Live to Cook...At Home

Iron Chef Michael Symon News

2010-07-22T12:02:00.005-04:00

Michael Symon's newest TV show, Cook Like an Iron Chef, debuts tonight at 10pm on the Cooking Channel, a new station from the creators of the Food Network. From the Cooking Channel's Website:

Iron Chef Mike Symon is breaking out of Kitchen Stadium to share his creative process and techniques for turning your favorite secret ingredients into unique, daring and delicious food. Chef Symon arms you with an arsenal of dishes that deliver perfect 10's for taste, presentation and creativity to help you do battle for the discerning judges at your own kitchen table.

According to Symon, "It's essentially a show for the people who've watched Food Network forever and are ready to learn something more advanced or more creative."

He sees the show being for serious foodies who are ready to take the next step as a home cook. Of course the only way to take that next step is to get in the kitchen and cook, so after you watch the show, be sure to pick your favorite recipe from Live to Cook, head to your local farmers market for some fresh, local ingredients, and get in the kitchen and cook.

The Cooking Channel is 158 with Time Warner Cable in Avon Lake - no HD available yet - check with your provider to find out what station it is in your area. Unfortunately this station does not come with the standard service that we have with Time Warner so I won't be able to see the show. Hopefully it will show up on Hulu.

Update I: The Cooking Channel is 456 with AT&T Uverse - Thanks Sarah! Can you pull any strings to get Uverse to serve Avon Lake?

Update II: The Cooking Channel is 232 with Direct TV. Thanks Shawnee's Girl!

Update III: The Cooking Channel is 127 with Cox Communications. Thanks DaniP!

I also wanted to mention a charity event Michael Symon is hosting at his flagship restaurant, Lola Bistro, Sunday, August 1st from 6-9 p.m. Food for Life will benefit three charities that are near and dear to Symon - Autism Speaks, Share Our Strength and Urban Community School. Symon will be hosting a long list of culinary all-stars from Cleveland and across the country including:

Michael Schwartz - Michael's Genuine, Miami, FL
Vinnie Dotolo & Jon Shook - Animal, Los Angeles, CA
Jonathan Waxman - Barbuto, New York, NY
Koren Grieveson - Avec, Chicago, IL
Michael Sheerin - Blackbird,Chicago, IL
Mary Sue Milliken - Border Grill, Santa Monica, CA and Las Vegas, NV
Marc Vetri and Jeff Michaud - Vetri, Osteria and Amis, Philadelphia, PA
Anne Burrell - Food Network, New York, NY
Joey Campanaro - The Little Owl, New York, NY
Jonathan Sawyer - The Greenhouse Tavern, Cleveland, OH
Rocco Whalen - Fahrenheit, Cleveland, OH
Paul Minillo - The Baricelli Inn, Cleveland, OH
Nate Appleman - Pulino's Bar & Pizzeria, New York, NY
Eric Williams - Momocho, Cleveland, OH
Scot Jones - Vegiterranean, Cleveland, OH

In addition to amazing food and mingling with some of the countries best chefs, the event will also feature music, entertainment, and auctions. It's sure to be a great event and I'm disappointed that I will be out of town that day.

Tickets are $200, with VIP tickets, full tables and special sponsorship opportunities available. A $1,000 VIP ticket includes an invitation to a private dinner at Symon's home on Saturday, July 31, and a party at the Greenhouse Tavern after the benefit. For more information and to buy tickets online, go to join.strength.org/foodforlife or call 1-888-273-6141.

2010 Veggie U Food & Wine Celebration

2010-07-20T10:55:00.000-04:00

My beautiful wife on the grounds of the beautiful Culinary Vegetable Institute

My wife was the lucky winner of a pair of tickets to the 2010 Veggie U Food & Wine Festival on the grounds of the Culinary Vegetable Institute. (Thanks again Cleveland Foodie!!!)

It was HOT under the main tasting tent. Fortunately they had fans misting water and Jeni's Ice Cream to cool us down.

The Food & Wine benefit is an annual benefit featuring gourmet cuisine prepared by chefs from all over the country, wines from top vineyards, cooking demos, and an exclusive auction, all benefiting Veggie U. Veggie U's mission is to promote the well-being of children through a healthy lifestyle. Veggie U is dedicated to the creation and distribution of curricula nationally, with a focus on making wise food choices, combating adolescent and juvenile disease, and attaining an understanding of sustainable agriculture.

Some of the beautiful produce on display courtesy of the Culinary Vegetable Institute (sorry, the photo doesn't even begin to give it justice)

Tickets weren't cheap at $175, but considering the great cause and number of renowned chefs, serving great food with pristine ingredients from the Culinary Vegetable Institute, this event was worth the cost of admission.

We took a lot of pictures as we made our way through the stations and I thought I'd share some of our favorite dishes with you.There was obviously lots of great food but one dish was our runaway favorite - Chef Michael Deligatta's squash blossom stuffed with fire roasted heirloom sweet corn and Silver Lake chevre with spicy peach chutney.

Easily the best dish of the festival - Chef Michael Deligatta's Squash Blossom Stuffed with Fire Roasted Heirloom Sweet Corn and Silver Lake Chevre with Spicy Peach Chutney

The blossoms were lightly fried and stuffed with a delicious, creamy filling. This is the only station we went back to for ~~seconds~~ thirds. The chef said these are on his summer menu so if you want to try them head down to the Inn at Versailles.

My second favorite came at the hands of Chef Jamie McFadden of Cuisiniers in Winter Park, FL and was the most unlikely candidate - A Study of Peas.

Peas three different ways

Anyone care for a champagne cocktail featuring peas? Bring it on! Skeptical at first, I could have drank this light, refreshing drink all day. It was the perfect compliment to the heat. They also served a cold spring pea soup and a sweet pea and fava bean bruschetta. All three dishes were executed perfectly, letting the quality of the Chef's Garden peas shine through. If Chef Jamie ever goes on Iron Chef, he should hope for peas as the secret ingredient!

There were lots of other great dishes, but these two really stood out from the crowd, in my opinion. Here are some shots of our other favorite dishes:

Dumpling of Braised Grass-Fed Beef, Maytag Bleu Cheese, Heirloom Tomoato Confit by Chef Leo Bushey of Perfect Production Fine Catering

Short Ribs with Radish and Turnip Salad by Chef Tony Dee of Barton G in Miami Beach

Roasted Summer Corn Salad with Smokey Rubbed Hanger Steak by Chef Dave Martin from Top Chef Season 1

Beautiful artwork carved out of fruits and veggies

It was amazing how quickly he was able to create these!

Chilled Watermelon & Cucumber Salad by Chef Rachel Spieth from Three Birds in Lakewood

Porcini Mushroom Dusted Lambchops over Heirloom Tomato & Shaved Fennel Salad with 12 yr aged Balsamic by Chef Ray Comisky of Capital Grille

Beet-i-ful Terrine, Mascarpone Cream Beet Cherry Puree, Mache by Chef Tim Maxim

Gunpowder Bison Flank Steak "Bahn Mi" with Fois Gras Butter and Chef's Garden Produce Fixin's Bar by Chefs Beej Flamholz and Erica Wides

"Fixin's Bar"

Unfortunately my camera battery died half way through the evening so I didn't capture the rest of the food we sampled. Needless to say, we didn't go home hungry. The event also featured wine tasting demos with master sommeliers - we missed these, wish they started a little later as we were too busy eating to make it to these sessions, live music, food demos with Martha Foose, Jonathon Sawyer from The Greenhouse Tavern, and Dave Martin & Lee Ann Wong from Top Chef.

If you are interested in supporting the mission of Veggie U, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.

Did you attend the 2010 Veggie U Food & Wine Celebration? What was your favorite dish???

Squash Blossoms Stuffed with Goat Cheese

2010-06-30T00:09:00.002-04:00

Wow, has it really been almost a month since I posted? I know, as Metromix producer Janet Nguyen told me recently, I've been a really bad blogger. Worse yet, I haven't even been cooking much in the past month. June has been a blur for me. It was an extremely busy month at work and I got pretty burned out on cooking after all the work I put into the rib burnoff (which I didn't win but more importantly we raised lots of money). Fortunately, things have calmed down a little at work and I am finding some motivation in the kitchen.

I went to the Crocker Park Farmer's Market this past Saturday for the first time since May and saw some beautiful squash blossoms for sale.

Fresh squash blossoms

I had never eaten squash blossoms but I heard they were pretty good. They weren't cheap at $5 for 5 blossoms, but we were having some people over for dinner on Sunday so I thought I'd pick some up for everyone to try. I also noticed a new (to me) vendor, The Ornery Goat, selling goat's milk & cheese at the Crocker Farmers Market. They were sampling feta, four different types of chevre (chive & onion, chipotle, garlic dill, and plain), and fresh goats milk. I tasted them all and decided on the chipotle and chive & onion. The goat milk was also very interesting. It was very rich (like whole milk) and had a slight tang to it. It is definitely worth checking out next time you are at the market.

The assembly line

I decided to stuff the squash blossoms with goat cheese, coat them in flour, and deep fry them. The flowers were a little delicate but I was able to successfully fill each of the blossoms with cheese and twist the petals together to seal them up.

Battered squash blossoms waiting to go in the fryer

Next, I dipped them in egg and then tossed them in flour until they were coated. I put a pot with an inch or two of canola oil over medium heat. To test when the oil was hot enough, I dropped a little flour in and it fried the flour without burning it so in went the squash blossoms. I didn't have enough oil to cover them completely so after a minute or so I flipped each blossom over to cook the other side. After both sides looked nice and crispy, I removed each blossom.

