.Jean-Louis Palladin.

   

Jean- Louis Palladin:

Born in 1946. Jean- Louis Palladin was one of the most influential Chefs. In 1974, at the age of 28, Mr. Palladin became the youngest chef in France to earn two Michelin stars. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of French cooking in North America. He received awards such as "Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic" from the James Beard Foundation in 1991 and then "Outstanding Chef from again from the James Beard Foundation in 1993. Unfortunately in 2001, Palladin died at the age of 55 from lung cancer. 

I was able to try his Asparagus Flan:  

As for the Asparagus Flan, basically, if you don’t like Asparagus, this is not a recipe for you. Never have I made a savory flan so I was pretty excited for this one. I really loved the way it was plated as well, you remove the flan from the dish and line asparagus tips all around, almost to create a fence like border. I decided to use the garnish from the ravioli to place on top of the flan, and then decorated the plate with an asparagus sauce. 

and also his Potato Ravioli with Sea Scallop filling:

I have never tasted potato ravioli and I thought it was absolutely great. We filled them with a se scallop filling that consisted of scallops, tomatoes, chopped up chives and cilantro, salt & pepper. You’re taking a potato lengthwise and slicing it. Once you lay a slice down add a little egg wash then some filling, lay another slice on top and then with a cookie cutter, cutting out the shape you want. Once you have cut your shapes, you can let them sit in a cool spot so that they can hold their shape, then frying them. We garnished them with some vegetable slivers that were fried and crispy. 

.Mario Batali.

so this week, we got to focus on Mario Batali.  

Mario Batali?
Mario Batali was born on September 9^th, 1960. Known for his extreme knowledge of the Italian cuisine and culture. Destined to be a chef, Mario followed in his father's footsteps. Batali opened his first restaurant, Po, in 1993. Only a couple years later he opened “Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca” with his friend Joseph Bastianich. In the very same year, "Babbo" won an award for being “the Best New Restaurant of 1998”. In 2002, James Beard Foundation's awarded him with the "Best Chef: New York City" award. Since then, he has opened various restaurants, written books, hosted cooking shows, and inspire. One of his greatest achievements occurred in 2008. The Mario Batali Foundation was created. The foundation had one soul mission of not only feeding, protecting, and educating, but also empowering children.

Some of his dishes that I got to play with were the: 
Penne alle Cipolle

To start off this dish, isn't one of my favorites. For the lack of a better word, it's very "oniony". Basically what your doing is cutting up two pounds of red onions, that have been soaked in water for 30 minutes, and sauteing them over very low heat. Similar to one of those "set it and forget it recipes", haha. Start by adding the onions and some olive oil and let it saute, then for 1 hour and a 1/2 that you have it sitting you add some water, white wine, salt & pepper gradually. Cook your pasta separately and then add to the mix, throw some parsley in there and voila, you have (translation = penne onion style)! 

Next we go to... Pasta e Fagioli con l'occhio

This recipe is more of a soup. Now the recipe doesn't call for tomatoes to be diced into the soup, I made a couple of boo-boo's on this one, but still very good. You basically are cooking some black eyed peas, sauteing some prosciutto, making a simply tomato sauce, I basically had no liquid so I added chicken stock at the end, so it came out very similar to a chicken noodle soup with pasta inside. But with some salt and pepper, diced tomato, rosemary, and a little "pzaz", it came out well. 

.Poached Cod with Broccoli Rabe and Roasted Tomatoes.

Poached Cod with Broccoli Rabe and Roasted Tomatoes

 (Charlie Trotter)

As for the Poached Cod, you can start by blanching the Broccoli Rabe, now the trick here is that instead of letting your water boil first and then adding the vegetable, you place it in cold water and let it cook gradually. Once you have that going you can go ahead and prepare the dressing for the tomatoes. The dressing for the tomatoes is absolutely delicious and contains alot of flavor. Add your tomatoes to it the dressing and let it marinate. Now, I have tasted Cod before but never have I seen a recipe that required the cod to be poached in oil. It also asks for the oil to be specifically 110F. This was a pain ! My oil was rising to 130 plus. the best thing to do is basically leave it on super low and if you see it's rising, remove from flame and let it cool down, you can even add some cold oil. I tried the cod and thought that it tasted very bland. Now yes, I'm sure you can add some flavor to the oil, but regardless, the overall plate is very oily. Once everything is tried together, it is alot better. So I'm going to say i just don't agree with Charlie on this one.

 just leave a comment for recipe :)

.Salsify and Pickled Shitake Mushroom Salad with Portobello Vinaigrette.

