Sayat Explores Food

sayattheexplorer: This is a yogurt soup with chickpeas and...

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:38:56 -0400

This is a yogurt soup with chickpeas and dried beef with an aleppo pepper infused olive oil and dried mint. Drink it!

Well, first learn how to make it right here.

Warm yogurt soup, one of my favorite family recipes, tart, wholesome and plentiful. The dried mint leaves give the soup a deep richness… I love it.

sayattheexplorer: The most beautiful chickpeas I have ever...

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:35:55 -0400

Green chickpeas

Green chickpeas

sayattheexplorer:

The most beautiful chickpeas I have ever seen. So pure, so fresh, so grassy and nutty. Just amazing.

Haara chana!

I miss working with fresh chickpeas…

sayattheexplorer: Roasted pepper soup with peanut butter Roast...

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:46:15 -0400

sayattheexplorer:

Roasted pepper soup with peanut butter

Roast eight yellow bell peppers, one red (for a brighter yellow at the end) bell pepper, and two jalopenos. Wrap in plastic and throw in the freezer for two minutes before skinning and seeding. Blend in blender with a heaping tbsp of peanut butter and a can of light coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer and stir frequently. Add Spanish Pimenton (smoked paprika) to taste.

Garnish with crispy bacon, chives, shaved bitter chocolate and toasted peanuts.

The soup was smoky, ethereal and well balanced.

Bacon, peanut butter, peppers and chocolate shavings

sayattheexplorer: Fractal salad For all math geeks out there,...

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:43:17 -0400

sayattheexplorer:

Fractal salad

For all math geeks out there, doesn’t the broccoflower (Romanesco broccoli) resemble fractals?

Boil and drain one dry c of quinoa; two dry c of barley; roast two cups of cubed sweet potatoes; steam two c broccoli florets; stem and fine-chop two-three tbsps of dill; combine with one cup of green chickpeas (can be purchased at south Asian stores); dress with a lemon vinaigrette; serves a whole army (or six 1.5 c portions)

Here is my rendition of the fractal salad… I love a vegetable that comes with a mathematically inclined personality

sayattheexplorer: Rich and flavorful, young harvest Turkish...

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:40:34 -0400

sayattheexplorer:

Rich and flavorful, young harvest Turkish pistachios — peel them, they’re beautiful

Peel your pistachios…

An Asian Benedict on a steamed bun with a Thai crispy pork belly...

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:45:05 -0400

An Asian Benedict on a steamed bun with a Thai crispy pork belly and hoisin sauce. The egg oozes out and coats the crispy pork that resists all temptation to get soft! Awesome breakfast surprise at the CIA! It was a great start to the day! (at Farquharson Hall)

A good falafel is one that is crispy on the outside and soft and...

Mon, 20 May 2013 07:53:13 -0400

A good falafel is one that is crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. It is not meant to be a dense pellet that challenges your esophageal muscles.

Aba’s falafel at the Rhinebeck Farmers Market in the Hudson Valley has got it figured out. The bright green meat of the falafel is the bonus of the fantastic textural contrast of the crispy skin and the warming and soft inside. The pita was warm and steaming when the daughter of the family cut into it to prepare my sandwich.

Familiar Middle Eastern flavors, including the chopped salad that is shepherd’s salad, a cabbage salad, and a sumac speckled onion confit, bring zest to the whole sandwich. If you want your sandwich richer and more filling, enjoy it with the simple tahini sauce that comes with the sandwich.

Aba’s Falafel, Rhinebeck Farmers Market, Hudson Valley, NY

Those would be a taco and a tostada with sauted shrimp, a sweet...

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:56:00 -0400

Those would be a taco and a tostada with sauted shrimp, a sweet and sour crunchy salsa, and avocado cream spiked with lime Cholula!

The salsa has green mangos, ripe mangos, jicama, shallots, cilantro and lime juice. I took out the green mango from my submission for the recipe competition but that was just catering to the competition. Green mangos are so good and they are a perfect match for the creamy avocado that rounds up all the flavors!

This was my recipe submission for a competition. Let’s see what happens!

I cooked at a farm in the Hudson Valley yesterday for 250 people...

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:37:50 -0400

I cooked at a farm in the Hudson Valley yesterday for 250 people with my chef and two colleageues. Roasted potatoes, veggies, and chicken. This was one of the >20 platters we sent out. A beautiful farm, great Balkan music playing in the background, excellent coworkers, good ingredients and two IPA’s at the end of the shift.

A perfect Saturday for a cook!

I went foraging for morels this weekend. See wlhat was caught in...

Mon, 13 May 2013 07:53:11 -0400

I went foraging for morels this weekend. See wlhat was caught in my camera. I love these encounters in the forest. I didn’t see any smurfs this time around though.

They may not be common food items but they are part of the ecosystem that produces the wonderful morsels we call morels, and they are beautiful.

Norrie Park, Hyde Park, NY

That’s fettucine with trumpet mushrooms, chantarelles,...

Mon, 13 May 2013 07:53:00 -0400

That’s fettucine with trumpet mushrooms, chantarelles, oyster mushrooms and peas. The mushrooms came out of Chef Brash’s bounty this week — he is my product knowledge instructor. I prepared them with dried tarragon in a cream sauce and polished it off with colleagues over our knife cuts practice.

