Miso Glazed Strip Steaks

Here is a really tasty grilled dinner with some Japanese influences. First up is a spinach salad simply dressed with lemon juice and sesame, next the steaks are marinated in a miso paste flavored with garlic, ginger, and sesame, and last we have grilled corn with wasabi, ginger, and cilantro butter.

Spinach salad

1 pound fresh spinach

Juice of 2 lemons

Splenda or sugar to taste

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

2 tablespoons of sesame oil

Freshly ground pepper

Sesame seeds for garnish

Mix the lemon juice with the sweetner, soy, sesame oil, and pepper

Toss the spinach with the dressing and allow to sit for about 1/2 hour, the spinach should be slightly wilted

Garnish with toasted sesame seeds

ButterGrilled Corn With Wasabi, Ginger, and Cilantro

I usually soak my corn with the husks still intact for at least 1/2 hour before placing them on the grill

1/4 pound butter

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Wasabi powder to taste-I used 1/2 teaspoon

Cream the butter and add the rest of the ingredients

Form the butter into a cylinder, and wrap with plastic or parchment paper and place in the refrigerator to chill

Slice the butter and let it melt across the grilled corn

Miso Glaze (enought for 4 steaks)

3 Tablespoons of miso

3 Tablespoons of Mirin

1 Tablespoon of sherry

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

1 Tablespoon minced ginger

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Freshly ground pepper

Combine all of the ingredients

Reserve 1/2 of the mixture

Brush the steaks with the miso paste and let sit for 1/2 hour

Grill of medium hot coals until your desired degree of doneness

When the steaks are cooked to you liking, remove them from the heat and brush with the reserved paste

Let the steaks rest for 5 minutes before serving

Post Dispatch says Gallagher's Fried Chicken is Best in the St Louis Metro-East Area

If my posts have been far and few between lately it is because I have been on some fried chicken odyssey. In May the St Louis Post Dispatch began a contest for readers to vote for their favorite fried chicken. The Post then visited the top 5 restaurants and reviewed the chicken with large color photos and a continuing dialogue that also included their web site. To make a long story less tedious, Gallagher's was named best. Upsetting Hodak's (a restaurant specialising in fried chicken since time immemorial) reign. Since then we have been seating record breaking crowds, who knew St Louisans loved fried chicken so much?

Originally we only served fried chicken on Sundays, and it was the only thing we served on Sunday, family style. Since the article was published we have added it to the regular menu as so many people were arriving for fried chicken every night of the week. Many became irate that we didn't offer fried chicken all the time eventhough the article clearly stated it was only available on Sundays. Fried chicken done properly is not an easy task.

Our chicken is fresh-never frozen-brined for at least 12 hours, then hand breaded, and fried in small batches. The traditional sides are corn custard, mashed potatoes, gravy, long simmered green beans with ham, biscuits, and a home style dessert made by Mrs Gallagher. Seriously, I've had one long-time cook quit over it all-he wanted to cook somthing "fancier". We reworked all the recipes to expand the numbers being served, as well as purchasing new equipment. It was almost like starting over as all the recipes had to be tested and re-tested. All new equipment has its own learning curve to it until everyone is used to working with it.

The first week the article came out we served 310 dinners, there was a 2 hour wait for tables, and another 45 minutes before I could get food to the table. Keep in mind previous to the article, we usually served betwee 150 and 200. One disgruntled guest declared that the Post must have been drunk when they named us best. Last week I am happy to report we served 380 guests with minimal waits for tables and 8 minutes for me to get chicken to the tables. Since we do not share the chicken recipe, here is a picture of one of our lovely servers taking a tray of the platters of food to the table.

Moorish Zucchini Salad

Just in time for the local zucchini crop, I give you this Spanish-moorish salad.

