Fraternity Chef

Hey everyone,

I wanted to let you know that I added my first Fraternity client.   As you know,  Small City Chefs is working on a new concept in the idea of chef placement in Fraternities and Sororities.  I will blog about what I am doing with the Frat and the food.  Should be a great experience.   I start on the 20th, basically going to get the kitchen up to cleanliness standards that it should be.  Remember, this is a Fraternity,,lol.   Look forward to more blogging about my experiences.

German Salami Mixed Green Salad with Carmalized Peaches and Lemon Vinaigrette

Hey all,

Thought I would share with you a fantastic summer salad that I just made today for lunch.  Fantastic.  This salad serves between 4 to 6 people.  I took a picture of this recipe, but cannot find the chord to hook it up to the pc to download the darn thing,,lol.  I will try to get a pic on here sometime, hopefully,,lol.

red leaf lettuce (5 leaves)

green leaf lettuce (5 leaves)

romain hearts (1 head)

spinach leaves 1 cup

radicho (1 head(

2 peaches

2  tablespoons sliced almonds

1/4 parmesan shavings

1/4 pound german salami

1 large lemon

2 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons cold water

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

4 fresh basil leaves (thinly sliced)

1.  Cut the peach in half and take the pit out.  Make sure to scrap any of the hardness left over from the seed out of the peach.  Set aside on a plate. 

2.  In a medium size bowl, place the balsamic vinegar, fresh basil leaves, and 2 tbl of olive oil and mix very well.  Place the peach halves face down and rub in the oil mixture and then turn over and rub skin side in mixture.  Then place face down in mixture and let soak into peach and set aside.

3.  In another small bowl, cut lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl, making sure to keep the seeds out.  Add honey and the rest of the olive oil and the water. Stir until mixed well.  Taste.  Add more lemon or more honey depending on your taste.  Set aside .

4.  In a small sautee pan heat over med heat until pan is hot.  Add sliced almonds and cook almonds, flipping frequently until they turn a golden brown in color.  Try not to overcook them.  Once they are done, pour into a small bowl and set aside.

5.  In a large glass bowl, rip lettuce to desired bite size pieces and mix all together in the bowl.  Take the salami and rip half of it into bite size pieces and mix into salad.  Take the other half of salami, rip apart in bite size pieces and spead evenly over salad.

6.  Take the parmesan shavings and spread evenly over the salad.

7.  Heat grill or BBQ to desired temp.  Make sure to season grill with a cloth wipe down doused in olive oil.. This helps the peach from sticking to the grates.  Slide, do not place, slide the peach halves onto the grill face down first.  Let peach cook until carmalized and marked.  Turn peach over to skin side and place lid down to let peach cook thru, about 10 minutes.  Once peach is done, take off grill and set aside for about 10 minutes to let cool down until ready to slice.

8.  Slice peaches into bite size slice and layer over and into salad.

9.  Take the vinaigrette and whisk together again and drizzle the dressing over the salad with a tablespoon, making sure to glaze the leaves but not drown them.

10.  Take the roasted almond slices and spread over the salad.

Try this salad and let me know what you think.  I find the vinaigrette with the carmalization of the peaches and the roasted almonds is heavenly.

Johnny

What Happened To The Service

Hey everyone, hope you are having a wonderful summer with the great weather we have been having.   So, I wanted to say something about the way service has been going in the food industry, especially in the catering industry.  Since I have started my new venture, about a month ago, I have been able to book a coupld of gigs and have noticed a trend that I find interesting.  I had clients mention to me that my pricing is much more budget conscience towards their needs and that I have been more thorough than the other companies that they have been in contact with.  This makes me wonder what the heck has happened to the service part of my industry.  One client even had to pay more for their venue than what my pricing was and they did not provide tables, chairs, or even linen, and they charged over $3,000.00!!!!   How crazy is that?????  

You know who gives fantastic service?  Target.  Yes, Target!!!!   These guys run to the cash register everytime the lines start backing up.  They have expediters leading you to open registers so that you can get your shopping done quickly and convienently.  Now that is what I call CUSTOMER SERVICE. 

So, that is what my main mission will be in my industry.   To strive to give my clients the best possible service I can at the best reasonable pricing that I can. 

