Taste, Art & Passion

Trying to feed a Vegan a real meal, by chef standards

2012-01-23T16:01:00.001-05:00

Occasionally an email comes along with a request for something above and beyond, I always welcome these, some do some don't but for me its a chance to try and get my staff interested in something away from the every day. Special requests and dietary needs are more popular than ever and it seems to me better to accommodate the guest and push ourselves to grow.

Appetizer: a take on sashimi but vegan ( as a meat eater I take the liberty of looking to what I like for inspiration)

Avocado sashimi with a crudo of pickled ginger, red onions, chives and mirin, its topped with crispy shallots and served with ponzu broth.

The ponzu broth is part ponzu and part kombu broth made with vegetable stock

For the main course I went risotto, but protein is usually an issue for vegans so I added pureed white beans which also helped simulate the creaminess from adding cheese and butter which are not an option for vegans.

Pequillo pepper risotto with preserved lemon, pepinos, lemon oil and herb oil poached artichokes

Keep an out out for more to come.

November and December continued

2012-01-10T14:05:00.000-05:00

Here are some more changes from the last couple of months. Now being January its time to both catch up and plan for the year ahead. February will be a month of rest and catch-up with all things not work. In the mean time I remain immersed in the restaurant and my renewed interest in competition Ice Sculpture with Chef Joe.

Duck Cassoulet, with turnips and duck breast

Pan Seared Grouper: lobster ragout and pomme dauphine

Thanksgiving

Christmas tree

The Faceless Snowman

Venison Stew with fresh baked dumplings

My favorite dish currently on the menu: Pan Seared Sea Scallops with Nori Butter, Meyer Lemon, butternut squash risotto, celery root and hericot vert

November - December

2012-01-10T13:50:00.001-05:00

My last post was the lead up to my becoming the restaurant chef at the WCC Sports house. September started my time as the official Chef, responsibility was now mine to create menus, control food cost and work toward making my cuisine exist at the Westchester.

Menu additions:

Duck Rillette with mustard vinaigrette and beets

Beet Cured Salmon with warm fingerling potato salad

Sauerbraten with rustic spatzel

Coriander Crusted Escolar, bok choy, cucumber salad and ginger-soy sauce

Poached Pear and Roasted Beet Salad
Pistachios, pickled shallots and red endive

Fall Green Salad with pumpkin seeds, cider vinaigrette and ewes milk blue cheese

These are dishes from my first menu change and some specials from October fest.

My New Life as a Restaurant Chef

2011-10-31T17:17:00.000-04:00

Step 1, "Your mission should you choose to accept it" ..... Chef Max Knoepfel

May 2011, I signed on at the Westchester Country Club in Rye NY as the Beach Chef, a separate entity I was managing 4 separate outlets an amazing property altogether. My primary function was as food manager, we had some cool stations and setups, there were some amazing events and being its a very private club, pictures are limited.

Lobster Bake

This is the site, 400 yards of beachfront, the property opened late May and closed for the season in mid September.

So thats what I spent the summer doing, well actually, the summer was spent waking up, teaching a group of young kids from high school to collage age how to hold a knife, cook burgers and set the various outlets. This job was the first time I was actually required to act like an Executive Chef, this was the first time I was responsible for the labor, food cost, food quality, guest experience, staffing, training, SOP development. I have never felt so accomplished in any work that I have done. I needed my team and support from my bosses. The support at home from a very patient Mrs. has been key. That experience has led us to my new roll as the Restaurant Chef at the Sports House on the main property.

West Coast Yummies

2011-08-17T22:02:00.001-04:00

Worlds greatest doughnuts? Earlier this year I had the luxury of traveling and eating up the west coast, I found some exceptional sweets and I just wanted to highlight a couple of those. First stop Voodoo Doughnuts

The maple bacon bar

The Voodoo doll.
Its filled with jelly!

Apple Fritter, VooDoo doughnuts is located in Portland Oregon, click the "voodoo" for a link

Change your day Irish coffee...
People say its the original, Contains large quantity of Tullamore Dew

The Buena Vista Cafe
2765 Hyde St (@ Beach)
San Francisco, CA 94109

And when it comes to food and California,

Bouchon Bakery for macarons.

Pumpkin, Pistachio, Lavender

More to Come, I am sorry to those who follow the blog that its taken me so long to post. Stay tuned

Spring!

2011-03-21T13:51:00.002-04:00

Keeping myself busy through a cold snow filled winter, thoughts of spring are pounding in my brain. Irony dictates that today the first day of spring it is snowing.