1/4 cup olive oil

2 garlic cloves, peeled

2 pounds small zucchini, thinly sliced

1/2 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup raisins

Several threads of Saffron

1/4 cup minced Italian parsley

1/4 cup minced mint

Juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper to your liking

Brown the garlic in the oil, to flavor it-discard the garlic, after the oil is flavored

Briefly saute the zucchini until al dente

Remove the zucchini to a mixing bowl

Add the pine nutes to the saute pan and toast them

Add the pine nuts, raisins, Saffron, lemon juice, parsley, and mint to the zucchini, mix and let marinate for 2 to 3 hours in the refrigerator

Serve on a bed of salad greens or on grilled bread slices

Tragedy

One of our most favorite clients, Traci, perished in a horrible auto accident last week. She was a delightful woman with a lot of spunk. I always enjoyed bantering with her. Here she is enjoying appetizers and drinks with her husband. He is gravely injured still in the hospital. She also leaves behind a daughter in high school. So sad.

Another Kitchen Conservatory Class

I taught another class at the Kitchen Conservatory last night. I always meet such nice folks at these classes. Many of them know me from the restaurant, but often there are new faces who usually make it to the restaurant after they take a class. Last night's menu was Pine Nut encrusted salmon with orange-basil butter, Spring peas with Boston lettuce and fresh mint, Potatoes Dauphinois with roasted peppers and Fontina, and Strawberry-Rhubarb Clafouti.

Here is the recipe for the peas, if you like peas, you will really enjoy this preparation.

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

4 cups shell peas

1/4 cup sliced scallion

1 carrot, thinly sliced

1/4 cup chicken stock

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 small head of tender lettuce, such as Boston, sliced into chifffonade

Salt and pepper

Chopped fresh mint

In a sauce pan, melt the butter and saute the carrots until they begin to soften, add the sugar and caramelize slightly.

Add the chicken stock and lemon and bring to the boil.

Add the peas and cook until tender, add the lettuce chiffonade and continue to cook until the lettuce wilts.

Remove from heat and top with the fresh mint

Memorial Day Ribs

Potluck at my friend Mary's for Memorial day. Everyone contributed, Mary made pasta salad, Diane brought a green salad-she grew the lettuce, she's a big gardener, Pat brought garlic bread-he burnt it. Judy brought white cake with chocolate frosting-she bakes from scratch-no mixes. My contribution was the ribs. I made three kinds, Tandoori, terriyaki, and sweet barbeque. I didn't get a picture of the bbq, but here are the other two. I just sliced them all and loaded them into my larger copper oval pan. Caitlyn, (pat's daughter and Dan's niece) played her sax for us. She is an accomplished musician and will be studying music at SIUE next year after she graduates high school. We all laughed and played cards until late into the night. A great big slice of Americana.

This tandoori paste is also really good on rotisserie chicken.

Tandoori

2 cups of plain yogurt

1/4 cup grated fresh ginger root

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 hot chili (I used a bird's eye), minced

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1 Tablespoon cumin seed

1 Tablespoon mustard seed

1/4 cup commercial tandoori spice

Combine all of the ingredients except the yogurt in a mortar and pestle and mash into a paste.

Spread the paste over two racks of baby back ribs and marinate over night.

Grill over indirect heat until the ribs are tender, brushing with additional yogurt mixture, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours-keep the heat very low.

Crawfish Boil at the couple's wedding shower

The ubiqitous shower (both wedding and baby) is changing. In the past few years I've cooked for more and more couples showers. These showers usually move to the evening rather than afternoon, and the boyfriends, husbands, fathers, brothers and other males are invited to these formerly all female occaisions. The typical shower menu of chicken salad, tea sandwiches, and petit four are also becoming more male-friendly. One recent hostess chose a crawfish boil although she wasn't a big fan of crawfish. We added lots more shrimp, although crawfish were definitely present.

I purloined (can purloined be a verb?) anyway, I took some leftovers to use for breakfast the next day, which I made while watching the Sunday political shows. I cut the corn from the cobs, and sauteed everything in some butter, deglazed the pan with some Marsala wine and poured it all over grits. Just incredible.

Birthday Lunch

I celebrated my 56 th birthday last Sunday (a couple days late). My parents were visiting, so I decided to make something special. I chose lobster, corn on the cob and fingerling potatoes. My parents are such light eaters I didn't make any hors douevre or salad. I did mix up a pitcher of Whiskey Sours, which is a cocktail that their generation really seems to appreciate. Birthday cake was purchased at Wei Hong, a chinese bakery on Grand Avenue a couple of blocks from my house. We served chocolate gelato with it.

