Special edition time!
(Yes I know we just talked Sunday, but I wanted to share this one with you because it moved me because its so good!)
Today was productive and after the day was done I was feeling like preparing a little Asian inspired dinner to go with a stack of comic books. That's my thing, nice quiet house, some good food and a stack of comic books.
I had recently seen Nigella Lawson prepare a Salmon dish on her show on the Cooking Channel, and that was on my mind most of the day and was the goal for dinner tonight. First things first, I had to run up to A-1 Comics and get my fix of books, then on the way home I stopped by Whole Foods and got a pound of Salmon, and some fresh Spinach, everything else I needed I already had at the house. So the menu for tonight's reading is Seared Salmon over Soy and Wasabi infused rice, along with some sauteed Spinach. It's simple and quick to prepare, and fantastic for those times you just want to cool out and have some alone time to get some reading in or music or something creative.
The rice I was using called for preparation as you would Sushi rice, so first I needed to prepare the vinegar mixture. A vinegar mixture is used in Sushi rice to add a little flavor to it. I took a 1/4 cup of Sushi vinegar, 2 Teaspoons of Salt, and 1/4 cup of Sugar. Put them all in a small pot and heat so it's hot, and dissolves but not so it's boiling. After its hot set it aside or leave it on very low on the stove. Before cooking the rice, I make sure to rinse it first. What I do is put it in a glass bowl and fill the bowl full of cold water, the water will be cloudy at first, then rinse the rise, drain and repeat. Continue to do this until the water is clear, then let it sit for 15 minutes. From there, since i was using 2 cups of rice, I put 2 cups of water in a pot and added the rice and brought to a boil, once its boiling reduce heat and let it cook until the water is gone. Once its finished put the rice in a wide glass bowl and fan it out so it cools. As it cools, pour the vinegar mixture over it and continue to fan it out so it cools evenly.
Right before preparing the rice I took my Salmon in let it marinade a Teriyaki marinade I picked up from Whole Foods, let it soak for about 20-30 minutes. At that point pull out a wide pan or griddle if you have one, put a couple of drops of Olive Oil on it, and get it hot on medium-high heat and take your Salmon and lay it on the pan for about a minute, gets a nice sear on it. Then turn it over and give the other side a sear for a minute as well. From there place the Salmon on a cutting board and slice it into small strips and lay it over your rice. Then I prepared some Wasabi infused Soy Sauce and poured that over the Salmon and rice....yeah baby!
At that point I prepared my Spinach. Real simple, real quick, real tasty. Take a pan, heat it and add some Olive Oil to it, then add some finely chopped Garlic and let that cook until it releases its flavors. Then add your fresh Spinach and let that saute' slowly, stirring often, and as the Spinach gets tasty you will get that aromatic flavor in the air...yes! After about 5 minutes your Spinach will be done and ready to go!
Now the meal is complete. All I need is a big-ass mug of Iced Tea and my stack of comics and I'm set for the night! First on my stack of book..."Invincible" number 76.
And as a side note, my buddy Amir, the film director, stopped by to talk about details of the latest project and I told him he picked the right night because I was creating in the kitchen tonight! He had some of the Salmon over rice and the Spinach, and while he didn't make himself a TGP, he did hit up a second helping... And let me say publicly here and now, and this is for my girl Susan over at the Susan Can Cook blog, in January I'm planning another Seafood Skewer night, and baby you are on the guest list!
And with that, I take my leave and get my grub on and my reading in! Try this one, you will not be disappointed!
Marc (Big Sexy)
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Basking in the afterglow...
Happy Holidays Troops!
