Archive for October, 2012

Holy Mole: Poblano Y Negro

Wednesday, October 31st, 2012 No comments
IMG 0145 300x225 Holy Mole: Poblano Y Negro

Mole Tasting at Red Iguana

For an easy dinner any night of the week, stop at your favorite Mexican restaurant and pick up a quart of your favorite mole. On our outing to Park City this week, we stopped at Red Iguana 2 in Salt Lake City for lunch and purchased two quarts of mole to be used for a dinner during our stay. First, we enjoyed the mole tasting to make our selection. The offerings included:
Mole Amarillo
Mole Coloradito
Mole Poblano
Mole Verde
Mole Negro
Red Pipian
Mole de Almendras
It was a tough decision, but we settled on the Poblano and Negro. Dinner tonight was a breeze with the two moles already made and available. If you cannot find a restaurant that sells good mole by the quart, you can also purchase mole at the grocery store and follow the directions.
We are having dinner for six tonight. The remaining work was to prepare the meat, 4 skinless, boneless organic chicken breasts and a 1-1/2 pound pork loin. The breasts were cut into 1-1/2 cubes and sautéed in a small amount of vegetable oil until brown. We then covered the chicken with the mole Poblano and simmered for 40 minutes. The pork loin was trimmed and also cut into cubes, sautéed and simmered in the mole negro. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the mole before serving.
We prepared a side of Mexican rice, which is always made with a chopped onion. Stir fry the rice in a tablespoon of oil, making sure each grain is coated with oil and then adding chicken broth. We added some chopped green onions (because they were left over from our breakfast frittata.
The rest of the menu was an appetizer of Rajas (recipe coming soon), a salad of arugula, zucchini ribbons, red pepper and panela cheese. Dressing was olive oil (2 parts), lime juice (1 part) and Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. The final accompaniment was Jamaica, a tea made with dried hibiscus blossoms.

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Holiday Hors D’Oeuvres from Jenn Phillips, Gourmet Chef and Caterer

Friday, October 19th, 2012 No comments
Charcuterie.jpg e1350684622610 225x300 Holiday Hors DOeuvres from Jenn Phillips, Gourmet Chef and Caterer

Charcuterie with Holiday Accents

Las Damas of Fairbanks today hosted a holiday cooking demonstration at the home of Jenn Phillips, Gourmet Chef and Caterer. Jenn provided us with a few great holiday hors d’oeuvre recipes that are simple and lovely as we try to balance demands of time and need for perfection for holiday entertaining. She created a beautiful Charcuterie Table, which provided a great place for people to gather and sample the special cured meats, which she also surrounded with cheeses, veggies, tapenades and assorted breads and crackers. This is a simple appetizer offering, because there is not much prep involved, but the beauty of the table is what made this so special. She used assorted fall flowers, vases of lavender, alstroemeria and pumpkins to create a lovely table upon which to feature the appetizer.

Another interesting appetizer for those who try to escape the many carbs that are usually offered before the meal was the Chicken Meatball Lettuce Wraps.

Chicken meatball lettuce wraps e1350686283630 225x300 Holiday Hors DOeuvres from Jenn Phillips, Gourmet Chef and Caterer

Chicken Meatball Lettuce Wraps

 

 

Chicken Meatball Lettuce Wraps
1 lb. ground chicken
3 tablespoons Asian fish oil
3 small shallots
3 garlic cloves
1 stalk lemon grass, tender white inner bulb only
3 tablespoons cilantro
1 tablespoon mint, plus 1/3 cup for serving
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 head Boston or red leaf lettuce, separated
1 small seedless cucumber, thinly sliced
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced

 

 

Soy Chili Sauce
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon red chili sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon hot mustard
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Position a rack in top third of oven.
Put chicken in medium bowl. Add fish sauce, salt, pepper and cornstarch. In food processor, pulse shallots, garlic, lemon grass, cilantro and mint until finely chopped. Add to chicken mixture. Combine thoroughly. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. With moist hands, roll chicken mixture into 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll meatballs in sugar evenly coating them and place onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, until they are lightly browned and cooked through. Let cook for 3 minutes.

Meanwhile arrange the lettuce, cucumber, cilantro and mint on a platter. Transfer the meatballs to the platter and serve with the soy chili sauce.

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Another St. Regis Recipe To Try at Home: Caramelized Cauliflower and Pistachio Pesto

Sunday, October 14th, 2012 1 comment
Cauliflower with Pistachio Pesto 300x225 Another St. Regis Recipe To Try at Home:  Caramelized Cauliflower and Pistachio Pesto

Cauliflower with Pistachio Pesto

 

Another of my favorite menu offerings at the J&G Grill was the cauliflower that we ordered for one of our starters.  My publishing partners and I  all love cauliflower and voted this the most incredible of the veggies we tasted.

