11.30.2005

Article: So You Want to be a Personal Chef?

My personal advice to those considering a personal chef business:

1. Get certified. Get Educated.

If you want to be taken seriously by not only your customers, but your peers – get certified and educated.

Part I: A (personal service or catering) business license, appropriate (catering or personal chef) insurance, your local food safety management certification through the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation and then of course, following the regulations and local city or county laws.

Educate yourself on local liquor laws, food transportation issues, etc. I would never hire or take seriously a caterer/personal chef that doesn’t carry insurance or tells me how they deliver their meals out of a cooler in their Pathfinders trunk. True stories!

Part II: If you don’t have a culinary degree or business experience, get some through your local community collegue, culinary school, culinary class outlet, local foodie clubs, associations and non-profits.

Listening to others experiences, gaining basic knowledge about accounting, business management or even cooking techniques. These gain you experience ‘in the field’ without even doing an actual ‘cook date’. They also help you build collegue references and give you an opportunity to ask all the questions you need answered about the ‘logistics’ of being the food business.

I will also insert into this section that it is probably important to join a personal chef association only if you have no idea how a daily personal chef business works. Most personal chef associations make you pay a horrible fee to be a member that allows you to get introductory information about the business and a listing on their website list of members. You need to decide for yourself if having an outline of what a day in the life of a personal chef is like is worth $500-$1500 for the first year and $150-$350 per year after that.



11.28.2005

Tip: De-Seed a Pomegranate

Pomegrantes are the new 'haute' of cuisine, especially now that they are in season. You can easily drop $3 bucks on one of those snowman shapped juices and $8 bucks on the nuevo pomegranate molasses.

But can you get out those pretty little seeds without making a mess or loosing half the seeds to the juice on your cutting board gods?

Scaning over some pomegranate salad recipes for a client, I was horrified to learn that Nigella recommended cutting into your pomegranate with a knife, and just remove the seeds that weren't broken!?! That would be like cutting into an orange and then trying to remove the segments, without spilling any juice or wasting any segment?!? I started googling around found that most recommended this (even the site: http://www.pomegranate.org/nomess.html which I thought was a little funny).

Therefore I thought I would make the apparent top secret way to de-seed a pomegranate known.

I learned this trick from a persian chef who has probably been cooking with real pomegranates longer then I have known what a pomegranate even was.

  1. First, using a sharp pairing knife, you want to cut a 'curly cue'. Like you are cutting away the peel and pith from an orange without getting the segments of juice - but all in one long curly cue line. from the top of the pomegranate to the bottom. You are only cutting in about an 1/8th inch, just through the pith, with the intention of not cutting into any seeds. Take your time, this is the most imporant part of the process and will decide if the rest of the process is 'juice free and easy' for you.
  2. Carefully working around the pomegranate, loosen the cut you made, pulling the cut open about a 1/4 inch or so.
  3. Now you can pull the pomegranate apart easily, into sections.
  4. Take a section and hold it in one hand, you can run your thumb along the seeds, bending them back and forward gently to have them 'pop off' the pith.
  5. If you run into a section that is covered with a lining of pith, just peel it away before popping off the seeds from that section.

Other tips:

  • You want to remove all the pith, even the little dots of it that stick to some of the seeds. It tastes like eating orange pith.
  • You don't need to wear gloves - you aren't going to make a mess right? And if you get a little juice on you, just wash your hands off and then return to pomegranate peeling bliss.



11.27.2005

Recipe: Chocolate Covered Strawberries


Talk about easy...impressive...and everyone loves them.
You cannot fail at these at long as you use good quality chocolate (here is a great website that explains everything you would ever want to know about chocolate and more importantly, quality chocolate), don't burn it and fresh strawberries that aren't over ripe.
I will not go into the 'tempering' of chocolate - as that is a whole article in itself. I'll just say that tempering chocolate is esstentially breaking down the chemical compond of chocolate with a varied degree of temperature in order to produce (melted) chocolate that will eventually harden, therefore producing the chocolate in a new 'chemical state' for the baking purpose you desire. Yeah, I think most pastry chefs study this stuff for weeks - then putting it in practice is a whole different thing! Here is a quick an easy few paragraphs to read if you are interested about tempering. I googled around for a more serious description, but most were more generalized them what I mentioned above. So I guess that gives me something to write an article about later.

