Amuse Bouche: Lime Chile Jicama

Tonight's amuse bouche is extremely simple (always my favorite type) and has amazing flavors. I've taken some fresh jicama and cut out coins that resemble scallops. The jicama is tossed in freshly chopped cilantro, lime juice, salt, and red chile flakes. The sweetness of the jicama is already great and reaches the next level when the salty, spicy, and sour flavors are added. While working in Phoenix, Arizona, my dishwashers would marinate everything from watermelon to cucumbers in this simple idea and devour throughout their shifts. I was so impressed that I made a salad of shaved jicama & watermelon to garnish a nice piece of halibut during those hot 120 degree summers. This amuse bouche works perfect for our concept and can be put together in a matter of minutes. Many people don't know what jicama is and cannot fathom what they are missing out on. A jicama is a root vegetable with a thin brown skin and white crunchy flesh. The flavor is like a cross between a potato and an apple. It's great raw or lightly cooked in a saute pan. Make sure to look for this lovely vegetable in your local produce section.

Amuse Bouche - Blue Potato and Corn Salad

A small bite to excite the palate before a meal is the best way I've heard an "amuse bouche" described. Every night we make a taste that is usually 1-2 bites as a complimentary starter from the chef. Tonight's amuse is a blue potato and corn salad that has some crumbled cotija cheese and roasted red pepper. The simplicity of this dish and intense flavors make it a perfect starter to introduce each guest to their awaited next course. I'm working on some other fun recipes to keep the people guessing what will be served.

Forest Mushroom Tostada

Here is the newest appetizer appearing on my upcoming menu; "Forest Mushroom Tostada". We have a beautiful medley of fresh wild mushrooms that are sauteed with chopped garlic, minced shallots, huitlacoche (corn truffle), grape tomatoes, and fresh cilantro. The aromatic mushrooms are tossed with crumbled Mexican cheese and stacked within the layers of crispy corn tortillas. A simple puree of cilantro and achiote oil are garnishing the plate. This dish is a great example of our Colorado Fusion cuisine which blends rocky mountain ingredients with a southwestern flare. The staff was really impressed with the sweet earthy flavors of the mushrooms and the salty enhancement of the cheese. Only 22 days left until our new spring menu is ready for everyone and I'm hard at work getting ready to start training my cooks and servers.

Green Chile Poppers

The spring time is officially here and it's time to start introducing new menus. The first area I'm working on is enhancing the bar menu. I want to create a menu that has familiar items that most bar patrons recognize. I needed to maintain my creativity while staying simple in the execution and preparation for the staff. The first idea to make the cut is "Green Chile Poppers". My wife is a jalapeno popper fanatic and I wanted to introduce my own version of this classic bar snack. The cream cheese is blended with green chiles and fresh chopped cilantro. After rolling the mixture into small rounds shapes; they are dipped into a tempura batter and deep fried until golden brown. The spicy cream cheese melts inside the light airy batter and creates an amazing popper that increases your craving for a cold beer. The staff love when we start working on new ideas and require guinea pigs for their taste testing services.

Country Club Wine Dinner

Sorry for the lapse in time of postings, but it's been extremely crazy the last few months. Between charity cooking functions, upscale banquet events at the resort, and a much needed vacation on the beach...I'm back. First thing on the list is my wine dinner at the country club on the 17Th of April. We are partnering with Trinchero winery to put together some amazing tastings. Each course is paired with a certain type of environment and the dishes reflect the bounties of those conditions. Reservations can be made by calling the Pineview Restaurant (719) 538-4088. I know that we are currently at 90 reservations and stopping at 100 so book now!!!

Crispy Frog Legs (Marshland)
Shaved Tart Apple, Lemon Essence, White Balsamic Raisins

"Organized" Oyster Rockefeller (Ocean)
Creamy Watercress, Salt Cured Pork Belly, Garden Herb Bread

Wild Mushrooms Strudel (Forest)
Haystack Mountain Goat Cheese, Tomato Confit, Micro Arugula

Colorado Lamb Chop (Mountain)
Blue Veined Polenta, Raspberry Glace, Mint Emulsion

Wagyu Beef (Prairie)
Fennel Bulb, Elephant Garlic, Yukon Potato, Opal Basil

Zin Port Poached Pear Tartlet (Orchard)
Black Forest Ice Cream, Pistachio Frangipane, Dark Chocolate

Creative Cheesecake Demands a Standout Display

Here is a great article about a local charity event called the "Glass Slipper Ball" that I participated in this past weekend. The best part was that our booth display was showcased as the main picture and everyone loved my "Goat Cheesecake and Bacon Jam".

