Monday, August 25, 2008

tomato season

I just realized just having a blog is almost like having another part time job ..:)) Monday..is easy day for me...going to work late and coming back earlier..mondays have to catch up with some office work..as well also like to experiment a little with new creations.. 
 I was always curious about those eggs sous vide ( pouched in its on shell in a low temperature water bath)for a long period of time until custard like texture inside it's reached on TV...trtied couple times at home with no success, but last monday have tried it at work in my " COOK and HOLD " unit...and guess what...it was success.... since we are curing our own pancetta in a house, can not wait to do one of those fancy carbonara combos, some time when weather outside starts to chill a little bit...
...but now is tomato...peach season...end of summer ...going to try to do some thing nice and interesting with them...in another hand waht does great tomato needs besides good olive oil , basil , corse see salt and pepper...ah maybe aged balsamic...since we are pulling our own mozzarella in a house , and I had succes with a Poly-OO brand and not Local Michelli's...have this interesting idea...only thing i need to do is good Riccota cheese , which can be some times a challenge. Since we are already maiking everything in a house , starting with our own artisan sour dough breads...and finishing mustard and ketcups, and pickles...to make my own riccota would be not really practical. I need to find some really good , sweet, drie, milky , lactic tasty ricotta for my project. In Italy they have this cheese called Burrata...is like creamy Mozzarella Ball stuffed inside with Sraccella...since this cheese is verry expensive and have only three day shelf life...it would be not very smart to put it on a menu...what i want to do is take my own mozzarella and stuff it with sweet ricotta and soak it in a cream to give more rich taste...I will try that today...it would be a killer for tomato season...

Thursday, August 21, 2008

just in case if some body want o expirance french bistro do not want to go out here wjhats going to be cookin tomorow at LPSC couple of my recipes....

Menu: Warm Grilled Asparagus and Mushroom Salad with Goat Cheese and Lavender Dressing, Tapenade Crusted Grilled Salmon with a Lentil Vinaigrette, Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Parisienne Gnocchi, Provencal Vegetables and Mustard Fruits, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream "Sundae" Profiteroles.

Warm Grilled Asparagus and Roasted Mushroom Salad with Goat cheese and Lavender Dressing
serves 6

2 Bunches asparagus
4oz Fresh goat cheese
8 oz Mushrooms Crimeni, button or your choice
1 tsp dried porcini ground into a powder
½ tsp sweet curry powder
Dressing:
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ cup tarragon or white whine vinegar
1tbsp mayonnaise or pasteurize egg yolk
1tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp lavender plus more for sprinkling
1 tbsp honey
2 cups olive oil
sal and pepper

Discard stem of asparagus, or peel the ands if you have really thick asparagus. Blanch the asparagus for about 2 minutes into a boiling water, do not over boil and shock them into a ice water.
For mushrooms. Toss mushrooms in to a couple tbsp olive oil in a large mixing bowl. season with salt, curry powder and porcini powder. Roast in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes, chill . Mushroom can be prepared like that couple days ahead.
To serve, arrange couple asparagus and mushroom on a plate drizzle with dressing and top it with goat cheese.
For dressing. In a blender or food processor add all the ingredients but the olive oil and lavender. With a mashine running add olive oil slowly, when dressing is nice and thick finish with lavender.









Tapanade Crusted Salmon with lentils vinaigrette

serves 6

6 5-6 oz salmon fillet
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 egg yolk
Crust:
¼ cup chopped black olives
¼ cup panko bread crumbs
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp chopped fresh herbs, such basil, oregano, thyme ..etc
1 anchovy fillet
2 tbsp olive oil

For lentils vinaigrette:
1 cup green lentils
1 cup red whine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped shallot
¼ cup noily prat or other vermout
1/2 cup dried cherries, cranberries, raisins or currants
½ cup pecants or walnuts, toasted
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups baby spinach, frisse or arugula leaves
For tappanade toping. Add all crust ingredients to a food processor and process until course mixture forms. In a small bowl mix egg yolk e with Dijon and brush top of the salmon. Carefully apply topping and bake in a 375 degrree oven for about 10-12 minutes or until is cooked through. Serve with lentils vinaigrette.
For lentils.In a heavy saucepan cover lentils with water by 2 inches and simmer until just tender but not falling apart, about 15 minutes. Drain lentils well in a sieve. Rinse lentils under cold running water to stop cooking and drain well.
In saucepan heat 2 tablespoons oil and cook shallot, stirring, until golden brown. Stir in vermout, dried fruit, honey, and vinegar and simmer, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced by about half, about 10 minutes. Take off the heat and whisk oil in a slow stream until emulsified. Season vinaigrette with salt and pepper.
Add half of vinaigrette to lentils and toss well. In another bowl toss spinach or arugula. Serve Salmon over the lentils and top with arugula or spinach.









