Recipe: Roasted Baby Heirloom Beet Salad
Today I joined fellow chefs Marc Walden and Jon Gibson as we roll out our new restaurant Little House Midtown. Jon prepares an incredible salad and I talk about us being selected to participate in the Seafood, Science and Celebrity 2012 event with Food Network Star’s Martie Duncan and American Idol Taylor Hicks.
Updated: Friday, 21 Sep 2012, 9:28 AM CDT
Published : Friday, 21 Sep 2012, 7:55 AM CDT
Roasted Baby Heirloom Beet Salad
Servings – 4
Ingredients:
1lb Heirloom Beets or any mutli-colored beets
1 small head baby frisee – washed
4oz Mixed Salad greens
2 slices Benton’s bacon or your favorite bacon – cooked and chopped
2oz Fig/Balsamic Glaze
2oz Buttermilk Bleu Cheese or any mild Bleu cheese
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Kosher Salt
Fresh ground Black pepper
Steps:
Preheat oven to 375.
Trim tops off the beets and wash thoroughly. Pat dry with paper towel.
Using a sheet of aluminum foil, place beets in the center and drizzle with olive oil. Be generous!
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Fold up aluminum foil to seal beets inside.
Place wrapped beets on a baking sheet pan and place in oven.
Depending on the size of the beets, check after 25 minutes and every 10 minutes after, until beets are fork tender.
Remove beets from oven, leaving them wrapped in the foil and let cool to room temperature.
Save the roasting oil to dress the salad with.
Once the beets are cooled, peel the beets with your fingers. You can use a small pairing knife.
Then slice the beets or cut into wedges.
Plating:
In a small mixing bowl tear the baby frisee into bite size pieces, then add the mixed greens.
Drizzle the roasting oil over the greens and gently toss, adding salt and pepper to taste.
Arrange greens on a plate, then place beets on top of the greens.
Drizzle the fig/balsamic glaze in a zig/zag pattern.
Crumble the blue cheese over top of salad and finish with sprinkling the chopped bacon.
Fig/Balsamic Glaze Ingredients:
1 Cup fresh figs – Mission or Brown Turkey
1 Cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Steps:
Peel and macerate figs in a small non-metal bowl until a paste forms.
In saucepan, add vinegar, fig pulp and simmer on low heat until mixture reduces down to about half. Stir occasionally (every 5-8 minutes) . This will take about 30-45 minutes.
Allow fig/balsamic reduction to cool.
Place mixture in blender or food processor.
Blend thoroughly until mixture combines and becomes smooth.
This step will also help release the seeds from any pulp that has not cooked down.
In separate bowl, strain out fig seeds.
Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, combine well to fig balsamic reduction.
This glaze is VERY concentrated.
Use about 1 teaspoon at a time or to taste.
Little House Midtown
2351 Airport Blvd.
Mobile
Hours:
10:30a.m.- 2:30p.m.
5p.m. – 9 p.m.
(251) 447-2623
http://www.littlehousebistro.com
ICA: Forgione vs. Wong
There are lots of tricks and treats in this sweet Halloween battle, as Iron Chef Marc Forgione is challenged by Chef Lee Anne Wong. Judges are Kathy Griffin, Donatella Arpaia Stewart (bun clearly still in oven) and Kelly Ripa. Chef Wong was a semi-finalist on “Top Chef” and appears on Cooking Channel’s “Unique Eats.”
How crappy have the last few Sundays been on Food Network? Obviously scripted taco truck challenges and Halloween candy cook-offs? Oy vey! Well your Sundays will stop sucking soon enough when Next Iron Chef 4 begins next week but you don’t have to wait for Kitchen Stadium drama as Iron Chef Forgione faces off against Top Chef veteran Lee Anne Wong in Battle: Halloween Candy.
Since she traded her fashion career for the culinary world, Chef Lee Anne Wong, has been bringing her modern-global fusion cuisine to the people. Born and raised in Troy, New York, Lee Anne is a 2nd generation Chinese- American. After graduating from The French Culinary Institute (The FCI), Lee Anne worked for several years at Aquavit, and later served as part the opening staff at Jean Georges Vongrichten’s Chinese venture, restaurant 66.
She has also cooked and staged in critically acclaimed kitchens all over the world. After returning to The FCI as the Executive Chef of Event Operations, Chef Wong brought her culinary skills to an even wider audience when she appeared as a cheftestant on Season One of Bravo’s Flagship Series “Top Chef”. She returned to the show as a Supervising Culinary Producer on Top Chef, and its spin-off Top Chef Masters. She has also worked as a culinary consultant for movies and tv programs. Chef Wong has used her culinary skills to help further charitable causes, such as Women Chefs and Restaurateurs (WCR), Project By Project, and she sits on the Board of Directors for The Gohan Society.