The trumpets have the most texture. They need to brown first. Chantarelles and oysters are too delicate to withstand Maillard reactions (browning on proteins) without falling apart. The thin sliced boiling onions went in right after some color developed on the trumpets. (Keep your pan hot, if you have one, use cast iron.) Then went in the chantarelles and two cloves of sliced garlic. For a thirty second saute, I added the oyster mushrooms last.

Then I poured a cup of cream and reduced it to half. Midway through the reduction, I sprinkled two teaspoons of dried tarragon and introduced the blanched peas to my sauce.

I didn’t measure much. I just went by taste. Here is my mise-en-place if you’d like to think through the recipe more.

I think that’s a milestone! Thank you to all who have...

Sun, 12 May 2013 20:01:00 -0400

I think that’s a milestone! Thank you to all who have supported my efforts with their comments, feedback, love, and appetite. I owe a special thank you to the editors who have recognized my efforts and featured me on the tumblr Food and Drink spotlight page. I love Tumblr and I’m very thankful for everyone’s support.

I kicked off my career in culinary arts on May 22nd, 2012. I left the life of an engineer, an analytics manager, and an economist to pursue my passion, the only purpose I want to have in my life: Cooking and through that making people happy.

I’m pushing myself more every day on the journey to perfection. In the last year, I cooked in various places in North Eastern US, in Istanbul, and in Mumbai. I foraged forests and farmers markets; picked up bow hunting; sampled all kinds of food that I’d never tried before. The list goes beyond black salt, pork large intestines, birds nest, preserved eggs, head cheese, foie gras and more.

I’ve been documenting the journey here to engage you on the direction I’m taking my culinary passion.

I’m at the Culinary Institute of America now. My peers have elected me sous chef of class. I work with a great banquet chef outside of class. Just learning from my colleague’s experiences here has been tremendous so far.

I tested a couple recipes this morning. Once the work was done, I walked to the gym for a quick workout. I have tennis elbow now from overworking my right arm. Deep in thought I entered the gym and saw the shadow of the man who said:

“When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy, that is what cooking is all about.”

We have Thomas Keller Day here at the Culinary tomorrow. He was setting up for his presentation and demonstration with half dozen of his sous chefs as well as recent CIA graduates who are working for him.

I feel lucky but equally motivated and in love with life.

sayattheexplorer: Garlic mustard Cobb salad with feta, eggs,...

Sat, 11 May 2013 19:58:31 -0400

Garlic mustard greens

sayattheexplorer:

Garlic mustard Cobb salad with feta, eggs, smoked bacon and red onions served with Deviant Dale IPA and honeydew melon with feta cheese

Product: These greens are an invasive species that grow as a weed. The leaves are very delicate in texture and have a very pleasant combination of garlic and bitter mustard flavors. The flowers are milder in taste and more delicate in texture. You do not have to go too sweet on your vinaigrette. Be aware of the saltiness of your feta and your bacon.

Process: Boil egg (cover with water, bring to boil, turn off heat, leave submerged in cooling water until salad’s ready) / Chop bacon into half inch squares sautee on medium high heat until some of the fat has been rendered / Add onions, stop somewhere between sweating and caramelization. Let cool and add to salad warm / Collect and roughly chop leaves to make fluffy bed / Wedge your tomatoes / Assemble salad / Dress with a red wine vinaigrette

I need to make some of this!

What an interesting texture. So beautiful!

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:36:45 -0400

What an interesting texture. So beautiful!

First morel of the season! Thanks to my foraging partner Todd!

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:31:51 -0400

First morel of the season! Thanks to my foraging partner Todd!

Just a little bit of garlic mustard to open the pallet on this...

Sat, 11 May 2013 08:52:23 -0400

Just a little bit of garlic mustard to open the pallet on this misty morning in the Hudson Valley!

Endless tartelettes @ the CIA!

Fri, 10 May 2013 17:20:00 -0400

Endless tartelettes @ the CIA!

Jumbo asparagus! Product knowledge @ the CIA

Fri, 10 May 2013 15:16:00 -0400

Jumbo asparagus! Product knowledge @ the CIA

During the day, I make stock, focus on my knife cuts and making...

Tue, 07 May 2013 09:01:04 -0400

During the day, I make stock, focus on my knife cuts and making perfect mayonnaise, among other fundamentals. At night and on weekends, I work for one of my favorite chefs on Culinary Institute of America banquets. I was part of a team of fifteen+ fellow students who produced this meal above for a black tie event at the Hyde Park, NY campus. We worked our butts off on a 14 hours shift after two half days of prep work to produce this meal (a couple hors d’oeuvres and courses missing). I loved it!

Balsamic vinegar doused feta cheese with compressed watermelon (Here is my take on it. Also, here is something that I wrote on my passion for watermelon and feta)
Lobster mousse on brioche topped with paddlefish caviar
Beef tenderloin on roasted potatoes with a morel and Madeira sauce served with spring vegetables
Puree of yellow squash soup garnished with tarragon foam and crab meat
Smoked duck and fig skewers with a plum sauce glaze

Photos courtesy of Kelsey Leroque

Marist College Black Tie Event, Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY

What’s seasonal after a cold April? Microgreens. Sunflower...

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:49:13 -0400

What’s seasonal after a cold April? Microgreens.

Sunflower greens are succulent and taste like grassy and sunflowery — the texture is similar to purslanes. Speaking about purslanes, chickweed tastes just like purslane, which I can only find wild in America. Radish greens are slightly bitter but so friendly — almost citrusy. Mustard flowers have a good bite to them — peppery.

Guess what fava greens taste like. Fava beans!

Union Square Green Market, Manhattan, NY