Chicken Fried Gourmet

Cocoa Crusted Flat Iron Steak, french fry "onion rings",rosemary olive oil pudding with other stuff.....

This is what we had for Father's Day last weekend. I had the butcher at Kroger slice a Flat Iron steak thinly and then I combined it with Activa, rolled it up then marinated it with a mixture of cocoa, worchestire, garlic, olive oil and a few other things. I made french fry "onion rings" a rosemary olive oil pudding inspired by the Alinea cookbook and a reduced beef stock red wine jus. For an appetizer I made the Mango Soy Bonito dish from the Alinea cookbook as well. Since it calls for a piece of equipment that is obviously out of my range for purchasing - an Anti-Griddle- I improvised and used a sheet pan on top of a piece of dry ice. With the leftover dry ice I just threw it in the pool....cool...smoke :) The frozen mango puree is topped with soy sauce pudding and shaved/dried bonito ( I skipped the sesame oil). This was a really interesting flavor combination and one I would like to experiment with other flavors. For dessert we had fresh watermelon topped with tomato sorbet, reduced balsamic vinegar and a basil sweet syrup.

............in the midst of gardening

............in the midst of gardening, planted some new things this year at the new house : golden beets, kholrabi, corn salad, arugula, lemon thyme, sorrel, purple basil, several diffrent types of heirloom tomatoes, pimento peppers, ancho peppers, two types of radishes, garlic and micro-greens.

 

we'll see how this year goes........

Rosemary grilled beef tenderloin with mushroom ravioli & popcorn sunchoke puree

Just playing around in the kitchen with some new flavors/techniques......

Piquillo Pork Tenderloin with Manchego Cheese Potatoes and Piquillo sauce

So this will be a quick post. This is something I did a few weeks ago - a piquillo pepper marinated pork tenderloin, grilled then sliced over a manchego cheese potato au gratin and served over a piquillo pepper and honey sauce. I have been on the hunt for authentic jarred piquillo peppers for some time and have had no luck finding them in the different upscale grocery stores in Dallas. I finally came across them in Whole Foods in Baton Rouge when we were there for an LSU game back in November. Here you go, enjoy......

         

Porcini Crusted Chicken with Blueberries and Polenta ala Marc Vetri

I know what you are thinking...blueberries seriously ??? But really this works on all sorts of levels and isn't this why you come here, to see al the culinary wacko stuff I try to pull off?

This is an adaptation of a recipe from Marc Vetri's new cookbookthat pairs blueberries with Porcini Crusted Halibut. Chef Vetri has a restaurant in Philadelphia that I would love to try if I ever make it that way. Philly seems to be giving NYC and Chicago some play for a progressive foodie town from what I am seeing.

As I am not the biggest fan of fish I substituted chicken breast. The basics of this recipe are to finely grind dried porcini mushrooms use this powder to crust your protein and sear/cook in a non stick skillet (to keep the porcini powder from burning). The sauce is prepared by simmering blueberries in sugar, water and some champagne vinegar (I used white wine vinegar). I felt like the end product of the sauce needed something so I added some freshly ground black pepper as well as some fresh blueberries. The recipe does not call for polenta but hey, polenta goes with everything as does it's southern cousin, grits. I added some Romano cheese to the polenta as well.

                

This turned out really well. The blueberries cut into the earthiness of the mushroom crusted chicken as well as the creaminess of the polenta, a very nice balance. Marc's cookbook also has a recipe for a free form lasagna with blueberries and porcini that I will need to try in the future after tasting this combination.

If you want a different type of Italian cookbook then look no further than Marc Vetri.

Alinea Cookbook - Blackberry Tobacco Cream Smoked Salt

I pretty much read thru the Alinea Cookbook on a daily basis. Not only are the recipes creative and challenging but they also stimulate you to think of food in different ways. Yesterday I decided to try the Blackberry and Tobacco cream recipe in the book. It is meant to be a bridge between a savory entree course and a dessert. Its one of the more straight forward and simpler recipes in the book. Some other food bloggers out there are attempting to recreate ALL the recipes from the book and Martin at Alineaphile seems to be going pretty strong on it.

                  

This was an interesting "one bite" dish, nobody could really put their finger on that extra taste till I told them it was the tobacco infused cream and then there was that "aha" moment. The recipe called for bee balm but I was unable to find any ( hello this is Shreveport after all ) so it did say you could substitute mint instead. After sampling quality controla few I found the mint to be pretty overpowering so I used only a tiny little sliver on each. The recipe also called for Danish smoked salt but I had some Alderwood Smoked Sea Salt that I had gotten from the salt bar at Central Market in Dallas (best place in the world for food for this area). The smoked salt was pretty strong as well so I mixed it with some Maldon Sea Salt to tone it down a little. This is a recipe that I will need to play around with and use as a bridge for one of my dinners soon.

                  

Dinner party with friends - Pork belly Scallops Chorizo Miso Caramel cheese smoked chocolate

So does the title of this post have you wondering how in the heck all these things go together? Well they do and they don't, let me explain.

The Monday before Christmas we had a dinner party with some friends. We have been planning this for it seems like months trying to coordinate everyone's schedules and a location. I have been thinking about the menu for some time as well while constantly tweaking the recipes, coming up with new ideas and dishes and generally second guessing myself the whole time.

There were a few dishes that either did not make it on the final menu because of time constraints, amount of prep or just the fact that they did not work during execution.