Donatella and her husband, Dr. Allan Stewart, welcomed a son on Thursday, September 15th. They haven’t announced a name yet but did say their sweetest addition weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces.An impressive resume to be sure but will be enough when she enters Kitchen Stadium?
Check below for the outcome.
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Forgione Wong
Taste: 23 Taste: 27
Plating: 15 Plating: 12
Originality: 13 Originality: 13
Total: 51 Total: 52
Chef Brooke Gives Birth!
I got the following message from Private Chef of Beverly Hills’ Brooke’s people, “Brooke Peterson had a healthy baby girl on May 26th! She’s back to posting on her site.”
On said web site Brooke wrote:
To my dear friends and readers of Things Your Mother Never Taught You:
Thank you for your patience over the last couple of days, as many of you know we had a beautiful, healthy and perfect little baby girl last week. We’re just getting to know each other and settle into our lives together, but expect posting to resume over the next few days.
Thanks again for all the love and support. My cup truly runneth over.
Love,
Brooke Peterson
I want to wish Brooke the best of luck as she embarks on what singer/song writer Steven Curtis Chapman calls, “the Great Adventure.” Parenthood. All the best to you and your family. I can’t wait to see those baby pictures.
Stuart
For those who haven’t already, be sure to check out my exclusive interview with Chef Brooke.
7 Questions with Chef Brooke Peterson
7 Questions is a series of interviews with the culinary movers and shakers you want or ought to know better.
Tonight Food Network premieres one of it’s most highly anticipated and hyped series in quite some time. Taking a cue from Bravo’s Real House Wives franchise they have developed Private Chefs of Beverly Hills – an inside look at Tinsel Town shindigs from the point of view of the culinary teams that put them together.
Brooke Peterson is a pioneer in new media lifestyle programming. She was the star of Varsity Television’s teen cooking show Cook with Brooke. From there she created and starred in Cheap N Easy back in 2006 which featured recipes and entertaining tips; teaching her audience to prepare meals in less than five minutes, using under five ingredients, all while costing less than five dollars.
Cheap N Easy was a mainstay on YAHOO! where Brooke was in good company with the likes of Martha Stewart, Wolfgang Puck and Rachael Ray. Brooke has also worked as a correspondent for Showtime, V.I.P. Access, The T.V. Guide Channel, The Style Network, and most recently The Rachael Ray Show. Along with the launch of Food Network’s Private Chefs of Beverly Hills, Brooke is looking forward to the next chapter, becoming a Mom and expanding her expertise to encompass what motherhood means to lifestyles, food, fashion and decor.
Chef Brooke was nice enough to answer 7 Questions:
1. How old were you when you first started to cook?
Brooke: I first started to cook with my Grandmother as a young girl. My Grandmother taught me how to cook for big groups on a small budget and I always loved the smiles that her food put on peoples faces. I was hooked early.
2. When did you decide that you could make food your career?
Brooke: It was probably college. I found that I got into the best study groups because I always made the best study snacks, I took notice of the correlation between cooking and getting rewarded.
3. Which chefs have influenced you the most?
Brooke: Anthony Bourdain for his sense of adventure, Thomas Keller for his sense of perfection, and Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee for the sense of practicality. I have to say that even though she is not a chef I have been really inspired by Miss Martha Stewart.
4. If you hadn’t followed this career path, what other career could you see yourself in?
Brooke: Party Planner or teacher…. But I couldn’t really see myself doing anything else right now.
5. What’s the highlight of your career so far?
Brooke: I love a good challenge and I’d say filming Private Chefs of Beverly Hills while so very pregnant will be something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
6. Of all the crazy things you’ve seen at Big City Chefs what’s the craziest?
Brooke: Stuart, you’ll have to tune in to see what kind of trouble we get into at Big City Chefs on Private Chefs of Beverly Hills next week!
7. What’s next for Chef Brooke?
Brooke: I am having a baby next month, so I can most definitely say that that’s next! I will be making some announcements on my site, www.ThingsYourMotherNeverTaughtYou.com soon too.
Private Chefs of Beverly Hills airs Fridays at 10p/9c on the Food Network.
View my complete catalog of interviews and bios for the Private Chefs of Beverly Hills by clinking HERE.
UPDATE: Chef Brooke Gives Birth!
