Kitchen Guy

Video: Kitchen Guy’s Smokin’ Chili

Posted by Chef Jim on September 27, 2008  |  Comments Off

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Blog Topic: Convenient Food

Posted by Chef Jim on September 26, 2008  |  Comments Off

I’m second to no one when it comes to finding the most convenient way to do things. In fact, I’ve made a fairly decent living showing people how to make complex restaurant style food in an easier and more convenient way.

I use shortcuts, but I never skimp on ingredients. The fact is, real food can be made conveniently and it is always tastier than convenience food.

Even so, as much as I love convenience, I fail to understand the workings of the minds of harried moms who prefer to use the ingredients in a famous blue box to make macaroni and cheese, when it’s probably simpler (and to my way of thinking, a lot tastier) to make it form scratch. Trust me. It’s conveniently easy.

Really. How hard is it to boil pasta and grate cheese into thickened milk?

To be sure, there are two distinct types of convenience foods. One is good. The other is not so good. The good ones include pre-made stocks and broths, canned tomatoes, frozen vegetables and fruits. The not so good ones are those that come in packages where the ingredient list reads like the inventory from a college chemistry lab.

Pancake batter is so easy to make – and cheaper when you make your own – but the stuff in a box or molded plastic pitcher continues to make millions for Aunt Jemimah and the Pillsbury Doughboy. If you’ve got access to the Internet, paste this link in your browser and watch me make pancakes from scratch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTYOXnQ2egk&eurl=http://kitchenguy.biz/category/videos/videoarchive

On a recent trip to the supermarket, I was surprised to see three different brands of cake mix for chocolate cake with a liquid center. Sometimes it’s called chocolate lava cake. I can’t recall which pastry chef created the concoction, but it took the culinary world by storm several years ago after its debut.

My version of this dessert is so rich and chocolaty, I call it “Chocolate Dream.” I also employ a technique used by many Mexican cooks and bakers. I add a dash of chili powder to my chocolate. And one more flavor enhancer in this recipe is espresso or strong coffee. You’ll never taste the spice or the coffee, but they have the effect of really making the chocolate “pop” and that’s what my food is all about: Flavor.

The thing is that this cake is so easy to make, I’m mystified why anyone would use a mix in a box, what with all the chemicals that food manufacturers are obliged to use in order to offer their goods on grocery store shelves for the sake of shelf life. Those chemicals, as Alton Brown would say, just aren’t good eats.

If you want to make a splash at your next dinner party, or if you just want to show off to the family one night, here’s my recipe for Chocolate Dream:

8 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/2 cups butter, unsalted
4 large egg yolk
4 large eggs
1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon coffee or espresso (cold and very strong)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
Powdered sugar and whipped cream – for topping

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate with the butter and set aside. Use simmering, not boiling, water.

Whisk together the egg yolks, the whole eggs until smooth, then fold into the chocolate.

Combine the flour, chili powder and sugar and add to the chocolate mixture.

Add the coffee, vanilla extract and combine well.

Butter 6 4-1/2 oz. ramekins and divide the batter evenly among them. Place ramekins in the oven on a flat cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes at 400.

When slightly cooled, invert onto dessert plates. The center will be soft. Top with whipped cream and garnish with fresh berries.

Video: Kitchen Guy’s Apple Strudel

Posted by Chef Jim on September 24, 2008  |  Comments Off

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Blog Topic: Quick! Bread!

Posted by Chef Jim on September 19, 2008  |  Comments Off

I am a confessed carbohydrate addict – “carboholic,” if you will. I can’t get enough bread, cake, rolls, doughnuts, crackers, pretzels – if it’s made with flour, I like it.

In addition to cooking, I love to bake. But when it comes to bread, sometimes I just don’t have the patience that yeast breads demand.

It is said that cooking is art and baking is science. When it comes to bread, science definitely is the operative word, as the baker depends on fermentation, gas production, heat, leavening, and a lot of other chemical miracles.

If you’re like me, and you need to satisfy your bread jones really fast, there are these amazing concoctions called quick breads. Scones and biscuits fall into this category, as do cornbread and muffins.

In a professional competition several years ago, while I failed to win a medal (I missed by two-tenths of a point), a quick bread that I made as an accompaniment to one of my courses, caught the attention of one of the judges. He asked for the recipe. Now this guy is a certified master chef – that’s as big and as high as it gets in my biz. And he asked me for my quick bread recipe. That blew me away.

