … we actually cooked the salmon instead of serving it raw on the inside. I love a good piece of salmon and I really love crispy Chinese noodle cakes. There was a restaurant in Minneapolis called Yummy that made *the best* crispy noodle cakes and I am still very, very sad it closed.  Those noodle cakes haunt my dreams. So imagine my delight when Chef Gaier made all of my favorites for the Top Chef Masters wedding episode! Here’s how we took his sesame-coated salmon with egg noodle cake (original recipe here) and made it home cook-friendly.

Serves two.

First, gather your ingredients:

Note: You see more (and different) ingredients in the photo than you see on the ingredient list. There’s a reason for this, read on.

Ingredients: 

Two salmon filets (or one large filet cut in half)
1 TB sesame seeds
1 TB black sesame seeds
1 TB salt
Extra virgin olive oil, as needed

1 package dried Chinese egg noodles
1/2 can bamboo shoots, cut into match sticks
1/2 bunch green onions, sliced
1/2 tsp Sriracha (more or less to taste)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp dried ginger

1/4 cup Ponzu sauce (we like Kikkoman Ponzu with lime) (If you don’t have ponzu, you can combine three parts soy sauce to one part lemon or lime juice)
1 tsp Sesame oil

Chopped cilantro, for garnish

Heat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Boil water and cook Chinese egg noodles until *just* done (about 5 minutes). Whisk eggs together, combine all ingredients for noodles, toss everything into noodles using your hands.

 

Spread noodle mixture evenly onto sheet pan (we lined ours with nonstick foil) and put into oven until crisp and golden (about 20 minutes).

While noodle cake is cooking, sprinkle with salt and oil. Coat evenly with sesame seeds and press onto salmon with your hands.

 

Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes until just cooked through (be careful not to overcook).

When salmon and noodle cake are in the oven, mix ponzu and sesame oil and stir thoroughly. When the salmon is cooked through and the noodle cake is golden brown, remove from oven and cut the noodle cake into squares. Drizzle the sauce over the noodle cake and the salmon and you’re ready to eat.

 

This was … good. As I was mixing the noodles with the other ingredients I was kind of wondering where the flavor was going to come from and the cake was nice and crispy, but kind of bland. The salmon was nicely cooked, but lacked a punch beyond the crisp sesame seeds. We actually made the sauce that accompanied the original recipe and when K tasted it he said it was, “Interesting.” I took a bite and was less diplomatic so he stepped up and saved the day with his quick Ponzu sauce. That’s where the bulk of the flavor for this dish came from and that’s a lot of pressure to put on sauce.

Would we make this again? Probably not. It was good, not great and our time in the kitchen is precious. We strive for great whenever we possibly can.

Soundtrack: The Traveling Tap mix K made for our ride on the awesome contraption.

 

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