Chef Academy Au Gratin

Now that Top Chef has ended, I need a new food show for inspiration and I have been trying to get into Chef Academy. This au gratin dish intriqued me because they added curry as well as nutmeg. It was yum!!! (They haven't posted their recipe on line but I could tell it was a traditional gratin with the added spices.)

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

3 lb baking potatoes (about 6 large), peeled and sliced in 1/8 inch thick rounds --I use a mandolin.

6 oz. Gruyere or Swiss cheese, finely shredded

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp. of curry

1 tbsp. of nutmeg

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Layer half the potatoes evenly over bottom of prepared dish. Sprinkle with half the cheese, garlic, spices and salt; drizzle with half the cream. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

3. Bake uncovered 1 1/2 hours or until potatoes are tender when pierced and top is brown and crisp. Notes: Notes: Planning Tip: May be baked up to 1 day ahead. Refrigerate covered with foil.

New Year's Eve - Part 2 - Easy and Very Good Coq Au Vin

A Casey/Top Chef Recipe
Only thing I would have changed was I would have added about 10 chicken thighs for 6 people.
6 chicken thighs, skinless
Salt and pepper
Grapeseed oil for searing ...olive oil works just fine
1/2 lb bacon, diced small
1 small white onion
1 bunch ramps...80/20 and also impossible to find
1T tomato paste
1 tomato, cut into chunks
1 bay leaf
3 cups red wine
3 sprigs thyme
2 cups chicken stock
2 bunches, asparagus spears
4 russet potatoes
1 cup cream
1 stick butter, salted
1T mascarpone
Chopped dill
1t grapeseed oil
7 cipollinis, blanched and peeled...80/20 ..impossible to find

Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper. In a hot saute pan, heat grapeseed oil over medium-high heat. Sear chicken on both sides. Set aside.
Remove all but one tablespoon of oil from the pan. Add bacon and render the fat. When bacon is almost cooked, add onion and ramps. After 2 minutes, add tomato paste, tomato chunks and bay leaf for seasoning. Turn heat down to low-medium and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Deglaze pan with red wine. Cook wine for 10 minutes. Return chicken to pan, add thyme sprigs and chicken stock. Cover with foil and place in preheated oven of 350 degrees. Cook for 1 hour. Remove foil and continue cooking after stirring chicken uncovered for 15 minutes.
In the meantime, slice asparagus. Peel and cut potatoes into chunks. In a pot of cold, salted water, place potatoes on medium-high heat. When potatoes boil, cook until just tender. When ready, completely strain off water and return potatoes to pot. Steam off the water over low heat. Be careful not to scorch potatoes on the bottom. Run potatoes through a ricer and mix with cream and butter (reserve 1 tablespoon) a little at a time until creamy. Whip in the pan with a wooden spoon. Season and add in mascarpone; garnish with dill. Set aside.
In a sauté pan, melt one tablespoon of butter with grapeseed oil. Add cipollinis and saute with salt and pepper. When browned and cooked through, add to tomato-chicken stock sauce.

A New Year's Eve Top Chef Dinner - Round 1

I am not a huge fan of New Year's but I was certainly happy to see 2008 move on out the door as a financial sector employee and I figured a 2009 celebration was worthy of some culinary delights! I served this on small plates as an appetizer.

For the Shrimp:
18 pc black tiger shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used Giant Eagle farm raised shrimp that was already cooked and thawed and then sauteed it in butter, paprika and black pepper. I added the bacon on the side and did not wrap the shrimp. Not quite as elegant but the flavor was still there.)
1/2T Kosher salt
9 bacon slices
2t cracked black pepper
Grapeseed oil for searing (80/20....olive oil works just fine!)

For the Grits:
2qt chicken stock
1qt milk
1/4 stick unsalted butter
1qt instant grits (I could only find quick grits and I used milk and broth to cook but followed the directions on the grits box to ensure the proper amount of liquid.)
2 cups grilled corn kernels
1 cup poblano peppers, small diced
2 cups aged white cheddar cheese
3T chopped cilantro
2T Kosher salt
2T cracked black pepper

For the Chipotle-Tomato Butter:1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2T chopped garlic
3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
3T chipotle peppers (in Adobo)
1t black peppercorns
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 stick unsalted butter1/2 bunch cilantro1 lemon, juiced
2t Kosher salt

Shrimp Prep:Season shrimp with a little Kosher salt. Using a hot grill, quickly mark each shrimp. Remove from grill and allow time to cool. Shrimp should still be uncooked. When cool enough to handle, wrap each shrimp with a half piece of bacon. Season with cracked black pepper. Sear each shrimp in grapeseed oil till crispy on both sides. Serve when rest of dish is ready.

