Oui, Chef - Part 50

Jamie Oliver’s Chicken Korma

April 22, 2010 By Steve Dunn 14 Comments

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again….I’m a big fan of Jaime Oliver. I like his food philosophy, I like his recipes, I like his no-nonsense approach to getting things done in the kitchen, I like the message he’s bringing to the world, and the campaign he’s built to not only get families eating healthier food, but to get better food into the schools for our kids.People ask me all the time, “if you could be any chef on the planet who would it be?”. As you might guess, the normal superstar suspects all come to mind….. let’s see there’s Robuchon, Keller, Ducasse, Vongerichten, Boulud, Ripert, Blumenthal, and Adria, just to name a few. But to be honest, if I could click my heals together today and change myself into any chef currently working, I’d want to be Oliver. I mean, it would be very cool to be any of the aforementioned chefs, working at the very peak of gastronomy, but I don’t think there is any chef working so hard to bring better food and cooking skills to average families and kids than Oliver, and how cool and important is that!

Baked Polenta with Spinach and Chicken-Apple Sausage

April 18, 2010 By Steve Dunn 14 Comments

This is a dish that Boris and I whipped up the other night, and I must say that for such a simple and quick preparation, it is REALLY good. I found this recipe in Whole Foods Market’s Spring Magazine, a copy of which my wife and I received upon attending last week’s “Share Our Strength’s” – “Taste of The Nation” fund raising event in Boston.

A quick word about Share Our Strength. They are a national organization that raises money through their pioneering culinary events (Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation, Great American Dine Out, A Tasteful Pursuit and Great American Bake Sale) and award grants to support successful organizations across the country that work to provide children and their families with the healthy food they need. Since their inception in 1984, they have raised over $265 million and provided support to more than 1,000 of the most effective hunger-relief organizations around the globe. They also provide on-the-ground cooking and nutritional training to at-risk families through their “Operation Front Line” program, and I will be starting work with them shortly as a volunteer chef instructor for some of their Boston based classes. I’m very excited to be getting involved with such a terrific organization, and I’ll certainly be sharing more about my work with them in later posts.

But for now, let’s get back to this polenta dish.

Quinoa Tabbouleh

April 15, 2010 By Steve Dunn 4 Comments

I must admit that I felt a little like Heidi Swanson the other day when working up this recipe. No, it wasn’t ’cause of how I looked in the stylish skirt I was wearing ;-), but rather this quinoa and veggie treat is exactly the kind of thing that Heidi presents so beautifully on her blog, 101 Cookbooks every week.

Growing up in Vermont, with an Italian mother manning the stove, I didn’t grow up eating anything quite so exotic as middle-eastern cooking. In fact, it wasn’t until I married my wife, who is of Lebanese descent, that I was finally exposed to more than just the very basics of middle-eastern cuisine. Since then, I have come to love not just the ubiquitous hommus, falafel, and baba ghannouj, but also dishes like fatayer, kibbe and tabbouleh.

"Three Cities of Spain" Cheesecake

April 12, 2010 By Steve Dunn 7 Comments

It is amazing what we food bloggers have to do sometimes to track down a top-notch recipe for our readers. As you may have guessed from the title of this post, this one took a lot of travel and research to pull together for you guys. I'll have you know that I just landed back from a trip to….can you guess? Yeah, three cities in Spain (Barcelona, Madrid and Seville to be exact), where I traveled to uncover the secret recipe for this deliciously light and creamy cheesecake.

What…..you don't believe me? You doubt my spare-no-expense commitment to scouring the world for only the very best recipes to share with you all? Boo….you make sad.

Ming Tsai’s Tea Rubbed Salmon

April 8, 2010 By Steve Dunn 24 Comments

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It’s confession time, my friends.

OK….are you ready?

I really don’t care for salmon.

These are words of a heretic, I know.

Of all the fish in the sea, most folks go on and on about the wonders of salmon, but to me, its just a little too….how shall I say this…..FISHY.

Whatever taste buds I have in my mouth that are responsible for tasting “fishy” things must have been inherited from my Dad, who won’t eat even a molecule of fish unless you put a gun to his head. My Mom on the other hand, resides at the other end of the spectrum and believes anything milder than mackerel, bluefish, or bagna cauda is just plain tasteless and boring. I have to say that I’ve got the “fishy” thing kinda bad, because just the thought of smelling mackerel on the grill makes my stomach go all queasy.