Recipe: Chocolate Covered Strawberries
  • 11 oz. or more (is enough to double-dip 8 medium sized strawberries)
  • 8 Medium Sized Strawberries
  1. Wash and dry your strawberries.
  2. Set them on a sheet tray, covered with wax or partchment paper.
  3. Place a sieve inside a medium sized pot. Fill up the water in the pot so that the water line sits just below the sieve.
  4. Place the pot on the stove and bring to a boil.
  5. Meanwhile, chop up chocolate into very small pieces - no larger than a tablespoon.
  6. Place the chocolate in a metal bowl (that will fit nicely in the sieve).
  7. When the water is boiling, place the chocolate filled bowl into the sieve and let the chocolate melt.
  8. After a minute or two, gently stir the chocolate, moving it around the bowl, scraping the edges, helping it melt and circulating it, so that it doesn't burn.
  9. When 90% of it melted, remove the bowl from the sieve and quickly dip the strawberries into bowl, covering 80%. When you pull out the strawberry, give it a little shake to remove any excess chocolate, then lay on sheet tray. Continue with remaining strawberries.
  10. Let the strawberries sit at room temperature (around 65-70 degrees) until you plan to serve them (within 6 hours).
You are welcome to double-dip the strawberries. Just wait about 15 minutes after the first dip - while the first layer of chocolate starts harden. Then heat your chocolate again over the boiling water and do the process over again (steps 7-9).

Recipe: Mascarpone Stuffed Dates


Recipe - Mascarpone Stuffed Dates
Ingredients:
  • 6 Dates
  • 6 Tablespoon of Mascarpone
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Chives, Chervil or even minced Candied Orange Peel for Garnish
  1. Using a pairing knife, cut half way through the date, from tip to tip.
  2. Pinch the ends of the date, so it opens up and you can easily remove the seed.
  3. Prepare piping tip in bag and fill with mascarpone.
  4. Fill dates from tip to tip with about 1 Tablespoon of Mascarpone per date.
  5. Snip chives into ½ inch pieces.
  6. Place chives on top of mascarpone, in an ‘X’ for garnish.
Refrigerate until about 1 hour before you plan to serve, then remove and let come to room temperature.

Other ideas for serving this?
  • Use a piping tip to change the shape of the mascarpone in the date.
  • De-seed dates, place in oven at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Remove and let cool enough for handling. Fill with mascarpone and serve slightly warm.
  • Great as a petit four or on a cheese platter.

Recipe: Vanilla Bites


This recipe is an adaption from the Book Amuse Bouche by Rick Tramonto. It really is a great example of combining all tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salt) to form a perfectly flavored bite.
People either love it or hate it - and it is usually only loved at dinner parties where the eaters are adventurous - so you might want to take what can your guests are before serving this.
Recipe - Vanilla Bites:
  • 1 ¼ cup crème
  • 1 packet of gelatin
  • 2 Tablespoons of Vanilla Paste
  • 5 Medium Sized Mint Leaves
  • 1 Teaspoon of Sea Salt
  • 6 Larger Sized Purple Potato Chips (Plain or Ruffled)
  1. Place large bowl on countertop, fill half way with ice, then fill a quarter of the way with water, creating an ice bath. Set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, place a kitchen towel in a circle on the countertop. Place a medium sized bowl in center of circle, pushing towel just under bowl to keep bowl from moving.
  3. Place ¼ cup of crème into bowl. Add gelatin powder into bowl, whisk until gelatin is almost completely dissolved.
  4. Meanwhile, place ¾ cup crème in a small pot and whisk in 2 Tablespoons of Vanilla. Turn heat to high and bring crème to a boil. Remove from heat as soon as crème starts to rise up the sides of the pot. Whisk vigoriously to circulate vanilla and cool crème.
  5. Slowly pour vanilla-crème mixture into gelatin-crème mixture, while whisking, until completely combined and gelatin is dissolved.
  6. Place a sieve of chinois in a metal, medium sized bowl and slowly pour mixture through.
    Immediately place strained liquid in the large bowl-ice bath, slowly and gently stirring until steam stops rising from the liquid. Immediately remove from ice bath, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to refrigerate at least 2 hour before service.
  7. 45 minutes before you plan to enjoy the Vanilla Bites, remove the vanilla mixture from fridge, mashing with a whisk and gently stirring to break up the gelatin mixture into small pieces.
  8. Drizzle in 1/8 cup crème, whisking until combined. Continue to drizzle remaining crème until vanilla mixture is a ‘fluffy’, ‘foamy’ mixture that is the consistency of ‘pudding’. Set aside.
  9. Stack mint leaves on top of each other and roll up tightly together to slice off in ‘chiffonade’ pieces. Set aside.
  10. Lay potato chips on cutting board and spoon out about 1 Tablespoon of vanilla foam mixture onto each chip, place chips on serving platter.
  11. Sprinkle Sea Salt over bites and around edges of plate.
  12. Sprinkle chiffonade of mint over bites and around edges of plate and serve.

