Chicken Fried Steak

•March 2, 2010 • 6 Comments


When I turned 16, I got a job at a BBQ joint near my parent’s house in Manchaca, Texas called Railroad Bar-B-Que.  Back then, it was nothing more than a tin shed on the side of a Farm to Market highway. But they had some of the best tasting brisket, sausage, and ribs I’d ever eaten.  They also had pretty kick ass chicken fried steak and cream gravy.  On my first day of work the very first thing I was taught to do was how to properly pound, bread, season and fry a Texas-sized chicken fried steak.

Now I have to say that the steak itself was pretty amazing, but what put this plate over the top was the gravy.  Good God in Heaven that gravy was delicious.  It, as I learned next, was made from the drippings of the slow-smoked chicken we also prepared and served at the restaurant.  I lovingly made that gravy by the gallon everyday I worked there.  And at the end of the night, if I was lucky, and there was extra gravy left, I would take it home with me and serve it over homemade buttermilk biscuits the next morning.  Ahhh, to be 16 again…

So to honor Texas on this second day of March, I decided to make a batch of chicken fried steak the way I was schooled so many years ago.  Now, the most important things about the chicken fried steak eating experience are 1) the crispiness of the crust, 2) the tenderness and chew of the steak and 3) the flavor and consistency of the gravy.

For the crust, the steaks should be double-dipped, period.  Now the fry is also very important and my method might be somewhat controversial.  Most traditionalists will say shallow fry in a cast iron skillet.  At the restaurant, we deep-fried the steaks in a commercial deep fat fryer for the sake of speed and efficiency.  At home, I use a cast iron pot with about 2 to 3 inches of oil.  The advantage of this method is less splatter and mess with a deeper pot and, more importantly, an even coloring on the crust.  In a skillet shallow fry method, the steak rests on the bottom of the pan and will get dark spots.  In a Dutch oven with more oil, the steak will float and will get a uniform golden brown color on both sides.

For added flavor, I use a trick I got from watching Tyler Florence.  Throw some fresh herbs and a whole head of garlic into the oil and slowly heat up to 350 degrees then remove and discard.  The herbs and the garlic will perfume the oil and give their flavor to the steaks as they fry.

The steak itself should be tender but still have some chew to it.   This is chicken fried steak not steak fingers from the DQ.  It’s not tough but it’s also not fork tender. I use bottom round.  It has good flavor and a little marbling.  One thing that I do to make it a bit more tender and to add another hit of flavor is to marinate the steaks overnight in buttermilk and Tabasco.  It brightens up the flavor and the tang of the buttermilk and the spice of the Tabasco are a good counterpoint to the gravy.

Now the gravy was the hardest part.  How do I even come close to the flavor of chicken drippings?  The answer, reduced chicken stock.  A well-jellied stock reduced down to about 2 tablespoons gives the gravy a rich and savory depth that milk and butter can’t do on their own.  And if I’m really feeling like I need the comfort of home cookin’ I’ll replace the butter with some rendered chicken fat…

And that, good friends, is how you make a chicken fried steak, Texas style.

Chicken Fried Steak

Ingredients

1 ½ lbs beef bottom round trimmed of excess fat
2 cups plus 1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Tabasco
2 cups flour
1 ½ tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons hot or sweet paprika
2 tablespoons Kosher salt
1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs
Canola oil
6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 sprigs fresh sage
1 head of garlic cut in half horizontally

Directions

1.    Cut beef into 6 pieces. Place each piece between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound out using the teeth side of a meat mallet, to about ¼ inch thick. This will tenderize the meat.

2.    Place the pieces in a shallow non-reactive container and pour over 2 cups buttermilk, 1 tablespoon Tabasco. Marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

3.    In a medium flat dish (baking dish), mix flour with onion powder, paprika, salt, and pepper and combine well.

4.    In another medium flat dish, lightly beat the eggs and add 1 cup buttermilk and 1 teaspoon Tabasco.

5.    Remove the steaks from the marinade and shake off the excess buttermilk.

6.    Dredge each piece of meat in the seasoned flour, then in the buttermilk mixture, and back into the seasoned flour patting off excess; set out on a rack fitted over a baking sheet and allow to rest in the refrigerator before frying.

