Moments of Culinary Contemplation

Without getting too sappy, there are moments in the life of a food enthusiast that are quite emotional, they are worth pondering over and writing about.  One such moment took place a few weeks ago in London, where I found myself sharing a lunch table with two of the world's most recognized and respected culinary figures.

In fact, the vast majority of the world's top Chefs were present at Nuno Mendez's Chiltern Tavern in Marylebone that day.  The luncheon was a celebration of the World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards for 2014.  Fortunately, my day job affords me the opportunity to participate in such eponymous events.  The feeling was that of sheer awe.

Right to Left: Tanongsak Yordwai & David Thompson of Nahm, Mason Florence, the Academy Chair of Southeast Asia, me, Fergus Henderson & Trevor Gulliver of St. John

I was honored and delighted to be having a meal with David Thompson, Asia's No. 1 Chef 2014 (Restaurant Nahm, Bangkok) and the winner of the World's Lifetime Achievement Award, Chef Fergus Henderson (St. John, London).  Two legendary men in their own right.  Nothing could be wrong with the world.

Thompson, an Australian, almost single-handedly reworked how we cook and eat Thai food. In his quest for perfecting his Thai palate and cooking skills, he uncovered and studied recipes put together by Thai families at funerals.  Books for the dead that contained the deceased's favorite recipes.  By doing so, Thompson brought back hundreds of years of tradition and experimentation to a cuisine that's already steeped in history.  A truly fabled Chef d'Oeuvre.  (Pun very much intended).

As for Henderson, he pioneered the nose-to-tail concept of cooking with offal, a trend that continues to gain popularity worldwide.  With no formal training, he never worked under any other Chef before opening St. John, a shining beacon to British cuisine.

The inimitable Trevor Gulliver, Fergus Henderson's business partner at Restaurant St. John

Here's another photo to mark this fabulous occasion, as well as the video of the awards themselves.  You may notice I had a broken arm on stage (yes, again!),  Don't believe a word Mark the presenter said about how I got injured.  Send me an message if you want to know the REAL story!

With Switzerland's Top Chef and 50 Best winner, Andreas Caminada of Schloss Schauenstein

Food Rules 2014.

This year, it’s all about un-boring your kitchen pantry and keeping your dining experiences interesting.  Below are my new food rules for 2014, followed by random food (and other) pics from the past year.  Enjoy!

One of my favorite dishes of 2013: Braised Beef Cheeks at Viajante Restaurant, London

My Food Rules 2014

• Ethnic enclaves are your new food source.  Head to a Chinatown or a Little Russia near you and teach your grocery list a new language.  Cook a Borscht this winter.  Or challenge yourself with a simple, Chinese-inspired duck recipe. 

• Discover novel ingredients at ethnic food stores.  Talk to the staff for inspiration, and spice up old favorite recipes.  

• Tinker with your repertoire of classic dishes: add sumac to your fried eggs (see my previous post).  Transform bland rice by cooking it with cardamom and other spices.

• Expand your palate’s comfort zone: find an ethnic eatery in your town and discover amazing, well-balanced flavors in cuisines like Eritrean, Burmese, Indonesian, West African.  

• Dive into country-regional cuisines:  Southern India, Baja California Mexican, Ligurian. Experiment with a few recipes then host a themed dinner around these regions.

• Mix and match: make it interesting and international: At a recent dinner party, I served French Smoked Salmon Rillettes for starters, followed by American Chicken Pot Pie, Italian Arugula Salad with Bartlett pears, dressed with a beautifully simple cider vinaigrette, and I finished off the meal with Almond Macarons with hazelnut spread and homemade jams.

• Spread the love: Create a potluck dinner around a theme with a few of your favorite home-cook friends.

• Get to know your favorite wine vendor.  Try buying different wines. A silky-smooth, white Tokai from Slovenia, or an almost effervescent Lebanese Chateau Ksara Rosé?  Both are inexpensive but fabulously satisfying wines, available for purchase online. 

