By guest blogger and New York writer Seanan Forbes
NEW YORK -- Sara Moulton, executive chef of Gourmet magazine's executive dining room, has a new cookbook coming out next year.
Last night, in New York Botanical Garden's Edible Garden, she was asked the title of the book. "Oh, I don't remember," she said, laughing, and went back to cutting plums for fruit potstickers. (Yes, fruit potstickers, as in crisp, fruit-filled dumplings. Last night's focus was on summer fruits in pastries.)
Whatever its title, next year's cookbook will be tailored for those of us who like cooking at home but who don't have loads of time.
Moulton, who cooks for a living and then cooks dinner at home five nights a week, certainly understands being in that position. She has loads of tips for the home cook:
* When you're rolling pizza dough, forget the flour. Put a little bit of olive oil - not too much, or the dough will slide all over the place - and roll it out. The dough will stay in place and roll out beautifully.
* Rolling out dough for a circle: rotate the dough in eighth-turns.
* Skinned chicken and lean cuts of pork can taste dry. Soak them in seasoned buttermilk for 20 minutes before cooking, and they'll be as tender as could be desired.
* Soak fish fillets or game in milk for 20 minutes to take the edge off the gamey or fishy scent,
* Buttermilk has two assets in tenderizing: acid and dairy.
* There are only two kinds of dairy you can boil: heavy cream and creme fraiche.
* Choosing oils for cooking: canola is healthy; grapeseed is flavorless.
* Thickeners: flour makes things opaque; cornstarch and tapioca, translucent.
* Refrigerating pastry dough relaxes the gluten (giving you more tender pastry).
* When blending pastry dough, it is better to have more, rather than fewer lumps.
* Wonton skins are a great cheat for everything from large ravioli to miniature lasagna - and nobody has to know you didn't make them yourself.
You can find more about Moulton on her website, saramoulton.com. Sweet and savory Edible Garden recipes are here.
Moulton encourages people to be creative. You're not stuck with the fruit that's in the recipe. If something else looks good to you, then use that instead. See what's available at the Green City Market.
With Moulton's inclinations, you know that her recipes are going to feed your passions without consuming too much of your time.
By guest blogger and New York writer Seanan Forbes
NEW YORK -- Sara Moulton, executive chef of Gourmet magazine's executive dining room, has a new cookbook coming out next year.
Last night, in New York Botanical Garden's Edible Garden, she was asked the title of the book. "Oh, I don't remember," she said, laughing, and went back to cutting plums for fruit potstickers. (Yes, fruit potstickers, as in crisp, fruit-filled dumplings. Last night's focus was on summer fruits in pastries.)
Whatever its title, next year's cookbook will be tailored for those of us who like cooking at home but who don't have loads of time.
Moulton, who cooks for a living and then cooks dinner at home five nights a week, certainly understands being in that position. She has loads of tips for the home cook:
* When you're rolling pizza dough, forget the flour. Put a little bit of olive oil - not too much, or the dough will slide all over the place - and roll it out. The dough will stay in place and roll out beautifully.
* Rolling out dough for a circle: rotate the dough in eighth-turns.
* Skinned chicken and lean cuts of pork can taste dry. Soak them in seasoned buttermilk for 20 minutes before cooking, and they'll be as tender as could be desired.
* Soak fish fillets or game in milk for 20 minutes to take the edge off the gamey or fishy scent,
* Buttermilk has two assets in tenderizing: acid and dairy.
* There are only two kinds of dairy you can boil: heavy cream and creme fraiche.
* Choosing oils for cooking: canola is healthy; grapeseed is flavorless.
* Thickeners: flour makes things opaque; cornstarch and tapioca, translucent.
* Refrigerating pastry dough relaxes the gluten (giving you more tender pastry).
* When blending pastry dough, it is better to have more, rather than fewer lumps.
* Wonton skins are a great cheat for everything from large ravioli to miniature lasagna - and nobody has to know you didn't make them yourself.
You can find more about Moulton on her website, saramoulton.com. Sweet and savory Edible Garden recipes are here.
Moulton encourages people to be creative. You're not stuck with the fruit that's in the recipe. If something else looks good to you, then use that instead. See what's available at the Green City Market.
With Moulton's inclinations, you know that her recipes are going to feed your passions without consuming too much of your time.
Well, lookie here! Rick Bayless already is a fierce Twitterer but now he also is blogging about the whole Top Chef Masters experience.
There are only a few posts up now, but considering Bayless' constant Twittering, complete with photos of his cooks on the line during service, you can rest assured it is the Top Chef Master himself doing the blogging and not some minion.