Grilled pork tenderloin with parisiene gnocci provencal vegetables and mustard fruits

Serves 6
2 pork tenderloins silver skinn cleaned
2 tbsp herbs de provance
1 ground tbsp fennel seeds
salt and pepper
for Parsiene gnocchi :
1 cup water
1/2 stick unsalted butter (2 ounces)
1 cup AP flour
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg and cinnamon
To finish the dish
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted r
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded basil
Garden vegetables zucchini , squash tomatoes, eggplant cut into a small dice
1 cup chopped tomato
1 cup chicken stock
½ cup chopped shallots
2 tbsp minced garlic
Rubb pork tenderloin with salt, pepper, herbs de provance and fennel. Let it stand room tempertature for abput ½ hour. Preheat oven to 275 degrees and cook pork for abut 1 hour or until 135-140 degrees internal temperature reaches. Remove from the pan and sear wellon apreaheated grill to mark the outside. Let it rest, slice, servewith mustard fruits.

For Gnocchi; Bring the water and butter to a boil in saucepan. Remove the pan from the heat, and add the flour all at once, mixing it in quickly with a sturdy wooden spoon. Return the pan to low heat, and keep stirring; the mixture will form a solid mass forms
Transfer the dough to the bowl of a food processor, and process for 4 to 5 seconds. Add the eggs, salt, 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese cinnamon and nutmeg, and process for 15 to 20 seconds, until very smooth.. Heat water in a large saucepan to approximately 180 degrees. Fit a pastry bag with a 1-inch plain tip, and fill the bag with the gnocchi dough. Rest the tip on the edge of the saucepan, press the dough out, and cut it off at the tip by running the blade of a paring knife along the edge of the tip as the dough emerges, making small gnocchi, each approximately 1 1/2 inches long
Poach the gnocchi in the water for approximately 3 minutes. They will rise to the surface when they are cooked sufficiently. Using a slotted spoon, lift the gnocchi carefully from the water and drop them in a bowl of iced water to cool.
At serving time, drop the gnocchi into a saucepan containing about 3 inches of boiling
water. Cook at a very gentle boil for 6 to 8 minutes, depending on size. Meanwhile, stir the melted butter in a large sauté pan, sauté garlic and shallots, ad diced vegetables and cook for about 4-5minutes or until soft add ½ cup chicken stock gnocchi and cook for anoter couple minutes Off the heat finish with parmesan cheese, basil and extra butter if you wish..

Mustard Fruits

makes about 3 cups

2 cups chopped granny smith apples
1 cup chopped apricots
1cup peeled and chopped fresh firm pears
1 cup sugar
1 cup white wine plus ¼ cup ffor pureeing.
1cup white whine vinegar
4 tbsp whole mustard seeds
1 Tablespoons dry mustard powder

Place fruit in saucepan and barely cover sugar, wine and vinegar. Simmer very gently for 10 minutes. Add all but t2 tbsp mustard seeds and mustard powder and continue just barely simmering for another 10 minutes. The fruit should hold it's shape but be supple and moist. puree remaining tbsp of mustards seeds with ¼ cup of wine in a blende rand at the end add to a mixture..

Saturday, August 9, 2008

long couple weeks

Thank god it's Saturday. Today it would be my 16th day working straight 12-14 hours a day... welcome to the restaurant world !!!
Got these beautiful fresh Californian figs, came up with nice daily special...love combination goat cheese or blue cheese with nice ripe fruit. Going to serving tonight and the next couple days, Fresh fig, babe watercress and goat cheese fritters's apitizer, dressed with my beet and red wine vinaigrette,( the one I'm using for salmon) should be a killer combo...sweet...warm ..crispy ... I feel like some day I should post winning recipes. Oh ! and my cooking class coming up this month at LPSC on august 22. French bistro class...food I like to eat on my day's off ! Check it out http://www.lpscinc.com/classes.asp
V

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Just came back this morning from ohio food terminal, what a pleasure for a passionate cook go your self and pick nicest quality shiny looking produce and fruit.... first ohio heirloom tomatoes started to pop op, fresh potatoes, peaches, plums...etc. I'm so sick and tired these sale people coming to me and promising that they can do everything....the thing is you can not trust anybody except your self..last week i ve got theese peaches the ones i way overpayd and , today they all went in a garbage because after only two days they all turned brown. As a cook i hate throuw food in a garbage, because i have respeckt for it, but not for people who's seling shit..

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Second month in Bratenahl, completed third week in business , getting good revues about the food, but we still have lots of problems to fix before we start to get more people from outside of Bratenahl village. We are not ready yet, but I'm happy to see that every day we progressing.
Best selling dishes are house mozzarella and peach salad....what a combo...and beef short ribs cooked for 24 hours in a low temp..