Seafood Tostada

I made this for myself, but it is going to be an off menu appetizer special tonight. It was too large for an appetizer, so I am going to eliminate the lobster and make it smaller. I started with a tortilla, crisped, toppped with lettuce, tomato, and thinly sliced red onions. I composed crab and lobster meat over the lettuce and placed a grilled prawn on top. I dressed the salad with a vinaigrette made with lime juice and tequila. I garnished with avocado, jalapeno,sour cream, and lime wedges. It was refreshing delightful.

Shrimp Burger

In honor of my cousin Kevin, who has commanded me to "lighten up" in my last post's comments, I made shrimp burgers. They seem sort of whimsical and light. I read an article recently about the Japanese McDonalds who developed shrimpburgers for the Japanese palate, and it intrigued me.

So shrimp burgers had been on my mind, when Josh, my pantry cook brought me this recipe for shrimp balls that he makes for his step father. Instead of balls, I had him form them into patties and we made the first batch of shrimp burgers. I made wasabi mayonaise to serve with the burger. They were quite tasty, but both of the recipes need some tweaking before I sell them in the restaurant. In one of those ironic twists of fate, Josh is highly allergic to shellfish, so he can't taste them, and he has to wear surgical gloves when he makes them.

Duckhorn Cabernet Sauvignon

It has been a rough month. And it doesn't seem to be letting up. Last week we parted ways with a key kitchen employee-it was tough decision, but best for everyone involved, including the employee who needed a change. I have someone on board to replace him, but he has commitments until the middle of September. All my cooks right now have gotten their training at the restaurant, with the exception of the lunch cook, who helped me open the kitchen. The other guys all started as dishwashers.

Experience is a great thing, but there is something to be said about the guys who come up the ranks from the dish ring. They have basically learned my way of doing things. Experienced cooks sometimes bring bad habits they've developed in other kitchens with them, and culinary students sometimes expect things to run like a text book-which they seldom do.

So I decided to treat myself to a really good bottle of wine. Duckhorn is one of those cult favorites-but they are famous for their Merlot. I prefer the Cab it is so elegant and delicious with juicy black fruit flavors of currant, black cherry and rich intense mouth feel. Perfect with a simply grilled Delmonico steak.

Grilled Vegetables

I've been neglecting the blog because I've been so busy at work. Lots of private parties on the third floor and the Sparta Gun Club is holding one of their big shoots. People come from all over the world for this competition shoot. Unfortunately it has been during a record breaking heat wave. But this event literally packs the restaurant every night. And heat wave be damned the people are still shooting and eating.

One dish that is always welcome, even during this extreme heat, is grilled vegetables. I toss the vegetables on the grill for a few minutes-I like them to retain their bright color and a bit of crunch, then mix them with a balsamic vinaigrette and serve them at room temperature. They are so refreshing as a buffet side dish or as part of an antepasto.

Terres Major Steaks with Green Fried Tomatoes, Ham, and Bearnaise

I have been serving this cut of beef as a Thursday special for over a year now. It is cut from a little used shoulder muscle. It resembles tenderloin, but is smaller cut into medallions, they almost look like tenderloin tips. I have heard of some places passing them off as such. I have served them in several ways, butterflied, stuffed, wrapped with bacon-etc. They sell really well and make a great steak option, keeping the cost under $20-difficult for good beef steak. I enjoy them. They have great beefy flavor while being a bit chewier than tenderloin, they are much more tender than sirloin-another option to keep steak prices under $20.

This is their latest form. First the medallions are marinated with garlic, Rosemary, and olive oil. Grill the medallions;to serve, place a fried green tomato on the plate, top the tomato with a thin slice of ham, then top with the medallion. A spoonful of Bearnaise over the steak finishes it. A little bit on the fussy side, I agree, but quite delicious.

Blackberry Season

Wednesday New York Times food section-I read it religiously almost every Wednesday-had a long article on blackberries. New varieties and hybrids such as Marion and Boysen have revolutionized the world of blackberries. The new berries have smaller seeds, ripen faster while retaining their shape and juice, and are now grown in places that were previously inhospitable to the plant. I had bought these berries at a farm stand the previous week and made the pies last week, but the article only increased my appreciation of the berry. I used a new recipe that called for tapioca to thicken the pies, which in theory let the berries retain their shape better through the baking process-I think I'll just use sugar, corn starch and butter in the future-the old way is the best way sometimes.

Still the pies were good, and the color lovely.

Sea Scallops with Gooseberries

I headed out to Whole Foods, I had the need for Sea Scallops. Usually I buy fish for my personal use from the restaurant stock, because I know how fresh it is. Whole Foods is one of the few retail outlets where I will buy fish-(the other being Bob's Seafood). Whole Foods uses the same wholesaler that I do, Plitt Seafood. I know I've talked about them before, but their operation is still amazing to me. I seldom order Scallops for the restaurant, they don't seem to sell that well. I had in mind pairing them with some peaches or nectarines, but when I saw fresh gooseberries I changed strategies, knowing that the sour berries would be a perfect counterpoint to the scallops.

I first made a shellfish broth by steaming clams and mussels in wine with mirepoix. I reserved the clams and mussles and tossed them with remoulade and fresh chives and chilled them for a seperate salad.