Bonus: He also gives up the recipe for his now-famous tongue tacos, which have been added to the menu at Frontera Grill. Just one more reason we're rooting for you, Rick.
We're down to the six "Top Chef Masters" finalists, a heavy-hitting crew that includes Chicago's own Rick Bayless and Art Smith. Last night's episode started with a bang -- the always nail-biting mise en place relay -- and just kept on going.
The chefs were split in teams for the quickfire challenge, with Bayless, Anita Lo and Hubert Keller on one side and Smith, Michael Chiarello and Suzanne Tracht on the other. The chefs had to divide and conquer these tasks: shuck 15 oysters, dice five onions, break down four chickens, separate five and beat the whites so that they hold upside for at least five seconds.
Never mind that these guys and gals haven't done their own prep in years - they still had it. When huggable Smith went up against smooth Frenchman Keller in the onion relay, and the cameras shifted between Keller's robotlike precision and Smith's seeming clumsiness, we were thinking, no way in hell. So was Bayless, who watched with amusement and said of Smith, "He's cutting his in a way I've never seen before!"
Yet ... Smith pulled his team ahead!
In another fascinating relay, Bayless faced off against Smith in the egg task -- and proceeded to beat the Big Bear rather soundly. "Rick Bayless was like Mr. Kitchen Aid," Smith admitted.
Afterward, the chefs were asked to prepare their signature dish. They sat down for a nice meal together, enjoyed each other's creations -- and learned that the elimination challenge was to prepare one of their competitor's dishes, but with their own stamp on it.
Smith's task was to interpret Tracht's clean dish of chopped sirloin with green peppercorn sauce topped with a fried egg. Bayless drew Chiarello and his fennel balsamic roasted quail with greens and roasted apples.
All of the chefs fretted about not wanting to insult each other by tweaking their assigned dishes too much. Yet, as the challenge wore on, we began to see just how strong the competitive fires burned. (Especially with Chiarello and Bayless - both chummy, all grins, but watch those two.)
Smith's dish was a take on a Scotch egg -- a hard-boiled egg enclosed in ground lamb -- served with sweet potato fries and a delectable tomato tart. Judges liked all the other stuff on plate. His downfall: "The grotesque huge ball of undercooked lamb was just terrifying," judge Gael Greene said. Youch. Tell us how you really feel, Gael
Bayless, meanwhile, just kept doing it right. His parsnip- and prosciutto-stuffed quail over wild greens delighted and surprised judges, who were expecting something Mexican from the Mexican master.
Ultimately, though, it was the quiet, methodical and mind-blowingly creative Lo who beat out Bayless by half a star. The ax was to fall either to Smith or Tracht, and in the end it was Tracht who was sent home .... again, by half a star.
We're down to the six "Top Chef Masters" finalists, the heavy hitting crew that includes Chicago's own Rick Bayless and Art Smith. Last night's episode started with a bang -- the always nail-biting mise en place relay -- and just kept on going.
The chefs were split in teams for the quickfire challenge, with Bayless, Anita Lo and Hubert Keller on one side and Smith, Michael Chiarello and Suzanne Tracht on the other. The chefs had to divide and conquer these tasks: shuck 15 oysters, dice five onions, break down four chickens, separate five and beat the whites so that they hold upside for at least five seconds.
Never mind that these guys and gals haven't done their own prep in years - they still had it. When huggable Smith went up against smooth Frenchman Keller in the onion relay, and the cameras shifted between Keller's robotlike precision and Smith's seeming clumsiness, we were thinking, no way in hell. So was Bayless, who watched with amusement and said of Smith, "He's cutting his in a way I've never seen before!"
Yet ... Smith pulled his team ahead!
In another fascinating relay, Bayless faced off against Smith in the egg task -- and proceeded to beat the Big Bear rather soundly. "Rick Bayless was like Mr. Kitchen Aid," Smith admitted.
Afterward, the chefs were asked to prepare their signature dish. They sat down for a nice meal together, enjoyed each other's creations -- and learned that the elimination challenge was to prepare one of their competitor's dishes, but with their own stamp on it.
Smith's task was to interpret Tracht's clean dish of chopped sirloin with green peppercorn sauce topped with a fried egg. Bayless drew Chiarello and his fennel balsamic roasted quail with greens and roasted apples.
All of the chefs fretted about not wanting to insult each other by tweaking their assigned dishes too much. Yet, as the challenge wore on, we began to see just how strong the competitive fires burned. (Especially with Chiarello and Bayless - both chummy, all grins, but watch those two.)