But that’s the sort of thing that quick breads can do. The one I made for that competition includes black olives and roasted garlic. I’ve got one that uses tomatoes and piquant spices, as well as one whose principal ingredient is beer. Have I whetted your appetite for quick breads yet?

So while regular yeast breads can take hours and even as long as a day and half to go through every process, quick breads are just that: they’re quick. They can be done in about an hour, some even quicker.

Even though quick breads also depend on chemistry, they bypass the use of yeast and the leavening process. Some yeast breads and rolls need two rises, prolonging the wait for the end product.

Baking soda and baking powder, separately or together and in combination with ingredients such as buttermilk, whole milk, and eggs – well, it’s acids, bases, and chemical reactions, kids. Bypassing yeast and waiting for dough to rise: it’s a good thing.

Now it helps if you’re a “carboholic” because quick breads also need to be eaten quickly. They generally don’t hold up well any time after you serve them for the first time, hot from the oven. They simply do not reheat well, which is why I will never buy packaged scones under any circumstance. They’re dry and bland and do not resemble in any way what a freshly made scone tastes like.

Once you see how easy it is to make quick breads, you can add to your repertoire and make them regularly. The occasion doesn’t have to be special, even though the recipe I’m about to share with you is. Try it. You’ll see – better yet, you’ll taste – what I’m talking about.

Roasted Garlic and Olive Quick Bread

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 large garlic bulbs, roasted, pulp squeezed out, mashed and reserved
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon orange zest, grated
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
3/4 cup oil-cured black ripe olives, pitted, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix mashed roasted garlic, melted butter, orange zest and pepper flakes. Beat in the egg and milk.
Beat in the flour mixture in 3 batches, fully incorporating each addition. Fold in the olives.
Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove from the oven to a wire rack and serve while still warm.

Video: Shrimp Bisque

Posted by Chef Jim on September 17, 2008  |  Comments Off

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Blog Topic: Ode to the Onion

Posted by Chef Jim on September 15, 2008  |  Comments Off

Whatever would we do without onions? This multi-faceted, multi-flavored member of the lily family presents us with one of the most valuable and versatile ingredients in the kitchen.

Red, white, yellow, green, Maui, Walla Walla, Vidalia, scallions, chives – I love them all. And all bring important flavors and consistency to so many dishes.

A fact about the onion too often overlooked is that it contains more sugar than most other vegetables and, in some cases, more than many fruits. So if you think you don’t like onions because of the way you think they taste, you haven’t tried to caramelize them – a slow cooking process that extracts the sugar and turns even the most sulphurous bulbs to sweet treats that I promise will convert you from hater to lover.

Unfortunately, I can’t do much about the texture. So just close your eyes and savor the sweet flavor.

Some chefs force the dark color of caramelization by adding Worcestershire sauce, but I like using a long, slow process somewhere between a sweat and a sauté with butter to lubricate the pan and get things started. It takes about 45 minutes and you’ve got to keep the onions moving so they don’t burn.

Once you’ve produced caramelized onions, you can make a variety of dishes, including onion jam. And if you know how to can or make preserves, you can have an amazing condiment at any time.

One of my favorite dishes using caramelized onions is an onion tart. I make a savory crust, and then add caramelized onions, along with savory custard and shredded cheese that has just a slight bite. Gruyere, Swiss or Blarney cheeses work equally well. Once the filled tart bakes in the oven, the custard puffs and the cheese melts and turns golden – and my mouth is watering as I type these words!

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Kitchen Guy’s Famous Savory Onion and Cheese Tart

For the crust:
1-1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter — chilled, cut into pieces
1/4 cup sour cream
1 large egg yolk
For the filling:
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1-3/4 pounds sweet onions — Vidalia, Walla Walla or Maui, sliced into thin rings
1 cup half and half
3 large egg yolks
1 large whole egg
ground nutmeg (fresh is best)
1 cup Fontina cheese or Swiss cheese – grated
To make the crust: Preheat oven to 425º F. Blend the flour and salt in a food processor. Add butter and blend using on and off pulses until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix sour cream and egg yolk together and add to the flour mixture and blend, using pulses until dough begins to form clumps. Gather dough into a ball, flatten into a disk, enclose with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a 13-inch round. Transfer the dough to an 11-inch tart pan with removable bottom. (You can use a 9- or 10-inch pan, but make sure there is enough dough to overlap the edge.) Trim edges. Line dough with foil and fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake 15 minutes. Remove foil and pie weights. Continue to bake until pale golden, piercing crust on bottom with fork if dough bubbles – about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool. Then place on a baking sheet before filling.
To make the filling: Turn the oven down to 325º F. Melt butter in a heavy large skillet over medium low heat. Add onions and sweat/sauté until very soft and caramel in color, stirring often, about 45 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and cool.
Whisk half and half, egg yolks and whole egg. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Spread onions on par-baked crust. Sprinkle with cheese. Ladle liquid mixture over onions and cheese.
Bake until filling puffs and is golden – about 50 minutes. Cool slightly.