I count myself blessed to be able to celebrate with my parents this year. It was a lovely day.

Whiskey Sour
1 orange sliced

1 lemon sliced

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups of freshly squeezed orange juice

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 cups of bourbon

Muddle the fruit with the sugar and let it sit for 1/2 hour to draw out the juices and oils.

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a larger pitcher and chill until ready to serve.

To serve pour over ice and garnish with lemon, orange and maraschino cherry.

Braised Lamb Shank

It has been such a cold and rainy Spring that a braised dish seemed perfect for a late lunch last Sunday. I gave this one some Moroccan flavors with dried plums and apricots, olives, orange, cinnamon, and cumin.

1 or 2 meaty lamb shanks

1/4 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

2 T oil

6 dried apricots

6 dried plums

2 small turnips, quartered

4 red "B" potatoes, quartered

2 carrots, sliced

1 onion, sliced

2 cups of beef stock

1 cup red wine

Zest and juice of one orange

1 cinnamon stick

1 T cumin seeds

1/4 cup mixed green and black olives

Dust the shanks with the seasoned flour

Brown the shanks in the hot oil in a Dutch oven

Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil

Cover the Dutch Oven and place in a preheated 300 degree oven for 2 to 2 1/2 hours

1/2 hour before finishing cooking, add the olives

Red Lentil and Roasted Beet Salad

Beets are such a maligned vegetable that it almost breaks my heart. They are at the same time regal, by virtue of their color-they dominate anything they come into contct with, and humble, as they are just roots. I find their earthy sweetness irresistable, and I blame all their woes on too many canned beets. I do admit their staining qualities might prevent more widespread use. Roasting beets is very simple and avoids alot of the mess. Simply remove the green tops, douse with a bit of olive oil, wrap tightly in foil, and roast in a 350 degree oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hour (depending on how large your beets are). Once they are roasted, their skins slip off effortlessly, leaving you a gorgeous vetetable to work with. I love them like this mashed with a little salt and pepper.

But for this recipe, I diced them and used them as a component for a beautiful and nutritious lentil salad. Lisa at Champaign Taste posted a recipe (sans beets) for this salad last week, and it inspired me to make this salad to which I added beets to enhance the color of the red lentils. Caution:red lentils cook much faster than the green and brown ones-so be careful not to over cook them. Then I came across another lentil salad-this one made with beets and regular brown lentils posted by Emily at Cook the Wolf. Emily's recipe comes with a tutorial on recipe writing, borrowing, and outright stealing. Very enlightening for anyone writing recipes. It seems that recipe ingredients cannot be copywrighted, but directions on how to use the ingredients can be. Fascinating, really. Do visit her blog for a more articulate explanation.

3 cups of cooked red lentils (cook them al dente with your best pasta cooking technique)

3 small beets, roasted and diced

1/4 cup sliced celery-I found this a distractin and will not add it next time

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/4 cup minced fresh tarragon

1/4 cup minced fresh Italian parsley

Juice of three lemons

1 Tablespoon of honey or sugar (beets marry well with sweet)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to your liking

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine all of the ingreients and chill at least 1 hour before serving.

I served it on a little curly endive, garnished with some more fresh tarragon.

If you don't like tarragon, Emily suggests Basil in her salad.

Greek Shrimp, Olive, and Feta Salad

This is a tasty simple salad, great for hor d ouevre. Because of the salty feta and olives it is especially good with cocktails.

2 pounds of cooked shrimp-I leave the tail on

1 cup mixed olives, green and black Greek or Nicoise are best

1/4 pound good feta-imported Greek or French is usually the best

2 lemons, thinly sliced and squeezed, reserve two or three slices to garnish the top of the salad

2 Tablespoons of chopped fresh Oregano

1/4 cup fruity olive oil

Combine all of the ingreients and chill for a couple of hours or overnight.

Bring to room temperature before serving.

Crisped pita triangles are a good accompaniment.

Rebel Burger

Here is another of our specialty burgers for "Gourmet Burger" month at Gallagher's. It is an 8 ounce burger, grilled then topped with Southern-fried green tomato, dill pickle, and a tower of onion rings. I created a sweet and spicy spread for it as well.

