craftsteak Las Vegas

So I was in Vegas this past weekend. As much as I wanted to get around and eat at every good restaurant, I ended up only being able to go out once for a nice dinner due to some transportation/communications snafoos with friends and such.

I was in the mood for steak, and didn't want to do the traditional American steakhouse thing. For one, I tend to be disappointed every time I do it, and I find that the high price tag of the Morton's-type club eatery not worth it. While there are many choices in Vegas, I decided to limit it to two choices. My first choice was Thomas Keller's Bouchon at the Venetian, and my second, Tom Colicchio's CraftSteak at the MGM Grand. I was going to take my friend with me, so I printed out the menus and let him choose. Since we're both currently watching (read: addicted) to Top Chef on Bravo, we decided to go to CraftSteak.

We arrived at about 7:30 on a Saturday night with no reservations, but were given a club table almost immediately in the bar section, since there was a huge party that couldn't decide what they were going to do. Score!

The atmosphere was nice. Leather wall panels and steel beams and the back wall of the bar was all glass showing the wine cellar behind it. The only thing I could say that I didn't like about the atmosphere was that the air was very stale, and it was warm. I have a tendency to get flushed in places like this, so I had to have the waitress bring me a glass of ice water (for dabbing on my forehead) and a vodka rocks asap. Once I cooled off though, it was fine.

Onto the food. I got three of the Olde Salt Oysters from VA which were absolutely screaming fresh and succulent/sweet. We then ordered the Kobe Beef Tartare for our appetizer. I've had a lot of tartare, but this one really took the cake for me. Buttery, unctuous, tangy, sweet... I don't know that I have the words or the memory to describe it, since I basically had a mini-orgasm when I took the first bite. As jaded as I can be about food sometimes, this was just plain wonderful.

For our main course, I ordered the 10oz. Bison New York Strip (med-rare), and my friend ordered the King Salmon. We're both experienced cooks, but my friend was flabbergasted when offered to choose his salmon's temperature (med-rare). For sides, we got grilled asparagus and potato gratin. I'm a real stickler for steak temperatures, but the first (and every) bite I had of the bison steak was SPOT on. Nice and crusty on the outside, nice and pink/red in the middle, and HOT. It was well rested enough that all the juice stayed in the meat and not run on into the jus that was served with it. Heaven. The salmon was equally delicious, all buttery and crunchy all at the same time. To be honest, the sides were competent but not earth shattering, which was ok, since the main dishes were so amazing. They really were just there to support the main protein and not overshadow it.

By the time we were done with the main courses, we looked through the dessert menus and decided that while everything looked very tempting, that it'd be best not to overdo it. Despite not ordering any dessert, we each got three pieces of something sweet from the pastry chef. A nice chocolate browny, an Italian Amaretto cookie, and a peanut butter fudge. All in all, I felt like I was in paradise.

Not only was the food great, but what really made the evening even more special was the server we had. She was so nice and attentive without being in our face. I actually left an almost 40% tip since the experience she provided was that great.

If this experience is a testament to the level of cooking that Tom Colicchio does in his own kitchen, I was more than thouroughly impressed -- yeah, he's got the chops to judge other chefs/cooks. Don't think about this one. Just go. You won't regret it.

Random Recipe: Two Garden Lamb

Two Garden Lamb

I created this recipe on a day when I had the “what the hell can I?” moments of having an ingredient (butterflied leg of lamb) and not having planned anything special around it. I pretty much thought through various flavor combinations and decided on this particular combination. It’s called “two garden lamb” because I ended up going to both the side garden (for the sage and parsley) and the back yard to get some lemons. I wouldn’t recommend using dried herbs in place of the fresh ones here.


2.5 pounds butterflied (boneless) leg of lamb
1 clove of garlic
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the oil rub:

Extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
1 cup fresh parsley
5 fresh sage leaves (medium-sized)
½ cup fresh rosemary
Juice of ½ lemon
Salt and Pepper

For the stuffing:

8 oz. cremini (brown) mushrooms
½ onion
2 cloves of garlic
Pinch of rosemary leaves
Pinch of dried porcini powder
1 TS unsalted butter
Olive oil
1 TS pancetta, diced


Preheat oven to 375F

Take out the lamb from the refrigerator and poke slits into it with a sharp knife. Slice the clove of garlic thin and stuff the lamb with the garlic slices. Mix together the oil rub ingredients and rub generously onto all the exposed meat.

