04.14.09

The Greatest Two Words

Posted in Other Fun at 8:48 am by Chef Matt

In what was a complete run-away vote from the beginning, you have shown that the internet theme of passion for bacon has spilled over even on to this blog. “Bacon Wrapped” won with over 50% of the vote, so there was never a need for any sort of run-off vote anyway.

What two words in direct juxtaposition elicit the best image, concept or feeling with relation to food?
Selection		Votes
Accumulated Juices	8%	7
Deep Fried	13%	11
Rum Laced	6%	5
Bacon Wrapped	53%	46
Extra Butter	6%	5
Duck Fat	9%	8
Beer Braised	6%	5
87 votes total

And while I can’t argue about the results of a fair poll, allow me just to use my soapbox a little to say that the current trend of all things bacon-related on the internet is getting a little worrisome. And perhaps a tad lazy. There are some great blogs out there of course - like Bacon Unwrapped - that focus completely on bacon, and I see nothing wrong with those since they are writing on a topic, and they chose the topic of bacon.

No, I’m not posting a photo of one of these creations either.

But the fact that the internet can support several blogs on the topic of bacon means that others can score a quick spot of publicity off of making the most outrageous post on the meat. Like some kind of carnivorous arms race, everyone is trying to think up the biggest, most disgusting blob of meat involving bacon they can come up with to then cook, photo and blog about. The bacon explosion being the most egregious and infamous example of this. (For those of you who keep forwarding this to me, yes, I’ve seen it!)

That’s all I’ve got to say on the topic. I’m not planning on scoring any cheap hits off making some sort of bacon-wrapped jack-o-lantern or whatever either. (Feel free to use that idea come October…) And while perhaps I have seen the benefits of some bacon-related publicity inadvertently myself, I just want y’all to know I promise I won’t try to score any cheap publicity with photos of pounds and pounds of cooked bacon.

I’ll just quietly eat those giant globs of bacon I cook up in the privacy of my own home. As always.

Chef Matt

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04.10.09

My First Cookbook?

Posted in The Story, Recipes, My Cookbook at 8:45 am by Chef Matt

Just so you all don’t think I’m sitting around doing nothing in my spare time - which is stunningly close to the truth - I want to throw a small update your all’s way as to what I’m actually doing in the endless hours on the couch. I’m sifting through the countless pages, word files, notes in cookbooks and scraps of paper I have here and there and seeing if I have enough recipes to put together my first cookbook.

For now, it’s a mystery. And I hope to have a better cover and title…

“What is the cookbook about?” I hear you all asking. Well, at least I hope you are asking if you have read this far…

“I can’t fully tell you just yet,” I reply since I’m a jerk.

Seriously though, I have an angle on my cookbook that I want to keep quiet for the time being since I think the concept is one that nobody has actually ever attempted before. Hopefully the innovation inherent in my concept will provide me with a niche that could tip the scales in my favor towards actually getting this thing published somewhere. But I do think it is safe enough to let you all know that the main culinary thrust of the book will be - of course - Italian cuisine.

So if I can’t tell you fully what the book is about, why in God’s name am I telling you that I’m even doing this? There are two main reasons:

1. If I were to write a cookbook, or any kind of book, and not tell you all about it in the process, then there would be a certain level of betrayal from me to you, my loyal readers. This blog is about my evolving story in the culinary world, and I think this counts, so you all should know about my endeavors - even if they don’t pan out - from the get-go.

2. This post is acting as a “feeler” post among you - my aforementioned loyal readers - to see what/who you may know that could help me. The connections/opportunities that have literally fallen in my lap as a result of this blog thanks to you all has never ceased to amaze me. And maybe one of you out there knows/holds the key I need to know in order to get this book out there and published. If so, I would love to start down that path at the same time as I am compiling all these recipes together.

Mixed Seafood Risotto

1 recipe court bouillon (I will add this in a separate section - in the meantime this recipe works fine)
½ lb 20-24 shrimp – peeled and de-veined
20-25 mussels – in shells
4 cups “weak” chicken or seafood broth (basically 1/2 - 1/3 strength so as not to overpower your risotto)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 leek - white part diced, greener parts sliced in semi-circles – divided (deep green parts discarded)
½ medium white onion – small dice
2 cloves garlic – minced
½ cup white wine
1 cup risotto rice
3 tubes calamari – sliced thin
3 Tbsp vodka
Salt and pepper to taste
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1. Heat court bouillon to a light boil. Add shrimp and mussels and cook for 3 minutes. Remove seafood and cool in ice bath. Remove mussels from shells. Set cooked seafood aside, discard court bouillon.
   
2. Heat broth in small saucepan, keep warm through cooking.
   
3. In separate saucepan, melt butter and sauté white part of the leeks and the onion until translucent.
   
4. Add garlic, sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
   
5. Add rice, and cook while stirring until coated with butter and shiny, about 1 minute.
   
6. Add white wine, cook until absorbed by rice.
   
7. Add broth, 1-2 ladlefuls at a time, stirring between additions, letting rice absorb broth between each addition, until only 2 ladlefuls remain.
   
8. Add cooked shrimp and mussels as well as calamari rings to risotto, and cook for 2 minutes.
   
9. Add vodka and cook for 30 seconds.
   
10. Add remaining broth, cook until absorbed by rice, taste and correct for seasonings.
    
11. Remove risotto from heat, add butter and reserved sliced light green leeks.
    
12. Stir in fresh lemon juice and serve immediately.
    

Serves 3-4

If any of you out there have any ideas or contacts for the book, or if you want more details on how to cook risotto (which I cover elsewhere in my book), or even if you just want to say hi, drop me an email!