7.    Put about two inches of oil into a large deep cast iron pot.  Add the thyme, rosemary, sage, and garlic to the cool oil and heat over medium high heat until the oil registers 350 degrees F.  The herbs and garlic will perfume the oil with their flavor as the oil comes up to temperature.  Remove herbs and garlic from oil and discard.

8.    At 350 degrees F, add the steak, two pieces at a time and cook until golden brown on both sides.  About 3 minutes per side.  Remove steaks and drain on paper towels.

9.    Place steaks on plates, top with cream gravy and serve immediately.

Cream Gravy

Ingredients

2 cups chicken stock
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1.    In a small saucepan, bring stock to the boil and reduce down to about ¼ cup total liquid, about 20 minutes.

2.    Whisk in the milk and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring so it doesn’t scorch the bottom of the pan. Keep the milk on low heat.

3.    Melt butter over medium-low heat in a thick-bottomed saucepan. Just as the foam subsides, add the flour, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or whisk to prevent lumps. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes to coat the flour and remove the starchy taste. Do not allow to brown.

4.    Gradually add the warm milk and whisk vigorously.  Bring up to a slow boil.  Cook for 5 minutes or until gravy is the desired consistency.

5.    Season with salt and pepper, remove from heat and immediately ladle over chicken fried steak.

Posted in Meat

Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Cookies

•February 20, 2010 • 5 Comments

In an “Iron Chef” like challenge (well, sort of), a friend asked me to come up with a desert item using Reese’s pieces as the star of the dish.  I accepted.  Mainly because I love Reese’s pieces.

The thing about pieces and their sweet peanut buttery goodness is that after you eat a couple of handfuls, you lose the flavor and all that you taste is the sugar.  They need a counter point—chocolate.  I thought that the perfect counter point would be a rich chocolate-y cookie.  My only concern was that the peanut flavor might get overpowered by the cocoa.  So I added salted roasted peanuts: 1.  To bolster the flavor of the pieces; 2.  To add another textural element to the soft and chewy cookie; 3.  To add a salty undertone to the taste experience.

The result, a fairly addictive peanut buttery treat.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
12 oz Reese’s pieces
1 cup salted roasted peanuts

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
  3. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well.
  4. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt and add to the egg/butter mixture with the mixer on low speed until just combined.
  5. Fold in the candy and peanuts.
  6. Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon.
  7. Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone).
  8. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pan for 3 minutes, then immediately transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Posted in Cookie, Dessert

Roasted Maple Nut Granola

•February 10, 2010 • 11 Comments

There is nothing better than the smell of cinnamon, roasted nuts and toasted oatmeal baking on a snowy winter morning.  That alone is reason enough to try this recipe.  I have to admit, I never really thought that much about making my own granola, bars or cereal.  It seemed troublesome and, frankly, not quite worth the effort.  But I do love granola.  And I spent a lot of money on fancy and gourmet brands but was never really impressed.  I would find myself wanting more flavor, more fruit or different combinations of fruits, nuts and spice.

So I decided to give it a try.  My goal was to develop a simple, quick preparation and recipe that could easily be adjusted to different flavors, spices, sweeteners, fruit and nut combinations.

The base mixture for this granola is oatmeal, coconut, almond and wheat germ.  Everything else can be adjusted to your personal taste—the sweeteners, fruits and nuts.  Use the recipe as a guide for the amounts of each.  For example, I used 1 cup of raisins and 1 cup of cranberries or two cups of dried fruit total.  Use the two cups of dried fruit as a guide to create your own fruit combination.  The same applies for the nuts—½ cup flax seeds and ½ chopped nuts or 1 cup nuts total.

