Blog – chefseabass

February 17, 2019February 17, 2019

Scallops for Italy

Food is the center of nights when family and friends gather to commune over white tablecloths with flickering candles to share stories, eat and sip good wine, or feast on small plates and drink good beer. The construction of flavors in each course can instigate total silence where the only sound is a fork on the plate, or it can spawn deep conversation about world travel, music, art, but ultimately, I want the meals I create to become a good memory.

My experience locating decent scallops in North Carolina proved difficult in the past. Recently, I was filling a request to make a celebratory meal in my home kitchen. It’s not that I’m a scallop snob, but just having had access to coastal markets in the past where fresh over frozen is readily available gave me an understanding of what good scallops should be. I didn’t want to use frozen, I prefer fresh. Luckily, the one whom the meal was for, was determined and able to locate some of the best scallops in these parts that I have seen, touched, and smelled while still in their raw state. These perfectly bright, firm medallions were not soaking in a petri dish of white cloudy liquid, instead, they were dried and ready for the perfect sear. With that part figured out, it was time to get started on a meal to send her on a long-awaited journey to roam around Italy for a few weeks and see the sites.

To emphasize the natural flavor these scallops held, I used only sea salt, paprika, and no pepper. Once seared, the scallops rested upon a bed of braised Forbidden Cabbage. IMG_1605

For the Forbidden Cabbage, I started with the rendered bacon, sautéed with red bell pepper, onion, and cabbage for 2-3 minutes. I deglazed the pan with sake and a touch or mirin and added the finishing touch, a combination of chicken stock, salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of Togarashi, then let the cabbage simmer until it was tender.

The zucchini strings were sautéed as well but with a drop of sesame oil and finished with a splash of coconut milk and Vadouvan curry. On the side was a pull of chipotle crème accented with strawberry gel which made a really nice the presentation against the white plates.

We sat around the table savoring the flavors and talking about the upcoming trip, drinking wine and playing guitars until just the empty plates and burned out wicks were left at the table. Another night, another meal, another perfect memory cataloged in the recipe book.

June 25, 2018June 25, 2018

Petite Tenders

Petite tenders, just the sound of it and I immediately think of small, delicate cuts that beg not to be overcooked. This cut is from the shoulder portion and doesn’t pay to be cooked beyond medium-rare if you can help it, otherwise, I would braise it. As with any beef, a nice coating of crushed peppercorn, sea salt and spices to rub in flavor adds that extra influence on the tastebuds that makes me wander back into the kitchen, after the dishes are cleared from the table, to sample more.

I made a much needed visit to see my mother, who still frequently shops as if my brother and I are coming to dinner. She pulled out a nice petite tender cut of beef for me to cook because, as she says, she doesn’t know how to do anything with beef except grill it. Over time, her ability to eat certain foods has narrowed, too much tomato before bed and there’s heartburn through the next few days, so she’s forced to cut out certain ingredients and find a substitute that makes a much loved meal work.

For this meal, I planned around her special diet with foods she can tolerate. She can’t eat onion unless it’s cooked or caramelized, and rarely eats potato unless it’s sweet potato or yams, she doesn’t eat white rice, she only eats brown. Whole milk is another issue so substitutes are always non-sweetened almond or coconut milks. With that in mind, I made a sweet potato, coconut milk sauce for the brown rice, caramelized onion and brightened up the dish with an array of spices, then finished it off with goat cheese and sprinkled roasted pecans on top before serving. For an extra choice, I served a side of caramelized onion chutney.

We uncorked a bottle of Chianti and talked about her upcoming trip to Italy where she’d be visiting Chianti and how nice the wine paired with the dinner we were eating. Cooking a nice meal for mom always brings her such happiness, kinda; like those homemade gifts she always hung up on the “mom wall” while I was growing up. Cooking for someone you care about is personal. It’s like a gift that you prepare knowing when you sit down to the meal, it will spark conversation and renew old memories and new plans. This meal took us back in time to offshore vacations and travel to places where we substituted known American ingredients with something different from the lands we were visiting, it always seemed to work and be delicious. In the early years, mom would do all the cooking, but as we grow older, I find myself rummaging through the cabinets to find familiar spices and cooking dishes to make our meals. This one was one of the best.

June 8, 2018June 8, 2018

Fried Green Tomatoes

After cheffing in Miami for some years, I decided to move north, and took a nice easy drive up the coast stopping in Hilton Head to relax by the ocean. The restaurant where I ordered dinner had a menu with southern selections and for an appetizer, I ordered the fried green tomatoes with apricot jelly. I had not eaten fried green tomatoes before and found it to be a great addition to my personal favorites.

My final destination in the Carolinas brought me into Southern cooking. I located a great farmer’s market to buy fresh produce, meat, seafood, local honey, herbs, wine and cheeses. The green tomatoes were jumbo size, but perfect for the recipe to recreate those crunchy, tasty fried slices that I later served the family, along with a dish that included grilled fish.