Saute the sliced mushrooms with the onion until nice and golden brown in a little butter. Cube the pancetta and add into the pan as well, let cool about 10 minutes once done.

Chop the herbs together in and mix with the sauted mushroom mixture and the rest of the stuffing ingredients. Spread stuffing onto the meat.

Tie the roast back up and tie it into shape with butcher’s twine and then heat a pan to smoking. Sear the roast on all sides, and then let rest for 10 minutes.

Place the roast into the middle of the oven and cook until the internal temperature reaches about 130 for a medium-rare. Remove the roast from the oven, and let rest for 5-10 minutes with a loose foil cover.

Carve and serve!

WCC 3 -- Hanger Steak with Wild Mushroom Demi-Glace Sauce

I'm trying a new format here. Instead of hiding the weekly recipes inside comments, I'm going to make a new entry for them.

Here's my recipe for the week:

Hangar Steak with Wild Mushroom Demi-Glace Sauce

Ingredients (serves 2):

1 Pound Dry Aged Hanger (rib eye) Steak, preferably 1.75- 2 inches thick, cut into two pieces
1/2 cup Brandy to flambe with

For the Mushroom Sauce:

1 oz Dry Porcini Mushrooms
1/2 Pound Cremini Mushrooms, sliced thin
5-6 Fresh Morel Mushrooms, sliced into strips
2 Large Shiitake Mushrooms, cubed
2 sprigs fresh Thyme
4 TS Unsalted butter
4 Shallots, minced
4 cloves Garlic, minced
3 cups Red Wine (I use Shiraz for this, but any bold red -- zin, cab, syrah, etc. would do)
2 TS veal Demi-Glace
Salt/Fresh black Pepper
Oil


Directions

2-4 Hours in advance:

Place 1 cup of wine and the dry porcinis in a zip lock bag with the steak, place in fridge until an hour before cooking, flipping it over occasionally to make sure the wine hits both sides of the meat.

Just before cooking:

Remove steak from fridge and let sit on counter to bring up to room temperature.
Pre-heat your oven to 300F

Sauté the mushrooms:

Heat a saute pan with oil and 1TS butter to slight smoke. Add 1TS each garlic and shallots and allow them to slightly brown.
Working in batches, saute the mushrooms until nice and browned adding some thyme to each batch, and replenishing oil and butter as needed.
Once the last batch is browned, add all the mushrooms back into the pan and season with salt and pepper -- it's important that you don't salt the mushrooms before this point -- they will sweat and not get browned properly!

Reserve the sautéed mushroom.

Heat the same pan to smoking hot. Remove the steak from the marinade and remove any porcinis that may have stuck on them -- reserve all pocinis and the wine in a bowl for the sauce. Add oil, or render some beef fat into the pan (preferable), and then sear the steaks. You only want to flip the meat once, and only when it's got a nice crust about 3-4 minutes per side for a 2-inch thick steak.

Once the meat is seared, place it directly on the rack in your 300F oven with a cookie sheet underneath. You don't want to place the meat on the cookie sheet, since that will let the meat stew in its own juices. Remove the steak from the oven when the internal temperature hits 120-125 for rare, 130 for medium-rare (anything more, don't bother with a dry-aged steak, it's a waste) and place in a clean pan. Pour 1/2 cup brandy over the steak and flambé until the fire dies down. Let the steaks rest on a wire rack with a little foil over them for 5 minutes.

Sauce:

Once the steaks are in the oven, add 1TS butter to the saute pan used for the steaks and mushrooms. Add the remaining shallots and garlic and quickly let them get translucent. As soon as they do (it'll be quick since you're working on a HOT pan), add the porcinis, the wine from the marinade and the other 2 cups of wine into the pan. Lower the heat to medium, and scrape all the browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Add 2 TS of veal (or beef) demi-glace into the pan and whisk until completely incorporated. Let the sauce reduce by a little more than a half -- you're looking for a deep mahogany color and it should be just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon lightly. Season with salt to taste and whisk in 2 TS butter until the sauce is shiny.

Plate steak with the sautéed mushrooms (reheat if necessary), and the sauce both under the meat and then spooned over.

Serve with some yukon gold heavy whipped (lots of cream and butter, that is) potatos and haricots verts with smoked almonds.

