First and foremost, let’s think about how many variations of the word barbeque there actually are. BBQ, barbeque, bar-b-q, ‘que, and there is actually a place in Napa called Q! So many stories, so many locations that would want to claim the word or spelling as their own. I would love to think that some cattle rancher in Texas had a brand “BBQ” for his ranch and they used to cook large cuts of meat over indirect heat and that is how it was all started! Texans can dream big, can’t they?

Someone decided once upon a time that cooking all of the juices out of meat was a bad idea, and that a cooking method that could keep the meat moist and tender was a no-brainer. It was probably a Texan. Once it was decided upon that juicy meat was good, you can factor in all of the extras that followed. These “decorations” come with the territory. What choice of meat? To sauce or not to sauce? Should you use a rub? And, what kinds of wood come from your location? Oak burns hot, Apple is delicious for pork, pecan provides a sweetness, mesquite is your choice if you like smoky flavors- and, last but not least, green, hot burning hickory. What is bbq without it?

I know that Texas bbq is different and it is mostly about BEEF! We love our brisket. This might be my favorite. Brisket on soft Texas Toast with bbq sauce, jalapenos, pickles with pungent white onion-chopped to order..! DELICIOUS! My mouth is watering something fierce! The meat has got to have a crusty exterior and a pink ring underneath the dark crust. This sandwich is usually served on paper and the napkins have to be tiny. You just eat and then go wash your hands when you are done. There is no classy way to do this. The only class-less thing to do would be to complain that it is messy. There is absolutely no pretty way to eat ribs. To much of diner’s surprise, our ribs come with a little grip. Meaning, the meat sticks to the bone more than you might find in other bbq joints. You will actually lose a competition in Texas if your ribs pull too easily away from the bone!

I think the next best place for bbq is North Carolina. What exactly is “Carolina style”? I took this from www.bbq.netrelief.com “Eastern North Carolina style barbeque is, by most accounts, the oldest style of barbeque in the United States. Originating during Colonial times in the coastal regions of Virginia and the Carolinas, it endures and thrives today in the eastern third of the state of North Carolina. According to Vince Staten and Greg Johnson, this style of barbeque “originated in those days when people thought tomatoes were poisonous and refused to eat them. When the early settlers wanted a seasoning for their barbequed pig, they chose English ketchup, a vinegar seasoned with oysters and peppers and other spices, but containing no tomato.”” I love the line about “by most accounts, it is believed…it is the oldest bbq,  and that they were afraid of poisonous tomatoes”. Hilarious. So, what does this actually mean? It refers only to the sauce? A molasses and ketchup free sauce? So, what is left is vinegar and mustard? We have all had it, a thinner more vinegar based sauce. Prefer it?

What other places are putting out delicious bbq? Kentucky? California? Alabama?? I am sure there is something to be said for the Smoky Mountain Sauce of Arkansas and Tenessee. That is the great thing about America, there are many variations of great things. One thing I know, is that I love the flavors of bbq. I love beef. I love pig. I love smoke. I love how long it takes to eat that glorious meal- it is worth every hour. After all is said and done…after the brisket, ribs, okra and beans, I still love the site of a HUGE pan of peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream. Come on summer! We are waiting on you!

Get out there an eat some ‘Q!!!! I want to hear about it !

24 free-range, organic chicken drums, skin cut on the small end of the drum and bone scraped to the larger end like a lolly-pop

Marinade:

1 cup soy sauce
¼ cup fish sauce
3 T brown sugar
1 knob ginger, grated
1 thai chile, split in half, stem remaining
1 tsp red chile flakes
2 T cilantro, rough chopped
½ cup lime juice

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl and pour into a ziplock bag and add chicken. Marinate 6 hours. Remove and discard marinade.

1 gallon canola oil
1# bacon
1 yellow onion, rough chopped
8 garlic cloves
1 T salt

Heat oven to 300 degrees. In a roasting pan, add bacon in whole strips with onion and garlic cloves. Render the bacon fat just until soft and fat has released. Add one gallon of canola oil and the chicken wings. Place the pan back in the oven and cover with foil. Cook the wings for 3 hours or until tender. Remove the chicken and strain the oil carefully. Keep the wings in some of the oil so that they stay moist. Place the strained oil in a frying pan or small fryer.

Dredge for wings:

2 cups cornstarch
2 cups rice flour
½ T salt
4 cups cornflakes ground

Mix all ingredients in a shallow pan. Set aside.

Heat the fryer oil to 350 degrees. Dredge the wings in the flours and press to stick. Fry the wings in the oil for 2 minutes or until crispy. Drain on paper towels.

For the sauce:

½ bottle sweet chile sauce
¼ cup sambal
3 limes, juiced
1 tsp salt
1 T fish sauce
3 T cilantro, chopped

Place all ingredients except for the cilantro. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Reduce the sauce by 1/3. Finish by adding cilantro. When wing is hot from the fryer, dip the lollipop part of the chicken drum in the sauce leaving the bone dry.

Baby Arugula, Dill, Fennel and Pumelo Salad

Serves 4

1 shallot, minced
1 T fresh dill, minced
½ cup fennel, shaved on a mandoline
2 cups baby arugula
1 ½ cup iceburg lettuce, white part only, torn
½ cup good olive oil
2 T raspberry champagne vinegar
¼ cup pumelo, diced
¼ tsp fennel pollen
1 tsp salt
fresh cracked pepper

In a large bowl, place minced shallot, dill, fennel and fennel pollen and pumelo. Season with salt and pepper. Add olive oil, vinegar, toss to combine. On top of the ingredients in the bottom of the bowl, place arugula and iceberg. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. We eat our slad at the and of the meal, I toss it right before we eat it. Adjust the seasonings if necessary.

I am excited for the season to change- for food reasons only. The actual weather has been the same here in Napa all year almost! It never got cold, never really rained, it just felt like an extension of spring all year long. It is not a terrible place to live- being surrounded by small farms, artisan food purveyors, Michelin-starred restaurants and people that LOVE wine. It’s also pretty cool to have San Francisco less than an hour away. So, last night I had dinner at Morimoto. I really love it there. I have my staple dishes that I return to order every time I go, and the chefs send out new creative dishes in a friendly gesture when I visit. It’s a lovely place. Out of the 10+ dishes we had, my favorite of the evening was Kamachi Collar grilled on an earthenware, table-top Japanese mini grill- a Yakitori Hibachi. It was so simple, so beautiful with a grilled lemon half and spices such as ground Japanese peppers. It had crispy skin and succulent flesh. It was perfection to say the least. This is the way I like to eat. The salmon that we ordered had come in so fresh that they had to let it rest an hour before serving it to allow the protein to relax. That is pretty special. Can you imagine experiencing something similar in Japan? I MUST go. It just reminded me that this is how I cook as a chef, this is who I am as a chef and I need to remember that when contemplating a dish. Overcomplicating is unnecessary when you have ingredients that speak for themselves.

Having ingredients that speak for themselves is so important. That is why I have made major moves in my cooking to be a “responsible” chef when it comes to ingredients. Sourcing, researching, and learning constantly helps me to form good decisions when feeding myself and others. For example, one resource for fish besides the Monterey Bay Seafood Aquarium Watch list www.montereybayaquarium.org that I have recently found is www.fishchoice.com. It is important that we have the resources available to us to help us chefs locate the product that is sustainable and “in season”. There are some really good articles including one very informative article on orange juice on the website www.civileats.com . Did you know that Tropicana is owned by PepsiCo. and that Simply Orange and Minute-Maid are owned by Coca-Cola?? Interesting read.

Enough of that talk. A new concept will come with the fruition of some research currently taking place.  Lot’s of new projects! I will be doing some traveling between now and then, so I hope to run in to you in your town! Follow me on Twitter and if I run into you out and about make sure you say “HELLO”!

I trust everyone is well. Drop me a line if you have a chance. See my updated calendar and try to attend some events! See you soon!

