Beef Steak Tomatoes Stuffed with a Grilled Corn Salad, Dijon & White Wine Dressing Topped with Goat Cheese & Chives

This is such a refreshing side dish to have any time of the year. I was able to find sweet corn on the cob in November here in North Carolina, so I snatched some up! It's like summertime in the fall, I love it. This recipe actually consists of very few ingredients so it's the perfect thing to whip up last minute! These can be eaten cold, at room temperature or even warmed in an oven.
Cheers!

Ingredient
4 Beef Steak Tomatoes
3 Ears of Corn
4 oz. of Goat Cheese
1 tsp. Dijon Mustard
1 tsp. White Wine (Pinot Grigio)
4 Chives
1 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tbsp. Cilantro
1 tbsp. Parsley
Kosher Salt
Cracked Black Pepper

The Process
1. Shuck the corn and put on a medium hot grill for 2 minutes per side, rotating 4 times. After cooling, remove the kernels from the cobs and set in a bowl.
2. 1/3 down from the top, slice off the tops of the tomotoes and remove the seeds and guts with a melon baller.
3. Combine the corn, parsley, cilantro, white wine, dijon mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl until thoroughly mixed.
4. Take 1/3 of the goat cheese and mix it into the corn mixture.
5. Spoon the corn mixture into each tomato and top with equal amounts of goat cheese, any parsley or cilantro you may have left over and chives.
6. Serve at room temperature.
CHEERS!

Simplicity at it's Finest!

Maybe it's because I cook so much and love food and have a belly, but I just had the ingredients around to make this simple breakfast happen. Sometimes the most simple things taste the best when paired with other simple things and the seasonings we all have in our cabinets. The only spices I used were Kosher salt and ground pepper, how simple.

I was trying to figure out something to have for breakfast and only had 2 eggs. I needed to feed 2 of us, so that wasn't going to be enough. I remembered I had some grav lox (salmon) in the freezer (the best place for it if you aren't going to use it that day). I had a couple of tomatoes, some spring greens, a couple pieces of bread so why not create something pretty. The best part about this breakfast was that the yoke from the sunny side egg, actually created a "dressing" of sorts for the greens and when mixed with the remnant juices of the tomato and the kosher salt actually made something quite wonderful.

Maybe I stumbled upon something fantastic, so I won't take credit for nature's ability to just be awesome, but I will say, this was so simple but so flavorful and amazing! Cheers!

Ingredients

6 oz. grav lox, smoked salmon or any cured salmon
2 roma tomatoes
4 oz. of spring greens
2 slices of bread (your preference of bread)
2 eggss
olive oil
kosher salt
ground pepper

The instrutions on creating this simple dish are actually pretty time sensitive if you not one for timing. Toast your bread while you get the oil hot in the pan. Fry the eggs for 2 minutes on one side, 1.5 on the other. Slice the tomatoes in 1/2 inch rounds, mound some greens in a bowl and make the salmon into round swirls. The whole process should only take ten minutes. Lay a bed of greens. Place the toast in the background (this will serve as a useful dipper), place the egg on the greens, the salmon on one side and the tomatoes on the other. Salt and pepper the veggies. Break the yolk of the egg to create a sauce for the greens.
Enjoy!

A Wednesday Night Dinner Party & Recipe Testing

A Dinner Party is a great way to recipe test on your friends and family! Lastnight, I invited my mother and 2 of my best friends, Mason & Paul over for a dinner. Little did they know they were going to experience some dishes I've never created before. Although exciting, it made me kind of nervous because these people will be honest and I was hoping they would really love it.

It was a beefy kind of evening. I created 2 courses, a soup and an entree. Paired with several bottles of wine, I went to town on creating something special for those that I love. The soup course was a Red Thai Curry & Coconut Braised Oxtail Soup with Dashi Brined Shitake Mushrooms and Baby Bok Choy. The entree course was a puddle of whipped scallion and ginger potatoes, surrounded by dashi braised brussel sprouts off the vine. Accompanying the veggies was a ginger, thai chilli and soy marinatd ribeye steak topped with an oyster & honey marinated veal shoulder cutlet.

The best part of creating something for the people in your life that love you is the (hopefully) positive reaction you receive when they take that first bite. Thank goodness the reactions were very positive!

I'm going to share the soup recipe with you today and will post the recipe for the entree, CHEERS!

