Kale to the Chef

I recently made a dish that I couldn't get out of my head. I kept boring my friends about it and so I decided to make enough of it that I would become sick of it and be left with no choice other than to give it a rest. The dish? Braised Kale with Pancetta.

I browned the Pancetta and Danish Bacon with the shallots and half of a white onion. To that I added the chanterelles and cooked until they browned. I then added a little chicken stock to scrape the fond off of the bottom of the dutch oven. I then added the Kale and hot peppers and covered with chicken stock. I cranked it up to high for about 10 minutes and added the cannelinni's at the end to finish.

Tuna 3 Ways

Last week I bought Tuna for the first time in over 2 years. Although it is one of my favorite meats, I am just not convinced that it is sustainable and after watching a documentary on how they catch the tuna, I decided to stop eating it....Until last week. I was in the restaurant depot and they had a whole side of sushi grade yellowfin tuna. It was a ridiculously low price ($10/lb), so I got some. When I got home I noticed that it still had the skin on it, which was rough and kind of like a cats tongue. I decided to serve it three ways.

I rubbed a little mirin on the fish and rolled it in black sesame then seared it on the cast iron skillet. The inside was still cold when I served it. We had a mix of Bok Choy and Eggplant with a sweet chili sauce on the side.

For the main course, I made my favorite nagiri with two slices of a semi-hot thai pepper on the top. I also put wasabi under the fish to add a little kick. The rice was sushi rice with rice vinegar on it and fanned to cool it and make sure it would stick. I also made a tartar with a little chili sauce, fresh ginger, and scallions.

Rock Lobster Dinner

So I went to a restaurant wholesaler the other day with Sean (who had to fib and tell them that he worked at a restaurant, but they gave us the one day pass anyway). It's amazing to see how restaurants purchase in bulk. They had everything you could ever want and then some (6 gallons of A1? No.). We had been there once before so we knew our way around. I ended up buying a 3 lb brick roll of pancetta, but what really caught my eye was the seafood. Along with the tuna from my next post, I bought two fresh lobsters for......get this......$5.99/lb! So, in total I spent $18 for two 1.5lb live lobsters. I ended up grilling them and covering them with butter/parsley/garlic/shallots. I even cracked the claws to get some of the flavor in there. The meat was incredibly tender, especially for being grilled which usually toughens it up.

I'm a little disappointed in how the picture turned out, but they sure tasted damn good.

Caprese Supreme

I caught the last farmers market of the year last week and was lucky enough to catch some great tomatoes, including some Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes. Unfortunatley, they do not taste like chocolate, but they were great. I added some balsamic and olive oil and some freshly pulled Mozz.

Here is a picture of one of the cherry tomatoes without any lighting enhancements: