Monday, March 30th Recipe

I am still working on the format of my blog, but I would like to post a recipe every Monday. This one is in response to a comment for a tasty side to accompany BBQ. Although it's not a traditional Texas BBQ side, it is a very refreshing side that would pair well with spicy entrées!

Watermelon salad with feta cheese and pickled red onion

Ingredients

1 large seedless watermelon, rind removed and cut into 1" cubes

1 red onion, julienned

4 oz fresh feta cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups champagne vinegar

2 cups water

1/4 cup kosher salt

¼ cup pickling spices

1 scallion, julienned on bias

Extra virgin olive oil, as needed

1. Combine sugar, champagne vinegar, water, salt, and picking spices. Bring mixture to a boil in an aluminum pot. Remove mixture from the heat and strain out the pickling spices from the pickling liquid. Add in the julienned red onion. Let the onion sit in the pickling liquid for 2 hours.
2. Pour the onion and pickling liquid into a strainer. Save the liquid for the finished salad
3. In a large bowl, add the cubed watermelon, crumbled feta cheese, and pickled red onion. Lightly dress the salad with extra virgin olive oil, and some of the reserved pickling liquid
4. Plate the salad in individual bowls and top with the julienned scallion.

The sweetness of the watermelon, combined with the creaminess of the feta cheese pair well with the tartness of the pickled red onion. All the ingredients combine to create an incredibly refreshing side!

Plating Techniques

In this post, I will try to share some techniques I have learned on plating. Use these tips to turn your next dinner party into a hit!

First things first, you need nice WHITE plates. White plates allow you to show off the food without distracting designs or colors from the plate interfering. In the duck dish above, you will notice that a long rectangular plate is used. The food looks like it naturally belongs on the plate. The duck is sliced and fanned out, and the cabbage side was molded using a rectangular metal mold. Molds can be found in a lot of stores, think of cookie cutters without the goofy heart or star designs. An impressive trick to use at dinner parties is to sauce table side. This means that instead of adding the sauce to each plate in the kitchen, you place the plate in front of the guest then add the sauce. You can use a gravy boat or can buy porcelain sauce cups for this.

Don't overcrowd the plate. Just like in art class, you learned that negative space is good. Always leave a border around the food and don't plate on the lip. Not only does it look tacky, but when you carry the plate your fingers are going to touch the food. In the plate above, you can see that the sauce was painted onto the plate. You can buy food grade paint brushes at stores like Crate & Barrel or Williams and Sonoma.

Color, texture, and height are all key components in making food look good. We eat with our eyes before we eat with our mouths. Play around with different shapes and ingredients. A good plate goes together though, so don't needlessly throw ingredients on the plate just to add color. Each ingredient should complement one another.

The other day I was looking thru Art Culinaire, which is a hard cover quarterly publication that takes amazing photographs of food. I noticed how much the art of plating food has changed over the years. Just like clothes or anything else, fads come and go. So feel free to play around, keeping the simple tips I wrote about in mind.

Most of the photos were taken by me while cooking at Gotham Bar and Grill, created by Chef de Cuisine Adam Longworth

Things every cook must have in their kitchen!

Having cooked in professional kitchens for the past 5 years, I have come to realize that I was spoiled. You will always here me say that cooking at home is nothing like cooking in a restaurant kitchen. So after a while I thought to myself, how can I change that. How can I make my home kitchen more like a professional kitchen without spending $10,000 dollars? Here is a list of items or appliances that I think the cook at home can really use!

1. Chinois

A chinois is a fine mesh strainer that is a necessity for making perfectly smooth soups or purees. When buying a chinois, make sure it has a very sturdy handle! http://tiny.cc/8flWA

2. Food Mill

A food mill is a must have in the home kitchen. It is used for mashing and pureeing soft foods through a strainer. If you want to make creamy smooth mashed potatoes it is a must. http://tiny.cc/aig18

3. Cutting board

I know that everybody has a cutting board at home. Most people have 10" x 8" wooden cutting boards. I would suggest that if you have decent sized counter tops you purchase a larger rubber cutting board. The reason you want rubber is because it won't splinter, crack or swell. Also, it won't absorb odors or bacteria the way wood cutting boards do. You want to have a board that is heavy enough to keep it from sliding around, which can be dangerous. http://tiny.cc/zIQkI

4. Vita Mix Blender

The vita Mix blender is like no other blender on the market. The design and engine power ensures that whatever you are blending will come out uniform and smooth. Although it is pricey, it is worth it! To save money, look online for refurbished ones. http://tiny.cc/v2miS

5. Heavy duty pots and pans

Quality pots and pans do make a difference. If you pick your pan up and think it would break if you hit the wall with it, then you know it's cheap. Cheap pans don't conduct heat well, leading to hot spots and burnt food. Look for heavy bottom pans, with sturdy handles. In my opinion, nothing matches the quality of All-Clad. http://www.all-clad.com/

I know the products I picked out are expensive. I wanted to give you examples of what is used in professional kitchens. By doing some research, and using sites like EBay, you can find some good deals.

