Tomato Season

The first picking of local tomatoes has arrived. Here are two salads I made over this past weekend. Both salads included locally grown greens as well, but that will probably end soon, as it is getting too hot to grow salad greens. Both salads were dressed with a simple vinaigrette of red wine vinegar, garlic, and olive oil.

One included sliced red onions and anchovie fillets. The salty and intense richness of anchovie is marvelous with the sweet juiciness of the tomato, the onion adds crunch and another kind of sweetness.

The other was the classic Insalata Caprice. Sliced tomatoes were layered with slices of fresh mozzarella and fresh Basil. Traditionally this salad is dress with only olive oil, but I usually add red wine vinegar or Balsamic to the mix.

Party Platters

Here are a couple of party platters we made recently for private functions. One is simply a wheel of Brie with the top rind scraped off and filled with Pesto to which I added some sun-dried tomatoes. It is best if you warm it slightly in an oven so that it gets soft and gooey, then serve with toasted baguette slices.

The other is an antipasto platter chef William created. It consisted of melon wrapped with Proscuitto, Mortadella, Genoa salami, fresh Mozzarella, and some marinated vegetables. These platters are always striking focal points. We served this for a small benefit on our second floor front porch, that has been recently covered with a new awning. A local philanthropist rented the porch and threw a small cocktail party during the Porta Westfalica parade. They made a substantial donation to Gibault High School. Waterloo is sister city to Porta Westfalica in Germany, and every year there is a big German celebration with a parade and lotza hoopla. I've been told that in Porta Westfalica Germany, there is a similar Waterloo festival.

Stuffed Squash Blossoms

One of my farmer growers brought me a bucket of beautiful zuchinni flowers. I stuffed them with a mixture of Ricotta cheese and crab flavored with shallot, basil, and oregano. I used an unusual tempura batter and then fried them. The batter was light, but somehow seemed too heavy still, perhaps I should have just floured the flowers. The sauce was a delicious puree of roasted sweet peppers.

Pan-fried Fingerling Potatoes with Zuchinni and Summer Squash

Fingerlings are so buttery and rich, and they crisp up easily, making great "home fried potatoes". Here I sliced some zuchinni and yellow squash and sauteed everything with garlic butter.

Day Old Bread and Tomatoes left from Saturday's Party

There is almost always some day old bread around the restaurant, and with some tomatoes left from Saturday's tomato salad I put together a bruschetta. I chopped the tomatos and tossed them with our balsamic vinaigrette and some fresh basil, I spooned the tomato mixture over toasted bread triangles and topped it with Provel cheese (a St louis favorite for pizza-and really more of a "cheese food" than a real cheese). I then browned them under the broiler. Since I left the restaurant early lastnight, I have no idea how they sold, but they were made of leftover bits and pieces and therefore was a good dish to insure against waste.

Glenn's Birthday Party

Saturday we got the opportunity to prepare a lovely birthday dinner for a good friend of the Gallaghers. We started with hor's douevres of bacon wrapped dates, and wonton chips topped with seared tuna and wasabi and seared salmon with Asian glaze. For cocktail hour while we passed hors douvres, James Gallagher made pitchers of his special punch and pitchers of Stingers, which is the preferred cocktail of the hosts.

Dinner started with Gazapacho with avocado and shrimp. Next we served hot house tomato and Heirloom tomato salad, the tomatoes were nicer than expected-considering the season, the tomato slices were on fresh greens from one of my farmer-growers, and the salad was dressed with blue cheese and a light vinaigrette-which is a welcome change from heavy creamy blue cheese dressings.

The entree was Tenderloin au poivre with cognac sauce, fingerling potatoes and zuchinni (these from another farmer-grower) sauteed in garlic butter, asparagus with sesame and soy.

We made creme brulee for dessert and there were also three birthday cakes as there were two birthdays that evening as well as that of the guest of honor.

Lemon Blueberry Tart

The combination of lemon and blueberries is one of the most refreshing ways I know to end a Spring or Summer dinner or lunch. I make a sweet pastry with some sugar and sometimes an egg-it is one of those obnoxious doughs to try and roll, I usually end up rolling it between plastic wrap and pushing it into the tart pan-but it also works well with a traditional pie dough. In any case, prebake your shell and cool it.

This is one of the easiest lemon curds I've ever made. The only two things to remember is always use slow gentle heat, and never let it got too hot, just hot enough to thicken the custard.

2 Tablespoons lemon zest

1 cup fresh lemon juice

4 large eggs

3/4 cup butter, cut into tablespoon-sized pieces

1 pint fresh blueberries, cleaned and dried

1 cup blueberry jelly, melted and strained

Whisk the zest, sugar, and eggs in a 2 quart heavy, non-reactive pan

Add all the butter and cook over low heat, whisking constantly until the mixture holds the mark of the whisk-do not boil

Strain the curd through a mesh strainer and refrigerate

Fill pre-baked shell with the curd, top with the blueberries and glaze with the strained blueberry jelly

Lobster and Vegetable Tempura on Rice Sticks with Apricot Sweet and Sour

It has been a little too busy for writing the blog lately. And when we are doing something new or interesting it seems the camera is in another location or it isn't possible to take pictures at that time. But here is a dish that I taught in another cooking class last night. It is a very light tempura coating on some vegetables and chunks of lobster. It is presented on fried rice sticks with apricot sweet and sour sauce served on the side.