Video: Classic Basil Pesto

Posted by Chef Jim on September 10, 2008  |  Comments Off

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Blog Topic: Seize Your Salad

Posted by Chef Jim on September 4, 2008  |  Comments Off

Okay, I’ve about had it up to here with restaurants and food manufacturers claiming that the white goopy stuff they’re peddling is Caesar dressing. It’s not.

Real Caesar salad dressing is almost clear – maybe with a little brownish yellow tint because there should be an egg yolk and dissolved anchovies, along with some Worcestershire sauce and red wine vinegar.

Do you see anything that’s white – or off-white – in any of those ingredients?

So here’s a relatively brief lesson about the proper way to make a Caesar salad. First, the history of the salad in one sentence: In 1924 Caesar Cardini created the salad at his restaurant in Tijuana, concocting it from ingredients he had on hand. To add a little flair, he prepared the salad at tableside.

Another important fact about this salad: there are no tomatoes in it. Neither does it have onions, cucumbers nor any other type of produce except Romaine lettuce (and a garlic clove, but that has a very special use, that I’ll get to in a moment).

First, to make a proper Caesar salad, you should have a large wooden bowl (not glass, plastic, metal or anything else) in order to employ that garlic clove correctly. The clove is used to flavor the wood, so there is only the hint of garlic in your mouth. If you like, you can clip a small piece off the end of the garlic clove, and then rub the wood to impart the flavor of the garlic.

As for that egg, the original recipe calls for it to be raw, but health concerns dictate that it be coddled. That means that you simply drop the egg in boiling water for just a minute. It’s enough time to kill off anything dangerous that’s been lurking, especially on the shell.

The first tableside Caesar salad I had was prepared at a well-known restaurant in the old part of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The waiter wheeled a cart over to the table with an immense wooden bowl. I watched as he flavored the wood with a fresh clove of garlic. Then, with great flourish, he drizzled extra virgin olive oil down the sides of the bowl, so that it would carry the garlic with it as it collected in the bottom.

This next instruction is designed to help you get past your fear of anchovies. The canned varieties that we see are pungent little fellows, but pulverized to a paste-like consistency, they add a flavor that becomes surprisingly subtle and moves unexpectedly well into the background. Adding all the other stuff – like Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce and red wine vinegar – certainly helps in quashing the pungency.

But when you’ve mixed all of those things together, along with some coarse salt, you’ve got a dark liquid, and that’s what real Caesar dressing looks like.

My waiter in San Juan opened up a crisp white kitchen towel to reveal perfect hearts of romaine lettuce, which – again with a flourish – he tore and tossed into the bowl. Then with wooden implements, he tossed the romaine around in the dressing, lightly coating them.

Finally, crispy little croutons were tossed in and freshly grated Parmesan cheese was offered to each diner, as well as cracked black pepper.

The perfect combination of acids and proteins coating cold and crisp romaine is a joy to eat. This is an easy dressing to make, too, because you don’t have to worry about it being a perfect emulsion. But try it and I wager you’ll turn your nose up (the way I do) when you’re offered that cloyingly blah creamy white stuff being foist on us as Caesar dressing.

Here’s my recipe:

1 large egg, coddled
1 garlic clove
4 anchovies
2 small heads of Romaine lettuce washed, patted dry, coarsely torn
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup olive oil 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup croutons
freshly squeezed lemon juice

Place the egg in boiling water for 1 minute and let it sit off the heat while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Rub a large wooden bowl with the garlic clove, coating the bowl with the garlic juices. Drizzle about half of the olive oil around the sides of the bowl, letting it collect at the bottom, then mash the anchovies with a fork until they turn to a paste. Slowly add the rest of the oil, then stir in the Worcestershire, mustard, salt and a little black pepper. Slowly add the red wine vinegar, the egg and then a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Stir well, then add the romaine and toss. Add the croutons and Parmesan and toss again. Add freshly cracked black pepper.

Video: Orange and Chocolate Bread Pudding

Posted by Chef Jim on September 3, 2008  |  Comments Off