11.21.2005

Advice

A lot of people email me for recipes, jobs and even advice on how to be a chef or start their own Personal Chef business. So in the next few posts, I have put together some ideas on the matter.

11.18.2005

Article: 10 Things Your Caterer Won't Tell You

I love this article. It is so funny - and unfortunetly sometimes true.

Not for me of course;)

10 Things Your Caterer Won't Tell You
Written by Nancy Nall Deerington

11.17.2005

Recipe: Sweet Potato Bisque


This is a great fall style, sweet and holiday inspired soup that can be served with a dollop of marshmallow creme, honey sweetened yogurt or even mandarian oranges. This recipe serves 4-6.
  • 3 Tablespoons of butter, unsalted
  • 5 Sweet Potatoes, peeled and chopped into 2"x2" pieces
  • 1 large Baking Potato, peeled and chopped into 2"x2" (to help with thickness)
  • 5 cups low sodium chicken stock
  • 3 cups of heavy creme
  • a sprig of thyme
  • a few bay leaves
  • salt and pepper to taste
  1. Prep sweet potatoes.
  2. Heat butter in large pot, add sweet potatoes, then chicken stock and herbs.
  3. Boil potatoes on medium high heat until soft - about 30 minutes.
  4. Restrain potatoes and robocoup until smooth. Add remaining heavy creme to help robocoup soup into a smooth, silky consistency.
  5. Thin out soup to desired consistency with remaining heavy cream.
  6. Re-heat in pot before serving.
  7. Salt and Pepper to taste.
For some different sweentening ideas: Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of honey to sweeten or thin out soup with freshly squeezed orange juice.

Restaurant Review: 2941


Name: 2941
Chef: Jonathan Krinn
Location: Falls Church, VA
Cuisine: American-Mid Atlantic-French Contemporary
Stars: 4/5
Review: November 2005

Okay, I love 2941, so I am not going to say a lot about the details. If you haven't been, you must go. The food is exceptional and many believe that it is the best restaurant in DC, food wise, perhaps all of the DC area? The service is comfortable and helpful, not 'Inn at Washington Standards', but you'll never lack in water, clean silverware or a folded napkin at your seat after returning from the restroom.

The food is always perfectly seasoned and I have had several culinary school mates that have worked there, one told me that 5 people taste the food before it leaves the kitchen.

My husband and I eat here about every 3 months, once the entire menu changes over. The last time we were there, we ate outside, enjoying their spectacular deal and the view of Tapas on the Terrace. You can read that post here.


Here is our menu - we of course went for their 4 course for $87:

First Course: Duo of California Artisan Foie Gras, Saute & Torchon, Fall Veggies Confiture and Yuzu Flazed Figs

Second Course: Lobster Medallion and Mishima Beef Cheek Ravioli, Creamed Leeks, Red Wine Reduction and Main Lobster Emulsion - Seared Yellow Fin Tuna with Roasted Porcini Mushrooms, Fingerling Potatoes, Salsify and Porcini Sherry Emulsion

Third Course: New Zealand Venison Loin, Braised Red and White cabbage, Applewood Bacon, Chestnuts and Quince (pictured above)

Fourth Course:

Chocolate and Chocolate: Chestnus with Chocolate Chestnut Mousse, Cognac Sabayon, Chocolate Citrus Ganache and Chestnut Ice Cream

Chocolate Brownie Baked Alaska with Chocolate Chip Ice Cream & Chocolate Sauce


A few comments on the food, the Ravioli - AMAZING! Lobster emulsion...buttery goodness - one of the best dishes I have ever had! Duo of braised cabbage, so interested, each so different in taste, color...2941 has always had amazing desserts, the baked alaska tableside 'flambe' service was great and it was so good, I took several bites from my husband...although my chocolate and chocolate was disappointing...I got chocolate ice cream instead of chestnut, the sabayon had way too much cognac and overpowered the chestnut mousse, to where all I could taste was cognac and I had to stop eating it and drink some coffee for a while to get my taste back. The ganache didn't taste like anything but chocolate.

