Coco Nuts

Hello All!  It's a beautiful day down here in Naples, Florida.  I've got all the windows and doors open and I can smell the ocean!  Sorry, had to brag.
I cook for a family not far from my house.  A married couple and their 4 children are just too busy to prepare dinner every evening so I do it for them, 3 days a week, at my home and deliver it to them.  All they have to do is reheat it when they get home.  The mother absolutely loves not having to cook or clean or grocery shop!
They let me cook whatever I want, except for a few items.  The kids love it too!  They look forward to the surprise when they get home.  Anyway, on the way back from a delivery one afternoon, I noticed a palm tree on the corner of a street that had a bunch of coconuts underneath it or what I thought was coconuts.  Curiosity got the best of me and I stopped to check them out.  Some of them had been there a while because they were all dried up but a few were still green.  There were also still a bunch of them on the tree.  I picked one of the greener ones up from the ground and smelled it.  It smelled sweet.  I shook it and I heard a liquid sloshing around in the middle so I figured this was a coconut.  Well, I took this little guy home thinking I was going to be cracking it open and enjoying the fruit inside with my dinner that evening.  I ended up forgetting it in the car for my wife to find it the next day crawling with bugs.  Oops!  I brought it in the house anyway and washed it off thoroughly.  I had seen people clean these things on television before and thought I could just use the heel of my chefs knife to peel the outer layer off and there would be a hard coconut in the shell underneath.  Turns out, the heel of my knife went right through the whole thing and a bunch of water gushed out.  Was this even a coconut, in wondered.  Which led me to the world wide web.  You can find a plethora of info on this site as I did: http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/coconut.html

Here are some interesting facts about coconuts:

• Every bit of the coconut is used. As a result, coconuts are called the “Tree of Life” and can produce drink, fiber, food, fuel, utensils, musical instruments, and much more.
  
• When intra-venous (IV) solution was in short supply, doctors during World War II and Vietnam used coconut water in substitution of IV solutions.
  
• Botanically, the coconut palm is not a tree since there is no bark, no branches, or secondary growth. A coconut palm is a woody perennial monocotyledon with the trunk being the stem.
  
• Possibly the oldest reference is from Cosmas, a 5th century AD Egyptian traveler. He wrote about the “Indian nut” or “nut of India” after visiting India and Ceylon, Some scholars believe Cosmas was describing a coconut.
  
• Soleyman, an Arab merchant, visited China in the 9th century and describes the use of coir fiber and toddy made from coconuts.
  
• In 16th century, Sir Francis Drake called coconut “nargils”, which was the common term used until the 1700’s when the word coconut was established.
  
• It takes 11 -12 months for the coconut to mature.
  
• At one time scientists identified over 60 species of Coco palm.  Today, the coconut is a monotypic with one species, nucifera. However, there are over 80 varieties of coconut palms, which are defined by characteristics such as dwarf and tall.
  
• Coconut growing regions are as far north as Hawaii and as far south as Madagascar.

I'd like to add one more fact to this and that would be that coconut milk is a natural laxative.  I found this out the hard way. :)

As for using coconut in cooking, the ultimate treats to me would be coconut shrimp or German chocolate cake frosting.
You can check out http://coconut-shrimp.blogspot.com/ for some really good coconut shrimp recipes.
Click on the picture below for a very good German Chocolate Cake recipe.

Until next time, keep your saute pans hot and your taste buds happy.

Chef Don Paleno

German Chocolate Cake

What's the difference between Roast Beef and Pea Soup?

The answer to the question in the title is: Anybody can Roast Beef!  HA!  Funny right?  Pretty cheesy joke from way back.  Anyway, I roasted some beef today and wanted to share some info on it.  I bought a 3.5 pound top round roast at the store yesterday and on the price tag was some cooking directions.  It said: in a shallow roasting pan, put the roast, fat side up, into a 325 degree oven until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 145 degrees.  That's it.  That's all it said.  Okay, well I guess to someone who doesn't cook much, that might make sense.  Maybe that's the way the butcher does it?  There was absolutely no way I was going to do it that way!

The biggest thing to remember about roasting a large piece of meat is that you have to create a shell around the outside to hold in the juices.  No juices, no bueno!  How do I create a shell you say?  You have  to sear it, either in a smoking hot pan with a little bit of oil, or in a really hot oven!  The roasting pan I use (pictured above) is actually for a turkey but it works very well here.  Heat the oven to 425-450 degrees.  One thing that will help the roast cook evenly throughout is if you pull it out of the cooler about an hour before you cook it.  Just let it sit out on the counter with a paper towel over the top.