That Red Curry & Coconut Oxtail Soup w/ Dashi Brined Shitake Mushrooms & Baby Bok Choy

Ingredients
3 tbsp Thai Red Curry Paste
2 cans of coconut milk
1 red onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 lb dried shitake mushrooms
4 heads of baby bok choy
1 tsp freshly grated ginger root
3 thai chilis
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 scallions
2 tsp dashi granule
4 cups of water
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup beef stock
1 lb oxtails


The Mushrooms
~ In a sauce pot heat 4 cups of water, dashi granule and soy sauce until simmering. Add the shitake mushrooms and simmer until completely reconstituted, about 25 minutes. Remove the mushrooms for plating and you are left with a rich dashi and shitake stock that you can use later (I highly suggest saving this liquid, it is absolutely delicious).

The Soup Base
1. In a large pan, sautee the red onion in oil until tender.
2. Add the curry paste and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the coconut milk and wisk with the curry paste to create a smooth liquid mixture.
4. Add the brown sugar, fish sauce, thai chilis, chopped garlic, and grated ginger root, wisk together.
5. Gently place the oxtails in the soup mixture and braise for 2 hours.
6. Add the baby bok choy and simmer for 5 minutes.

Plating
1. Pour the soup base with oxtails in 4 equally size bowls.
2. Pile a few of the shitake mushrooms in the center of the soup.
3. Garnish with the fresh cilatnro and diagonally cut scallions.
4. ENJOY! and CHEERS!

The soup packs a punch of flavor and heat, if you don't like things that spicy, remove the thai chilis. This soup can also be turned into an entree by simply placing the soup over some steamed rice.

This will soon be added to the galler @ www.thesavorysavant.com

Asian Sesame Sticky Wings: Your New Obsession

I don't know about my readers, but I am absolutely crazy about chicken wings! I am a total wing snob and I find it hard to find ones that truly blow my mind. I will probably be creating several posts about chicken wings, so all of you aficionados out there, rejoice! Today, I'm going to share my recipe for some asian sesame sticky wings that will not disappoint. They are the perfect balance of sweet and heat! I love love love spicy, but these can be adjusted if you aren't so crazy about the heat factor. And if you haven't had Hoisin sauce before, try this out, because it will be your new go-to ingredient in asian cooking.

Hoisin Sauce is essentially a chinese barbeque sauce that is sweety, slightly tangy and loaded with awesome herbs and spices. The balance between the honey, soy sauce, pepper, hoisin sauce and sesame oil creates this awesome balance of flavors that bounce around on your tongue. I promise you, you will be making these all the time and if you entertain with these, they will be your guests new favorite chicken wing!

Cheers!

Ingredients
3 pounds of wings and drumettes
4 cloves of garlic
4 tbsp of hoisin sauce
4 tbsp of soy sauce
4 tbsp of honey
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 carrots
1 medium onion
1 large red bell pepper
4 scallions
1/2 tsp of kosher salt
1/2 tsp of cracked black pepper

The Marinade
1. First combine the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, honey and sesame oil in a large bowl and whisk together.
2. Finely mince the garlic and add with the red pepper flakes into the marinade.
3. Place the wings in the marinade and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

It's Cooking Time!
1. Preheat an oven to 425 degrees.
2. On a flat baking sheet, place the wings and all of the marinade in a single layer and bake for 35-45 minutes.
3. When the wings have finished their cook time, toss with the sesame seeds and get ready to assemble with the veggies.

The Veggies
1. Cut the bell pepper and carrots into sticks and slice the onions thinly.
2. In a large sautee pan, add the vegetable oil over medium heat.
3. When the oil is heated at the veggies and season with the salt and pepper.
4. Cook for about 7 minutes until tender but still crisp.

The Garnish
The garnish here is simple but sophisticated. Cut the scallions at an angle into 1.5 inch long pieces. You can use both the whites and the green parts of the scallions for this.

The Assembly
Place the veggies in a mound in the center of a large serving dish.
Top the veggies with the wings.
Sprinkle the scallions on top.
Enjoy!

Cheers!

Carrot & Curry Bisque with Crispy Chives

Carrots and curry are an awesome combination! A client asked me to produce a hearty soup for her, as she is trying to cut the calories but still wants something absolutely flavorful. You probably already have all of the ingredients necessary to create this bisque and even if you don't, it's a very cost effective dish to create! And if you're trying to keep your sodium intake low, this bisque contains no salt! The Carrot & Curry Bisque is good as a side dish but can certainly be used as a main course, it is very filling, flavorful and healthy. Cheers!

