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Jul 22 2014 11:30pm
I currently work in a Michelin star awarded, fine dining steakhouse as a cook. Most of my nights are spent behind a stove, grill, or back in our support kitchen for 12+ hours a day. I love what I do, and I love being able to create things, and see them through from start to finish. I am working towards becoming a certified Sous Chef, so in my spare time at work, or at home, I am constantly trying out new ideas, and working to get better. I thought that I would post my creations when time permits, and give the general recipes just in case anyone liked what they saw.

My view towards food is that a lot of times we over-complicate things, and make food something that is unapproachable for the novice cook. Unlike many chefs, I have never been to culinary school, nor do I intend to. I love figuring things out on my own, and many time, the food makes me look much better than I truly am. I try to cook simply, and let the ingredients do the talking.

I hope you all enjoy.


Today my chef asked me to create a simple appetizer. So here is what I came up with.



This is a chili-rubbed, grilled pork loin, drizzled with a jalapeno/cilantro oil. It was accompanied with fresh blue corn tortillas.
Here's how it's made.

Pork loin:
Center cut, whole pork loin (I cut them about 1/4 inch thick since it was an appetizer. You could do this with chicken or steak also)
Chili powder
Granulated Garlic
Kosher Salt
White pepper (you can use black pepper. they use white pepper in fine dining restaurants simply for presentation)
Olive oil

Lightly drizzle the meat with olive oil, and rub with salt, pepper, garlic, and chili powder. Cook it on a very hot grill until its tender to the touch. Under cook it just a bit to account for carry-over cooking while it's resting.

Jalapeno/cilantro oil:
1 bunch of Cilantro
1 large Jalapeno (you could use a Serano if you want it hotter)
2-3 Green onions
4-5 Garlic cloves
1/4 cup water
Kosher salt

Roughly chop the cilantro, jalapeno, and green onions. Blend everything but the water in a food processor until it's almost a puree. Be careful not to blend it too much, because it can easily become frothy and just not good. Put the mixture through a strainer so that you only have the liquid remaining. Slowly wisc in the olive oil until it's incorporated well. Add salt to taste, and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Stir it again before serving, because the water and oil will separate a bit while it sits.

Hope you enjoy. :)
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Jul 23 2014 04:09pm
sounds tasty, but the plate looks a lil plain, imo, especially for a michelin starred restaurant. maybe plate the tortillas on the plate?

also, in place of the method you used, i would prepare the oil by blending everythign directly in the oil without any water to water it down. blanch the herbs 30 seconds in boiling water first then shock in cold water. this will help them retain more color/flavor. puree the hell out of it in oil to extract as much flavor/color as possible then strain.
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Jul 23 2014 08:37pm
Quote (ReturnFormer @ Jul 23 2014 05:09pm)
sounds tasty, but the plate looks a lil plain, imo, especially for a michelin starred restaurant.  maybe plate the tortillas on the plate?

also, in place of the method you used, i would prepare the oil by blending everythign directly in the oil without any water to water it down.  blanch the herbs 30 seconds in boiling water first then shock in cold water.  this will help them retain more color/flavor.  puree the hell out of it in oil to extract as much flavor/color as possible then strain.


I forgot to mention that I later added a charred corn salad consisting of charred corn, roasted pablano peppers, red onion, cilantro and lime. I just never had time to take a picture of it after I snapped this one. :(

That's a good idea on the oil! I was afraid that if I blended it too much with he oil, that it would become too frothy. I'll definitely try that!
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Jul 23 2014 09:08pm
I'm not as good as you Chase, but i love getting new ideas of stuff to try.
Topic tracked ofc :D
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Jul 24 2014 12:26pm
Tracked this faster than the D2 Christmas giveaway.

Decent portion for an appetizer. How much would this cost, roughly? I'm not familiar with pork loin.