Although this is still one of my favorite restaurants of all time....we did have a few surprises about our experience last Friday...

First, they charged my credit card 130% of the bill, 10% higher then I left and signed for. Apparently they put a hold on that much and then after a few days, the actually amount will be charged to the card. When I called about, the operator/secretary (I assume) said this is standard. I asked why...she repeated, just because, it is standard. Weird. In all the times we have dined there, it has never been this way before?

Second, the price of the menu is about 20% higher then the last time we dined inside the restaurant (about 6 months) - this restaurant used to be the best food and the best value - now it is a little overpriced..the food is worth it, but the service is not. It is roughly the same as dining at Citronelle, including the 10% city of DC restaurant tax - which VA does not have....so it was a little disappointing.

Finally, Jonathan Krin was once known as the 'Duo' Man, serving 'Turf and Turf', 'Surf & Turf' and 'Surf & Surf' dishes on each menu - now it is all about the cotton candy....There was only 1 selection of Surf & Turf on the menu and the amount of cotton candy they gave us at the end of the meal was 4 times the amount we got 2 years ago when we dined there for the first time. I think they took the Washingtonian Article about being the "Cotton Can Man" a little too seriously.

I mean look at this, cotton candy for 2 people with petit fours? Look at this picture...the cotton candy is like 4 times taller then my coffee cup!

11.08.2005

Recipe: White Veggie Salad with Castelmagno Cheese

Recipe: Castelmagno - White Veggie Salad with Castelmagno Cheese (serves 1)
  • 2 oz. Castelmagno cheese, slightly crumbled
  • 2 t. White Wine Vinegar
  • 2 T. Italian Parsley, rustic chop
  • 1 Medium Parsnip, julienned
  • 1/2 bulb of Fennel, shaved
  • 1 Endive, julienned, centers removed
  • 1 large Turnip, brunoise or 2 small peeled & thinly sliced
  • 1 Leek, white only, sliced into circles
  • 2 T. brunoise Vidalia Onion
  1. Combine White Wine Vinegar, salt, pepper, evoo and parsley, emulsify, set aside.
  2. Blanch and shock parsnip and turnip and combine.
  3. Combine parsnip/turnip mixture with remaining ingredients and drizzle over then fold in gently dressing mixture.

Recipe: Poached Pears


Simplicity is elegance when you serve poached pears with a cheese course or as a dessert. They are so easy to make and your guests/family will enjoy the sweet and fall spiced goodness.
  • 4-6 bosc pears (this is my particular favorite pear, but you can use any pear you like)
  • 1 cup white wine
  • simple syrup (1 part sugar: 2 parts water)
  • 3-4 star anise
  • 1 cup. sugar
  • 6-8 black peppercorns
  • 1 stick of cinnamon
  • 10 cloves
  1. Peel and cut about an 1/8 inch off the bottom, so they sit nicely in the pot and eventually, on the recipents plate.
  2. Place remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.
  3. Sit pears inside pot and turn down to a medium simmer.
  4. Cover pot with a piece of foil or parchment paper and simmer for 20-30 minutes until pears are fully cooked through (test with pearing knife).
Serve hot (by microwaving for 2-3 minutes before you serve them if you made them earlier in the day) or chilled (straight from the fridge).
For an extra kick, strain the cooking liquid of the spices and return to medium high heat to simmer until reduced to a sauce consistency/very thick. You can drizzle the sauce over the pears before serving for extra sweetness.

    11.06.2005

    Restaurant Review: Acadiana

    Name: Acadiana
    Chef/Management: Jeff Tunks/Management Company that owns TehnPenn, Ceiba & DC Coast
    Location: Downtown DC - Mt. Vernon Square
    Cuisine: Cajun-Creole French Contemporary
    Stars: 2/5
    Review: September 2005

    Acadiana is a new venture from the DC Coast, TehnPenn, Ceiba people. Jeff Trunks is listed as the chef in charge now, but I don't know who really is the chef cooking in the back? Compared to its sister restaurants, I find the food to be the most detailed, best tasting and presented - yet they do it all in the same price range as the other restaurants - which is relatively low for a nice restaurant.