• Rock out to an international music playlist for your dinner party.

• Decorate with flowers and candles everywhere, but don’t overdo it with scents.  The aromas should be coming from the food you’re serving.  Flowers and candles are there for a complementary visual effect.

A fabulous time with a colleague at Galerie Joy at the Fouquet's Barriere, Paris

Europe's youngest 3-Michelin star Chef, Andreas Caminada, of the magical Schloss Schauenstein, Switzerland

Chef Narisawa, Asia's No.1 Chef for 2013 

My dish of roasted Lebanese meatballs, always a hit!

Lebanese Lentil Soup, perfect for Winter!

Chef Nadia Santini (Italy), World's Best Female Chef 2013

Chef Peter Gilmore, Restaurant Quay, Australia

The incredible Eric Ripert, from Le Bernardin, New York

One of my new recipes from 2013: Lentil Chicken

Chef Heston Blumenthal of the Fat Duck in Bray, UK

Shopping for olive oil at Borough Market, London

Breakfast in Lebanon: hummus, savory minty yogurt, pickles, eggs in mutton lard and more!

Perfume with dinner at Malabar, Lima, Peru

A (casual) dinner at Mom's in Beirut!

I love Tuesdays! "Bone Lick BBQ" in Atlanta

Before...

After!

The great Chef Justin Wangler from Partake in Healdsburg with Tucker Taylor, Culinary Gardener at Kendall-Jackson

Pot Pie, undressed

Pot Pie, after hair & make-up

Cooking on a heated salt slab at the Winter Fancy Food Show 2014

With the inspirational Jim Stott, co-founder of Stonewall Kitchen at the Winter Fancy Food Show 2014

With Rodolphe Le Meunier, Meilleur Ouvrier de France 2007 at the Winter Fancy Food Show 2014

“A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch.” ~ James Beard

Eggs For The Weekend

I enjoy cooking with eggs.  My favorite story as a chubby little kindergartner (with a BIG appetite) was "The Little Red Hen", a popular Russian folk tale about the virtues of the work ethic and personal initiative.  But at 4 years old, none of that mattered to me.  I was only interested in the illustrations depicting anything to do with food and eating.

The book was full of wonderful illustrations, such as the planting of a few wheat grains that the little red hen came across one day on the farm.  Later in the story, she harvests the wheat and mills it into flour.  All on her own, without the help of any of the other farm animals.  Then there's that perfect kitchen in her "house", where she baked her delicious bread loaf and enjoyed it with her chicks, shutting out the other animals for being too lazy to help.

Come to think of it, that story was my first ever cookbook!

But back to eggs.  They're a great source of protein and a very versatile pantry staple that combines beautifully with many other ingredients. We all have our favorite egg recipes - and mine are numerous -  but I have two standouts that I make all the time.

Baked frittata with corn, blue cheese, onion and parsley

The first recipe I learned from my grandmother, a talented home cook who took a simple approach to cuisine, with astonishing results. She fried her eggs in olive oil and spiced them with sumac, a common flavoring agent in Mid-Eastern kitchens.  The zesty citrus taste of sumac cuts through the richness of the eggs which become crispy from frying in the oil.

The second recipe is a baked frittata that I put together from whatever I had in my fridge that day, and it became an instant hit.  Sweet corn pairs fabulously well with the strong blue cheese, mixed with parsley and onions for an herby and earthy balance.  

Sumac-Spiced Eggs

serves 4

8 fresh, organic eggs

3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1.5 Tbs sumac (found in specialty/health food stores)

salt to taste

In your favorite skillet - I prefer cast iron - heat oil until hot and begins to ripple.  Crack eggs in the skillet.  Sprinkle with salt and sumac and fry until the desired doneness is achieved.  I cover the eggs and cook to over-medium, where the whites are firm but the yolk is still runny.

