Got my copy about two weeks a go at a local bookstore. This concept is interesting but I am still going through it. Looking forward to what the other issues cover as well as the soon to be released IPad app.
I have been putting this off for awhile now. Between getting the coffee shop ready to open back in September and the daily grind of it (HAHA) I have not had much time for blogging,let alone putting together a video. With today being Veterans Day,the Air Force was off for the day and therefore 90% of my sales were on vacation so I had the day off as well. This video shows pretty much the whole evening of the ArtSpace dinner and should give you a pretty good idea of how the night went. This was such a great experience and I was fortunate that they gave me a shot at doing it. The night went pretty well but as always there was room for improvement.
Some of the things I would have done differently/changed/or added:
- Printed menus with my logo to hand out to the guests to take home
- Have an additional cheese to add to the cheese course
- A “surprise” course not on the menu – just did not have enough time for this
- The dessert : because of the heat and humidity it did not set up and became almost impossible to plate. Everyone said they enjoyed it though.
- Goodie bags for the guests to take home – I had some really good ideas just messed up the timing therefore they were shelved.
- Logo’ed t-shirts for myself and my crew.
All in all it was really fun and went by extremely fast. I had originally signed up to do one of these dinners again in early 2011 but ArtSpace has gone through some changes and is in the process of revamping this program. I let the director know my continued interest in this as well as any other culinary programs they might do in the future so I will keep you updated when I find out anything.
I have to give thanks to everyone who made this night possible : ArtSpace, Michael Chisum, my lovely wife Ann, Connor “mini-me” O’Boyle, Liz Beattie,Robin Rice and Jaimee “Pony Thief” Rice and of course all my guests who dined with us that night…….it truly was special.
The audio in the beginning when the Culinary Director (Michael Chisum at the time) is speaking is kind of low so you may have to turn your speakers up but after that watch the volume because the rest is okay.
ArtSpace – Someone’s in the Kitchen Dinner 8-10-2010 from Michael O'Boyle on Vimeo.
This course halfway turned out like I originally envisioned it. The pork belly turned out perfect, the bbq sauce I can make in my sleep nowadays,onion sprouts – well not much to screw up there. The corn and ricotta gnocchi is where things veered off course a bit.
My original idea was to have an all ricotta gnocchi, no eggs, no flour. I had read on Ideas in Food that they used a binding agent called Activa YG which is specifically for dairy applications. I contacted the supplier and they graciously supplied me with a few samples. I made a test batch a few weeks before the dinner using 1% Activa YG and 99% drained whole milk ricotta. These worked out pretty good so I felt fairly confident about the ones I would make for the dinner. Well about an hour before the dinner was supposed to start I decided to test a few of the gnocchi. As soon as I put them in the water they basically just fell apart and I was left with a pot of ricotta water. They just would not hold their shape, they were super delicate. Not that I wanted to, but Iended up adding some flour and egg yolks to bind them together. I cooked these then tossed them in a saute pan to lightly brown on one side. They were tasty just not what I had originally envisioned.
The rest of the course consisted of my Ancho Bacon BBQ sauce, Beer Braised Pork Belly, a Corn sauce to top the gnocchi and finally some onion sprouts. I had brought along some corn nuts that I ground up to add texture to the dish but in the haste of plating for the crowd they were forgotten about.
If I could have done anything different I would have liked to change the gnocchi to be smaller and more uniform in size as well as lighten up the corn sauce and clean up/tighten the plating. Also we had a whole tray of pieces of Pork Belly that I had trimmed off the ones we served. My whole crew used this as snacks throughout the dinner, some more than others 
This past Tuesday, August 10th, I did for my first of hopefully more dinner events at ArtSpace here in Shreveport. ArtSpace is located in downtown Shreveport and is housed in one of the many old buildings that make up the downtown area. I want to call it an art museum but it is so much more than that. There are about 4 levels that make up the whole space with the mezzanine holding a small kitchen and eating space. The ArtSpace Cafe is open for lunch and they just starting this Sunday to have a Jazz Brunch.
Once a month they hold a “Someone’s in the Kitchen” event where a guest chef comes in and prepares a fixed menu that is paired with wine for $65 a person. Back in early spring I received an email inviting me to one of these events and i thought to myself ”I could do one of these” . I emailed the culinary director stating who I was, what I wanted to do, that I do not have a restaurant nor any formal training but to look at my website and give me a shot. It took awhile to get a response but once I did the ball started rolling on being able to host one.
