Tribute

This week I want to start out by saying goodbye to a dear friend.

For 68 years Gourmet magazine has offered the insights of the world to its readers, bringing to their homes exotic sights and flavors well before most were able to travel and see them for themselves.

Sure, it may not have been as smart or as good looking as younger sister mag Bon Appetit, but as the nation's longest running culinary magazine it has inspired countless home cooks and chefs alike, a legacy in and of itself.

So as a tribute to Gourmet I have chosen a cocktail featured in the "Gourmet's Favorite Cocktails" section on their website, which showcases the best cocktails that they have published since their inception, categorized by decade! Check it out while you can!

With a lot to choose from (and more to appear as specials later on) I settled on a simple yet delicious cocktail from the 1970's: a combination of champagne and Lillet, a French Aperitif comprised of a blend of 85% white wine and 15% citrus liqueurs, garnished with a healthy twist of orange.

To me, no drink pays respect like a glass of bubbly, and to raise a drink that comes from the source of inspiration is the ultimate tribute.

Cheers to you, old friend!


As for the dinner special, I came up with a dish worthy of any food magazine's cover:

Keeping with my earlier promise, I am continuing my quest to present dishes that embody the seasonal transition by combining the light attributes of summer with the earthiness of autumn, and this one sure fits the bill.

First, I slowly smoked chicken thighs with applewood until the meat is a beautiful, dark amber that I rolled with chevre goat cheese as a filling for thin crepes made with parsley, chives, thyme and rosemary.

Then, for a sauce I shaved the kernels of fresh, local corn that I blended with the rich corn stock made from the cobs. Once strained and thickened with Agar Agar (a vegetarian alternative to gelatin that I also use for my "Ding Dong" dessert), this sauce has an amazing velvety texture that packs an unbelievable punch of pure corn flavor!

For the finishing touch, I topped the crepes with a mound of local lobster mushrooms that I sauteed simply in butter and chives to allow their flavors to shine.

This is not the greatest dish in the world, this is just a tribute ;)

With Love,

Cheffrey

A Taste of Home

I'd be lying if I said that I've had a hard time dreaming up specials lately. Truth be told: I have enough completed dishes to get me through the next month, and that doesn't even include ideas based on those wonderful "blips" of produce that quickly surface in the market (Lobster Mushrooms anyone??). So why the long list? It is the inspiration of that first chilly day, where the leaves turn crisp and jingle in the breeze and when the bounty of produce begins to peak; it is in fact my favorite time of year.

This is the time of the year where we get to view another side of my style of cooking - rich and bold flavors mingling with familiar ingredients to impart the fundamental sense of home; not just my home, and not just your home, but any home. With years of living in different areas of this great country and with its many influences I have found that, though the regions and the people differ, the soul of the food remains the same, and with that thought in mind, I came up with this:

I started the dish by sauteing large pieces of rockfish, which I love for it's almost shrimp/lobster texture while still staying flaky, like a fish should. Next I wanted to combine something traditionally American with what is unconventionally American, so I made a base of roasted sugar pie pumpkins pureed with garlic, onions and a touch of allspice and blended it with red Thai curry paste and some coconut milk for richness.

To finish the dish I went with a Guamanian preparation of pickled papaya that I used to form a salad along with red bell pepper, scallion, jujube (a.k.a. Chinese date) and fresh cilantro to offset the lusciousness of the pumpkin curry, and topped it all off with toasted papaya and pumpkin seeds for even more crunch and flavor.

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Once I had this week's special finalized, I knew that I had to come up with a cocktail that is also both conventional and unconventional, and then it struck me.

No cocktail has been more prevalent in America in the last decade than the ubiquitous Cosmopolitan, a blend of cranberry juice, lime juice, vodka and triple sec. So I replaced the lime juice and triple sec for lychee nectar, which not only rearranged the whole characteristic of the drink, but actually formulated a cocktail to pair with my special!!

Try them seperate or taste them together, either way you'll feel right at home.

With Love,

Cheffrey

The 25th Hour

Last week I snuck away for a little vacation to go back home for my brother's wedding. Sorry for not telling you before, but when people know that the chef is away they tend to expect the quality of food to go down, and when you already have negative expectations, they usually come true for you.

Obviously southern Indiana isn't an ideal place to summer for a week, but I had other matters to attend to, the biggest of which was the arduous task of making the wedding cake.

