Rick Bayless Receives High Recognition

Posted on AllTopChef.com

The winner of the first season of Top Chef Masters, the man who is helping Americans discover the beauty of authentic Mexican cooking, the amazing  Rick Bayless, received some major props from Mexico.

Today, Chef Bayless was inducted into the Order of the Aztec Eagle - the highest honor bestowed on foreigners by Mexican government. This award, created in 1933 by President Abelardo Rodríguez, is presented to foreign citizens in recognition of their service to Mexico or humanity.

The list of past honorees includes MA Senator Ted Kennedy, tenor extraordinaire Placido Domingo, Bill and Melinda Gates and 2010 Nobel Laureate writer Mario Vargas Llosa. This is what the breakfast club of the new millennium looks like, amigos.

Congratulations, Master Rick, we are thrilled for you and hope to see more of you in the upcoming seasons of Masters or Top Chef proper (as a guest judge, of course)!

In the meantime - it is time to flock to Chicago and enjoy the art of Chef Bayless' cooking first hand. Check out the restaurants here or reserve a table at Topolo here. If you are not in the vicinity, snag yourself one of Rick Bayless' books through this list.

Rick Bayless Helps Organize "Taste for the Arts" in Chicago

Chicago Celebrity Chef Rick Bayless Helps Organize 'Taste for the Arts': MyFoxCHICAGO.com

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Rick Bayless's Chicago Show, "Cascabel," Gets Good Reviews!

Photo: Chicago On The Aisle

The Rick Bayless production, "Cascabel" sounds like a lot of fun.

Click here for a review from Chicago On The Aisle...

And click here for a review from The Chicago Sun-Times.


Posted on AllTopChef.com

Top Chef Master, Rick Bayless, Stars in New Venture

Image: nwi.com

Rick Bayless co-created and stars in a new show described as a "whimsical piece where dining/food is an equal star."

"Cascabel" runs through Aprill 22 at the Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago.

Click here for more information.

TC News and Information 9.26.11

Given the heavy advertising, if you haven’t heard that The Chew, featuring Top Chef’s Carla Hall, premieres today in the All My Children timeslot on ABC, you’re probably living under a rock. We’re happy to let our readers follow whatever shows they choose (or “chews” not). If you’re interested in more about how Carla got this gig (her first audition didn’t go very well, but she got a second chance after being voted Fan Favorite on Top Chef: All Stars), you can find linkage here The New York Times places the show in a larger context of food-watching and daytime TV demographics here. Grub Street is not thrilled with what they saw during rehearsal. Feel free to share your reactions in our comments.

If you’ve been following Top Chef since Season 1 (before the Fan Fave award was conceived of), you might be happy to know Lee Anne Wong will appear on Iron Chef battling IC newcomer Marc Forgione October 23.

Food Network has also announced the contestants for its upcoming Next Iron Chef competition, dubbed “Super Chefs,” debuting October 30. You’ll find some TC familiar faces, including Marcus Samuelsson (winner of TC: Masters 2), the inimitable Spike Mendolsohn (TC Season 4), TC: Masters contestants Elizabeth Falkner and Michael Chiarello, Chopped judges and other FN hosts. Reality Blurred reports that in a format change, the new season will pit the two chefs at the bottom of the pack against each other in a sudden-death cook-off with only one ingredient. Hmmm, kind of like the upcoming Top Chef: Texas where the first eliminees from the starting 29 contenders get a chance to battle back to be on the on-air finale?

Rick Bayless won the first season of TC: Masters, and he’s continued doing what he does, with dedication to Mexican food and building his Chicago-based restaurant empire ever since. But here is something completely different. Eater reports Bayless will play a chef in 1940s Mexico – and provide appetizers and a three-course meal – for a March 2012 production with Chicago’s Looking Glass Theater that sounds like a whole new spin on dinner theater.

Meanwhile, Michael Voltaggio's much anticipated "Ink." has opened. Reservations are hard to come by, but KevinEats apparently scored one. Check out his report (and excellent photos) here.

And Tiffany Derry's Private Social is now open, with a lotta help from her TC friends.


Posted on AllTopChef.com

TC News and Information 3.14.11

Wanna eat at Restaurant Wars for Season 9? A table is being auctioned off for the episode, to be filmed "sometime in July or August, 2011," reports Eater. Estimated value: $20K, to benefit the Endometriosis Foundation of America.

