I was recently chatting with a passionate home cook. We agreed that the must have books in your kitchen are The Flavor Bible (to develop your mental database of what flavors taste great together), Ratio (to understand how to bake without recipes), and How to Cook Everything (as a general reference guide). What she told me she felt was missing was a book focused solely on cooking techniques. I totally agree. I have always felt that the reason recipes don’t always turn out for the home cook is for that very reason. If a recipe says “sauté” or “reduce” etc. is that one word really enough to convey what the desired result should be? I don’t think so. In an effort to fill the potential gap the home cook and I were discussing I am going to do ten blogs to try to capture what I feel are the most important cooking techniques that can be applied to almost any cuisine. These techniques are the difference between a good dish and a great dish. Having the right ingredients and a good recipe are not enough if you don’t have a good handle on the proper cooking techniques. Here we go.

The first one is “color equals flavor”. This is probably the biggest opportunity I see for the home cook. When you have color you have flavor. In addition to color cook your ingredients separately or in stages and then combine them. This is how you achieve great texture and depth of flavor.

Example one – Peppers, onions and mushrooms. Three common ingredients that change drastically with the right color.

How? –

Cut the ingredients small/thin. This way you increase the surface area to inside ratio thus creating more flavor. I.e. a thin slice of bell pepper sautéed golden will have more flavor if there is only a small amount of “uncooked” interior than if it is thicker.

Use a wide skillet so that the ingredients can be in one even layer and not piled up.

Use medium high heat and regular olive oil (x virgin for sautéing is a waste, you lose the flavor) or your preferred cooking oil.  Get the pan and the oil hot before adding anything. This way the outside of the food gets seared, a crust, instead of the oil soaking into the food and boiling.

Once there is a nice crust/good color you can add liquid (wine or stock) to create a great sauce and still preserve the great texture of the ingredient. I.e. a good mushroom sauce -the golden seared mushrooms are coated with sauce but still show their flavor and texture) vs. spongy mushrooms that have no distinction from the sauce and have little color).

Be aware of the heat level. If the ingredient is getting black turn the heat down. If you are not hearing a nice sizzle and seeing good color develop turn the heat up.

Cook until you see the peppers, onions or mushrooms softening and coloring. You should see a nice golden brown color developing on the bottom of the pan as well (more flavor!).

Once golden brown you can 1. Take the ingredients out and reserve for another use or 2. Add an alcohol or liquid to the ingredient and simmer until the liquid is half gone. Now you have a great sauce you can add your pasta to or drape over a piece of meat.

Now you can add the ingredient to a quesadilla, a pressed sandwich, a salad or pasta and the dish will have more complex flavor and texture.

Be aware of moisture levels of your ingredients. Onions and mushrooms will first give off their liquid, which then evaporates before they start to color. Peppers and shallots have much less moisture thus they will start browning more quickly.

Steaks, chops, roasts, fish filets:

By using the same “hot pan, hot oil” technique you can sear your roast, steak, chicken breast, fish, etc first and then finish it in the oven. This initial stove top sear will create a great crust (color), which will then continue to develop in the oven. If you do not sear your meat first it will often times be overcooked in the center before it develops a crust (color) in the oven.

If you have a steak, boneless chicken breast, pork chop or fish filet that is not too thick you will be able to cook it completely on the stove top and get a great crust (color) by cooking the first side 60% of the way and then flipping it over to finish cooking. I love doing this with scallops in particular.

2 of 10 will be coming shortly…

Happy cooking and I hope that if you have not already you discover the magic of “color equals flavor”.