Food Glass Slipper Ball rocks impressive eats
Posted by Matthew Schniper on Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 7:20 PM

Want someone to vote for you? Then give 'em a candy bar.
That's how the Blue Star won the people's choice vote for Best Dessert at this year's Glass Slipper Ball that took place this past Saturday at the Crowne Plaza.
As their entry into the chef's competition (divided into appetizer and dessert categories), Blue Star pastry chef Alicia Prescott and crew provided a diverse table of beautiful, miniature, housemade chocolates and candies. (Get it? Candy bar).
In the savory category, chef Bill Sherman of Amuzé Bistro won his third Glass Slipper award inside the four years the event has existed, this year's people's choice for Best Appetizer. (He won best app in 2007 and best dessert in 2009.) His dish, the Three Little Pigs Cassoulet, consisted of roasted suckling pig atop a white bean stew which included smoked ham and Colorado-raised Russian wild boar sausage, all drizzled in chive oil and sun-dried tomato paprika oil.
Not to detract from these audience-voted winners — who rightly deserve acclaim — but Indy intern Bryce Crawford and I agreed on two other outfits as our personal favorites from the evening.

First, in the appetizer category, Brother Luck from the Cheyenne Mountain Resort produced a surprising and totally unique chevre cheescake cube with a bacon jam walnut crust. (This from the guy who last year served a white-chocolate-butter-covered lobster tail at the Colorado Springs Chorale's Chef's Gala. The Gala, by the way, is coming up on Sunday, Feb. 21 at the Broadmoor and tickets are still available.)

Second, in the dessert category, Margarita at PineCreek's Eric Viedt and Cathy Werle wrestled with a dry-ice cooler full of citrus-espresso mascarpone semifreddo which they paired with a chocolate Sacher Torte and candied beets and orange rind.

Proceeds generated by this annual dine-and-dance benefit the Zonta Club of the Pikes Peak Area , which is part of a global organization dedicated to advancing the status of women. This year, Zonta named TESSA, a local nonprofit working against domestic violence and sexual assault, as its major recipient of Glass Slipper Ball monies.
If you've never attended one of these foodie fundraisers built around the talents of our local chefs, let me briefly explain the format: Dress up nice; nab a vacation package or more modest silent auction item; walk from booth-to-booth gathering food samples (returning to your table to quickly dine-and-dash); vote for your favorite chefs and dishes and then dance off the full belly.
Though pricey, the evening makes for a great date night and your contribution goes to a good cause. According to Pikes Peak area Zonta Club president Laura Stamp, the roughly 350 attendees helped raise nearly $23,000 in proceeds.
Stamp says the event managed to draw the same number of attendees as last year, a surprise in this economy. "Flat is the new up — and that's a victory," she jokes, quoting something Craftwood Inn chef Jeff Knight quipped to her.

ON FOOD: Local chef's cooking classes pack 'em in

I recently taught a cooking class on our new restaurant concept "Colorado Fusion" and was fortunate to receive a great review from the local foodie of Colorado Springs. Please take a second and read this week's food section about my class:

January 21, 2010 9:55 AM
TERESA FARNEY
THE GAZETTE

Brother Luck is like a rock star when he teaches classes at Chefs Catalog. He never lacks for a full class.“I had enough on the waiting list to fill another class,” said Kathleen Weintraub, culinary specialist for Chefs Catalog who coordinates the classes. It’s no wonder. Luck, the executive sous chef at Cheyenne Mountain Resort, has taken the local culinary scene by storm, winning several chef competitions. And he has introduced an exciting new à la carte menu at the resort. The restaurant has had a great reputation for its buffets. Now it’s going to build a reputation for its order-off-the-menu option.“That’s my baby,” Luck told the class, referring to the new menu. “Tonight, I’m going to show you some of the new dishes.”

The theme of the class was Colorado Fusion, the style of food he is preparing for the new menu.“The fun part of the Colorado Fusion menu is it has lots of different spices,” he said.