In the North East the spring time is a cornucopia of wonderful food, at least for those who are interested in seasonality. Green & white asparagus, fava beans, peas, fiddleheads, spring lamb, morels, chicken of the wood mushrooms, ramps, the list goes on, I love spring menus. Below are some of my favorite ingredients being put to use, all for the sake of spring.

Artichoke: Petite artichoke en barigoule with nage, Artichoke and quail egg ravioli with extra virgin olive oil

White Asparagus: Seared foie gras, roasted white asparagus, sauteed saffron milk cap mushrooms, cardamom scented chicken jus

Ramps: Wild ramp risotto, seared sea scallop, crispy ramp chip


Lamb & Asparagus: Spring chive crusted lamb loin, Pommes Parisian, lamb reduction and roasted asparagus

Artichokes & Ramps: Artichoke and scallop raviolis, pan roasted sea scallops, arugula and artichoke emulsion

Milk Fed Lamb: Bacon wrapped, fire roasted spring lamb.

Peas & Morels: Veal loin with pea and pistachio glacage, cabbage wrapped sweet breads, and morel & potato ragout


Favas, Peas, Asparagus: Seared sea bass, vol au vent, warm salad of peas, favas, asparagus and brown butter vinaigrette

Les amis d' Escoffier

2010-10-25T17:12:00.004-04:00

Sunday October 17th 2010 represented for our team at the Eastern Yacht Club the largest hurdle we could bound for the season. I was chosen to spearhead the project for the les amis d'Escoffier society (please click the title for more information). The Executive chef, sous chef and my self prepared a menu of 12 courses with hors d'oeuvres all of a lavish classical french nature.

Hors d'oeuvres
Pickled apples and pearl onions, served with house smoked apple sausage

Spinach and salsify macarons


Parsnip puree

The Menu:
Consomme aux Lapin


Garnish for the consomme: Rabbit mousseline, brunoise carrots and wild mushrooms

Oeuf a la Bourguignonne

Lotte Cardinal


Garnish for the Lotte: Lobster roe "truffle" and Burgundy black


Swiss chard wrapped monk fish with a ragout of lobster, melted leeks, Swiss chard, verbena, lobster butter and lobster jus

#2641 Chatreuse de Ris de Veau
This little beast has a bit of history behind it, but the short of it is that there is a lot of prep to execute it.
Blanched: Batonettes of blanched carrot and turnip, hericots verts
Braised cabbage
Veal and pork forcemeat
Braised sweetbread

To be proper this dish should be prepared in a "chartreuse" mold, but I did not have one and wanted to prepare it individually. 80 portions

Prepared and ready to bake


"Chartreuse", micro mirepoix, crisped sweet bread and sauce allemonde

Heirloom Apple Sorbet

Served as an interlude

Filet mignon de Chevreuil, Sauce Venaison


Chestnut puree and souffle, baby red beet and "micro" gold beet

Clochette & Valencay


Heirloom greens with quince vinaigrette

Chocolate souffle & Mignardises

Served with Sauce Anglaise


Salted Caramel, Pistachio prelude & Cinnamon -apple gellee

The dinner was prepared for the society whose guest list consisted of many industry names and guests who have an appreciation for fine food. The meal was no easy task to complete and was successful as a result of my team and months of planning. My team received an award for the execution of the menu that has not been given out in the last 10 bi-yearly dinners, We killed it!

Rounding third

2010-10-13T21:24:00.000-04:00

These cakes represent the last of my large cakes from the season, large projects and definitely a large number of firsts.

The Chrysler building and the construction site, The cake ended up standing 42 inches tall and was a mix of cake, fondant, pastillage and royal icing. I airbrushed, hand painted and frosted, Point of interest.... 29 # of frosting were used in the construction of this piece.

The wedding cake for a 300 person event, much to my surprise this cake made it through the entire wedding without falling over,4.3 Ft is a touch to high for comfort, albeit cool, the sway in the top layers when people walked by was unnerving.

Simple is truly the most striking and difficult to execute.

So that's it for cakes for the time being. I am pleased to say I can check off the box next cakes for competency.

October; A couple of weeks to breath

2010-10-06T20:51:00.001-04:00

I spent a touch of time on some hot food in the past couple of weeks. These are a couple of classical dishes that I revisited.

Oeuf Bourgnonne:

Lotte Cardinal:

Fennel cured salmon with traditional garnish & Parsnip soup:

Damn it feels good to cook a bit, I look forward to my full blown return to the culinary side.