Fried squash blossom stuffed with Ornery Goat Chevre

The squash blossoms turned out pretty good. The goat cheese paired perfectly with the delicate squash taste of the blossom. I especially liked the chipotle chevre as it gave a little heat to the dish. If I had it to do over again, I probably would experiment with a batter rather than just the egg / flour coating. I forgot to season the flour so the crispy exterior was on the bland side.

If you like to try new foods or are looking for something unique to serve at a party this summer, stuffed, fried squash blossoms are sure to make your be a hit and make for great conversation too.

Have you ever tried squash blossoms? What is your favorite recipe?

Giveaway - Stove Monkey's Yumm 2.0 Tickets @ The Mercury Lounge

2010-06-04T10:27:00.002-04:00

The Stove Monkey's are at it again! This Monday, June 7th at 8pm they are hosting the second rendition of Yumm at Mercury Lounge. Did you miss the first Yumm? Check out what you missed via Green Dog Wine's review of it. The second rendition of Yumm promises to be even better than the first as it will feature molecular cocktails courtesy of Mike Gulley, in addition to some amazing Stove Monkey's molecular gastronomy inspired food. I have two pairs of tickets to giveaway once again. Read through to the end find out how to win or better yet, head over to the Stove Monkey's websitehttp://stovemonkeys.com/ and order your tickets today!

The menu will include the following:

FOOD created by The Stove Monkey's

Liquid Nitrogen Poached Ice Cream – Ice Cream that is instantly flash-frozen in Liquid Nitrogen – Think Dip and Dots, who doesn't love dip and dots???

Coconut Bubbles – Bubbles like you blew as a kid that taste like coconut and have a sweet spicy finish (jalapeno) and of course, after tasting them the bubbles disappear in your mouth

Liquid Baked Potato – a frozen liquid that tastes like Baked Potatoes infused w/ white Truffle Oil and Rosemary, coated in flour and tempura fried and served w/ Scallion Aioli

Inside Out Deviled Egg – A reversed Deviled Egg

Drinks created by The Alchemist, Mike Gulley

Banana’s Foster’s – A very fun drink that tastes like a bananas foster. It starts with a Bruleed Glass while you watch, then it's filled with Liquid Nitrogen Poached Ice Cream, and finished w/ reserved liquid nitrogen ice cream that vaporizes on top of the drink and can be inhaled

Maple Old Bacon Fashion – Tastes like a breakfast – Bacon infused Bourbon, Maple Egg White Foam, Orange Brulee

Mojito of Future – Jello shot version of mojito that has green mint caviars on top and finished with Coconut Bubbles.

Tickets are a steal at $7 pre-sale or $10 at the door. The ticket includes the cover charge and all the food you can eat. Drinks are cheap at $3 a piece! Head over to the Stove Monkey's website and order your tickets today!

GIVEAWAY!!!

The Stove Monkey's have once again given me two pairs of to giveaway to Yumm. To enter, they want to know what the strangest thing you've ever eaten is and why. Here's Matt from Stove Monkey's story:

Once upon a time (lol) I ate a raw fish eye. We were in the kitchen monkeying around and decided to eat the eyeball after butchering it. We drizzled Olive Oil, salt, lemon juice, and sriracha to enhance flavor. After chewing the weird texture we all decided it was a bad idea and tasted gross. If someone bet me 5 dollars to do it again I would not. Gross.

Leave a comment below telling us about the strangest thing you've eaten and you could win 2 tickets to Yumm this Monday at Mercury Lounge. You can have a bonus entry for posting a link to the contest on Twitter and another for posting to Facebook, just be sure to leave another comment with a link to your tweet/facebook message. Good luck and I hope to see you there!

Michael Gulley's Bio

The Alchemist

In a day and age where the common perception of a bartender is simply one who is doing a second job or side gig to make extra money to get through school, twenty five year old Mixologist Michael Gulley is going the extra length to set himself apart as a true professional with a passion for crafting cocktails and entertaining in conversation. With thirteen years experience in the restaurant industry, Mike has moved up the ranks from a bus boy at a family diner in Brook Park, Ohio to managing the front of house operations for a restaurant in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Recently returning back to Cleveland from NYC, Mike has brought with him a determination to revamp the cocktail culture here in the Greater Cleveland area. He is currently the Beverage Director at The Fairmount in Cleveland Heights and played a major role in changing the focus of the Fairmount from wine and martinis to classic cocktails that have modern spins with food infusions. You can also find Mike whipping up crazy culinary cocktails around town with the guys from Stove Monkeys as the team’s Molecular Mixologist.

Providence Church BBQ Rib Burn Off

2010-06-03T00:14:00.003-04:00

I'm sorry, I know it's been quite a while since I've posted anything. The real world has been keeping me very busy lately and I haven't been able to spend much time in the kitchen. All the time I have spent in the kitchen has been devoted to one thing, my first cooking contest! I go to Providence Church in Avon and a couple months ago they announced they were going to host a rib burn off to raise money to support the student ministry summer mission trips.

Sunday, June 6, 12-4pm

Providence Church

35295 Detroit Road

Avon, OH 44011

A minimum donation of $15 is requested

I've been looking for ways to become more active at Providence and felt God was calling me to this opportunity as soon as I heard about it. So I talked to the guy organizing the competition and the next thing you know I was signed up, to cook 20 racks of St. Louis Style ribs! Did I mention that before signing up I had only cooked one 1/2 rack of ribs in my entire life? Heck, I'd probably even eaten less than 10 racks in my life prior to signing up! What can I say, pulled pork is more my style but I like a good challenge.

So for the past month or so I've been making a lot of ribs. Like with all my cooking, I've tried my best to make everything from scratch and treat the food with the respect it deserves. In my opinion, the only way to properly make ribs is low and slow, on a smoker (a Weber Kettle in my case) with a big kiss of smoke from apple wood. Ribs don't belong in the oven and they should never be boiled. I wanna see the smoke ring!

No, those aren't rare, the pink is caused by the smoking process

I've created numerous different handmade rubs that started with me grinding down dried chilies and mixing them with a variety of herbs and spices; I've applied the rub directly to the ribs as well as with a couple of different handmade mustard slathers; and who could forget the sauce? While I am still in the process of finding the right BBQ sauce, I think I came pretty close tonight. Of course it's my sauce has also been completely made from scratch, even down to the ketchup and worcestershire sauce that went into the various sauces I've made.

I haven't even mentioned the biggest challenge - cooking 20 racks of ribs and having them all ready at once! I can squeeze 5 racks on my Weber at one time using a rib rack and they take close to 5 hours to cook. That means 20 hours of cooking time! Fortunately a friend has the same Weber as me and he's going to let me borrow it, so that will cut the time in half. Guess what I'll be doing all day Saturday? Let me give you a clue, it's going to smell really good in Avon Lake.

Honestly, I am still not very confident in my ability to pull this off, much less compete for the title against the other competitors. But at the end of the day, we will raise a lot of money for a really good cause, so I am happy that I decided to participate. If you are a fan of ribs, I hope you'll consider coming out this Sunday to support a great cause.

So tell me, how do you like your ribs?

Falling off the bone or a little bite to it?
Covered in sauce or let the meat and dry rub shine through?
Smokey or baked in an oven?
Spicy, sweet, a little of both?

I'd love to hear your thoughts and hope to see you on Sunday!

Breaking Bread with Michael Ruhlman's Ratio iPhone App

2010-05-23T23:16:00.002-04:00

As a follow up to the piece I wrote on Michael Ruhlman's Buttermilk Dinner Rolls, I wanted to write about my second attempt at bread making. I made a garlic rosemary boule, once again inspired by Ruhlman, but this time I used Ruhlman's Ratio application for the iPhone. This app is a compliment to Michael Ruhlman's book Ratio, which if you aren't familiar with is a must have for any serious cook. It provides simple ratios for 28 key recipes for things like breads, pastas, cakes & cookies, sausages, brines, soups, sauces, custards, and more.

Michael Ruhlman's Ratio Application for the iPhone

Ruhlman's Ratio app made it very easy to make the bread. Not only does the app provide you with the ratios for many common recipes but it allows you to easily adjust the amount of a given ingredient and then it automatically calculates and converts the other ingredients in the ratio. The Ratio app includes instructions on how to make the dish and also offers ideas to modify the dish (like adding rosemary & garlic to to the bread ratio like I did below).

I followed Ruhlman's bread ratio (5 parts flour to 3 parts water) and used 567 grams of flour, 340 grams of water, 11 grams of salt, and 3 grams of yeast. Yes, those measurements are in grams, Ruhlman suggests using a digital kitchen scale for everything you cook, especially when baking.

I wanted to make a flavored loaf so I also threw in some chopped rosemary and roasted garlic cloves . I combined all the ingredients in my Kitchen Aid and mixed them until a dough formed that could be stretched to translucency.

I left the dough in the mixer, covered it, and let it rise for a couple hours until it more than doubled in size. After the dough rose, I kneaded it by hand for a few minutes, formed it into the shape I wanted and put it into a dutch oven (another tip from Ruhlman). I baked it covered for 30 minutes and then removed the lid and cooked it until it looked like this:

Garlic Rosemary Boule

The bread was pretty good but I am not sure how much I liked the crust from the dutch oven. The top crust was nice but I didn't really like the bottom of the bread. I'd be interested in trying some other pans to see the difference.

Michael Ruhlman's Ratio application is definitely one of the best apps I have for my iPhone. Have you tried it? I'd love to hear some of your success stories!

Camp Bacon at Zingerman's

2010-05-19T20:32:00.000-04:00

This event is too good not to write about, a weekend long celebration of bacon! Zingerman's, which I also wrote about here, is bringing some of the biggest names in bacon to Ann Arbor, MI (I know, I hate Ann Arbor too - go Buckeyes!) for a weekend full of bacon festivities. Tickets for the all day bacon class are steep at $150 but I'm sure it's an experience you'll never forget. Highlights include:

Bacon tasting with Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig
Bacon curing demos with Allan Benton from East Tennessee
and Nick Spencer from Chicago
Hands-on pancetta-making class with Herb Eckhouse
from La Quercia in Iowa
Camp Bacon T-Shirt!!!
Bacon cooking demo with James Beard Award-winning cookbook author and chef Molly Stevens
Plus breakfast and lunch from Zingerman’s, a free copy of Ari’s Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon, a free t-shirt and more!

