More Creamy Delights

Let’s face it, you can only be naked for so long. Eventually someone wants to dress you up, or drape you in lavish style. This time of year is no different — for berries, that is. The lusciousness of pure nakedness is faded, and if you’ve flipped through any of the conventional magazines, you’ve seen those precious little gems tortured with every kind of attempt to make a berry be something other than a delicious drop of sweet natural goodness.

But really, with a bevy of berries on hand, I’m ready to do just about anything to keep the natural goodness intact, but deliver the flavor in new ways. And in keeping with this month’s ingredient theme of cream and our indulgence of berries, it seems to make sense to take another look at just how delicious and indulgent these sweet, succulent morsels can transform our foods.

I rarely think of cream without ending up at ice cream; and what better platform to combine indulgence and ingredient? Since I’ve been playing around with cheese ice cream for the better part of a year now (after reading an exposé on the foods of Italy), I thought it might be fun to transform my favorite cheesecake ice cream into a decadent dessert. I’ve done this recipe with a number of cheeses, everything from Grana Padana, to Danish imported Fontina, to your standard run-of-the-mill Philadelphia Cream Cheese. But each time it has evolved, and now I’ve simply come to call this cheesecake ice cream. With the macerated blueberries, and the crumb base, this is an outstanding dessert for an al fresco dinner.

Recipe: Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Donna Marie Zotter is the founder and executive chef of There's A Chef in My Kitchen, a portable culinary school in Harrisburg, PA.

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It's All in the Technique. No, Really.

I tend to take technique for granted in my kitchen — any technique, really: infusing flavors, pan-searing, reducing, deglazing. Even beyond that, I tend to take for granted my understanding of the ingredients I call upon to perform in the technique. Perhaps in a professional kitchen that’s a good thing. Perhaps. But the truth of the matter is that most of us can’t take either one for granted.

It is the dance between the ingredients selected and the enlisted technique that is responsible for some of the extraordinary flavors and elevated tastes that we strive for in the GM test kitchen, and one of the hallmarks of my cooking — at least, I’d like to think it is. But when I’m conducting test-tasting dinners, and the questions are coming fast and furious, I am reminded that many cooks understand very little about the ingredients they are using, or the techniques they are employing.

The Madeira Butter, for example, which is featured in this month’s “Indulgence” article, Creamy Delights, is a splendid example of the why behind using multiple techniques. In that recipe, flavor is infused, and then enriched. The base is then concentrated and incorporated into the flavor platform — the butter. The result is an extraordinary compound ingredient that serves a number of purposes in the organic process of cooking. It provides a flavorful fat in which to cook, and a platform from which other flavors can play against in the dish.

“But who would take the time to do all that?” This question was posed by a test-taster (as she was slathering the butter on anything she could get her hands on!). The response to me seemed rather obvious, but then that’s me. But the challenge, such that it was, had been posed. And since any chef worth his toque can’t just leave a question unanswered, I had to find a way to create the same delivery of flavors with quicker methods.

Technique was my answer. By recreating the similar processes of infusing, enriching and concentrating flavors, only this time with my flavor platform present during the flavor building, I was able to recreate the high-end flavor that the Madeira Butter provides, without the lengthy process. (But do still make the Madeira Butter. Freeze it. You won’t regret having spent the time, only that you didn’t make more!)

Recipe: Beef Filet with Madeira Reduction

Donna Marie Zotter is the founder and executive chef of There's A Chef in My Kitchen, a portable culinary school in Harrisburg, PA.

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My Slow, Steamy Seduction...

I’ve never been a big fan of barbecued ribs. Period. There’s just always too much fat, too much grease, and too little meat. Sure, I’ve been wooed by those that tempt with “secret” sauces and fancy marinades. I’ve been courted by those that are (self-proclaimed) “grillmasters”, but still I’ve never met a rib I liked. Until this July 4th weekend. I was seduced by a slow steam that melted most of the annoying fat and all of my resistance.

I was skeptical with yet another promise of ribs that would have me thinking differently, but someone else was cooking, and who was I to complain? I was at the beach, and spent the night before indulging my host and house guests in a seafood feast. If the boys were going to take to the grill to repay the favor, then I was going to find a way to make the most of the dining experience. By the end of the night, I was happily opining “Boys Rule.”

To my great surprise, the slow, low heat steam (about 6 hours, which left plenty of time to work on my tan….) basted the rib meat in its own richly delicious and flavorful fat. It seems so frighteningly obvious, but still this was a first for me. After that, a few minutes on the grill (with a bottled barbeque sauce no less!) and I was treated to the best ribs I have ever tasted. I had seconds, and after snapping the photo (and fighting to find a rib or two left to take it!) I promptly ate the very last one.

Recipe: Celebration Barbecued Ribs

Donna Marie Zotter is the founder and executive chef of There's A Chef in My Kitchen, a portable culinary school in Harrisburg, PA.

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