recipephile

Quick Bites - Easy Roasted Chicken

As I sit here writing this entry I can smell the chicken that I am serving at a dinner party this evening roasting away. The scent is incredible, but what is even better is how they are being prepared.  Preheat your oven to 475, place the bird on a roasting pan breast side up, liberally coat with salt and freshly ground black pepper and roast for 1 hour.  Take your bird out of the oven, sprinkle with fresh herbs, squeeze the juice of 1 lemon on top and cover with foil for 15 minutes.

This is an easy and amazing way to cook a chicken.

Bock Bock.

Quick Bites - Pea Soup With Carrots, Onions and Brown Rice

On my way home from the gym I realized that hunger was setting in so I decided that a nice warm soup on this rainy and chilly day in the city by the bay would be perfect.  This is where I ended up breaking some of my rules.  For the longest time I was a purist and would never think of using canned chicken broth or vegetables, but I wanted soup and I had no homemade broth in the freezer.  So I bought 1 qt of organic free range chicken broth and a can of peas.  After arriving home I noticed a 1/2 bag of mini carrots and a medium sized red onion in the fridge.  They were both chopped and placed into a soup pan with all of the chicken broth, the peas and about 4 tbsp of brown rice.  It took about 1/2 hour to get the rice to the proper consistency and when it was I used my hand blender to thicken the soup.  Salt and freshly ground black pepper should be added based on taste.  You will love this soup and it is so very easy to make.

Notes on Creativity - Watch Your Mom

Over Christmas my mother whipped up an apple pie in a matter of minutes.  Well… she whipped up the filling and had the pie assembled and ready to go into the oven in minutes.  She used fresh apples and canned apples. She also used store bought piecrust and when I questioned her on this she said to me… “Michael, I make ten different cookies, ravioli and so many other foods during the holidays that I do not have time for making homemade pie crust.  Store bought is fine and to be honest, nobody recognizes the difference.” Some insightful wisdom from a woman whom I totally respect when it comes to food.  The moral of this story… Watch your mom (or anyone else that cooks) while she is cooking in the kitchen. You will learn lots of tips, tricks, shortcuts and so many more things that you never even knew.  Most importantly apply those learnings.  Your skill set will SOAR!

Much Ado About Oysters

This weekend my friends and I rented a house in Sea Ranch, one of the most beautiful ocean side villages in Northern California. Scott, Jeffrey, Rob and I decided that we would drive up highway 1 and stop for oysters in Tomales Bay. Rob brought along cocktail sauce, Jeffrey brought lemons and they handed us 24 tiny oysters that we ate right at the picnic tables.  In addition to the tiny briny treats we also bought 50 larger oysters that we planned to use for oysters Sha-Lou-Mi.

What is Sha-Lou-Mi you ask… The name comes from my mother Sharon, my cousin Lou Lou and me, Michael.  Originally they were called Sha-Lou and were made up by my mother and my cousin back in the 70’s. Every year my family, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins included would spend Christmas at Seven Springs, a resort East of Pittsburgh.  The day after Christmas The Volpatts and Legnards (my cousins) would throw a big party for all of the residents that lived in the resort community.  My cousins are from Annapolis, MD and each year they would bring bushels of oysters for the party.  Half were shucked for eating raw and the other half were shucked for Oysters Sha-Lou.

Roasted Artichokes

The last time my business partner was in town we took a long walk around the Castro, Noe Valley and Diamond Heights areas of San Francisco with my close friend Tim.  It was right before the holidays and as we strolled the hilly streets we worked ourselves up a huge appetite.  The walk ended at one of my favorite restaurants, Chow.  Chow serves incredible homestyle food with a twist and the appetizer we had on that slightly chilly day was perfect. 

I am a big fan of the artichoke, especially the heart and love them steamed, fried and cooked into just about anything (my mom makes a mean crab and artichoke dip), but the version at Chow was, although very simple, absolutely delicious.  The menu explained it in the simplest of terms... Roasted Artichoke with Lemon Aoli.  Hmmm... roasted?  None of us had ever had this vegetable in the roasted form, so we ordered it and absolutely loved the flavor and simple deliciousness.

Having just moved into a new apartment, I decided to have a housewarming and with the help of my friend Jeffrey we prepared and of course served the artichokes to our guests.  They are so very easy to make.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the artichokes in half, remove the spiny ends of the leaves with kitchen scissors and place, cut side down, into an oiled roasting pan.  Slice lemon rounds and place underneath each artichoke half.  Finely dice a few cloves of garlic and place some underneath each choke.  Add some freshly ground black pepper and a dash of sea salt to each choke and roast, covered with foil, for an hour.

Remove and serve with Olive oil and lemon for dipping.

Tequila with Orange Wedge and Freshly Ground Cinnamon

My friend Dani is visiting from Mexico and he introduced us to a delicious alternative for doing tequila** shots.  Take an orange wedge and sprinkle some freshly ground cinnamon onto the wedge.  Pour yourself and some friends shots of chilled anejo or reposada tequila, take the shot and then eat the wedge of orange.

Buen Provecho!

**FoodNoteworthy - Look for 100% Agave.  100% is made only from the Agave plant while others are distilled with other ingredients.  Another recommendation from Dani.  Thanks Dani.

Notes on Creativity - Fail Forward

This is one of the hardest lessons to learn.  Not only in business and in life, but also in the kitchen.  Everyone hates failure. It is marred with negative connotations and makes us feel down, out and incapable. 

Enough with the negativity however.  Now it is time to look at failure in a much different way.  Failing forward is the art of learning from your mistakes, and in the kitchen I have made many.  The lessons I have learned however, have been invaluable.  One of my favorite failures happened right before a dinner party complete with roasted chickens.  After roasting the chickens in Pyrex I removed the birds and placed the Pyrex on the stovetop to make my gravy.   The heat was cranked up high as I added my chicken stock and white wine then all of the sudden -- CRASH -- the dish exploded into pieces and my gravy seeped down into the depths of my stovetop. 

No gravy for dinner, but a lesson was learned.  Pyrex dishes can withstand intense indirect heat in the oven, but when the heat of the dish is changed rapidly it undergoes thermal shock and explodes.  The lesson -- when making gravy after roasting chickens or turkey or any other kind of meat, make sure the pan is not glass or Pyrex. 

Now... think back to your worst kitchen disasters and search for the lesson, you will be surprised how it changes your perspective on past failures.

Quick Bites - Delicious Tomato Bruschetta

I had a wonderful time at home with my parents and other family members over the holidays.  We ate great food, drank great wine and had a lots of fun. My father discovered a recipe for a wonderful bruschetta that is so very very easy to make.   The key to this recipe is to using Olio Nuovo.  Olio Nuovo is newly pressed olive oil that has a wonderfully grassy and delicious flavor.  I used an olive oil called Canale 53, which was found by my dad.  It is imported by Buon Sapore in Pittsburgh, PA (412-922-6530).  The recipe is as simple as can be and will be gobbled up by your guests in a moments time.  Here is how to prepare this amazing dish.

2 pints of cherry tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic minced
5 tbsp Olio Nuovo
2 tsp chili flakes
1 tbsp chopped rosemary
1 tbsp chopped oregano

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Place the tomatoes onto a cookie sheet with 2 tbsp of olive oil, the garlic and chili flakes.  Roast for about 20-30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and mix in a bowl with the remaining ingredients.

Serve with toasted ciabatta or baguette.