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My Stuff, Recipes

Recipe – Anti-pasta platters

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I love to make anti-pasta platters. I have a Sicilian background and when it came to the holidays we always had a anti-pasta platter. For those who do not know a anti-pasta platter is traditionally something you would put out like a salad, it usually always consists of cured meats, like salami, pepperoni, and prosciutto. It usually always has some kind of cheeses like mozzarella and provolone, and then there are usually a hand full of accompaniments like olives, tomatoes and dips.

My favorite item on the platter is the eggplant capponata. it is chunks of eggplant made with tomato sauce, herbs and raisins, and makes for a excellent bread spread. There is so much you can do with these platters and items and get so many different presentations out of them. You can fold, roll, or slice the meats, dress the extras up however you like and put in all kind of dishes to give great depth to the platter, and you can cut the cheeses however you would like to give it that last little oomph. One of the things I like to do is tossed artichoke hearts in pesto, toss the olives in oils and pickled red onions, and marinade in oils and herbs grape tomatoes.

As always have fun and be extremely creative.

Recipes

Recipe – BBQ Braised Beef Short Rib

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I recently had a chef tasting for a Sous chef position I applied for and decided to go with this delightful little spoon of flavor as my amuse for my four course menu. For those who do not know, amuse stands for the start of the menu and traditionally the tasting menu should be a slight increase to your grand finale, maybe something light and delicate like a shrimp or scallop dish at first, but I wanted to go bold right out the gates. To me this dish is the perfect amuse because it hits you in the face with a powerful smack of flavor, but since it is so small the only thing you can say is,” I want more”. The menu I put together was a southern style menu hence the BBQ item, which is also very nontraditional. The item was considered a hit and took quite a long time to prepare, but in the end was more then worth it.

I bought 2 lbs of prime beef short ribs, and marinated them with a BBQ rub for 24 hours. The seasonings puncture to flavor and tenderize the meat.

I then created my own BBQ sauce using roasted plum tomatoes, molasses, sherry vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, onions, garlic, fresh thyme, and s & p. thicken with a little roasted tomato paste and let go on the stove for 4 hours on a light simmer.

After the BBQ sauce is complete, I then sear the short ribs on the grill getting a couple of really nice grill marks. I then smoke them for 30 minutes, but while they are smoking I start my braising liquid consisting of celery, onion, carrots, water, and the BBQ sauce. You sear the vegetables, then add the water and BBQ and bring to a boil. Take the ribs out of the smoker, put in a deep half hotel pan, and then cover with the hot braising liquid. Make sure to get the veg in there, then top with foil and put in the fridge over night.

The next day you are going to put that pan in a oven at 375 degrees and let it go for 2 hours. Once complete you then pull out and check the tenderness, if it isn’t falling off the bone then it needs to go longer, this time though but over a open flame and just let the liquid boil until the meat has reached the proper tenderness. Once it has pull out of the liquid and allow to rest for 30 minutes, then you are ready to slice.

I took some of the BBQ and mixed it with a demi to create the sauce on top, to also give it a classier touch, and then served it on top of a root vegetable puree.

I know this seems like a really long process, but as always good food takes time and this time sacrifice is well worth it in the end.

So You Want To Be A Chef

So You Want To Be a Chef – Part II

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You are on you’re feet all day, anywhere between 7 and 15 hours a day, 5-7 days a week. So what that means is the most important tool in a chef’s repertoire is not his Wustohf knives or his fancy Japanese water stone, but is your feet. For some people you can buy a pair of Birkenstock clogs and you are set, but for some of us you need to really pay attention to your feet and what type of shoe would be best for you. Over time I ran into a few issues that have caused a extreme strain on my daily fatigue and overall personality.

I started coming across my first issue when I tried to work out and do my daily shifts on the regular. I wasn’t properly stretching on the daily and so started  creating a extreme amount of tension on my muscles and started breaking down my arches and so got diagnosed with plantar fasciitis. To relieve this pain and to prevent this from happening to you, there are various stretches that you can do that I would recommend starting immediately and getting into a set routine. Another thing you can do is roll a frozen water bottle up and down your feet, it relieves the muscle and helps keeping that muscle from having excessive muscle inflammation.