Season 2 Finalist Sam Talbot’s new restaurant, Imperial No. 9 at the Mondrian Hotel in NYC has finally opened, and the New York Times offers up a lengthy piece in - of all places - its Fashion and Style section. If you’re looking for info about the food he’s cooking, you won’t find much here. What you will find is an assertion by the NYT’s writer that Sam “is among a new breed of celebrity chefs who have coasted into culinary fame, less by grueling dues-paying, and more on their telegenic brand. The group includes the brothers Bryan and Michael Voltaggio, Ludo Lefebvre, Spike Mendelsohn, Sam Mason, Fabio Viviani and Marcel Vigneron.”

Ouch! Both Michael Voltaggio and Top Chef Masters’ Ludo Lefebvre took issue with inclusion on NYT list, and contacted the LA Times with their own rebuttals.

If you are actually interested in Sam's food, Eater has a round-up of early blogger buzz about No. 9, some of it from fans who find the chef a hunk and are perhaps not too discerning in the food department. On the other hand, there seems to be something about those cauliflower fritters . . .

In other news, Richard Blais does baby food, partnering with organic baby food maker Jack’s Harvest. Their first product offering, featuring cauliflower and quinoa, debuted March 1. (What is it with cauliflower?)

We reported previously that Top Chef Master Rick Bayless has opened a spot in Chicago's O'Hare airport. Now comes news that his fellow Masters contestant, pop-up king Ludo Lefebvre may open a "chicken shack" at LAX.

Starting tomorrow, Season 6’s Preeti Mistry launches a weekday lunch pop-up in San Francisco called Juhu Beach Club featuring Indian street food, according to this item.

Floyd Cardoz of the upcoming Top Chef Masters 3 is slated to helm a new Danny Meyer restaurant in NYC to open near the end of the year, according to NYT and Grub Street.

Finally, although I haven't read anything official about this year's traveling Top Chef road show yet, Season 6's Hector Santiago posted on facebook: "TC 2011 tour starts in ST. Louis , on April 15,c you there Y'all ...their will b quick fire challenges this time aroud , fun fun ;)" Let us know if you hear about the Top Chef Tour coming to your city.

TC News and Information 1.28.11 - Vacation Edition

Top Chef All-Stars took a holiday this week (sigh). So how about catching up on the recent getaways of some of our TC faves?

Auf'd All-Star Jennifer Carroll traveled to the Caribbean with her boss, Bravo vlogger and frequent TC guest judge Eric Ripert, for the third annual Picnic in the Caymans, based at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, which houses his restaurant, Blue. Ripert's buddy, Tony Bourdain, who sometimes judges All-Stars (glad he'll be back next week), also made an appearance, as did TC Masters contestant and All-Stars dim sum judge Susur Lee. Bourdain claims Tom spends more time in hair and make-up than Padma. What do you think? More about the Cayman event here.

TC Masters contestant Jonathan Waxman headed to Hawaii for the James Beard Celebrity Chef Tour. Cooking with Iron Chef Michael Symon, you can bet pork was involved - in fact, a "reserve" pig. Waxman and Symon also spent some time answering questions from culinary students. Here's video of the $250 per person dinner Waxman and Symon whipped up on the Big Island.

In a chillier but nonetheless prestigious setting, Season 6 winner Michael Voltaggio and Season 3 contestant Brian Malarkey cooked at Chef Dance, er, Sundance. From Utah, MVolt also shared his thoughts about whether Marcel is really an a**h*le or just plays one on TV.

Season 4 winner Stephanie Izard appears this weekend at Bon Appetit's Master Chef Classic in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Her "Snowshoe Excursion and Luncheon" is sold out. She'll also be up against Jose Garces and Joey Campanaro in the food festival's "Master Chef Challenge," where the competitors will be given 20 minutes to create a dish from a surprise ingredient.

If you're not lucky enough to be in one of those exotic locales but find yourself traveling through Chicago, Top Chef Masters winner Rick Bayless has a new outpost in O'Hare's Terminal 1, with another on the way for Terminal 3.