C

Cabernet Grapes from Howell Mountain

Miyagi Oyster, Wasabi Pop-Rocks

Sustainablilty. Seasonality. Renewability.  Well, that’s 3 subjects really, but it is a serious subject that I have really focused on in my cooking. One thing I realize is that what’s in season for one place may not be in season for another. It is interesting that what I find in my markets, might not hit the other side of the nation’s markets for a few more weeks or even months. I am in a search of the answers to the many questions I have and I want to share my searches with you.

This is heavy stuff. But, I am bothered by not having the answers of food controversies. I think the first place to start is to begin to understand how the global food system really works. I have vowed to myself to understand and make sense of it. I began by joining the Food Alliance.

Stay tuned for information as I begin my quest.

C

If you can recall, there is a limited amount of bread and pastry making on Top Chef. It is not that we do not enjoy eating, using, and cooking them of course. Quite honestly, there isn’t really time to bake bread. But, of course, I serve it in my restaurant. I LOVE bread. The biggest problem I see with baking bread at home is the kneading, the proofing, the waiting. I like the idea of wanting fresh baked bread and actually getting to eat it in the next couple of hours. So, if you are wondering if this is a recipe that will allow you to make bread and it in an hour or two, you are mistaken. Bread is about patience. If you want quick bread, eat biscuits and cornbread. If you want bread that will make your stomach do happy flips, make this recipe.

I stumbled across a recipe that was published in the New York Times in 2006 for a “No-Knead Bread”. What? Can this be done? I instantly thought, “wow, this chef has figured out a miracle”. It seemed like a great idea. But, I was skeptical. THEN, I stumbled recently on an old Cook’s Illustrated article that wondered the same thing I did. Is it possible to make no-knead bread. It appeared from the article they wrote, no. So, as they do, because they are the test kitchen, they altered the recipe. They found there is no such thing as “no-knead bread”. I agree. The glutens in the risen flour has to be activated. So, what were the findings? Minimal kneading. Did it work? Let’s find out.

The first thing you must understand about bread making is that you must have fresh yeast. You can not pull that forgotten, hidden packet of what you think is yeast in the back of your pantry. Go buy new yeast. Do a yeast test to make sure your yeast is fresh if you are unsure.

Here is a recipe to make bread at home, crisp, delicious and semi-easy. Take a crack at it. I found it to be the tastiest bread I have ever made.

First, you need an enameled cast iron Dutch oven with a lid.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups (15 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for you cutting board
• ¼ tsp instant yeast
• 1 ½ tsp table salt (no iodized, but not kosher)
• ¾ cups plus 2 T water, room temperature
• ¼ cup plus 2T Corona beer
• 1 T white vinegar

Here is what I found to work best.

1. Whisk flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add water, beer and vinegar to the dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, mix the ingredients together making sure that the bottom of the bowl is mixed also. Do not leave any dry flour in the bottom of the bowl. If you do not get all of the flour wet, it will remain dry and will be tough in the loaf. The mixture will appear dry. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a room temperature  place. Rest it for 18 hours. Yes, 18 hours.



2. Lay a square 18” sheet of parchment paper inside a 10” cast iron skillet.  Spray with non-stick spray. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead 16 times. Shape the dough into a ball. Transfer the dough, seam-side down to the parchment-lined skillet and spray the surface of the dough and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until it is doubled in size, 2 hours.


3. 30 minutes before baking, adjust the rack to the middle position and place a 6-8 quart Dutch oven and heat the oven to 475 degrees. Lightly flour the top of the dough and cut a ½” deep cut, 6” long into the top of the dough with a sharp knife. Remove the pot from the oven and remove the lid. Lift the parchment paper with the dough from the skillet into the Dutch oven. Reduce the oven temp to 425 and bake the bread covered for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and cook the bread until it is a deep brown or an instant read thermometer reads 210, 15 minutes longer. Remove the bread from the pot; transfer to a wire rack and cool 30 minutes. Eat!


4. Bread lasts 2 days max.

Enjoy and let me know how it turns out!

-C

Having Padma in the cast house is just plain creepy. Remember Padma tickling me in my own bed!? It is where we have time to LIVE. The house is a place to get away from the competition to revive our thoughts, bodies and emotions from the days events. Granted, we are never really free from it because the house is constantly chocked full of t.v. cameras and we are almost sure, microphones.  We can’t prove it, but why wouldn’t they?! I will admit, that Antonia has some sort of psychic ability when it comes to Top Chef. She was constantly guessing the upcoming challenge, or who the judge might be. So when Richard asks her what is about to happen, the chefs must have been told to stay in the house and I bet the lights were up and ready to shoot. And, who walks into One Brooklyn?? The P to the D-ma. Get up to “tha roofs, my darlings so that mummy can show you to tha next challenge, whaat do you saay??” (That was in my best English voice-type. I don’t know why, it just fit there) Get your already pressed and ready to go chefs coats on and meet me at the top. This is where Padma will instruct them to meet her and the judge on Ellis island. Now, I like this challenge. I too have cooked on a boat and it is not easy. Especially when you don’t have the tools to cook anything. Let me highlight some of these amazing dishes for you once more.

The boat blasts the horn. GOOO!!!! The chefs scramble over the concession stand counter, which I am sure is a real sanitary place. Have YOU ever been on a ferry in NY? I am pretty sure the same rodents that walk the streets in Manhattan, have a cozy spot on the ‘ole ship to Ellis! They are uptown rats! The chefs have the basic 10 minute boat ride staples. Hot dogs, buns, bread, cheese, nachos. Am I missing anything? Oh yes, oranges. WHAT!? Fresh fruit? I guess the challenge is not to make the best concession stand snack that the boat employees would sell. It sounds as if it is to make a dish with anything with you find. This is some real jacked up sh*t right here! Tiffany didn’t get the message about making ANYthing found with the ingredients because she goes right for a different kind of nacho plate. The kind of nacho plate we wish they would serve you when you purchased boat nachos. LOADED! But, is this going to win over the judges? Richard says it isn’t, so, I bet it isn’t going to.  Antonia makes a grilled cheese and apple sandwich on the hot dog roller. Now, I thought this was pretty smart. But, we all know that those things never get turned off and they never get cleaned. Have you ever been into 7-11? So, I wasn’t surprised when the chef judge pointed out the “pork” aka “hotdog” flavor in the grilled cheese. So, basically, she made a hot dog, apple and cheese sandwich. King Richard says this also is not genius enough- she basically “used ingredients from one sandwich on different bread”. Carla goes for this mysterious fresh orange salad because, “no one else will have a fresh dish” like this one. Did I catch crumpled potato chips on those oranges? Mikey. Mikey, Mikey, Mikey. This is one of those moments you will wish you could take back on TC. You were flustered and in the end, you served hot dog bread soaked in something. This isn’t a hot dog eating contest. I don’t even think liquids with the bread is going to make that go down any easier. Let’s move on. King Richard has an MRE bag that he has been waiting to pull out of his knife bag so that he can tell this story. You place the food in the bag and add water and it will boil, like instantly. HOW DID THIS MAKE HIS DISH ANY BETTER?? He made an open face hot dog. Genius enough? So, when the winner is announced, again I look to Richard’s face. Carla wins with her orange salad because basically, the rest of the food was not impressive. Not even the fruit and popcorn that Tiffany served along side her nachos. Richard, are we starting to see a pattern here? I am looking at your face from now on every time the winner is not you. It is priceless. “Why not me?? My dish was the best…every one else’s were not creative enough! I brought an MRE bag!!” LOL!!!!! ROLLING!

The winner of the QF, Carla. What did she get? I don’t even remember at this point. All I see in my head was Richard’s face during the announcement. Here they are standing on Ellis island in the dark. I sure hope this place is safe! Because out of the park darkness comes people they don’t recognize. Wives, moms, and husbands. All of the chefs are very emotional. I can relate. This is a long time to be away from your loved ones. Richard’s wife is now showing a baby bump. It sounds as if it was not there when he left. Mike has not seen his Mom in 6 months. Carla misses her husband. Tiffany and he Mom are talking about the Lord and Antonio seems to wish her daughter were the one there instead of her Mom. I know how much Antonia loves her daughter! The chefs sit down and go over their family history and this is what the challenge will be based on. I love this idea and think it will teach us each a little more about each chef. Meet with your loved one and discuss the dish you will make for them. This is an emotionally attached challenge. Time to go shopping.

Tiffany is doing creole. She is going to teach Tom how to love okra. Mike and Antonia, finding out that they are related (weird) are doing Italian. Richard is Irish, English with a sad story behind his dish and Carla, southern. They get to the kitchen they will be cooking in and it is nice to see that they all have space. When it gets down to so few cooks, the chefs have an opportunity to really showcase their craft because there is room and an abundance of pots and pans! Cooking is going smooth for most, but time is short. They will cook in order. The first one up, Mike. Mike’s gnocchi brings a tear to everyone’s eye because he tells us that his grandma was the one he learned this recipe from and from my perspective, the dish looks amazing. That is something that I would love to eat, right there. He had me at whipped burrata. Second chef, Antonia. Her risotto was ballsy, but I have no doubt that she will pull this dish off. It looks incredible and they say it takes incredible also. Tiffany, Creole inspired montage. She lost me with the ring mold of rice and pork, but the table seems to love it. Richard brings a beautiful corn puree with fried bone marrow, YUM! And his wife, gives the nod of approval. Wow, I got the feeling that the whole table was nervous about her critique. Even Richard was nervous! I wonder what that is all about. Is it because she is competitive too? Lastly, Carla serves up a good ‘ole helpin’ of cheddar biscuits and won ‘um all over. That’s a wrap people! Rub noses and let’s get outta here! We have judges table to get back to!

Back in the stew, the chefs are nervous because their family members either, a)told them theirs was good, or b)told them theirs was “safe”. They don’t know what to think. But, Carla reassures them that everything will be okay. They have come this far and they should be proud. I can’t help but look to Richard’s face after her pep talk. (Still laughing) Padma wants to see…everyone. High fives all around for this is the last NY elimination. Yay!!! At judges table, each chef is asked to describe the inspiration behind their dish. Tom has a new perspective on okra, Gail tells Mike about his Mother’s love for his gnocchi, and Antonio takes the prize. Pan to Richard’s face. LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s too much-!  Hold on, please, I have to stop typing for a second to catch my breath…

Okay. We are back. Antonia wins a car and along with Mike head back to the stew where she tells him that her risotto won a car. Left with the judges the “girls” and Richard. One of them surely is going home. Remember, the judges didn’t really have much negative to say about any of their dishes, so who could it be?? “…Richard, please pack your knives…and return to the stew room because you are going to the Bahamas.” This is getting you back, you realize that Richard. Don’t you? When your sh*t doesn’t stink anymore, Bravo will provide the roses! You gotta watch those sneaky producers! Padma didn’t make that up on her own, you know? Come one people, really? Richard almost faints and returns to the stew. Carla and Tiff are left standing. But, in the non-climatic end, Padma tells them they are both going to the Bahamas. Kisses, hugs, screams and jumping take place and then champagne (3 out of the 5 don’t drink). I yelled at the tv, wanted to throw my remote and sent a disgruntled tweet. Has Bravo gone soft? I went to bed feeling cheated out of a hanging. I had a first flight out to NY to see everyone in the morning. Can’t wait to catch up and give some people some taunts about the things I have seen on tv. It is weird being on this side of the tv this time. But, I must say, it has been kind of fun also.

Have a great week! Talk to you all on Twitter and FB! Good things coming!!

Cheers.

C

Chef’s are seeming laid back in this challenge. I remember when it got to this stage in my season, there is room to cook, enough equipment to go around. It is quite nice. Everyone seems so happy. It was even pleasant to watch! The chefs are a little uneasy about their cookie making skills. Carla is a “caterer” so she makes cookies all of the time. Tiffany goes straight for a shortbread cookie, because as chefs, we all should know how to make shortbread. I like her idea too. Mike, Angelo, and Dale are a little less excited about their ideas and it sounds as if they hope to just not embarrass themselves. Antonia’s chocolate cookie starts off nicely and ends up cow chips. And Richard goes for the ‘ole liquid nitro. Pot shot, Mike wonders if there is a challenge that he will not use nitrogen. Actually, I am wondering the same thing. Stand by!  At the end of the day, the muppets love Dale’s unbaked cookie. To be totally honest, that is the cookie that looked the best. Richard’s whipped cream and zucchini puffs land him at the bottom. When I asked someone at first glance what they thought of those cookies, they made a face and said, “well, they don’t look good…” I was looking for more of a likeness to something else, but I didn’t get it. Pretty funny. That is one of those moments when you try too hard and it turns out, “ice cream cookie with chocolate chips, zucchini and mint.” Gee-ross. Second least favorite in my book…Mike’s almond and dried cherry cookies with rose petal sugar and red hued mess of a cookie. He said when he put them in the oven, “all I can do is pray”. Didn’t even help. $25 thousand! WAY-TO-GO Dale! That is what I call a pay off. From “cookie cheater” to rain maker!

On to the elimination. Target. Now, anyone that hates on this place is no friend of mine. I was there this morning and already twice this week. SO, if I were told that we could shop, decorate, cook and plate everything out of what we found in the store!? I would have known EXACTLY what to do. I know how Target organizes, what they carry, and that it was all free for me?! I am excited right now just imagining what I would do! They are running all around, in the home decorating isles, picking out slow cookers and tables! Have you ever seen the Target lady on SNL? That is the voice I am channeling for excitement right now.  Target Lady Not even joking. Dale tells the world that Tiffany is starting to get on his nerves with her, “Im from Beaumont” story and that she is loud and right on cue, here she comes with a bright pink hat on…whoa. Tiffany explains to us that she is nervous that she hasn’t won anything. The chefs are starting to jockey for position. Okay, let’s get to the food. Antonia plans to do 100 sunny side up eggs. I commend her. Parmesan cream,? Yes please. Weird side salad? No thank you. Soup #1 Curry apple soup with tomato ginger jam, cucumber apple slaw. Egghhh… passing. Soup #2 Ribeye (I can only image the quality), grilled cheese sandwich with spicy tomato soup. Nice, Dale. I am digging your food this season! Way to go! Soup #3 Spicy coconut soup with mushrooms, scallions, and lime. Why in the hell are there so many soups??! Did they all get together and say, it is 3 in the am and the Target ladies want SOUP! I hardly think so. And Mike, when you referred to cooking for “college kids”, well, you aren’t. You are cooking for GROWN ADULTS! I would have been instantly insulted as Target lady. “This is my JOB man, I’m a business major from NYU! class of 1998!” Nice bowl you chose though. Soup #4 Baked Potato Soup. Speechless. I think there was another dish in there…pork tenderloin and Jambalaya made with Tony Chachere and a cucumber salad or something like that. Doesn’t matter anyways- all signs are pointing to the delicious tomato soup with crunchy ironed cheese. I think the judges have made their decision. Let’s head to the stew room.

In the stew, the chefs seem like they all feel pretty safe. I don’t think Angelo though his dish was terrible. And Carla says that she doesn’t feel anything! But when Padma calls the lineup for the bottom, Carla, Angelo and Tiffany, they feel it now! Whoopsie Daisy… you 3 have the least liked dishes of the evening. I have been there before! Now, Carla’s dish was ho-humm. She did not have a lot of time to let the flavors develop because she was running around trying to find things to decorate. This is a cooking competition! Brian Malarkey used to do the dame thing! But, she is not going to go home for this dish. Maybe the judges just had “palate fatigue” from all of the soups. Tiffany’s dish was just not good. I knew the second I saw her dumping Tony’s in there it was not going to be. That is a good seasoning in the south for things like corn on the cob and potatoes. Even maybe to dress up some boiled shrimp. But, not to season Jambalaya with. And the breakdown. WHAT WAS THAT!? Painful!! I was like, “noooooooooooooooooo!!” Don’t ever beg for mercy! And don’t keep saying “I’m from Beaumont, Texas! Now I see what Dale is talking about. She basically sealed Angelo’s fate!  Because, Angelo’s baked potato soup… I really don’t have words. It was not flavorful enough so he added bacon and salt (Mike’s addition). Of course it was going to be too salty. But, you start playing mind games with yourself and this is what happens. I really wanted to see Angelo go all the way. He is a good guy and a great chef. Sad to see him go. When a cheftestant breaks down, the drama is rising. Please, don’t cry chefs.

