The Chic Chef de Cuisine

Sunday, May 16, 2010

iPhone Produce Guide

Now that I cook more at home, and take advantage of our local farmer's market, I buy produce on a pretty regular basis. And as I'm sure many people can relate to, a lot of money is wasted when that produce goes bad.

Luckily, there are many more tools available nowadays to the home chef to remedy this problem. My newest iPhone app is a really handy companion when shopping for produce, or storing it at home. For $1.99, Harvest lists about every type of produce you could think of.

Not only does it tell you what to look for when selecting produce (which admittedly, I never know), but tells you the peak season, pesticide residue content, and also the best way to store it to get maximum shelf life. All of this is easily referenced in the palm of your hand.

macworld.com

This app makes a great shopping companion, and will ensure you get the most for your money, and the best possible tasting produce for your recipes.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Casual Elegance

For our last family dinner, I wanted a simple, relaxed, but still special menu. Since I just got my new order of truffle butter delivered (yum!), I wanted to be able to use it to add an elegant touch to our meal. I decided to pull out Ina's Truffled Filet of Beef Sandwich (yes, again!) for it's simplicity, and I needed a side dish that could match the casual, but chic nature of it.

Tyler Florence's Kettle Chips with Parmesan and Herbs to the rescue! We had tried this recipe once before and it didn't come out quite right, but the flavor was still excellent. The problem the first time was my insistence on slicing the potato chips by hand, because I'm a freak, and love to slice and chop. But as you've probably guessed, it's nearly impossible to get them thin enough and a consistent size. So this time, we used the slicing blade on our food processor and we had perfectly sliced chips that turned out beautifully. I even got the herbs perfectly fried this time as opposed to some slight burning last time.

What we had was the perfect menu that was simple, casual, but with an unexpected twist of elegance. A gourmet sandwich with gourmet chips. It was the perfect meal for a quiet dinner with family, but shows you care enough to put that extra special touch on it.

Ingredients

* 6 large Yukon gold potatoes
* Canola oil and olive oil, 75/25 ratio for frying
* 6 whole cloves garlic
* 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
* 1/2 bunch sage
* 1/2 bunch fresh thyme
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions

Wash and clean the potatoes in cold running water. Using a mandoline, or vegetable peeler, finely slice the potatoes into chips. Drop the chips into a bowl of ice water as you work to prevent them from going brown. This will also remove any excess starch.

Set a large pot of 75/25 canola and olive oil over medium heat and add the garlic (paper and all) and whole stems of fresh rosemary, sage and thyme. Bring oil up to 375 degrees F. As it heats up the oil will get infused with the garlic and herbs. Once the herbs crackle and get crispy they will go clear and you know they are done. Using a strainer drain the herbs and garlic and set aside on paper towels.

Fry the potatoes in batches until golden and crispy. Drain the chips, dry well on paper towels and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Garnish with crispy fried herbs, garlic and shower with Parmesan.

Friday, April 9, 2010

SATC is Back!!

Like many people, I can't wait for the new SATC movie coming out May 28th. So until that glorious day comes, I have to make do with the new extended trailer that just came out. It looks fabulous!! I'm a little worried, though. Aidan is back, and it looks like it may cause some issues for Carrie and Big. As a huge "Team Big" supporter, I'm crossing my fingers that Carrie won't get into any trouble.

And as always, I'm looking forward to some wonderful fashion...

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Welcome Home Dinner: The Next Generation

So once again, my husband had to travel to L.A. for training. Since he was subjected to fast food and hotel meals for two weeks, I wanted to give him a top-notch welcome home dinner. The last time I did this, I selected Ina's Steakhouse Steaks as the main course. To keep with tradition, and because we are both huge fans of steak, I decided to keep steak as the main course, but I wanted a different way to do it.

While taste, and ease of preparation were integral to my final recipe choice (aren't they always?), my main goal was a meal that would not mess up my kitchen. I wanted my husband to come home to a nice, clean house so he could relax. Plus, I needed to compete with two weeks of hotel maid service! So, I decided to go back to a recipe we had tried once, but had not had in some time: Ina's Truffled Filet of Beef Sandwiches. Taste: phenomenal. Ease: super easy. Cleanliness: very few dishes and no prep. chopping. We had a winner!

While a little on the expensive side because of the large piece of filet mignon and truffle butter, this recipe is well worth it. Paired with a homemade Caesar salad (recipe in a previous post), and this was a great welcome home dinner that was quick and easy, and allowed us to catch up after two weeks apart.

Ingredients

1 1/2 to 2 pounds fillet of beef, trimmed and tied
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper
2 French baguettes, 18 to 20 inches long
3 ounces black truffle butter, at room temperature
1 (2-ounce) chunk good Parmesan cheese
Fresh baby arugula

Directions

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. (Be sure your oven is very clean!)

Place the beef on a sheet pan and pat the outside dry with a paper towel. Spread the butter all over the beef with your hands. Sprinkle the beef evenly with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Roast for exactly 22 minutes for rare and 25 minutes for medium-rare.

Remove the beef from the oven, cover it tightly with aluminum foil, and allow it to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. Remove the strings and slice the fillet about 1/4-inch thick.

Open the baguettes lengthwise but not all the way through. Spread the bottom halves generously with the truffle butter. Top with a layer of sliced beef and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.

Using a vegetable peeler, shave the Parmesan into thin shards and scatter the shards over the sliced beef on each sandwich. Finish with a sprinkling of arugula leaves. Fold the tops of the sandwiches over, cut each baguette diagonally in 3 or 4 sandwiches, and serve right away.

Food Network

My Recipe Notes:

Don't skimp on the truffle butter! It makes all the difference. (Mine was from Williams-Sonoma. dartagnan.com also sells it)
Filet of Beef is Filet Mignon. I have tried it once tied like the recipe says, and once not tied. I didn't notice a difference.
My grocery store has horrible baguettes, so I use their Rustic Country Loaf (Safeway) and it's perfect for these. Anything with a crunchy texture on the outside is great.
Really take your time and slice the meat as thinly as possible. The first time we cut it a little thick and they were hard to eat. I slowed down this time and got it thin enough so the meat wouldn't fall out.