Grilled Sweet Potato and Red Onion Salad

3 to 4 long skinny sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds)

1 medium sized red onion thinly sliced

For the dressing:

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

2 Tablespoons of sugar

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons of minced fresh tarragon

Microwave or blanch the sweet potatoes for about 5 minutes, they should be soft but slightly undercooked. When they are cool enough to handle, peel and slice them into 1/2 inch slices.

Get your grill pan or grill very hot and finish cooking the potatoes, a well oiled grill helps prevent sticking.

Remove the grilled potato slices to a serving platter lined with greens and grill the onion slices.

Arrange the onion slices over the potato slices and drizzle with the dressing.

For the dressing:

Dissolve the sugar, salt and pepper in the rice wine vinegar, whisk in the oilve oil and fresh tarragon.

Haricots Verts A La Provencale

In anticipation of Julia Child's birthday next month-she would be 97 on August15-I got out my copy of Mastering the Art. An early morning trip to a farm stand yeilded some tomatoes and green beans, so this recipe on page 447 sort of seemed a natural, although I used the fat American green beans, Julia probably would have used the skinny French ones. Although the French beans are sort of stylish, these plump Mid-Western beauties were tender, juicy and just delicious.

Julia's recipes are meticulously written. I am more impatient, so I will summarize how I made this dish, also I needed a smaller amount than the original recipe. But by all means dig out your own copy of Mastering the Art if you have one.

1 cup sliced onions

1/4 cup olive oil

Slowly stew the onions in the oil until they are tender, about 10 minutes-do not brown.

2 to 3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and juiced-reserve the juice

1 bouquet garnie in cheesecloth-garlic, cloves, bay, parsley, and thyme

salt and pepper

Add the bouquet garnie and tomatoes to the onions and simmer gently, add some reserved juice if the tomatoes get too dry.

1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed and blanched

After the tomatoes haver simmered for 30 minutes, add the green beans and cook until tender, adding more juice as needed or water.

Remove bouquet garnie and top with fresh herbs before serving. I used fresh basil, but Julia also recommends savory, parsley, or tarragon.

Kitchen Conservatory on Twitter

Kitchen Conservatory, a marvelous cooking emporium where I teach the occaisional class, is twittering their instructor's favorite tools. Here is a little vignette of mine. My Michael Grave's Memphis tea kettle is in the foreground. I use it practically every morning-despite it being a collecter's item-making my tea or my coffee (I always make my coffee in a French Press). The little red bird on the spout whistles when the water is ready.

Second is my Wolf range which I also use every morning to heat the kettle. After cooking in restaurants for so many years, it is difficult for me to use household equipment, so my home kitchen is equipped with this Wolf professional range, It suits my needs very well.

In the background is one of my Le Creuset pans, some of which I have had since I lived in Chicago 25 years ago.

Grilled Flank Steak Aloha

Grilled Flank steak with some Hawaiian influences-grilled pineapple slices and coconut Jasmine rice with edamame and vegetables.

1/4 cup Mirin

1/4 cup dry sherry

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup minced fresh ginger

Freshly ground black pepper

2 Tablespoons of sesame oil

1/2 pineapple peeled and sliced

1 flank steak about 1 1/2 pounds

In a large flat container, combine the wines, soy, garlic, ginger, pepper, and sesame oil

Marinate the flank steak at least 2 hours, or overnight

Grill over medium hot coals 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium rare

Let the steak rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing

Brush pineapple slices with marinade and grill for 2 minutes on each side

Serve with coconut Jasmine rice and Asian dipping sauce

Asian Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

2 Tablespoons of sesame oil

2 Scallions, thinly sliced

1 Teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 Teaspoon of Chili-garlic paste

Combine all ingredients, and serve with flank steak. Also good with egg rolls, pot stickers and any kind of won ton.

Pan-Seared Ham Steak with Brown Sugar, Pineapple, and Raspberries

This was a tasty breakfast, served with grits to soak up all those salty-sweet juices. Served, as always while watching all the Sunday political shows. Sadly missing was Beaulah, my beautiful 14 year old Standard Poodle-she is no longer with us. I miss her so, she would always be underfoot whenever I cooked at home, demanding a taste of whatever I was making-she had a very developed palate.

1 pound slice of bone-in ham steak

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup dry sherry

1/2 pineapple, cut into chunks

1 pint of raspberries

In a heavy skillet, brown the ham steak

Add the brown sugar and let melt

Add the sherry and pineapple chunks

Add the raspberries just before serving

Serve with grits

Bacon, Lettuce, tomato, and Fried Egg Sandwich

This was Independence day breakfast. I have started purchasing eggs from a new woman. She grow several breeds, among them the Araucana (they produce the blueish green eggs), Banties (they are quite small), and several others that produce brown eggs. I promise I'll visit her hen houses and give you better information in the future. They live a great chicken life and have the run of 2 1/2 acres during the day and return to their houses at evening. She refuses to butcher her chickens and so she sells off her roosters-only retaining breeding stock. She has no idea what to do with her retired hens.

I'll be going to a barbecue later this afternoon, but that is several hours away so I thought a little breakfast was in order. Farm Fresh Eggs is one of the most eloquent phrases I can think of , but just in case you have never tasted anything but mass produced factory farm eggs, real eggs are deeply flavored, richly colored beauties.

Also I grew the lettuce in a pot on my deck, while I enjoy having it there to clip as I need it, it is too pathetic and ugly to photograph. My mom, dad, and one uncle are terrific gardeners-I guess I didn't get the green thumb.

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.