All Killer, No Filler…A Few Fun Foodie Clips to Hold You until Monday

It’s the weekend, and as you know by now I don’t post any original material on my “days off.” And by “day off” I mean 14 hours of answering emails, and comments, and questions like, “do you have a tasty Vegan recipe for Philly Cheese Steak??” But I do like to post some type of fun, food-related stuff I’ve found during the week. Here are two clips I think you’ll enjoy.

The first is a rather creative food themed “beat box” mix that I thought was well done. Now, even if you don’t like Hip Hop, who doesn’t enjoy seeing an Englishman in a really bad wig? What exactly is it with all the cross-dressing over there? The second clip is another interest of mine, magic tricks, especially ones using food. This is quite the trick and if you know how it was done PLEASE tell me!! By the way, the first clip is dedicated to my cousin Tony Q, and my sister-in-law Jennifer M, and the second clip is dedicated my nephew Alex M. They'll know why. Enjoy!

The Beat Box Chef


Magic Produce

Croque Monsieur… King of the open-face sandwich!

Easier to make than pronounce (croak-mon-sir), this is world’s most famous open-face sandwich. According to my French sandwich sources (Wikipedia) the name is based on the verb croquer, "to bite hungrily," and the word monsieur which means "mister." So, I guess this basically translates to “bite hungrily Mister!” And if you make this delicious open-faced delight you’ll know why. By the way, I’m sure it’s the same if you’re a Madame or Mademoiselle.

There are many versions, but mine is slices of the round, crusty French bread (pain au levain) topped with our cheesy,home-made thyme béchamel (left-over from our cheese soufflé recipe video), covered with ham, tomato and cheese, and then baked golden brown. How do you say “to die for” in French? I stole this version from a French bakery here in San Francisco called Tartine, which has lines of people out the door waiting for these beauties to come out of the oven. Bon Appetite!!

Ingredients:
4 thick slices of bread
1/2 cup of cheesy Bechamel
8 slices tomato
salt and pepper to taste
thinnly sliced smoked ham
grated cheese of your choice
olive oil

Chicken Breasts with Herbs De Provence and Mushrooms

Well, I found another one! Yes, another very old clip from my original blog that hasn’t been posted here yet. This recipe is very similar in technique to the Chicken Marsala video recipe that was posted last month. Regarding that recipe, I received several emails from viewers who either couldn’t have, or didn’t want to, use the Marsala wine. This one is wine-free, and just as delicious. One quick note; I used a non-stick pan in the clip since I was using skinless chicken breasts. I always try to film these using the techniques and tools I think will be most successful for the home cook. If I had used a stainless steel skillet (as I would have in the restaurant setting), many people trying this at home, would have had problems with the skinless chicken sticking to the bottom of the pan. I won’t bore you with the details about why in this post, but for most of us a high-quality, non-stick pan would be the safest choice.

This simple dish combines a rich mushroom pan sauce, with moist chicken breasts scented with “Herbs De Provence.” Herbs De Provence is a mixture of dried herbs from the South of France, and usually includes Basil, Thyme, Savory, Rosemary, Tarragon, Lavender, Fennel, Marjoram and Chervil. You should be able to find it in the dried spice/herb section of any major grocery store. Be sure to look carefully before you buy it, it should be a nice fresh green color. If it’s brown and faded, it’s probably old and not flavorful. This herb mixture is a staple in my kitchen and should be found in any serious cook’s pantry. And yes, before you ask, of course you can make the same dish without the mushrooms. Enjoy.



Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups chicken stock/broth
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 tbl herbs de Provence (so not optional)
2 cloves garlic
black pepper and salt to taste
3 tbl olive oil
3 tbl unsalted butter
flour
fresh herbs to garnish (optional)

Frozen Fruit-Salad Pops

Kitchen Gear:

Sharp knife (adult needed)
Cutting board
Measuring cup
Ice-pop mold or 8 small paper cups
8 wooden ice-pop sticks

Ingredients
2 1⁄2 cups fruit, all one kind or a mixture (whole blueberries, or raspberries, sliced peaches, plums, grapes, apricots, nectarines, kiwis, or strawberries)
1 1⁄2 cup 100% white grape juice

Instructions

1. Divide the fruit into 8 ice-pop molds or paper cups.
2. Pour enough juice into each mold or cup to cover the fruit.
3. Push in ice-pop sticks and freeze until solid, about 6 hours.

See more at: http://goo.gl/KzoN4v

“Roasted” Tomato and Balsamic Vinaigrette – We really need to concentrate on this one!

I worked with a Chef, way back when, who made this amazingly delicious roasted tomato vinaigrette. He would slice a whole pan of Roma tomatoes lengthwise and slowly roast them in a very low oven until the sugars and acids in the fruit would condense and caramelize and concentrate into a delicious mass. This took about 5-6 hours. Then, these roasted tomatoes were cooled, pureed, and with the addition of some oil and vinegar, turned into a wonderfully complex vinaigrette. It was so good next to any grilled fish, meat, veggies, etc. The only thing I didn’t like was the extended cooking time.

