Preserved Lemons

I'm pretty certain that by the time my lamb leg turns to prosciutto my preserved lemons will also be ready for a dish I created for my upcoming summer menu.  Lamb leg prosciutto with a corned lamb leg, tongue, cream cheese ragout and figs garnished with preserved lemon rind.
The lemons are easy and you can used them to mince and add to softened butter to spread on fish, apply them to grilled veggies, add to yogurt for roasted lamb leg, puree, the list goes on...
3 lemons quartered, lengthwise
250g sugar, about 12 oz.
250g kosher salt, about 12 oz.
Mix sugar and salt together, coat lemons, pack into baggie that is air tight or if you have a vacuum sealer-seal it.  Then freeze.  In three months rinse and you're ready.  Do this now and have it ready for grilling season.

Pictures from Chicago Foodies

If you are not already a fan of Chicago Foodies on facebook you definitely should be!  Take a look at these nice pics that Josh Brusin recently took at one of my dinners.  So much better than my camera phone shots.

Gelatin/Agar Agar Clarifcation

Oatmeal in the front, gazpacho in the back.

So you make the flavor, substance, solid you want to liquefy... turn to clear liquid... shear a little agar agar over the top, freeze, let it defrost in cheese cloth in strainer over container then presto chango-clear liquid.  Not quite as quick or clear as a centrifuge, not quite clear as distilled, but still neat.  Maybe you can get kids to eat things they normally wouldn't by tricking them into drinking them ;)

Lovely Day

This dish I made for The Windy City Times

Tribute to Bill Withers...Maybe that day he sang about was like the one I had today.  Do you ever just have those days which make everything worth while and it's not because you gained something, it's just because there was a serenity in all of it?  It's not often I have the serenity because my head is always going going going and jumping to the next thing on my list.  I didn't gain anything, I was just able to be in each moment of today.  Whoa, scary sometimes.  I often get glimpses throughout the day that give me serenity like when I told the story about Lucy In The Sky With Leopard Tights and One Shoe, but it started with dropping off a donation to Music of The Baroque where they will be offering two seats to my table in their opening season Gala, followed by a long walk downtown then the red line stop where a street band was having their way with the tunnel.  Amazing I might add.  Lunch with my partner at Goose Island, which has real tasty bar food.  Some Spring cleaning and a chat with my mother about our upcoming vegan dinner on April 12th-by the way the menu is planned and it is awesome.  That was it really.  And then there are days where by the end of the day I feel a hadn't done enough and a day like today probably would've been one of those because I didn't spend anytime in the kitchen but I didn't worry about it.
This week has been interesting.  I've had several interviews and promotional opportunities.  Windy City Times came over and is doing a piece called, A Gay In The Life, rock on.  The Tribune called today to see what I had to say about strangers dining together.  I said they're nuts and I wouldn't do it.  No, actually, I said it's a study in socialization.  I can see the anxiety on some people's faces when they walk in thinking, what did I get myself into but once the social lubrication slides into the blood stream it's all family, essentially.  I don't think that's what I said but it was something like that.  I told them I was amazed by the graciousness of my guests and that essentially people are lovely whether they are discussing the birthing process or how they wash their dogs, all of which I've heard.  And I have a photo shoot with another publication on Monday and it's always interesting to me to see how it all works.  I love press and social media.  I guess the closest I've ever got to advertising has been working with promotional companies and/or making donations such as the one I made to Music of the Baroque and The Wonka Ball which is for About Face Theatre.  Blogging, twitter, and facebook have all been really resourceful tools for me to connect to the community that likes what I do.

These guys are awesome.  If you see them stop and give them money.  Give them something cause they rock!

Wow, so I've just went on and on about stuff...  I'm a bit tired.  Cleaning blinds will do that to you.  Off to bed.

Winter into Spring

Clear gazpacho with cucumber balls aka "pearls"  aka bubble tea... kind of... With hibicus and avocado smeared up the side.  A fun way to begin.  Loud, slurpy, yummy.

This one is all about Spring and sustainability.  I grew the majority of it from the sprouts which make up the sponge salad to the garnishes over the top.  The entire dish is sunflower sprout and arugula sponge, lemon gel, goat milk sorbet, sunflower seed sorbet, marigolds, sunflower sprouts, pea sprouts, sunflower seeds and honey. 

I know most of you who read my blog or see my posts on facebook or twitter have seen some pics that are reminiscent of this one but again this is just another variation of avocado, raw fish, and sushi elements, it's lots of fun and a more "familiar" dish.

This one was created by first making an oatmeal consomme then I worked backwards, I added apples in batons and in salad form-shaved with almonds and white chocolate.  There is also an almond pudding and puree along with dried cherry and a cherry foam, savory glass and veal sweetbreads that are encrusted in pumpernickel.

I liked some of the elements I had on the dish that this one replaced like the white truffle marshmallow and the red wine and beef reduction but instead of short rib I wanted to move into a meat that felt lighter and I thought grilled bison would do the trick.  In this pic it's with blood farro and blackberry beads.

Snail Roe, Clear Oatmeal And Gazpacho, And Morels!

Snail eggs tastes like dirt.  So cool.  I had them about a year ago when I was staging in the kitchen at Schwa. Michael laughed and bellied over to me with his wild eyes and said, "you wanna taste a dirt alginate ball?"  Of course I did.  And that was it, snail roe.  

Anyways.  I love clarification.  I don't have a centrifuge and it seems like the cool kids do: Alinea (I think), Moto-for sure, L20-probably, Ideas in Food-yeah, Wd-50, Modern Cuisine-absolutely.  So I have to make a consomme or "dashi," a Japanese term for a certain broth, the old fashioned way-gelatin clarification.  Today I made two-a gazpacho that is fucking delicious and an oatmeal.  Whoa!