Following the class there is also a Bacon Street Fair to raise money for the local 4-H program. A $5 donation gets you tastes of bacon from some of America’s best—Nueske’s, Benton’s, La Quercia, Ozark Mountain Trails and more, plus bacon-cheddar scones, bacon-apple coffee cake, peppered bacon farm bread and other bacon based baked goods from Zingerman’s Bakehouse; bacon based games for kids, book signings by Sarah Katherine Lewis, Molly Stevens, Ari Weinzweig and more!

I'd love to see Michael Symon, Jonathon Sawyer and some of the other chefs in the Cleveland area get together in celebration of not just bacon, but the entire pig! What do you say Michael???

Red Potatoes with Arugula (p. 163)

2010-05-18T00:47:00.001-04:00

This post has been sitting in blogger for almost two months half written. I made this dish way back when I made the whole grilled snapper and I didn't find it to be a very exciting dish so I've been putting off finishing. I decided it was finally time to finish it off. So without further ado...Iron Chef Michael Symon's Red Potatoes with Arugula (p. 163).

Potatoes in a bed of arugula, about as artistic as I get

This is the second recipe in a row that involves few ingredients and is very quick and easy to make. You know how to boil potatoes, right? In this case simply wash a couple pounds of red potatoes, add them to a pot and cover them with warm water. As always, add kosher salt to season the water when cooking potatoes, it helps increase the flavor of the potatoes without having to over salt your final product.

Bring the water to a boil and cook the potatoes until they are tender, probably a little more than 30 minutes. Be careful not to over cook the potatoes or you'll end up with a messy, soft final product. The potatoes should not be crumbling or falling apart, rather they should still have a little bite to them. Once the potatoes are done, carefully drain them and let them dry. Once dry, cut the potatoes into slices around a half inch thick, or whatever your desired size is. You can also peel the potatoes if you chose, but I prefer to leave the skins on since that's where most of the nutrition is.

Simmering sauce

When the potatoes are getting close to being done, it's time to start the sauce. The sauce is a simple combination of heavy cream, Dijon mustard, and homemade chicken stock.

A quick note on chicken stock - don't buy the stuff in a can or even cardboard container at the grocery store, if you don't have time to make stock, you are better off just using water rather than stock from the grocery store. The stuff in a can at the grocery store is full of sodium and has very little taste to it. Don't believe me? Taste the stuff in a can next time you have some on hand and then compare it to water. I bet the biggest difference you'll notice is the salt. Still don't believe me? Read Michael Ruhlman's thoughts on the subject.

Combine the three ingredients in a large sauce pan (the potatoes will be added eventually) and reduce the mixture until it starts to thicken, 5 minutes or so. Once the sauce has reduced, gently mix in the potatoes, along with the butter, salt, & pepper.

Not as pretty as it looks in the book

Keep the heat up and bring the sauce up to a simmer and add the arugula, stirring gently until the arugula cooks a little and begins to wilt. Remove from the heat and serve immediately.

You've seen this picture before

Like I mentioned earlier, I served these Red Potatoes with Arugula (p. 163) along side the whole grilled snapper way back before Easter (as you can tell by the tablecloth on our table). Everyone I had over for dinner really seemed to like the potatoes but I thought they were just OK. It reminded me of a warm German potato salad, which I typically don't like. My wife makes an awesome cold potato salad in the summer. Even though I'd much rather eat her potato salad, I definitely recommend giving this dish a try if you are sick of the typical mashed or roasted potatoes. The arugula is a nice addition to the dish and helps bring some additional nutrition into your diet.

Cost

I will provide the approximate cost for each recipe in the book, as well as the source of the products used.

It cost about $5.42 to make Iron Chef Michael Symon's Red Potatoes with Arugula (p. 163).

Red potatoes - $2.42

Heavy cream - $1

Chicken Stock - $1 (I used, and recommend, homemade)

Arugula - $1

Misc (salt, Dijon mustard, butter, pepper)

I purchased all ingredients for this recipe at Heinen's.

BBQ Smoking & Heinen's Gift Card Winner

2010-05-16T22:04:00.000-04:00

I had my smoker working double duty today and we'll be enjoying its hard work all week.

Sweet & Spicy Smoked BBQ Pork Loin

I started with a pork loin from the pig I bought from Bluebird Meadows last fall. The loin actually had the baby back ribs still attached when it came from the butcher so I trimmed those off and was left with a beautiful roast that had a bone running through the middle. I always make my own rubs so I mixed one up with sugar (white and brown), a couple of different paprikas, "homemade" chili powder, homemade "seasoned salt", garlic, onion, allspice, cloves, and a few other spices. I generously applied the rub to all sides of the roast and put it on my Weber kettle grill at 230 degrees for 4 hours or so until the meat reached 140 degrees. After letting it rest, I sliced some of the roast and served it with grilled asparagus for dinner tonight. There will be plenty of tasty leftovers for at least another meal or two.

Chili Rubbed-Smoked Turkey Breast

We don't buy much deli meat because it's full of sodium, water, nitrates, and other stuff we try to avoid while eating. During my last trip to the Westside Market, I noticed some nice looking turkey breasts at Kaufmann Poultry that I thought would be great for some homemade lunch meat. Since I had the grill going low and slow, I decided to throw one of these on too and it couldn't have been easier to do. I used the same rub I used for the pork loin and added it to the smoker once the pork was about half done. After a couple hours it was done and I sliced it nice and thin. The meat is delicious and juicy. So much better than any turkey you can find at the grocery store and so much better for you!

Ok, enough about what I've been up to, on to the winner of the Heinen's giftcard. Random.org says.....

Lucky 24

Commenter #24, Chrissy, please email me so I can send the gift certificate to you. I will pick a new winner if I haven't heard from Chrissy in a few days.

Olive Oil-Poached Halibut with Fennel, Rosemary, and Garlic (p. 180)

2010-05-09T22:33:00.002-04:00

If you've been reading my blog since the beginning, you may remember I bought some not so fresh shrimp from Heinen's when I made Shrimp with Dill Vinaigrette (after which Heinen's sent me a gift card to cover the cost of the bad shrimp, just one example of their amazing customer service). In that post, I also discussed that it was difficult to find fresh fish in Cleveland. Well, in the five months since that post I've learned a lot about cooking fish and also realized that there is plenty of good quality, fresh fish in Cleveland. While nothing will compare to the fresh grouper I prepared in St. Martin, I have found delicious fresh fish at Kate's Fish at the Westside Market and I'm happy that I can also write positively about the some of the fish at Heinens.

Heinen's recently started carrying fresh, line caught halibut, cod, and salmon that is over nighted from Alaska. When I heard about this, I knew I wanted to try the halibut for Iron Chef Symon's Olive Oil-Poached Halibut with Fennel, Rosemary, and Garlic (p. 180). So I headed to the Heinen's in Avon. The fish counter is very friendly and helpful so don't be afraid to ask questions about how to prepare the fish, where it comes from, or for it to be cut to your exact needs. I went in on a Sunday after church and they told me that the only receive shipments during the week so my fish came in on Friday afternoon. Regardless, the fish was caught on Tuesday, cleaned and processed Wednesday, shipped out Thursday and on our dinner table Sunday. It was never frozen no disgusting chemicals were used to lengthen the life of the fish.

I ordered one pound of halibut, cut into two fillets, and asked that the skin be removed. When I got home I examined the fillets, I was pleased to find extremely fresh fish. The fillets were firm and had a slight smell of the sea, but none of the "fishy" smell that turns people off and is a sign of fish that is not very fresh. Unfortunately the people at the counter forgot to remove the skin for me and also did not cut the fillets into even sized fillets. I'll chalk that up to the fact that I went during the middle of their "seafood extravaganza" and it was very busy. Luckily, the skin was very easy to pull off. I used a knife to loosen the skin from the flesh in one corner and then used a paper towel to grab the skin and pull it from the fish.

Few ingredients let the flavor of the fish shine through

This dish is about as easy as they come so far in my mission to cook through Live to Cook. There are very few ingredients and it requires very little prep work. To get started, I quartered the fennel and shallot, smashed the garlic, and bruised the rosemary to help it release more oil.

I combined all the ingredients except the fish in a sauce pan on the stove and slowly brought the oil up to 140 degrees. In the picture below, you'll notice I used a probe thermometer to closely monitor the temperature of the oil.

Halibut poaching in olive oil

As I mentioned when I made the snapper, I find cooking fish more challenging than most foods, but I found poaching in olive oil to be extremely easy. Once the oil reached 140 degrees, I let it sit for a while so the aromatics could permeate the oil. After 20 minutes or so, I used my fish turner to gently slide the fish in. The oil looked crowded already with the aromatics so I was wondering if the fish would fit, but there was plenty of room.

Fifteen minutes later

After about 15 minutes, I pulled one of the pieces of fish from the oil and checked its temperature. It was right around 110 degrees so I placed it on a paper towel to drain and removed the fillet.

Delicious, healthy dinner

I really enjoyed this dinner, although my wife thought it was a little bland. The fish from Heinen's was very fresh and the aromatics in the oil gave it a subtle flavor of anise and garlic, while letting the taste of the fish really be the star. I served the fish with some roasted asparagus and sauteed ramps and it made for a delicious, healthy meal.