Back in October my wife bought me the Alinea cookbook by Grant Achatz. This is no ordinary cookbook by any means, it is also not for everybody. It can be a source of inspiration and frustration ( in a good way) at the same time. I find myself reading it on a daily basis as it stimulates my food way of thinking and leads to new ideas. I have tried a few of the easier recipes in the book with mixed success. One of the great thing as about this cookbook project is that Grant Achatz and his partner in Alinea, Nick Kokonas, have added a companion website, Alinea-Mosaic, where some recipes are posted as well as a forum where you can share ideas, ask the chefs questions as well as interact with others who are enjoying this "not just a cookbook".

The way I cook is to constantly try to find new ideas, new ways of cooking something,and to always try to push myself to make restaurant caliber/quality meals in my home kitchen. I consider myself a pretty ambitious home cook and am actually working on a few projects that should push me into the professional cooking arena but not tied down to the usual culinary career.

For this dinner I decided to use some stand by recipes with a little tweaking, some new ones that were safe and some that were just out of my league at the moment.

The menu as planned follows:

Miso Caramel Apples coated with crushed Wasabi Peas ( this idea I got from Chef Jonathan MacDonald formerly of SnackBar in Philadelphia and currently at Pub & Kitchen)

"Cheese Crackers" ala Alinea.... oh so good but messy this time.

Chorizo crusted Scallops with Granny Smith Apples, Micro Cilantro and Manchego Cheese broth - this is one where I have seen components of this dish go together and I combined it with flavors I thought would work well as well as new techniques ( broth). The chorizo is frozen then shaved on a microplane over the scallop once cooked.

Peanut Butter Bourbon Pork Belly with Sweet Potato,Bourbon Gel, Peanuts, Micro Arugula & Balsamic.

Pineapple Bacon "bite" ala Alinea - this dish did not work out for multiple reasons, the biggest is that I do not have the right equipment :( I tried to improvise and make a pineapple "caviar" and serve it over the bacon powder but I used to much sodium alginate and it was too "gelly" if that makes sense. You can go HERE to see someone else who had better success with it. I am going to keep trying on this one.

For dessert I made a chocolate ganache with gelatin that just did not set up right. It was difficult to cut and tended to spread too easy. It was tasty just not what I expected,maybe more gelatin next time. I served it it with smoked oreo crumble which is basically just the chocolate wafers scraped clean of the creme and cold smoked then put through a food processor. I have made this before but this time they cooked a little too long and had a burnt smell to them. I served this with a  blackberry cabernet sauce that was thickened with Ultra Tex3 to give it some body but without taking away from the natural taste of the blackberry. I sprinkled some Maldon Sea Salt on top of the chocolate. This dish did not photograph well at all,maybe next time.

I had a few more ideas for this dinner but time and resources did just not permit them to happen. I was okay with this meal but not impressed. I tend to be my own worst critic and everyone else loved the meal, or so they said ;)

Overall I felt good about the dinner to a point and had a great time with our friends who we have not seen in awhile, I am btw especially proud of the Chorizo & Scallop dish. There are some tweaks to be made to how I did things and I will definitely try and refine some of the dishes that just did not work out. I don't know..... what do you think of it, any questions ?

On a side note there are two people ( that I am aware of) that are cooking their way through the Alinea book. Much too ambitious for myself but I commend them for it - Martin at Alineaphile and Carol at Alinea at Home.

                   

Sneak peek - Pork Belly - Peanut Butter - Arugula - Peanuts - Sweet Potato - Bourbon Gel

                    

Thanksgiving and Pumpkin "Pie" Marshmallows

This year for Thanksgiving we decided to keep it simple and low key. Our dinner consisted of Ann and I and our three children. We stuck to the basics with small twists and had a somewhat simple holiday meal. We had  a simple Roast Turkey,three mushroom & wild rice stuffing,balsamic potato salad, fresh cranberry and orange sauce, canned cranberry sauce, turkey "extras" gravy and finally green beans with almonds. The only thing I really went out on a limb was with the Pumpkin "pie" dish.

I made a pumpkin pie marshmallow using THIS recipe and paired it with graham cracker crumbs sauteed in butter and sugar with a whipped cream sauce. I tried toasting/melting the marshmallows but it looked more like a creme brulee topping. All in all, it was a good meal and even though we did not have a lot of family present we had the ones that mattered most.

                           

Dinner party with my wife's department

My wife, Ann, hosted a company party for her department at our house about a week ago. I was “volunteered” to cook so I set about to make up a cocktail style menu with my usual twist on ingredients and techniques.

I wanted to make food that was out of the ordinary that would make people stop and think. I was limited to a certain budget and actually came in well under the approved amount. The dinner was set for a Sunday night ( why, I do not know) so we used pretty much the whole weekend to get our house together and prep all the ingredients.

For the longest time we have been meaning to get curtains for our living room and dining room, this seemed like as good a time as any. We (Ann really) also recovered our dining room chairs. The whole weekend seemed like a blur and Sunday evening came quick. There were so many things that we wanted to do to the house that were left undone. We had a whole bag of new towels and bath rags sitting in our office that never made it to the bathroom .

The evening was a success as far as I know, everyone liked the food and seemed to have a good time. As much as I hate all the hours Ann puts in,the company she works for has a good group of people working there and I always have a good time at their functions(especially when I am not catering them ;)

The menu is as follows :

Rosemary and Black Pepper Popcorn (not pictured)

Miso Caramel Apples with Wasabi Peas

Pickled Grapes

Meatball Sliders with micro arugula

Yellow Tomato Gazpacho with pappadums crostini

Caesar Salad with Asiago Cheese

Nutella "sponge" with sea salt and parmesan cheese

Parmesan Ice Cream with Nutella Powder - I was scared that this dish would be looked at sceptically, it was a hit:)

Passion Fruit Marshmallow

Crawfish Cheesecake