Caramelized Cauliflower and Pistachio Pesto

I actually came back from Utah and immediately prepared this for Gary.  In the process, I converted the measures from grams and simplified this a bit, but it was still delicious.

For the Pesto  (as I modified it)
5 oz. toasted pistachios
2 cups tightly packed fresh basil
1/2 finely chopped Jalapeño (couldn’t find Green Thai chili)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 oz. micro-planed Parmesan

Blanch and shock basil, squeeze out all excess water in clean kitchen towel.  In the food processor combine basil, olive oil, and salt and puree until completely smooth.  Add remaining ingredients and puree until coarse.

To Serve:
1/2 cauliflower cut into 1-2″ nuggets
salt/black pepper as desired
2 ounces toasted pistachios
Extra Virgin Olive oil
Chopped basil or micro basil

Heat pan with olive oil and sauté cauliflower until very well caramelized and tender.  add pistachios and cook until toasty, then season with salt and pepper (they also called for marjoram leaves, which I omitted).  Smooth some pesto into the bottom of a hot side bowl.  Fill with caramelized cauliflower and finish with the micro basil.

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A Culinary Thrill at the J&G Grill at Deer Valley

Thursday, October 4th, 2012 1 comment
Chef de Cuisine e1349381928556 225x300 A Culinary Thrill at the J&G Grill at Deer Valley

Chef de Cuisine, Shane Baird at J&G Grill at Deer Valley, Park City, UT

Last week as we had a Crosswalk Press retreat in Park City, UT, we had the opportunity to have one of our working dinners at the J&G Grill at Deer Valley. J&G is a signature name for this famous chef Jean-George Vongerichten restaurant. While JG was not personally there to greet us, we were welcomed by both the Chef de Cuisine, Shane Baird, a fiery young (29) chef with international experience that belies his youth, and Regis Perret, General Manager, with a convenient name for his current position at the St. Regis. The cuisine is considered to be French-American with Asian influence. After a delightful dinner, mixing things up by ordering the vegetables as our starters, followed by Hawaiian Butterfish with Malaysian Chili Sauce and Thai Basil and Bryna’s selection of the “Neighborhood Menu” (their version of a fixed price menu), we were treated to wonderful narratives about chefs’ weekly calls with Jean-Georges to discuss menu ideas and to pool the wisdom of the entire team. We then moved on to the full kitchen tour and were astounded by the size of the kitchen (behind the scenes) and the scale of the operation to support the culinary needs of this exclusive hotel and restaurant. (Photos below)

 

Shane was also kind enough to share several of his recipes with us and I will share a couple of our favorites here. The Butterfish was delightful, but the dish can be substituted with halibut if that’s easier to find in your part of the country.  The Caramelized Cauliflower and Pistachio Pesto will be shared in my next post.

 

Hawaiian Butterfish Malaysian Chili Sauce Thai Basil 300x225 A Culinary Thrill at the J&G Grill at Deer Valley

Hawaiian Butterfish, Malaysian Chili Sauce, Thai Basil

Butterfish with Malaysian Chili Sauce, Thai Basil
Sauce
2 oz. Garlic, minced
3 oz. Ginger, minced
4 oz. Scallion whites, sliced thin
4 oz. Scallion greens, sliced thin
1 jar Guilin chili sauce
4 oz. Light soy
3 oz. Rice vinegar
3 oz. Shaoxing
4 oz. Sugar

Fry garlic in non-stick pan in grapeseed oil until golden, then strain through chinoise and put in a rondeau.  Repeat with ginger.  In the rondeau, sweat scallion whiles without oil over medium heat until completely soft.  Add remaining ingredients except scallion greens and cook, stirring until loose syrup consistency.  Place scallion greens in hotel pan and pour sauce over them, stirring thoroughly to wilt.

Serve
Butterfish fillet – skin off
Celery, brunoise
Thai basil oil
Inner leaves of celery

Season Butterfish gently with salt and white pepper.  Sauté in grapeseed oil over medium heat until golden and just cooked.  Blot well on paper towel.  Heat sauce in a small pot until just hot, being careful not to reduce.  Heat celery with a water and salt.  Place a pool of the heated sauce in the center of serving plate and encircle with basil oil.  Place Butterfish on top.  Top fish with a mound of the celery, garnish with celery leaf and drizzle basil oil over.

The Kitchen Tour

 

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