 Next, you want to season the roast liberally with kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper.  You could also cut some slits in it and stick some garlic cloves in them or add other kinds of seasonings like fresh ground garlic and rosemary or even extra pepper.

 Another thing I highly recommend investing in is a probe thermometer.  This is a thermometer that stays in the meat while it is cooking and there is a wire connected from the thermometer to a hand held display unit.  There are many to choose from and many different price ranges.  I use one made by a company called Maverick.  It talks to me while my food is cooking.  This thermometer is pretty cheap and works really well.

  At this point you need to decide which is the thickest part of the roast and try to get the tip of the probe thermometer right in the middle of it.  I recommend going through the side of the roast rather than straight down through the top.

Now it is time to stick that bad boy in the oven and set your thermometer to your desired doneness.  Then you can go finish watching Oprah or Days of our Lives.  I like to keep the roast in the oven at 425 degrees for about 30-45 minutes to create that sear (shell) we talked about earlier.  Then I turn the oven down to 325-350 and just let it go low and slow.  This 3.75 pounder took about an hour and fifteen minutes to get a medium doneness.  One thing to remember is that the meat is going to keep cooking 10-15 minutes after you take it out of the oven.  So if you want a medium doneness I would pull it out at about 135-140 degrees.

While the meat roasts for the first 30 minutes I cut up some mirepoix to make an au jus!  What the &#$%@* is mirepoix and au jus you say?  Mirepoix is basically a mixture of celery, carrots and onions used to flavor soups, sauces and stews. Here I have 1 carrot, 2 celery ribs and half an onion.

 During the last thirty minutes or so, I will put the mirepoix in the bottom of the roasting pan.  There they will mingle with the juices and caramelize to create more flavor in the au jus.

Au jus basically translates to "natural juices".  As you can see there's not a whole lot of juices so I add chicken stock to boost it up.

Once your timer goes off, the beef needs to take a nap.  In other words, the juices inside are really moving around fast and if you were to cut into it ,right out of the oven, your juices would flow out like Niagara Falls.  You need to let this baby rest for at least 15 minutes.

While the meat is resting you can strain the au jus into a small sauce pan and remove any of the excess fat then season it to taste with salt and pepper.  It should be nice and dark, almost black. In the picture below you can see the fat on top.

Now its time to slice the roast beef, making sure to cut against the grain and that you have a really sharp knife to do it with.  I usually cut it directly in half to find out which way the grain goes.

Another thing that will make this beef sing would be some horseradish sour cream.  I think I will also have some roasted red potatoes, broccoli florets and maybe some carrots with my roast beef.  This is the kind of food I grew up on.  Until next time,

Eat, Drink, and be Happy

Chef Don Paleno

What's Eating Macy Rose

Or rather what is Macy Rose eating!  Macy Rose is my 6 month old daughter.  She is starting to eat real "big girl" food.  And for a young chef such as myself, it really puts things into perspective what goes into your child's mouth.  There's not many things more important than a child's nutrition.  How else do they grow up big, strong and smart?  There was no debate between my wife and I about what we were going to be feeding Macy and it certainly wasn't going to be high fructose corn syrup and preservatives which is what most store bought baby food contains.
How hard can it be to make your own baby food?  Actually, it's really easy.  All you need is a good blender or food mill.  The blender we use is okay except for the fact that it is hard to get all the product out of the pitcher, even with a rubber spatula.  I hear that Kitchen Aid makes the best when it comes to functionality but it's not cheap.  The food mill we use is top notch however and very affordable.  We bought the
Oxo Good Grips version and are very satisfied overall.  I would recommend anything by Oxo for your home!
As for what kind of fruit and veggies to feed your baby, you can pretty much try anything depending on their age.  A few good books to reference are : Superfoods for Babies and Children and First Meals & More.  The key to preparing baby food at home is practicing strict sanitary guidelines and purchasing good quality organic ingredients.  After all, a happy baby equals happy parents!  So why wouldn't you do what's best?

Peace, Love & Good Food

Chef Don Paleno

Creme Brulee, The Ultimate Treat!

Burnt Cream is Gooood!
Last month, the theme of the mom's club cooking class I have been teaching was French.  French?  Whose idea was that?  Is it possible to cook something French and it be healthy?  Not in this instance!  Creme Brulee only has about four thousand calories.  Okay, maybe not that many.  But it is made simply of heavy cream, sugar and egg yolks.  Well then it can't be that hard, right?  Wrong!  Creme Brulee is something you shouldn't attempt to make if your in a bad mood or if anybody in the house is in a bad mood.  That goes for most baking items!  Who ever said, "patience is a virtue", might have been a pastry chef.