Most of the recipes he taught us featured spicy chiles — Spicy Goat Cheese Dip, Poblano Cheddar Soup, Jalapeño Ice Cream. And there were enough cooking tips and interesting new ingredients introduced to keep foodies of all levels enthralled.“One thing I want to be sure of is that you can go shopping and find all the ingredients I use this evening,” he said. “I had a man from a class call me, wondering where to find passion fruit puree. I don’t want that to happen again.”

The number-one tip for working with hot chiles, like jalapeños, he said, is to remove the seeds and white membrane inside the pod.“Then chop the pepper very finely,” he said. “You don’t want to kill someone with a big bite of hot pepper.”

The first recipe he made was the ice cream.“It takes the longest to get chilled, so it can be churned,” he said.Then he whipped up the Spicy Goat Cheese Dip, possibly the best thing I’ve tasted in a long time. And why not? With three types of cheese zipped up with smoky chipotle in adobo sauce and heated until smooth and creamy, this dip is one recipe that I’ll be making often. Another tip for the dip: Use Alouette herb cheese.“You can buy it at any grocery store and it already has great flavor,” he said.The next recipe, and one I adored, was the Poblano Cheddar Soup.“Making soup is about building flavors,” he said.

And his tip for making sure the Cheddar cheese melts smoothly? “Toss the cheese in cornstarch,” he said. “That will protect the fat so it stays creamy and smooth.”He surprised us with a new-to-me ingredient: huitlacoche (wheet-lah-KOH-chay).“It’s corn truffle in Mexico,” he said. “Farmers here call it smut.”The nickname wasn’t surprising after he opened the can. Its contents were sort of disgusting looking: blackish gray and slimy.According to inmamas kitchen.com, huitlacoche is the edible fungus on corn. It has an earthy, delicate flavor. Luck sautéed it with onion, garlic and some other spices to use as a coating on salmon. Whatever you want to call huitlacoche, I call it delicious. You can buy it at Hispanic stores.

Ghost Chilies

One of the best parts of cooking is the unlimited number of new ingredients. Our pastry chef brought in some "Dried Ghost Chilies" for me to use and I have no idea what to do with them. As you can see, my first precaution was to put on some gloves before touching them. They are ranked as the hottest chilies on the planet according to Guinness World Records and are used to ward off elephants by grinding into a paste and rubbing on the outer city walls in countries like India. I ask myself after reading this, "who would want to eat such a thing". Maybe this is the difference between ordering your curry 1-10. Besides playing a practical joke on someone, my culinary mind is currently blank when considering possible uses. If anyone has any experience or suggestions, feel free to leave them on my comments section.

Raw Food Luncheon

The first Charlie Trotter book that I ever read was called "Raw". I had gone to the book store before work that night and wanted to gain some inspiration from some of the new cookbooks, a really cost effective way to decide if you want to buy them. I was blown away at the high level of cooking this book offered and the pictures were amazing. The book was based on a cuisine called the "raw food diet". The diet was exactly that, everything you eat is raw and nothing is heated above 118 degrees to ensure that the natural nutrients are preserved. Today I was challenged to create a small luncheon based around this concept. Creating a meal from only raw foods is extremely challenging and my chef hat goes off to anyone who manages to stay true to this lifestyle. I did four different dishes that were all within the raw guidelines. I started the meal with a pickled vegetable salad with asparagus, fennel, carrots, radishes, beets, and bell peppers. The next course was raw cauliflower cakes with heirloom tomato and watercress salad. The main course is salt cured salmon with jalapeno, jicama, and cucumber avocado puree. I finished the meal with a pineapple springroll filled with honey, pecans, mango, pear, and berries. I am glad to have taken on this educational challenge and learn a few new tricks when approached about raw "cooking".

Cinnamon Peach Empanada with Jalapeno Ice Cream

It seems as if I'm in some sort of dessert mode lately and the calories are killing me for it. This dessert is something that I created for an upcoming cooking class that I'm teaching on 1/11/10 about "Colorado Fusion" cuisine. The concept is based on utilizing Colorado ingredients with a southwestern flare. An empanada is a simple thing to make and I personally enjoy using puff pastry for the flaky texture and deep golden color. The peaches are diced and tossed in spices, corn starch, sugar, and lemon juice. Simply fold the pastry over the peaches and crimp the edges with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown. The jalapeno ice cream is a nice surprise because it's extremely subtle with a hint of spice at the end. The lime zest that has been grated into the ice cream creates a balanced flavor between the chile and vanilla bean. Placing a scoop of jalapeno ice cream on top of the warm peach empanada fresh out the oven makes it a symphony of hot and cold textures. I'm seriously considering placing this dish on the dessert menu this spring so please try the recipes and tell me what you think.