Smith's dish was a take on a Scotch egg -- a hard-boiled egg enclosed in ground lamb -- served with sweet potato fries and a delectable tomato tart. Judges liked all the other stuff on plate. His downfall: "The grotesque huge ball of undercooked lamb was just terrifying," judge Gael Greene said. Youch. Tell us how you really feel, Gael
Bayless, meanwhile, just kept doing it right. His parsnip- and prosciutto-stuffed quail over wild greens delighted and surprised judges, who were expecting something Mexican from the Mexican master.
Ultimately, though, it was the quiet, methodical and mind-blowingly creative Lo who beat out Bayless by half a star. The ax was to fall either to Smith or Tracht, and in the end it was Tracht who was sent home .... again, by half a star.
Vacationing on the shores of Michigan is not without its challenges. Cell phone reception often is spotty. And much to our chagrin last night, Bravo was not on the available list of cable channels in this otherwise lovely house. Which is another way of admitting we are Top Chef Masters junkies.
Thank goodness for the laptop and the wireless connection, though. We logged in first thing this morning to see who came out victorious, and lo and behold, it was Chicago's own Art Smith!
It appears Smith's fried chicken was too luscious, crispy and juicy not to win. Smith joins Rick Bayless as one of the six finalists. Chicago represents and we, for one, are not surprised.
At the end of the year, we pick what we deem to be the year's 10 best recipes. It's a rather unscientific process that involves physically paging through each section, scanning for recipes that strike a familiar chord.
Sometimes, though, we don't have to wait for the recipes to jump out at us from the page. Sometimes, the recipe is so fantastic the first and second and maybe even the third time we make it that we immediately catalogue it in our brains.
Urbanbelly chef and owner Bill Kim's recipe in today's Food pages is one of those. Somen noodles with shrimp and watermelon is a winner for its simplicity and pureness of flavors. And yes, shrimp and watermelon and noodles lapping up a salty, tangy dressing made of fish sauce sounds dubious at first, but it works, people, it works.
Kim wrote the accompanying column, an installment of our regular At the Chef's Table. But his most exciting news didn't make it into print -- he's expanding his Urbanbelly universe in Chicago with a sandwiches etc. type of place.
So make his noodles again and again, while summer and sweet watermelons are still around. And rest easy knowing you have plenty more from Kim to look forward to.
Overheard while getting lunch at the sandwich shop the other day: "I'm going to the Green City Market barbecue!"
Why is this significant? One, because if you're a foodlover, the Green City Market Chef's BBQ -- at 6 tonight in Lincoln Park -- is the one local foodie event worth its weight in gold, or Euros, or organic pattypan squash, however you see it. The bucolic setting, the who's who of Chicago chefs, the food and wine, the farmers (who, we might add, are the real rock stars here) ... everyone's drinking the happy juice. This is summer at its best.
Two, because if you did what you were supposed to do and you bought you're tickets in advance (the only possible way to do it), then you are one of the lucky ones.
This particular young, giddy fellow had not planned ahead. But, as luck would have it, he told us he was buddies with someone who works for Beth and Brent Eccles of Green Acres Farm. And as he fretted to his buddy about how he hadn't bought his ticket, his friend told him not to worry - Beth had already saved him a spot, knowing how much he wanted to go.
We, meanwhile, need to finish packing for our vacation to the shores of Michigan, so we'll miss tonight's event. That's right -- we didn't plan well this year, either.
So what is the point of all this, if you are one of the ticketless many? Simple: Mark it on your calendar for next year. (Oh, and if you're on Twitter, follow uber-publicist Ellen Malloy, who will attempt a "video twestival" from tonight's event.)
It's all-Indian, all the time in today's Food section. Indian street foods! Indian eating in the South Loop! What wines go well with Indian food!
In our main feature, Anupy Singla takes us back to her native land, where street foods surround and envelop and surprise and please you at every turn.
(In a happy coincidence, the James Beard Foundation's e-newsletter, which landed in our inbox this morning, included an item on chaat -- the catchall term for Indian snacks -- and info on two upcoming Beard events, where Indian street foods will share menu space with other cocktail fare).
Putting the package together required a trip up to Patel Bros. on Devon. It's amazing how when you've been away from a place you utterly dig, you realize just how much you love it when you're back. At Patel Bros., produce is so incredibly fresh and cheap and the spice section unparalleled. On our visit, the kind owner and patriarch handed out candies to a group of young, distinctly non-Indian Park District campers on an outing.