Chef Matt

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04.08.09

Lack of Pretension

Posted in The Story, Reviews at 4:48 pm by Chef Matt

Last weekend, I went to Portugal with Caroline, and we had a fabulous time. I won’t bore you with the travelogue of my trip, but rather cut straight to the chase with the food. I never thought the food of Portugal was going to astound me, since I had never really seen any Portuguese restaurants in DC when I was growing up. (Usually the lack of a specific country’s cuisine in restaurant-form in a “world city” like DC is a sure sign of how that country’s cuisine is not so awesome. Scotland for example…)

But I digress. I figured the food would be similar to that of southern Spain, possibly a bit more fish-focused, but all in all, nothing special. I was happy to discover I was wrong. We had some truly fabulous meals, but there is one in particular that stands out among the rest.

The courtyard of our lovely hotel.

When we arrived at our amazing hotel in Evora, the Albergaria do Calvario, we were presented with a list of local restaurants that they really thought were great. The first one on the list jumped out at us as being a family-run place with a real authentic Portuguese style. Well, if we were going to sample the local flavor, it should be “authentic,” right?

We had the hotel make a reservation at Taberna Tipica Cuarta-Feira, and thankfully they gave us the directions as well. We never would have found (or been able to pronounce the name of) this place on our own in the back-alleys of this medieval town. We were warmly welcomed, and sat down at one end of a large table on small wooden stools. Sliced local salamis and bread were there waiting for us next to our “Reservado” sign, and before we had even gotten comfortable, the owner’s son had brought us a warmed-just-to-melting piece of local cheese and asked us with a friendly smile what we would like to drink. Caroline had water and I had white wine.

Both were brought out quickly with two large button mushroom caps filled with olive oil, garlic and parsley, and quick-roasted in the oven. Such a simple melding of flavors, they were just fabulous, and they emptied their delicious juices all over the plate which just begged to be sopped up with more of the bread.

We had still not seen a menu, but that didn’t seem to matter, as we were thrilled with what was coming so far. And then the black pork arrived. I have learned this is a specialty of the house, and I can see why. Braised local pork neck is seasoned to perfection and braised to absolute succulence. Served with the best oven-roasted potatoes I’ve ever seen, saffron rice and a mashed spinach that was worrisome to look at, but delicious to eat! Every bite was enthralling. And the wine kept coming without my even having to ask!

Eating the early bird special? Hell no!

Since we are American, we were of course one of the early tables to be sat - even though we arrived at 8pm - and soon we saw more and more locals coming in and filling up the spots next to the other “Reservado” cards. And with each table, the same series of dishes arrived without asking. There were no menus. Just a cozy restaurant that could seat 30 people if it crammed in tight, with a father and son working the tables and the kitchen simultaneously (the mom seemed to be in the kitchen all the time) as if they had invited us all over to their house for dinner.

The dessert was a delicious almond cake and a local egg dish that is basically a broken custard. But the amount of sugar that is in there makes up for it’s condition, and it’s of course delicious. This was served with tiny glasses of a local wine that is similar to port, but they insisted was not port, since, well, this was Alentejo - not Porto.

As we slowly savored our desserts - since eating fast was now out of the question in our filled-to-bursting stomachs - we realized that this was perhaps one of the ten best meals we had ever had. It was simply fabulous. So we began to discuss some of the other great meals we would put in that category. I’m not going to burden you with more stories of great meals I’ve had, but rather cut to the surprising conclusion that we arrived at:

Almost NONE of the meals we put on the list were ones we’ve had at world-renowned restaurants.

We’ve eaten at plenty of them (not all of them to be sure, but enough to know what we’re talking about here…) and yet when we think back to the truly great meals, we kept coming up with were small cafes and unknown restaurants around the world that served food that was so authentic, so unpretentious, that it stayed in our minds forever.

The view is lovely - but that doesn’t make the food better - and it doesn’t necessarily make the meal memorable either…

And this meal was another such example. There was no menu - not because the chef was above such trivialities, but because that was all he and his wife could cook in one evening! This was beyond “traditional” Portuguese cuisine, this was being invited to the best dinner party in town. And these are the meals I’ll remember. I couldn’t speak to anyone else in the restaurant, and yet I felt like we were all good friends. Food this good, hosts this friendly, and the fact that I didn’t need to consider the opulence of my environment at any time all meant this was a meal to remember.

Furthermore, it gave me more of a sense of where I want to go as a chef. I always wondered what it was about some of the chefs I worked with that got under my skin, and now I can finally put my finger on it. Pretension. It’s bad enough to have to seek out the rarest ingredient to include in a dish, but then it always has to make an appearance on the menu as well so you can prove to your guests that you know more than they do. It’s like culinary “oneupsmanship”.

But as I now see, if you make great food, there is no need to show it off with the settings around you. There’s no need to have 14 different types of wine glasses and three sizes of spoons. There’s no need to come out to the tables and talk about the food, the guests are already enjoying it plenty. The simple truth is that good food needs to be written about. Great food speaks for itself.

This was a valuable lesson to receive. Now I just have to see how I can apply it as I go forward.

Chef Matt

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