The only thing that will keep me from poaching in olive oil on a regular basis is that it takes a full quart of olive oil, which is not exactly ideal for the home kitchen. For this dish, I selected a moderately priced, Heinen's brand olive oil. I definitely would not recommend using an expensive olive oil for this preparation! So I'm wondering, has anyone else poached fish in olive oil? Do you reuse the olive oil? If so, do you only use it for more fish or do you use it for other things too? Obviously it will be scented with the aromatics, but I'm hoping the fish flavor will not linger. I saved the oil and am planning to give it a try but I'm interested in your thoughts as well.

This post was sponsored by Heinen's, which of course means I've got another giveaway for you. Instead of Viking passes I am giving away a gift certificate good at any of Heinen's 17 stores in the Cleveland area. Simply leave a comment, any comment on this post to enter. As always, I welcome multiple entries if you Tweet / Facebook about the giveaway. I'll pick a winner in a week but in the mean time, head over to Heinen's and check out some of the their fresh, Alaskan fish.

Cost

I will provide the approximate cost for each recipe in the book, as well as the source of the products used.

It cost about $24.91 to make Michael Symon's Olive Oil-Poached Halibut with Fennel, Rosemary, and Garlic (p. 180).

Olive oil - $4.99

Halibut - $17.45

Fennel - $1.47

Miscellaneous (shallot, garlic, rosemary, salt, crushed red pepper) - $1

All the ingredients for this dish were provided by Heinen's.

Silver Spoon Awards Winner

2010-05-07T12:36:00.002-04:00

I will have a couple of new posts next week including Olive Oil-Poached Halibut and Potatoes & Arugula. Heinen's is also sponsoring another giveaway, so be sure to check in Monday morning to enter!

Thank you to everyone who entered the ticket giveaway to the The 16th Annual Cleveland Magazine Silver Spoon Awards Party I wish I could give everyone tickets, but I only had one pair and the winner was.....Jyll. Congratulations!!!

To everyone else, I encourage you to head over to the Silver Spoon website and order tickets today. The VIP tickets are sold out but there are still plenty of general admission tickets. Not sure it's worth the money even thought it's tax deductible and benefits the Arthritis Foundation, Northeastern Ohio Chapter? Maybe some of the auction items will change your mind. If you are a big fan of Iron Chef Michael Symon, you'll definitely want to bid on the Iron Chef package that includes attendance to a live taping of Iron Chef in New York City!

If the auction items don't get you excited, maybe the menu for the evening will. Check out the highlights below courtesy of Poise in Parma:

Aladdin’s Eatery: Mujadara and hummus with pita
Angelo’s Pizza: Pizza
Bar Cento/Bier Market: Potato & wild ramp soup, paired with Belgium bier
Bubba’s-Q World Famous Bar-B-Q & Catering: Smoked TurQey and ribs
Chinato: VIP: Seafood Supplí with Tomato Sauce; Main room: Raddichio Pasticcio
Corky & Lenny’s: Rugellach
Downtown 140: Assortment of cheeses & house made crackers; filled salted chocolated almond cookies
Eat’n Park: Strawberry pie and smiley cookies
fire food & drink: Bhuna gosht served over Jeera rice with Kakdi,Tamafan Raita.
Great Lakes Brewing Co.: Signature bread pudding and samples of a variety of GLBC beer
Hot Sauce Williams: Ribs, pork shoulder, cherry cobbler, cabbage, coleslaw & baked beans
Hyde Park Prime Steaks: Roasted tenderloin with au gratin potatoes, port wine reduction and truffle froth
L’Albatros: VIP: Shrimp Mousseline wrapped in Savoy Cabbage with herb Butter; Main room: Pied de cochon, pickled vegetables and Bearnaise Aioli
Lola: VIP: Cirtus donuts, artisnal Ohio cheese custard with sweet onion, “ham & egg” bisquits, milk chocolate & Ohio honey truffle
Mint Café: Chicken & vegetable pad thai, chicken & vegetable red curry
Pacific East Coventry: Sushi
Paladar Latin Kitchen and Rum Bar: Rum glazed pork cubano; slow roasted pork shoulder served with bacon black bean and coconut rice topped with fresh pico de gallo
Parallax: VIP: Almond Gaspacho with Seared Sea Scallops; Main room: Parallax Sushi Sampler
Pearl of the Orient: Grilled prawns pad Thai on skewer
Pier W: Basil grilled petit lobster tail; Hollandaise Mousseline
Red, The Steakhouse: Thyme and fennel roasted Certified Angus Beef Filet, soft falls mills polenta, shaved fennel salad
Saffron Patch: Chicken tikka masala, shrimp tikka, samosa, saffron rice, chenna masala
Sans Souci: Twelve hour duck confit, ravioli tomato gastric
Shuhei Japanese Cuisine and Sushi Bar: Sushi
Sweet Melissa’s: Assorted desserts: triple chocolate tarte, red velvet, carrot, casatta, tiramisu, etc…
Table 45: VIP: Braised Phillipino Pork and jasmine rice; Main room: Laughing Bird Shrimp Salad
The Greenhouse Tavern: VIP: House made ravioli and steamed clams
Tucky’s: Hot dogs with specialty toppings
Ty Fun Thai Bistro: Kai kra pow; Vegetable tofu green curry; steamed rice
VegiTerranean: Bruschetta bar & mini vegan pastries

It is sure to be a great event so buy your tickets today!

YUMM! Another Giveaway!!!

2010-04-29T23:48:00.000-04:00

Monday, May 3, Stove Monkeys is hosting YUMM, their latest foodie event at The Mercury Lounge on W. 6th St. $7 gets you in the door and all the tempura egg yolks with bacon aioli, liquid nitrogen poached ice cream (think Dip n Dots), chicken satays with curry cotton candy, exploding berries and other molecular gastronomical treats you can eat.

Not sure what these gastronomical treats are all about? Chef Matthew Mytro from Stove Monkeys & Chris Hodgson from Dim and Den Sum were on channel 3 this week making foods featured at the event including their version of Dip n Dots - liquid nitrogen poached ice cream. You can watch the segment here.

Chef Mytro in front of the Dim and Den Sum food truck

As if you needed another reason to attend YUMM, Dim and Den Sum, Cleveland's highly anticipated food truck, will be parked outside Mercury Lounge serving up their gourmet, locally sourced comfort food with an Asian twist.

And don't worry, Mercury will have the Cavs game on throughout the event so you can watch LeBron and the Cavs stomp the Celtics while snacking on some tempura egg yolks with bacon aioli.

What are you waiting for? Head on over to the Stove Monkey's website and order your tickets today. While you're ordering your tickets, be sure to check out the Stove Monkeys awesome line of foodie wear. Stove Monkeys purpose is to provide culinary industry apparel that will bestow a sense of camaraderie amongst culinary professionals, students, and foodies throughout the world. They have some hilarious shirts, including the Ideas in Food Where's My Gram Scale, Save the Foie, Notorious PIG, and my personal favorite, Prosciutto.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

Stove Monkeys gave me two pairs of tickets to give away to YUMM! To enter simply leave a comment below telling me which on of the Stove Monkey's shirts is your favorite. For an extra entry you can tweet about this giveaway on Twitter or share it with your friends on Facebook. Be sure to leave a comment for each additional entry and an email address so I can contact you if you win. I will pick the winners via random.org Sunday night and the tickets will be available for you at the door.

Giveaway: 16th Annual Cleveland Magazine Silver Spoon Awards Party

2010-04-26T17:57:00.000-04:00

Cleveland is blessed with some of the best chefs and independent restaurants in the country. On Thursday, May 13th, the best of the best (as voted by the readers of Cleveland Magazine) will be recognized at the 16th Annual Cleveland Magazine Silver Spoon Awards Party. Presented by the Cleveland Clinic Orthopaedic and Rheumatologic Institute, the strolling food and wine tasting event will allow guests to sample delicious signature dishes from more than 20 of Northeast Ohio's best restaurants and seven international wineries.

All participating restaurants are 2010 Cleveland Magazine Silver Spoon Award Winners. Some of my favorites include Fire, Flying Fig, The Greenhouse Tavern, L'Albatros, Lola, Parallax, and Ty Fun Thai Bistro. I also look forward to trying Chianto, Downtown 140, Hot Sauce Williams, and Pier W for the first time. View the full list of participating restaurants here.

There will also be a VIP lounge for those that want to sip on some bubbles and sample food from 2010 James Beard semi-finalists Cory Barrett, Zack Bruell and Jonathon Sawyer. VIP Lounge pass holders will enjoy sparkling wine pairings with exclusive cuisine by Chefs Barrett, Bruell and Sawyer.

Two of the VIP chef's. Sorry Cory, I couldn't find one of you.

A portion of the event is tax deductible as the proceeds will support the Arthritis Foundation, Northeastern Ohio Chapter and its local programs and services for the nearly one million Northeast Ohioans with arthritis and fund critical arthritis research conducted at local institutions in the region. My Mom and Grandma are both affected by arthritis so I am aware of the pain it can cause. Hopefully through events like this the Arthritis Foundation will have come up with better ways to treat it by the time it starts affecting me!

For more information and to purchase tickets for this fabulous event, go to the event website. You can also read more about the NE Ohio Arthritis Foundation on their blog.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

I was given two tickets to this year's Cleveland Magazine Silver Spoon Awards Party (valued at $160). To enter to win, simply leave me a comment telling me the dish I've written about from Michael Symon's cookbook that has been your favorite to read about so far. To make it easy on you, I listed all the dishes at the end of this post, click each dish to read about it.

As usual, I will also give bonus entries for mentioning the giveaway via Twitter and Facebook. Leave another comment with a link to your mention to be entered. Make sure to leave an email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win. I will pick the lucky winner Tuesday, May 4, via www.random.org/. Good luck!

Which dish would you like to try the most?