Fear not dear reader, I have done this before, even at my own wedding, and I hate to say it - this one came out better. With the requested kelly green ribbons, fleur-de-lis molded fondant and the fresh green rose topper this cake sure came out sharp!!

The bad side of the trip was the return; not that I didn't want to leave but because my wife and I had to go through Atlanta, GA to get here, and since they had more rain in 12 hours than we get here in December and January COMBINED, we had to leave Louisville at 2 am (Seattle time) just to get here in time for me to start work today. Now that's dedication!! Lucky for me, I already had this week's special mapped out.

The foundation of this dish starts with purslane, considered a weed here in the US but is now being cultivated by local farms that has a herbal, slightly sour flavor that makes an amazing puree when I blend it with shallots, garlic and cream.

As I've stated before I am now officially moving into fall flavors, so I continued building another layer of flavor for this dish with a light saute of sliced fingerling potatoes, baby fennel, bacon, thyme and scallions to showcase some earthy components of fall.

To top it all off I pounded portions of boneless lamb and cooked them sous vide to perfect medium rare and tender medallions which I dusted with a fine mixture of ground fennel seeds, black pepper and coriander.

During our layover at my mother's house last night she made us a favorite cocktail of a friend of her's - the French Martini - a blend of vodka, pineapple juice and Chambord to ease our traveling woes, which reminded me about a new type of flavored vodka that has hit our restaurant's shelves: Effen Black Cherry (as in "This effen situation sucks!"). So I thought that it would be fitting to merge the two into one great cocktail!

So I would like to dedicate this drink to my brother Craig and his new bride Heather: may your lives be sweet, together and forever.

With Love,

Cheffrey




























and cheers to the new bride and groom!!!

Summer Lovin', Had Me a Blast...

This is it, the end of the summer season… at least as far as my specials are concerned.

I’m not going to jump right into braised meats in rich and heavy sauces; I’ll ease into the season slowly by straying away from cold dishes and by introducing some earthy flavors, then once the autumn vegetables are in full swing the real fun begins.

So before the final shift to fall I wanted to make one last set of specials to pay homage to summer.

It is always popular when I have some kind of ahi tuna as a special, and there has been this idea floating around my head for quite some time involving an incarnation of tuna salad, but instead of a unidentifiable mushy mishmash using canned tuna I used fresh, seared tuna steaks and a variety of fresh textures and familiar flavors that stay true to the traditional dish.

First, I seared the ahi tuna steaks hot and fast like they should be and while they cooled a bit I assembled a crispy salad of red and orange bell peppers, shaved celery, cornichon, baby fennel, scallion and tomato dressed with a an Old Bay vinaigrette,and finished the plate with a wasabi-dill crème fraiche to add the finishing touch for the flavor profile.

For me, nothing says summer like a cool, refreshing glass of sangria, and a white version is a nice alternative. I was inspired by a night out at our friends and neighbors at Poco Wine Room where my wife and I had a pear fruit wine that, if we didn’t already know, could pass for a crisp chardonnay with strong pear notes. Unfortunately, it would be blasphemy to make sangria with a wine of that caliber, so instead I blended white wine with Looza (the best!) pear nectar and added chopped peaches and nectarines, the last of the season.



Sip it with joy, my friends, never with sorrow; though the end of summer is nigh, the bounty is near.

With Love,

Cheffrey

Seasonal Tribute

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but the summer is fading fast. In fact, my produce purveyor has already informed me (to his own dismay) that local Winter Squash(!!!) such as butternut and acorn are now available, although the term actually refers to squash harvested autumn that can be stored through winter, but still...!!!

I always find myself grasping at the tail-end of the season this time of year, trying to squeeze in every incomplete idea that I have jotted down in my notebook over the summer out of fear that I will be unable to coerce the same ingredient for another nine months or so. Fortunately for me I am always looking forward towards something new, but if an old idea falls into place it is only a sign that it is even more apparent that it belongs in my repertoire, as is the case with my next special.

I had first conceptualized a sauce that I've called a "Bacon Ragout" for my Guest Chef Night at the Farestart organization a little over a year ago, but I never had a chance to use it at the restaurant until now: first I finely chopped some Bavarian Meats bacon (have I already stated this as the BEST?...worth doing again) and rendered it slowly to yield its fat in order to create a base for my sauce, then I added sliced garlic, chopped onion, diced carrot and a touch of grated ginger root. Once the foundation was set I added half of a bottle of red wine, a mild beef stock, diced local tomatoes and chopped baby fennel and allowed it to simmer for a few hours to mature.