I've made a million creme brulee's in my day and still am able to screw it up good.  To do creme brulee as a demonstration and in 2 hours, you have to prepare several of them the day before.  Oh, and you have to have a propane torch of some kind to burn the sugar on top of the baked custard.  I didn't have one, so I ventured out to Bed, Bath and Beyond.  They had a creme brulee "kit", which included the dishes used to bake the custard in and a small, hand held torch with a small can of propane.  I want to say it was around $19.99, which is a pretty good deal, but there were only 4 dishes and I needed 8, plus the torch wasn't big enough for me.  You know how boys can be about fire and things!  So I opted for the "Professional Creme Brulee Torch", which looked and felt like what I wanted.  When I'm not using it for creme brulee I may need to weld something back together.  You can also blacken veggies with it or even do Baked Alaska. Also, I didn't have any ramekins to bake the custards in, so I swung by Wally World and found some cute, 3 ounce porcelain ramekins for less than a dollar a piece.

There aren't that many different recipes when it comes to a basic creme brulee, until you start adding different flavors.  I decided to use a recipe out of The New Professional Chef, which is written by The Culinary Institute of America.  Fool proof, right?  Wrong again!  I overcooked mine.  Note to self:  Not all Ovens are created Equal!  Just because a recipe says bake it for 45 minutes doesn't mean you shouldn't check it before the 45 minutes.  Catastrophe!  Not really,  they only overcooked (scrambled) a little bit.  I still served them and everybody raved.  Had I been working in a restaurant however, they probably would have made their way to the dishwashers.  The thing the ladies in the class loved the most was burning the sugar on top.  As for the recipe, here it is, but again don't trust your oven.  The custards should wiggle just a little bit when finished and the top should look like glass.  Be sure and chill them overnight!

CIA   Crème Brulee                         Yield: 12: 4oz. portions

Heavy Cream                                   1 ¼ quarts

Vanilla bean, split                           ½ each

Sugar                                                 8 ounces

Egg yolks, beaten                           10 ounces

1.      Combine the heavy cream, vanilla bean, and half the sugar; bring to a boil.

2.     Combine the egg yolks and remaining sugar.

3.     Temper egg-sugar mixture into hot heavy cream; cook until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon; strain through a fine sieve.

4.     Fill ramekins seven-eighths full, place in a water bath.

5.     Bake in a 325F oven until just barely set, approximately 45 minutes; remove from water bath when cool.  Wipe bottom of ramekins and refrigerate overnight.

6.     Sprinkle sugar evenly over top of custard and burn with torch.

Q Foods

There's not a lot of foods that begin with the letter Q.  Lets see, there's quail, quiche, quince, and quesadilla.  But the one I want to talk about is Quinoa.  Pronounced (KEEN-wah), it is new to the American market.  It was a staple of the ancient Incas, who called it "the mother grain."  I cooked with this ingredient for the first time the other day.  There is really nothing I could compare it to. In South American cuisine it is used extensively.  Hailed as the "supergrain of the future," quinoa contains more protein than any other grain.  It's considered a complete protein because it contains all eight essential amino acids.  It is also higher in unsaturated fats and lower in carbohydrates than most grains, and it provides a rich and balanced source of vital nutrients.  Yea, but how does it taste?  Good question!  To me it doesn't taste like much on its own, which makes it very versatile.  It has a delicate flavor (some people would say bland) and is often compared to couscous.
It's very easy to prepare, just like rice, but it cooks in about half the time.  I bought it at Costco, of all places,  in a 2 pound container, so I will be able to play with it for quit a while.  It can be served in any fashion: side dish, salad (like tabouleh), entree, soup, even in puddings.  It is also eaten for breakfast, like oatmeal.  I followed the directions on the back of the package and then tweaked it a little bit.  You can probably find it at any specialty store like Whole Foods.

Simply prepared, place quinoa in a fine strainer and rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear.  Drain well after rinsing.  Using 2 cups of liquid per cup of quinoa, combine the liquid and quinoa in a saucepan.  Bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, covered, until quinoa is tender but still chewy and a white spiral-like thread appears around each grain, about 15 minutes.  For a richer flavor, quinoa can be toasted (Pilaf) in a dry skillet for a few minutes before cooking.  Stir continuously during the toasting to prevent burning and to toast the grain evenly.  If you want something a little fancy try this:

Quinoa with Toasted Almonds and Cranberries
1 cup quinoa
1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Soak quinoa for 1/2 hour in cold water.  Rinse thoroughly.  On medium heat, stir and toast the sliced almonds until golden.  Stir and roast the quinoa until dry and turning color.  Transfer toasted quinoa and toasted almonds and cranberries to a 2 quart saucepan.  Add chicken stock, salt, bay leaf and cinnamon stick.  Bring to boil, cover and turn heat to simmer for 20 minutes.  Remove from the heat, remove the bay leaf and cinnamon stick and allow to sit for 5 minutes.  Fluff gently with a fork and serve.