I wanted to do a menu that people would understand and find approachable but when delivered on a plate,it would be something a little different and unexpected (in a good way )
You can download the full menu HERE : Artspace Menu
I started off with an Amuse Bouche of a pork rind topped with Tuna Tartare, Pickled White Peach & Chives. I made the pork rind from the skin of the Pork Bellies I was preparing as an entree. This was the second time I have made Pork Rinds and it can still be a tricky process. I fried them the day of the event and I think I lost 10lbs just by standing over the fryer in this lovely 110 degrees Louisiana heat. I had originally wanted to place a thin slice of Lardo (from Cochon Butcher – Thanks Blake) between the fried pork skin and the tuna but the pork skin still had a pretty meaty fatty quality to it. The tuna itself was just finely chopped and left unseasoned.
I got the idea to make pickled peaches from Shola of Studio Kitchen and his upcoming Restaurant SPECK. I deviated from his recipe on the spices and instead used Togarashi, a japanese spice. The peaches I picked up were White Peaches since the usual yellow were too soft and would not hold up to the pickling process. I topped everything off with chopped chives.
Up Next : Chilled Yellow Tomato Soup with Lemongrass smoked Crab
Tuesday, August 10th at 6:30 pm
Chicken Fried gourmet
Michael O’Boyle is best known to the community through his highly followed blog, www.ChickenFriedGourmet.com where he shares interesting tidbits about food and the culinary arts.
MENU
Amuse of Tuna Tartare
pork,peach,chives
Chilled Yellow Tomato Soup with Grilled King Crab
cucumber,lemongrass,cilantro
Beer Braised Pork with Sweet Corn Gnocchi
popcorn, onion, bbq sauce
Cheese Course
brie, figs, toast
Chocolate Ganache
smoked oreo,cocoa nib,pudding, pistachio
Someone’s In The Kitchen is Shreveport-Bossier’s premiere culinary arts experience! Guests dine at the Chef’s Table while receiving a full demonstration on preparing a multi-course meal that is enjoyed with a pairing from a selected wine tasting.
Enjoying our 3rd year of successful evenings, Someone’s In The Kitchen occurs the 2nd Tuesday of each month and features Culinary Artists from Shreveport-Bossier preparing unique and exotic meal selections to classic and traditional with their own special flair.
Please go here to sign up : http://artspaceshreveport.com/2010/08/10/someones-in-the-kitchen/
So last weekend we went down to Lake Charles,LA to my parent's second, soon to be permanent house. When we got there I noticed Thomas Keller's book Under Pressure sitting on a shelf in the kitchen so I asked my dad about it seeing how everything I have ever done that involves cooking outside of the norm is met with huge skepticism. He said " oh your mother and I got that at a party in New Orleans, she doesn't want it because it makes no sense." Needless to say the book ended up being given to me as a gift
I do not have an immersion circulator (yet) since they run about $1000 although there is a new unit for home cooks called the SousVide Supreme for about 1/2 that price (courtesy of Richard Blais). I knew steak does not take as long as some other (tougher) cuts of meat so I could use a regular stockpot and thermometer to regulate the temp and try my hand at sous vide cooking. I started with a small strip steak(since Ann was out of town) and seasoned it generously. I vacuum sealed it in two bags* using my Foodsaver and put it in a pot of water heated to around 139 degrees. I let this cook according to the book for about 40-45 minutes. I monitored the temp throughout and if it got too hot I just added about a cup of ice cubes to bring the temp where it needed to be. Once done I heated up a skillet on high and pan seared the steak to get the color and the crust I was looking for.
I paired it with green onions that were blanched in salted water then sauteed and some carrots I steamed. I made a pan sauce with butter and lemon for the steak as well. WOW this was so good and tender. This was fairly easy to do with the limited equipment I had. I can only imagine how much better it would be with an actual immersion circulator and what else I could do with it (hello Pork Belly).
Here are the cookbooks I have received over this holiday season……
lot of reading and experimenting to do
So does the title of this post have you wondering how in the heck all these things go together? Well they do and they don't, let me explain.