Eat Well, Enjoy life, Be happy

I had the pleasure of meeting a girl named Alexis at the festival. She told me she loved harissa (N. African condiment that comes in a tube) and the fact that I had been cooking with it. She told me about a classic Israeli dish of egg poached in harissa. I was dreaming about that combination the whole weekend. I made my version of what I thought it might be for my wife and I for lunch yesterday. I squeezed a couple tablespoons of harissa into about a cup of chicken stock. I brought that to just under a boil and added a chopped tomato. I then cracked my eggs into the bright red broth and allowed them to poach. I wanted to serve them on cous cous so I decided to make some Israeli cous cous. It is brilliant because it is a larger grain so you get these beautiful, creamy pearls of tender pasta in your mouth instead of the more grainy quality of regular cous cous. It is really easy to cook. Two parts boiling chicken stock, add one part Israeli cous cous, simmer for about 8 minutes until tender and liquid is absorbed. Cous cous goes on the plate, poached egg on top with a spoonful of the harissa/tomato broth. I topped the egg with some crumbled feta cheese and some chopped mint.

I never get tired of harissa and the egg is always the perfect liaison to taste the world. We eat with our eyes first-the color is a stunning bright red. We eat with our nose second-your face is surrounded by the earthy perfume of roasted caraway seed (the rye bread spice), bright toasted citrus scented coriander seed, and the slightly bitter, pungent, earthy aroma of cumin seed. Those spices are tamed by the sun-dried tomato and chiles, which give harissa a brightness and a nice level of heat. You get all that before the first bite!  The mint acts as a breath mint between each bite. The feta cheese adds just the right level of salt and combines with the egg yolk to make the perfect sauce to coat each pearl of cous cous. Thank you for the idea Alexis! A great food festival and a warm, tasty lunch with my wife on a quiet weekday. Life is good. Enjoy!

Eat Well, Enjoy life, Be happy

What a great two days! I got to do everything I love; a cooking demo on the morning news and then an interactive cooking session with mom bloggers from around the country. As part of the “Good Egg Project,” an effort by America’s egg farmers to educate people about where eggs come from and feed the hungry in the process, mom bloggers toured Hickman’s Family Farms in Phoenix, AZ. As part of the tour, I did a cooking demo along with Howard Helmer (the omelet King and world record holder) and spent some time cooking eggs with the moms. We showed them some simple, quick egg recipes that they could share with their readers. A nacho toad in the hole and a breakfast grilled cheese.

We talked about the basics of egg cookery:

1. Use a non-stick pan.

2. A touch of butter or oil. Melted and hot before you add the eggs.

3. Medium heat. High heat yields tough, curdled eggs. Lower heat gives you light, tender fluffy eggs.

If you remember those three things you’re well on your way to perfect omelets, fried eggs, scrambled eggs and more. I was impressed with how passionate the moms were about their blogs and their ability to make a positive impact on so many people’s lives. That is what it is all about!

When we got cooking we had a blast. In no time the moms were flipping eggs without the use of a spatula, making tender, light fluffy omelets, and preparing our nacho toad in the hole and breakfast grilled cheese with ease. It was also interesting to hear the moms’ take on egg farming. I think they had a whole new appreciation for what the 2 percent (the farmers) go through to produce the food for the other 98 percent of us. Check out their blogs to see what they’re saying about the tour:

MOMFormation

This Mama Cooks!

All American Mommy

The Parents with Style

The Mama Zone

Double Bugs

Family Fresh Cooking

Healthy Tasty Chow

Eclectic Cook
Feed the hungry by making a pledge (no cost) to eat good and do good everyday.  America’s egg farmers are donating up to one million eggs to feed the hungry.

Eat Well, Enjoy life, Be happy

My relaxed state quickly changed when I saw the line at my favorite focaccia place on the corner called The Liguria Bakery. They pull out huge sheet pans of fresh baked focaccia dripping with olive oil and topped with perfectly crushed, sweet tomatoes. The bottom of the bread is crispy, the inside so tender as it pulls apart and the top is moist and full of the purest simple flavor of good olive oil and tomatoes. When they run out they close. That’s it. I came back and decided that I had to make some focacccia. They key to a great dough is to mix in some semolina flour with the regular flour. The semolina gives the bread a more coarse texture and a fuller flavor. I used 1/3 semolina and 2/3 all-purpose flour. A little water, a package of dry yeast and a pinch of sugar to get the yeast hopping! Knead until elastic, rub it down with lots of olive oil and cover to rise to double. Press it down on a baking paper lined sheet pan and set the oven to 425.

