Honey Fig Bread with Ham and Melon

This is going to be one of the dishes on our new menu as a starter. It's a honey fig bread, with serrano ham, manchego cheese, fresh melons, and shaved jalapenos. The fig bread was made just like banana bread but we re hydrated some figs and pureed them to replace the banana. The melon and mint works really well with the sweet bread and salty ham. The cheese brings it all together and the small bites of jalapeno give it a little kick at the end. I can already see the guests ordering this as an appetizer while sitting on the patio enjoying a true Colorado view. I can't wait for the spring to arrive, it was 3 degrees outside and snow is everywhere. I've attached a picture of what the view is like from the resort patio during spring/summer.

Spring Menu Dishes

Achiote Marinated Chicken
Roasted Corn, Manchego Raviolis, Cilantro Cream

Salmon
Heirloom Tomato Salad, Fava Bean Puree, Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

Buffalo Short Ribs
Ancho Chile Coffee Rub, Mushroom Salsa, Grilled Plantains

Beef Filet
Maytag Bleu Cream, Whipped Yukon Potatoes, Port Syrup

Pork Shanks
Pomegranate Citrus Relish, Glazed Sweet Potato, Charred Scallions

Stuffed Poblano Chile
Potato Corn Hash, Ancho Chile Sauce, Black Bean Cake

Surf and Turf
Beef Filet with Maytag Bleu Cream and Cumin Dusted Sea Scallops

Churros

So we are working on a new menu for the restaurant and feel that the restaurant needed some type of concept. Since we are in the rocky mountains and still considered southwest, we are going to focus on those flavors. A lot of my cooking background is southwestern and I really appreciate the local ingredients of the region. I'm really excited about the spring menu and will be posting a rough draft shortly. One of the dishes we are working on is a Churro with Chipotle Chocolate and Grilled Bananas. I learned to make churros in Arizona and felt that pairing them with dark chocolate ganache infused with smoky chipotle was perfect. The grilled banana is the perfect medium for the two components. I think that I will make the churros a little bigger next time, but the staff enjoyed eating my first results...

VIP Party

So we have booked this event for next month called the "Heart Ball' that is going to be a really big deal. It's purpose is to raise money for future research and education in dealing with heart disease and strokes. The event's theme is "Cirque Du Soleil" which will be incorporated throughout the entire night. We are having actual "Cirque Du Soleil" performers (there is a school in town where they train for Vegas) doing different types of acrobats throughout the night. The food is very important to this group and they had us go through a rigorous tasting as a deciding factor on choosing our property as the host. This will be the first year that they are not going to have this event at the "Broadmoor Hotel" and are expecting to be blown away. The menu I put together focused on the colors of "Cirque Du Soleil" and also capable of serving the 430 guests that will be attending the dinner. It's easy to come up with a creative dish, but extremely challenging to execute a creative dish for so many people at once. The first course will be a Red Wine Poached Pear Salad with Bleu Cheese Crumbled and Sherry Walnut Vinaigrette. When I was working on an entree for this event I decided that it had to be something that wouldn't dry out while plating and still had vibrant colors after transporting to the banquet room. The entree is going to a Brie Stuffed Chicken on Grilled Filet Mignon with Raspberry Syrup, Marbled Potato Puree, and Baby Vegetables. The dessert is called a "Three Ring Circus" and it's a tasting of three different types of desserts. Mocha Cheesecake, White Chocolate/Macadamia Cake, and Red Velvet Hearts. Each one of these items are creative in presentation and flavor but also simple enough to serve a large banquet. I've attached some pictures of the food from their tasting which included 9 different dish to choose from. We did a Deconstructed Caesar, Saffron Shrimp and Fig Glazed Beef, and Strawberry Chocolate Parfait with Mango.

A Taste of Pomegranates

This is a dessert that I just put together today for our upcoming spring menu. I think superfruits are going to be utilized throughout 2009 and I thought we should create a dessert that focused strictly on them. Pomegranates are one of the most well rounded superfruits available throughout the winter that are easy to eat and actually taste good on their own. I was researching the fruit and found out that the juice contains almost three times the total antioxidant ability of the same quantity of green tea or red wine. It also provides substantial amounts of potassium, Vitamin C, and niacin. The dessert is a tasting with three different components; pink peppercorn and pomegranate soup, chocolate pomegranate brownie, and white chocolate pomagranate parfait. Each taste is something completely different to give guest a variety while only spending one fixed price.