For the sweeteners, you can substitute honey for the maple syrup in the same amount.  The honey-roasted granola flavor is pretty amazing.  If you like your granola less sweet, you can use 2/3 cup of liquid sweetener and ¼ cup of brown sugar instead.  I have to say I am pretty fond of the sweet cereal-milk flavor myself…

The flax seeds I included to add texture, visual appeal and to enhance the flavor of the roasted nuts.  I also really like the mixed nut combination but have made the granola using only one nut, like walnut or pecan—equally as delicious.

The great thing about this recipe is it is completely flexible and allows you to combine the flavors you love in a very simple, satisfying and relatively healthy breakfast dish.

Ingredients

2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed
½ cup toasted wheat germ
½ cup flax seeds
½ cup chopped salted mixed nuts (cashews, walnuts, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, almonds)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup maple syrup, grade A dark amber
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup raisins
1 cup dried cranberries

Directions

1.   Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a half sheet baking tray (18″ x 13″ x 1″) with parchment paper.

2.   Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on the prepared sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned.

3.   Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ, flax seeds, cinnamon and chopped nuts.

4.   Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

5.   Place the maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for 5 minutes being careful that mixture does not boil over.

6.   Remove from heat and pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture and thoroughly mix, evenly coating all dry ingredients.

7.   Return the mixture to the prepared baking sheet and spread evenly. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown.

8.   Transfer the warm mixture to a large mixing bowl and crumble into smaller bite-sized pieces.  Mix in the raisins and cranberries.  Serve at room temperature.

Posted in Breakfast

Texas Five Chili

•February 1, 2010 • 12 Comments

Frank and Jesse James reputedly downed a few bowls before pulling some of their heists — and supposedly spared one town because of it. O. Henry spun a short story around it, and Will Rogers allegedly judged a town by its quality. It’s said Eleanor Roosevelt tried — without success — to get the secrets of one recipe, and that Lyndon B. Johnson remarked that the kind concocted outside his home state of Texas was “usually a weak, apologetic imitation of the real thing.” Not even Elizabeth Taylor was immune — she had whole quarts packed in dry ice and shipped to Rome while she was filming “Cleopatra.”

Carter, Noelle. “Chili: a bowl of red-blooded American heaven.” Los Angeles Times 4 Feb. 2010: Food

They, of course, could only be referring to chili.  Chili is a deeply personal and strangely polarizing dish.  So just to be clear, I am not out for converts to my “house of chili” religion.  I am just going to put out my general thoughts on chili—my hard n fast rules, the areas where I will play around and try new things, and finally, the latest pot I made and how I made it.  (Point of reference, I will use the English word “chili” for the dish and the Spanish word “chile” for the pod.)

So I am a bit of a chili purist and snob.  I grew up in a Hispanic household in Texas with a mother of outstanding culinary abilities.  This, more than anything else, defines how I consume, evaluate and make chili.

There are three rules for making chili that I will not violate.

Rule One: fresh, dried whole chile pods not, chile powder.

There are two and only two stars in this dish.  Meat and chile.  And as the name implies, the chile is the lead. I only use fresh, dried, whole chile pods.  Chile peppers are botanically a fruit.  And, like other fruit, when dried, their flavors intensify, develop and deepen, their natural sugars become more pronounced, they become highly aromatic and their flesh plumps, softens and becomes supple like a sweet raisin or pitted date.  Each variety also has a distinct flavor, color, aroma and level of heat.  I find the powders to be dry, musty, and gritty.  They never have the chile “punch” I am looking for.  The subtlies and complexities of the pods are lost.  I also wonder how long the powder sat on the shelf at the store before I bought it.  And with powder, I loose control of the flavor profile.  I like the to change the flavor based on what I am in the mood for—the level of heat, the level of fruitiness and the amount and type of other seasonings and spices.  I like to change the flavor profile and experiment with different chile combinations and different ratios of chile to spices.  I like to use fresh chile pods.  I wouldn’t buy and eat dried fruit that was hard and brittle (imagine a raisin that cracks and splinters).  And I certainly would not put something that was old and dusty into a pot of chili.

Rule Two: Beef.

I’m from Texas.  What’d you think I was gonna say.  For the record, I also love other meats, pork especially, and love to stew them with dried chiles.  I just don’t call them chili.

