Intro

It has been a month or so since I have posted on this blog....I apologize to those of you who had been in the habit of looking and seeing weekly posts and then not having something to read. Louise and I took what was supposed to be a two week vacation/road trip and turned it into three weeks. I have been on plenty of vacations, like everyone else; but I have never made the decision to extend a vacation - and do it on the morning we were supposed to return to Los Angeles. There is no better feeling to go from...Ok, gotta go to the airport this morning, to....Oh Boy!!! I get another week!!!!
 
We flew from L.A. to Charlotte, North Carolina. Rented a car and drove thru North Carolina. Stopping at places like Asheville, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Durham, Chapel Hill, and up through Virginia. Charlottesville area in Virginia is one of our favorite. Both states have beautiful countryside, friendly folks, and lots of good food. We ended up in my home state of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh to be exact. Anyone that knows me, knows that you can take the kid out of the 'burgh, but you can't take the 'burgh out of the kid. There is something special about being from Pittsburgh. I look forward to every trip I can make there. The people are great, there is plenty to do, and besides our horrible baseball team....it is a great sports town!!! Our son goes to Duquesne University there, and is student manager of the basketball program. So it gives me (and Louise) plenty of reasons to get back.
 
As I have now just about caught up on stuff that got ignored or put on hold while I was away....it is back to the fun stuff - this blog!!! Our Executive Chef, Larry and our Off-Premise sales folks have been discussing some new food ideas for that division. It has been a little longer than we would have liked that we have done menu development, and this is what really excites a chef (and our event planners too). You really have to be a foodie to succeed in this business.
 
We call it menu development for a reason... As Larry says it is never "menu for sure" until we do menu development. So I have decided to do something a little different, and pull the curtain back and give you a glimpse of how this works. In this post I will show you some of the items that were presented for a tasting yesterday.
 
We have decided to focus on the Appetizer portion of the menu first. There are all sorts of factors that determine whether an item is suitable to be placed on a menu.

1. It must be something that can be eaten in 2 bites or so.
2. It must be something that can be finalized in a field kitchen...that means final assembly, heating, and plated with any garnish, sauce or dressing...in an acceptable time frame. Many times for a group of 150 guests, we would have to get our 600-800 pieces of hot and cold apps in an hour or so.
3. Must be attractive to the eye....we eat with those!!  
4. Obviously taste is paramount.
5. And our menus must have a good balance off all of the protein groups.....
6. Different presentations...fried, baked, skewered, on croustades, in pastry cups, etc.
7. Today's menus must have a good offering of vegetarian items... So, there is a lot of thought that precedes any actual cooking. Researching sample recipes is a fun task that has been enhanced by the use of the internet. Very few of the recipes you do locate thru any source will be useable as they are. They will be fine tuned, tweaked and subtle changes will be made so that the final product will be unique.

 
We presented four items on Thursday, August 20th. They were all hot apps. They were all skewered proteins and each had a sauce to accompany. I am going to give you two of the items today, and the other two shortly

Recipes

 

PORK SATAY WITH A MANGO DIPPING SAUCE

(Please keep in mind this photo was taken for development purposes. Our final product would be presented beautifully with professionally styled plating)

• 1 Pound  Ground Pork
• 1-1/2 TBSP chopped garlic
• 1-1/2 oz chopped shallots  (by weight)
• 1 oz. Asian style bottled fish sauce
• 1 ea. large egg
• 1 TBSP mild red curry paste...this is an Indian paste...not Oriental one Flour....as needed.
• Curry powder (just to season the flour)
  

Combine the first 6 ingredients and mix well. Divide in to 16 portions and form into sort of an oblong, football type shape. Take your chopstick, sugarcane stick or other such vehicle that you want to use. The little skinny bamboo skewers that you usually see in stores will not work....you need something more substantial for pork mixture to adhere to, so plan accordingly. After they have all been skewered, dust them lightly with the curry flavored flour. Sauté in equal parts butter and oil until browned all over and serve with the mango dipping sauce
 
MANGO DIPPING SAUCE

• 1 C. Mayo
• 1 oz. Mango Chutney
• 1 Tsp. Mild red curry paste...the same stuff
• 1 TBSP. Lime juice
• 3 TBSP  chopped cilantro
• Combine all, serve on the side.

Combine all, serve on the side.
 
This item tasted great, everyone who was on the taste panel loved them. Just make sure they are completely cooked thru. You can make ahead, brown them off, refrigerate until you are ready to serve them. Pop them in the oven and heat thru and serve.
 

BEEF AND SWEET POTATO SKEWERS

(Please keep in mind this photo was taken for development purposes. Our final product would be presented beautifully with professionally styled plating)

• 12 oz Skirt steak
• 9 oz Sweet Potato
• 1 TBSP Olive oil
• 1 TBSP ground cumin
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

Cut the skirt steak into 1/2 ounce pieces. Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into 3/4 ounce pieces. Roast the potatoes in the oven until cooked, but still firm. On your choice of skewer (we use something obtained thru our purveyor that looks like an oversized wooden cocktail pick....it is more of a flat, bladed skewer. It has the heft to hold proteins on without slippage and movement), put on a piece of meat, then potato, then a second piece of meat. Repeat with all skewers, and marinate in the Olive oil, cumin and salt and pepper. Let marinade soak for 4 hours or so, or overnight. I like to cook these on a Panini press, if you have one (especially one that has the grooves.) It gives you nice grill marks. Or you can cook on your outdoor grill....just soak the wooden skewers in water before skewering the meat and potatoes.
 
We served them with a Chimichurri sauce...
 
CHIMICHURRI SAUCE

• 3/4 oz chopped Jalapeno....seeded, by weight
• 3/4 oz chopped cilantro...by weight
• 3/4 oz chopped parsley...by weight
• 1TBSP chopped garlic
• 1/2 Tsp paprika
• 1/2 C. Olive oil
• 1-1/2 oz red wine vinegar

Blend all ingredients together and serve on the side.
 
This item was well received, and it was decided that we would approve both items for inclusion on the menu. 
 
So there you have it. I will occasionally update you as we go thru this process. It will take some time for Larry to get through Appetizers, Soups, Salads, Entrees, Side dishes etc... It is an exciting process. One that can be frustrating at times, because the things that you think will work, sometimes just don't come together as expected and then you are back to the drawing board for an item. The interesting thing is that when you get some disagreement between our team as to what is a successful new item and one that is not... as much as I may like a particular item, I might get over-ruled if the rest of the team is in agreement.

Have a great day!