1 tablespoon cilantro
¼ cup Marukome brand miso vinaigrette salad dressing Salt
Pepper
1 lime, sliced into 6 pieces
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1. Mix all of the fruit and vegetables and dress lightly with the dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with fresh lime wedges and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
Yield: 6 servings
GLAZED SALMON WITH MISO YAKI MARINADE
1 ½ pounds salmon, skin off
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Marukome miso yaki marinade
1 teaspoon scallions, finely chopped
1 teaspoon red bell pepper, finely chopped
Serve this with salad or simply with a little steamed brown rice.
1. Season the salmon with salt and 1 tablespoon of the miso yaki marinade for 2 hours before cooking.
2. Heat the broiler and cook the salmon for 4 minutes before turning it over and glazing it with the remaining miso yaki marinade. Cook for 4 more minutes, garnish with scallions and red bell pepper.
Yield: 4 servings
CELEBRITY CHEF RECIPES
Lidia Bastianich
Lidia Matticchio Bastianich is an award-winning chef, restaurateur, cookbook author and public television cooking show host. Her latest series, Lidia’s Italy, was nominated for an Emmy in 2008 and named Best National Cooking Show by the James Beard Foundation in 2009. She is also the host of several earlier series and author of companion books, including Lidia’s Family Table, Lidia’s Italian American Kitchen and Lidia’s Italian Table. Together with her daughter, Tanya, she wrote Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy, published in October 2009, along with another 52 episodes of Lidia’s Italy.
In addition to over ten years with public television, Lidia is well known for her acclaimed restaurants, including the three-star Felidia and Del Posto restaurants in New York, the popular theater district restaurant Becco and the Lidia’s restaurants in Kansas City and Pittsburgh. Lidia was named Outstanding Chef—U.S. and Outstanding Chef—New York by the prestigious James Beard Foundation.
Lidia and son Joseph Bastianich, well-known wine expert and restaurateur with multiple locations in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and beyond, also produce award-winning wines at the Bastianich and La Mozza vineyards in Italy.
MUSSELS WITH FARRO, CANNELLINI AND CHICKPEAS
(FARRO, FAGIOLI, CECI E COZZE)
From Lidia’s Italy (Knopf, 2007) As much as Puglia is about the land, it is also flanked by water: the Adriatic on one side and the Ionian Sea on the gulf side. Hence one finds a big tradition of seafood as one travels down to the tip of the heel. In the quaint seaside city of Trani, along the Adriatic shoreline, is a delightful restaurant called Le Lampare. There I was introduced to Farro con Legumi e Cozze, a beautiful stew of ceci and cannellini beans cooked with farro, one of my favorite grains, tossed before serving with savory mussels and their juices.
1 cup dried chickpeas
1 cup dried cannellini beans
½ cup chopped carrots
½ cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil plus more for finishing
1 cup farro or pearled barley
1 ½ teaspoons coarse sea salt or kosher salt
½ teaspoon peperoncino
4 garlic cloves, crushed, peeled and sliced
2 pounds mussels
4 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
1. Rinse the chickpeas and place in a bowl with cold water, covering them by 4 inches. Do the same with the cannellini in a separate bowl. Soak both for 12 to 24 hours.
2. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and put them in a 5-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan with about 7 cups of fresh cold water. Set the pot over medium-high heat and drop in the chopped carrot, celery and onion, the halved cherry tomatoes, and 4 tablespoons of the olive oil. Bring the water to a boil, partially cover the pan and adjust the heat to maintain a steady, bubbling simmer. Stir occasionally.
3. After the chickpeas have cooked for an hour, drain and rinse the cannellini and stir them into the pot. There should be at least an inch of liquid covering the beans; add more water if necessary. Return to the boil, partially cover and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring now and then.
4. Rinse the farro grains in a sieve and stir in with the beans, along with the 1 ½ teaspoons salt and ¼ teaspoon of the peperoncino. There should be about ¼ inch of liquid covering the beans and grain; add more if necessary. Return to the boil, partially cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or longer, until the beans and the farro are tender—add water if needed to keep the beans and grains barely covered with liquid as they finish cooking. When they are done, most of the surface water should have been absorbed or evaporated but the stew should be slightly soupy.
5. While the farro cooks, prepare the mussels. Pour the remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy 12-inch sauté pan, scatter in the garlic cloves and remaining ¼ teaspoon peperoncino. Cook for 3 minutes or so over medium-high heat, until the garlic is lightly colored, then add all the rinsed mussels at once. Tumble them around the pan quickly, to coat with oil and put on the cover. Cook over high heat for about 2 minutes, shaking the covered pan a couple of times, just until the mussels are open, and take the pan off the stove.
6. Shuck the mussels right over the pan, letting the juices and meat drop in. Discard the shells (and any mussels that did not open). If you like, leave a dozen or so mussels in the shell for a garnish.
7. When the farro and beans are cooked, pour the shucked mussels and their juices into the pot and stir well—the consistency should be rather brothy. Heat to the boil and cook for just a minute to make sure everything is nice and hot. Taste and adjust salt. Stir in the chopped parsley and spoon portions into warm pasta bowls; garnish with unshucked mussels if you saved them. Drizzle good olive oil over each and serve immediately.
