One of my favorite ingredients to cook with is foie gras. I’ve intentionally not used it for several months now as I fear it had become a kind of crutch. Then I ended up with three extra lobes of grade “A” goodness after a party changed its mind at the last minute. Looks like foie is back on the menu for the foreseeable future. This … Continue reading Bruleed Foie Gras Custard with Granulated Pistachio, Petit Fruit Salad

Last week I needed a salad that could pair with a pinot noir. This isn’t something that you see everyday…I needed big flavors to stand up to this robust wine. I settled on Roasted, smoked quail with field greens tossed in a caramelized shallot vinaigrette in the potato crisp. The potato crisp again. I’m a fan of it because it brings so much to the … Continue reading Smoked Quail with Field Greens, Shallot Vinaigrette, Candied Pecans, Heirloom Tomatoes

A few days ago I made good use of a day off to head out on a Charlotte area farm tour, with one of our stops being at Grateful Growers. Grateful Growers Farms is a farm that we’ve used for pork, they’re well known locally for it, but I was surprised to see everything else they had going on. Turkeys, chicks and even shiitake mushrooms … Continue reading On the farm at Grateful Growers

Someone once said that every conceivable flavor combination has already been tried. They may be correct; we’ve been cooking for a long time and nature hasn’t come out with many new items for us. One thing that has changed, though, is the way that we prepare nature’s ingredients now. Last year we purchased our first dewar of liquid nitrogen for the kitchen. While we had … Continue reading Liquid nitrogen in the kitchen

This was a nice, light salad that I made for a Chefs Table last week. After a summer of looking forward to Autumnal ingredients, ironically I’ve found myself kind of panicked at the thought of summer produce coming to an end soon. This salad featured seasonal ingredients. For the vegetables I used fresh corn, red bell peppers, black eyed peas, parsley, chives and shallot. I … Continue reading Summer Vegetable Salad with Potato Basket, Basil Pinwheel and Apple Cider-Shallot Vinaigrette

The vacation is over and I am back in the kitchen. This dish is from a Chef’s Table in the kitchen last night, it turned out pretty well. It’s medallions of roasted lamb loin with basil-potato puree, sweet tomato jam, roma tomato crisps, olive tapenade and potato gratin. The lamb loin came out great. The outside was rubbed with a spice mix called “ras el … Continue reading Roasted Lamb Loin with Basil-Potato Puree, Tomato Jam, Olive Tapenade, Potatoes Gratin

It’s been a couple days since my last blog posting, reason being that as you Europeans would say, I’ve been on holiday here at the beach. The wifi connection that was advertised made no mention of it being only 1 Megabyte per second. I’m on the coast of North Carolina this week relaxing with family and being re-introduced to society after many hours in the … Continue reading Hamburgers on Holiday

Thomas Keller once said “If you and I were preparing the same dish and everything were identical: We had the same kitchen, the same crew, the same recipe, but my ingredients were better quality, then I would beat you every time”. After having a twenty-five course tasting at Chef Keller’s restaurant, Per Se, I would pretty much believe anything he says. What bowled me over … Continue reading Local Heirloom Tomatoes with Parmesan-Reggiano Sorbet

In the same batch of cheeses that we received from Ashe County Cheeses was a Habanero Cheddar. When it arrived I cut a slice off and popped it in my mouth. Let me preface the result by saying that I really like spicy foods. I’ll put Tabasco on anything, I love sriracha and I’ve eaten pickled jalapenos. With that said, this cheese is a mean, … Continue reading Petit Pommes Frites with Habanero Cheddar Fondu, Bacon Powder