And now our pantry is equipped with all sorts of ingredients, including garam masala, tamarind paste and the mysterious black salt, which Singla says is THE thing that gives Indian street snacks their oomph.
Singla, by the way, gave us a great story and recipes, but she's a good story on her own. A former TV reporter and anchor, she quit her job a few years ago after realizing that her two young daughters were getting the short end of the stick, culinarily-speaking, because of her own grueling schedule and inability to cook the way she wanted to for them.
So now Singla's cooking every day, working on her first cookbook on Indian Crock-pot cooking ("It's the secret tool in every Indian kitchen," she says), freelancing and writing a blog. Those are some lucky little girls.
If you follow the MenuPages Chicago blog, you'll notice that it has morphed today into the Grub Street Chicago blog. Chicago is one of five cities into which Grub Street -- an influential blog owned by New York Media, which puts out New York Magazine -- has expanded. The Chicago Grub site is much sharper looking than MenuPages and includes posts from the other Grub sites, though it retains the MenuPages listings and reviews.
Via Vie chef Paul Virant's Twitter feed (say that 10 times fast):
Virant's caption: "These are "real" baby carrots. Did u know that the kind you get at the store are really big carrots that are shaved down by a machine?"
And speaking of things you get at the store:
Our cubicle mate, Char, was just telling us how, when she shops at her supermarket (we won't say which, but it rhymes with 'school'), she usually spends around $130 or so, and how, when she pays for her groceries, the machine spits out a coupon for $8 -- if you spend $150 or more.
She was obsessing about this -- and now we're obsessing about this -- because another co-worker, who only spends about $30 on her grocery trips, had given Char her own coupons for $5 off -- if you spend $50 or more.
Interesting, no? Methinks our supermarkets know too much about us and want too much from us. Check your receipts.
"Take one of those tall, to-go containers you get at an Asian restaurant. Put in a whole egg, a cup of oil. Then take the immersion blender. It takes about three seconds. It's the coolest thing."
Gardner was quick to dig into his batch of white gold, making BLTs, then dipping crudites and finally, riffing on Thousand Island dressing, that crafty, lucky bastard.
* Oscar Mayer, THE Oscar Mayer (well, actually the third in the family), has died at the ripe age of 95.
* The August issue of Bon Appetit magazine lists the nation's 10 best new hot dog joints. Among them (surprise, surprise): Hot Doug's at 3324 N. California. New?? The BA editors must be living in a time warp. Oh well. Guess whose line just got even longer?
Also getting props is Hank's Haute Dogs in Honolulu from Henry Adaniya of Trio fame, of whom we're only slightly jealous. In the last conversation we had with the man back in 2006 as he prepared to close the doors on Trio, he said he'd always just wanted to open up a hot dog stand, a really good hot dog stand on the beach in Hawaii, where he grew up. And he did.
* There are 23 more days left of National Hot Dog Month. Eat up.
Hugh Amano, the unemployed but not un-busy chef/blogger and master of $18 (and less) dinners, will play host at a lakefront gathering of pie-bakers and eaters at 5 p.m. Sunday.
This is the second such gathering of perfect strangers organized by Amano. He hosted a potluck in April at his Edgewater apartment. Why? No offense to underground dinners (like the one we, uh, just mentioned in the previous post), but as Amano gently argued on his blog, "to some degree it's become another badge of hipster or foodie cred, with the real message potentially getting lost."
Amano is planning on bringing a "sausage ... and pepper and polenta and tomato and cheese-type of thing." He expects anywhere from 12 to 20 people -- and possibly more -- to show up, bearing an array of sweet and savory pies.
And, Amano says, if you are pieless but find yourself on the lakefront near Argyle Street on Sunday, join him.
We still have a few more months of waiting (she is hoping for a January opening), but until then, Izard has come up with yet another way to whet our appetite -- an underground "Wandering Goat" dinner series.
The first of five dinners is on July 26. It will be in the backyard of one of Izard's chef friends (which chef? Only those going will find out, via email right before the event, her publicist says). Izard will grill up stuffed calamari, short ribs and other eats; Three Floyds beer, Black Dog Gelato sorbet and music also are on tap. The cost for each dinner: $50.
Only 40 tickets are available for the first shindig. Those interested are encouraged to follow Izard on Twitter for details on tickets.
Sun-Times Food editor Janet Rausa Fuller is always thinking about her next meal.
As Rhoda Morgenstern would say, food is the first thing Sun-Times Wire Service reporter James Scalzitti remembers liking that liked him back..