Happy Cooking!

Weekly Culinary Challenge 3

Ok, I'm back. This week's challenge is,

BEEF and RED WINE

Shouldn't be too difficult. :D

Happy Cooking!

Sorry for not being around

I was in Tokyo for the past 10 days and pretty much was too busy to be writing. I'll post a new challenge for the week soon, and I'll write a bit on the awesome food I had while I was over there.

Random Recipe: Arroz con Pollo-queta (Cheesy Rice and Chicken Croquettes)

I came up with this when I had all sorts of left-overs. It's kinda nice.

I called it Arroz con Pollo-queta 'cause I ended up with a rice pilaf that was kind of like Arroz con Pollo, and then I breaded it and fried it, making it purely EVIL. I'm keeping the falavoring deliberately simple here since this is all about leftovers and what you have in your pantry. Add this and that. Make it your own.


FYI, this is really similar to what you'd find in Italian cookbooks under "Arancini" The rice mixture is flavored with tomato in that version, but it's similar.

So,

Here's what you need. I'm not giving exact measurements since you can scale this up or down easily depending on what you have on hand.


Left over shreaded chicken from the chicken you baked last night or bought from the "rotisserie" section of your local supermarket.

Sticky Rice: whatever you have left over from last night or fresh. Just make sure you use a short grain starchy rice that "sticks" -- you can't use long grain or basmati-type rices in this dish because it won't come together.

Garlic, smashed and chopped
Onion, minced
Sliced Green Olives
A little chicken broth or chicken base and water
Saffron if you have it, turmeric would do if you don't, omit if you have neither -- it's for color more than anything.

Mozarella cheese (dry seems to work better here than fresh for me)
Bread Crumbs (panko, preferably)
Flour
Egg
---

Heat up olive oil in a pan with garlic and onion and saute until transluscent.
Add chicken and rice and saute until everything's heated through, and then toss in the olives.
Add a small amout of chicken broth or chicken base and water to flavor the mixture and then adjust the seasoning when it's almost dry with salt and pepper. Here's where you add the saffron (steeped in a smidge of warm rater to release the pigment) or turmeric to add color.

You're going to want to take a cookie sheet or rectangular bakin pan, and then spread the rice mixture out into it in as even and thin a layer as possible. Chill in fridge for at least an hour. This is important for two reasons: 1) it'll allow you to handle the rice and form it into balls, and 2) it will make the rice come together better.

Preheat oil in a deep fryer to 350 F

Once the rice is chilled, cut mozarella into small pieces. You want to take a piece of cheese, and then roll a bit of rice around it into about golf ball size. Repeat procedure for as many as you're going to make.

Roll rice balls in flour, then the beaten egg, then the breadcrumbs.

When the oil is hot, fry them until golden brown, about 3-5 minutes depending. Since everything is already cooked inside, you just want to make sure that a crust forms and things are heated through enough for the cheese to melt.

Let them cool enough to eat, and then enjoy. They're really good and addictive.

Weekly Challenge 2

This week's challenge is:

Chicken and Lemon

Not too difficult here. :)

Happy Cooking!

Random Recipe: Japrese

Here's my take on a traditional Italian Caprese salad, it's much lighter, and really refreshing. For those of you on a diet, the removal of the mozarella cheese is a plus!

Serves 1 as an appetizer/side:

4 Slices Very Ripe Tomato -- it should be sweet, but not falling apart.
4 Slices Silken (soft) Tofu
1-2 Shiso* leaves, chiffonade

Arrange tomato slices on a plate and then top with tofu slices, cover the whole plate in shiso leaves. Serve with your favorite vinaigrette -- I like to use either a balsamic vinaigrette with olive oil and garlic, or a soy-sesame vinaigrette. Also, I personally like the ingredients to be cold here. If the tomato isn't perfectly ripe, use it room temperature, to not lose the flavors.

* Shiso leaves (also known as Perilla, or Ohba) are a relative of the mint family and are refreshing and astringent like mint, but not "sweet." While there is no substitute for it, if you can't find Shiso (a Japanese market will usually sell them in 10-packs fresh, and larger Asian mega-marts have them from time to time), just use regular basil. While the flavor profile is different, it works just fine.

Happy Cooking!

Being a mutt and learning to cook from comic books.

My 14 year-old stepdaughter was really curious about how I learned to cook other day so I told her the story.