Choose Wisely - Buying A Knife

Why and how to buy yourself a professional knife.

Over the years, I have built up quite a collection of expensive knives. My justification was that I use them every day for close to 10 hours, why not have quality knives. If you run marathons, would you buy $10 sneakers from Payless? No, and the same goes for knives. I understand that the typical person doesn't use their knives at home 10 hours a day. But I do know that quality is important. If you can't slice a tomato without crushing it, then you need a new knife. Another good test is to cut chives. If the chives are crushed and broken, instead of small rings when cut, then you need a new knife. So what should you look for in a knife? First off it should have a full tang. A full tang you say…. What's that? The tang is the metal that runs through the handle of a knife. A full tang means that the knife is made from only one piece of metal so you won't have to worry about the handle breaking off. Next you should check the knifes weight and balance. You want a sturdy knife, but you also don't want a bowling ball. By balance, I mean that you want the blade to be as heavy as the handle. Pick up knifes and feel their weight and balance, find something that you feel comfortable cutting with. The last thing you should look for in a knife is the material that it's made of. For the typical home cook, you will want a knife that is made of high-carbon stainless steel. This metal is very tough, won't stain, and will keep its edge a long time.

I would suggest that you buy knives individually. If you buy a box set you will end up using only 2 or 3 of the knives anyways. A good 8" chef's knife, a paring knife, and a bread knife is really all you need to start with. You can accomplish almost every task in the kitchen effectively with these three knives.

Check out these sites to purchase knives.

http://korin.com/Shop

http://www.wusthof.com/en/default.asp

http://www.global-knife.com/

If you need any help on any knife related topics, feel free to contact me at Bmoscatering@gmail.com

Summers coming!

   

Growing up in New York, spring and summer were good times. Not only did you look forward to the warm weather after the brutally cold winter, but it also meant cookouts. I get nostalgic thinking about the smell of the grill fired up. Now that I live in Dallas, I can pretty much grill year round. There are very few places I would rather be then in my backyard, sun setting, manning my grill. It brings out the man in me, charring hunks of meat with tongs in hand. So for my first blog, I decided to include one of my favorite grilled items. I learned this recipe from my old chef de cuisine at Ouest Restaurant in New York City. http://www.ouestny.com/

Grilled Marinated Flank Steak With Chimichurri Sauce

Ingredients

2 lbs Flank steak

Salt, as needed

Black pepper, as need

Marinade Ingredients

1 cup Olive oil

8 cloves Garlic, crushed

½ bunch Parsley

1/3 cup Soy sauce

1 tbs Crushed red pepper flakes

1. Combine olive oil, soy sauce, and red pepper flakes. Score the surface of the flank steak with ¼ inch deep cuts about an inch apart and across the grain. Place the crushed garlic cloves in the small pockets. Place the flank steak in a large pan, or Rubbermaid container. Cover the steak with the olive oil, soy sauce and red pepper flake mixture. Distribute the parsley evenly in the container with the steak. Refrigerate the steak for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
2. Preheat your grill on high. Because flank steak is such a thin cut of meat, it will cook quickly. You want to get a good char on the meat! Just before grilling, remove the steak from the marinade. Remove all the garlic and parsley. Generously season the steak with salt and pepper. Soak a hand towel or rag in cooking oil, and coat the grill racks. Place the flank steak on the grill and close the cover. Grill for about 4-5 minutes on each side. Flank steak is best eaten medium rare. Anything past medium and it will be too tough. Remove from the grill and place it on a large platter. Using aluminum foil, create a tent and let it rest for 8 minutes. This is just enough time to make the chimichurri sauce.

   

Chimichurri Ingredients

1 ½ bunches Parsley, chopped

4 cloves Garlic, chopped

¾ cup Olive oil

2 Shallots, chopped

2 Lemons, juiced

1. Place the parsley, shallot, and garlic in a food processor and pulse. When the mixture is pretty well blended, add the lemon juice and drizzle in the olive oil. You want a pretty even mixture, which is still fairly runny.

   

Remove the foil from over the steak and move it to a cutting board. Slice the steak across the grain into desired sized slices. Portion the steak onto plates and drizzle with the chimichurri sauce. A salad of oven roasted fingerling potatoes, watercress, and blue cheese make a great accompaniment to the steak!