I tossed the gooseberries into the shellfish broth with a bit of cream and reduced it slightly. I seasoned the sauce with some cayenne (always cayenne with seafood) and a teaspoon of sugar-I know that sounds heretical, but those berries are so tart that a bit of sugar adds some ying to the yang. I also like the colors of this dish the orange of the carrot, the green of the gooseberry and the white scallops with browned edges.

Mezze

Mezze is defined in my "Food Lover's Companion" as Greek hors d ouevres, and it is spelled meze with one z. Wikipedia has some other spellings as well, some containing a's. In a cookbook "A Book of Middle Eastern Food" by Claudia Roden it is spelled mezze and defined as hors d ouevres. So there is really no clear definition, but they seem to be a food phenomena throughout the Middle East including Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, as well as the Balkans.

I made baba ghanoush, which is an eggplant spread, flavored with tahini, lemon, garlic, and olive oil. It is incredibly delicious and so simple. Start by grilling a whole eggplant over medium coals until the skin is charred and the flesh soft-very similar to raosting peppers. Scrape off the skin and let the eggplant sit in a strainer to drain off the juices, which can be bitter. Puree the eggplant with some tahini and garlic. Flavor to your liking with fresh lemon juice and olive oil. I also added some fresh chopped parsley. You eat it spread on pita bread.

I also made hummus, which is a chick pea puree flavored again with tahini, garlic, olive oil, and fresh lemon juice. I added some fresh tomato wedges and purple onion slices. Again, heaped on little pita triangles-so refreshing to nibble on a hot Sunday afternoon with a glass of wine.

I also got some fresh figs and stuffed them with Camembert cheese-this was a misstep, the rich cheese sort of drowned out and overwhelmed the the figs-I should have let them stand on their own.

The two spreads look pretty similar, the top one is the baba ghanoush, and the bottom is the hummus.

Sweet Corn

The sweet corn is coming in. At the first of the season, we sell quite alot. I grill some of the ears and serve with a spiced butter. On Fridays this whole month I've been serving them with Alaskan King crab legs in a bowl with new potatoes, all poached in a rich seafood broth-with plenty of drawn butter on the side. These crab legs are marvelous-not your standard "all you can eat" which involve too much effort to get the meat at table, not to mention their smaller size. To me crab and fresh corn are perfect partners-sweet and rich, truly luxurious.

Guinness Ribeyes with Irish Whiskey Butter

I first made this special a couple of weeks ago, and it was quite popular. It has increased rib eye sales by 30% and has only been offered on Friday and Saturday nights. I might add it to the permanent menu. The steak starts out with a marinade including shallot, garlic, tarragon, mustard, soy sauce, and of course Guinness. It is then grilled and finished with an Irish whiskey compound butter. The butter is made by taking a couple cups of the marinade and reducing to a glaze, then add 1/2 cup Irish Whiskey and flame, turn off heat and add 2 tablespoons of worcestershire. When the whiskey-marinade reduction cools, whip it into butter, form the butter into small cylinders and refrigerate until firm. When the steak is grilled to the temperature specified on the order, it is topped with a slice of compound butter to melt accross the top of the steak.

Prosperity Sandwich

Our Prosperity sandwich has been featured in the book titled "Eat This before You Diet" by Ian Jackman. This is a sandwich developed at the Mayfair Hotel in St Louis. I also worked at the hotel a couple years ago-not as the chef, but as the Restaurant and Bar Manager. I first started making this sandwich for the Sappington Barn-a restaurant I owned in the 1990's. It was a favorite of little old ladies who lunch alot. It is not something I would choose to be known for , but I guess you can't be picky with free publicity.

I toast English muffins and layer turkey, ham, and cheddar. This is put under the broiler and then topped with bacon before it is sent to the table. The Mayfair still serves a version of this sandwich including the turkey and ham, but topped with steamed broccoli and asparagus, and then topped with cheese sauce. I don't like the cheese sauce-I'd rather have a slice of cheese-melted slightly.

Two Tasty Pastas with Fresh Peas

Fresh peas are becoming such a problem. My farmer growers don't like to grow them-no one wants to put the work of shelling them into their routine. These peas came from a grower already shelled. Although they were fresh, they were disappointing to me because they were a bit mature and starchy-not the tiny sweet orbs I wanted-nonetheless they were still tasty mixed with some additional ingredients and noodles.

Very simple and delicious. The first is linguini tossed with shrimp and grilled salmon. The sauce was Vodka Tomato cream-we reduced cream, added some of our red sauce and 1/4 cup vodka and cooked it briefly before tossing in the shrimp and salmon to cook in the sauce, then we added the already cooked peas and noodles. We finished the dish with fresh dill.

The second is from the cookbook author Marcella Hazan's "Classic Italian Cooking". It is titled Paglia e Fieno. The translation means "hay and straw"-you use both egg and spinach noodles, so it whimsically looks like a mixture of hay and straw. This time the noodles are sauced with reduced cream, wine, wild mushrooms, peas, and parmesan. Before serving I topped the noodles with some thinly sliced Proscuitto, which makes it essentially noodles with ham and peas-the Italian sounds exotic, while the American sounds mundane-in any case, to paraphrase (badly) Shakespeare "a pasta by any other name would taste just as sweet"-so call it what ever you want.

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.