*Thought for the season; After spending 6 months in the pastry shop eating mostly sweets, my perception of other tastes has been heightened and I am finding more nuance in food... "unexpected"

Catching my swing in the pastry shop

2010-07-09T21:25:00.008-04:00

I have been working around the bake/pastry shop for a little over two months now so I have compiled some specials and been able to play a bit with some techniques. I feel really good about the desserts that follow, some may seem a bit out there but remember I am a cook before a patissier so at the end of the day I think like a cook. Maybe an obsessive compulsive cook with unreasonable standards, but a cook none the less..."

Rose and Almond Meringue
raspberries, mulberry jam, black berries and sugared rose

Chocolate "Deco-dense"
meyer lemon syrup and meyer lemon ice cream

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Brownie
pistachio puree and candied pistachios
Vanilla Cheesecake
candied vanilla bean, macerated strawberries and lemon verbena

Valrhona Chocolate Soup
ginger and hazelnut macaron, lemon ice cream and lemon confiture

Boston Cream Pie

Vanilla Semi-Freddo
soft berry core, toasted meringue

Indian Pudding Souffle

Let me know what you think, I guess I have to note that I miss cooking , After having cooked for fifteen years as a professional its difficult to get used to all things being sweet in one form or another. That being said, I think its awesome that I am getting the chance to develop skills that I have never had the opportunity to work on, interesting times, never a dull moment in the life of a cook.

Trying My Hand at Cake Making

2010-06-30T21:26:00.009-04:00

As part of my immersion into the world of pastry it has become necessary to make cakes for various occasions, here are some of them.

Cakes Without a Theme

Congratulations

Anniversary Cake

Birthday Cakes

My First wedding cake, for 135 People, Yellow cake with pastry cream and raspberry Jam, all covered in butter cream.

Life as a Pastry Chef begnins...

2010-05-11T10:05:00.007-04:00

On 5/1/2010, I traded my stove for the bake shop, at least for about 6 months. Having decided that England was not the place to go I was left searching for a job, not for long however. Within a couple of days I was offered a position as a pastry chef at the Eastern Yacht Club where Sarah and I will spend the summer.

Spring Dessert Menu

Spanish Style Guanaja Chocolate Mousse:
Saffron-Meyer lemon confiture, poached lemon zest and flour free chocolate biscuit

EYC Blondie
Sweet sloop ice cream, salted caramel and candied walnuts

Spring Rhubarb and Whole Wheat Crumble
Served with vanilla ice cream

This being my first time as a pastry anything, I have been trying to make everything humanly possible. I make my own biscotti, ice cream, sorbet, muffins and little pastries for brunch. I get to try my hand at wedding cakes, birthday cakes and all sorts of various things I have always wanted to try but never had the chance.

If all goes well I should have some regular posts, for the sake of humanity I plan to publish any tragic misfortunes a cook can have in the bake shop for all to relish.

T.W.o weeks at T.W. Food

2010-04-16T12:55:00.006-04:00

Click the title for a link to the website.

I had the good fortune of spending two weeks of my time with an outstanding chef and friend at his restaurant in Cambridge, MA. Tim Wiechmann the chef and proprietor along with his wife Bronwyn have a cool story and outstanding responsible philosophy about food, click the link for more, opened there "house" for me to fully experience. Below I have posted some pictures of the spring menu along with a brief description. I suppose the only thing left to say is, if your in the Boston area, you need to eat here.

Slow cooked hanger steak, soft fresh milled polenta, kale, cioppolini and smoked beef brisket.
Duck Cassoulet: Duck breast, garlic chicken sausage, confit duck legs, lardons, gold feather turnip
House milled farro farfalle; Blood orange sauce soubise, sea urchin, octopus and a farm egg
Slow-roast breast, confit thigh galette, barley risotto and braised artichoke, artichoke puree
New England seafood chowder
Schwabische Spatzle: Parsley, onion, cured pork belly

Pan seared Atlantic Halibut with gold feather turnip puree and chorizo vinaigrette
Sardinian Culurzones; braised chicken thigh ragout, meyer lemon and greens
Roasted root vegetable salad

2009 A few of my favorite things

2010-03-11T19:15:00.004-05:00

Cured salmon with citrus, lemon & olive oil nage finished with sunflower seeds

2010-03-11T19:14:00.002-05:00

Bruleed warm chocolate gelee with raspberries.

2010-03-11T19:10:00.003-05:00

Croute aux champignons. Toasted baguette, royal trumpet mushrooms and chicken jus with cream, scented with tarragon, shallots and pernod.