Johnny

Mixed Greens w/Goat Cheese and Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

Moring everyone, hope you all are doing great after the 4th.   I bet everyone shot off a ton of fireworks.  This year I just took it easy on the 4th, and watched the fireworks from my deck, over the ocean.  You would be amazed at how much fireworks you can see across the ocean in all the neighborhoods.  It was amazing. 

I have decided that I am going to start another food blog.  One that is a bit different than any that I have seen anyways.  Anybody like to fly fish?   I have been an avid fly fisherman since high school.  Fished alot of rivers and lakes in this state as well as montana and oregon.  Funny thing though, I have never fished the Yakima River and that is supposed to be the best fly fishing river in the state,,lol.  So I will be going there this summber when the weather heats up a bit.  So, the new blog will be focusing on just that.  It will be called “the fly fishing chef.”  I thought it would be an interesting experiment to run a cooking show on my fishing trips.  I will try to video as much as I can on recipes and camping out in a more comfortable manner.  I will focus on rustic, easy to do camping recipes that anyone should be able to fullfill on any camping trip they may be on.  Since I like to use the campfire to cook on, that is what I will be using.  There will be no propane burners on these trips folks.   I will let you know when I have the blog up and running and then you all can check it out and let me know what you think.

Here is an easy salad recipe that you can easily whip up on  a camping trip.  Just make the dressing ahead of time to take with you.

serves 2

4 cups or more if you desire of mixed greens, or edible greens you can find on the trail

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup toasted walnuts

1/4 oz goat cheese

1 red pepper (roasted)

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1 cup olive oil

1 tsp of sugar (or to taste)

1/8 teaspoon fresh tyhme, (chopped)

1/8 teaspoon fresh rosemary (chopped)

kosher salt to taste

black peppercorns (crushed) to taste

1/4 cup lemon juice (to taste)

Pre heat oven to 4oo degrees.  Rub red pepper in olive oil and place on a sheet pan and into the oven for 15 – 30 minutes or until pepper is dark to close to black.  Take roasted pepper out of the oven when done and set aside to cool.  Combine dijon, herbs, olive oil, and sugar in a blender and blend in spurts until incorporated.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Add lemon juice in small increments and taste frequently until you reach the desired taste.  The reason for this is some people like it a bit stronger than others and some like it less tart.  

Make salad by mounding greens on a plate and then layer cranberries, walnuts, and goat cheese over greens.  Add dressing and serve. 

Hope you enjoy.

Cheffy

STARTING OUT

Well everyone, I wanted to let you know that I have now started my own food business.  As you can see, I cater to parties of any size and do private parties as well, as well as small intimate parties and family style meals for the week or month.  I have already booked three gigs for the later part of the summer and am in the process of booking some more.  From what I have seen in the industry lately and from my own personal experience, there seems to be a real lack of service in the private chef and catering industry.  Catering services and Chef Services seem to be over charging alot also.  My company prefers to remember that we are in the service industry and we strive to give the best service we can at the best possible price.    We like to under promise and over deliver.    I hope to build the business up slowly and then eventually open my own restaurant somewhere.  Anyways, I thought I would share with you today one of my favorite Pastry Cream Recipes.  This recipe is exquisite.

It will yield 2 1/2 cups of pastry cream

2 large eggs

1 cup whole mile

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons of cornstarch

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or one vanilla bean scraped)

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

Whisk together the eggs and cornstarch in a small bowl and gradually add 1/4 cup of heavy cream.  Whisk until well blended and the cornstarch has been incorporated.  Place sugar, vanilla, milk and the remaining cream in a heavy saucepan and heat gradually until bubbly.  Be careful not to burn.  Run milk mixture thru a strainer and return to the burner.  Bring to a boil and add the egg mixture and stir contantly until pastry cream starts to thicken.  Keep stirring constantly until desired thickness is reached and be careful not to burn.  Remove from the heat and stir in 1 tablespoon unsalted butter until melted.   Pour into a glass container and cover pastry with plastic film directly on pastry cream to prevent the cream from skinning up.  Let cool down in the refrigerator, stirring occasionally. 

This is  a  great pastry cream for any type of dessert.  Fold some of this with whipped cream for an incredible flavor and add peaches and strawberries, it is finger licking, orgasmically, delicious.

Johnny

WELCOME ALL FOODIES