Pesto Burger

Starting April 1st we will begin "Gourmet Burger " month. The pesto burger will be one of the choices. We will be using a ground chuck with 80% lean to 20% fat-I do not approve of lean burgers. They are dry and nasty, these are juicy and delicious, with a luxurious topping of fresh mozzarella cheese, and my own pesto which includes fresh Basil, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and olive oil. Served on a corn meal dusted Kaiser Roll-butter toasted.

Rack of Lamb Roasted with Red Potatoes

I got this rack of lamb at Trader Joe's for the amazing price of just over $15, At my regular butcher, this rack would cost about $35. It is frozen, and pre-seasoned, two drawbacks as far as I'm concerned, but the roast was tender and juicy. I'm definitely picking up more of them.

1 lamb rack, bones Frenched

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

2 Tablespoon of minced fresh Rosemary, divided in half

1 Tablespoon of minced fresh Parsley

2 Tablespoon of butter, melted

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 pound of red potatoes, size "B", or quartered large ones

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

In a roasting pan just large enough to hold the rack, toss the potatoes with the olive oil, salt, pepper, and 1 Tablespoon of the minced Rosemary, roast for 1/2 hour.

While the potatoes are roasting, season the rack on all sides with salt and pepper, next spread the fat side of the rack with the dijon mustard.

Toss the bread crumbs with the melted butter, 1 Tablespoon of the Rosemary, and the Parsley.

Pat the seasoned bread crumbs onto the Dijon coated lamb rack.

After the potatoes have roasted for 1/2 hour, place the lamb rack-bread crumbed side up, on top of the potatoes.

Return to the oven and continue roasting for 20 to 25 minutes for medium rare.

A Jackie Kennedy Inspired Lunch.

Lori Lynn, who writes Taste With The Eyes, wrote about a preparing a Kennedy themed dinner party. It inspired me to create one of the dishes on her blog. It is an over the top salad with green and yellow beans interspersed with slices of foie gras, served over butter lettuce with dijon vinaigrette. It was an amazing combination of flavors, textures, and colors. Visit Lori's blog Here.

I also pulled out one of my books on the Kennedy's "In the Kennedy Style" written by Letitia Baldrige (Jackie's Social Sec) and Rene Verdon (White House chef for the Kennedy administration). From that book I chose to make Homard en Bellevue, which was a fish course served at a state dinner on May 11, 1962 honoring Andre Malroux, an important French diplomat and author. In the book, it is a lobster salad served under aspic. While personally I like aspics, I find alot of Americans do not, so I served the salad with Tarragon vinaigrette instead of being covered with aspic.

Homard en Bellevue has an interesting history. It was created for King Louis XV by Madame Pompadour, his mistress, or rather his mistress's staff-I heard she wasn't much of a cook herslf. Bellevue was the name of the chateau Louis built for her.

First I made a potato salad with small diced potatoes, baby turnips, carrots, and peas, dressed with mayonaise flavored with tarragon vinegar. Lobster tails are poached and pulled from their shells. When the lobster cools, slice the tails into 1/2" slices. Mound the potato salad into the lobster shells and lay the lobster slices across the salad. I served the stuffred lobster tails on a salad of pea shoots with tarragon vinaigrette on the side.

Banana Flan

Tim, a culinary student as well as one of our line cooks, made this lovely flan last week. He is especially interested in baking desserts, and his favorite flavor is banana. So when he wanted to bake this I said do it.

For the caramel:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

In a saute pan, dissolve the sugar in the water and bring it to the boil. Boil until the syrup becomes a rich amber color.

Pour the caramel into custard cups and swirl the caramel around the sides of the cup.

2 1/2 cups half and half
1/4 cup banana liqueur
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 egg yolks

Whisk all of the ingredients together and strain. Pour the strained custard into the prepared custard cups and bake in a bain marie in a preheated 325 degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the custard is set and an inserted knife comes out clean.

Chill for several hours. To unmold, run a thin knife around the edge of the cup and unmold the custard, be sure to let all the caramel run out over the top of the flan. Serve with fresh fruit, if desired. We made a compote of bananas, oranges, and strawberries.