The quick version of the beginning of my culinary adventures is that I've always been fascinated by food and cooking. I remember as far back as when I was four years old burning myself on a toaster oven while melting dill harvarti cheese on a cinnamon-raisin muffin (yum). I guess I was lucky to have had parents who were willing to let me do my thing in the kitchen unsupervised (for the most part), and that I wasn't too accident prone a kid.

One of the reasons I'm probably inclined to experiment as much as I do is because I'm culturally and racially a mutt of the worst kind. My mom is French and Vietnamese and grew up in Japan, and my dad is Japanese and White American. That means that the cooking Mom did was a mixture of all those cultures. One day we'd have coq au vin, and the next cha gio (Vietnamese spring rolls), next soba noodles and tempura, etc. Even at an early age, there was a mixture of cuisines around me. Add to that the fact that I've had two step-dads of differing cultures (the first was Venezuelan, the second Swiss), and have lived at one point or another on all six inhabitable continents give rise to quite an experience with differing cultures. Without really knowing it, I was getting a first rate culinary education while growing up, and was thinking "fusion" without knowing it. I could fend for myself even as a kid in the kitchen, so I naturally took what I could get in whatever country I was in, and mixing it up with things I already knew. Naturally, as I got older and more sophisticated (ahem), so did my creations. I relied less and less on store-bought prepackaged ingredients (which have their place in the home kitchen), and started learning more proper technique... although I still have a long ways to go.

There actually is another reason/influence on how I learned how to cook. This one's the one that gets me some raised brows from my friends here in the US. I learned from reading comic books. Well, manga to be exact. See, around the time I was in fifth grade, this anime/manga series called "Mr. Ajikko" (translates into something like "Mr. Tasty) came out that was about this kid who helped his single mom run their little teishokuya (Japanese for diner). He's really creative and is this genius with food. Naturally, in this fictitious food obsessed world, he gets discovered by the "King of Taste" and is put up against a variety of culinary heros and villains in competitions... I truly believe that Iron Chef got its idea from this and other series like it. The interesting thing is that not only did this series exist, but it did well enough to actually become a hit with the 8-14 year old demographic. I fell in love with it and collected all the books and tried making some of the outlandish creations that were featured in it. I remember the first one that I made -- short spaghetti wrapped with thinly sliced eggplant in a bolognese sauce. I was maybe 10 at the time.

Once I got back from France to Tokyo in my mid teens to start 11th grade, I discovered the other culinary comic that greatly influenced me: "Oishimbo." To be honest, it wasn't a new series. It had already been running a number of years, and is STILL ongoing as a weekly publication. The basis of the series is a couple of newspaper reporters working in the culture section are traveling around Japan and the world looking for the "Ultimate Menu." Another newspaper company enlists the help of the male protagonist's estranged father who is the ultimate food authority and gourmet in Japan and strives to create their own version called "The Unsurpassable Menu." Both sided duke it out, yadda, yadda, yadda. The premise aside, the writers REALLY research good food and present it in an approachable manner from the history of the base ingredients to explaining the intricate details of the preparation. The series is such a cult hit that recipe books featuring some of the recipes have come out and online communities discussing the episodes and food exist in cyberspace. I must admit, I own a number of volumes (there are over 80 now and they're still being released) and I have the cookbook.

I got ideas on how things went together from these manga, and also learned technique since the cooking portions of them were really detailed and precise. The rest is just doing things over and over. I'm not saying that I can turn out a perfect "insert something difficult here" all the time, but I'm getting better and better. The only thing I'd like to add here is that the first time I had my own kitchen (right out of college) I found a book that really helped me find a way to put together things in the "right" way and how to think about food from a more thematic or ingredient based point of view. "Culinary Artistry" is a great book, and I'll write about it in another post, but it has oodles of information on flavor combinations (albeit from a very euro-american standpoint), and menu planning. I can't think of the number of times I've picked it up to come up with an idea of something to do with an ingredient.

Bottom line here is I've always been cooking, and I've always been experimenting for all the reasons above. Whether its finding a use for Japanese dashi stock in a risotto (works great for a wild mushroom risotto), or cooking a boeuf bouguignonne in a chinese clay pot, I'm always trying something new.

Happy cooking!

Weekly Challenge 1

This week's challenge is...

Portobello and Mozzarella

I'll be posting my creation later.

Happy cooking!