Category Archives: Woo Hoo

Nothing Up My Sleeve – Presto!!

Posted on by

Union Stree tFair“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

Wait! Please do pay attention.  This next Sunday June 3rd, I’ll be onstage at the Union Street Festival with Suzanne Griffin of Cooking By The Bay fame. You will find us at the corner of Gough and Union at 1p.m.  Suzanne will be demostrating her Asparagus Farotto, Shaved Vegetable Salad and the indescribably delicious Chocolate Chia Pudding infused with Oranges.  Oooo, it’s soooo gooood!

Suzanne and I have recently been comparing recipes and cooking techniques, and she kindly invited me to be her assistant for the day.  Please drop by, sit for our demo and do come up have a taste and say hello afterwards.  We would love to hear your comments.

Eat Well and Smile Often!

tj

p.s. Pay no attention to the man in the chef’s coat  It’s all her show on Sunday!

Up-Side-Down

Posted on by

This week my world turned upside down. My little girl went in to surgery on Friday to have a large lump removed from her chest.  To say I was nervous all day is to put it mildly. I grilled her doctor before hand in a way that surely embarrassed the both of us.  “So what about the anesthetic?” and “Have you done this before?” Antibiotics, what about those??”  I was a paternal wreck to say the least.

While she was under, our lives together kept running through my thoughts.  Had I been good to her, given her enough attention, fed her well? Did I discipline her too much . .  too little?  What would she think of me after? What does she think of me now?!  Will I be able to take care of her when she comes home?  Too many hard questions. And those times she ran away just break a father’s heart. I remember when she first came to me. She was only one year old and so delicate.  We had quite a time of it the first couple years.  She would rarely leave me side when I was at home, and the noises she would make when I left each day . . .

I held my breath when I saw the hospital’s caller ID pop up on my phone . . .  “She’s doing great Mr Judt.  She’s waking up right now and everything went extremely well.”  Whew!  To say it was a relief to hear is to not say nearly enough.  My baby girl was alive and well and coming home.

 

Baby Girl
So in honor of my baby girl making it through surgery I dug deep in to my parental trove of recipes for that one thing I know would make me feel better about . . . everything!

 

 

 

 
Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Betty Crocker’s Pineapple Upside Down Cake
1/4   cup butter or margarine
2/3   cup packed brown sugar
9   slices pineapple in juice (from 14-oz can), drained
9   maraschino cherries without stems, if desired
1 1/3   cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1   cup granulated sugar
1/3   cup shortening butter
1 1/2    teaspoons baking powder
1/2   teaspoon salt
3/4    cup milk
1  egg

1   Heat oven to 350°F. In 9-inch square a round cast iron pan, melt butter in oven. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over melted butter. Arrange pineapple slices over brown sugar. Place cherry in center of each pineapple slice.
2   In medium bowl, beat remaining ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter over pineapple and cherries.
3   Bake 50 to 55 30 – 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately place heatproof serving plate upside down over pan; turn plate and pan over. Leave pan over cake a few minutes so brown sugar mixture can drizzle over cake; remove pan. Serve warm. Store cake loosely covered.

 

My baby girl feels better, I feel better. Make this and you’ll feel better too!!

 

Eat Well and Smile Often!

 

tj

 

p.s. Upside down, who’s to say what’s impossible and can’t be found?
I don’t want this feeling to go away
Please don’t go away

 

I’ve Got Class!!

Posted on by

Chef ToqueWhy yes, Yes I do. I’ve got class.

Cooking class that is. I must tell you that my time at culinary school gave me some of the finest cooking memories I have.  It was an amazing art school experience.  No pressure to produce, everything was about me learning, practicing and creating great dishes.  I got to spend 7 hours a day, 5 days a week for 14 months learning about food, where it comes from, how to prepare it and (the very best part) eating it; lots of it!  I played with colors, tastes, textures and more. It was fantastic! Never before or since have I felt so creative. I loved it so much I gained over 30 pounds in my time there.  I think I felt that it was important to live up to the old adage – Never trust a skinny chef.

Upon hearing that I graduated from the California Culinary Academy, I am often asked what style of cooking I specialize in?  Which is turning out to be a better question than I originally thought. You see I don’t really have a cuisine that I favor.  Italian, I suppose, could best describe the style of cooking that I lean towards but not completely. Let me give you a brief insight in to my cooking; I’m a techniques kind of guy. I can readily attribute any minor creative streak directly to the company I kept in school. Talented, gifted people who could imagine tastes in their minds then recreate them on the plate.  Just being around them made me a better cook. Me? I focus my attention more on the proper way to saute’, or braise, or roast, or poach.  Each of these terms have specific time/temperature definitions.  Employed correctly they yield tremendous results with the food I am preparing.  Le Technique, this is where I like to seek mastery.