Well, that just about wraps it up for me. Can’t wait for them to bring back the other chefs next week. Fabio is hilarious. I will be back to blog!!!!

Adios! Cookin’ up another recipe for the blog on my site…stay tuned and BE HUNGRY!

C

What am I eating right now? What is going on right now? I will tell you. The seasons are about to change and that makes me look to food to inspire me. Dinner last night was Dungeness Crab- one of the most sustainable seafoods that we can eat right now. And, not to mention they are delicious! Thai coconut soup and a spicy salad of cilantro, cucumber, hot chiles, ginger, and lemongrass. Key ingredient? Lot’s of fish sauce. I am in love. In love with food!

I did an event this past week in Pebble Beach for the ProAm with Jamie Lauren. It was fun hanging out with other chefs in the Monterey area. They are very talented and cook lots of local ingredients. Some of the foods at the event…red abalone, kumamotos, hamachi, geoduck, lamb, sliders, clam chowder, crab and shrimp cocktail and gnocchi! DELICIOUS! I made friends with Charles Phan and his sous chef, Perry- whom I adore, from Slanted Door. Good times.

The farmer’s market in Marin is where you will find me now every week, twice a week. Potatoes, mandarins, greens and the start of some strawberries are showing well. I am amazed by the amount of people that consistently fill the markets. It is so great that people want fresh, local, and healthy ingredients to cook with. I overheard one lady saying to another that she would happily take home the greens attached to red beets if they were not wanted. That made me smile. So, today, my plan is to make quiche from scratch, the French version. I purchased farm eggs from a nearby farm and the plan is to make the most AWESOME quiche to date. Here is me revisiting some of the classics…

Flamiche! Quiche Aux Poireaux

I want this quiche to be classic. To taste like time was spent and the ingredients are able to shine. This is not an easy dish to make, if you want to make it the right way. This is a morning in the kitchen, with the windows open and the scents wafting about your kitchen. It is the scent of good things to come.

Always read through the entirerty of the recipe before you begin. Here we go!

First the pate brisee fine or “short paste”:

My short paste is made in the food processor. I don’t want to skimp, but come on! A good crust is usually, by French standards, 5 parts flour and 4 parts butter. The American all-purpose flour and butter usually produces a more brittle crust. By adding a bit of shortening (3 parts butter, 1 part shortening), a flaky and tender crust can be achieved.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, measured off with a knife
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ¼ tsp sugar
• 6 ounces butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 4 T shortening, chilled
• ½ cup plus 1 T ice water

Measure the dry ingredients into the bowl of a 2 quart or larger food processor. Add the butter pieces, and shortening. Pulse the motor 5 times. Turn on the food processor and add all of the ice water at once. Shut off the motor and pulse 3 times. Turn on the motor and add the last T of water. As soon as the dough forms around the blade, the dough is completed. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. With the heel of your hand (the palm is too warm), smear the dough away from you several times to incorporate all of the fat. In French, this is called the “frisage” or final blending. Scrape the dough into a ball and knead 4 times. Sprinkle with flour, shape the dough into a disk shape and place in wax paper and then wrap airtight in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the freezer for 1 hour.

For the filling:

I chose leek and emmantaler cheese. This is classic in quiche flavor profile, but again, I wanted classic. While the dough is chilling, make the filling.

• 1# leeks, white part only, sliced thin
• ½ cup chicken stock
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 3 T butter

In a saucepan, heat the butter and chicken stock. Add the leeks and the salt. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until the leeks are tender. Remove from the heat and strain.

• 3 large eggs
• 1 ½ cups whipping cream
• pinch of nutmeg
• black pepper to taste
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ cup emmantaler cheese, grated
• 1 T butter, cut into small pieces

In a medium bowl, whisk together 3 large farm fresh eggs. Whip the eggs to scramble them. Add the cream and the dry ingredients. Add the semi-cooled leeks and reseason. Set this aside.

To roll out the dough:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly flour your rolling pin and the top of the dough. Use your rolling pin to beat the top of the dough into a thinner disk shape. Roll the pin back and forth to get the dough loosened for rolling. Place your rolling pin in the center and roll the dough away from you. Be firm. Roll evenly. Lift and turn the dough to get to an 1/8 of an inch. Work quickly and use it immediately when it is to the correct thinness.

Using a French tart pan, the one with the removable side ring, butter the sides. Roll your dough onto the rolling pin and unroll it over the mold. Press the dough lightly into the form of the pan. Make sure it fits the mold snuggly. Trim off the excess dough with your fingers or by rolling the pin over the top of the mold. With a pairing knife, make cuts into the bottom of the pan in ½ inch intervals.

You must “blind bake” the pie dough. Use parchment paper to cover the bottom of the pan and continue it up and over the sides of the mold. Fill the pan with dried beans. This will ensure that the dough does not lift while baking and cause your filling to go over the sides!

Place the tart mold onto a baking sheet. Bake the shell in the oven for 14 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and remove the beans, and paper. Place the pan back in the oven and continue to cook for an additional 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and cool the partially cooked dough. This is to keep your crust from being soggy.

To bake the quiche:

Lower the oven temperature to 375. Place a rack high in the oven. Pour the cooled leek mixture into the cooled pie shell. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and dot the cheese with the butter. Add a few cracks of fresh pepper to the top of the quiche. Place the pan in the oven and cook for 28 minutes or until browned and the eggs have puffed. The center of the quiche will be jiggly right out of the oven. It will set and sink a little.

I hope you enjoy this! Please make it at home and let me know how it goes!
-C

This week was a trip! I enjoyed every minute of this week’s episode. The Quickfire was my favorite to date! From what I understand, and from reading his book “Medium Raw”, that Bourdain himself helped create that Quickfire challenge. I think it shows a great deal of skill- because Le Bernardin is INCREDIBLE and because every chef should know how to filet fish with minimal waste. You can see the look of, “oh hell yeahs” on the chef’s faces. It’s also the look of, “of s+%@, they got me now!” The objective? Tear trough some major fish flesh like the example given and you have 2 more minutes than the guy that has been cleaning fish (his only job mind you) for 25 years! Those that do okay- you will cook Anthony something to eat. Those that suck, go sit in the dining room and wait. It’s pretty clear to me! The top chefs are told to use the scrap to make a dish. I LOVE THIS IDEA!!!! This is called FAMILY meal where I come from. Some of the best soups in the world come from these pieces of fish carcass! I have cured a hangover or two from such methods! Let’s see what they have for us…chef’s your time starts now..!

Most chef’s did a pretty good job coming up with some tasty morsels for Tony and his fish slayer. This is what chef Bourdain has waited for. He is tired of the pussy-footin’ around in some of the other challenges. Get to the nit and gritty! Dale uses the fish liver. Record scratch! Did you just incorporate fish liver into your dish??!! I’m sorry, can the rest of the cooks just go wait in the dining room, we have our winner. Smart going DALE! You have won the keys to Bourdain’s heart! Really, all of the food looked great. I applaud them for such valiant efforts. This is what this show should be all about. We want to see the food, not the drama, right!!??