    Decor: The restaurant is very modern, located on the corner of Mt. Vernon square, K Street and 9th street it is corner of a new building - so when you walk in - the restaurant itself is long with an open kitchen through the center. Cool greens, modern contemporary decor, bamboo'ish placemates, with the oh so now popular 'specific dishes for specific dishes' - meaning a set of three cups to serve the trio of soups, a glass plate with 3 indentions to hold eggs, which served the deviled eggs. You'd be surprised how many chefs/managers shop at crate and barrel like purchasing places. Our hostess and waitstaff were very nice, attentive and casual, making the evening relaxing - with a feeling of 'being taken care of'.

    Menu:The menu was full of buttery, oyster, creole goodness (which can be viewed here on their website) and it was very difficult to decide what to eat. So what my husband and I do in this situation is order multiple courses of appetizers. That way we have the opportunity to experience a lot more the menu - without being filled up too much on just an appetizer, entree, dessert evening.
    First Course: Trio of Soups: Classic Turtle Soup, Gumbo, Oyster Rockafeller($9) & Trio of Deviled Eggs: Crabmeat Ravigote, Shrimp Remoulade & Lauoisana Choupique Caviar($7)


    Second Course: Jambalaya Risotto
    Third Course: Duo of Pies: Natchitoches Meat Pie with Black Pepper Butterlik Dipping Sauce and Louisiana Crawfish Pies($9) & Baked Oyster & Fresh Artichoke Gratin with Cured Country Ham, Parmesan and Brioche crumbs($11)
    The soups were good, but the Turtle Soup was amazing. I know that I will come back to just have that soup. The deviled eggs were great, but the dish they were served on made it difficult to 'delicately' enjoy the eggs. The jambalaya risotto is actually a side dish, but we asked for it as an appetizer and they were happy to accomidate. It wasn't all that great - with an over abundance of gumbo file - and little to no meat, all I had was a strip of chicken meat in mine. We were too crazy about the 'pies' which were just deep fried dough, with some veggie filling, all of which were creole in tasting, but none of which tasted all that different from the others. One tasted like bell peppers, like creole flavored tomatoes with some crabfish in it. I think the lack of 'meat' in the pies was probably due to the fact that the appetizer was only $9. The gratin style oysters was fabulous! It was so rich with buttery, parmesan and brioche - it was amazing. And so cheap for what you got!! We were actually so full from the appetizers we did not have dessert. A poor decision in my opinion - but I can eat twice the amount of my husband and he was probably right to skip it. They were quite generous in their appetizer portions and made our multiple appetizer meal quite pleasant.

    Highlight Experience: When we went the city apparently has not given them permission to have their valet on the south side of the restaurant - a most likely and good spot, considering it is the easiest way to get to the restaurant without having to drive about the block, dealing with all the one ways and such with Mt. Vernon square or the funky intersection of L, K, 10th, 9th, Massachusettes and New York Avenue. After driving around each of these streets we finally figured out how to get to the one way street traveling west on the north side of the restaurant were the valet was - making us about 15 minutes late for our reservation.

    This is not the weird part though...when we left the restaurant and turned our valet ticket in for our car to be retrieved about 10 minutes went by and I heard a loud 'running' sound - you know the one that a car makes when it is in reverse and traveling well over 20 mph...yes, if you haven't guessed it already - it was the valet, driving our car in reverse down the long, high-modernist block from 10th street to 9th street, in front of the valent station - all at about 20-25 mph. We were horrified...and all we could do was laugh. I guess he didn't want to take the 15 minutes to drive around the one-way streets either.

    But as you can tell this is not necessarily a nice 'fancy' restaurant to be comparted to the Inn at Little Washington, but a clean, pleasant restaurant to enjoy some good food and enjoy it with a pretty cheap bill. It is also near tons of clubs and nighlife, so it would be a great date or start the evening off spot, because the inside and out looks so impressive. I look forward to going back and having some more of that Turtle Soup and the Oyster Gratin.

    Recipe: Butternut Squash & Hazelnut Lasagne


    Butternut Squash is in full swing as the 'it' ingredient for the fall. This lasagne is a great application of the fall gord with the added crunch of hazelnuts.

