Food and Art

Hello Everyone

On Saturday, I toured the Chelsea galleries with my friend Nathan. Nathan, an avid and knowledgeable contemporary art lover, provided me with a perspective that helped to open my mind and forced me to look beyond what was in front of my eyes. We saw sculpture, paintings, photography and even a performance artist that was fasting for twelve days in a gallery on 29th St.. Earlier in the week, I had made a deal with Nathan, “you fill my head with art and I will fill your belly with food”. I lived up to my promise and served trout brunch with an egg skillet bake, roasted potatoes, muffin tops (I’ll explain later) and bloody Mary’s.

After pondering the day’s events, I could not help but think to myself – “Is food art?” If art is defined as the expression of one’s ideas, does something have to be expressed in the traditional form (i.e., canvas, sculpture, etc.) to be considered art? Whether an individual’s ideas appear on a canvas, in a performance or on a plate, expressing what is in our minds or soon to be in our stomachs in a thoughtful or even chaotic manifestation could be, in most circumstances, considered artistic, couldn’t it? Just a little something to cultivate your mind as you embark on your next meal.

I think you will enjoy this week’s collection of recipes. Please let me know how everything turned out and if you have any questions, feel free to email me directly.

Have a great week.

Michael
"Always remember that food is about more than eating it is about thinking, buying, preparing, enjoying and most importantly sharing."

Blueberry Muffin Tops
This recipe will bring back memories for those of you who are Seinfeld lovers. These were supposed to be muffins, but I ended up placing too much batter in my $1.99 grocery store muffin pan and could not get at the whole muffin, only the tops of the muffins. Lessons learned – buy yourself a good non-stick muffin pan and remember that the baking powder in this recipe makes the muffins rise so limit the amount of batter you place in the pan or you too will have muffin tops. This recipe should make about 18 muffins.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup blueberries (or any other fruit)
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp salt

Combine all of the ingredients, except for the blueberries, and mix until smooth and creamy. Add the blueberries and evenly integrate into the batter. Place about 2 tbsp of batter into each well buttered, oiled or Pammed muffin cup and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Pan Fried Trout
When I was growing up, we had a weekend home east of Pittsburgh, in a small resort town named Seven Springs. On Sunday’s during trout season, we would head to the Mountain Club for trout breakfast, which consisted of a whole trout, eggs and potatoes. The rest of the recipes in this edition of RecipePhile are a variation on that theme.

Freshwater trout (1)
Butter
Meyer lemon (2)
Chardonnay
Heavy cream

Melt about a tablespoon of butter for each trout you are cooking in a sauté pan. Over medium heat cook each side of the trout for about 5 minutes. Add the juice of one Meyer lemon and 1/4 cup of chardonnay and a 1/4 cup of heavy cream for each fish in the pan. Let this mixture cook down until thickened. Plate fish and spoon sauce over top.

Shitake and Manchego Cheese Egg Skillet Bake
This recipe is a variation from a weekend brunch dish served at Bob Evan’s Farms Restaurants. You can substitute the mushrooms for just about any vegetable and the cheese for something that melts well. If you do not have iron skillets you can use a well-buttered 9 x 13 Pyrex casserole dish.

6 eggs
1 cup Halta (3) or heavy cream
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
2 cups of shredded Manchego cheese
1/2 cup of chopped green onion top
1 medium shallot chopped
2 cups of sliced shitake mushrooms
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup Cognac
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine the eggs, Halta or cream, Tabasco, Manchego and green onions. Mix well using a hand blender or whisk. Set aside. In a sauté pan, melt butter and sauté shallots until translucent. Add mushrooms and cook until softened. Deglaze (4) pan with Cognac and cook down until liquid has dissipated. Add mushrooms to egg mixture and stir well. Finish off with salt and freshly ground black pepper (about 2 tsp of each) and distribute mixture into two 6-8 inch, oiled iron skillets. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve.

FoodNoteworthies
(1) It goes without saying, fresh fish is the best fish. And, surprise surprise, if you cannot find fresh fish at the local grocery you can purchase it online. I found a wonderful Web site www.freshfish4u.com. Make sure to place your order in the morning because they tend to run out of the really good fresh stuff by 1 pm. The next day, your fresh fish will be on your doorstep, waiting to be placed in the frying pan. For all of you New Yorkers, check out the fish store in Chelsea Market. It is by far one of the best in the city.

(2) Meyer Lemon – I have written about this before, but it is worth repeating. Believed to be across between an orange and a lemon, the Meyer lemon is particularly sweet compared with its tart cousins, the Eureka and Lisbon lemons (the varieties found most commonly in supermarkets). The Meyer also differs from other lemons in that it can be used in its entirety: The peel and pulp can be cooked or added raw to a salad. The Meyer can substitute for other lemon verities in sweet or savory recipes. They are hard to find if you live on the East Coast so you will have to search long and hard in gourmet groceries to discover this sweet variety of lemon. Again fellow New Yorkers, check out the veggie store in Chelsea Market.

(3) Halta is a very heavy Italian whipping cream. It can be found at specialty Italian grocery stores (The Chelsea Market or possibly Pennsylvania Macaroni on Pittsburgh). I could not find this product online. If you cannot find it anywhere just substitute heavy whipping cream.

(4) Deglazing a pan is very simple to do. As the items in your pan are sautéing and close to completion, turn the heat up as high as possible and pour an alcoholic liquid into the pan. This process helps to integrate all of the flavors. Make sure you let the alcohol cook off or your dish will taste like to day after a fraternity party.