Rule Three: NO BEANS!!!

C’mon, beans, really?!?  I mean, why bother?  Sure they add texture but they suck up flavor.  Don’t get me wrong, I love a good pot of beans, what Mex-Tex man doesn’t.  Trust me. I’ll do a whole separate post on the virtues and versatility of beans—a la charra, refried, con chorizo…  Just not in chili.

When I cook, I cook with what is fresh, what looks good and what is available.  And thats exactly how I make my chili.  When I went home to Texas for the holidays my family made tamales.  The guiso or pork filling my mom and dad made for the tamales used a combination of ancho and morita chiles.  A combination that I had never tasted and one that I completely fell in love with.  So, I went to the local grocery store (Fiesta) and both varieties were amazingly fresh so I bought both and brought them back up to New York.

Morita are a type of chipotle (dried and smoked jalapeno).  Moritas are a dark reddish black color and pack a pretty spicy bite.  They are very fruity—plum and red pepper—and are surprisingly sweet.  Because of the smoke, they carry almost a toasted, tobacco flavor.  Ancho is a dried poblano.  They are a blackish brown color.  They smell like toasted raisins and taste of prune, blackberry and coffee with a mild heat.

I am also a big fan of guajillo, pasilla and the New Mexican red chiles.  Gualjillo are a deep red, thin-skinned chile from Mexico.  They have a bright flavor with notes of raspberry and sun dried tomato.  Pasilla are long, dark brown-black medium heat chili.  Pasilla means raisin in Spanish and the chile has a black cherry and grape like flavor with notes of molasses and clove.  New Mexican reds are long and have a deep red color.  They taste remarkably like a sweet red bell pepper with a slight berry sugar and acidity.

I normally use a combination of ancho, guajillo and pasilla with ancho playing the lead chile.  But this time I wanted to taste the ancho/morita combination with the other three chiles playing supporting roles.  And so the Texas Five Chili was born.

For the meat, I had originally intended to make the chili with brisket because I love the flavor and richness of the point cut or fatty end of the brisket.  When I went to the meat market however, I fell in love with a chuck roast and two hind shank steaks.  So that’s what I used.

Ground vs. cubed?  I have to say that I am a fan of the cubes myself.  I prefer ¾ inch chunks for a couple of reasons.  I think the cubed meat browns better than the ground.  I also like that some of the cubes will start to fall apart and soak up the chile sauce around them similar to pulled pork in barbecue sauce.  The resulting texture is some bite from the stew-sized chunks with the chew from the chile soaked shreds.

So here is what I did.

Ingredients

1 lb beef hind shank steak
3 lb beef chuck roast
6 large ancho chiles
6 morita chiles
2 pasilla chile
2 guajillo chile
2 New Mexican red chile
3 medium yellow onions, medium dice
5 cloves garlic, finely minced
14 oz can fire roasted tomatoes, medium dice
1/4 cup cumin
1 tbsp Mexican oregano
3 bay leaves
4 cloves
1 quart beef stock
2 tbsp Olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1.     In large, heavy Dutch oven or stew pot on medium high heat, sauté onion in olive oil until lightly browned. Remove from pan and set aside.

2.    Add meat and brown, slowly and in small batches (to effectively brown the meat, not steam it). Remove from pan and set aside.  Quickly add garlic and sauté until aromatic and translucent, about 1 minute. Remove from pan and set aside.

3.    Add 1 cup stock and deglaze pan scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pan and bring to a boil.  Add tomatoes and their liquid and cook uncovered for about 10 minutes to reduce total liquid to about ½ cup.

4.    Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan bring remaining stock to a boil.  Add cloves, cover and boil for 5 minutes.  Remove cloves and add seeded and de-veined chiles to boiling liquid.  Cover and reduce heat, simmer chiles for 15 minutes.  With an emersion blender on low speed, purée chiles in hot liquid until smooth.