Cinnamon Peach Empanadas
2 Tbl Cornstarch
½ cup Granulated Sugar
¼ tsp Nutmeg
¼ tsp Cinnamon
¼ tsp Vanilla Extract
Pinch Salt
6 ea Peaches (peeled, seeded, chopped)
2 Tbl Lemon Juice
2 sheets Puff Pastry
¼ cup Egg Wash

Procedure: Toss the cornstarch, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, peaches, and lemon juice together in a medium sized mixing bowl. Roll out the puff pastry and cut out 8" circles. Place the peach mixture in the center, fold the pastry over into a half moon, and seal together with a fork on the edges. Brush the empanadas with egg wash and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown and puffed. Serve warm with ice cream.

Jalapeno Ice Cream
1 ea Jalapeño (Seeded and Chopped Fine)
1 ea Lime (Juiced and Grated)
1 cup Water
2 cup Granulated Sugar
1 ½ cups Milk
1 ½ cups Heavy Cream
9 ea Large Egg Yolks
1 Tbl Vanilla Extract

Procedure: In a small saucepan bring jalapeno, water, and 1 cup of sugar to a boil. Allow to sit for 10 minutes. Bring milk, grated lime, and cream to a scald. Whisk egg yolks, with the remaining sugar and add hot cream mixture in small portions while constantly stirring. Once the cream is tempered in with the egg mixture, place back in saucepan on medium heat. Slowly stir until custard is thick and coats the back of a spoon. Allow to cool completely before freezing in an Ice Cream Maker.

Intense Chocolate with Strawberries and Cream

I'm starting to create the Valentines menu and found a flourless chocolate cake that is amazing and had to be shared with everyone. The cake is easy to make and then it's showcased by adding some vanilla bean ice cream and amaretto soaked strawberries. The cake is started by bringing coffee, butter, and sugar to a boil and pouring over bittersweet chocolate shavings. The hot chocolate mixture is added to whipped eggs, salt, and vanilla until tempered. Strain the mixture into a cake pan and bake in a water bath at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting and dusting with confectioners sugar. The strawberries are soaked in amaretto and sugar for 3 hours before serving. The vanilla bean ice cream is freshly churned and topped right before going out. This will be the dessert course for our valentines menu in the restaurant after a multi course wine dinner.

Enjoy the recipe:

1 cup Bittersweet Chocolate

12 oz Unsalted Butter

1 cup Granulated Sugar

1/2 cup Coffee

6 Large Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 tsp Salt

Ice Fishing

A few of the guys at work managed to talk me into ice fishing with them this week and I ended up going to try it out and say that I've done it. We drove up the mountain early in the morning to about 10,000 ft and ended up at Antero Lake. The snow wasn't blowing too hard but the thermometer read -6 degrees when we pulled up to the frozen lake. After unloading all the equipment, tents, and gear we started our journey onto the center of the lake to set up and start fishing. You can bet that I was bundled up with multiple layers of clothing to stay warm and even wrapped my 3 pairs of socks with plastic bags to keep warm, none of that helped by the way. After setting up the tents, we drilled holes into the lake and set up the fishing poles. Now I'm a city kid and have never even considered walking onto a frozen lake, let alone to cut out holes and then sit down to start fishing, pure madness. Within the first 10 minutes, I had caught my first rainbow trout and was ready to go home but they laughed and said we were just getting started. After a few hours of my toes being numb and both hands shivering nonstop I had caught 7 trout and kept two of the larger ones. The only negative besides standing on a frozen lake was the snow storm that hit us on the way out. The wind was blowing profusely and we had to trudge through almost a foot of snow with all the gear uphill. It was a complete white out and it took over an hour to get back to the truck, a true workout that had me sore the next day. Overall, I had fun and as a chef, really enjoyed the fresh fish but don't plan on ever ice fishing again, I have enough sense and patience to wait for spring. Here are some pictures from the trip....