The Monday before Christmas we had a dinner party with some friends. We have been planning this for it seems like months trying to coordinate everyone's schedules and a location. I have been thinking about the menu for some time as well while constantly tweaking the recipes, coming up with new ideas and dishes and generally second guessing myself the whole time.
There were a few dishes that either did not make it on the final menu because of time constraints, amount of prep or just the fact that they did not work during execution.
Back in October my wife bought me the Alinea cookbook by Grant Achatz. This is no ordinary cookbook by any means, it is also not for everybody. It can be a source of inspiration and frustration ( in a good way) at the same time. I find myself reading it on a daily basis as it stimulates my food way of thinking and leads to new ideas. I have tried a few of the easier recipes in the book with mixed success. One of the great thing as about this cookbook project is that Grant Achatz and his partner in Alinea, Nick Kokonas, have added a companion website, Alinea-Mosaic, where some recipes are posted as well as a forum where you can share ideas, ask the chefs questions as well as interact with others who are enjoying this "not just a cookbook".
The way I cook is to constantly try to find new ideas, new ways of cooking something,and to always try to push myself to make restaurant caliber/quality meals in my home kitchen. I consider myself a pretty ambitious home cook and am actually working on a few projects that should push me into the professional cooking arena but not tied down to the usual culinary career.
For this dinner I decided to use some stand by recipes with a little tweaking, some new ones that were safe and some that were just out of my league at the moment.
The menu as planned follows:
Miso Caramel Apples coated with crushed Wasabi Peas ( this idea I got from Chef Jonathan MacDonald formerly of SnackBar in Philadelphia and currently at Pub & Kitchen)
"Cheese Crackers" ala Alinea…. oh so good but messy this time.
Chorizo crusted Scallops with Granny Smith Apples, Micro Cilantro and Manchego Cheese broth – this is one where I have seen components of this dish go together and I combined it with flavors I thought would work well as well as new techniques ( broth). The chorizo is frozen then shaved on a microplane over the scallop once cooked.
Peanut Butter Bourbon Pork Belly with Sweet Potato,Bourbon Gel, Peanuts, Micro Arugula & Balsamic.
Pineapple Bacon "bite" ala Alinea – this dish did not work out for multiple reasons, the biggest is that I do not have the right equipment 
I tried to improvise and make a pineapple "caviar" and serve it over the bacon powder but I used to much sodium alginate and it was too "gelly" if that makes sense. You can go HERE to see someone else who had better success with it. I am going to keep trying on this one.
For dessert I made a chocolate ganache with gelatin that just did not set up right. It was difficult to cut and tended to spread too easy. It was tasty just not what I expected,maybe more gelatin next time. I served it it with smoked oreo crumble which is basically just the chocolate wafers scraped clean of the creme and cold smoked then put through a food processor. I have made this before but this time they cooked a little too long and had a burnt smell to them. I served this with a blackberry cabernet sauce that was thickened with Ultra Tex3 to give it some body but without taking away from the natural taste of the blackberry. I sprinkled some Maldon Sea Salt on top of the chocolate. This dish did not photograph well at all,maybe next time.
I had a few more ideas for this dinner but time and resources did just not permit them to happen. I was okay with this meal but not impressed. I tend to be my own worst critic and everyone else loved the meal, or so they said 
Overall I felt good about the dinner to a point and had a great time with our friends who we have not seen in awhile, I am btw especially proud of the Chorizo & Scallop dish. There are some tweaks to be made to how I did things and I will definitely try and refine some of the dishes that just did not work out. I don't know….. what do you think of it, any questions ?
On a side note there are two people ( that I am aware of) that are cooking their way through the Alinea book. Much too ambitious for myself but I commend them for it – Martin at Alineaphile and Carol at Alinea at Home.
Pork Belly – I know it sounds gross or weird but trust me it is not. Pork belly is basically uncured bacon. Its flavorful, very versatile and damn tasty. Its not healthy by any means but if you eat it in small portions you can convince yourself you are doing good on your diet. I have only discovered pork belly over the past year and I have used it in many different ways. I am not ordering the really good stuff online but rather have found it very accessible at my local Chinese grocery – like $ 4 accessible. So seriously go out and find some, experiment and enjoy that porky goodness……….
you will be glad you did