It's late, very late, and I'm packing for my return to San Francisco after six wonderful days in New York. The video shoot went well, and we finished an amazing seven video recipes in 48 hours.
This video recipe for smoked pork shank braised with white beans was filmed before I left, but due to my busy schedule, I wasn't able to finish editing and upload until today.
I'll add the ingredients and any other pertinent info that comes to mind when I get back home. Enjoy!
The rain finally stopped this afternoon, so I went for a nice long walk through the City. I was traveling through Little Italy when I happened upon Lombardi's.
I have seen this on countless food and history channel shows, as it claims to be the "original" NYC pizzeria.
I have received dozens of pizza recommendations from viewers and twitter followers, but since I was standing right there (and hungry) I decided to grab a small pepperoni and take care of dinner and breakfast with one twenty-dollar bill.
The super-heated coal-fired oven gave the impossibly thin crust a great crisp, chewy texture that is the hallmark of New York's famous pies. It was delicious, but I won't call it the "best" yet, since I still have a couple days to sample.
Tomorrow I start a "seven video recipes in 48 hours" job in Brooklyn, which I've heard, from more than one person, is home to the best pizza anywhere. We shall see. By the way, on the same street as Lombardi's I saw "Rice to Riches," a place that just serves rice pudding. Dozens of kinds of rice pudding, and that's it.
I may have to check it out before I leave, and report back. Stay tuned!
I can't post this video recipe until I return from New York next week, but trust me, it will be worth the wait. This may have been the best soup I've ever made (and maybe, ever eaten!). Stay tuned.
I'm on Virgin Airlines Flight 12, about 45 minutes away from landing in NYC. I heading to the Big Apple to do some filming for About.com and as luck would have it, this weekend is the company's annual guide event. Not sure when or what I'll be posting, but whatever it is, I promise to offer it at the same low prices you're used to!
The Virgin planes have wireless internet, so I decided to do a quick post, complete with close-up of my fat head with some old guy in the background. This is my first time on Virgin (get it?), and I'm loving the leather seats and personal TV in the headrest. Anyway, gotta go, here comes the attendant and I'm going to try and score some extra pretzels. Stay tuned!
This short and not-too-sweet granola video recipe is a sort of test run for another video I'm going to be shooting for About.com when I'm in New York City this week (details tomorrow). Granola is amazingly simple to make, and significantly cheaper than those "gourmet" varieties sold at the local health food store.
Besides rolled oats and some type of sweetener, there really are no rules for granola. Here I've added a nice trio of crunch and texture with almonds, pumpkin seeds (that I call sunflower seeds in the video for some reason!), and coconut.
Dried fruit is also a common ingredient, with raisins being the most common, but you know me, and my love (borderline fetish) for currants, so I used those. This recipe is also very light in regards to the sugar. Some granola recipes are closer to candy than cereal, and call for making heavy syrups with which to soak the dry ingredients. I prefer a looser, crumbly, barely-sweet granola, but if you do want yours a bit sticker, simply double the maple syrup called for below. Also, as I mention in the video, if you don't already have a silicon baking mat, making this recipe would be the perfect excuse to get one -- they are so incredibly useful, you won't regret it.
This type of granola makes a great cereal, and I would think you parents out there could turn this into a fun project to make with the kids. The fresh fruit and yogurt parfait you see at the end of the clip is perfect for kids of all ages, and really makes a great breakfast or snack. And yes, I did steal the idea from McDonald's. Enjoy!
Ingredients: (this can easily be doubled) 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 3 tbsp maple syrup 2 tbsp vegetable oil 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/2 cups rolled oats 1/2 cup chopped or slivered almonds 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds 1/3 cup shredded coconut Bake at 250 degrees F. for 1 hour (or until golden brown), stirring every 15 minutes. View the complete recipe
This three-part video blog chronicles an epic, 24-item tasting menu, done for Foodbuzz's "24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blog Posts" global “live blogging” event. The story behind this is…well, why don’t I let my friends at Foodbuzz explain.