Balsamic Vinegar (p. 65)

Beef Cheek Pierogies with Wildmushroom and Horseradish (p. 45)

Fried Brussel Sprouts with Walnuts and Capers (p. 155)

Grilled Red Snapper with Grape Leaves and Avgolemono (p. 185)

Lizzie's Roasted Chicken with Salsa Verde (p. 238)

Mac and Cheese with Roasted Chicken, Goat Cheese, and Rosemary (p. 89)

Roasted Dates with Pancetta, Almonds, and Chile (p. 31)

Roasted Leg of Lamb with Tzatziki (p. 231)

Seared Wild Mushrooms (p. 158)

Shaved Fennel Salad with Oranges, Lemon, Dill, and Watercress (p. 73)

Shrimp with Dill Vinaigrette (p. 189)

Slash-And-Burn Grouper (p. 175)

Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup (p. 56)

Tzatziki (p. 141)

Yia Yia's Sunday Sauce (p. 229)

Michael Symon's Beef Cheek Pierogies with Wild Mushrooms and Horseradish (p. 45)

2010-04-22T12:08:00.001-04:00

Michael Symon's Beef Cheek Pierogies with Wild Mushrooms and Horseradish (p. 45) was by far the most fun dish that I've made yet. As you probably know by now, Cleveland's NBC affiliate, WKYC Channel 3 came to my house and filmed me as I made them. This was my first "major" television appearance and I was a little nervous about cooking on camera. At the advice of my friend, Cleveland chef Matthew Mytro, I practiced the making the pierogi dough the night before. Multiple times. I didn't want to blow it on camera. I thought the interview turned out very well. The pig's head in my freezer even got to make an appearance (look for it to make an appearance here when I make the pig's head ragu).

Michael loves to work with offal cuts of meat like cheek meat, sweet breads, liver, marrow, and other cuts of meat deemed inedible by many people. In the early 1990's, Michael knew he couldn't put a dish such as braised beef cheeks on his menu the same way he could other cuts of meat that his diners were used to. Enter "the humble pierogi." Michael came up with the great idea to put something people hadn't seen before (beef cheeks) into something they were comfortable with (pierogies). The idea took off and this remains Michael's signature dish to this day. You can try Michael's version the next time you dine at Lola or you can make them at home using his cookbook or by following my description below. This recipe has a lot of steps, but don't let it intimidate you.

Pierogie dough ingredients

This recipe made me really happy I took the pasta making class at The Greenhouse Tavern because I'd never used the well method (or any other method for that matter) for making pasta or dough. If you haven't made a dough like this before, don't be intimidated, it's pretty easy to do as long as you aren't afraid to make a mess.

Begin by mixing the egg, sour cream, butter, chives, and salt in a bowl. The book says to use your hands and form a dough. I found a fork worked just as well as my hands and I wouldn't really consider the end result a dough because it is very thin.

Flour well with "dough" mixture in the background

Hopefully you can see the consistency of the "dough" in the bowl in the picture above. I wouldn't consider it a dough.

Next, weigh out the flour and create a well in the middle on the counter. Now it's time to get dirty! Flour your hands, pour some of the sour cream mixture into the well, and begin mixing it all together. Keep plenty of flour on your hands to prevent the sour cream mixture from sticking to your hands.It will stick no matter what, but the flour really seemed to help.

This dough is very sticky

Continue mixing and kneading the mixture until the dough forms. You can see a close up of me mixing the dough during my interview with channel 3. Once the dough is formed, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours. I left it in the fridge overnight and used it the next morning during the interview.The dough will be easier to work with if it is chilled.

Ingredients for the braised beef cheeks

Now it's time to braise the beef cheeks. This step also requires some additional resting time so be sure to do this early in the day or better yet, a day or two in advance. You may be wondering where to find beef cheeks? You aren't going to find them at your neighborhood Giant Eagle or even Heinen's. I got mine from Millgate Grass Fed Beef Farm at the Shaker Farmer's Market. Beef cheeks can also be found at the Westside Market, although I recommend placing an order with a vendor before hand rather than assuming you can just show up and find some. If you can't find cheeks, you could substitute beef shoulder or other tougher cuts of beef that are best braised. Pork or lamb would also be very good.

Trimmed beef cheeks, chopped carrots & onions

The first step is to trim some of the fat off the cheeks and season them with salt and pepper.

Beef cheeks browning in the dutch oven

Next, add the cheeks to a medium hot dutch oven and brown all sides. Once browned, remove the cheeks from the pan and add the carrots and onions to the fat from the cheeks and cook them until soft, seasoning along the way. Then add the garlic and cook for another minute or so before adding the vinegar, wine, thyme, bay leaf, and stock to the dutch oven. Bring this mixture to a simmer, add the beef cheeks, cover, and put it in the oven for 1 hour at 325, then lower the temperature to 225 for another 4 hours.

Cheeks cooling in the braising liquid

Once the meat is very tender (I probably only braised for 3 hours total), remove it from the oven and let it cool before putting in the fridge over night. I assume Michael does this to let the flavors enhance so if you are crunched for time you could probably skip this step.

Pulled cheek meat

When you are ready to put the pierogies together, remove the cheeks from the braising liquid and pull the meat into small pieces as shown above.

Straining the braising vegetables & reducing the braising liquid

Next, strain the braising liquid and boil the liquid until it reduces and begins to thicken. Feel free to snack on the braised veggies. Isabel, my 1 year old daughter, loved eating them! Once the liquid thickens, mix it together with the pulled beef cheeks. Voila, delicious pierogi stuffing. Wasn't that easy?

This delicious braised meat would also be amazing served over pasta or rice if you don't want to go to the trouble of turning it pierogies.

Fresh formed pierogies

Finally comes the fun part, making the actual pierogies. This part is pretty easy, just be sure to have plenty of flour down on the counter, the rolling pin, and on your hands! Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out to your desired thickness, I did mine to about 1/8". The recipe then says to cut 3" circles out of the dough, but I found that to be too small - it was tough to stuff them when they were that small - so I used a cup that was 4" wide to cut the dough. You can really make them any size you like. My wife comes from a very large Polish family and pierogies are a staple at family gatherings. Their gatherings usually have 20+ people at them so rather than take the time to make regular size pierogies, they make them the size of mini footballs to cut down on the number that have to be formed. One would argue whether or not it also cuts down on the number you need to eat. :)

Once the dough is cut, remove the remaining dough and reform it to be rolled out again. Then grab a tablespoon or so of the beef cheek filling, put it in the middle of the cut dough, fold the dough over to create a half moon, and use a fork to seal the dough. When you are done, they should look the picture above. Once formed, I put the pierogies onto a floured Silpat pad and put it in the fridge until I was ready to cook them. They also freeze well, I have lots of leftovers in my freezer from all my practice rounds before the interview.

Again, the most important thing about this part of the recipe is to use lots of flour to keep the dough from sticking to things - keep the counter, rolling pin, and your hands well floured! You can see close ups of me rolling, cutting, and stuffing the pierogies during my interview with channel 3.

Boiled pierogies

Alright, we're in the home stretch now. When you are ready to serve them, remove them from the fridge or freezer, bring a pot of water to a boil, season it heavily with salt, and drop in the pierogies. Frozen pierogies do not need to be defrosted prior to cooking them. The pierogies will float when they are done cooking, about 3-5 minutes. At that point, remove them from the water and allow them to drain. If you are trying to be healthy, you can eat them at this point or you can fry them to give them a nice crunch. To fry them, melt butter, or even better, bacon grease, in a skillet and fry them until golden brown on each side. Don't try to turn them too quickly. When they are done, they will easily release from the pan.

I cheated & used store bought creme fraiche

Unfortunately, I didn't read through the recipe for the horseradish creme fraiche (p. 139) until it was too late to make the it completely from scratch. Fortunately, prepared creme fraiche is available at Heinen's so I bought some and mixed in fresh grated horseradish root, chopped chives, salt, and pepper. It seems pretty easy to make creme fraiche so I will definitely try it next time. Another thing I would do differently is to use white pepper rather then black and I'd put the chives on top of the pierogies and creme fraiche mixture rather than mixing it in. It would make for a better presentation. Compare the picture below to the picture in the book and you'll see what I mean.

Plating on Easter

Finally, after 4 days of cooking, I got to try Michael Symon's Beef Cheek Pierogies. This not the best picture, but the taste is all that really matters and they were amazing! The pierogies are topped with the horseradish creme fraiche and Michael Symon's Seared Mushrooms (p.158) that I made at Christmas time.

Delicious, tender beef cheek filling

If you're still with me, I'm impressed! This is a very involved recipe. I'm exhausted (and hungry) just writing about it. Like most of Michael's recipes, none of the individual steps are that difficult, but it is definitely time consuming. Because of the interview, I stretched this recipe out over 4 days, but there's no reason why it couldn't all be done in 1 long day or spread out over a couple hours of a couple days. Either way, the results make the effort worth while. I could see the braised cheeks by themselves becoming a staple in our dining room. The pierogies are amazing, but the braised beef cheeks are what really make the dish. Like I mentioned before, the braised cheeks would also be amazing served over pasta, rice, dumplings, or just served alone. Doing it that way would cut more than half the cooking time out of the process.I have a feeling I will use this braising technique quite a bit next winter. If cheek meat is not your thing, you can also just make the dough and stuff it with potato, cheese & potato, cabbage, sweets, or anything else you can think of.

What is your favorite pierogi filling?

Cost

I will provide the approximate cost for each recipe in the book, as well as the source of the products used.

It cost about $35.48 to make 33 of Michael Symon's Beef Cheek Pierogies with Wild Mushrooms and Horseradish .