    • Lasagne Sheets - about 12
    • 1 smaller butternut squash
    • 1 cup hazelnuts, pre-shelled and roasted (and I fine crushed about 1/4 cup of hazelnuts just to spread over the top, making a dusting)
    • 2 cups of creme
    • 2 Tablespoons of butter
    • 2 Tablespoons of APF (All Purprose Flour)
    • 1 cup Parmesan, thinly grated
    • 1 cup Ricotta
    • salt and pepper
    • 1 egg yolk
    • 1 package (about 2 cups) Part-Skim Mozzarella
    • About 1/4 cup Fontina
    • 1 sprig and about 2 Tablespoons picked thyme leaves
    • 2 bay leaves
    1. Preheat over to 400 degrees.
    2. Boil Lasagne strips in 'sea' flavored water with about 3 Tablespoons of evoo.
    3. Heat Butter and flour in medium sized pot, creating a roux. Slowly add creme, whisking in about 1/4 cup at a time, whisking until absorbed before adding the next 1/4 cup. Add 2 bay leaves, a sprig of time and turn heat to low to 'cook out' the flour flavor.
    4. Peel butternut squash, cutting off the neck and discarding the rest. Slice squash into 1/4 inch thick pieces, about 2 inches wide and 4 inches long. Reserve about 3 of these slices to cut into brunoise for the topping.
    5. Combine ricotta, salt, pepper, egg, 1/4 of the mozzarella, 1/8 of the parmesan and about 2 Tablespoons of picked thyme leaves.
    6. Build lasagne. Make sure to spray with non-stick your lasagne pan before building. Start with 2 sheets of lasagne, the about 4 slices of butternut squash, sprinkled mozzarella, salt, pepper, then lasagne, and same order. After 3rd layer of lasagne, spread in ricotta mixture, about 1/4-1/2 inch thick (however you like), then lasagne, butternut, etc. another 2 times. Top off lasagne with remaining parmesan and brunoise of butternut squash - spreading all over lasagne.
    7. Bake for about 20-30 minutes until butter knife slips through center of lasagne with little to no resistance.
    8. Remove from oven and sprinkle hazelnuts and fontina over top of lasagne. Return to oven for another 10 minutes or so until fontina just starts to melt.

    11.05.2005

    Event: James Beard Event in DC

    Did Bill or Hillary ever invite you to the White House for dinner and you already had plans? Then Bush rolled in and your invitation got lost in the mail.

    Thankfully for you, Mrs. Bush has recently 'changed' chefs (the new one being the first White House Women Chef Ever: Cristeta Comerford) and the old one (Walter Schieb, now with his own cookbook and business, dubbed The American Chef) is doing an event at the City Club on Saturday, November 17th.

    For a description of the event, go online to The James Beard Foundation Website or for reservations, just call 202-347-0818.



    11.03.2005

    So you wanna be a chef?

    Many a young child emails me on how they want to a chef....sadly, most 'children' today, don't realize just how much work it is.....

    So here are a bit of random thoughts of what I have tried to piece together for people. It's about the process of how to look into this restaurant or other restaurants, and make sure that it is the ‘right’ kitchen job.



    11.02.2005

    Recipe: Savory Veggie Bread Pudding


    Getting on the fall dish wagon - the other day I made this amazing brioche bread pudding with sauteed veggies. It tasted so good, I came home from work and made it again for myself.



    Recipe: Peppery Egg Noodle, Farmer's Cheese & Cauliflower Gratin


    I have recently added Fine Cooking magazine to my monthly magazine recipe research for my clients. I have been pleasantly surprised at range and use of ingredients throughout their recipes - case in point - Peppery Egg Noodle, Farmer's Cheese & Cauliflower Gratin.

    Old school, French style casseroles are the best...but I do not do the Americanized, just add creme of mushroom soup casseroles. At least that is what I tell people when they call my service looking for the stuff your freezer full of casseroles style personal chefs.

    But this recipe is a case in point (thought I did doctor it up a little), that sometimes there is nothing better than a creme and buttery crusted - so perfect for fall - goodness.







    Recipe: Pea & Garrotxa Goat Cheese Salad


    (1 serving)
    • 2 Shallots, minced
    • 1/2 c. Sugar snaps
    • 1/2 c. Snow Peas
    • 1/4 c. shelled peas
    • 3 oz. Garrotxa, diced
    • 2 T. Tarragon, chopped
    • 2 t. Grainy Mustard
    • 2 T. Evoo Salt and Pepper
    1. Blanch and shock sugar snaps until al dente.
    2. Combine grainy mustard, tarragon and evoo, emulsify and set aside.
    3. Combine remaining ingredients and sugar snap peas, then drizzle and fold in mustard mixture.
    Recipe: Garrotxa - Pea and Goat Cheese Salad