Oven roasted potatoes are one of my favorite, go-to side dishes when cooking at home. In this particular technique, we first blanch the potatoes using a cold water start (just like we would with any other root vegetable) and then roast in a hot oven until golden brown.
Rib Eye is one of my favorite steaks to cook and eat. In this video, I show you a simple preparation that calls for pan searing the steak on both sides, and then we end the video with a simple, mushroom reduction sauce.
In this video, I demonstrate a super simple tomato sauce that goes great with spaghetti or pasta. Because this tomato sauce is never cooked (only quickly heated right before serving), it maintains a bright color and fresh flavor.
In this video, I demonstrate the restaurant method of par cooking risotto and then finishing it later on the "pick-up." While the par cooking step is optional, it allows for a faster execution which is necessary in a restaurant environment. It can also be used to make the risotto cooking process more convenient for week night dinners or parties. Risotto can be par cooked and stored in your refrigerator up to three days in advance.
Rillettes are a great introduction into charcuterie because they're fairly easy to make and absolutely delicious. These salty-meat spreads are best described as a cross between confit and pate, and our one of my favorite ways to start a casual gathering or a multi-course tasting menu.
In this video, I demonstrate the technique of covered saute and glazing that can be universally applied to most produce, especially root vegetables such as carrots, onions, parsnips and radishes. To demonstrate the glazing technique, we take a trip down "Classic Flavor Lane," using minced ginger, carrots and turmeric as our main flavor profiles.
Heirloom tomatoes are a special crop that I look forward to every year. Unlike other common supermarket tomatoes that have had their flavor bred out of them (not to mention they're usually picked green and forced ripened using ethylene gas), heirlooms are true, unique strains of tomatoes that haven't been messed with. Each variety of heirloom tomato has it's own unique color, flavor and shape, just like nature intended. And did I mention that they're absolutely delicious and about to hit their peak?
Sauce vierge is one of my all time favorite sauces. The word "vierge" is French for "virgin," meaning that the ingredients in a vierge are not cooked. This is the sauce that we use for our heirloom tomato caprese, which I will demonstrate in an upcoming video.
In a previous video, we went over how to make a basic version of creamy polenta. In this video, we take the leftover creamy polenta, let it set in a mold overnight, slice and pan fry. The fried polenta cake is then topped with a simple caprese that makes a great summer dish that's perfect for a quick lunch on a sunny patio.
In a previous video, I demonstrated how to peel and slice watermelon for use on a fruit platter or salad. In this video we’ll take the left-over rind and turn into a versatile condiment by using a fairly straight forward pickling process.
These savory caramelized onion scones are perfect for breakfast, or a mid-day snack with coffee or tea.
In a previous rebuttal video to a Slate.com article, we went over how to caramelize onions in 10 minutes. This shortened version of the video was uploaded so you don't have to sit through my 14 minute rant every time you'd like to review this technique.
This video demonstrates how we prepare and cook our sous vide chicken breast that we're currently serving with sauted spring vegetables and a reduced shallot jus.
The chicken breast is first brined for 24 hours in a 5% brine and then rinsed. Next, the chicken breast is vacuum packed individually and cooked sous vide in 60ºC/140ºF water bath for 4 hours. On "the pickup," the chicken breast is cut out of the sous vide package and the skin is pressed into rice flour and then pan fried in chicken fat.
What makes this sous vide chicken breast great ...
This post was inspired by Tom Scocca who last Wednesday released an article on Slate.com alleging a vast conspiracy among recipe writers. He claims that the "Recipe Writing Guild" is intentionally deceitful about how long it takes to caramelize onions and it wasn't long until the "Food-Arazzi" jumped on the link bait bandwagon.
I disagreed, and this is my rebuttal.
This video will take you through the process that we use to sous vide a rack of lamb at Stella. The nice thing about this process is we cook the lamb rack a second time in a reduced pan sauce which infuses both the lamb and the sauce with an amazing flavor.
A quick video that will demonstrate how to roast and peel a bell pepper.
In a previous video, I demonstrated how to make a cauliflower soup base. In this video, we will complete the dish by presenting what is called a "composed soup," where the garnishes are placed in a bowl and the soup base is poured table side.
It's spring time which means English Peas are now available. This quick video will show you how to prep and blanch English Peas which is a necessary step before adding them to salads, sautes or applying a secondary cooking technique.
Here's a quick video that will teach you how to peel and blanch pearl onions. Once prepped, pearl onions make a great accompaniment to many saute dishes.
I'm really proud to present this video because it's a long time in the making; not necessarily the completed dish itself, but all the fundamental cooking techniques required to actually execute this dish properly. When the thought struck to start a cooking "blog" (back before I even created FCS), I originally intended to chronicle advanced cooking techniques from a working chef's perspective.