Ha! We just thought we wanted food, but drama we got! Restaurant Wars. Oh, the familar Restaurant Wars episodes. Familiar like a strange pain in the throat just before you know you are about to be sick- you just now it. Hell. This is the one. That one challenge that wins the Emmy. That challenge that will separate chef’s from the cooks. It will also separate sweat drops from your ducts because it is SO stressful! Put up a “pop-up” restaurant in 3 hours. COME ON! Then, I like this touch, they bring in an “expert” chef that has been doing these sort of “pop-up” restaurants for years now. Please, everybody, quiet now…listen to this chef tell you how he has been doing this and how it should work. Never mind how he probably planned this “pop-up” restaurant for 6 months before launching the concept! I love how intently Padma listens to the “experts”. But, the chefs are once again told to school yard pick their teams. This is such a good indicator of the ranking of the chefs to each other at this point in the competition. The first ones picked are the ones that the other chefs see as strong competitors. The last ones, well…you know the rest. Marcel, Marcel, Marcel… I love ya bud, I really do. And as I have told you to your face, you keep giving them what they want, don’t ya? I personally know what a good chef and friend you are. Part of this challenge is that you have to get along and make friends. The other team gets going like a Girl Scout Troop mapping out their cookie sales for this year. They might as well have held hands and sung Kum Ba Yah while they planned. We all saw Marcel’s train starting to derail. There was bickering, back talking, control issues all for the camera-ready taking. The other team was dreamy, whimsical, and euphoric. I was thinking, am I watching the Food Network right now?

We get the sense that Marcel and Mike do not care for each other very much. I can’t imagine them getting along at 1 years old- it is just not a meant-to-be friendship. This shows in the service-they don’t speak to each other. It shows in the food, boring plates. It showed in the service- Tiffany D’s cackle that was strangely irritating even the judges were annoyed! And such guests were annoyed including Dana Cowin of Food and Wine magazine. She acted as if she were in a New York hot spot eating a new twist on Kimchi. this is a MAKESHIFT restaurant in a courtyard! Hardly a real set up! These servers come to you 1 hour before “service”. No wonder they couldn’t find the table numbers! But, Fabio is kissing babies and women, servers and anyone else that will sit still long enough. It is genius really. Good times for his team. They came together and produced dishes that easily could have been served in an LA diner even a blueberry pie to top it all off.

In the end, it is Marcel that goes home. Are we surprised? Not exactly. Marcel is a good contender and doesn’t he have his own cooking show now? I commend your efforts, Marcel. Next time, right bud? When we get together to do TC18?

The lesson to take away from this week’s chefs…the food doen’t have to be over the top but it must be on point. Finally, we have lowered the bar. Thank you Restaurant Wars for showing all of us the way it should be done or more importanly, the way our guests really want to eat.

Sorry I have taken so long to get these out. I promise to be more on top of it next week! have a good one.

Now, go eat some delicious foods!!!

Cheers,

C

Here is a link to the Brownstone Website. Come on by!

C

Gina DiNunno did an interview with me over at TVGuide.com. She asked me a few questions on my last episode of Top Chef All Stars. Take a peek.

C

Yep, it happened. I can’t really believe it. (Laughing) I don’t even have that many words. I expressed just about as many sentiments as I have on the closing of the show. I have never been eliminated before! My current emotions are as fresh as the moment Padma said my name. I think the best words I can give you are here…

I do not regret going on the show. – I loved every minute of it. I created dishes for the challenge and to be very honest, never really got behind any of them. Looking at the pictures on the television, it is like they are someone else’s dishes. It is even hard for me to remember what I put in them! All except for the chicken feet. Isn’t that crazy?? For some reason, I remember everything. Maybe it is because I play it in my mind from time to time. Maybe it is because I was SO on board. I really WANTED to win! And by that I mean that I felt confident in my ability to impress the judges. I went for it on this challenge. What did I have to lose?! You either try, or you continue putting out dishes that you don’t remember. All around, I was happy on this season. I laughed HARD. I had a great time. I felt like a true alumni back in my alma mater with old professors and familiar school halls. I knew the way, if you will, I ate with the cool kids in the lunch room. Well, I never actually ate anything. The food they served us was pretty terrible. I think I lost 10 pounds while on TC! Sorry for the seg-way. There are lots of things that happen during the process of this show that you may not see. –It even happens to the best chefs on this show. If the judges felt I was the one to go home, then I am sure they made the right decision. I do know that since I did not pack my knives on Season 3, this was a surprise. More like a slap in the face. WAKE UP! Did he just say, “inedible”??!! I guess in my departure, I was okay because I was shocked. Let me quit rambling and get to it…

-Let us start at the beginning. When I woke up in the Top Chef house, it was as if it was any other day. SAME as any other. I woke up, and put my pants on one leg at a time. And then I put on one sock and then one shoe. One sock, and then one shoe. Don’t judge!! How do YOU do it?? Is that abnormal or something? Anyway, we then drove to the kitchen. Here is where my day took a different path. When we walked in, we found Padma standing alone. This is strange. Usually we would find an additional judge standing with her. There is definitely something up. When she announces (and this goes on a bit to long to be comfortable) that the judge has never before cooked in the Top Chef kitchen and that he is so fast ETC… we turn to find Tom Colicchio. To be honest, I expected Morimoto. I mean, don’t get me wrong… I love Tom! I have repeatedly said that he is my favorite judge (now Anthony Bourdain). But, I’m just sayin! And the other chefs are going around wheedling in their comments and the whole time I am thinking, what’s the catch? Am I missing something here? Did the chef judge for this episode get into an accident? Lock their keys in the their car? Did something fall through?? Other season saw the likes of Martha Stewart, Daniel Boulud, ROCK STARS for goodness sakes! Tom is supposed to walk around the kitchen in his blue chef smock and chef shoes -sans socks and critique us for ELIMINATIONS. He is now in the chef kitchen in his blue smock and chef shoes -sans socks cooking during a QUICKFIRE! What could he possibly have in store for us ladies and gentlemen??? Tom is going to create a dish using the Top Chef pantry. In the amount of time he can create a dish, we have the exact amount of time to do the same. Okay, let us all think about this. Did anyone else notice that Tom at his table had specific knives, a cutting board, certain pans, and AN OYSTER KNIFE? Do you know how many times we wished shellfish would be in those coolers with no luck!? This was not exactly random my friends…random in that there was no one else in the kitchen cooking with him! What was that last part, you ask? THERE WAS NO ONE ELSE IN THE KITCHEN COOKING WITH HIM! So, let me sum this up for anyone who has not caught on yet!

1. An oyster knife and a fridge stocked with shellfish

2. pans for the exact amount of ingredients

3. an empty kitchen to cook in

Now us contestants are sitting 14 deep at this point with a Toyota Prius at stake. We will be creating a dish in 8 some odd minutes- thank you for that Tom.

“And your time starts NOW!!” People are running, s— is flying everywhere! Ingredients are missing, pots and pans falling off of the burners… HOW does no one get burned!? When it is all over, and the kitchen has been destroyed once again, Tom has a lesson for us. Make sure to “grab everything you need in the pantry and have everything you need to cook on your station”. He even took his cutting board over to the burners to be able to “prep” (like that would ever happen!!). So, in a perfect situation, I would get my oyster knife out “in case” there are shellfish in the cooler and have everything I need down to the pan and have all of my tools out when the clock starts. Hello!? I could make anything in 8 minutes! I could make clam popsicles in 8 minutes for crying out loud! Let me give my opinion if I may, and I may, it’s my website… I have done a s#@*t ton of quick fires up to this point. Don’t you think I KNOW that if everything we needed for our dish was ready to go, I’d be able to make a dish in 8 minutes?! Especially with no one else in the kitchen but me?! Chef, you have schooled us none. And please, let me say…I appreciate your sage words of wisdom! Boy, I need to write a book… “How to cook in a Quick fire” (laughing again). But, let me give some props here to a very talented and successful chef. I have always looked up to Chef Tom. He did cook a great dish and we enjoyed every minute of it. But, did we believe this wasn’t planned? No.