To prepare in advance: Cook the beans and farro until tender, following recipe, and remove from the heat. Let them sit in the saucepan up to 3 hours (they will absorb liquid and thicken). Shortly before serving, cook and shuck the mussels. Stir the mussel juices into the beans and farro and heat slowly to a simmer. Stir in the mussels and finish as above.
Yield: 6 servings
Neal Fraser
Neal Fraser began his culinary career in Los Angeles at the age of twenty, working as a line cook at Eureka Brewery and Restaurant, one of Wolfgang Puck’s earliest restaurants. Inspired by this introduction to the life of a professional chef, Fraser entered the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Fraser is now partner and executive chef at GRACE and serves his New American cuisine in an atmosphere perfectly designed to complement the ambitious flavors of one of Los Angeles’ most revolutionary culinary talents.
SAUTÉED EUROPEAN SEA BASS WITH TOASTED COUSCOUS, ARTICHOKES, TOMATOES AND SAFFRON FENNEL BROTH
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 onions, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 head fennel, sliced
Olive oil
1 pinch saffron
1 vine-ripe tomato, seeded and chopped
1 cup white wine
Salt
2 cups lobster stock
2 ounces fresh basil, chopped
2 cups toasted couscous, preferably whole grain
4 medium to large artichokes
4 6-ounce fillets branzino (loup de mer) or other nice sea bass, skin on, pin bones removed
Pepper
1. Heat the garlic, 1 onion, celery and fennel with 2 ounces olive oil until translucent. Add the saffron, tomato, half the white wine and salt to taste.
2. Reduce wine mixture by two-thirds, then add the lobster stock and basil and simmer for 1 hour. Strain and skim off any fat. Set broth to the side.
3. In a medium pot, heat 1 onion in 2 ounces olive oil until translucent. Add couscous and salt to taste and cove
r with water. Cook over medium heat until couscous is tender. Set to the side.
4. Peel artichokes to the choke and set aside in a bowl of water.
5. In a small sauté pot add the remaining white wine, 1 onion and 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.
6. Preheat oven to 400°F.
7. Boil for 10 minutes, then add artichokes along with salt to taste and simmer over medium flame until tender. Set to side.
8. Heat oven-safe sauté pan with 2 ounces olive oil. Season the fish with salt and pepper and place in pan skin side down.
9. Place in preheated oven for approximately 2–5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.
10. Plate fish alongside couscous and artichokes; spoon on broth.
Yield: 4 servings
Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee was named among the “Top Ten Best New Chefs of 2006” by Food & Wine and “Best Chef 2005” by Philadelphia magazine as well as “Rising Star Chef of the Year” at the 2005 James Beard Awards. Lee became the executive chef for New York City restaurant Gilt in August 2006, where his cooking earned the restaurant two Michelin stars. Lee is currently the executive chef at Aureole in New York City.
CHILLED ENGLISH PEA SOUP WITH POACHED CANADIAN LOBSTER, BLOOD ORANGE, BABY PEA GREENS AND TARRAGON OIL
1 2-pound lobster
3 cups English peas, preferably fresh
3 shallots, peeled and sliced thin
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thin
1 rib celery, sliced thin
4 cups water or vegetable stock
1 cup soy milk
Salt
Pepper
1 bundle tarragon
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 blood orange
¼ pound baby pea greens
1. Remove the tail and claws from the body of the lobster. Cook the tail for 5 minutes and the claws for 7 minutes in boiling water seasoned with salt. Immediately after cooking, shock the tails and claws in an ice bath. Once cooled, remove all the meat from the shells and cut into a medium dice. Reserve until serving.
2. Blanch the peas in boiling salted water until tender, about 4 minutes, then shock in an ice bath.
3. Heat a 6-quart pot over medium heat with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and sweat the shallots, garlic and celery until tender. Then add the stock and cook for 25 minutes. Add soy milk and simmer for another 5 minutes. Allow to cool.
4. Once the base of the soup is cool add the blanched peas. Then blend the soup until smooth, pass through a fine strainer and season with salt and pepper. If the soup is a little too thick, thin it out with some water or soy milk. Refrigerate until serving.
5. Slice 2 tablespoons tarragon very thin and mix with 3 tablespoons vegetable oil. Combine with lobster and season with salt and pepper.
6. Peel the blood orange and cut into segments.
7. Using a small ring mold, make a nice mold of lobster salad in the middle of 4 bowls. Then pour the reserved soup around it and remove the mold. Place the blood orange segments on top of the lobster salad. Scatter the baby pea greens across the plate to finish.
Yield: 4 servings
Michael White
Michael White became the executive chef at Fiamma Osteria in New York City in 2002. The restaurant garnered a glowing three-star review from the New York Times and White was named Esquire’s Best New Chef of that year. White then published the cookbook Fiamma: The Essence of Contemporary Italian Cooking in 2006. After helming the kitchen at a number of other successful Manhattan restaurants, White opened Marea in May 2009 and received yet another overwhelmingly positive three-star review from the New York Times.