The tempura batter is made with one egg, ice water and rice flour, whipped into a thin batter. First dust the vegetables and lobster chunks with all purpose flour, then dip them into the batter and plunge them into 350 to 375 degree hot oil (peanut is best if you're not allergic).

The rice sticks are fun to make. You drop them into the hot oil and the puff up beautifully, and make an interesting way to present the tempura. They also add extra crunch and taste delicious when they absorb some of the apricot.

The apricot sweet and sour is a recipe from Fusion Food Cookbook by Hugh Carpenter and Terri Sandison, a husband and wife team who create beautiful books-he cooks and she photographs. I had the honor of assisting Hugh in one of his classes at the Kitchen Conservatory a couple of years ago, and he presented me with an autographed copy of his book. Dried apricots, apricot nectar, rice wine vinegar, ginger and chili are cooked together and blended into a smooth sweet and sour sauce that will knock your socks off.

Teaching a class at Dierberg's

Taught a class at Dierberg's grocery store. Dierberg's is one of the more upscale grocers in the city, and they have often had cooking schools attached to some of their stores. It was a two hour class for which I had planned a too ambitious menu-typical. It went alright, but a couple glitches happened. They did not have a table top fryer, so I was trying to make rice sticks and lobster tempura in an eletric skillet-it never got to temperature, so I switched to a wok, which eventually worked, but put me behind. It was lots of fun and I met alot of customers and talked to them.

The Dierberg cooking school personnel are amazingly organized-all my recipes were prepped and organized for me. I teach the same class at the Edwardsville store in two weeks. My assistant Katie was great help, especially in getting the electric skillet problem solved.

Mother's day 07

It has been a most frustrating but eventually fulfilling weekend. Friday was the annual benefit for the History Museum of Monroe county, and Sunday was Mother's day. In between was a very busy Saturday night. Three different menus with three separate prep sheets, Most of us enjoy the change of pace-some are not so cooperative-there was some conflict and drama to add to the stress of all the business. Some individuals always feel that they do more work than the person next to them, when actually the workers who produce the best, adapt to change, and acquire new skills are the one who never seem to complain.

We were presented with a three day window to do allot of business and color me proud, but most of us rose to the occasion. Running a busy kitchen is allot like coaching a sports team. You have players, you have stars, and you have prima donnas (that is usually myself-though not always). I have a terrific crew and they do a great job. I will blog about the museum benefit later in the week, as I have time, but I will give the Mother's Day menu and some photos here.

Mother's Day Menu
Blueberry Crumb muffins
Monroe county Asparagus Salad-baby lettuce, asparagus, and ham all grown in Monroe county
Pork Loin with Blackberry brandy sauce
Chicken Piccata
Stir-fried vegetables and rice noodles
Sauteed fingerling potatoes with zucchini
Crepes filled with chocolate mousse/strawberry-mandarin orange sauce

Mixed Berry Creme Brulee

Creme Brulee remains at the top of the best selling desserts. We all get so tired of making it, but the customers are not tired of eating it. I am pretty much a purist when it comes to creme brulee, a simple custard flavored with vanilla with a burnt sugar crust on top. I have strayed to chocolate, and Grand Marnier on occaision but vanilla is the best. This week I flavored the custard with Creme de Cassis and floated some berries (raspberry and blackberry) in the custard-more creme brulee heresy.

Fried Catfish

This was quite tasty last week. I don't sell much catfish at the restaurant-it doesn't sell that well. I guess there are alot of cheap and good places to get catfish, and when people come to Gallagher's they expect something a little more than catfish. All the other fishes sell pretty well-especially salmon, orange roughy, shark, and mahi mahi.

I do not like catfish fillets, I want the whole fish on the bone-they really do taste so much better. I made tartar sauce with some delicious pickles I bought from a lady who makes them in Redbud. I dusted the fish with a mixture of 1 1/2 cups flour mixed with 1/2 cup cornmeal-I don't like all cornmeal coating-too gritty. Adding 1/2 cup cornmeal to flour adds just the right amount of crunch for me. Of course fried in my beloved vintage Griswold iron skillet.

Halibut

I ordered Halibut for a party on the third floor this weekend-it is on the catering menu. Halibut can be a kind of boring fish, it is so white and mild and low fat, on the other hand it, like chicken and veal, can absorb intriguing flavors. The catering menu lists it with an Asian glaze flavored with Hoisin. I also ordered a few extra pounds to use for weekend specials. At $12 per pound wholesale, I will have to sell it at around $24 to cover the expense plus sauce, plus sides, plus etc. etc.-the costing out of a menu item always involves so much more than just the cost of the fish.