5.    Add chile purée, meat, onion and garlic back to Dutch oven and bring to simmer.

6.   Lightly toast cumin in small pan over medium low heat for about 5 minutes or until aromatic and golden, not browned.  Grind to a fine powder in mortar and pestle or spice grinder.  Add to Dutch oven.

7.    Crush oregano with your hands until aromatic and add to pot.  Add bay leaves and 1 tablespoon kosher salt and 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

8.   Simmer over medium low heat for about 1 ½ to 2 hours or until meat is tender and some pieces are falling apart.  Taste for salt and pepper.  To finish, add ½ teaspoon each of crushed oregano and ground cumin and remove from heat.  Cover and let sit for 15 minutes.  Serve and garnish with your favorite toppings.

Note: The ratio of chile to meat that I generally follow is approximately 1.5 oz. of dried chile per pound of meat.  A large meaty, fresh ancho might weigh up to about .5 oz.   A few chile combinations I like to use are:
2 ancho and 3 morita per pound of meat
2 ancho, 1 pasilla, and 1 guajillo per pound of meat

Posted in Meat, Tex-Mex

Shotgun Italian Wedding Soup

•January 19, 2010 • 2 Comments

“This soup in fact has nothing to do with weddings. In Italian, it is called minestra maritata (married soup) for its harmonious mingling of ingredients, and somewhere along the line the name got mistranslated.”

Saveur: Issue #72

I love soup.  I would say that soup tastes better in the dead of winter, but I have to tell you, a rich chicken soup tastes pretty damn good in the middle of summer too.  Ok, but it is more pleasant to make soup in January than it is in June.

I also have a thing for stock.  I love making stock, I love the taste of stock and I only cook with homemade stock.  And it couldn’t be easier to make: one whole chicken, one gallon water, one large onion, two ribs celery, two carrots, one head of garlic cut in half, fresh herbs (parsley, sage, thyme, marjoram, bay leaves or some combination thereof), salt and pepper.  Low simmer for 4 hours, strain and enjoy.  It freezes beautifully.  I keep several quarts of both beef and chicken stock in the freezer for soups, sauces and just generally for adding more flavor.

And what could possibly pair better with a fine stock than a spicy meatball?

I had seen Ina Garten’s recipe for Italian Wedding Soup and had been wanting to try it.  And what better time to try it than a cold weekend in January.  So I did, with a few minor modifications.

For the meatballs:  I wanted to make a rich and spicy chicken meatball but I am not a fan of ground chicken.  I find it too dry and devoid of flavor.  I love the taste of chicken and want to taste chicken in both the stock and in the meatball.  I wanted the meatballs to taste like a good roast chicken and to feel rich and substantial without being heavy and without having to add a lot of extra fat.  To achieve this I used a combination of ground dark meat from the chicken leg and thigh and turkey Italian sausage.  The “marriage” of the two types of meat added both depth of flavor and richness to the texture.  Instead of competing with the chicken, the turkey actually intensified the flavor of the chicken’s dark meat and added much needed moisture to the finished meatball.

For those in New York, there is a place in the East Village called Porchetta. http://www.porchettanyc.com/ They have the most amazing Italian, slow-roasted pork shoulder, or Porchetta.  I am there more often than I care to admit and I saw that they have recently started selling their seasoning salt—a blend of Sicilian sea-salt, wild fennel pollen, fennel seed, sage, rosemary, garlic—used to flavor the pork.  I bought some and decided to use it to compliment the flavor of the Italian sausage in the meatball and enhance the overall flavor of the soup.

For the soup:  Marjoram and Parmesan pair very well together.  I used both to flavor the meatballs and garnished the soup with grated Parmesan and minced fresh marjoram.  Marjoram is similar to oregano but sweeter, with more citrus and a hint of pine.  I wanted to bring out the sweet and citrus in the marjoram so I used ¼ cup of an elderflower liqueur to finish the soup.  This particular liqueur has a very bright floral flavor and disappears into the soup masking its flavor as an herb.  A bright, citrus-y white wine would also work well.

And finally, I needed some heat.  I used Thai dried chiles, prig hang, for an unexpected burst of heat.