Stay warm, all. And Minx, good luck digging out the Ion.

eggy

TC News and Information 11.10.10

It's a big week for Stephanie Izard! In addition to her impressive sweep of the Eater awards, her restaurant, The Girl and The Goat, has learned it's won a Michelin Bib Gourmand designation. It seems the Windy City is abuzz with anticipation of next week's release of the Michelin Guide, with special events lined up that include a panel discussion/radio-show taping with Stephanie and TC Masters contestant Graham Elliot on November 18 and a live chat November 19 featuring Rick Bayless and Art Smith of TC Masters with former NY Times food critic Frank Bruni. More info about both events here. The Girl and The Goat also took the top spot on Chicago Magazine's November Hot List. Want to try some of Stephanie's food but don't live in Chicago? You might be in luck if you're near Miami or NYC. This month all of Mercadito's locations are featuring her braised chicken taco with avocado crème fraîche, fermented black bean, nicoise olive tapenade, mint, preserved lemons, sambal, smoked tomato and shaved brussel sprouts, at 4 tacos for $16 to benefit Share Our Strength. TC Masters contestant Wylie Dufresne is another chef who will design a taco for the year-long benefit. You can find out more here and here.

Where else can you meet and eat with Top Chef contestants? All over, it seems. Here are just a few upcoming events.

Mike Isabella and Carla Hall will be at the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertainment Show in D.C. November 13. And here's something a little different - Carla is also appearing at the 17th Annual Funniest Celebrity in Washington Contest December 2.

Meanwhile, Dave Martin will be doing a cooking class in the "other" Washington November 17, at Desert Wind Winery in the Yakima Valley, and has other upcoming appearances in Washington, Oregon and Nebraska.

Dave's Season 1 rival, Tiffani Faison, will be participating in Eat Your Heart Out Boston November 14 at the Paradise Rock Club where chefs and local bands team up to benefit local charities. In an interesting twist, the chefs will "style plates in homage to their music idols" - Tiff's dish: pork belly agrodolce, house-made “hots,” foie pastrami mayo, and crispy onion, inspired by Ray Lamontagne’s "New York City’s Killing Me."

If New York isn't killing you, you can catch Richard Blais demo-ing sous-vide equipment at Bloomie's on November 20.

Jen Carroll and Rick Moonen will be headlining the James Beard Celebrity Chef Tour in Las Vegas November 15.

And this one sounds like a lot of fun - if you're in Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina November 20, you can see Gail Simmons, Kevin Gillespie, Kevin Sbraga and Kenny Gilbert at the Music to Your Mouth Culinary Festival. How much more fun could the Low Country be?

TC News & Information 5.19.10

On May 19th, Top Chef Masters season 1 winner Rick Bayless will be cooking in the White House for a state dinner that will honor President Felipe Calderón of Mexico.

Check out the Cooking for Solutions celebration on May 21-22, 2010 at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Top Chefs in attendance will be Masters Rick Bayless and Rick Moonen, and TC6's Kevin Gillespie. For more details, click here.

Check out the interview with new Top Chef judge Eric Ripert at Eater.

Here's an article on Top Chefs in LA from DiscoverLosAngeles.com

TC News & Information 4.16.10

Top Chef sightings all over the DC area, according to the Examiner.

Hosea Rosenberg is helping to develop a line of frozen foods for Kashi.

Stephanie Izard will be participating in a cooking demonstration/cook-off and luncheon to benefit Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center today at Midwestern Culinary Academy. More info here.

Marcus Samuelsson talks about Top Chef and more here.

Here's an interview with Top Chef Masters season 1 winner Rick Bayless.

Scary: Gael Greene's sordid adventures may be turned into a TV series.

Cooking with Top Chef 3.25.10

This week, Jenn Murphy of Sweet Water tries out a recipe from Top Chef Masters season 1 winner Rick Bayless and one from TCM1 finalist Michael Chiarello. Thanks again, Jenn, for sharing your kitchen experiences with us.

I just had to try this soup by Rick Bayless.

I actually didn't realize he was so famous for it until, um, 30 seconds ago when I did a quick google seach with his name and the soup. I just wanted to give a Mexican recipe a try.

Mexican flavours are not ones I indulge in much. I think I've been a bit jaded by my general perception that Mexican food has been franchised out and reduced to chihuahuas yapping about tacos and quesadillas.

On one of the few occasions that SeaBass decided to take me on a romantic dinner date (this was at the beginning of our relationship. The attempts at romance have only gone downhill from here) he made a reservation and would only tell me that he was taking me out for a wonderful meal of "real" Mexican food at this restaurant he had heard about. As we drove closer to our destination I started to get a bad feeling about just where he had "heard about" said restaurant.

Woman's intuition is a powerful thing.

We were headed for "Mexicali Rosa's". He had heard about it on the radio. In one of their incessantly repeated commercials.