Pierogie Dough:$1

Misc - $1 (egg, sour cream, butter, chives, salt)

Beef Cheeks: $20.50

Beef cheeks - $16.50 (Millgate Grass Fed Beef Farm)

Red onion - $1 (Heinen's)

Red Tree Petite Syrah - $1 (Heinen's)

Misc - $2 (olive oil, flour, carrot, garlic, red wine vinegar, thyme, bay leaf, homemade chicken stock)

Seared Wild Mushrooms: $9

Shiitake and Oyster Mushrooms - $8 (Killbuck Valley)

Misc (Olive oil, salt, thyme, shallots, garlic, & butter) - $1

Horseradish Creme Fraiche: $4.99

Vermont Creamery Creme Fraiche - $3.99

Misc - $1 (fresh horseradish root, chives)

Set Your DVR's - Food, Inc & Polycultures Airing on PBS Apr. 21

2010-04-19T21:58:00.002-04:00

How much do you really know about the food you are eating and serving your family? Do you even care where it comes from, how it's raised, or what's in it? It never ceases to amaze me how people don't even bat an eye when it comes to buying designer label clothing, fancy cars, decorating their homes, and spending money other luxuries in life, but when it comes to food - the fuel that keeps us all healthy - most people search for the cheapest, fastest food they can get their hands on.

PBS / WVIZ (Time Warner Cable HD channel 1010 at my house) is airing two must see movies that aim to change your way of thinking. This Wednesday, April 21, starting at 8 p.m, PBS will air Academy Award nominated Food, Inc and Northeast Ohio based documentary, PolyCultures: Food Where We Live. Movies like these, along with movements like Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution are just what the doctor ordered to help change the way this country views the food it eats.

Set your DVR's now!

Food, Inc. lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

PolyCultures: Food Where We Live is a feature-length documentary movie that portrays the diverse communities around Northeast Ohio coming together to grow a more sustainable and local food system. PolyCultures is firmly rooted in the idea that local/sustainable food is good for the health of individuals, communities, local economies, and the environment. To balance the advocacy perspective, it features many national and international experts who place area food production in the bigger picture of sustainability. The term “polyculture” refers to the ecologically-minded technique of growing a diversity of crops/animals on one farm, but it also represents the documentary’s participants coming from very different backgrounds to arrive at similar conclusions and take coordinated action. The aesthetic is a mix of “agrarian” camera techniques portraying post-industrial Cleveland and surrounding farmland, symbolizing the ground-level nature of this movement.

Happy Friday Foodie News

2010-04-16T11:07:00.001-04:00

Friday is finally here in what has been an extremely long week. We are looking forward to celebrating a friends birthday at Light Bistro tonight. I hope you have something fun planned as well.

A couple of things I wanted to bring to your attention:

Congrats to Carrie for winning some ramps! It sounds like she will have some very lucky dinner guests with the menu she has planned out. Check your email Carrie.

A delicious omelet with ramps, Mackenzie's Goat Cheese, and bacon from Bluebird Meadows Farm

In case you haven't seen it yet, I was featured in an interview on channel 3 morning news this week while I made Michael Symon's famous beef cheek pierogies. I hope to have the blog post up about the pierogies on Monday but you can watch the interview here now. Warning: The pig's head in my freezer may or may not make an appearance.

A Facebook fan page has been setup for Live to Cook at Home. If you are on Facebook, go to this link or search for Live to Cook at Home and become a fan to receive updates and random thoughts that I don't post on the blog. You can also follow me on Twitter.

There is a great event on Wednesday at the Terrace Club at Jacob's Field that I encourage you all to attend. The sixth annual Cleveland chili cook-off benefit for the Autism Society of Greater Cleveland will be held Wednesday, April 21st from 6 - 9 PM. Admission of $20 (or more if you are feeling generous to the Autism Society) gets you all the chili you can eat, plus some great desserts. There will be more than 20 contestants from area restaurants. I acted as a judge last year and it was a great experience. I challenge you to try all 20+ chili's - it's not easy! Some of my fellow bloggers will be judging this year.

This weekend is the 4th annual 420 Hopfest at the Buckeye Beer Engine in Lakewood. Stop in between Friday & Tuesday to sample 22 of the best IPA's from around the country on draft, including many that I've never seen in the Cleveland area before. I hope to stop up there Saturday afternoon/evening so say hi if you are there. This is a can't miss event if you are a hop head like me.

I will leave you with this

Bacon flavored lip balm. Make yourself taste like bacon. Sounds a little dangerous to me but I'm guessing Michael Symon buys it by the case.

Have a great weekend!

Grilled Red Snapper with Grape Leaves and Avgolemono (p. 185)

2010-04-14T17:33:00.001-04:00

I was a little intimidated before making this Grilled Red Snapper with Grape Leaves and Avgolemono (p. 185). Fish is one of the most challenging foods for me to prepare and I had never prepared a whole fish before. That's right, this dish calls for whole red snapper. As in the whole fish. Obviously the fish is cleaned, gutted, & scaled, but the head, bone, eyes, tail, and everything else in between is left intact. Because of the final presentation, this dish is definitely not going to be for everyone.

Beautiful fresh red snapper at Kate's Fish at the Westside Market

You many be wondering why not just fillet the fish? Why bother leaving the fish whole? Just to see the reaction of your dinner guests when their fish is staring back at them? Actually, whole fish is very popular in many cultures. I enjoyed a whole fish for the first time at an oceanside restaurant on my vacation to St. Martin earlier this year. Like most foods cooked on the bone, fish that is cooked whole is more flavorful and it helps prevent the fish from drying out during cooking, a common problem problem with fish in my kitchen.

Beautiful shrimp from Kate's Seafood

Seafood Stock

Similar to the Slash & Burn Grouper, I had to make seafood stock for the sauce. I peeled the shrimp and tossed the shells into a sauce pan (I froze the shrimp to use another time) with some onion, ginger, carrot, bay leaf, coriander, salt, and water. I let it lightly simmer for a couple hours before straining out the solids. I was left with a delicious stock for the dish and plenty leftover for the freezer.

The star of the show, whole Red Snapper

Kate's Fish, located in the Westside Market, is regarded as one of the best, if not the best, seafood sources in the Cleveland area. I went to the market early one Saturday morning and they only had small red snapper (less than 1 pound each). This actually worked out perfectly because I was serving dinner for 6 people, none of which had ever eaten whole fish before. These little guys provided everyone with the perfect introduction to eating whole fish.

Preparing the fish to be marinated

Once I got the fish home I rinsed them off and prepared them to be marinated by making 3-4 slices on each side of the fish, placed them in a nonreactive dish, and salted them.

Red Snapper taking a bath in a lemon-oregano marinade

Next, I whisked together the juice from a couple lemons with some olive oil and oregano. I poured this mixture over the fish and let them marinade for a little while (~30 minutes). Don't marinade the fish too long because the citrus actually cooks the fish a little bit (like ceviche).

While the fish was marinading I went outside to light my Weber charcoal grill, unfortuantely I picked one of the worst days of Spring to make this dish. It was about 38 degrees with a light rain and A LOT of wind, but eventually the fire started.

Wrapped in grape leaves & ready to go on the grill

Next, I wrapped each fish in a few grape leaves until they were covered. I had never worked with grape leaves before and wasn't sure where to find them so I called the Avon Heinen's and they carried them (look near the olives). Michael writes that he loves the combination of the brininess of the grape leaves with the oceany background of the fish. The grape leaves also help keep the fish moist & protect it from charring.

Unfortunately this picture doesn't capture the cold rain I am standing in

You want the fire to be medium hot and be sure to brush some olive oil on the grape leaves to help prevent them from burning. The fish will take about 4 minutes per side.

All done! The eyes look a little scary after marinading & grilling. My brother in-law says they taste just fine though.

Garlic, lemon, and fresh seafood stock

While the fish was cooking, I brought the lemon juice, lemons, stock, and garlic to a simmer for the avgolemono.

Avgolemono

I had never heard of avgolemono. I was afraid the lemon sauce would be lemon overdose like in Lizzie's Chicken, but it really brightened up the dish and was a nice contrast to the grape leaves. Wikipedia describes avgolemono as a Greek soup made with egg and lemon juice mixed with broth, heated until they thicken but before they boil and curdle. It translates to egg-lemon in English and is common in Greek and Middle Eastern cuisine.

Is he staring at me?

As you can tell by the Easter bunnies on the table cloth in the picture, this dish was served around Easter.We couldn't help but sing, "Give me back that filet of fish, give me that fish..." as the snapper was staring back at us on our plates. I really enjoyed the flavor of the fish and the sauce was really good, however it was not fun constantly having to pull bones out of my mouth in between each bite. I was surprised that our dinner guests all seemed to enjoy the meal, although I am sure they could have done without all the bones too. I think if Kate's Fish would have had larger red snapper, the bones would not have been as big of an issue. Make sure to eat the cheek meat at the base of the head. It is the tastiest, juiciest part!

I won't be in a hurry to make this dish again, but it did increase my confidence when it comes to making fish. I hope to grill a lot more fish throughout the summer!

Cost

I will provide the approximate cost for each recipe in the book, as well as the source of the products used.

It cost about $44.50 to make Grilled Red Snapper with Grape Leaves and Avgolemono for 6 people.

6 Small Red Snapper - $36 (Kate's Fish)

Lemons - $1 (Westside Market)

Olive oil - $2.50 (The Olive Tap)

Grape leaves - $2 (Heinen's)

Shrimp stock - $2 (shrimp from Kate's Fish, other ingredients from Westside Market)

Misc (fresh oregano, garlic, eggs) - $1

Live to Cook at Home, the Television Edition

2010-04-13T01:23:00.001-04:00

As I mentioned last week in this post, the Channel 3 Morning News interviewed me about my blog while I made Michael Symon's beef cheek pierogies for Easter. If you are interested in seeing the interview, tune into WKYC Channel 3 Wednesday morning from 5-7 am. Or, if you are like me and you'll still be sleeping at that hour, set your DVR to record it. I can't wait to see how it turned out!