Recently I had the pleasure of having dinner at The Kitchen Restaurant, as a congratulations from my best friend Nicole, and I did promise that I would try a couple of things from their December menu. The evening was fantastic! I hadn't been there since July so it had been awhile since I had seen Chef De Cuisine Noah Zonca. And while other guests insisted on calling him "Chef Noah", not me. I had been there far too many times to fall into that trap. He's Noah, my buddy who happens to be an EXCELLENT Chef. Sometime during the night the conversation somehow got to my past brief stint as a Pro Wrestler. And when Noah was made aware of my ring name, he was like a puppy with a new toy. He told me that "You never should have let me hear that! That is your name from now on!" Nuts. Pretty soon people would stop by my table "Hi Sugar Bear!", or "Hey Sugar Bear, are you really a regular here?" It was all in fun though and Noah really is a good guy, so much so that he shared a couple of the recipes basics for a two of the courses that night. And as promised I did try them and I will share my results here.
The first thing I tried was their French Onion Soup. He made it sound easy, but in reality... The first thing I promised myself was that I would try and stay as close to the real thing as possible and would only deviate if absolutely necessary. So this morning Patty and I headed out to the Farmer's Market to collect the needed ingredients, first up I needed the onions. I needed some yellow onions, some Pearl onions, and some cippolinis. Not a problem. I also picked up some Swiss Gruyere over at Corti Brothers for the toasted topping. The recipe called for some Beef Stock, Duck Stock and Veal Stock. Beef was no problem. but locating some Duck and Veal stock was an issue. I had made my own Chicken stock in the past but wasn't quite ready to experiment withe making a duck and a veal stock. So I substituted with a Chicken stock instead. That was the only deviation from the recipe that I made.
So to get started I needed to carmelize my onions, and while that is a time intensive task it is one necessary to the soup. For the uninitiated, carmelizing onions is simple, Slice up the onions and then get a wide pan, heat that up on medium-high and put in a little olive oil, then place the onions in the pan and stir them so they are all coated and let simmer for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, sprinkle some salt on the onions and as they brown spread them around and let them all brown evenly, this will take 30 minutes or so. I can't stress that you must take your time, you don't want to fry them, just let them brown. Carmelizing onions is like spending time with a ladyfriend, you have to take your time and go nice and slow...
Once the onions are nice and brown, then add 1/4 cup of flour to the pan and then its time to add the liquor. 1/2 cup of Port. 1/2 cup of Madera, 1/4cup of Cognac. Once the alcohol cooks off, then add the stock and a 1/4 cup of whole grain mustard, stir often and after about 30 minutes or so it should have all integrated and thickened nicely. After its simmering take a piece of bread, I used wheat, and slice some of the Swiss Cheese and place the cheese on the bread and broil until melted and place the bread on the soup after its in a bowl and....there it is...French Onion Soup. With a HUGE assist from Noah at the Kitchen, this was all possible because of his help. The taste is exquisite, not quite the Kitchen, but really good. So good that I will be doing it again, and for guests. It was a lot of new flavors and took awhile, but the end result was definitely worth it!
The next task was the Lobster Mac & Cheese, the only instruction I got from Noah was Bechamel Sauce and the three cheeses involved, White Cheddar, Talleggio and Parmesean. From there I was on my own.
This time the journey began at Corti Brothers for the cheeses, all three were present and accounted for so that was not a problem. I chose not to add the Lobster because I wanted to get the basic down first before I tried to poach some Lobster. After picking up the proper pasta, Radiatore, I was ready to go. Once I got back to the "Big Sexy Kitchen" I began the bechamel sauce. For this I used 5 teaspoons of butter, melted slowly, in a wide pan, and as the butter is melting take another pot and add 4 cups of milk to it and get it hot, not boiling, but hot. At the same time I started to boil my pasta water. After the butter has melted stir in 4 tablespoons of flour and once that's all together, begin to add the milk one cup at a time, and whisk until its smooth, then bring to a boil and reduce heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes whisking it periodically. As the sauce is simmering, add your pasta to boiling salted water, and the pasta should be done right as the sauce is finished. Let the pasta continue to cook in the hot water but reduce the heat from boiling, and turn the sauce to low. then take 1/3 cup of each of your cheeses and add them to the sauce, and they will melt in seamlessly, use the whisk to further smooth out the sauce. Drain your pasta and add it to the sauce, season with salt and a touch of nutmeg and serve hot. This one was ridiculous! I will NEVER make Mac & Cheese any other way again! This is the one! I can't stress enough how delicious this is, and once I do it again and add the poached lobster to it...