We were headed for the typical Mexican fair of tortilla chips and salsa and crappy margaritas. I was trying very hard to be pleasant.

The funny thing was that SeaBass totally didn't recall being inundated with commercials with this place. He was sure that someone he knew had given him a hot tip on a great place.

Their ad agency better have been well paid.

SeaBass also did not recall, until he saw the sign for the restaurant, that we had just eaten at another one of their franchises a couple of weeks before with some of his rowdy friends.

Yep, his romantic destination was filled with families with screaming children, drunken boys and bad food.

I think that's the night he gave up control in our relationship.

Hmm...maybe some good did come out of it.

I have for some time now been wanting to give Mexican fare another chance though. Especially since my brother just returned from a trip during which he got to experience a bit of the real Mexico. No Acapulcan resort food on this journey.

Now he keeps walking around mumbling about "tortas" every time he gets within hearing distance of me. Can anyone help me with this?

Back to Bayless and his Sopa Azteca. It was damn good. I loved all the layering of flavours involved. The tomato base was very nice on its own but building on the soup with the condiments and garnishes to suit your own taste was my favourite part.
(Full disclosure: This pic is from Bayless' website. I was having an off day when I made the soup and hated all the pics I ended up with. I had a bit of a temper tantrum and deleted them all. I am a huge whining baby. Thank you for understanding.)

Sopa Azteca
(adapted from Rick Bayless recipe on bravotv.com)
Serves 6

*1 large dried pasilla chile stemmed and seeded
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes in juice
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 med white onion sliced
3 garlic cloves peeled
2 quarts chicken broth
**1 large epazote sprig
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves cubed into 1/2 inch
1 large ripe avocado pitted and flesh scopped out
1 1/2 cups Mexican melting cheese
approx 4 cups broken tortilla chips
1/2 cup mexican crema, sour cream or creme fraiche
1 large lime cut into wedges

*no pasilla chiles in my neck of the woods. I used a scotch bonnet and dried red chili.
** I substituted some dried oregano and savoury

Quickly toast the chili over an open flame (or in a dry pan over medium heat on both sides) for just a few seconds. Break chili into pieces and put in blender with tomato and juices. Heat oil in large saucepan over med. high. Add onion and garlic. Saute until golden. Remove onion and garlic with slotted spoon (leave behind as much oil as possible.) Put onion and garlic in blender with tomato and chili. Blend until smooth.
Return pan to med high heat. When pan is hot add tomato puree and stir constantly until reduced to tomato paste consistency (approx 6 mins.) Add chicken broth and epazote (or herbs.) Reduce heat to med low and simmer 15 mins. Season with salt. Approx 5 mins before serving add chicken to simmering broth. Divide acocado, cheese and tortilla chips up soup bowls. When chicken is cooked (5 mins) ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with cream.

-------------------------------
Here's how my brain functions (or malfunctions - I leave that for you to decide) if I don't like what I perceive to be the personality of a given singer/actor/chef/general celebrity type I cannot, in turn, enjoy any of their work.

Take Bono of U2 for instance. He seems like a pompous ass to me. That's exactly how I describe him any time the topic arises. Luckily for me it seems to arise often and I get to shout out "pompous ass" and get all kerfuffled about my obviously very valid judgment of his pomposity.

Another good example: Alanis Morrissette.

I don't care that she's Canadian, I really don't. I care that her songs back in the day were ridiculous and stupid and therefore she is obviously a fool. Don't get me started on the now infamous "Ironic" lyrics. Complete idiocy.

And so I couldn't even stand to be in the room when one of her songs was played. Back in the 90s I was so well known for harbouring these strongly held opinions about people I totally have no personal knowledge of that my friends once took it upon themselves to trap me in a room and force me to endure Morrissette and her Ironic philosophizing.

It was pure torture. I still have nightmares.

The point is that this character trait of mine informs a lot of what I do and don't do in my life. I'm a little rash, I jump headlong into things.

I love as easily as I hate though. In fact, I don't like much. I love, I hate, there's not much in between for me.

Also, not really about the nightmares by the way, I'm not that pathetic.

So what does this have to do with Top Chef? Well it has a lot to do with Chef Michael Chiarello from Top Chef Masters.

The guy was a bit of an ass on the show. Sometimes more than a bit. He seemed to be dealing with some serious insecurity and self confidence issues. He was totally intimidated by Chef Keller and in every championship round made some mention of a personal competition between himself and Keller that Keller seemed to be totally unaware of.