Ingredients
8 large carrots
4 stalks celery
1 sweet potato
1 small onion
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp butter
¼ cup light half & half
Tbsp curry powder
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup of chicken stock
2 tsp of chives
Cracked black pepper

1. Dice the carrots, celery, sweet potato and onion in uniform chunks.
2. Heat oil and butter in a pot until butter begins to sizzle.
3. Add the vegetables and curry powder, and pepper to taste.
4. Sautee for 15 minutes until tender.
5. Add wine and chicken stock.
6. Simmer on medium heat for 20 minutes until 1/3 of the liquid has reduced.
7. Off of the heat, add half & half.
8. In a blender, blend the bisque until very smooth.
9. Cut chives and place in the same pot you sauteed the veggies in, sautee for 2 minutes.
10. Place in bowls and garnish with chives!

Oysters: The Pearls of Sea Part 1, Sauced!

This photo I took at 28 Degrees Restaurant in Boston.

I don't know about you but I am a superfan of oysters! I prefer them raw, but also enjoy them fried, grilled or lightly steamed. The reason why I love raw oysters is for the ocean taste that comes with them in their simplicity. The accompanying sauces are not even necessary because oysters are delicious by themselves, but there a couple of sauces that I prefer with my little pearls.

Mignonette
This is a beautifully simple sauce for oysters. Packs a punch and compliments the awesomely pungent taste of the oysters themselves.

1/2 cup shallots
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/8 tsp of kosher salt
1/8 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of white peppercorns
This can be created raw or can be heated up in a sauce pot on a simmer for just under 10 minutes.

Horserash Cocktail Sauce
I'm not the biggest fan of ketchup, so when I can, I create my own cocktail sauce and amp it up with beautiful horseradish and roasted garlic.
2 cups of San Marzano tomatoes sauteed with 1 tsp of sugar, onion and half a head of roasted garlic)
1 medium onion
1 lemon
1 tbsp Worcestshire Sauce
5 tbsp prepared horseradish
3 tbsp italian flat parsley
After the tomatoes are sauteed, add the lemon juice, minced parsley and horseradish, spring with kosher salt and cracked black pepper to taste.

I could write on and on about oysters, and I am promising to post my friend Mason's recipe for Pecorino, Garlic, Herb and Butter Grilled Oysters. They are ridiculous. But for now, I shall enjoy my glass of Pinot Noir and dream of my little pearls of the sea.

Cheers!

Pan Seared Duck Breasts Part 2: Burnt Honey and Lavender Duck with Figs

This succulent duck recipe was part of a dinner party in NYC that I catered this past holiday season. I've referenced this dinner party in previous posts and will post the full menu after individually posting all of the separate recipes. The dinner was for 18 people and included 7 course, quite an adventure, but this duck went over so well, that I wanted to share it with the world. In the previous post, Seared Duck Breasts: Part 1, I showed you how to perfectly attain that medium rare doneness for the duck breasts, anything more and it depletes the juiciness of that quacker!

The sauce for this recipe sounds daunting but it is rather easy if you can get your hands on the ingredients. The best advice I can give anyone when cooking for an event, a family or meal planning is to put your heart and soul into the dish, source the best quality ingredients and that combination will lend to a beautifully executed dish.
I've altered the recipe to serve 4, rather than the 18 for this party, Cheers!

Ingredients
4 Duck Breasts (reference the previous post on preparation and execution)
8 figs
1/4 cup of honey
2 tsp dried lavender
1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
Micro greens or pea tendrils for garnish

The Sauce!
In a deep sauce pot over high heat, caramelize the honey until golden brown (about 8 minutes). When you get that perfect dark brown caramel color, add lavender and olive oil and cook for about 10 minutes, reducing the heat to medium.

Meanwhile, in a sautee pan, heat olive oil until rippling and add in the figs (sliced in half). Pan sautee the figs until they lend some of their juices and because less firm.

This whole process take less than 20 minutes, when both are ready, add the figs to the sauce.

Presentation
Slice the duck breasts on a diagonal for a gorgeous look.
Place 4 fig halves on top of the duck.
Drizzle the sauce with a spoon over the figs & duck and around the plate.
Add micro greens or pea tendrils for some green color and presentation.

Cheers!