"The idea for the "24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs," was born out of our goal in wanting to create a global "blogging" event that would celebrate the scope, diversity and quality of our Featured Publisher Community. The "24, 24, 24" captures the cultural diversity and unique local perspective of our Featured Publishers: it's real food, experienced by real people shared real-time." I'd planned for my "Found on Foodbuzz" menu to be inspired by mindlessly surfing the site - looking at photos, scanning restaurant reviews, browsing blog posts, and reading recipes. I wanted the meal to be an edible steam of culinary consciousness. The deliciously diabolical feature of Foodbuzz, is the way you are teased and tempted to go from one piece of content to another - a photo takes you to a blog post, which takes you to a recipe, where you see a foodie's profile picture that you can't help click on, because it looks like bacon.
In no time, I had a notepad full of apps, mains, sides, and sauces. Clearly, seven courses weren't going to be enough. The menu quickly expanded to nine courses, then 12, and then I realized…Foodbuzz had taken control. My "24, 24, 24" menu was going to be 24 courses, and I was powerless to stop it.
So, without further adieu, I present my 24-item tasting menu, divided into three easily digested parts. The videos were shot over the course of the six-hour meal. Enjoy!The Beginning: Items 1 to 8 One: Caviar on Pringles Is this the first time caviar has ever been paired with Pringles? Maybe. At the risk of seeming immodest, I think the footage of Nora tasting caviar for the first time is priceless. Two: Tuna Poke This diced sushi-grade Ahi tuna was dressed lightly with ginger juice, Sambal chili sauce, minced green onion, and a spot of soy sauce. As I spooned the glistening jewels of fish on to the crisp fried wontons, I wondered why I like poke so much more than tartar.
Three:Seared Tuna A Nicoise-inspired tuna, featuring one of the kitchen's sexiest sights - the rare, ruby-red center of the loin, framed by seared, cumin and pepper flecked crust. It was really nice with the "just tender" green beans, which held the fragrant meat above a dark and delicious black olive tapanade.Four: Tuna Stuffed Tomato I've never understood the tuna stuffed tomato. Why stuff, when you can just throw some tomato wedges in a tuna salad and tuck in? That being said, I can’t imagine this would have been quite the same. The tuna trimmings from the last two courses were slowly poached in warm olive oil, spiked with capers, garlic, and salt. When cool, the tuna was stuffed into small dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes from Wild Boar Farms. These were sublime. Five: Smoked Salmon and Fried Capers This smoked salmon, purchased at Whole Foods, bore the name of Chicago celebrity chef, Charlie Trotter. It had a great texture, with a nice balance of sweet citrus flavors. The fried capers were a perfect foil to the salmon's rich, oily, goodness.Six: Shrimp Cocktail on Tomato Ice This may have been my favorite course. The sweet wild shrimp, buttery avocado, and homemade cocktail sauce, hot with horseradish, all sitting on an intensely flavored tomato ice. I was stunned at how beautiful the frozen, freshly squeezed cherry tomato juice looked. It was a color that can only be created with food. Seven: Seared Salmon on Dill Cucumbers, and Smoked Paprika Oil I loved the contrast of hot, seared salmon resting on cold, diced cucumber salad. The dressing, made from just two ingredients, yogurt and fresh dill, rewarded my self-control.
Eight: Butter Lettuce Salad with Sweet Herb Dressing Sometimes you need a break from the ubiquitous baby mixed greens, and what better way than a head of soft, sweet butter lettuce?
The Middle: Items 9 to 16Nine: Chicken Wonton Soup I know I fold them like tortellini, but who cares? The memory of that gingery chopped chicken, encased in tender, translucent wonton skins, bathed in the rich homemade chicken broth, is still so vivid.
Ten: Grilled Quail with Cherry Tomatoes and Curry Oil Yogurt really is a magical marinade. Combined with an aromatic blend of curry spices, it made the sweet, delicate meat of the quail come alive. Eleven: Chicken Ballantine with Dijon Cream I couldn't decide what stuffing to use, so I decided to not use one; and it was spectacular. Salt, pepper, and fresh garden herbs were the reason this chicken tasted like…chicken. Also, I promise to show the butcher-tie used to truss this chicken. That reminds me, isn’t the Folsom Street Fair happening soon? (Preceding joke intended for Bay Area readers only)Twelve: Duck Confit with Arugula, Green Lentils and Berry Gastrique I've done the gastrique recipe in several videos, and it has to be the easiest, most delicious sauce for game ever.