Now, the whole reason for the long, slow roasting was to concentrate the flavors. So, I thought I could duplicate it by using a really good, double-concentrate tomato paste and nicely aged balsamic vinegar. It worked. Is it as good? Who knows? Yet another “subjective mater of taste” argument. Do I always use the shortcut method? No, I do (when I have time) love a nice pan of slow roasted, caramelized Roma tomatoes. They are great served whole on burgers, and as a side dish with many main dishes. In fact, now I have to demo the original method! Anyway, here is a 5 minute version that will pair wonderfully with so many things, and you’re only a few minutes away. I used this on my Pan Seared Perch with Fried Capers recipe, so if you haven’t seen that one, check it out. By the way, this is also very nice with I touch of fresh garlic, which I didn’t use this time…hey, I can’t use garlic in every recipe! Enjoy.



Ingredients:
1 tbl tomato paste (double-concentrate)
1 tbl aged Balsamic vinegar
1 tbl rice vinegar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
6 tbl olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Spring Pea and Stellette Pasta Salad with Fresh Mint and Parsley – We’re reaching for the Stars

This simple spring pasta salad is a lesson in culinary restraint. There are so many things we could add to this, but we’re not going to do it. I want to celebrate my tender and sweet spring peas, and delicate star-shaped pasta (Stellette) in a simple salad, and I’m not going to clutter it up trying to clean out the vegetable bins. Everything about this salad is subtle. The tender peas barely get cooked by sitting in the hot pasta for a few minutes. The dressing is nothing more than some lemon and oil. I finish with some fresh mint and parsley, salt and pepper and I’m done. Just stop and back away from the salad. There are many magical food pairings, but one of my personal favorites is mint and fresh peas. There is just something about those two ingredients getting together that makes both shine above and beyond what they are capable of alone.

Sure, usually pasta salads are a great excuse to chop up and use all those forgotten veggies in the bottom of the fridge yearning to be free, but not this one. Save that one for the company picnic. Today’s recipe is you and your lover, sitting on a blanket somewhere fresh and green, enjoying this and several others of life’s simple pleasures.



Ingredients:
8oz Stellette pasta
1/2 cup spring peas
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1.2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup chopper fresh mint
1/4 cup chopper fresh Italian parsley
*don’t forget to salt the water you boil the pasta in!

Simple Sherry Vinaigrette – Shake it baby!

Today’s post is really two separate demos. One is to show you a fantastic, all-purpose salad dressing using sherry vinegar. The second is a technique that makes emulsifying a dressing a fast and easy process. The reason I like sherry vinegar so much is that combines the complex, tartness of really good wine vinegar, with the rich, sweetness of balsamic vinegar. The vinaigrette shown today literally goes great with everything; whether it’s under a delicate filet of poached fish, over a grilled steak, or with an avocado salad, as you see pictured here (avocado salad sold separately).

The squeeze bottle method I show is such an easy way to emulsify a dressing and eliminates the need for the old “stand there and slowly drizzle in the oil in a fine stream” method. Lots of professional cooks will of course use a blender, which works great, but for the home cook making smaller amounts, I think my squeeze bottle is the way to go. By the way, as you’ll hear me attempt to explain during the video recipe clip, the small amount of mustard is a key ingredient, and if you leave it out, the oil and vinegar will not stay bound together. Needless to say, this is my base recipe and can be varied in countless ways by adding herbs, garlic, shallots, etc. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup sherry vinegar
1 cup olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

The Nasturtium Salad - Pretty Delicious

Nasturtium, which is Latin for "nose-twister,” is a very common, very colorful ground cover that, as you’ll see in today’s video recipe clip, is a great addition to a green salad. By the way, I got the "nose-twister” translation from Wikipedia, but it didn’t say why or how it got that name. So, all you gardeners out there, if you know PLEASE tell me why, it’s driving me crazy. Speaking of crazy, no, you don’t have to be crazy to put flowers on a salad. As long as they are there for flavor AND color you are culinarily correct to do so. It’s hard to think of another flower whose petals are as intensely colored as the Nasturtium. It actually makes filming and photographing them quite a challenge (at least that’s my excuse).

Culinary students are always reminded by their Chefs to never add things to plates solely for cosmetic reasons. Ideally, everything on a plate should add both flavor and visual appeal to the dish. Nasturtium petals meet both goals; they’re incredibly beautiful as I have already stated, AND have a subtle, delicious flavor. It’s a slightly peppery taste similar to a mild Watercress. Many grocery stores have these flowers in the herb section during the summer and you can always find them at any farmers market.

By the way, since we are talking salads in today’s post, in my next recipe clip I’m going to show you what I consider to be the best “all purpose” oil and vinegar-style salad dressing. It’s a simple Sherry vinaigrette I leaned ages ago, and it’s my all-time favorite, and soon, maybe yours. Stay tuned. Anyway, take a walk around the backyard, or the neighbor’s garden, and find some Nasturtium (it shouldn’t be too hard) and make that plain old mixed green salad explode with color and flavor. Enjoy!