I knew that I wanted to use this sauce as a variation on the classic Southern dish of Smothered Chicken Thighs, but I really wanted to add the refinement of crispy skin to the traditional concept, so I pan-seared the skin side in rendered duck fat before roasting them in the oven (hey, I have to make up for the vegetarian dish from last week, right?). Once cooked through I returned the chicken to the bacon ragout so that they could absorb some of that succulent sauce before turning it all out over perfectly cooked jasmine rice.

The favors are Mediterrasian with the health benefits of southern style cooking!!!

For this week's drink special I decided to do a tribute to one of my many mentors, Paul Nicaj. Paul is one of a few who are responsible for giving me my first Executive Chef position and is also notoriously known from the Plaza and Pierre Hotels in New York City. One of his favorite introductory drinks to greet guests is the Bellini, a mix of peach nectar and champagne, so I thought that I would pay tribute to Paul and the progress that he has helped me make by offering a bellini made with fresh juiced Northwestern Peaches!!!!

Better yet, if you specifically ask for "Paul's Bellini" we will give you 25% off of the regular price!!

If Paul has taught me anything, it is loyalty to your customers, because without them, you are nothing.

With Love,

Cheffrey

Where's the Beef?

It would probably come as no surprise that at any given time that I sit down to figure out my next special, I'm usually trying to figure how I can put more meat into a dish, and more often than not it would be some form of pork. I must be coming down with something (swine flu?? waa-waa) because when I reached deep down inside to come up with another great idea, a vegetarian dish is what I found.

Perhaps I was inspired by all of the great local produce that I am seeing right now, or maybe it's another step in my growth as a chef by working out of my comfort zone in order to expand my horizons and potential. Either way, I am happy with the outcome, and after only one night as a special I was called out to the dining room to meet a guest who declared the exact words that I was hoping to hear:

"I'm not a vegetarian, and I love this!!"

If that isn't convincing enough, allow me to entice you: I started by salting thick slices of local eggplant to draw out the bitterness and any excess moisture, then grilled them until tender and pliable. I filled the slices with red lentils that were cooked with a fresh vegetable stock and then mashed with Japanese breadcrumbs, onions, garlic and extra virgin olive oil.

Due the the inherent mushiness of both the eggplant and the lentils I knew that I had to add some crunch to balance their textures. Since I also have an extensive knowledge of Pastry Arts I sometimes like to crossover sweet ingredients and concepts into savory dishes, like last week's Corn Custard, so for this I made an unsweetened crumble out of butter, flour, fresh thyme and oregano, cashews and dried porcini pieces - similar to what you might find on top of an apple crisp.

Yes, the eggplant is also complimented by sauteed baby swiss chard and a fresh sweet bell pepper sauce that was blended with a touch of mild middle eastern spices, but what really completes this dish is a warm and luscious brie sauce that gets its unbelievably velvety texture by passing it though my trusty whip cream canister.

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I am starting to feel like a radio DJ because I've been getting requests for repeats. I usually ignore the requests for the dinner specials unless they're something that is transformable like a flatbread or a seasonal item like my heirloom tomato plate simply because I like to make something new and you can only try one entree at a time, but as far as cocktails go, I'm all ears!!

So when a regular requested my Vodka Lavender Lemonade (a favorite of mine as well!), I gratefully complied.


To my loyal fans and followers, this bud's for you...;)

With Love,

Cheffrey

In a Pickle

I know that I have already professed my love for over-extending myself by hand-making the components of my specials that could otherwise be purchased like vinegars, cured meats or chips, but what you may not know is that the same holds true for our everyday menu as well. From condiments like Tomato Jam, Tzatziki and Ginger Dill Pickles for our burgers to the Sweet Pepper Relish under our Deviled Eggs. Aside from the concept that the more you do yourself the better the outcome, there is another factor here: my passion for the old world technique of preserving.

This time of year is the highlight of agriculture, with an overwhelming abundance of produce falling off faster than we can use, and just as much now as before fruits and vegetables are being jarred, dried and canned, but what was a method of survival is now a matter of flavor. So now I take it upon myself to carry on those traditions - not out of necessity, but of desire.

