Warning: this is a clip from last year, shot with my web cam, and was never posted here with the other “bad old” clips due to audio problems. I had a few fans of my original blog asking for it (demanding to be more accurate), so I simply did a new voiceover and decided to post it as is.
This video’s horrible production value (I almost called this post “The Blair Witch Potato”) is more than made up for in that this really is a great recipe and technique. I really love potato gratins, but the thing I don’t enjoy, especially when I’m in a hurry is the slicing and layering. This video recipe shows you a shortcut method to achieve a very similar final product with much less work. You’ll have to watch to see how this is achieved since I don’t want to spoil the suspense and tension of the clip (unlike “Blair Witch” which we all knew was staged, and there weren’t really any ghosts).
You can use any cheese in this dish, of course, but I think a nice sharp cheddar is the way to go. I used a beautiful hunk of English Farmhouse Cheddar and it was great. Especially with the apple and shallot reduction that went over the pork loin I served with these potatoes. Also, I used low fat 1% milk for this dish. I would resist the temptation to use cream in this, as I think it makes it this recipe too rich. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 6 russet potatoes 2 cups milk 3 green onions 6 oz. cheddar cheese 4 tbl butter salt and pepper to taste *Bake at 400F until golden brown, about 20-30 minutes
You’re about to see a delicious culinary compromise. I was craving some grilled Italian sausage, but had a package of chicken thighs in the fridge waiting for me to grill them. What to do? My Uncle Bill (he of the now famous homemade pasta and chicken D’Arduini video recipes) makes a great Italian sausage scented with fennel, garlic and a touch of orange zest. He makes these before Christmas, cures them in his cellar, and cooks them on Christmas Eve after Midnight Mass. They are sublime. So, that’s really what I wanted, but as I said I had chicken to work with. I decided to use the same basic flavors to marinade the chicken to see if I could impart some of the magic of those sausages I was dreaming about.
Did it work? Yes and no. The chicken turned out to be very delicious. Anything grilled on a fire, after being marinated in garlic, fennel and orange is going to taste great, so on that level it was a great success. The only problem was it made me crave my Uncle’s sausage even more! By the way, if you’re wondering how I prepped my grill so the skinless chicken wouldn’t stick, go check out the Tandoori Chicken video recipe clip. Also, I like to garnish grilled meat dishes like this with the same fresh herb that I use in its dry form in the marinade. Since there was some dried oregano in the Italian herb mix, I finished my platter with some beautiful flowering oregano. This is just another great reason to plant some herbs, whether it’s in your backyard, rooftop, or windowsill. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 10 boneless skinless chicken thighs 4 cloves garlic 1/2 orange, zest and juice 1 1/2 tbl kosher salt 1 tbl dried Italian herb mix (oregano, basil, rosemary, marjoram, thyme) 1 tbl sweet paprika 1 tbl black pepper 2 tbl fennel seed 1 tbl olive oil
It was one of those San Francisco evenings when the fog comes in disguised as a light mist. Easier to feel than see, I could hear its tiny sizzle as it slowly floated down onto my quickly dying coals.
The flank steak had been grilled and was resting, but my work was not over. I had fresh figs to grill before the damp evening claimed my fire. Not just any figs; deep dark purple, perfectly ripe, sweet and juicy Mission figs.
A drip of olive oil moistening their soft skins, on the grill they went. As the heat from the glowing embers began to expand the soft interiors, the surface of the figs tightened and became shiny. Soon small cracks appeared, and the sound of their sweet syrup dripping into the coals told me they were done.
Back inside the steak was sliced thin and scattered atop a tangle of wild arugula. The still warm figs joined the plate, as did a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette. A grind of black pepper and pinch of sea salt were the only garnishes needed. We ate in smiling silence as the fog disappeared into the darkness. There is no video record of this extraordinary meal. Some things are better left to the mind’s eye.
Today’s clip is a very basic kitchen technique on roasting and dicing a bell pepper. While you may have seen it done on TV before, I want to make sure you understand that you should be doing much more than simple burning off the skin. Every time I see this demonstrated, the chef simple blackens the pepper and removes the skin, either by rinsing or scraping. The problem, as I’ll explain in the video recipe, is that the skin blackens fairly quickly, while the pepper is still uncooked. I believe that you not only want to remove the skin, but you also want to roast the pepper over the fire to soften the texture and sweeten the flesh. Also, the little trick I show you at the end on how to get “diamonds” instead of the boring old squares is a nice technique to add to your rapidly expanding repertoire.