Thirteen: Wild Boar Sausage with Mission Figs and Balsamic Reduction It really is surprising how differently wild and domestic pork tastes. The flavor of this sausage was so much bigger - it almost has a Pate quality to it. I say let the pigs roam free.
Fourteen: Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Pickled Peppers and Shallots A quick pickle using sweet peppers made a beautiful base for the mild, tender pork. It was topped with caramelized shallots to balance the acidity. It was delicious, but as I ate, I thought how great the cold sandwich was going to be.
Fifteen: Pork Shoulder with White Bean Puree and Sage Jus When you get to heaven, you and your God sit down on beanbag chairs, and eat slow-roasted pork shoulder. This includes everyone, even vegans.
Sixteen: French Onion Soup Forget about muffin tops, what if we opened a store that just sold the top of the French onion soup? Now, what would we call it? The cave-aged Gruyere cheese, browned over soup-soaked bread, is unlike anything else in the world.
The End: Items 17 to 24Seventeen: Baby Romaine with Anchovy Citronette Why is every salad that has romaine lettuce called a Caesar? And why are there so many ways to spell Cesar? If you've never made a citronette, check out the video recipe here.
Eighteen: Beef Tenderloin with Melted Leeks and Wild Mushrooms This incredibly tender cut of beef gets no respect from the Ribeye crowd. They say it's too mild, to soft, to delicate. Well, for pairing with melted leeks and chanterelles, I say it's the perfect cut.
Nineteen: Dry-Aged Coulotte Steak with Potato Gratin and Tarragon Reduction I love potato gratin so much, that I sometimes decide which entrée to order based on what meat is being served with it. This course was an experiment with the home "dry-aging" of steak. It was proclaimed a success by all present.Twenty: Braised Beef Short Ribs scented with Chocolate and Cinnamon You have to taste this before you say it's "too weird." The spices do strange and wonderful things to the sticky beef, and you should be take advantage.Twenty-one: Selles-sur-Cher Goat Cheese with Frog Hollow Peach As much as I love this funky fromage, it was almost an afterthought once we tasted the impossibly sweet and juicy "Autumn Fire" peach from Fog Hollow Farms.Twenty-two: Manchego Cheese and Membrillo This course is an edible tribute to the expression, "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts." This is two great ingredients combining to make magic. I've also done a fantastic quesadilla using this combo.
Twenty-three: Flourless Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Ice Cream I was concerned that after 22 courses this would be too decadent a dessert. I was wrong.
Twenty-four: A Single Macadamia Nut Could you eat just one?
PostscriptI think this 24-item menu may be some kind of world's record for a video blog. If anyone wants to check with Guinness for me, I would really appreciate it. Tomorrow, I will attempt to link this post to previous video recipes for techniques used on this menu. If you want to see something demo'd from this menu, please let me know!
If you want to check out the other 23 bloggers that took part, you can find links to their "24, 24, 24" meals here. A very special thanks to Ryan, and the entire Foodbuzz team, for imagining and organizing such a unique event! It was an unbelievable experience, and I am so glad I got to participate. It was weeks of planning, two-days of cooking, six-hours of eating, and an almost all-night editing session to complete, but I can honesty say I enjoyed every minute.
An extra special thanks to my wife Michele. Without all her hard work I could not have pulled this off. Also, thanks to Tony and Nora for their help, and for sharing in this memorable meal.
Random Facts and Figures
Approximately 45 Foodbuzz pages were perused in the planning of this meal.
The menu was changed 7 times before this final version.
58 unique ingredients were purchased at 12 different San Francisco markets.
Incredibly, bacon was not used anywhere in this menu. How was that possible?
The misenplace took 18 hours of prep, over the course of four days.
No fingers or hands were harmed in the making of this meal.
The combined running time for these three videos is 18:04. This was edited down from 41 minutes of raw footage.
I mentioned gremolata at the end of the recently posted Fresh Corn and Shelling Bean Ragout video recipe, and here it is. This sharp, fresh, and very green Italian condiment is the perfect garnish to those rich, stick-to-your-ribs recipes that dominate fall and winter menus.