Ice Carving

One of the skills that used to always blow me away when I started out in this business was ice carving. When I was in high school, I pleaded with our chef instructor to bring in someone to do an ice carving demo. I was very fortunate to attend a high level culinary program at a vocational school in Phoenix. Eventually he conceded and brought in the ice carver from a major resort in Scottsdale, AZ. I was hooked after I watched him carve a swan with a chainsaw in less than an hour. My curiosity followed me to work where I would ask my boss to show me some basics since he could carve ice as well. Week after week I would carve something for the Sunday brunch and take pictures. I learned to do lots of simple things like swans, eagles, or a cactus. Now much further into my career I still love the skill and occasionally get to do something for a special event. My last couple of carvings were a basket, a Kodiak bear, and an Easter rabbit. I'm really thinking about trying to hone my skill by continuing the tradition of carving one for Sunday brunch. There is probably someone on my staff that is as curious as I was and wanting to learn like I did.

2009 New Trends???

What are the trends going to be in 2009??? This is always the question in January each year for chefs. So who is capable of making such a decision and what will be the new trends for 2009? Who knows what they're going to be with all the "Jetsons" food in restaurants today and space age equipment that can freeze batter to -95 degrees in 2 seconds flat. Based on my experiences and research here are my predictions for 2009. Hopefully the economy will come out of it's hole and not run from it's shadow because we could all use the break.

• Beer and food pairings – Beer Sommeliers are becoming extremely popular
  

• Shared menu items – Appetizer platters are going to be a big seller with the tight economy, people would rather split appetizers than buy individuals
  

• Local and organic produce – People are more aware of supporting local farms and eating natural
  

• Super fruits like wolfberry and mangosteen – The health craze isn’t going to stop and I think these super fruits will start to appear in soups, sauces and desserts
  

• Smaller portions – Petite desserts have already started show up on menus but I think the trend will spread to trio of appetizers or entrees
  

• Chef Classes – Since guests have been introduced to the food network, they are hungry for information and want to learn (Chef classes are a great way to make money without spending too much)
  
  
• Cheaper Cuts of Meats – With the economy suffering, who can afford to buy beef tenderloin? I think chef’s will become innovative with cheap cuts like brisket or pork butt

• Gluten Free Restaurants - There has been a major increase in the amount of gluten free products I've had to prepare over the last year. It's only time before someone starts opening up these restaurants

Eggs Benedict Ravioli

I just started to write the Valentines Day menus and decided that we should play around a little with some of the courses. I was reading the "Alinea" cookbook and became intrigued by his "Truffle Explosion" dish. I started thinking about the explosion of the egg yolk when you take that first bite into a poached egg. Now I started thinking about how to incorporate ravioli into the dish. I ended up making a pasta dough and filling the raviolis with a whole egg yolk. The "eggs benedict" ravioli is served with a toasted baguette, charred tomato, shaved proscuitto, olive powder, and truffle oil. The dish truly has the components of "Eggs Benedict" but looks nothing like what you see for brunch every Sunday. I'm thinking this would be a great starter that will start the dinner off with a smile.

New Year's Eve 2008

I'm finally back to work after what seems like forever and finally getting back into my groove. Tomorrow night is New Year's Eve and it's usually a big night for chef's all across the world expecting a high volume of diners looking to be blown away. I will be working down at the country club tomorrow with 200 people on the reservation list. I wrote the menu awhile ago and am just now refreshing myself with it. It's very simple but also leaves me plenty of room for inteprepation and presentation. I have a crew of three others working this dinner which include my restaurant chef and two other cooks. It should be very smooth since I've made sure that all the ingredients are staged tonight and ready for execution tomorrow. Hopefully, the guests will eat quickly since we are setting up a casino and live band next door and I'm not stuck there all night. I can't believe the holidays are already over and we are welcoming in 2009. Enjoy and be safe!!!

Soup
Truffle Infused Corn Bisque

Salad
Spicy Chicories with Roasted Apples, Candied Walnuts, Lemon Yogurt

Entrée
Cedar Smoked Salmon with Saffron Lemon Cream

Filet Mignon with Peppercorn Cognac Cream

Roasted Thyme Scented Chicken with Natural Jus

Dessert
Bananas Fosters Cheesecake

And the results are in.....