Baked Frittata with Corn and Blue Cheese

serves 4 

4 fresh, organic eggs, beaten

1/2 bunch chopped Italian parsley (about a cup)

3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
15-ounce (425 gr) can of corn (or 2 cups frozen corn, thawed)

salt & fresh black pepper to taste

olive oil cooking spray

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Spray a 9-inch (23 cm) pie plate with cooking spray (or brush with a little olive oil).  In a large bowl, whisk together the first five ingredients. Set aside.  Sautee onion in oil until translucent and beginning to brown.  Add to egg mixture and fold to combine.  Pour mixture into pie plate and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove frittata from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Frittata cross-section

Random Pic: "Turkey S & M"

My Thanksgiving turkey wrapped in Saran while it dry-brined.

Cooking While Broken.

After Peru, I had a few days' pause at home in San Francisco before it was time to go back to Switzerland, one of my favorite places on the planet. Mind you, I had a broken finger on this trip, so that part wasn't much fun at all. But I was committed to giving a guest lecture to a brilliant group of hospitality management students there. Not going was absolutely out of the question.

I woke up to the first day of snow in Chateau d'Oex, near Gstaad

The historic Castle of Chillon in Montreux

In spite of my handicap, I was determined to take advantage of every bit of free time I had when I wasn't working, in order to sight-see and do some cooking for my friends. In hindsight, the latter was probably not the smartest thing I've ever done.

My experience with one-handed cooking? I don't recommend it.  

But the next day it was sunny again on the lake in Montreux

However, I highly recommend that you try the fabulous meatballs recipe below, a favorite of mine which I somehow managed to test and tweak while I was there. Also check out the random selection of pics I took on the trip, including how to hot-tub with a broken finger.  

Glam.or.ous!

Hot-tubbing for the broken

Delicious Swiss breakfast in Valais

The view from my friend Jacques' house in La Croix, Montreux

Braised Meatballs with Dried Cherries & Labneh - adapted from Chef Yotam Ottolenghi's original recipe

The finished product

750 g (1.65 lbs.) minced lamb (not too lean, a few specks of fat in the meat will make it tasty) 2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped 20 g (0.7 oz.) parsley, finely chopped 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 1 tsp each ground allspice and cinnamon 70 g (2.5 oz.) dried cherries, roughly chopped (dried plums work well, too!) 1 free-range egg Salt and black pepper 100 ml (0.5 cups) sunflower oil 700 g (1.5 lbs.) shallots (or sweet onions), peeled 200 ml (1 cup) white wine 500 ml (about 2 cups) chicken stock 2 bay leaves 2 sprigs fresh thyme 2 tsp sugar 150 g (5.3 oz.) dried figs 200 g (7 oz.) good Labneh, aka Lebanese Yogurt (Greek yogurt works just as well) 3 tbsp of your favorite fresh herbs (such as mint, coriander, dill or tarragon), torn roughly

Meatballs a-cookin'!

In a large bowl, put the lamb, onions, parsley, garlic, allspice, cinnamon, dried cherries, egg, half a teaspoon of black pepper and a teaspoon of salt. Mix with your hands and roll into rounds about the size of a golf ball.

Heat one-third of the oil in a large, heavy-based pot for which you have a tight-fitting lid. Over medium heat, cook the meatballs a few at a time, turning them around for a few minutes on medium heat, until colored all over. Remove from the pot and set aside. Repeat with the remaining meatballs.

Wipe the pot clean and add the remaining oil. Add the whole peeled shallots and cook them over a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until golden-brown all over. Pour in the wine, leave it to bubble for a minute or two, then add the stock, bay leaves, thyme, sugar and some salt and pepper.

Arrange the figs and browned meatballs around and about the shallots; the meatballs need to be almost submerged in liquid. Bring to a boil, cover the pot with a lid, reduce the heat to minimum and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer for another hour, until the sauce has reduced and intensified in flavor. Taste and season as needed.

Transfer the contents of the pan to a large, deep serving dish. Whisk the labneh, pour this over the top, sprinkle with herbs and serve with your favorite white rice.

Enjoy!

Maroun

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