While the oven is heating and the dough is getting a little bit of a second rise you can make your toppings. I sautéed one sliced red onions until golden and then reduced ½ cup of good balsamic vinegar into the onions until they were sweet and glazed. A few healthy turns of black pepper to give it a simple heat.

The other half got sweet cherry tomatoes tossed with a touch of red wine vinegar, salt and basil. A few spears of asparagus on the grill press went on. I put goat cheese on the asparagus and tomato side and freshly grated Parm on the red onion side. Ready to bake.

The family was at the table as I slid the golden focaccia onto a cutting board. I whacked it into slices with a pizza cutter and we all became very quiet as we consumed the whole thing. My daughter adores asparagus, my son loved the red onions even though the flavor was strong. I was so happy to have a golden crust which comes from the high heat transfer of the stainless steel sheet pan combined with the abundance of olive oil. By not spreading the toppings to the edge of the dough I got a nice golden crust as well. The bread itself was really moist and rich yet light. The weight of the toppings keep the dough from rising too much in the oven . By cooking / treating the toppings before they went on you are able to marry the flavors. Then as the toppings cook further on the dough they let off their juices, combine with the surface of the bread and become even tastier. It is all about layering flavors! Enjoy!

Eat well, enjoy life, be happy

Eat Well, Enjoy life, Be happy

Wow! Just got back from ten days of restaurant consulting in San Francisco. I helped my friend Ken open his third location of the Grove. The Grove is a very cool San Francisco restaurant. They are open for breakfast at 7:00am and go straight through until 11:00pm everyday. You can have everything from a bagel or huevos rancheros to salads, grill-pressed sandwiches and several classics like mac/cheese, lasagna and chicken pot pie. Ken insists that every menu item is “best in class”. I have been working on the menu and the overall operation front door to back door for almost a decade. Check out the Moroccan salad with harissa roasted garbanzo beans, oil cured black olives and feta cheese. Or keep it simple with the Lasagna. We just tweaked the Bolognese sauce taking it to a whole new level. The Cuban grilled pressed sandwich has a shallot/orange/black pepper glaze that adds a sweet spice to the tender Prorchetta. I am very proud of what we have done there. Check it out next time you are in SF and let me know what you think.

We are moving to SF in July so the family was up for a couple days so we could check schools for the kids and have some time together. It was a great balance of intense work, family and of course a couple great local SF meals. One was at Pizzeria Delfina and the other was at Salt House. That is a couple blogs worth of pleasure alone.

I landed at LAX last night on an early flight than the familia so I went to the store and got the ingredients for a Thai beef dinner. Skirt steak marinated in oyster and fish sauce, basil, ginger and garlic cloves ground to a paste all in the wok and served over rice.

I was staring at a pile of unused chopped ginger as I was pondering what cocktail to make. I decided on a ginger simple syrup (super easy. Mix equal parts sugar and water and bring to a boil with the ginger. Boil for a minute, turn off and let cool). I took a couple tablespoons of that over ice with a shot of scotch, a splash of deep, dark stout beer and some soda water. A quick shake and it was awesome. The Scotch was prominent but its power was tamed by the soda water and the viscosity of the stout beer. The stout added an almost cream-like affect to the texture. The ginger made itself known but only as a compliment to the complex peaty flavors of the scotch and the toasted barley and malt flavor of the beer. There was just enough sweetness to bring everything into balance. Cheers!

Eat well, Enjoy life, Be happy

Place 1/2 C. of water in a small non-stick skillet. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and crack one or two eggs into the pan (you can also use a large skillet and 2 C. of water to do as many as 6 eggs at a time). COVER the pan and let cook for about 2 minutes. Because you have a minimal amount of water in the pan the eggs are easy to manage. The covered pan speeds up the cooking and the absence of butter and oil give you a moist, tender, healthful egg. Toast your whole wheat bread and set it on a plate. Using a rubber scrapper/spatula gently slide under the egg to make sure it is not stuck. Lift it on an angle against the pan and drain the water off of it. Set it on the toast. Top with chopped spinach or arugula. Head off for a great day knowing you have a nice steady energy source to get your day going. Enjoy.