Salsify and Pickled Shitake Mushroom Salad with Portobello Vinaigrette
(Charlie Trotter)

So this is a pretty simple recipe. I have never made salsify before, to be honest, I've never even heard of it. 
I began by prepping for the salad. I started by creating the mushroom vinaigrette; I am generally not a fan of anything mushroom. Personally, this plate isn’t something that I would ever order. The vinaigrette was very potent. I have never worked with salsify so I was excited to try it. Once the vinaigrette was done I went ahead and kung fu chopped up the salsify and boiled it. Unlike most vegetables you blanch, the recipes called for the salsify to be blanched in milk. Though I didn’t try it the day of, I would’ve like to see if there was a taste difference between blanching it water than milk. Defenitely something I want to try in the future. Once it was tender we were to preserve them in the vinaigrette overnight. Another item that I have never worked with before was the Mache. (the delicate greens you see in the picture) When I tried it alone, I almost got a buttery flavor from it, which I thought was interesting. Once tossed in the vinaigrette, the flavors worked well together but like I said, me and anything mushroom just don't get along. Finally it was topped with bacon bits.


If anyone is a mushroom lover and interested in this recipe, just comment and i'll send it your way. 

.Charlie Trotter.

Charlie Trotter was born in the fall of 1959 in Chicago, Illinois. Charlie Trotter actually began paying attention to cooking when he saw how his roommate is college was intrigued by it. Trotter actually received a degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin. In 1982 was when Trotter began to work professionally as a chef. From there he went on to work and study in Chicago, San Francisco at the California Culinary Academy, Europe and even here in Florida.

Unlike many of the well-known chefs you see today, Trotter was all self taught. He never stepped one foot into a culinary environment, academically, until after he had already begun his professional culinary career. The very first kitchen he stepped into was at “Sinclair’s” that was located in the North Shore area of Chicago. He had the opportunity to work under some other known chefs, including Norman Van Aken. Charlie Trotter and his partner then, his very own father opened his first restaurant. It 1987,  “Charlie Trotter’s” opened in Chicago. “Charlie Trotters” has received various awards including; being once named the 30^th best restaurant in the world by Restaurant Magazine and also 5^th best in the United States in 2007. It has also been incorporated in being one of the top 40 Restaurants in the U.S. Trotter also opened a restaurant in Las Vegas but was closed March of this year due to climate issues. Along side “Charlie Trotters”, Trotter also has “Trotters To Go”. Trotters To Go is basically your high-class deli and catering service also located in Chicago. Between traveling back and forth to all of his restaurants, Trotter found the time to also write and co-author over ten books. Trotter has also found various ways to give back. Not only has he developed his very own Culinary Education Foundation; he has also worked with various non-profit organizations, including Meals-on-Wheels, Make-A-Wish, and Windows of Hope. His Culinary Education Foundation has been able to raise over $1,000,000 for culinary scholarships for students since 1999. 

...but lonely is a freedom.

Found this on my sisters blog and thought it was perfect, it's nice to see how people are embracing being alone, sometimes it's just not a bad thing.

.Alain Ducasse.

Alain Ducasse was born on September 13, 1956 on a farm located in southwest France. Ducasse’s parents owned a farm in Castelsarrasin, where the family not only grew vegetables but also raised geese, ducks and turkeys. Though his parents wanted Ducasse to continue school and study, at the age of 12, he decided that we wanted to become a cook. Like many chefs today, Ducasse passion and inspiration began by watching his grandmother in the kitchen. In an article for the New York Times Ducasse stated that he simply was attracted to the smells that came from the kitchen. It wasn’t until simply four years later in 1972, and at the age of 16 that Ducasse received his first position in a restaurant near is parents farm. After working in that kitchen learning some of the basics, he moved on to work for Alain Chapel. Ducasse not only learned a lot from Chapel but also considered Chapel to be his mentor. Chapel’s nouvelle cuisine inspired Ducasse to only continue to become a great chef. It wasn’t till a couple years later in 1981 that Ducasse received a position as the head chef of La Terrasse in France. After a few years at the restaurant he received two stars in the Michelin Red Guide.Along with receiving his first two stars at La Terrasse, Ducasse continued to work at various restaurants. He also was able to earn restaurant, Louis XV three stars from the Michelin Red Guide. This was the first time that Louis XV had received such awards. It wasn’t until June of 2000 that Ducasse opened his first restaurant in the states. His restaurant was opened in the Essex Hotel located in New York City. It was only a year later that Ducasse received three stars there. Along with opening and working various restaurants, Alain Ducasse has written cookbooks even opened a cooking school in Paris for the general public. He is easily one of the best Chefs coming out of Europe. Along with other fine chefs such as Joel Robuchon and Ramsey who holds 11 stars in his career, Ducasse has held is own. Ducasse is known to be one of the only chefs that have been awarded 19 stars in his career. Today Alain Ducasse is still working to manage his restaurants and has taken a hold of the new veggie trend that has recently started. Being that he was raised on a farm, Ducasse knows how important vegetables can be. Ducasse stated recently “I've been trying to push the trend for 20 years," he says. "And now it is slowly changing." Ducasse recently launched a menu in London that is totally vegetarian that he says he wants to follow through to all of his other restaurants.