Grits Prep:Using a deep saucepot combine chicken stock and milk. Bring to a simmer, add butter, and allow time for it to dissolve. Slowly whisk in grits a little at a time. When grits begin to thicken, lower heat. Switch to a spatula and fold in the rest of the ingredients. Adjust for addition seasonings if needed. If grits are too thick, add more chicken stock.

For the Chipotle-Tomato Butter Sauce: In a saucepot, sauté onions and garlic over medium heat. Next, add tomatoes, chipotle peppers and peppercorns. Continue to cook for another three minutes. Deglaze with chicken stock and lower heat. Cook for 5 minutes then place in a blender; blend till smooth. Place liquid back in saucepot and over low heat mount with butter, whisking in a little at a time. Add cilantro and season with lemon juice and salt. Turn off heat and allow 5 minutes to steep cilantro. Strain through fine mesh strainer and reserve warm till time to serve.
To Plate:Place small amount of grits in the center of a large plate. Drizzle sauce around grits. Place three pieces of shrimp around grits. Serve.

Top Chef 5 -- Leah's Winning Breakfast Amuse Bouche

I am always inspired by Top Chef even if I have to modify their recipes a bit...my pantry isn't quite as well stocked!

This was a great breakfast treat this morning, and 80/20....I didn't have any quail eggs and I didn't quite make it an amuse..mine was more like a sandwich.

1 quail egg...80/20 just a regular old egg!

1/4 cup canned whole tomatoes, mashed (I used crushed can tomatoes.)

1/2 tsp chili flakes

1 shallot minced

2 pieces of bacon

2 pieces French bread, cut 1 inch thick 80/20 I used English Muffins and trimmed the edges with a round cutter

1 clove garlic

Parmesan (just enough to grate over egg)

salt and pepper to taste

1 T olive oil

1 leaf sage, fried

1. Sweat the shallots in olive oil until tender.

2. Add chili flakes, then add canned tomatoes.

3. Cook until tomato is pretty dry.

4. Grill bread on both sides and rub with garlic.

5. Render bacon.

6. Once cooked, take out of pan, leaving bacon fat in the pan.

7. Place the grilled bread in the bacon fat, cook until crunchy.

8. Use remaining fat in pan to cook quail egg, sunny side up.

9. To assemble the amuse, use a cutter to punch out the bread in a 1 inch square.

10. Put a tsp of spicy tomato on the bread.

11. Cut the bacon into the same size as the bread and put it on top of the spicy tomato.

12. Punch the fried quail egg to make it fit the size of the bread, and place it on top.

13. Grate parmesan on top of the quail egg and put a little fresh ground pepper on top.

14. Garnish with 1 piece of fried sage or chives if you prefer.

Top Chef Flank Steak Salad

Top Chef was my inspiration this week and it was good! Perfect for a hot summer day....
Pineapple, Radish & Cucumber:
1 pineapple, peeled, diced
1 bunch radish, sliced
1 cucumber, sliced
Flank Steak:
1 lb flank steak
Salt and pepper to taste
Chili flakes to taste
1 oz extra virgin olive oil
(or other marinade)
Lime Dressing:
1/2 cup sprite
1/2 cup lime juice
1T white vinegar
Garnishes: (makes the salad!)
Chopped cilantro
Chopped mint

Top Chef Recipes

I don't get to watch Top Chef very often, but when I do I find it "food inspiring". Anyway, last season I saw a recipe for Fingerling Potatoes with Cauliflower, Cherries, and Goat Cheese. I gave it a try with regular small white potatoes. (Fingerlings are good, but $$.) Dried cherries can be hard to find, so you could also use Craisins -- you know for kids or just dried cranberries, but I really like the sweetness of the cherries. The cauliflower can definitely stink up your kitchen, so be prepared.

A note about Top Chef recipes - Because they do things on the fly on the show, the recipes are not always well-documented, so be prepared to improvise to deal with the ambiguity. The one below was an exception and rather easy.

Cauliflower and Fingerling Smash
3 cups fingerling potatoes, sliced, half-inch rounds
3 cups cauliflower florets, medium-bite size
Milk (enough to cover)
1/2 cup chevre
1/2 cup chopped dried cherries
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped fine
Salt and pepper to taste
Place potatoes and cauliflower in heavy bottom pot; cover with milk and simmer on medium-heat until tender making certain not to overcook potatoes. Strain; reserve some cooking liquid.
(I used a potato masher before adding the remaining ingrediants.) In a mixing bowl, add potatoes, cauliflower, chevre and cherries, folding repeatedly, breaking down potato starch. Add parsley and season with salt and pepper