TUSCAN BEAN SOUP WITH KALE AND SPELT
3 cups barlotti or cranberry beans, or substitute pinto beans
1 cup farro (spelt) or wheat berries
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling 1 pound kale, preferably Tuscan, coarse stems removed, cut into thick ribbons (about 4 cups)
1 medium-large yellow onion, diced
1 large rib celery, trimmed and diced
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
5 cups vegetable stock
1 cup peeled, seeded and diced tomatoes
1 sprig rosemary
1 sprig sage
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
¼ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1. In separate bowls, cover the beans and faro with cold water and soak overnight. Drain and carefully pick through them to remove any pebbles or foreign matter. Set aside.
2. In a large heavy pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the kale, onion, carrot, celery and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the beans, farro, stock and tomatoes and bring the liquid to a boil.
4. Stir in the rosemary and sage, adjust the heat down so the liquid is simmering, and cook for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until the beans are tender.
5. If the soup is too thick, stir in additional vegetable stock as needed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Ladle the soup into large bowls, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and serve immediately.
Yield: 6 servings
Kim Canteenwalla
Chef Kim Canteenwalla brings twenty-five years of culinary expertise as president of Blau and Associates, a highly successful restaurant consulting firm with a client list that includes top hospitality establishments.
Most recently, Canteenwalla joined forces with Steve Wynn to open Society Café Encore as executive chef/partner at the new signature resort in the Wynn collection. The restaurant offers guests a classic American menu of old-school favorites with a modern twist. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and late into the night on weekends, Society Café Encore features enjoyable food in a casual, fun and dynamic atmosphere.
He began his culinary career in Montreal at the Institute of St. Denis. He continued to work in his native Canada as sous-chef for the luxury five-star Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto. He then went on to serve in executive chef positions that took him all over the world, including Raffles International Hotel Group; Hotel Le Royal Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and Grand Mirage Resort Bali, Indonesia.
Upon his return to North America, Chef Canteenwalla held the position of executive chef at Beau Rivage, where he met Elizabeth Blau. He was then recruited to serve as executive chef for the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Canteenwalla was invited to prepare a guest chef dinner and lecture to the graduate students at the internationally famed Swiss Ecole Hotelière in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 2005, Canteenwalla teamed up with chef and partner Kerry Simon for the Food Network’s Iron Chef America series and came home victorious.
NANTUCKET BAY SCALLOPS
6 ounces raw beluga lentils
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, crushed
8 ounces turkey bacon
3 ounces butter
3 ounces olive oil
4 ounces shallots, finely chopped
6 ounces zucchini, skin on, finely chopped
6 ounces yellow squash, skin on, finely chopped
4 ounces green beans, chopped fine
Kosher salt
Coarse black pepper
10-12 ounces (approximately 32-40 pieces) bay scallops, muscle removed
Mixed microgreens
2 ounces lemon oil
8 ounces Tomato Coulis (see below)
4–6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
2 ounces red pear tomatoes
2 ounces yellow pear tomatoes
4 ounces Bruno Rossi tomatoes
4–6 sprigs thyme
3 ounces extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Cook lentils in water with bay leaf and garlic for 10–15 minutes. Strain lentils and set aside. Discard bay leaf and garlic.
2. Portion turkey bacon into 12 small slices, then s
auté over medium heat until crispy. Set aside on paper towel to drain any excess oil.
3. Heat sauté pan with half of the butter and olive oil. Add chopped shallots, zucchini, yellow squash and green beans and sauté 3–5 minutes. Add cooked lentils, salt and pepper and sauté for another 3–5 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside.
4. Heat remaining olive oil and butter in sauté pan. Season scallops with salt and pepper, then sear scallops on high heat for less than a minute per side, until just carmelized. Save pan drippings and fold into lentil mixture.
5. Dress mixed microgreens with lemon oil and season with salt and pepper.
6. Place microgreens on one side of the plate. Streak the other side of the plate with tomato coulis and thyme sprigs. Place lentils on the middle of the plate, then place scallops on top of lentils. Garnish with turkey bacon.
TOMATO COULIS
Add all ingredients together in a blender and combine until smooth in consistency.
Tory Miller
Tory Miller is the executive chef & co-proprietor of L’Etoile Restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin, where his culinary creations begin with locally grown, sustainable and organic ingredients cultivated by numerous Wisconsin farmers. At L’Etoile, dinner menus always feature local ingredients, and a Wisconsin map hangs on the wall to show guests where their dinner comes from. Miller dedicates most of his free time to his partnership with Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch, advocating for fresh, local foods in the school system.
ROASTED WILD ALASKAN HALIBUT WITH GRILLED SWEET CORN SUCCOTASH
6 ears sweet corn
1 red onion
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 zucchini
1 red bell pepper
8 Sun Gold tomatoes
1 cup fresh edamame
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon chopped chives
½ teaspoon parsley
4 5-ounce fillets wild halibut
Canola oil
1. Peel back the outer layers of the corn, but don’t remove them completely. Remove the silk strands and fold back the husk. Soak the ears in cold water for about 20 minutes. Place on a hot grill for about 3 minutes on a side. (The outside will burn.) Set aside.
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