Sure, those dark, blurry Twitpics I psoted last night were nice, but here's what the Food & Wine's Best New Chefs' food really looked like. Congratulations to Jonathon Sawyer and his fromage blanc raviolini for taking home the title!
Here's what these ten incredibly talented chefs created for this very special event:
Roy Choi, Kogi BBQ Truck - Chego meatball in sesame leaf, sweet and spicy sauce, and polenta:
Matt Lightner, Castagna - hearts of Walla onion with BBQ onion glaze, smelt roe:
Clayton Miller, Trummer's on Main - pork terrine, pickled tomatillo, smoked mayo:
Hello all! Just a quick check-in to let you know I'm running around like a mad man collecting lots of great photos, recipes, and stories; unfortunately, there's been no time to post any of it yet!
Some of the highlights so far have been the Opening Reception, where the Voltaggio brothers from last season's Top Chef did strange and wonderful things with a BTL (believe it or not, those are bacon dip-n-dots); the always amazing Jose Andres/Wines from Spain BBQ, featuring spit roasted pigs; and an incredible lunch with Chef John Besh and Master Beer Sommelier Marc Stroobandt from Stella Artois, where we enjoyed six courses of crawfish and beer (yes, that is a slice of fresh truffle in the bowl).
I was also interviewed by Aspen's PlumTV as part of a feature on food bloggers covering the Food & Wine Classic. I haven't seen it yet, so I have no idea how much of me actually made it past the editors (if they're any good, it's very little), but if you want to check it out, you can see it streaming live on their website at 8am, 9am, 10am, 5pm, 6pm, and 11pm. Enjoy, and stay tuned for much more!
I've just picked-up my press pass here at the St. Regis, ground zero for this weekend's festivities. Today's itinerary includes an interview with PlumTV, the Opening Reception featuring Bravo's Top Chefs, and then the much anticipated Wines from Spain BBQ, starring the one and only Jose Andres.
Not sure exactly when and what I'll be posting, so you'll just have to stay tuned. If you're not already, be sure to head over to Twitter and follow @Foodwishes to get updates (and lots of them). Enjoy!
The public has spoken, or at least the portion of the public that subscribes to me on YouTube and voted in our "Summer of You" contest. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can check out this post for details, but to summarize, the winning entry for what summer recipe would you most like to see made into a video was…Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies?
If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times… democracy doesn't work. Hey, I'm only kidding! Sure, cookies may not be the first thing you think of when you think summer recipes, but that's what a lovely young woman named Amena (pictured here) wanted to see, and enough YouTubers were persuaded by her very creative video to make that happen.
While this was done to fulfill a pledge, I've wanted to do a video like this for a while to prove something once and for all; you do not need an electric mixer to make cookies. This entire recipe takes about 20 minutes to make, and only about five of those are spent doing anything physical.
As I mention in the video, this recipe is very adaptable as far as what and how much you add to the basic dough. I used a "normal" amount of chips, but this amount can be doubled without issue. You can also toss in dried fruit and nuts fearlessly.
So, join me in congratulating Amena, and I hope you all celebrate her triumph by giving this super-easy chocolate chip cookie recipe a try. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, very soft 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar 1/2 cup white granulated sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 large egg 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 1/3 cup white chocolate chips 1/3 cup milk chocolate chips Note: the amounts of chocolate chips can be doubled for extra decadent cookies! aka "Amena style"
I’m heading to Aspen tomorrow for the annual Food & Wine Classic. As usual at these types of events, I’ve set up quite an ambitious schedule (so little time, so much amazing food), so if I’m unable to answer questions or comments right away, I appreciate your patience.
I’ll be on location until the feasting concludes Sunday evening, after which I’ll return, eager to share all the recipes, photos, and maybe even videos I’ve collected. In fact, the photo you see here is the lamb braised with root beer recipe that I picked up at last year’s event from Chef Richard Blais. You can check out that video recipe here.
In the meantime, if you want to follow along with Foodwishes on Twitter (and I highly recommend it), you’ll get live bite-by-bite coverage, complete with photos and descriptions!
Follow Along with Foodbuzz
My friends at Foodbuzz are also headed to Aspen, where in addition to keeping me out of trouble (you kids remember, always use the buddy system), they'll be offering some very cool social media games.
Throughout the weekend they'll be encouraging attendees to tweet photos of the event to #fwclassic for a chance to win a ticket to next years event, as well as prizes from Foodzie.com.
They'll also be hosting a "menucast" during the Best New Chefs dinner, so be sure to follow them on Twitter to get in on the fun. By the way, if you want to learn more about Food & Wine's ten "Best New Chefs," Foodbuzz is currently running a series profiling each one. You can check out today's installment here. Enjoy!
Pictured left to right: Ryan Stern, Kiersten Stevens (me) and Devon O’Donnell. Photo (c) Average Betty.
This red curry flank steak recipe represents a departure from my usual game plan regarding marinating meat for the grill.
I normally don't try to make the meat taste like something specific, rather just use whatever vinegar is nearby, some garlic, herbs, and whatever spices strike my fancy at that moment.
This time I actually had an idea. I love Thai food, and in particular red curry beef. If you've never had this amazing dish, it's basically chunks of beef stew meat cooked slowly in a spicy, aromatic red curry sauce until fork tender. It's clearly one of the top 50 recipes in the history of the world.So, inspired by this classic Thai recipe, I decided to see if the same sort of flavors could be turned into some sort of marinade for flank steak. I'm so glad I did. The results knocked my socks off.
I made a point to use only ingredients found in your typical higher-end grocery store (like Whole Foods). I really hope you make the effort to find these items, since there really aren’t suitable substitutions.One note about doneness – as I mention in the video, I like to cook the flank steak to about 132 on the grill which goes up another 5 or so degrees while it rests. This will give you something between medium rare and medium. Rare flank steak is very chewy, and I believe cooking it closer to medium gives a much better texture to the meat.Having said that, it may look like the meat is a little rarer than that in the video. That's because I started cutting from the thick end, which is going to be rarer – but as you slice towards the thinner end, it will turn medium, and you'll even get a few slice of medium well towards the end.
For this reason flank steak is a perfect choice for a group, since the same piece of meat will provide a range of different doneness'. So, go find those not-so-exotic Asian ingredients and give this delicious beef flank steak recipe a try. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 1 whole beef flank steak, trimmed 3 tablespoon fish sauce 1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar 3-4 cloves crushed garlic 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger 1 teaspoon hot sauce 1 teaspoon red curry powder 1/2 teaspoon red curry paste View the complete recipe