So let’s get on to it, shall we? Elimination. It’s funny watching this time because I know the outcome. It’s painful, actually.

China town dim sum. We are shopping in an Asian market in China town. The kind that has the live turtles, pick your own perch and catfish out of the tank. The place that smells like the fermenting eggs and beans that line the shelves. A real Asian store. Antonia is trying to speak English to a stock person and she is asking for white bread. Gotta love that! The guy was clueless. I spent 10 minutes just looking for cornstarch. FOUND IT! Next to the pok pok in the basement. WHUT?! We will be serving guests at an authentic dim sum restaurant. One of the judges will be none other than Susar Lee. Have you seen this guy’s list of accomplishments?! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susur_Lee Chef Lee and I have cooked at an event together after the fact. He is a nice guy. That is after we straightened out that my name is CASEY, not STACY. To his defense David Burke started it.

Now, I love shopping in China town. I am living in San Francisco and Texas currently and if you want to know what my spare time is like in SF, you will find me in China town. I have been to Hong Kong and LOVE visiting China town in New York. There is something about the way the people move through these places. Picking through produce in order to find the perfect durian. The butchers are slangin’ pork pieces that are sticking to a mirrored wall and abalone is in the makeshift waterfall tank system. It is GENIUS. And might I say, one of my favorite place to get produce for a good price! One of the last places on earth! We have our ingredients, we are under budget. Let’s roll to the kitchen. And what a kitchen it is. About half of the kitchen equipment worked. There were a total of 6 burners in the whole place. What do they need burners for? All they serve is dim sum (first clue). I don’t know if you have had a chance, but go and read Anthony Bourdain’s blog on bravotv.com this morning. His summary of the behavior of our guests is dead on. These people were out of control! Or in control! They were grabbing food off of the carts, but apparently, this is what they do! Seriously! Service begins. We are truly set up for disaster. Let me explain…from the way this challenge was set up in the beginning, we did not have a chance. It is a TEAM challenge. That means we are all going to work for ourselves. You read that correctly. It doesn’t matter what the rules say, only one person can win this competition. What we should have done is have one person pick up all of the dim sum dishes off of the steamers. One person on the fryers. Two people on the woks and the rest of the people assembling the plates and getting the food out. So what happened? Each person cooked and assembled their own dish. How did we as chefs overlook these details to make service better? That is the beauty of the group challenge. People immediately think of themselves, not for the betterment of the group or more importantly, the restaurant! Why would they? They are there to win, right? Why would anyone in their right mind offer to put themselves up top to “serve” and do a dish cooked in the kitchen below (still figuring this one out)? Pretty ridiculous, right? I think Jenn Carroll pointed out to the group that it doesn’t matter what you cook for the people as long as the chefs are served the quality food. I guess the producer’s were listening. Bit us in the arse. My own mother pointed out to me that the front of the house people never really make it out okay. What are the producers going to do when no one volunteers for these positions? Are they snickering when those poor people raise their hands and offer up the second position and take on the additional challenge? Are they getting ready for those peoples eliminations at that very moment? So much to think about!

Enough about all of that. I went home. Bottom line. The feet just didn’t stand up! (sorry) I want to thank everyone for all of the kind words and thoughts regarding the show. And to Anthony Bourdain- I am going to send you a basket of something! I have always been your biggest fan!!! Remember the time I chased you down in Miami?! I have enjoyed coming into all of your homes and cooking for you. This isn’t the end! There will be more! Hopefully, I will be seeing all of you around the globe and please come up and say hello! I am already blown away by your kindness. Let’s cook together soon!

I’m out! Going to eat something… my stomach is growling!!!!! Maybe I will have dim sum in China Town!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBENjCPS8LI (cut and paste)

Muah!!!

C

QF. David Chang. It is really cool to meet him. I will say, there were rampant rumors going around the kitchen that he once referred to the chefs on Top Chef as “not chefs he would ever hire for his kitchen”. Funny, you are here then Mr. Chang. The QF was one of the best we have ever had on ALL of the shows combined. The way it was set up, the 15 minute timer set for the team that did the best…GENIUS. The Top Chef kitchen when we had completed our challenges looked like a BOMB had gone off. Padma said it was the worst she had ever seen. We were all tarred and feathered from the sticky garlic and garlic skins floating around like chicken feathers! I had so many knicks and cuts on my hands from the slippery lamb butchery-I had to call over a medic to put a finger condom over a finger to keep my blood from the lamb’s! Don’t even think that those lamb racks were chilled nicely for skilled and precise cuts. Oh no, they had sat out a while so that the fat was soft and the knife slipped through the lamb like butter and your hands slipped down the knife right onto the blade. It was AWESOME! I had a really good time doing it- we all did. I am pretty sure that David Chang made a comment regarding our team’s technique and how it was the best out of all of the team’s. -Not even kidding on that one. Did it show? Hell no. Oh well- so I can butcher…I know it.

We didn’t win this one. We didn’t even place. We gotcha lamb carpaccio right here, Chang! Oh, they have lamb carpaccio over there too- awesome. Great minds think alike? Superb. We were totally bummed. I keep missing the boat and it is starting to punch me in the gut a bit. I am not enjoying being on the bottom. What’s up with all of these team challenges? Oh, I know…more drama takes place when we are in groups. I get it. Why would we be left to cook on our own? How BOR-ing.

Tre and Richard’s team win. I can’t even remember at this very moment who else was on that team. Does it matter? $5k LUCKY! When Padma had collected us all around the tables for the judging, we were in our perspective groups. And in those perspective groups we would stay. On to the elimination. We will doing the ‘ole TC knife pull. Each team will draw and each knife has a name on it. First knife, Ma Peche. I am immediately thinking, “all David Chang inspired?”. Next knife, Townhouse. Huh? I don’t get it. How did we go from Ma Peche to Townhouse? Ma Peche makes their own artisinal noodles. Townhouse is David Burke’s restaurant on the Upper East Side. It is “modern American” with whimsical flair. It’s like going from French Bordeaux to Apple Pucker. Other restaurants include Marea, which I have eaten at, and WD50. Holy crap. Thank G I didn’t get that one. It was pretty interesting to us all, that each chef seemed to get the restaurant that they might do well in. We learn that we will be going out to dine in our restaurants. Is this a trick? As soon as we are done dining, I am sure they will say, “you have 30 minutes to recreate the dish you have just eaten”. That would not surprise me. Not at all. I don’t know if you notice- but, I am wearing THE coolest shirt. It says “miss delicious” and there is a pig on it. The Miss Delicious refers to the tasty pig…so cute-SEGWAY!!! Sorry about that.

We don’t have to cook that night. We do on the other hand have to shop for our ingredients at Whole Foods. This means you have to know what you are cooking the next day. A plan, and you don’t get to re-shop for your ingredients. This is sometimes the worst. You will see chefs pacing around the house or sitting in a corner with a pen and some paper mapping it all out. What is fun about tonight is that each chef is coming back from having an incredible dining experience- the way chefs love to do. Each of us, tasting and talking, reviewing and critiquing. These are the moments we live for. Being on the other side of the restaurant. This we rarely get to do so we enjoy each part of these experiences. We are creating a dish that these chefs would represent in their restaurants, so we are wrapping our brains around what THEY would do. The first thought that came to mind was to do scallops. Then I hear that Antonia is doing scallops. I don’t want to do the same protein because you want to stand out. Be different. There is one mission here. Win. This challenge is tricky though…you have to win over the judges in the kitchens provided and your teammates’ food will judged against yours.

So, how did it go? Our kitchen was a small, tight kitchen that is very typical for New York. I can say that everything stored in this kitchen has a place. It ran basically like the galley of a ship. We each had our space and we got right to it. The cooking went well from the get-go. I was in good shape with a plan. I knew exactly what I needed to do to get things on the plate by the end of our time. Things were going smoothly and I had time to stop and taste Dale’s dish. It was fine, until. After the 3rd, 4th time I tasted Dale’s dish, I noticed he was starting that very familiar things that us chefs do when things go ary. It was a classic case of over thinking. The french toast didn’t turn out the way he thought? Add another ingredient. The sauce is too sweet? Add another ingredient. Peanuts, popcorn, curry oil, corn, thyme syrup, french toast, pork! What is happening!!!??? Dale, NO, I can not taste your dish any more…I am starting to lose my focus also! My sauce is to thick, I don’t have enough tapioca, my fish is very delicate and I need to CONCENTRATE! lol!!!! Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!