What's next? Don't know yet, but it will be tasty...
Thanks for reading and as always all comments are welcome!
Marc Wiggins Esq. (That sounds so nice...)
Recently I had the pleasure of having dinner at The Kitchen Restaurant, as a congratulations from my best friend Nicole, and I did promise that I would try a couple of things from their December menu. The evening was fantastic! I hadn't been there since July so it had been awhile since I had seen Chef De Cuisine Noah Zonca. And while other guests insisted on calling him "Chef Noah", not me. I had been there far too many times to fall into that trap. He's Noah, my buddy who happens to be an EXCELLENT Chef. Sometime during the night the conversation somehow got to my past brief stint as a Pro Wrestler. And when Noah was made aware of my ring name, he was like a puppy with a new toy. He told me that "You never should have let me hear that! That is your name from now on!" Nuts. Pretty soon people would stop by my table "Hi Sugar Bear!", or "Hey Sugar Bear, are you really a regular here?" It was all in fun though and Noah really is a good guy, so much so that he shared a couple of the recipes basics for a two of the courses that night. And as promised I did try them and I will share my results here.
The first thing I tried was their French Onion Soup. He made it sound easy, but in reality... The first thing I promised myself was that I would try and stay as close to the real thing as possible and would only deviate if absolutely necessary. So this morning Patty and I headed out to the Farmer's Market to collect the needed ingredients, first up I needed the onions. I needed some yellow onions, some Pearl onions, and some cippolinis. Not a problem. I also picked up some Swiss Gruyere over at Corti Brothers for the toasted topping. The recipe called for some Beef Stock, Duck Stock and Veal Stock. Beef was no problem. but locating some Duck and Veal stock was an issue. I had made my own Chicken stock in the past but wasn't quite ready to experiment withe making a duck and a veal stock. So I substituted with a Chicken stock instead. That was the only deviation from the recipe that I made.
So to get started I needed to carmelize my onions, and while that is a time intensive task it is one necessary to the soup. For the uninitiated, carmelizing onions is simple, Slice up the onions and then get a wide pan, heat that up on medium-high and put in a little olive oil, then place the onions in the pan and stir them so they are all coated and let simmer for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, sprinkle some salt on the onions and as they brown spread them around and let them all brown evenly, this will take 30 minutes or so. I can't stress that you must take your time, you don't want to fry them, just let them brown. Carmelizing onions is like spending time with a ladyfriend, you have to take your time and go nice and slow...
Once the onions are nice and brown, then add 1/4 cup of flour to the pan and then its time to add the liquor. 1/2 cup of Port. 1/2 cup of Madera, 1/4cup of Cognac. Once the alcohol cooks off, then add the stock and a 1/4 cup of whole grain mustard, stir often and after about 30 minutes or so it should have all integrated and thickened nicely. After its simmering take a piece of bread, I used wheat, and slice some of the Swiss Cheese and place the cheese on the bread and broil until melted and place the bread on the soup after its in a bowl and....there it is...French Onion Soup. With a HUGE assist from Noah at the Kitchen, this was all possible because of his help. The taste is exquisite, not quite the Kitchen, but really good. So good that I will be doing it again, and for guests. It was a lot of new flavors and took awhile, but the end result was definitely worth it!
The next task was the Lobster Mac & Cheese, the only instruction I got from Noah was Bechamel Sauce and the three cheeses involved, White Cheddar, Talleggio and Parmesean. From there I was on my own.