Now a special message for all my fans that have electric stoves…I’m Sorry. You can’t do this on an electric burner. You can sort of do it under the electric broiler, but it’s not as easy. You’ll just have to go outside and fire up the old grill. If you’re just doing one or two, you could use your Crème Brulee torch. Or, the next time your visiting your friend with the gas range you can bring along a bag of peppers. I’m sure they won’t mind at all. Finally, if you get my Bobby Flay joke in the middle of this video, then you watch way too much FoodTV. Enjoy!
That’s right, and the screen shot I took of the Technorati blog ranking stats proves it! Part of my usual weekend site admin duties is going over to Technorati to check my blog’s rank. You can imagine my excitement when I realized I was now the author of the top ranked blog in the world. Well, that didn’t take long. I guess I better call my broker and begin discussing my IPO.
The blog has been climbing steadily in rank ever since I first began tracking these statistics a few months ago. Back then, Food Wishes was ranked like 120,000th. At first, I was kind of depressed that after all the hard work I hadn’t even cracked the top hundred thousand blogs. But when I saw that the total number of tracked blogs was an amazing 71 million I felt a lot better, since that put me well within the top 1%. Last week when I checked I had climbed to the 70,000th ranked blog. So, I figured at that rate of ascent it was only a matter of time before I took over the top spot. I just didn’t think I would pass 70,000 blogs in one week.
Well, much to my chagrin, I soon found out that Technorati was doing some type of site maintenance and that every blog in the world was given the top ranking for a few minutes. When they finished their work I saw my real rank; a respectable and still rapidly climbing 60,930. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
It’s a shame when people don’t get to experience some great culinary pleasure simply because they don’t know how to work with the product. Fava beans, also called Broad Beans, or Horse Beans, are a good example of that. These beans are a favorite of Chefs worldwide because of their beautiful color and unique flavor. Unfortunately, for the average grocery store, or vegetable stand shopper, they are just those big, ugly, green pods that get passed over for the more familiar green string beans. I hope after watching this demo (and the next video recipe to follow) that you will run out and buy a big pile of these wonderful beans and begin to enjoy them, as they deserve to be. If you don’t find them at the grocery store, check the local farmer’s market.
Yes, as you’ll see, there is a little bit of work involved in preparing these beans for whatever recipe you are planning to use them in, but when you consider how delicious they are, it’s definitely worth the effort. I compared them in the title to Russian Dolls since the part of the bean you eat is actually a seed that is encased in a think skin, which is encased in a large green pod. Once liberated, these Fava beans are an incredible addition to so many dishes. They can be eaten plain, added to pastas, risottos, soups, or in salads, as I use them in the next demo. This clip is really just part one, of a two part video recipe. In the next video I’ll combine them with butter beans, roasted peppers, garlic, lemon and mint to create a cold bean salad so delicious it defies description. So, stay tuned for that. Enjoy!
My sources in LA tell me that when actor Christopher Walken heard that a certain George Clooney look-a-like was doing cooking videos online, he became enraged and demanded his personal assistant film him making his “famous” roast chicken and pears. And to think, all this time I thought Mr. Walken was a great actor. After seeing this surreal and somewhat disturbing cooking clip, I realized that he hasn’t been acting at all. He really is the creepy, monotone-voiced character we’ve seen him play all these years.
What’s even worse than this guy blatantly stealing my act, is the fact he cuts off the video just as a cat jumps up on the counter and heads for the chicken. What happened next? Is there going to be a sequel? By the way, on the very rare chance Mr. Walken sees this (or his people see it and call my people), I’d like to say I’m just kidding and please don’t hurt me.
This video’s horrible production value (I almost called this post “The Blair Witch Potato”) is more than made up for in that this really is a great recipe and technique. I really love potato gratins, but the thing I don’t enjoy, especially when I’m in a hurry is the slicing and layering. This video recipe shows you a shortcut method to achieve a very similar final product with much less work. You’ll have to watch to see how this is achieved since I don’t want to spoil the suspense and tension of the clip (unlike “Blair Witch” which we all knew was staged, and there weren’t really any ghosts).
You can use any cheese in this dish, of course, but I think a nice sharp cheddar is the way to go. I used a beautiful hunk of English Farmhouse Cheddar and it was great. Especially with the apple and shallot reduction that went over the pork loin I served with these potatoes. Also, I used low fat 1% milk for this dish. I would resist the temptation to use cream in this, as I think it makes it this recipe too rich. Enjoy!