Another thing to watch out for is making sure that your toes have plenty of room to wiggle, and that your feet fit comfortably in the shoe with no tightness or pinching. Also make sure that what ever shoe you where has proper cushioning and arch support. My newest issue I have been diagnosed is called Nemouras, it is a symptom in the middle of the 3rd and 4th toe where your nerves create a small hard ball, and every time you step on it you have a hot searing pain that shoots up your leg. I am not completely sure how this happened, but I think it was because with my flat feet that the Birkenstocks were not giving me the proper cushioning in the balls of my feet and in response my muscles and nerves created this stone where I was constantly hitting the floor first. The remedy right now was a couple of shots injected at the podiatrist office in each foot, and hopefully I will not need surgery to remove these little knots.

Any job where you are on your feet for long hours at a time are going to create these possible situations, I am not bashing on the chef life but trying to inform. That is the whole purpose of this thread of blogs is to give that heads up to the next generation of chefs so hopefully they can avoid these problems and have a easier time at reaching their career goals. Feet pain are not something people always talk about when you ask people about what it is like, but It is something you will deal with for as long as you are in the profession.

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So You Want To Be A Chef Part 1

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This post is for the dreamers, the Food Network Star want a bee’s, and the people bored at their desks at work. Before you go quit your cushy desk job, sign up for a overpriced culinary school, or think you will be on Food Network in the next five years, think again. like anything else in life I implore you to do your research, ask the oldest chef who is working in your favorite restaurant, and really find out what it is all about. It is intense, it is painful, and it is really messy, but most of all it can be a lot of fun.

What you need to remember about the cooking industry is that it is part of the service industry, what I mean by that is that it was a industry created from servants waiting on people with money. There can be money made in the industry, don’t get me wrong, but it will take every ounce of you to make that happen. You can’t half-ass it, you can’t focus on the negative aspects, and you can’t expect anything. So before you make that decision make sure that you have the passion, the dedication, and the resources to be able to be successful.

My recommendation to any aspiring chef is to go to college, get a degree in something else and make money first. Then when you are good at that start focusing on becoming a chef, start practicing at home and start understanding how a recipe truly comes together. Get a second job, in a good restaurant part time in the kitchen and start learning how a kitchen line really works. Then when you have made your nest egg and understand the basics go find yourself a chef to run your kitchen and get your restaurant going.

Understand that even the most knowledgeable restauranteurs fail at this endeavor, and that actually 86% of most restaurants close their doors in the first year. Only through experience can you truly learn what you do not know, and in the restaurant industry their will always be something you do not know. Hire people who do know, and I am not talking about a experienced server or bartender, because what they know is how to rob you and how to find the way to do the least amount of work. Hire professionals with experience and credentials that can actually help you see all the corners and crevices that only someone with experience would know.

Most people supervised a cafeteria when they went to college or served a few years back in the day and think they know it all, they don’t know shit and neither do you. That is the attitude you need to have to be successful, just don’t let your employees know that ;).

Unless you are opening a one man band type of operation the next thing you need to be is a leader. Make sure you are truly honest with yourself on this one because you WILL be tested every day and if you are not then you will fail. Understand that the word professional doesn’t really apply to majority of the people who will be working for you. These will be kids, old people, people who have no other options, immigrants, or ex convicts. What that means is that you better know how to talk to each of these types of people and you better get ready to deal with some stupid crazy stuff. Hiring with background checks and work references my alleviate some of these situations, but if you are just opening then you probably wont have the money or time to look into this. My recommendation is to not get stingy with this part, because it is really necessary when hiring in this industry. Add a little extra to the loan or the necessary investor amount of capital to really try to get the best you can with what you are working with.

It isn’t all about the food and drinks either, you need to be a pretty handy person when it comes to maintaining your place. While in college take a basic electrical and carpentering class, maybe even a computer and networks class for fun. If you want to make a pretty good gross profit on your facility then you can not call someone in unless you really have to, professionals are expensive and every dollar saved helps.

It isn’t all negative though, like I said it can be a lot of fun, but if that”s why you are doing it then you have to plan to open your own place because working for a corporation will suck all the fun out of it. Some people just want to have a place to go and drink, some want to just meet and have fun with the servers, but if you are like me it is because you want to do all kinds of different foodie things and have your mad scientist moments. Working for a corporation you for the most part can’t do any of that unless you are in the key position and even then there is always someone lurking around the corner with a reason for why you can’t. So make sure you have your dream nicely laid out in a business plan and get ready for a never boring roller coaster ride that wont shut down until you do. It definitely beats the boredom of sitting in front of a desk, staring at a computer screen in a air conditioned room, right? 🙂