This post was edited by Vincenzo on Jul 24 2014 12:30pm
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Jul 24 2014 12:59pm
Quote (Creations @ Jul 23 2014 09:37pm)
I forgot to mention that I later added a charred corn salad consisting of charred corn, roasted pablano peppers, red onion, cilantro and lime. I just never had time to take a picture of it after I snapped this one. :(

That's a good idea on the oil! I was afraid that if I blended it too much with he oil, that it would become too frothy. I'll definitely try that!


ah, yeah, thatll look much better with the corn. too bad you didnt get a pic with that.


and yeah, dont worry about frothiness when pureeing it, thatll go away when you sieve it. heres a good video on making a basil oil that you can adapt to the cilantro/jalapeno one. (make sure to read the description.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JGBoFhuMN8

highly recommend their channel. always good stuff.
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Jul 25 2014 12:20am
Here's another appetizer I made tonight. It was a last minute thing we added to tonight's menu, but it was really good. I got to use Kafir limes which was a really cool ingredient to work with. They are really tart, and they have a really nice flavor, which worked well in this application. Pardon my plating, I was in a hurry.

I did a simple shrimp ceviche with a charred red pepper purée. The red pepper purée had a sweet/bitter taste which really cut through the tartness of the lime and balanced it all out.



Here's how I made it.

Shrimp ceviche:
Peeled and deveined shrimp
Minced Serano peppers
Minced red onion
Minced garlic
Kafir limes (regular limes will work obviously)
Chopped cilantro
Kosher salt

Combine all of this in a bowl without salting it, and let it rest for about 10 minutes, or until you notice your shrimp turn a pinkish/white so you know it's cooked enough. Season it with salt (you really don't need pepper on this) and stir just before serving. You can dress it with more of the marinade if you'd like.

Charred red pepper purée:
Red bell peppers
Garlic cloves
Olive oil
Kosher salt

Char the red pepper on open flame and let it rest. Cover it with plastic wrap or a plastic bag while it rests, so the skin is easier to remove. Remove the skin, stem, and seeds and blend it with your garlic, salt, pepper and a little olive oil until you have a smooth purée. You can do it without any oil, but I chose to add a little olive oil to make it a little richer to cut the tartness.

Hope you enjoy!
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Jul 25 2014 05:01pm
Quote (Creations @ Jul 25 2014 02:20am)
Here's another appetizer I made tonight. It was a last minute thing we added to tonight's menu, but it was really good. I got to use Kafir limes which was a really cool ingredient to work with. They are really tart, and they have a really nice flavor, which worked well in this application. Pardon my plating, I was in a hurry.

I did a simple shrimp ceviche with a charred red pepper purée. The red pepper purée had a sweet/bitter taste which really cut through the tartness of the lime and balanced it all out.

http://i.imgur.com/41KQs9o.jpg

Here's how I made it.

Shrimp ceviche:
Peeled and deveined shrimp
Minced Serano peppers
Minced red onion
Minced garlic
Kafir limes (regular limes will work obviously)
Chopped cilantro
Kosher salt

Combine all of this in a bowl without salting it, and let it rest for about 10 minutes, or until you notice your shrimp turn a pinkish/white so you know it's cooked enough. Season it with salt (you really don't need pepper on this) and stir just before serving. You can dress it with more of the marinade if you'd like.

Charred red pepper purée:
Red bell peppers
Garlic cloves
Olive oil
Kosher salt

Char the red pepper on open flame and let it rest. Cover it with plastic wrap or a plastic bag while it rests, so the skin is easier to remove. Remove the skin, stem, and seeds and blend it with your garlic, salt, pepper and a little olive oil until you have a smooth purée. You can do it without any oil, but I chose to add a little olive oil to make it a little richer to cut the tartness.

Hope you enjoy!


:drool: might try this! I love shrimps so much, esp the smaller ones. Do you think it would still work with small shrimps?
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Jul 25 2014 07:57pm
Quote (destry @ Jul 25 2014 06:01pm)
:drool: might try this! I love shrimps so much, esp the smaller ones. Do you think it would still work with small shrimps?


Yeah! The great thing about a ceviche is that you can really do it with practically any seafood. The acid in the lime juice is cooking the meat, so if you're using smaller shrimp for instance, you may just want to marinade it for a smaller amount of time so that the shrimp won't be rubbery.
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Jul 25 2014 09:07pm
What type of shrimp are you using? Not all shrimp can be eaten raw... they look like black tiger (from thailand/viet/india)... you shouldnt eat those raw, you can get seriously sick.
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