When former Top Chef contestants arrived to act as sous chefs in one round, they all immediately felt the overcompensating ego of Chiarello as the "master" made them run ridiculous errands in the kitchen to prove their prospective worth to him. Those who were chosen to be on his team he treated like lesser beings and not the seasoned chefs they all certainly are.

Oh yeah, and he was also totally put off by the idea that former Top Chef winners would have a hand in deciding the Masters winner, stating clearly that they were not qualified to judge his food.

As you can see, I was a little annoyed by the guy.

Actually I more accurately vacillated between being super put off by his attitude and feeling incredibly sorry for him that he couldn't enjoy the comaraderie and friendly competition the way the other chefs seemed to because he was just so busy trying to prove himself all the time.

But his food looked good dammit.

I actually struggled with myself about cooking one of his dishes because his personality bothered me so much.

My own ego insisted that if I gave in to cooking Chiarello's food I would be giving in to...well, I don't really know what....his yucky pomposity I guess.

Then rational brain had a chat with ego and talked ego down off the ledge of self importance and all the voices in my head realized the whole discussion was stupid and really all any of us really wanted was some short ribs.

Does this mean I'm maturing? Growing more rational or less dramatic?

Probably not. I'm pretty sure most rational mature folks don't have multiple arguing voices in their heads

And also I still won't listen to U2 and I'll still throw up a little in my mouth if I hear Alanis Morrissette in my vicinity. And I still won't watch movies with Russell Crowe and..well..you get the idea.

But a good short rib dish? Well I guess I have to draw the line somewhere.

I wanted to try this dish because the ribs are brined before braising and I haven't done that before. This extra step of marinating the beef in salt and really imparted some nice flavours on the meat.

My favourite part of this dish was actually the cabbage. It was so softly sweet and tender. The onions were subtle and sweet. The julienned carrots and raisins were visually beautiful and added a nice level of sugar to the cabbage.

They were such a perfect match for the ribs. Another brilliant dish in which the whole is that much greater than the sum of its parts.

On their own I found the ribs to be very good if a little too salty for my taste (salt loving dad thought they were just perfect). They were tender and falling off the bone and when met with the cabbage the whole dish gained a wonderful balance of flavours and textures.

Brined Short Ribs with 5 Onion Cabbage
(adapted from Michael Chiarello's recipe on bravotv.com)

Brine
2 quarts water
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups kosher salt
2 tbsp. juniper berries
3 bay leaves

Bring all ingredients together in a saucepan. Stir to dissolve sugar. Let the brine cool completely and then cover the ribs with brine and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Ribs
4 lbs. cross cut short ribs
olive oil
2 cups onion coarsely chopped
1 cup carrot coarsely chopped
1 cup celery coarse chopped
1 cup red wine
1 quart chicken stock

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Remove ribs from brine. Pat dry. Heat a high sided saute pan over medium high heat until hot. Add a layer of olive oil to the pan. When the oil begins to smoke add the ribs and brown on all sides. Note: They will brown very quickly due to the sugar in the brine. After browning place the ribs in an oven safe dish. Put onion, carrot and celery to saute pan and cook over medium heat until well caramelized. Add vegetables to dish with short ribs. Pour red wine into saute pan. Deglaze the pan and then simmer until reduced by half. Add stock to wine. Bring to a boil and then pour liquid over ribs and vegetables. Bring the ribs to a boil on the stovetop. Then cover and place in oven. Bake until tender (approx 4 hours).

5 Onion Cabbage
1 cup leeks sliced (white parts only)
1 cup green onions sliced (white parts only)
1 cup shallots diced small
1 cup red onion diced small
1 cup yellow onion diced small
1 cup grated carrot
extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 head savoy cabbage

Sweat leeks, shallots and all onions and carrot in olive oil. Add raisins. Saute for a few minutes. Add cabbage and cook slowly until very soft (approx 2 hours). Stir frequently.

If you have a Top Chef Recipe Experience to share with us, please drop us a line at alltopchef@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you!

TC News & Information 1.28.2010

Haitian-born Ron Duprat is working with some of his fellow season 6 cheftestants to offer some relief to his earthquake-damaged homeland. Read more here.

Season 6's Eve Aronoff is opening a new Cuban-influenced restaurant in Ann Arbor.