I'm Flipping the Banana

Due to some technical difficulties (that I won’t bore you with) I don’t have a new clip for you to enjoy today. And if you’re thinking that I probably had a great new clip all ready and then lost it, like an idiot, because I don’t really know how to use all the new equipment yet, well, that’s definitely not what happened! By the way, does anyone know if they sell Nerf Computers? Man I’d love to kick one of those around for a couple of hours.

Besides, YouTube has been acting finicky all week and even if I had a clip ready, you may not have seen it for a while. So, hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow with an exciting new video recipe clip. In the meantime, instead of getting mad I’m going to, as Ned Flanders would say, “turn that frown upside-down,” or as we say in the food business “flip the banana!” The photo was sent to me by regular viewer who found it on www.wearewhatwedo.org. Enjoy!

A Couple of Kitchen Calculators - Go Figure

I get the occasional email requesting a recipe be converted into metric units, or tempertures in Celsius. Well, now you can do it yourself. These two calculators are from labpixies.com. The first is a simple, yet very complete, units of measure calculator. It will convert any units of weight, volume or length. Now you can convert my quarts into your liters, and my ounces of weight into grams and visa versa. Just make sure you have the right setting regarding weight and volume; remember 8 ounces is cup by volume, but can also be half a pound. It will also convert my Fahrenheit temps to Celsius.


This second calulator can help you add up your daily calorie intake. If you click on the settings on the top you can also enter your age, weight, etc. and it will give you a daily guideline for total calories. As you click on the differnet courses, the options will change in the pull down menu.It doesn't have everything, but it's pretty good. Just make sure you check the right number of portions. I certainly don't count calories on a regular basis, but it's kind of interesting to add up an average day once and a while to see what's going on. It can be reset any time to start over.

And the winner is…Chicken Parmesan!

The viewers have spoken! Tomorrow’s post will be my version of the ubiquitous Chicken Parmesan. It was kind of cool letting you, the readers, decide on what I would demo. But, since I wanted to do the 3-Corn Polenta, this is the last poll I’ll ever have. As we all well know, democracy just doesn’t work! Ok, just kidding, I’m sure you will see the occasional poll posted here on various topics. Anyway, like I said in the original post, this was more of a test of how the polling software works, and much to my surprise it did work and was easy to manage. By the way, I will eventually demo all the other options listed in the poll. So, be sure to tune in tomorrow to see this Italian-American classic done Chef John style.

Here are the "official" results:

Chicken Parmesan – All you baby cows can relax!

As I said yesterday, this was the winner of our first reader poll used to pick a demo. This demo is dedicated to my niece Brittany. This is her favorite meal, or at least I think it is. Over the years I’ve probably gone out to eat with Brittany maybe 75 times and she has ordered this 73 of those times…the other two occasions we were at Chinese restaurants and I think she still tried to order it. Hopefully, she will try to make this at home after watching this clip. Anyway, I’m sure Brittany is not alone in her love of the Chicken Parm, as it’s probably the most popular non-pasta dish in Italian-American style restaurants. Back in my day, it was of course Veal Parmesan, but eating baby cows fell out of fashion, and the Chicken is now the protein of choice. What’s that? You don’t eat chicken either? Well, then you’ll just have to stay tuned for my amazing Eggplant Parmesan coming soon.

The main problem I have with the version served in most restaurants is that they drown the chicken in so much sauce and cheese, that it ends up being a big soggy chicken/cheese clump. I don’t put any sauce under the chicken cutlets, just a little bit on top, so the breading stays relatively crisp. If you like a lot of sauce, fine, serve it along side when the dish is served. I also actually use some Parmesan cheese! Most versions of this only use mozzarella; I’m going with a delicious mixture of fresh Mozzarella, tangy Provolone and “real” Parmesan. The other little trick you see in the video recipe is how I add some of the grated Parmesan to the breadcrumbs, which adds another layer of flavor. Be sure your oven is well preheated to 450F, we want the cheese to slightly brown and the breading to crisp up before the chicken gets over-cooked, and a nice hot oven is the way to go. The rest of the demo is pretty straight forward, so let’s get to it. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 cups “Panko” Japanese style bread crumbs
3/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup grated provolone
4 oz fresh mozzarella
salt and pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
olive oil for frying
1/2 cup prepared tomato sauce (high-quality!)
1/4 cup fresh shredded basil, or pesto, or dried Italian herbs of your choice, or omit
*Baked for approximately 15-20 minutes at 450F

I’ve been “Widget-tized!” Look out sidebars, here I come!

Thanks to a great site called Widgetbox, this blog now has its very own “widget.” If you click the picture to the left, or this text link, you can go and get this widget, and with a few simple clicks, can have this placed on your website or blog. For all of you kind viewers that have written to me offering to help spread the word about this blog, here is a great way to do it. Now you can help promote this site without spamming your friends, families and co-workers (although I hope you’ve already done that!) Widgetbox will allow you to customize this widget as far as colors, etc. and you don’t have to sign-up for anything, which is a nice feature. But, if you do sign-up as a user (which only took me 10 seconds) you can rate and comment on the different widgets there, as well as build a widget of your own. So, if you are able, please go grab this lovely sidebar widget and help turn more viewers on to me and my video recipes. Thanks!!