So for this dish I went with a more delicate approach of the pickling method; a tribute, if you will: instead of the heavy infusion of a boiling vinegar solution poured over the ingredients I decided to quickly marinate thinly sliced Green Beans, Red Onions, English Cucumbers, Red Bell Peppers and Celery in seasoned red wine vinegar over a period of hours at room temperature in order to retain their color and crunch, but still imparting that acidic bite.

The next component is something that I have been bouncing around my head for quite some time, being someone from Indiana and having a background with some Pastry Arts skills: I pureed fresh corn kernels with half 'n' half, cream and egg yolks and baked the mixture in a shallow pan (like a savory custard base for creme brulee), which was then cooled and cut into rectangular bars and topped with a new ingredient - Seared Sea Scallops, and for added dimension I dotted the plate with a sweet and spicy puree of thickened carrot juice cooked with Madras curry powder. The dish pops from the pickled vegetables and the spiciness of the carrot curry puree in contrast with the rich and creamy custard, all of which compliments the naturally sweetness of the scallops.

I know that this may seem like a backwards way of composing a dish, but you have to realize that accompanying ingredients are just as important as the alleged "main" ingredient, thus creating a balanced dish.

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This time, I can't take the credit for this week's drink special, and I am more than happy to do so. Our Brunch Manager Extraordinaire Kari Zumwalt took it upon herself to come up with this one.

Sometimes my cocktail specials don't translate well from nighttime to brunch; some people just don't like the taste of bourbon at 9 am (go figure...), so we have been augmenting them with more accessible concoctions like pomegranate mimosas or apricot bellinis in order to soothe the beast instead. Last weekend Kari was inspired by my use of local raspberries in the raspberry mojito and decided to implement her own version of a Kir Royale, but instead of sparkling wine with creme de cassis she used Chambord and garnished the glass with the same local raspberries! I loved it so much that I had to showcase it here!!!

It just goes to show you the dedication that everyone here has, and that I am not the only one here that has love to give.

With Love,

Cheffrey

Ambition

Life is not without irony, and that is certainly true for me as a chef. These days my specials have a tendency to be inspired by what I can write about them in this blog instead of the other way around, which is fine since it not only allows me explore another form of creativity in tandem with that of food, but sometimes those literary conceptions can come back to slap me in the face.

Case in point: this past Sunday my wife and I sat down to watch the much anticipated season premiere of Mad Men, an amazing show about an advertisement agency set in 1960's NYC. During the show a character's wife told him that he is "an ambitious man, and an ambitious man is never happy with what he has". The dialogue struck a chord with me because I too am never satisfied with what I have done in my profession; I am always trying to push the limits of myself and my kitchen further to create something better than I have before that can still be expedited quickly without sacrificing quality.

So I sat down later that night to do some brainstorming and I came up with an intriguing technique of wrapping partially cooked slices of potatoes into a lattice-woven crust around pork tenderloin. My mind was piqued with the possibilities, and after a couple of nights of stewing on it I finally had the chance to try it out early today at the restaurant, and the result was:

FAIL!

Not on a large scale, but since I didn't want to serve raw pork wrapped in a beautiful, crispy crust, I decided to go without. Fortunately, this idea wasn't the focal point of my dish... the succotash was.

Last week my purveyor presented me with some local fresh cranberry beans (cranberry beans are a fresh legume that have a chestnut-like flavor with a creamy texture, pictured here) and I knew right away what I could do with them. In the past I have used various beans in the place of lima beans to make succotash, a southern dish of shell beans cooked with corn that became popular during the Great Depression, but this time I added some local favorites: Red Corn, Yakima Tomatoes, Baby Swiss Chard and Walla Walla Onions.

To go with my now naked pork tenderloin I chose to make a bold and flavorful sauce that is still light enough to be enjoyed in the summer heat: a combination of pancetta broth with some beef stock for body and slowly simmered with a good dose of sherry wine for added refinement and depth.

"We aim above the mark to hit the mark." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Keeping with the theme of local I decided to once again tweak a personal favorite - The Mojito.

I didn't want to go too far with it though... after all, I have touted in the past the importance of simplicity and using quality ingredients in order to let them shine, so this week's cocktail is no different: to our already delicious mojito recipe I have added a muddling of some of the country's best raspberries from Richter Farms (not just by my opinion) for an added twist on the greatest heat-beater.

"A drink a day keeps the shrink away." - Edward Abbey

With Love,

Cheffrey