Feed the hungry by making a pledge (no cost) to eat good and do good everyday.  America’s egg farmers are donating up to one million eggs to feed the hungry.

Eat Well, Enjoy life, Be happy

My son and I were experimenting in the kitchen the other morning and created the perfect hot chocolate. 6 oz. of 2% milk, 2 oz. of heavy cream, 2 heaping TB of unsweetened high quality cocoa powder, 1/4 C. Torani French Vanilla syrup (you could use sugar and vanilla extract as well) and a pinch of salt. Yes, salt. It is no surprise that salted caramel and chocolates have become so popular. The salt acts as the perfect balance to the sweetness and creates an ongoing palate cleansing sensation. It actually extracts more of the cocoa flavor. Using the unsweetened ,high quality cocoa gives you the most pure, intense deep chocolate flavor. The vanilla syrup then balances the unsweetened cocoa without taking away from the cocoa flavor. Whisk everything together over medium heat until it just starts to steam.

Pour into a mug. Blow gently and smell the  back draft of chocolate pleasure as it wafts up from the mug. After one sip you will know what I am talking about! The first sensation is pure chocolate. You the sweet vanilla creeps up once the cocoa has saturated your tongue. Then the salt comes in and ignites the chocolate flavor once again giving you a spike of cocoa before wiping your palate clean to prepare for the next sip. The 2 oz of heavy cream is just enough to make the hot chocolate decadent without leaving you feeling heavy. It is drinks like this that makes me wish I was somewhere covered in snow. Enjoy!

Eat well, Enjoy life, Be happy

I think the reason I never get tired of omelets is the same reason I love pizza; the topping possibilities are endless! I always open the refrigerator and make an omelet out of whatever we have but sometimes I like to take a little time to build my cold pantry. By spending 30 minutes on the weekend preparing a few incredible ingredients I am then ready for a last minute, quick, amazing omelet or egg dish anytime with almost no effort.

The basics of omelet making never change. Med-low heat, a touch of butter, and a non stick pan are the tools of perfection. Two eggs whisked with about a TB of water to keep them light and fluffy. A pinch of salt brings out the best flavor of the egg.

In this omelet I am using fontina cheese. It melts quickly and has a mild, rich cow’s milk flavor that goes beautifully with the earthy flavor of the mushrooms and the sweetness of the onions. You can use any cheese you have on hand as well.

Use your scrapper to “paint” the bottom of the pan allowing more of the wet egg to fill the space you created. Each time you drag the scrapper across the bottom of the pan your create light fluffily folds of tender egg. No stirring please. When you have just a touch of liquid left turn off the heat and fill your omelet. The residual heat will finish cooking the eggs. Fold the omelet over using your scraper and tilt the pan so gravity does the work for you. Once folded over you can then tip the pan and roll the omelet onto the plate. Top with herbs or spice of your liking or eat as is. Enjoy!

America’s egg farmers are searching for the next Incredible Person! You can share videos of you and/or your child’s extraordinary mind/body talents and skills on www.incredibleegg.org. The winner will have a chance to appear in an incredible edible egg ad along with other great prizes, including a year’s supply of eggs and a donation of 10,000 eggs to the winner’s local food bank of choice! On top of that, America’s egg farmers will match every video uploaded by donating one egg to Feeding America!
Eat Well, Enjoy life, Be happy

The sauce is a quick blender sauce of ripe pineapple, fresh habanero chile, white onion, a touch of ground coriander and allspice (gives it almost a “jerk” flavor profile; tropical fruit and spices). The sweetness of the pineapple and the piercing fruity heat of the habanero are a natural match. That marriage was the inspiration for “Sweet Heat”. The sharp white onion gives the sauce some body and the spices add some depth and take the flavor profile “without borders”. It is a bit of Mexico, a bit of the islands and 100% irresistible.

Top it off with shredded cabbage (red or green) fresh cilantro, creamy ripe avocado and a fresh squeeze of lime juice.

Eat Well, Enjoy life, Be happy