I couldn't resist taking a couple pieces home for my own dinner-I was planning on leaving earlier than usual as the sous chef and a competent line were working. But as the old saying goes "the best laid plans of mice and men-often go awry"-the restaurant got slammed and I left at 9-closing time, and my usual exit time-poor chef. I took some fish home anyway. For myself I wanted something simple-after tasting sauces, glazes, and dry rubs all day-I crave simplicity. I dusted the fillets with flour, salt and pepper only, sauteed them with some vegetables and topped it with some lemon butter. It was marvelous, but I will probably gussy it up for the restaurant-people seem to demand that sort of thing.

Green Goddess for Secretary's Day

I love taking retro dishes and updating them or reinventing them for my needs. Green Godess was created at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in the 1920's. It was named for a play titled "The Green Goddess" for the actor, Richard Arliss, who starred in the play and later the movie (according to "Food Lover's Companion"). He was nominated for an oscar in 1930 for the movie. Wickipedia lists the creator as the chef at the Palace, but in honor of the playwright William Archer rather than the actor. I couldn't find the chef's name who created the dressing. New Orleanian chef Warren LeRuth is credited for creating the Seven Seas bottled version.

The story of the Green Goddess is that three englishmen are stranded in an Indian kingdom and held hostage by the raja, whose brother is in turn held by the English. It must have been quite the popular story in the day, as it was made into a film in 1923 and again-as a talkie- in 1930.

The salad dressing was as ubiquitous in its day as "Ranch " is today. MFK Fisher wrote about it in her book "With Bold Knife and Fork". I based my recipe roughly on her description.

2 cups mayonaise

a couple sprigs of fresh tarragon

a couple sprigs of fresh parsley

2 scallions-green parts included

several chives

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup minced shallot

juice of one lemon
1/4 cup fruity olive oil

puree in the blender or food processor

It is especially good with avocado and chilled asparagus, but for a lunch I turned it into an entree salad with grilled chicken-very pretty and delicious as well. The dressing requires a sturdy green such as Romaine or Escarole-Spring Mix or baby greens wouldn't support such a heavy dressing.

Newspaper Food Sections

I visit a web site named Newspaper Food Sections and Columns Online , which lists practically all the nations newspaper food sections and the day they are published. By clicking on a link you can read whichever food section you might want to. If you want to read about what they are writing about in Miami or SanFrancisco, all you have to do is click. Since I have family living Dallas, I usually read what The Dallas Morning News has to say. This week I took one of their recipes and turned it into one of my week-end specials.

Under their section titled Risingstar Chef, I took Robbie Lewis's (sous chef at Salum) recipe for pork loin with panzanella.

I roasted the whole pork loin and glazed it with Balsamic vinegar, to rare. I then cut and grilled slices to order. I layed the slices across the panzanella and splashed it with some additional Balsamic.

For the panznaella, which I admit should not be made until local ripe tomatoes are available, I used our homemade bread, Roma tomatoes, artichoke hearts, sweet peppers, and red onion with a vinaigrette of oregano, basil and white wine vinegar. I would have liked to use Balsamic vinaigrette with the panzanella, but I think it turns the salad too brown. It was a beautiful dish that I plan to repeat when the local tomatoes start arriving.

Blue Plate Special

Growing up this was one of my favorite diner-style lunches. An open faced sandwich with a scoop of mashed potatoes-all covered with gravy. I upgraded it slightly by using a nice slice of grilled rib-eye and a slice of our house-made bread, but I was careful to use an ice cream scoop to get the perfectly round mound of potatoes. The turkey version is also excellent-I think we just called them open-faced beef or open-faced turkey.

Eating Out of Season

Is anything considered out of season anymore? Asparagus, strawberries, and lamb are available all seasons-asparagus is on the restaurant menu year round, and I can't imagine the howls and complaints I would get if I felt I needed to remove it. I will soon be buying it locally produced, but otherwise who really cares?

With our weather unseasonably cold and dreary-the local peach and apple crops are probalby lost-I decided to roast a turkey. Some guests were coming for Sunday lunch, and it seemed a good thing to make. I stuffed it, of course, and added some roasted beets, brussels sprouts with baby red onions, and gravy.

Easter 07

Here are a few photos from Easter. I took a limited number of pictures because as service begins, it simply gets too busy to be photographing everything and managing the kitchen at the same time. Our hams were locally grown in Monroe county and cured at Schubert's in Milstadt IL. I bought five whole hams, each feeding fifty, and there were not any leftovers. We fed 220 guests and then the staff. We also roasted prime rib.

The restaurant's owner, Suzie Gallagher, had the restaurant beautifully decorated with eggs, Victorian Easter cut-outs, Easter grass, and baskets galore. It was so cold it didn't really seem like Easter, still everyone wore their pastel colors and the ladies exposed their shoulders in bright little sun dresses-they must have been freezing.