Chef SuzanneThis last weekend I was lucky enough to brush elbows with another one of these talented, gifted types. Suzanne Griffin of Cooking by the Bay. Suzanne teaches cooking classes from her home in San Rafael and this last Sunday I took my first Indian cooking class from her.  It was fantastic to be a student again listening to someone as enthusiastic and knowledgeable as Suzanne is. My classmates were 3 lovely, talented women and we spent a great part of the evening sharing wine and oohing and ahhing over the smells that emanated from the stove top. Each of us was given an apron, a cutting board and a knife with instructions on what and how to prepare each item for each dish. Our teacher’s easy style had us all in laughter and we felt such great pride and accomplishment in putting the meal together ourselves.  Spinach Raita, Papaya Chutney and Chicken Tika Masala.  YUM!!  Sop that up with a little Naan and man what a great meal.

For all of you foodies out there who live in the San Francisco Bay Area I strongly suggest that you go to Chef Suzanne’s website and check out her list of classes.  There is something there for everyone; from how to prepare a Tropical Feast, to whipping up Thai Food, to tips and techniques for a Fuss Free Dinner Party.  I can not recommend her strongly enough.  Release your inner chef, I say, and go get yourself some class!

 

Eat Well and Smile Often,

tj

 

p.s. (chickentikamasala, chickentikamasala, chickentikamasala)

Cooking For Ms. Right!!

Posted on by

Chicken Poulet Supreme!I met her at my first barbeque. I don’t mean my actual first barbeque;  as in a baby with a brontosaurus bone, sipping from dad’s PBR first barbeque. I mean my first movie barbeque, where I worked on a real, live film set.  First barbeque, you see, is a term employed, by those-in-the-know, with both pride and derision.  As in, “This isn’t my first barbeque.” versus “Is this your first barbeque??”

Returning from a whirlwind auto tour of Europe with my best friend Dale, me a recent graduate of culinary school, I got a call from one of my former chef instructors.

“So, how was Europe?” Chef Patty Hart inquired. 

“Great, what’s up?” I wittily replied. 

“Got a job yet,”   “Not yet,” says me.

“Meet me at so & so at 5:30. I’ve got something for you.”

5:30 came and I found myself smack dab in the middle of what was to become my first barbeque: The film set for ‘So I Married An Axe Murderer.’  After a quick meeting with the producer we were off to the production office to meet with – Ms. Right.  Now when I say Ms. Right I mean it in all the best possible ways.  She is beautiful, smart, kind, witty, humble, and unavailable.  Sigh . . .

It was Ms. Right who hired me to cook for Mike Myers, of SNL and Wayne’s World fame, on the set of this new movie.  To answer the question forming on your tongue, Mike is brilliant, funny, considerate, and extremely talented.  It was a privilege to cook for him.

Back to Ms. Right, since she is of a rare breed in the motion picture industry, not a seeker of fame, I have chosen not to use her real name. So Ms. Right she will remain.  I will openly admit to having a crush on her from the first time we met; unfortunately our lives spin in different circles never allowing us more than the odd telephone call,  chance meeting-for-dinner, and  the too few and far between email exchanges.  FYI: She is happily partnered with a charming man and both currently reside in Jolly Old. That being said, Ms. Right and I have maintained a strong bond around food.  We loooooove to talk about it and have shared great fun and laughter over the few meals we have inhaled together. My favorite line of hers is, “This is going to cost me an extra 20 minutes on the treadmill tomorrow but I don’t care!”  Hence the Ms. Right scale of decadence was born.

One recent email exchange brought up the topic of her discovering a local French bistro and she raved about the Cod with fresh lentils.  Positively made my mouth water and think of all things French.  She and her date enjoyed not only the expertly prepare meal, they wisely complimented it with a tasty French Sauvignon. They were happy.  Made me happy just reading about it!  It also put me in the mind to try a few items French and so my foray in to the world of crepes began.  Now the strawberry crepes I wrote about recently were certainly fabulous but honestly, they were just an excuse to prepare a plate of plain ole’ crepes to cook with later.  Then inspiration struck!  A welcome home meal for Ms. Right, the next time she flies through town.  Crepe Poulet Supreme!

Inspired is the right term ‘cuz those little buggers were amazing.  Crispy browned slices of chicken, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions and golden bell peppers simmered in a sauce of rich chicken stock and heavy cream.  After a few minutes on the stove, using a slotted spoon, I filled and rolled 2 crepes with the chicken and vegetable mixture and set them aside. Returning to the stove I reheated the sauce and whisked in 3 tablespoons of soft, sweet butter. It made it glisten, it made it shine and boy did it make me smile.  Sauce on the plate, crepes on the sauce, quick photo and then in to my belly they went.

For those of you notice the lack of a green vegetable I offer this:

1.  I garnished with lemon thyme making my mouth very happy.

2.  I stood next to the fresh little plant-lings in my garden while enjoying my fork-to-mouth     exercise.

3. YES, 1 and 2 DO count.)

Thanks for another inspired meal Ms. Right.

 

Eat well and Smile Often,

tj

p.s. This dish would be a 45 on the Ms. Right scale of decadence . . . just saying.