2010-03-11T19:08:00.003-05:00

Mediterranean seafood plate. Grilled octopus, grilled cuttlefish, seared tuna, poached shrimp and lump crab meat.

2010-03-11T19:06:00.002-05:00

Troisgros tomato tart with cantal.

2010-03-11T19:03:00.003-05:00

Trio of hors d'oeuvres, House cured sturgeon, endive and pickled pearl red onions; puree of asparagus soup and curried beef spring roll.

2009 A few of my favorite things

2010-03-11T18:55:00.003-05:00

The selection of the highlights that I enjoyed most last year.

Seared sea scallop with parsnip puree and sauteed chard. There are few things like in season blood oranges sliced and garnished with Extra Virgin Olive oil, seasalt and sliced onions. To finish the plate a fig reduction.

What time will bring...

2010-02-23T18:49:00.003-05:00

March 2010 will represent a significant change in my career, I will spend some time earlier in the month posting some items from the last few months, after that stay tuned with me as I venture to a new continent with my wife and take the helm of a fine hotel restaurant for the first time. Ill keep you posted.

Corn soup with basil

2009-06-25T13:49:00.004-04:00

One of my favorite summer ingredients is corn, this is a light soup, made with corn stock, fresh corn and onions, infused with basil. The soup is meant to be poured table side. The garnish in the bowl; fresh corn cakes, creme fraiche and basil oil with a chiffonade of fresh basil.

Tuna tartar with bamboo rice and crispy vegetables

2009-06-25T13:40:00.004-04:00

This is a dish designed for summer, light and fresh. The bamboo rice is prepared the same as for sushi, The tartar is dressed with a fermented black bean vinaigrette and contains; shallots, hearts of palm, scallions and pickled ginger. The vegetable garnish on top is comprised of baby corn, julienne of red bell pepper, pickled ginger, hearts of palm and water chestnuts. The dish is garnished with Nori oil and kecap manis "aka" sweet soy.

Compressed melon and vanilla pearls

2009-06-25T13:31:00.005-04:00

This is simple summer amuse of Watermelon that has been compressed by sous vide and cut into squares. It is topped with Hawaiian black sea salt and served with pearls of vanilla simple syrup set in a bath of alginate. The garnish is a poached and dehydrated vanilla stick.

Ravioli Variation

2009-02-02T12:57:00.005-05:00

Here is an attempt to honor the scallop while keeping the idea of a ravioli. These are 4 seared U-10 sea scallops with rainbow chard and roasted red carrots. The Ravioli is sauced with a roasted garlic cream and pureed leeks. The garnishes are garlic chips and micro beet sprouts.

Vanilla Braised Pork Belly and Scallops

2009-02-02T12:47:00.004-05:00

This pork belly was doubled over with Activa (http://www.activatg.com/) to make it more meaty, the belly was then rubbed with vanilla compound, grilled and braised Korean Style. The richness of this fatty cut is balanced by the sourness of pickled green mango and the lean sea scallops. The braising liquid is spiked with pickled ginger and some of the mango pickle liquid.

Sounds of the Sea (The Fat Duck:http://www.fatduck.co.uk/)

2009-01-13T11:51:00.003-05:00

This is one of my favorite dishes from the fat duck; there is a variety of shell fish both raw and cooked. Poached razor clams, raw oyster, little neck clams and seaweed. The foam is an emulsified clam broth and the lot is served on top of "sand" eel flavored maltodextrin and garnished with sea beans.

Confit pork belly

2009-01-13T11:23:00.002-05:00

Here I cured the pork belly in an herb salt for 2 days and then slowly cooked the belly in rendered duck fat. The pork belly was cooled in the fat and then portioned and rendered slowly to a crisp skin. The belly is served with honey glazed turnips and a thyme infused honey pork jus.

Steak tartare, with arugula & pickled onions

2009-01-05T15:45:00.004-05:00

Hand cut beef tartar from the strip loin with roasted shallot puree, cornichons, extra virgin olive oil emulsion with Dijon and pickle juice. Arugula puree, fresh arugula and pickled onions with a farm fresh egg yolk.

Foie gras beignet and Foie gras mousse in poached pear

2009-01-05T15:25:00.006-05:00

This is a combination of foie gras dishes, the first: Beignets are stuffed with a seared piece of foie gras and plated on top of a fresh quince puree. The second: A channeled pear poached in spiced port and filled with foie gras mousse over toasted hazelnuts and pear puree.