Dinner is served. I am feeling okay about my dish. I guess I am my own worst critic. Oh wait, there are worst critics out there. Believe me! Dale is worried. Jamie is feeling less than awesome. Antonia is feeling great. And on to the stew room we go. This room we have appropriately named the “stew room” is an awful place. Many people have asked how long we actually have to sit in this place and wait for our praise or doom. Let me clarify it is A LONG time. A LONG time. And, it is dirty. And, it is hot or cold. Which ever one it is, but it is never pleasant. THe first round of chefs are called in. We have all learned, as you have probably too, that the first group are the best dishes of the evening. SURPRISE us, Top Chef! Bring in the losers first one time and set us up for a shocker! No one will see it coming and it will be fun! But, I find myself in the middle again. I still can’t seem to be up or down. You know what it is? I am complacent in my cooking. I am complacent in life. I do know that I don’t have one of the worst dishes. But, I know that my David Burke whimsical dish was not that impressive. Technically, yes. Creatively, yes. Amazing, nah. Silly, right?! What is going through our minds…I wish I would have gotten Marea. I would have killed it.

Dale and Stephen are on the bottom. The feeling in the room is that it will be these two. You just know it. You usually see it coming and feel death looming in the room. You see the chefs sweating. They know it too. This SUCKS. Nothing to do but wait. And so, it is determined. Dale and Stephen are going home. Wahhhhhhhh!!!! You know, Dale and I have never been sent home before! In our season, we were in the finale and the winner was announced and we were still standing there. So technically, we never “packed our knives”.

I have since spoken to Dale several times. He is really okay with things. It sucks of course because you WANT to do well. And, NO one wants to go home early. This is the competition though.

I want to take a moment to comment on all of the nice people that I have met lately. Because of the show, people are stopping me in stores and on the street and coming into the restaurant. I am so very lucky to meet these people and everyone is so nice. I am grateful for that. If I run into you on the street, please say “hello!”. Maybe I will see you at a demo or on the road sometime. Until then… cook up something great and I want to hear about it.

Cheers,

C

It is always a surprise whom we will see in the Top Chef kitchen. It could be a chef that has inspired us for many years, Martha Stewart or as it may seem these days, a celebrity fan of the show. Sadly, 75% of us did not know who the person was that we found standing with Padma in the kitchen on this day. Joe Jonas. Supposedly a teen pop idol, brother, singer, actor, and who knew..a fan of Top Chef. I wish you could have heard the under the breath comments as we awaited the Quickfire reveal…”who is THAT?”, or “is that a NKOTB?”. By the way, the boys were asking the last question. But, as Padma revealed, it was Joe Jonas (still hardly a clue), and he would be our guest judge for the challenges. So, what does Joe want us to do? Cook a midnight snack for his friends at the museum tonight. A midnight snack? Sometimes you just have to laugh. We are after all a Emmy winning show now.

Let’s get to the cooking. No refrigeratables (please see urban dictionary), has to fit in a brown paper sack and has to win the kids over- this includes Joe Jonas. Ready set GO! 45 minutes to prepare a snack. What do kids eat? I have been a kid, but don’t have any kids. I DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY EAT! All I know is if I were attending a slumber party at a museum without my parents, I want to eat all of the sugar I can possibly eat and sleep as little as possible!

I wanted to create a dish that would win the kids over by naming it after a similar sounding dish- just with a twist. Kids know and love lasagna, right? Surely! So, why not take the idea of lasagna and make chocolate lasagna?! I decided to make the lasagna layers with crepes, good chocolate, shaved malt balls on top and crispy bacon. Okay, the bacon part was mostly for me, because I love bacon and chocolate. I finished the dish off with fresh squeezed apple juice and Hot Tamales because I love them. Perfect, right!!?? Well, Joe didn’t like nor dislike the dish. BOOOOO!!! See if I ever buy your album Joe!! Does he even have an album? I can already see what the winner to this elimination challenge will get- a copy of Joe’s Summer Camp dvd and a Junior G Man badge. The dishes, as the judges are going around the kitchen did not seem to impress them nor us. As Mike kindly put the description of my dish- that he never tasted was, “so disgusting he wanted to throw up”- but, Mike worry about your own dish- sounds like you are on the bottom! For the win, Joe decides on his two favorite dishes and wants us to break into teams to create some 300 portions to take to feed his friends at the museum. Great. We have to work in teams? This usually makes for good tv. It is going to be a schoolyard pick, because Bravo has such a knack for kindness. One for this team and one for that one. Dale and I refer to the Ritz Cracker handjob and make a crap ton of chocolate malt ball thingys, pack them up and serve um to the kiddos!

Once arriving at the museum, the bags are staged on two different tables, one blue and one red. The kids enter screaming, running, and overly excited to get whatever is in these bags- they have no idea who we are or why we are trying to pawn the bags off on them for a vote. Joe and Padma enter from the end of the room and the kids go BANANAS! “Circle around,” Padma tells the children-she is a mommy now, so, she is doing her best quiet game impression for Joe. Do you think the kids care?! Heck no!!! They are TOTALLY freaking out that Joe Jonas is there in the flesh and they have just eaten 3pounds of refined sugar at 10pm at night! Kids are screaming, climbing and reaching out to Joe for attention- I must say it was a little odd for us. We are pulling the children down off of the railing, telling them to stop pushing and for God’s sake, stop screaming! It is a little too much for me to handle. It’s worse than being in an elevator with 18 Top Chef contestants after a day of sweaty cooking challenges! I think that what the kids really want from Joe is a song. But, he disappoints- only to stand next to Padma as she announces the winner to the mystery bags the kids have been handed. You should have seen the aftermath of the kids that received the losing teams bags. I believe I saw one kids stomping his into the museum floor. It was complete mayhem.

After the kids have gone. We are left to clean up the mess. Oh, Bravo…you are killing me. I can just here the producers, “let’s get a shot of the All Star’s cleaning up, it will be great!” In walks Tom. Come on, are we really surprised at this point? Did we really think that we were going to be going to a Joe Jonas concert? And to be honest, we are totally pre-guessing the challenges. We have gotten really good at this. We have already figured out that if these kids are staying over night, we are surely cooking breakfast for them. And that is exactly what we are going to do. But, we can’t seem to guess the twists and turns that we will be facing. “And, what do they have for us today, Tom???” “Well, chefs, we have another two team split up in the lovely Natural Museum of Science and History’s cafeteria…team Brontesaurus and T-Rex!!!” Make us breakfast. Plain and Simple. “Winning team, what would you like to choose meat or veggies!?” Answer: the wrong one. We chose meat. We chose meat  because meat is delicious. Meat is delicious when accompanied with sides. Everyone loves a BBQ. You love a BBQ because of the sauce, potato salad and beans. At our cots, we discuss visions of biscuits and gravies and scotch eggs…goodnight chefs. Sweet dreams. Because in 45 minutes, when you wake up…you will find that NOTHING YOU DREAMT UP WILL BE THERE FOR YOU IN THE KITCHEN! Out of our TC jammies and into our TC chef coats, we enter the kitchen where each team has a side of the walk-in. You can not take items from the other teams shelves. We find, salmon, pork loins, bacon, sausage links, beef tenderloins, eggs and dairy. What we find in our dry storage is minimal. It won’t even make a cream gravy. We are in trouble. The other team has a bounty of fruits and vegetables and grains! We did not even have herbs.