"Olives" Roasted Cauliflower with Honey and Spices

April 4, 2010 By Steve Dunn 14 Comments

Until very recently, whenever I’d pass the cauliflower display in my local market, I’d mumble to myself….”what the #$%^ do people do with cauliflower anyway?” I mean, I’m a cook with fairly well rounded tastes, comfortable cooking and eating just about anything, but for some reason, I have avoided, ignored, and dismissed cauliflower for years. It could be that I never remember having it as a kid, it just wasn’t a part of my mom’s cooking routine, and therefore I never developed a taste for it when I was young. It could be that the few times I’ve had it served to me and actually liked it, it was either deep fried, or drowning in a cheese sauce, and as much as I’m a fan of cheese and ANYTHING fried, to me, that whole route seems to defeat the purpose of eating vegetables in the first place.

Bouchon’s Parisienne Gnocchi

March 30, 2010 By Steve Dunn 15 Comments

Alright, let’s just get this over with, shall we?

Here it is, the last Keller recipe in the pipe-line. Not that any of you have been complaining, in fact, over the past few days I’ve received more than a few requests from readers to “Keep Cooking Keller”, but in an effort to offer you all a better balanced and wide ranging selection of recipes to cook with your kids, this will be the last we see of our friend for a while…..I’m all verklempt.

I don’t know about you, but I do find that I’ll roll with a particular chef, a new cookbook, or even a style of cooking for some period of time in order to really pull a lot from the experience. I do think it helps to spend some unhurried time with a chef, or perhaps a “regional” style of cooking to really come to understand him/it, and so I have enjoyed finally cooking some of Keller’s fab food, and I hope you have too. I’m sure we’ll get back to his great food some day in the not too distant future, like maybe if someone buys me his new book “Ad Hoc at Home” for my birthday this year….anyone….anyone?

Thomas Keller’s "Ad Hoc" Brownies

March 26, 2010 By Steve Dunn 28 Comments

I have been struggling for the past few days about whether or not I should post this brownie recipe. For starters, it has only been a few months since I blogged about the King Arthur Brownies, and one of the things I really strive to do, not just for my family, but for all of you who are taking the time to read our blog, is to offer up a nice variety of dishes to enjoy. I guess I’m concerned that by posting two brownie recipes in about as many months, I’m not trying hard enough to bring fresh ideas to the table….Boo.

The second reason for my balking at writing this post is that the recipe happens to be YET ANOTHER one from Thomas Keller, you remember him right, the brilliant chef of “French Laundry”, “Per Se”, and “Bouchon” fame? So…..not only am I double-dipping with brownies here, but I am passing along my third Keller recipe (I’ve already written about Bouchon’s Quiche Lorraine and Chocolate Bouchons, and I have YET ANOTHER one in the “Oui, Chef” pipe-line) ….talk about a rut.

Will you ever forgive me?

Anise, Basil and Vanilla Marinara Sauce

March 23, 2010 By Steve Dunn 10 Comments

I know what you’re thinking….because when I first heard of this sauce (or I should say, the recipe that inspired this sauce), I thought the same thing too.

WHO IS THE FREAK THAT THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO PUT VANILLA AND STAR ANISE INTO AN ITALIAN TOMATO SAUCE?

I’m right, yes? This IS what you are thinking, and I was right there with you until I stopped for a moment to further reflect on this seemingly odd combination. The fact is, many varieties of basil (which is part of the mint family) exhibit a mild licorice flavor similar to anise to begin with, and in fact there exists a variety of basil called Anise Basil that contains an even higher level than most of anethol, the same chemical that makes anise smell like licorice.

HMMM…PERHAPS THIS DUDE ISN’T ENTIRELY NUTS AFTER ALL.

I then recalled having had a number of desserts over the years that featured tomato confit flavored with vanilla, the most memorable of which was a roasted tomato tarte tatin, which to be honest was sublime.

So…..the anise is a natural compliment to the basil, and the vanilla-tomato combination has been shown to totally rock.

OK….OK….I’M LISTENING.

Chicken Parmesan Burgers

March 19, 2010 By Steve Dunn 16 Comments

Peyton and I whipped up these burgers a few nights ago to critical acclaim from EVERYONE in the family, and I have to be honest with you, that almost NEVER happens, especially with a dish that is being tried for the first time. This recipe is our adaptation of one that I found in the latest edition of Bon Appetit magazine, and it is absolutely a keeper.

In the photo, I show the burger served sans bun, more like a salad with a little marinara drizzled to the side. My wife ate hers this way, I had mine between two toasted slices of a great, rustic pain francese from Iggy’s Bread in Cambridge, and the kids all chose to have theirs on whole wheat hamburger buns. Regardless of how we each prepared ours, we found the patties to be a delicious, moist and healthy alternative to a standard beef burger.

It was nice to be able to serve “burgers” without firing up the outdoor grill that night, especially since it was pouring rain and howling winds at around 50 MPH the night we cooked these….Ugh.

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