I not only used this batch of gremolata to top the shelling beans, but it will also make an appearance on a fabulous smoked pork shank and white bean dish I'm posting soon. As you'll see, this is an ultra-simple recipe, and one that makes so many great foods even better. When I went out to the garden to harvest some parsley, I was faced with one of the drawbacks of my super-busy month of travel and events… unnoticed, my parsley had gone to seed, and there weren't enough leaves to do the recipe with.
Time was very short, so I ran out to the corner market, which only had bunches of curly parsley. The horror. I'm sure you've heard me making fun of chefs that still garnish plates with curly parsley on videos in the past, and in general I always use the flat leaf Italian variety. But, I have to admit, ridiculous garnishing aside, it was fine.
I do prefer the somewhat stronger flavor of Italian parsley, but once minced fine, as in this recipe, the much-maligned curly leaf does an admirable job. Besides, I realize there is still a segment of the population whose only parsley purchasing choice is the curly, and so this goes out to all of you. Enjoy!
Ingredients (adjust to your tastes!): 2 tbsp minced fresh parsley 1 large garlic clove, crushed fine 1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest 1 tbsp olive oil salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste (optional)
It's late, very late, and I'm packing for my return to San Francisco after six wonderful days in New York. The video shoot went well, and we finished an amazing seven video recipes in 48 hours.
The rain finally stopped this afternoon, so I went for a nice long walk through the City. I was traveling through Little Italy when I happened upon Lombardi's.
The super-heated coal-fired oven gave the impossibly thin crust a great crisp, chewy texture that is the hallmark of New York's famous pies. It was delicious, but I won't call it the "best" yet, since I still have a couple days to sample.
I'm on Virgin Airlines Flight 12, about 45 minutes away from landing in NYC. I heading to the Big Apple to do some filming for About.com and as luck would have it, this weekend is the company's annual guide event. Not sure when or what I'll be posting, but whatever it is, I promise to offer it at the same low prices you're used to!
This short and not-too-sweet granola video recipe is a sort of test run for another video I'm going to be shooting for About.com when I'm in New York City this week (details tomorrow). Granola is amazingly simple to make, and significantly cheaper than those "gourmet" varieties sold at the local health food store.
I prefer a looser, crumbly, barely-sweet granola, but if you do want yours a bit sticker, simply double the maple syrup called for below. Also, as I mention in the video, if you don't already have a silicon baking mat, making this recipe would be the perfect excuse to get one -- they are so incredibly useful, you won't regret it.
This three-part video blog chronicles an epic, 24-item tasting menu, done for Foodbuzz's "24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blog Posts" global “live blogging” event. The story behind this is…well, why don’t I let my friends at Foodbuzz explain.
The deliciously diabolical feature of Foodbuzz, is the way you are teased and tempted to go from one piece of content to another - a photo takes you to a blog post, which takes you to a recipe, where you see a foodie's profile picture that you can't help click on, because it looks like bacon.
One: Caviar on Pringles
Six: Shrimp Cocktail on Tomato Ice
Nine: Chicken Wonton Soup
Twelve: Duck Confit with Arugula, Green Lentils and Berry Gastrique
Seventeen: Baby Romaine with Anchovy Citronette
Twenty: Braised Beef Short Ribs scented with Chocolate and Cinnamon
Twenty-two: Manchego Cheese and Membrillo
I think this 24-item menu may be some kind of world's record for a video blog. If anyone wants to check with Guinness for me, I would really appreciate it. Tomorrow, I will attempt to link this post to previous video recipes for techniques used on this menu. If you want to see something demo'd from this menu, please let me know!
I mentioned gremolata at the end of the recently posted Fresh Corn and Shelling Bean Ragout video recipe, and here it is. This sharp, fresh, and very green Italian condiment is the perfect garnish to those rich, stick-to-your-ribs recipes that dominate fall and winter menus.
Time was very short, so I ran out to the corner market, which only had bunches of curly parsley. The horror. I'm sure you've heard me making fun of chefs that still garnish plates with curly parsley on videos in the past, and in general I always use the flat leaf Italian variety. But, I have to admit, ridiculous garnishing aside, it was fine.