Jamie cuts her thumb. For the record, cutting yourself any time in the kitchen plain sucks. I am not a doctor and I certainly can not advise someone on how to treat a cut, especially when it comes to a chef’s hands. It’s our tools to work. None of us held any resentment. You just go into a different mode. Now you have to step it up! It happens in every kitchen around the globe. And to be honest, we all chipped in where we could. We all helped each other. We all did our best.

The food is to be served buffet style (which I hate), this never really works in the long run. The food is compromised. None-the-less…we received many good compliments from the guests. None of which made it on air. Shocker. We did try the other team’s foods, and they were good. Not great in my opinion. And, we all agreed that all of our dishes were “somewhat” breakfasty. If you could tell, the dishes weren’t steered towards the children. They were definitely made for the judges. And Katie Lee? Okie-dokie!

But, back at judges table, team T-Rex takes the fall. None of our dishes are “creative enough”. Sorry, we DIDN’T EVEN HAVE HERBS! Things were under seasoned, over seasoned, raw and they probably just should have said, boring. But, as the game is played, it is time to fight for your place in the next round. “Who made the frittatas?” Answer: Antonia and Tiffany D. “Why did you make 3 kinds?” Answer: We wanted to push ourselves. “Why didn’t you know the oven was spotty?” Answer: REALLY? Next..”who made the beef?” Answer: Dale and Tiffany F. “Good job. but, if you can’t cook tenderloin and soft scrambled eggs, what are you doing here anyway?” Answer: we didn’t have anything else to cook. Next group: “who cooked the bacon and eggs??” Answer: Jenn and anybody she could get to help her! Whoa!! Boy, was she MAD!? Red-faced mad! Did you catch the shot of Tre and I and our “uncomfortability”- if you will?! It was really one of the worst eliminations I have seen except for Hung arguing with Dana Cowin that salmon mousse had been done for centuries on cucumbers! From my point of view, the judges really didn’t have enough to send Jamie home on a cut thumb technicality. The salty sauce, runny frittatas and undercooked-underseasoned braised bacon seemed to be leading factors in the overall disappointment. I believe the judges see exactly how many strikes the dish has- for example: braised bacon, undercooked, and under seasoned-two strikes. Runny frittatas, one. And so on and so forth…In the end, the hissy was thrown and the hammer comes down. Note to self, don’t every call the judges “smart enough” to do anything. I think it might work against your favor. And my final note-to-self…never leave screaming once eliminated into your microphone for all the world to hear. Life goes on. I leave you with the words of Bob Marley…feel free to click on this…Three Little Birds. When the window pops up, click on the smaller of the two “Three Little Birds”- sorry we are fixing this…Enjoy!

Cheers,

C

Casey in the AM

When the weather gets cold, and all you want to do is stay inside, soup is what I crave. I am living alone in Fort Worth currently and I must say, it is hard to cook for one! What I and up doing on my day off is cooking something simple, yet hearty for dinner. I end up creating new soups. Anything and everything is fair game when it comes to soup. Basically, every dish can be turned into soup! I recently had an asian style noodle soup with a bolognese sauce on top! It was to DIE FOR! It was very different, though filling, and INCREDIBLY tasty. I had it at Tei An in Dallas. If you haven’t been, you must go next time you are in town.

Soups are a classic way of making a meal go a long way. Potato, noodle, broth, vegetable- all incredible ways of having a meal with a bit of bread- or a fresh salad on top. I will port some recipes for you to have and to make at home here ASAP. Because I know that making soup is a great way to feel satisfied and feed one person completely!

Hope you are having a great week!

Enjoy!!

Walking into the TC house was exciting. I was like seeing old college roommates that you haven’t seen in forever. Everyone looks relaxed, rested and fresh- that will change… Nice apt though- way to go Bravo!

Entering the Top Chef kitchen again was something else! We are all a bundle of nerves going in and then you just get right down to it. Seeing Padma standing there so tall and pretty is nerve-racking in itself! And, it is fitting to have Tom in on the quick fire judging. Splitting us up into teams was genius as we all do feel like our season was the best (season 3 really was). It was fun to represent Miami and cook some latin food again. As we cook- we are really wanting immunity because you never know what those judges are going to pull for an elimination! To start, there are 18 of us in this kitchen! That means 18 people trying to get dressed in the morning, 18 people in the vans, 18 people gunning for a prize and each one of us want it badly! Our dish was pretty good, I have to admit! The flavors were pretty good and it represented Miami well. Dale and Tre are solid chefs with unbelievable pallets. We were cutting it pretty close getting the pork cooked. It was funny when Tre said he needed to get the pork in the oven and I said “out of the oven?”, and he replied, “IN the oven”- we had like 2 minutes!!! Whoa. But, we managed to get it done and it was a cluster, the 3 of us trying to plate. It is hard enough trying to plate your own dishes! 6 hands on the plate is crazy!!! But, team Chicago took the prize. DANG! Oh well, there will be more!

So, on to the elimination. No chef wants to be the first chef off. That would rattle you for a while! So, we are all guessing at what the challenge might be… and here it comes…trays with cloches. WTH?? WHAT is going on? And then the unveiling… the dish that sent us packing. Each one of us with the dish of our demise to remake and make it great. We meet again pork belly! Well- it is actually okay because we are making pork belly at Brownstone right now. Its familiar and should have been right the first time! Remember that little break we took on season 3 when Tom came waltzing in with instructions to come with him for a little surprise? Yeah. Casey didn’t remove her pork belly NO!- she decided to leave it in and it over cooked and dried out. Gross. Oh well. Here’s my chance… the cooking went smooth- but I only have a total of four hours I think to braise pork belly- that’s not a long time. So, into the pressure cooker it goes! It cut down the cooking time by 2 hours and then it finished in a braise. It turned out beautifully and good thing because Tony does not play with the commenting! I would hate to be the one that disgusts him!

It was very awkward sitting at the table and talking about the foods from my fellow chefs, but I will say that it gave me a different perspective on the judging. The judges are not playing. If you are serving pasta, you better make that pasta. If you name your dish something and it is not exactly like that something- eliminated. If you serve your dish and there are technical mistakes- you will be called out for it. It’s like you are the awkward guest at someone else’s family dinner. You want more potatoes but you can’t bring yourself to have Uncle Bourdain pass them to you. “No, i’m full, you have the last bite…” But, we have to do it, AND they make us dress up for it! How uncomfortable can this be?? It’s that awkward conversation, contrived and pointless. I don’t want to be at this table! I am not the judge! I can say that going second was the advantage. You got to see the styles presented and the judges comments.

Sadly, I was at the table when Elia presented her food. It was raw. Not medium. Raw. I love Elia and I know being elliminated really upset her. She is a good chef. Unfortunately, someone had to go. It sucks. Totally.

Oh well- exciting stuff.

More to come…

Have a great week! See you next Wednesday…

Well, the time has come to start yet another season of Top Chef. Many fans are as excited as us chefs to see the whole show put together. We certainly had a good time filming. It is always fun to get together with my good chef friends and cook for prizes. I look forward to the show and will be watching along with you and will post some thoughts each week.

Things are good with me and there are many project in the works. Brownstone is open in Texas and we will begin to look for a second location. We hope to have many Brownstone’s all over the south! We received two 4 star reviews and were named one of Dallas Fort Worth’s Top Ten restaurants of 2010! The food is great and we are having a good time representing what is local and seasonal and tasty for our region. I will soon be heading back to the Bay Area to work on a few new things and will continue my travels with Moet-Hennessey and Terrazas wines! We have been all over touring, teaching and talking about Argentina! I have been in Florida, California, Chicago, New York, Connecticut, Arizona, New Jersey and Wisconsin! And we are soon to be in Texas! We featured in Bon Apetite, Food and Wine and Wine Spectator magazines. We have seen Food and Wine events and casinos and culinary schools with so many nice people, I wish I could name them all!

As we begin the Christmas season, I want to wish you all a Happy Holiday Season! Stay warm, eat well and be merry!

See you on Bravo, tonight!