Cheftestants Stephanie Izard, Dale Levitski, and Tre Wilcox will be appearing at the 2010 International Home + Housewares Show to be held March 14-16 at Chicago's McCormick Place. Also appearing will be former Top Chef guest judges Todd English, Ming Tsai, Gale Gand, Rick Tramonto, and Top Chef Master Rick Bayless. Find more info here.

Michael Voltaggio won a $100,000 shopping spree at Macy's. So what did he buy?

TC News & Information 1.15.2010

Here's an article about the fall and rise of season 4 cheftestant Dale Levitski.

Top Chef Masters competitor Art Smith will be celebrating his 50th birthday at Soldier Field in Chicago during the 5th annual World Festival benefiting Common Threads on March 1st. Gail Simmons will be hosting, and participating Chicago-area chefs will include Top Chef season 4 winner Stephanie Izard and Top Chef Masters winner Rick Bayless, plus Graham Elliott Bowles. A live and silent auction will feature a dinner cooked by Season 5's Radhika Desai, and lunch for 2 with Top Chef Las Vegas guest judge Nigella Lawson.

According to Grub Street: On March 19th and 20th, chef Charlie Palmer will be hosting his fifth annual Pigs & Pinot event in Healdsburg featuring chefs Bryan Voltaggio and Kevin Gillespie from Top Chef, along with the Food Network's Tyler Florence and Roland Passot of La Folie. Weekend package tickets are on sale by phone only, at 800-889-7188.

StarChefs.com has named the Rising Star chefs of the LA and San Diego areas, and not surprisingly, Michael Voltaggio is one of them.

What's been going on with Robin Leventhal since Top Chef? She's been teaching, among other things. Read about it here.

TC News & Information 12.6.09

The latest street food news: Ketel One-branded trucks dispensing free chef-made food will be in New York from today (December 3) through December 5, then moving to Chicago December 10 to 12, then L.A. December 15 to 17. Rick Bayless is the Chicago chef and Ilan Hall is the L.A. chef. In addition to free food, Ketel One will be offering free rides home (to promote responsible drinking over the holidays). Check out the list of locations and menus here.

Spork or Foon blogger Teanna interviewed Danny Gagnon for Spot On Long Island. Read it here.

Hosea Rosenberg offers 10 Thoughts.

Season 1 champ Harold Dieterle and guest judge Johnny Iuzzini are in competition for the title of NY's Hottest Chef. Vote for your fave here.

and finally...Tom Colicchio offers advice on dining out with baby.

TC News & Information 11.20.2009

Here's a look at some of the folks who showed up for auditions for the upcoming series, Top Chef: Just Desserts and Top Chef 7.

Tom Colicchio has been traveling the country in a Porsche and is writing about food for Food & Wine Magazine's "Mouthing Off" blog. You can find the blog here.

Listen to a "Where Foodies Go" Webcast with Laurine Wickett here.

Rick Bayless has started a new Web site in partnership with Bohemia beer, http://www.fronterafiesta.com. The site is devoted entirely to entertaining with the incredibly appealing flavors of the Mexican kitchen, without having to spend hours and hours in the kitchen.

A Top Chef Thanksgiving: Recipe du Jour

Top Chef Masters champ Rick Bayless' Quail with Parsnip and Prosciutto Stuffing over Wild Greens (main)


INGREDIENTS

POMEGRANATE-RED WINE GLAZE
1 cup pomegranate juice
1 cup red wine
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup balsamic

GRILLED QUAIL
2 quart water
1/2 cup salt
3 chipotle chilis, toasted
12 quail (bone-in)
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery, chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
1 cup red wine
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig marjoram
1 quart chicken stock

PARNSIP AND PROSCIUTTO STUFFING
2 red potatoes, peeled and chopped
4 large parsnips, diced
4 ounce prosciutto, diced
2 large red onions

WILD GREENS
6 ounce peppered pancetta, diced
2 quarts mustard greens, cut in 1 inch pieces
1 quart baby wild arugula
1/1/2 cup chicken stock

BUTTER-ROASTED ASIAN PEARS
4 ounce butter
2 large Asian pears
2 tablespoons chiffonade of sage leaves
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice

KUMQUATS
2 cups kumquats, quartered
2/3 cup salt

DIRECTIONS

POMEGRANATE-RED WINE GLAZE
Simmer pomegranate, red wine, sugar and balsamic until syrupy.

GRILLED QUAIL
Blend water, salt and chipotle in vitamix.

