Category: Chefs/Restaurants

Smoked Salmon Grilled Cheese

Smoked Salmon Grilled Cheese

🧀 Smoked Salmon Grilled Cheese Sandwich 🧀
Inspired By Eric Ripert

The Chef is a genius at pairing seafood with minimal ingredients to create a dish where the diner is astonished that those simple components could be combined in such a way to result in something so spectacular.

Here a plain old grilled cheese sandwich is perfect in its four-star simplicity with just four items: smoked salmon, Swiss cheese, bread, and butter. After I came across this Instagram post by Eric Ripert, and being a lover of salmon in all its preparations, Smoked Salmon Grilled Cheese just had to be on my menu.

At Le Bernardin Chef Ripert is world-renowned for his exquisite, clean, seafood-centered cuisine. With this sandwich he proves that every dish does not have to be fancy to be sublime.

Smoked Salmon Grilled Cheese Recipe

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Cabillaud aux Asperges

Cabillaud aux Asperges (Cod with Asparagus)

🌿🌼🌿 Cabillaud aux Asperges 🌿🌼🌿
(Cod with Asparagus)
Asparagus Cream Sauce, Balsamic Reduction

This lovely fish and asparagus dish was inspired by one of several fabulous courses we enjoyed at Picasso Restaurant by Chef Julian Serrano in Las Vegas.

The Chef’s menu is drawn from his own background in the regional cuisines of Spain and France, and in honor of Pablo Picasso’s Spanish heritage and years the master artist spent living in France.

The fish course was particularly memorable for its simplicity, harmony, and quality. A beautiful fillet of seared Chilean Sea Bass sat on a raft of perfectly cooked asparagus spears, covered with a light blanket of sauce hollandaise. The brilliant element of the dish was the Chef’s addition of a balsamic reduction, which juxtaposed intense sweet and tangy notes with the rich fish and buttery sauce.

For my version, I serve a pan-seared Wild Alaska Pacific Cod with its pleasant, slightly sweet, mild clean taste and lean flaky texture. And here, hollandaise is replaced by an Asparagus Cream Sauce made from the surplus of my Asparagus Soup for a delightful springtime dish.

Cabillaud aux Asperges (Cod with Asparagus)

Recette de Cabillaud aux Asperges

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Maine Scallop Crudo

Maine Scallop Crudo

🌊 Maine Scallop Crudo 🌊
Maine Dulse Seaweed, Kumquat, Radish, Jalapeño, Lemon Ponzu, Cilantro

Maine’s long coastline and clean, cold waters inspired this dish featuring raw, buttery, day-boat Sea Scallops with their slightly sweet flavors; and Dulse (Palmaria palmata) a beautiful red seaweed that has a rich, meaty, umami flavor.

Crunchy peppery radish balance the tender scallop slices, jalapeños add vegetal spiciness, and seasonal kumquats add sweet tart notes. Lemon ponzu provides a base of sweet, sour, and salty flavors, where the olive oil adds a subtle richness.

When they’re raw, dulse flakes taste like briny ocean waters, but when sautéed, the smoky and savory characteristics emerge, giving dulse the nickname “bacon of the sea,” which pairs perfectly with this coastal crudo.

Lastly, a little mound of cilantro leaves brings the bright herbal notes, a sashimi style learned from Chef Nobu.

Maine Scallop Crudo

Maine Scallop Crudo Recipe

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Scallop Sushi ~ Gunkan Maki Style

Scallop Sushi ~ Gunkan Maki Style

Scallop Sushi ~ Gunkan Maki Style

Tender and buttery, day-boat sea scallops from Maine are simply delightful with their slightly sweet flavors, and slightly briny hints of the sea. They are harvested by fishermen that go to work in the icy waters then return to port that same day.

Since the fishing trip is short, day-boat scallops do not need to sit on melting ice like longer expeditions, and therefore do not absorb water over the course of the trip. The taste is pure and natural, as the scallops are not bloated with water after harvest. These scallops are treated with the utmost care, and never soaked in a solution of sodium tripolyphosphate which is commercially used as a preservative but unfortunately degrades the quality of the scallop.

🍣  🍣  🍣

Gunkan maki was invented in 1941 by Hisaji Imada, the chef/owner of restaurant Kyubey in Tokyo. His new-fangled presentation allowed for the sushi service of soft/loose toppings, such as sea urchin and fish roes. These toppings could not be served in the traditional nigiri style, which consists of a solid slice of raw fish atop an oblong rice ball.

The shape of the newly-developed sushi resembled that of a battleship, hence the name. Gunkan is battleship in Japanese, Maki means roll. Sushi rice is hand-formed into a cuboid, rolled/wrapped with nori, then a soft/loose filling is spooned into the interior.

Here our battleship is filled with diced raw day-boat scallop lightly tossed with Japanese mayonnaise and sea salt. Aromatic shiso adds complex herbal notes where a bit of pungent wasabi flavors the seasoned rice. To quote one of my favorite chefs on a famous seafood dish, “It was a morsel of perfection.”

Scallop Sushi Recipe

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Basque Matcha Cheesecake

Basque Matcha Cheesecake

Basque Matcha Cheesecake

With the addition of one single component, Japanese Matcha Green Tea Powder, the now-famous cheesecake has morphed into something completely different. Here, the cake has a gorgeous striking green color, and the flavor has also changed dramatically. The recipe brings together ingredients from Basque and Japanese cultures for a novel fusion dessert.

We’ve made Basque BURNT Cheesecake several times, and it is always a big hit. With no fruit topping, no crust and five simple ingredients – cream cheese, sugar, salt, eggs, and cream – it is astonishing how absolutely fabulous the original cheesecake actually is…it is baked in a very hot oven so the top and bottom caramelize where the insides remain soft and luxurious.

The cheesecake recipe was originally developed by Santiago Rivera, Chef of La Viña in San Sebastian, Spain. The Chef says, “Its popularity amongst our clients have become La Viña Restaurant’s Cheese Cream Cake a great classic of the San Sebastian cuisine.”

Matcha Green Tea has an intense and complex flavor profile with vegetal grassy flavors, a unique sweet nuttiness, and savory umami notes.

The vibrant green hue is due to the high concentration of chlorophyll in the leaves, a result of the bushes being covered up in shade for about 3 weeks before harvesting. The whole leaves are steamed, dried, and then finally stone ground to a fine powder.

Basque Matcha Cheesecake

Basque Matcha Cheesecake Recipe

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