Crawfish Etouffee

I made this yesterday (Mardi Gras) for a special. The flavors are deep, rich and spicy. The really dark Cajun roux is a little unnerving, and the ingredient list is long, but the results are satisfying and delicious. Based on a Paul Prudhomme recipe. I love Paul's use of three peppers (black, white, and cayenne), and I also admire his technique of plunging the aromatic vegetables (green bell pepper, onion, and celery-known as the Holy Trinity of Cajun cooking) into the hot roux to instantly cook them.

2 teaspoons of salt

2teaspoons of cayenne

1 teaspoon of white pepper

1 teaspoon of black pepper

1 teaspoon of dried basil

1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme

mix well and reserve

1/2 cup chopped onions

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3 cups fish stock or clam juice

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 pounds of crawfish tails, plus extra fish for garnish

1 cup minced green onions

cooked rice

Put the oil in a heavy bottomed pot and heat until smoking hot, add the flour and whisk continually until the flour reaches a dark reddish brown color. This will take up to 5 minutes and the mixture is extremely hot-be careful-and must be stirred continuously less the flour scortch and burn. Remove from the heat and add the vegetables and 1 tablespoon of the seasoning mix, stir until slightly cooled.

Add the stock to the roux and bring to the boil, simmer over low heat for several minutes.

In a separate saute pan, saute the crawfish in the butter, add additional seasoning mix to taste.

Combine the crawfish and the sauce and blend. Serve with steamed rice garnished with the green onions and whole fish.

Lebanese Spinach and Oil

I got this recipe from a book called "Lebanese Mountain Cookery" by Mary Laird Hamady. It is such a refreshing and simple treatment for fresh spinach. I added some garlic to the recipe and some fresh red currants. I was at Trader Joe's in the morning and could not resist the fresh currants, and I just added them to the spinach at the last minute.

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup roughly chopped red onion

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 pound fresh spinach

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Juice of one lemon

Red currants (optional, but tasty and pretty-toasted pinenuts and golden raisins would also be good

Heat the oil in a saute pan and add the onion and garlic, saute over low heat until they are softened.

Wash the spinach and leave it a bit damp to help steam the leaves.

Add the spinach to the saute pan and wilt the spinach, remove from the heat.

Add the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and red currants.

Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature.

Valentine's Dinner

We had a really successful Valentine's dinner. Sold out without any reservation cancelations or no shows-you almost always get that last minute cancellation so late you can't re-book it. Dinner started with three appetizers-cayenne candied bacon, tenderloin stuffed mushroom s with blue cheese crust, and seared tuna with ginger, wasabi, and sweet soy.

A chopped salad of mixed lettuces (romaine, chicories, baby greens), artichoke, hearts of palm, fennel, and toasted pine nuts dressd with lemon-mango vinaigrette was served next.

The entree was Tournados of Tenderloin with Morel mushrooms, roasted asparagus with Balsamic and almonds, and Potatoes Scalloped with Fontina and Roasted Peppers.

Dessert was a lovely chocolate cake, filled with white chocolate raspberry mousse, raspberry sauce.

Chicken Hash with Fried Eggs

I've been eating hash all my life, although my mom usually made it from left overs from a Sunday Roast Beef dinner. Probably the most famous is corned beef hash, but left over chicken is also tasty. I had some left over grilled chicken that I turned into Sunday breakfast.

2 Tablespoons butter

2 cups left over chicken diced

2 cups left over cooked potatoes, I used halved fingerlings

1/4 cup diced onion, red onion adds color

1/4 cup diced celery

1 red pepper, roasted and diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

Salt, pepper, and smoked paprika to taste

4 eggs

Melt the butter, and add the vegetables. Sautee everything for 10 to 15 minutes until they are soft and begin to caramelize and brown.

Add the chicken to heat through and season with the salt, pepper, and paprika.

Push the hash to the perimeter of the sautee pan, leaving the bottom of the pan completely exposed. Add a bit more butter or oil to prevent the eggs from sticking.

Gently break the eggs into the center of the hash, cover the saute pan and steam-fry the eggs until set, but leaving the yolks soft, dust the tops with additional smoked paprika.