Trim necks and wings from quail, reserve. Pour the brine over the quail and soak for 45 minutes. Rinse and dry.

Combine quail trimmings, carrots, leaks, celery on baking sheet. Drizzle with a little oil, toss and roast at 450 degrees until richly brown. Pour in the wine. Return to oven for five minutes. Scrape into large pot.

Add the thyme and marjoram and chicken stock. Simmer 1-1/2 hours. Strain and season with salt.

Grill quail, turning regularly until well browned. Transfer to sheet pan. Brush pomegranate glaze and roast at 325 degrees until leg meat is tender.

PARSNIP AND PROSCIUTTO STUFFING
In salted water, cook potatoes until tender. Remove and coarsely mash.

In same water, blanch diced parsnips until just tender. Drain. Stir into potatoes.

Simmer proscuitto in water until tender and liquid has reduced. Stir in potatoes.

Slice onions, coat with oil and grill until soft and well browned. Dice. Stir half with potatoes, use to stuff quail.

WILD GREENS
Cook pancetta in a little oil until brown. Add mustard greens and stock and cook until dry. Add arugula, toss to coat and season.

BUTTER-ROASTED ASIAN PEARS
Melt butter on sheet pan in 425 oven, leaving until browned. Add Asia pears and stir to coat. Roast until soft.

Mix together sage, zest and lemon juice. Drizzle over the pears, stir and roast five more minutes.

KUMQUATS
Mix kumquats and salt and cryovac, let stand two hours. Open pouch, rinse and finely chop.

TO PLATE
Plate quail over a spoon of pancetta and greens around. Ladle jus from the grilled quail around greens and drizzle quail with a little more pomegranate glaze add potatoes, Asian pears/kumquats over and around the quail. If desired, crisp fry thin slices of proscuitto and crumble over dish

© 2009 Rick Bayless

TC News & Information 9.26.09

Spike Mendelsohn is offering a new Obama-inspired "Michelle Melt" turkey burger at his Good Stuff Eatery in Washington, DC. If you can't make it to DC, try making the burger at home with the recipe here.

If you're in the Windy City this weekend, check out Chicago Gourmet, an upscale version of Taste of Chicago featuring the likes of Top Chef Masters winner Rick Bayless, Season 4 champ Stephanie Izard, and Season 5 cheftestants Radhika Desai and Fabio Viviani.

Photos: Albert Domasin

On Thursday night, Season 2 finalist Marcel Vigneron battled Next Food Network Star finalist Jeffrey Saad in a cooking competition. And we're happy to say that the Top Chef prevailed! Congrats, Marcel - I'm sure Jeffrey was a tough competitor.

TC News & Information 9.15.09

Did everyone but me know that Gail Simmons is Canadian? She does an interview with the Canadian Food Network blogger, Food for Thought, here.

TC5's Carla Hall will be teaching cooking classes at Alabama's Wind Creek Casino & Hotel. Details here. Hootie hoo!

Top Chef Masters winner Rick Bayless answers questions about the opening of his new restaurant, XOCO, here.

TC News & Information 9.04.09

Here's an interview with Ashley Merriman who thinks this season kicks ass.

Televisionary talks to Jennifer Carroll, who couldn't live without her sauce spoon, here.

This week's eliminated chef, Preeti Mistry, participated in a conference call, the transcript of which can be found here.

For yet another interview with a Top Cheftestant, check out this one with Season 5 winner Hosea Rosenberg.

Season 4's Antonio LoFaso will be presenting a wine-paired dinner at Winefest Des Moines on September 13th. Click here for details. And in October, Season 3's Tre Wilcox will be in town for a couple of cooking classes.

Top Chef Master Rick Bayless is opening a new restaurant, Xoco, that serves the street foods of Mexico. Read more about it here.

Finally, Gail Simmons talks to CNN's Reggie Aqui:

TC News & Information

Jennifer Zavala talks seitan with Drew Lazor of the Philadelphia City Paper.

Procrastiblog uses super mathy skills to analyze Top Chef.

Winning certainly is good for business. Apparently one has to wait until November to get a table at Rick Bayless' Topolobampo. For those diners lucky enough to have a reservation during the next month, Chef Bayless' winning meal is available as a $90 prix fixe dinner.

The Detroit News has a short interview with Ann Arbor chef Eve Aronoff.

Did anyone else catch season 4's Mark Simmons as a sous to chef Brad Farmerie of Public restaurant on Iron Chef last night?