For more recipes visit http://www.savvyvegetarian.com/vegetarian-recipes/basic-quinoa.php

Live well
Eat well
Be well

Chef Don Paleno

How to cure the Monday blues. Rice Pudding of course!

Rice pudding is to Mexicans what mashed potatoes are to Americans-the ultimate comfort food.  Apparently, there are A FEW restaurants in Mexico where you won't find this creamy deliciousness of a  dessert on the menu.  My fellow amigos would call this arroz con leche or rice with milk.  I'm sure every family in Mexico has their own recipe just like every family in America has their own recipe for mashed potatoes or tomato sauce.  The way this dessert smells and tastes, with the vanilla and cinnamon, are gonna take all your trouble away!
In my opinion, it is very easy to make (if your not in a hurry) and not that expensive either.  I was given this recipe from a friend/coworker down here in South Florida.  He said his mother would make this every Sunday and he would look forward to it all week.  You can alter this recipe however you want.  Personally, I don't use any coconut milk or coconut and I don't add the raisin & rum mixture.  Just Jasmine rice, milk, cinnamon sticks, orange peel and vanilla is all I use.  It makes me smile just thinking about it!  Something about the Jasmine rice though, makes it very aromatic.
I hope you all enjoy this post.

Cheers,

Chef Don Paleno

Mexican Coconut Rice Pudding                  Yield: 10 to 12 servings

Water                                                   3 cups

Whole peel of 1 orange, pith removed

2 Cinnamon sticks (each 3 inches long)

Pinch of salt

Long-grain rice (Jasmine)              1 ½ cups

Golden Raisins                                  ¼ cup

Candied orange peel, cut into ¼-inch dice             ¼ cup

Shredded coconut                           ¾ cup

Dark rum                                             ¼ cup

Milk                                                       5 cups

Coconut milk                                      1 cup

Sugar                                                     1 ¼ cups

Pure vanilla extract                         1 tsp

Half-and-half                                     ½ cup

1.        In a large heavy pot, combine the water, orange peel, cinnamon sticks and salt.  Bring to a boil, add the rice, and stir.  Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes.

2.       While the rice is cooking, toss the raisins, candied orange peel, and ¼ cup of the shredded coconut with the rum.  Set aside.

3.       When the rice is ready, add the milk, coconut milk, sugar, and dried fruits with rum to it.  Increase the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture has thickened, about 50 minutes.  If the liquid boils rapidly, reduce the heat to low.

4.       When the pudding is done, carefully skim off the thin layer of skin that may have formed on the top.  Remove from the heat and discard the orange peel and cinnamon sticks.  Stir in the vanilla.  Cool the pudding slightly.

5.       While the pudding cools, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

6.       Toast the remaining ½ cup shredded coconut in a small pan n the oven until golden brown, about 5 minutes (watch carefully).

7.       When the pudding has cooled slightly, stir in the half-and-half.  Serve lightly chilled or at room temperature, sprinkled with the toasted coconut.

Stone Crab: Florida Seafood and Aquaculture

Stone Crab: Florida Seafood and Aquaculture

Hello everyone! I thought it would be fun to blog about Stone Crab Claws today. I have some friends from Asheville, NC that are staying in SW Florida for the season (Jan.-Mar.). They've never had them and I'm thinking most people haven't. Especially if you live in the mountains like they do. I'm going to prepare them dinner Friday night and we will be having stone crab claws as an appetizer.

My first encounter with stone crab claws was when I was working as a sous chef at Tarpon Cove Yacht club in Naples, FL. about 3 years ago.  For Friday night Happy Hour we would prepare a huge platter of cooked crab claws served ice cold with cocktail sauce, fresh lemon and fresh horseradish.  The members would flock over them like buzzards over fresh road kill.  They are available fresh or cooked.  I suggest the cooked.  They cook them right after harvest to keep the meat from sticking to the shell and to crack these things open is an art, especially if your trying to get the entire claw out in one piece.  But if your interested in learning, here's a video on how to crack the claws: http://www.ehow.com/video_2335959_cracking-florida-stone-crab-claw.html.
There's a million things you can do to these, but I think I will be having mine with a little dijonaise sauce and probably an ice cold glass of chardonnay! Perfect for a hot winter day in Southwest Florida.

Cheers,

Chef Don Paleno