The James Beard Event will truly be one of my most memorable experience thus far in my career. We left the hotel in New Jersey at 1pm on Thursday and headed into the city to hopefully avoid any traffic and begin our setup. It took only 45 minutes to get to the James Beard House and it was nothing like what I expected for my first time. We drove through various neighborhoods of New York and made a turn onto a side street that was barely big enough for our cargo van and other vehicles to pass. We immediately jumped out and quickly started unloading all the ice chests of food and cases of wine for the dinner. The James Beard House is literally a townhouse that people walk by constantly without giving it a second glance. Once we were let into the house, we walked down a small stairway that led into the a small dining area that had some plaques, books, and a podium. To the right of that room was the kitchen that was bigger than I expected but still extremely small for 4 chefs to prepare a multi course dinner. I'm 6'2" and 235 pounds, which easily earned numerous nicknames throughout the night because I took up so much space, example were "watch those elbows Shaq" and "move out the way Shrek" (Thanks Peter). After unloading the van a few of us decided to tour the house and take some pictures. Rather than go into detail about the marvelous and eccentric history of the house, I suggest attending a dinner there and experiencing it for yourself. As we started to set up for the night we realized that the bread that was on the counter didn't taste to fresh, they were supposed to supply bread and butter for the night. After a little more investigating we realized that it was the previous day's bread and there was none for our dinner. We sent a culinary student to go find a bakery in the neighborhood and find some bread for the dinner, her instructions were to not return without some. Thankfully she was a bakery major and came through with a great variety close to arrival time. We also had it brought to our attention that we were missing a case of champagne from the waitstaff. It was put onto the cargo van when we left the hotel and came to find out it was still on the shuttle that we unloaded. One of the chefs told us about a company in New York called "Who Fuc*ked Up The Order" and said he could get the number. After tracking down this number one of the chef's called and asked for some champagne, it turned out it was the wrong number and some poor old lady was getting upset because we kept asking was it "Who Fuc*ked Up the Order". After numerous apologies we got in touch with the sommelier to pick some more champagne on her way. Once guests started arriving, they were herded through the kitchen into the dining room for the reception. We started placing all the hors d'oeuvres on platters and replenishing as fast as possible. Once it started to wind down I started focusing on preparing the lobster dish which was second course. The soup course flew out the door and next thing I knew was it was my time to start plating. I felt very good about the lobster and white chocolate dish which came out nice and looked very clean. I helped the other chef's knock out their courses and before we knew it the dinner was complete. After walking each room and discussing our dinner with the guests we packed up and headed out to the bar. Everyone met back in New Jersey and found a local bar that was packed and finished out a very successful evening. After the stressful preparation, delayed flights, winter weather conditions, early mornings with lack of sleep, and cooking hard I'm glad I was apart of this experience. Thank you to all who made this possible for me to partake in and I hope that we represented everyone well. I will be posting pictures as soon I have them all downloaded.

Ready for Departure

I've attached some pictures that I took this morning from the terrace at the resort, it's cold out there!!! Thankfully I will be flying out to New Jersey tomorrow and staying at a sister hotel in preparation for the James Beard Dinner on Thursday. I'm about 90% packed and cannot wait to get out of the Colorado weather for a few days. This morning was -2 degrees and snow is still everywhere, I had to grow some hair in preparation of the winter. On Wednesday I will be doing my prep in the hotel kitchen with the three other chefs and gearing up for Thursday night. We will most likely leave the hotel at noon on Thursday and head to the "JBH". Dinner starts at 7pm and should be finished by 11pm, I think we are all planning on hitting the spotted pig afterwards. I will make sure to take lots of pictures and post a slide show when I get back this weekend.

Scallop on Peas and Carrots

Another play on some classic american cuisine, "Peas and Carrots". This is a twist of american / middle eastern flavors. The appetizer was sumac dusted sea scallop and fresh pea tendrils with ginger spiced carrot sauce. The scallops were huge and once caramelized on the outside revealed a sweet tender center. The sumac gave a nice citrus tang that really brought the ginger carrot to life. The pea tendrils were soft and creamy, they came straight from a local microgreen grower. This is definitely a dish that has become one of my top ten favorites.