This time the journey began at Corti Brothers for the cheeses, all three were present and accounted for so that was not a problem. I chose not to add the Lobster because I wanted to get the basic down first before I tried to poach some Lobster. After picking up the proper pasta, Radiatore, I was ready to go. Once I got back to the "Big Sexy Kitchen" I began the bechamel sauce. For this I used 5 teaspoons of butter, melted slowly, in a wide pan, and as the butter is melting take another pot and add 4 cups of milk to it and get it hot, not boiling, but hot. At the same time I started to boil my pasta water. After the butter has melted stir in 4 tablespoons of flour and once that's all together, begin to add the milk one cup at a time, and whisk until its smooth, then bring to a boil and reduce heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes whisking it periodically. As the sauce is simmering, add your pasta to boiling salted water, and the pasta should be done right as the sauce is finished. Let the pasta continue to cook in the hot water but reduce the heat from boiling, and turn the sauce to low. then take 1/3 cup of each of your cheeses and add them to the sauce, and they will melt in seamlessly, use the whisk to further smooth out the sauce. Drain your pasta and add it to the sauce, season with salt and a touch of nutmeg and serve hot. This one was ridiculous! I will NEVER make Mac & Cheese any other way again! This is the one! I can't stress enough how delicious this is, and once I do it again and add the poached lobster to it...
What's next? Don't know yet, but it will be tasty...
Thanks for reading and as always all comments are welcome!
Marc Wiggins Esq. (That sounds so nice...)
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Field Trip Planning Quick Update
Greetings fellow Chefs...and those who like to experience good grub!
Previously I had discussed a field trip with Nicole to resolve the Red Velvet Cake issue. Who has the best, Sandra D's or Sellands? Well that question will remain unanswered for the present because we have a different field trip planned for tonight, for tonight we are dining at The Kitchen! Stop drinking the Haterade...you know who are...:)
Recently I was fortunate enough to become a member of the California State Bar and the last few weeks have been pretty hectic with celebrating and being sworn in and reflecting on just how serious this responsibility is. But Nicole, bless her heart, wanted to take me out to dinner to celebrate and when said the Kitchen was our destination it was a done deal! Anyone who knows me knows that is my FAVORITE place for fine dining, period. I've been dozens of times and it never gets old or fail to live up to expectations, ever. But tonight I'm going to pay close attention to what Chef Noah is doing so I can attempt to capture the magic at home, which of course means that I am sharing the results with you! For those who have never been to The Kitchen, what they do is a demonstration dinner where everything is prepared right in front of you. It's like being on an episode of "Emeril Live" or on set of a number of other cooking shows. They change the menu monthly, so what they are offering is what the patrons will be having, I never look in advance because its always magnificent! But I did sneak a peek and saw they were doing a Lobster Mac & Cheese...yes! For those you are curious the menu is:
http://thekitchenrestaurant.com/menus/december_10.html
I will be paying close attention to Chef Noah and getting as much info about his recipes as he is willing to share, and form there I will prepare a few things and report my findings here next week.
Until next time troops!
Previously I had discussed a field trip with Nicole to resolve the Red Velvet Cake issue. Who has the best, Sandra D's or Sellands? Well that question will remain unanswered for the present because we have a different field trip planned for tonight, for tonight we are dining at The Kitchen! Stop drinking the Haterade...you know who are...:)
Recently I was fortunate enough to become a member of the California State Bar and the last few weeks have been pretty hectic with celebrating and being sworn in and reflecting on just how serious this responsibility is. But Nicole, bless her heart, wanted to take me out to dinner to celebrate and when said the Kitchen was our destination it was a done deal! Anyone who knows me knows that is my FAVORITE place for fine dining, period. I've been dozens of times and it never gets old or fail to live up to expectations, ever. But tonight I'm going to pay close attention to what Chef Noah is doing so I can attempt to capture the magic at home, which of course means that I am sharing the results with you! For those who have never been to The Kitchen, what they do is a demonstration dinner where everything is prepared right in front of you. It's like being on an episode of "Emeril Live" or on set of a number of other cooking shows. They change the menu monthly, so what they are offering is what the patrons will be having, I never look in advance because its always magnificent! But I did sneak a peek and saw they were doing a Lobster Mac & Cheese...yes! For those you are curious the menu is:
http://thekitchenrestaurant.com/menus/december_10.html
I will be paying close attention to Chef Noah and getting as much info about his recipes as he is willing to share, and form there I will prepare a few things and report my findings here next week.
Until next time troops!
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