UPDATE: You can view the interview on channel 3's website.

I'll be blogging about how they are made in the next week or so and if they post the interview on the channel 3's website I will post a link to it. In the mean time, you can read about Heights Eats experience making them via this link.

Foraging for Ramps & a Ramp Giveaway

2010-04-11T00:44:00.000-04:00

I grew up in the country with thousands of acres of forests and farm fields as my playground. As I grew older, I became a city boy, but one thing that hasn't changed is my love of the outdoors. I love to go camping, hiking, and just about anything that keeps me outside. Foraging* (searching for food in the wild - see the very end for more info on foraging) is the perfect combination of my love of the outdoors and my love of food. Ramps are my favorite food to forage for, largely because it's the what I've had the most success with.

So some of you are probably wondering what ramps are...

Freshly dug ramps

Allium tricoccum, commonly known as ramps, spring onion, ramson, wild leek, or ail des bois (French), is a member of the onion family. Found in groups with broad, smooth, light green leaves, often with deep purple or burgundy tints on the lower stems and a scallion-like bulb strongly rooted just beneath the surface of the soil. Both the white lower leaf stalks and the broad green leaves are edible. A common description of the flavor is like a combination of onions and strong garlic.~Courtesy of Wikipedia

Ramps can be found at your local farmers market from early April to late May (~$5 for a small bunch), but it's much more fun to go dig your own. Ramps can be found all over the forests of NE Ohio. They typically grow in damp forests, near river beds. In my foraging experience, if you see skunk cabbage (see pictures below), there's a decent chance you might find some ramps too.

Lucky for me, this is my Dad's "backyard":

My dog, Tucker, loves being in the woods too

Skunk cabbage (the big, brighter green, leafy plants) & ramps (the smaller leafy plants)

I can't think of a much better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than out in the forest digging ramps with my Dad. This is my haul after about a half hour of digging:

More than 5 pounds of ramps

Close-up of the ramps & my awesome Stove Monkey's shirt

The best thing about ramps is they come back every year, so once you find them growing, you'll be set for life as long as no one else discovers your stash. Ramps grow in bunches, but you don't want to dig them all, otherwise they won't come back the next year so be sure to leave some behind. Also, it's illegal to dig them in the Metro Parks and some other parks so be sure it's ok to dig before you do.

So what do you do with ramps? They can be used in just about anything you like. Some of my favorite things are omelets (try ramps, bacon, mushrooms, hot peppers, tomato, & goat cheese), tossed in salad, grilled or sauteed, pesto, and quiche. Ramps are also amazing pickled with hot peppers, onions, & garlic or on a pizza like the one I made tonight.

Flat bread pizza with sauteed ramps & Killbuck Valley mushrooms, bacon, tomato, blue cheese, & fried egg. The crust is from Lucy's Sweet Surrender at the Crocker Park Farmer's Market

Delicious!

I'd love to share some of my ramps with YOU!

If you'd like to try some ramps, leave me a comment below with how you'd use the ramps if I shared some with you. I'll pick my favorite comment on Thursday morning and send some to you. Bonus entries for Tweeting / Facebooking about the contest. Be sure to leave your email address in the comment so I can contact you if you win!

*If you are interested in learning about foraging, consider attending the Foraging Forest Food cooking class at The Greenhouse Tavern. Jonathon Sawyer does a lot of foraging and I'm sure he'll share a lot of great tips on how to find these gems in the forest, as well as how to cook them. I hope to attend this class myself.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, Friday's @ 9PM on ABC

2010-04-09T10:14:00.002-04:00

I am a little late on this one but I wanted to help spread the word on Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Jamie Oliver, also known as the Naked Chef, is a British chef & TV star who helped remove junk food for British schools and encouraged children eating fresh, tasty, nutritious food instead. Now he's ~~coming to~~ already in America.

From Jamie's Food Revolution website:

I believe that every child in America has the right to fresh, nutritious school meals, and that every family deserves real, honest, wholesome food. Too many people are being affected by what they eat. It's time for a national revolution. America needs to stand up for better food!

You live in an amazing country full of inspirational people and you have the power to change things. With your help, we can get better food into homes, schools and communities all over America and give your kids a better future. Sign the petition to save America's cooking skills and improve school food. It could be the most important thing you ever do for your family. America's health needs you now!

The focus of Jamie's campaign is the least healthy city in America, Huntington, WV. Jamie stars in a show called Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution that airs on ABC on Friday nights at 9pm that is trying to improve their eating habits, starting with the youth of the community. While I don't like the reality spin on the show, I am 100% behind Jamie in his efforts to improve how America eats. I encourage you to check out the show tonight, sign the petition, and change the way you & your family eat today!

You can read a more detailed review of the show by fellow local bloggers At the Pass here.

Contest Winners & Other Interesting News

2010-04-06T23:00:00.001-04:00

I wanted to post about a couple of interesting things, as well as announce the winner of my latest giveaway, while I work on my post about Michael Symon's Grilled Red Snapper with Grape Leaves and Avgolemono.

Last night I was lucky enough to host a business dinner at Dante's new restaurant in Tremont. If you haven't been to the new Dante yet, I highly recommend checking it out! We dined at the chef's table in the kitchen which was a very unique experience. We each had the 5 course tasting menu and everything, both the food & the service, was executed to perfection. Be sure to try the Duo of Beef Carpaccio & Tuna Tartare, it was everyone's favorite dish, hands down. Next time you are looking for a special night out, call Dante & ask for a reservation at the chef's table.

Huge congratulations are in order for Jonathon Sawyer & The Greenhouse Tavern. Jonathon was named one of Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chef's, class of 2010. Jonathon's mentor, Michael Symon, won the same award in 1998. Thanks for making Cleveland proud!

You may have heard that a few months ago Ohio Authority Magazine interviewed me for an article about my blog and then last month the Avon Lake Ledger interviewed me for this article. Well last week, Channel 3 Morning News reporter Darielle Snipes interviewed me in my home while I prepared Michael Symon's Beef Cheek Pierogies! The segment should air in the next week or so, I will be sure to post here before it does. I continue to be humbled by the recognition this blog is receiving. Thanks for reading!

Finally, congratulations to the winners of the Viking Cooking School giveaway compliments of Heinen's! Lucky comment #6 by Monica on the Go & #19 by Ben at Heights Eats won each of them a gift certificate good for 2 free cooking classes at the Viking Cooking School at Legacy Village. Check back soon for another chance to win.

Opening Day Goodies

2010-04-03T21:58:00.000-04:00

My haul at the first day of the North Union Farmer's Market @ Shaker Square

What a beautiful day for the first outdoor farmer's market of the year at Shaker Square. There were lots of vendors and even more people. It was great catching up with my favorite farmers, chefs, and I even got to meet an awesome blogger, Heidi Robb, from Life in Recipes. Heidi was also the recipe tester for Michael Symon's cookbook Live to Cook.

So what did I buy? 5 pounds of raw honey from Ohio Honey, beautiful shiitake & oyster mushrooms from Killbuck Valley, meaty veal bones from Plum Creek, fresh apples and apple cider from Woolf Farms, homemade black raspberry jam from an Amish vendor, and grass fed beef cheeks, London Broil, smokies, and bone marrow from Millgate Farm. I really wish I could have bought some of the ramps, greens and beets Muddy Fork farm gave to Brian Doyle to use in his chef demo because they were awesome! Unfortunately we got there a little late thanks to the 45 minute drive from Avon Lake, plus an unexpected stop at the Westside Market. There were lots of other great vendors selling baked goods, pork, chicken, flowers, art, and lots more!

North Union Farmers Market at Crocker Park opens this Saturday at 9am and the markets at both Shaker Square & Crocker Park will be open everyday until late November. Hope to see you there!

Saturday is Opening Day!!!

2010-04-01T22:42:00.004-04:00

No, not the Indians opening day, which I go to every year with my wife and a group of friends. Continuing the theme from my post yesterday about CSA's...Saturday is opening day for farmers market season! Say goodbye to imported fruits & vegetables from the Westside Market and grocery store, at least for the next 6-8 months.

The North Union Farmers Market (NUFM) at Shaker Square kicks off this Saturday, April 3, from 8am-12pm and the NUFM at Crocker Park starts next Saturday, April 10 from 9am-1pm. Both will continue to run every Saturday, rain or shine, until Winter.

Even though the bulk of produce grown in this area hasn't even been planted yet, there will still be plenty of great things to buy at the market. Are you planning to dye eggs for Easter? Why not buy the best eggs you'll ever taste from Plum Creek Farm? Planning to make lamb for Easter dinner? Check out The Great American Lamb Company. Get there early and you might even find some ramps or other foraged goodies! Some other examples of things you'll be able to find are locally grown spring greens, lettuce, mushrooms, maple syrup, apples and grassfed beef, heritage pork, & poultry.

Details from the North Union Farmer's Market e-newsletter (join their newsletter here):

Saturday, April 3, 8am to Noon on Historic Shaker Square

Featuring:

Annual Blessing of the Market

Sheep Shearing

Live Alpacas from Alpaca Meadows

Chef at the Market Brian Doyle from Danny's Organic Marketplace (I will have some more exciting news from Brian soon)

Life Music from 3 Sheets to the Wind brought to you by Cuyahoga Arts and Culture

Free $100 Market Basket Raffle

Live Capoeira Demonstrations

And, of course, the finest local fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, baked goods and more! The market will have an abundance of EGGS for your Easter holiday, spring greens, lettuce, mushrooms, maple syrup, apples and grassfed beef, heritage pork, poultry, lamb...all from your friendly local farmers!

Plus, spring flowers!