Ingredients

For the meatballs:
1 pound ground chicken
1 pound turkey italian sausage, casings removed
1 cup fresh white bread crumbs
4 cloves minced garlic
3 tablespoons chopped fresh marjoram
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
¼ cup milk
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
2 heaping teaspoons Porchetta seasoned salt (Sicilian sea-salt, wild fennel pollen, fennel seed, sage, rosemary, garlic)
freshly ground black pepper


For the Soup:
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 ½ cup minced yellow onion
1 ½ cup diced carrots, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 ½ cup diced celery, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
5 cloves minced garlic
3 quarts homemade chicken stock
¼ elderflower liqueur or ½ cup dry white wine
1 cup small pasta
5 dried hot peppers
16 ounces baby spinach, washed and trimmed
2 heaping teaspoons Porchetta seasoned salt
freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

1.   For the meatballs, place the ground chicken, sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Parmesan, milk, egg, 2 teaspoons Porchetta salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork.

2.   With a teaspoon, drop 1 to 1 1/4-inch meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (You should have about 48 meatballs. They don’t have to be perfectly round.)

3.   Bake for 50 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.

4.    For the soup, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and sauté until softened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5.    Add the chicken stock, wine and chiles and bring to a boil and cook until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.  Add pasta and cook until tender.

6.    Stir in the fresh spinach and cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted.

7.    Add the meatballs and pan drippings to the soup and simmer for 1 minute. Taste for salt and pepper.

8.    Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan.

Posted in Soup

Farm Stand Omelet

•January 18, 2010 • Leave a Comment

Ingredients

½ lb. thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 small onion, minced
2 cups Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, 1-inch-diced
6 extra large eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon fresh marjoram, chopped
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
Pinch nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1.    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.    Heat a 10-inch ovenproof non-stick pan over medium heat.  Add the bacon and cook for about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is brown and crisp. Take the bacon out of the pan with a slotted spoon leaving the drippings in the pan and set aside.

3.    Add onion to pan and sauté until golden and remove with a slotted spoon leaving the drippings in the pan and set aside.

4.    Place the potatoes in the pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper. 
Continue to cook over medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until very tender and browned, tossing occasionally to brown evenly.

5.    Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the eggs, milk, marjoram, Parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon 
salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and nutmeg together with a whisk.

6.    When potatoes are brown and tender, remove from pan and pour out most of the fat leaving 1 tablespoon in pan and reduce heat to low.

7.    Add the egg mixture to the hot pan.  Stir in the bacon and onion.

8.    Once incorporated, arrange potatoes evenly over the top and place the pan in the oven for about 8 minutes, just until the eggs are set.

9.    Remove omelet from oven and let stand for 2 minutes then slide onto a plate, cut into individual portions and serve immediately.  Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan.

Posted in Breakfast

TASTE INVADER

•January 17, 2010 • Leave a Comment

There are two people that have my sincerest gratitude for their help in making Taste Invader a reality; Ben Weisman for designing the both the Taste Invader logo and bullet riddled poster and Lisa Lee for coming up with the name Taste Invader.

Taste Invader the name:

Working in advertising and marketing, I understand the importance of a name—comprehension, memorability, uniqueness and ownability (I sound like a client!).  I wanted something that conveyed my culinary point of view, how I see food and how I reinterpret flavor.  But it needed to be simple, short and most importantly, it needed to be true to me.

When Lisa (also in advertising) presented the name to me, she said of Taste Invader: “it combines two quintessential elements of who you are, your love of exploration and Science Fiction (Space Invaders) and your passionate pursuit of great food (Taste).”  And I was sold.

Taste Invader the look:

The name itself became the brief for the design of the logo.  I wanted something playful, something that did not take itself to seriously.  I can get a bit serious about cooking and food so I needed something to take the “edge” off of that…  :-)

I also wanted something that acknowledged my personal history and my perennial source of culinary inspiration, Texas and Mexico.  By combining the icons of food, the southwest, and the colors of Texas, Ben created a logo that represents me and my past, present and future.

Thank you Ben and Lisa!!!

Posted in About

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