My brother never liked tomatoes. For 25 years, he was stuck with the childhood memory of the time he bit into a “cherry tomato and it was nothing like a cherry.” He refused to eat them since that experience, until the day I made them after my visit to the farmer’s market. He tasted and loved them. His exact words were, “that is the only way a tomato should be eaten.” In fact, I’ve become a slave to making them and creating new ways to serve them on burgers, as a side, and with new dips and toppings… Recently, I decided it was time teach him how to make them on his own.

It’s best to select firm, but not exactly rock hard, green tomatoes. If they are not green tomatoes, they’ll likely be too soft to hold up.

Slice them evenly, and close to 1/2” thick so they maintain when frying. There are other ways to prepare them, however, here I taught my brother how to do a 3-stage breading method.

Dish 1 – needs seasoned flour.
Dish 2 – is whipped eggs with a splash of buttermilk.
Dish 3 – should be a mix of Panko, cornmeal or a mix of both, then season with sea salt, and ground black pepper. If you want to add a little more flavor, you can always blend other spices in any of the components.

Panko Breaded Green Tomatoes Ready to be Fried

To keep them hot, I line a sheet pan with parchment paper or paper towels and put the oven.

I use canola heated between 330 – 350 degees F. You want these to be fried to a golden color and not blackened in oil that is too hot, so you’ll need pay close attention to what’s going on in the pan. Since the slices are thick, it’s good to take it slow and flip so they cook evenly and soften up on the inside, but not to a mushy state.

Fry Breaded Green Tomatoes in Canoli — Fry Breaded Green Tomatoes in Canola

Once they’re golden, use the tongs to take them out and place on the sheet pan lined with parchment. If you’re not serving immediately, or have many more to cook, like we always do… put them in the preheated oven to stay hot.

For appetizers, I make different dipping sauces depending on the end result. This time I made a nice chipotle lime aioli, and since my brother and I were hungry for a bigger meal, I grilled Black Angus burgers and built a mountainous double-patty with jalapeño pimento cheese, butter lettuce, on a toasted onion bun, a thick layer of that chipotle lime aioli, and of course, my brother’s favorite, a dill pickle.

Black Angus Beef Burger with Fried Green Tomato

While we were cooking, I was thinking about how, when we were kids, we used to come home from school and make giant pots of mac-n-cheese and other food coma snacks. Since those days, there’s been a lot of progress. He’s a good student, gotta give him that, but I have a feeling he’s still going to need me to fry the green tomatoes.

May 13, 2018June 8, 2018

Apple Turnovers

I have a great memory of riding in a old farm wagon pulled by a tractor through the apple orchards of Upstate New York. I was sitting next to my brother and mother on bails of hay excited to go pick apples. One of the adults reached out as we went by some low hanging branches and pulled an apple off to eat. We filled four big bags that day of crisp sweet reds and when we got home my brother and I helped my mom process our bounty so she could make apple butter and an apple crisp. The peeling and coring was easy with the apple peeler fastened to a wooden stand and the long had crank that pushed the lever through the peeler. It was satisfying work but I had to stand on a stool to reach the counter and have good leverage to get the job done.

It wasn’t until I was in my sophomore year in culinary vocational school that I baked my first lattice topped apple pie. I didn’t think it tasted very good because the experience was mainly about making the dough and putting the pie together to make the lattice top rather than the apple filling. The contents of the pie would have been much better if we had used fresh apples like my mother did. The pie crust was made from scratch but I’ve progressed from the dough of my youth.

Today, I use fresh tart apples that offer a big flavor and make cobbler base with added spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, water, brown sugar, salt and cornstarch instead of a can.

Made me realize the steps of progress and how long it can take to perfect a recipe. Since then I have perfected my pie dough. I use a rubbed dough method and let it sit overnight. The buttery flavor comes out and flakiness is far better that the early renditions I learned. Today I made the best little apple turnovers using the same recipe. Simple and delicious, reminded me of the day we first picked apples.

May 11, 2018June 8, 2018

Hustle in the Kitchen

You have to be quick on your feet and act fast in the kitchen, its part of the culture. The customer can make or break your reputation, it’s about how you view your work and deliver your product. If you’re sloppy, the plates go out and the come right back, but if you really care about your craft, you’ll treat every customer like they’re you own mother. I said that because Mother’s Day is just around the corner and mine was significant in supporting my career choice.

She believed in me and gave me encouragement in the kitchen for me to believe in myself enough to make the decision in my sophomore year of high school to double up and test out what it might be like to become a chef. I chose to enroll in vocational school while attending regular school all in the same day. The sacrifice was worth the time. I think back on how bringing home a pie or some other dish I had made at school used to be the highlight of my mother’s evening. She was always happy when I accomplished something new and supported the expensive purchases of knives, chef shoes, culinary college and gear that go along with this profession.

When I’m in the kitchen, it can get chaotic. The pace is fast and its easy for the train to leave the tracks, it takes special skill to keep pressing to accomplish the impossible and still deliver a beautiful plated dish to each customer. When the pressure is on, is when our true abilities are tested. How do I respond? Keep moving, hustle and never stop until my better is best.

May 11, 2018June 8, 2018

Hello world!

The first few steps off the stage with your degree in hand lend a feeling of accomplishment and confidence. The world of cuisine is peppered with many humbling experiences. It takes drive and motivation to overcome obstacles and learn to be quick on your feet in problem solving.