Hi sweet babies, mama loves you!

Ok so in other news.  I can't wait for morels.  I really can't.  Headed down south soon.  Just you wait.  You will love the dishes I make with these.  

Salmon Belly.

Wind blown Oak trees with salmon ;) by the beach.

Last night I had friends over for a sushi party.  It was so fun.  We had an array of ingredients to use.  I think we made at least ten different rolls.  The one I was most excited about was pulled short rib that I braised in beef stock infused with soy.  Yum Yum Yum.  And I rolled it with aparagus, pretty typical but added fresh radish and my own radish sprouts.  Today I was prepping the mushroom tea for my underground dinners and had some nice maitake mushrooms that I sliced in cross sections which gives this beautiful shape just like the Oak tree where you can usually find it nestled.  I seared the cross sections with grapeseed oil and a touch of tamari.  I draped cucumber dressed in sesame oil and rice wine vinegar over them.  I also cut the tiny kernels from baby corn an dressed them a touch with sesame oil, fish sauce, salt, and pepper.  I added a mini quenelle of miso to the salmon, crisped up some skin in the pan that I had cooked the mushrooms in and added a touch of fermented beans to the plate.  The beans were a gift from one of my friends who got them at the Korean Mart.  She was very excited for us to try them.  It wasn't bad. I really like them with this dish.

Love It. Change It. Keep It. Rearrange It.

The same soy, brown sugar and lemongrass cured pork belly which just looks different than perhaps another picture you might have seen in an earlier post.  I didn't like the smallish cube cut so I decided to roll it nice and tight.  I also rolled the kombu-the true umami of the dish, rather than the spaghetti like strands I had cut in the beginning.  Whoa and with the skin cracklin really added great texture.  I also added a watermelon and miso emulsion to the dish which is dotted there in the background.  But I will be changing this dish for this upcoming weekend because I have a guest who has just had it coming again.  I change my menus so often and quite completely because so many of my guests are return diners and I like to keep them surprised.  I also have so many ideas I like to try and bring them to fruition and push myself to see what I can and can't accomplish cooking modern from home .  This dish will be replaced by brown spice cured veal sweetbreads with a pumpernickel breading, apple batons, oatmeal consomme, whipped cherries surrounding almond milk, pureed almonds, shaved white chocolate, cherry reduction and savory glass.  Now if I can get just the right plates I'll be all set.

Carrot cake gobstopper soon to be changed into a rhubarb, strawberry and pie crust gobstopper.  Holy moly this one is a tasty treat.  I always make extra so that after my guests have theirs, my staff and I can have ours.  Hello belly!  People don't believe I eat as much as I do.  Luckily I'm active and have a good metabolism.  But it's catching up.  Mental note-yoga.

                                      

And this dish again, which I'm just loving.  It shall be a menu staple for awhile.    It's really a great dish and a real show stopper, an excellent end for the evening.  One of my dishes that I've been able to get as close to it's original aesthetic conception, very proud to get there when I do considering my itsy bitsy tini wini kitchen.

Damn, this is a crappy shot of a cool dish.  I will eventually tackle food photography but until then this dish was a gem however I will change it a touch for the next round of dinners I have this upcoming weekend.  The prefix to this course is a king crab wrapped in mango which is hanging in a globe.  I've heard from the dining room, "why is that hanging," "that's strange," "that's so cool," "wow, pretty."  I think those are all great responses.

Chicken Fried Oh My Goodness

Chicken frying anything makes almost anything scrumptious.  I cannot lie, I love fried chicken.  When I worked at Table 52, Sunday was my favorite day because it was fried chicken Sunday's and at the end of the night there was usually some left over and even room temperature or chilled it was super tasty.  It's all in the brining and seasoning.  It's imperative to brine chicken if you're going to fry it or even cook it at all, at least at the restaurant level, maybe not at home.  But anyways, oooooo, it is good.  Just this morning I was reminded of it when I woke up and saw that Chef Art Smith was following me on twitter.  Hmm, so I followed him back and told him I missed the fried chicken.  I thought about mentioning him bringing Oprah over to one of my dinners but I decided against it.  That would be so cool though.  And Gale too, she'd be invited.

So speaking of chicken I made a chicken liver pate the other day for one of my dinners and spread it through a stencil which says, "XPLICIT," and we play Busta Rhymes along with the course.  It's also served with a hand cut pasta in a butter and black truffle sauce.  For a dinner I had a couple days following I decided to roll the pate into a torchon shape and chicken fry it.  I served it on the bottom of a shot glass as a single bite with a pickled onion and mustard seed sorbet with watermelon rind.  This dish has several plays of traditional charcuterie elements, southern picnics, and pate en croute....
This is what I do to chicken fry.  I coat whatever I am using in corn starch and tap off the excess starch.  But remember to have your chicken, fish, pate, whatever it is seasoned, brined, etc first.  Then I make an egg and buttermilk mixture-two egg yolk and about 1/2 cup of buttermilk, more or less depending on how much you are frying.  I coat my elements in the egg mixture.  Then I have a combination of all purpose flour, fresh thyme leaves, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, garlic and onion powders (in this case I didn't go heavy on the last two powders because there was black truffle in my pate and it was served with the onion sorbet which was strong as it is so I didn't want to over power).  So I take the element, the pate, from the egg and roll it into this flour and spice combo.  Once it's coated I put it back in the egg mixture, coating it again, being careful not to lose my seasoned coating and then I put it back in the flour spice combo again.  Essentially I want two layers of this last seasoned mixture bound with the egg.  I fry it at 350 till it's golden and crispy.  That's it.  The tricks of chicken frying are in your seasonings and brinings.  Have fun with it but not too much fun because it's not the healthiest cooking method and it's addicting.  Oh and especially if it's a liver pate.