Each chef provides a recipe packet as well, so after you watch the food being prepared, then eat it, you can try it at home if you like. I have been doing these demos since my days as executive chef at Neiman Marcus. Most nights, I have put together a menu of my own to prepare, but last night, I showed up to make a menu that I had never seen before. It had a Spanish theme. The first course was a Tortilla Espana, which was basically a fritatta with eggs, potatoes, onions and escarole. We cooked it in a huge pan on the stove top, then cut it into wedges and served it with a dab of pesto and some tomato and garlic rubbed croustades.
The second course was a Tomato Martini. Basically, I peeled some Roma tomatoes (yes, this recipe would be better suited to the summer tomato growing months) and put them into a blender. Then, I pushed them through a mesh strainer to get what the recipe called "tomato water." Since the winter tomatoes were a bit lacking in flavor, I supplemented with a little tomato juice. This was then chilled and poured into martini glasses. For a garnish, we took marinated baby fresh mozzarella balls and threaded them onto picks with grape tomatoes. These served as swizzle sticks, and then we drizzled a tiny bit of basil oil onto the drink to give it a little zing. I allowed that I thought these would make an excellent hors' d'oeuvres, and you could even serve a shot of pepper vodka on the side. (what a surprise, I came up with a way to add vodka to a dish)
The third course was the big winner. I made a HUGE dish of paella. They had a real copper paella pan, and I used that. There were some traditional ingredients, and then we added some more inventive things (read:things we had in the fridge that would go well in the dish). Here's what we did:
I started by rendering some bacon bits in the bottom of the pan. If you want to be more traditional, get some fresh chorizo sausage. I removed the crispy bacon with a slotted spoon, then browned some boneless chicken thigh meat that I had diced. Again, you can use breast meat, but because it is so low in moisture and fat, it tends to dry out. When the meat had browned, I threw in some diced onion and browned that a bit, then added shrimp, scallops, langoustines and some fresh artichoke hearts. I poured some rice in and covered the whole mess with a combination of seafood and chicken broth. At this point, I added a pinch or two of saffron, some hot pepper flakes, and some diced roasted red peppers. I covered the pan and let it cook on a low heat, until the rice had absorbed most of the liquid. When the rice was about done, I added more liquid, then put in scrubbed mussels and clams. I covered it again, and let the shellfish pop open. A good stir every now and again kept the rice from burning, and helped everything cook through evenly. The last thing I did was add some freshly choppped parsley and a little salt and pepper. We spooned it into bowls and garnished with some jumbo lump crabmeat, just because we didn't have enough going on the pan already...
It was a thing of beauty. Everyone loved it. We had two giant pans for 17 people, and they ate every last bit. Here's a picture of it:
When I do the demos, I like to add some educational information as I cook-about knives, techniques, sustainability...you name it. And if you know me, there is also some humor. I like to say that you get a stand up routine complete with a dinner. We always have a great time. So that's my shout out for the day- Celebrity Kitchens in the Independence Mall in Wilmington, DE. Check it out. They have gift certificates, do corporate team building events, private parties, showers...and I'm there, so that makes it better!
Let's hope this crazy weather ends soon, and we can start planning our spring menus. Stay warm, and stay in touch.
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