Support Your Local Farmers - Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

2010-04-01T01:45:00.006-04:00

If you've been reading my blog for a while now, hopefully you've picked up on the fact that I like to support local farms. I also believe in eating food when it is in season and preserving food so I can enjoy it when it's not. I still have a few frozen strawberries left from last June and it's amazing how much better they still taste than the "fresh" strawberries from California at the grocery store.

One of many boxes of strawberries we picked last year with 2 month old Isabel

There are many ways to support your local farms. Things like shopping at farmers markets, dining out at restaurants that buy food from local farms, and even shopping at a locally owned grocery store like Heinen's that carries produce from local farmers when it's in season. Another way to support your local farmer that some of you may not be familiar with is through Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA for short. Joining a CSA is an increasingly popular method of supporting local farmers while obtaining fresh, in-season, local (and often organic) produce, meat, eggs, etc.

A little more about CSA's from Local Harvest:

Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.

This year will be the third season we have belonged to a CSA. Our first year we were members of the Covered Bridge Garden's CSA. My wife and I split a full share with another couple for about $15 per week, per couple. Every Wednesday evening we traveled to the Lakewood library to pick up our overflowing bag(s) of goodies. Our shares were filled with a wide range of vegetables. Many things I'd never even seen or heard of before (what the heck is kohlrabi?) Prior to belonging to a CSA, there were very few vegetables I would eat. Corn, green beans, carrots, salad & green peppers were about the only veggies I'd eat. But when you are getting pounds of new vegetables each week, it forces you to go outside your comfort zone and try new things. Who knew how much I would love tomatoes, beets, cauliflower, egg plant, sugar snap peas, zucchini, squash, and so many other veggies! And our shares weren't full of just vegetables. We received fruits such as apples, strawberries, blackberries, jam, popcorn (fresh, not the microwave kind), and more.

Covered Bridge shares waiting to be picked up

We were planning to join the Covered Bridge CSA again last year until we heard one of our favorite farms, Plum Creek in Valley City, was starting a CSA. Plum Creek Farm is a family farm that dates back to the early 1800's. We had been buying their amazing chicken, eggs, veal, and other stuff from them for a couple years and were very excited they started a CSA. The great thing about Plum Creek's CSA is they include meat & eggs along with the produce. So in addition to all the great fruits & veggies I mentioned above, we also received a chicken or some veal scallopini each week, along with a dozen eggs. Their CSA lasts a few extra weeks and even includes a Thanksgiving turkey and a Christmas duck (or goose). Plum Creek's CSA is much smaller in membership than Covered Bridge. They only have 15 members vs. the 450 that Covered Bridge Garden has grown to (they only had 200 when we were members). Because Plum Creek's CSA is so small, it is already sold out for this season but I still highly recommend checking them out the next time you are at the Shaker or Crocker Park farmers market. Their eggs, chicken, and veal are some of the best I've ever tasted, and their kids make a mean glass of lemonade. You can also place orders directly by contacting Don & Amie Sprinkle at 330-483-0222. Make sure to tell them you'd like to sign up for next year's CSA early and tell them that Dave sent you!

Plum Creek Farm

There are many other great CSA's in NE Ohio. I have friends that belong to the Crown Point Ecology Center's CSA in Bath and they have amazing things to say about it. In addition to providing their subscribers with beautiful, organic produce, Crown Point also donates massive amounts of food to the Akron/Canton Regional Foodbank. To date they have donated 250,000 pounds of fresh, healthy produce to the less fortunate. Sure beats the heck out of a canned food drive! Crown Point also has an heirloom plant sale every spring. This year's is scheduled for May 15-16, mark your calendar's now!

Basket of Life is another CSA that I have been interested in over the past couple of years. These passionate gardeners turned farmers took over 30 acres of land in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and have been producing beautiful heirloom produce ever since. Take a look at some of the amazing produce they raise. In addition to the CSA, they also sell at the Countryside Conservancy farmers markets in Peninsula & at Stan Hywet Hall in Akron. Basket of Like also writes a blog about life on their farm. It's an interesting read, check it out here.

I put together a spreadsheet with some information on the CSA's above, plus a couple more that I've heard good things about. If you have trouble reading it, email me and I will send it to you.

Click to Enlarge

Finally, here's a site you can use to search for more CSA's close to you no matter where you are in the United States: http://www.localharvest.org/search-csa.jsp

Have you belonged to a CSA in the past? What did you like / dislike about it?

Do you know of other CSA that I do not have listed here? Please leave me their info in the comments or send me an email and I'd be happy to add their information to this list!

.

A Couple of Chicago Restaurant Reviews

2010-03-30T23:34:00.004-04:00

Don't forget to enter the contest for 2 free cooking classes at the Viking Cooking School courtesy of Heinen's. Enter Here

I love my job. Not only is it challenging & rewarding, but I get to work from home about 85% of the time. The other 15% of the time I spend visiting customers across the Central US. Most of my travel has me flying / driving in one day and returning home the next day. Even though I often travel alone, I am not the type of person to sit around in the a hotel room. I love to explore the city I am visiting, especially the restaurants and sporting events that city has to offer. Although I could never live there, my favorite city to visit is without a doubt Chicago.

To me, Cleveland is a lot like Chicago. Both cities are on a Great Lake, both have crappy weather, both have great restaurants, bars, museums, sports teams, & theater districts, & the population in both cities is made up of mostly long time mid-westerners who hold similar values. Chicago just has more of everything than Cleveland does, namely jobs & downtown life. On the flip side they have way to much traffic, much higher cost of living, & higher taxes.

It had been about 15 months since I'd been to Chicago but that finally changed yesterday. I had to present at a conference this morning in Chicago and even though I had some final prep work to do last night I was looking forward to a great dinner all day. I was torn on where to go so I asked my Twitter & Facebook audiences where they thought I should go. I was already leaning towards James Beard winner Paul Kahan's latest restaurant, The Publican, and once The Iron Chef told me The Publican was right up my alley, my mind was made up. Paul Kahan, one of Michael Symon's good chef friends, is creating quite the dynasty in Chicago.

Simply put, my experience at The Publican was amazing. The Publican is a fairly casual restaurant, self described as a European beer hall that focuses on their great beer list and farmhouse fare to go with it. The menu features high quality ingredients and it lists all the farms that the food comes from. Pig is definitely the predominate ingredient on the menu, from snout to tail, along with pristine oysters and fish.

I started with an order of the house made pork rinds. My waiter told me it's a 36 hour process to make these. They get the skin from a local farm, wash it, cure it, and deep fry them before tossing them in cheddar powder & a chili pepper I could not understand the name of. They were unlike any pork rinds I've ever had. Nice & crunchy, yet they melt in your mouth and there was just enough seasoning to enhance the flavor. Delicious!

While I was snacking on these the bartender brought me my first beer. I am typically a huge hop head and drink only IPA's, but I could tell my waiter / bartender new the large beer list in & out so I told him what I liked & what I planned to eat and asked him to pick something for me. He brought me a sample of Aecht Schlenkerla Fastenbier, a German smoked lager. I was a little skeptical having never tried a "smoked" beer but he was spot on. The beer was very well balanced and the smoke was very subtle. It was the perfect beer to go with my pork fest.

For my entree I ordered Bollito Misto, which translates to Italian Boiled Dinner. Served in a small, very hot cast iron pan, it was a mixture of cotechino sausage, pork belly, pork confit, and smoked turkey with cippolini onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, and turnips all in a delicious sauce of pork stock, butter, citrus, capers, parsley, and who knows what else. I ate every last drop of this complex dish, even using my bread to mop up the last of the sauce. This was one of the best dishes I've ever had. Any where. I can still taste it more than 24 hours later.

I also ordered a side of the pickled veggies which included cauliflower, green beans, onions, and bread & butter pickles. These were also very good, although not on the same level I enjoyed at the Culinary Vegetable Institute March Earth to Table dinner - photo thanks to Stuart Spivack.

I closed out my dinner with Kyle’s After Pork, a house made digestif composed of artichoke liquer, rum, lime, & mint. This was the perfect end to a hearty, rich meal. It will be very tough for me not to rush back to The Publican next time I am in Chicago.

The Publican
845 West Fulton Market
Chicago, IL‎
(312) 733-9555‎

After my presentation I stopped by my one of my favorite Chicago restaurants, Frontera Grill, for lunch. Frontera does not take reservations and there has been a wait for a table every time I've ever been there even though they've been around for 23 years! Fortunately I've never had a problem getting a seat at the bar.

Frontera Grill is owned by another James Beard winner, Rick Bayless. Believe it or not, according to Wikipedia Rick's culinary career began in Cleveland in 1980 at Lopez. Bayless is regarded as one of the best, if not the best, Mexican chefs in the country. His menu changes monthly and he only serves authentic Mexican dishes, this is not your typical Tex-Mex restaurant! Rick is also a firm believer in the Earth to Table movement and lists many ingredient sources on his menu.

My lunch was perfect, as usual. I had a couple of the small plates, plus chips & salsa and a house made Limonada. My favorite was the Sopes Ranceros, crispy corn masa boats with savory shredded beef, roasted tomatoes, avocado and homemade fresh cheese.

Before heading to the airport I walked next door to Bayless's latest venture, XOCO, which is slang for little sister. This small space, described as a "quick-service cafe," offers Mexican street food and snacks. Even though you order from a counter, there was a 20-30 minute wait for a table and they only allow take out after 3pm. Fortunately all I was after was their fresh, house made churros (Mexican doughnuts) and they sell desserts to go all day. $3 got me three churros that were still hot and covered in sugar. I haven't eaten many churros but I can't imagine them getting much better than these.

Next time you are in Chicago, I highly recommend making a stop at one of Rick Bayless's restaurants in addition to The Publican.

Frontera Grill
445 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL‎
(312) 661-0381‎

XOCO
449 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL‎
(312) 334-3688‎