Margaret McSweeney's Blog, page 6

Queen of the Coop: Lisa Steele

Did you know that around 10 million in the United States are raising chickens? Lisa Steel, a fifth-generation chicken keeper and founder of Fresh Eggs Daily, has a new cookbook The Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook: Over 100 Fabulous Recipes to Use Eggs in Unexpected Ways.

In this podcast, you will learn about the benefits of a fresh egg, some tips on raising chickens and some great recipes with eggs from her new cookbook.

Enjoy this delicious recipe for Crispy Lemon-Fried Eggs that is featured on page 58 of Lisa Steel’s The Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook, published by Harper Horizon, an imprint of HarperCollins Focus LLC and shared with permission.

Crispy Lemon-Fried Eggs

Getting tired of plain fried eggs? Adding lemon slices to the pan while you’re frying eggs will add an unexpected burst of citrus that’s sure to wake you up! Sunny-side up or over easy, these lemony eggs will be your new go-to for a quick and easy breakfast.

Makes 2 servings

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 lemon, cut into thin slices, seeded
4 eggs
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper for garnish

Heat a large cast-iron skillet or frying pan on medium-high. Once the pan is heated, add the oil and the lemon slices.
Give the oil a few seconds to heat up. Once the oil starts to shimmer, carefully crack each egg and slide it out of the shell and into the pan, among the lemon slices. Hold the shell close to the oil to prevent splattering.
Sprinkle the yolks with a pinch of salt and cook, tilting the pan and using a spoon to baste the tops of the eggs with the olive oil.
Cook about 2 minutes, until the whites are puffed and set and the edges are browned and crispy. Remove the pan from the heat (or if you prefer a firmer yolk, flip each egg
and cook until the other side is done, about 1 minute).
Slide the eggs onto plates, pour the lemon oil over the tops, and season with salt. Use the lemon slices from the skillet as garnish.

What is your favorite recipe with eggs?

Savor the day!

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Rohini Dey: Let’s Talk Womxn

Let’s celebrate International Women’s Day with Rohini Dey! She is an accomplished businesswoman who has worked with the World Bank, a large consulting firm and even launched the women’s program at James Beard Foundation. She left the corporate world to pursue her passion of opening an Indian and Latin American fusion restaurant in Chicago called Vermilion.

Margaret McSweeney and Chef Jaime Laurita recently had a Kitchen Chat to discuss cuisine with Rohini and her important initiative called Let’s Talk Womxn.

Let’s Talk is a collaboration of women restaurateurs to build combined economic power. It’s not an organization, but rather an action-led movement by women business owners as peers. Throughout March, Let’s Talk Womxn will be celebrating International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month across 12 states with delicious feasts. Foodie friends, please consider attending one of these celebrations and support the initiative.

It was great to actually film a Kitchen Chat with Rohini Dey in Vermilion and visit the kitchen and meet the chef. A special thank you to Middleby Corporation for sponsoring this Kitchen Chat and for supporting Let’s Talk Womxn.

What are some of your favorite women-owned restaurants?

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Gender Equity and the Food Industry: A Spotlight on Daisy Zeijlon

The data points are staggering. 52% of all restaurant workers are women. 71% of servers are women. 82% of hostesses are women. 54% of all culinary students are women. And only 7% of all restaurants are led by women chefs.

Daisy Zeijlon, food and gender scholar discusses the “why” behind these numbers along with the “how” to change them. But first a fun behind the scenes story. Part of my joy in this culinary Kitchen Chat journey has been the unexpected ways in which I meet the guests. I must thank Sid Edelman, my classmate from graduate school in the Master’s program for International Business at the University of South Carolina. Sid’s son and Daisy were childhood friends. Sid reached out to both Daisy and me about Kitchen Chat.

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Daisy started working in the hospitality industry at a young age and wrote her master thesis about gender equity in the food industry. Here is a link to her website and thesis. Here are Daisy’s top tips as to what can be done to help make a positive impact for women in the hospitality industry:

Provide greater access for women to fund businesses within the hospitality industry.Diners are investors and should be encouraged to support/dine at restaurants with female chefs and owners.Restaurants should prioritize HRFood media should make a greater effort to amplify women’s voices in the culinary industry,

With a nod to sustainability, Daisy shares a quick and easy fridge salad recipe:

Fridge Salad for One. 

By Daisy Zeijlon 

Good salads are about layering texture and flavor, and that’s what this recipe is about: using pantry ingredients to create a salad that’s actually satiating. It’s juicy and crunchy, sweet and salty and, most importantly, takes less than 10 minutes to make. If you don’t have all of these ingredients, no stress—every ingredient can be substituted for things you have on hand. No romaine? Use arugula. No pita chips? Use crackers or croutons. Swap maple syrup for honey, or lime juice for balsamic vinegar. The best part of cooking is making recipes your own.

Ingredients

For the Salad – 

1/3 head of romaine, chopped 1 endive, chopped  2 Persian cucumbers, sliced  1/2 apple, sliced 1 tbsp roasted and salted almonds, chopped 1 tbsp dried cherries 2 tbsp ricotta salata, crumbled   A handful of pita chips, crushed  1 tsp fried garlic1 tsp toasted sesame seeds 

For the Vinaigrette – 

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 1 tsp Dijon mustard 1 tsp honey 6 tbsp olive oilSalt and pepper to taste

Method

Start with the vinaigrette. Place all of the ingredients into a jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake the jar rigorously for about 10 seconds to emulsify. This will make more vinaigrette than you need here, but it keeps well in the fridge for 3 or 4 days. Set it aside while you assemble the salad. 

Place all of the salad ingredients into a large mixing bowl (you always want to mix salad in a bigger bowl than you think you need, to avoid spillage). Pour in about a third of the dressing and toss with tongs, or your hands. 

Transfer the salad to a bowl or a plate and top with a little extra crumble of ricotta and a shake or two of toasted sesame seeds. Enjoy! 

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MARGARET’S MERRIEST LIST

Happy Holidays! It’s a tradition at Kitchen Chat to share some delicious ideas with you about gifts for the heart of your home. Your kitchen.

Here are some great items to consider that are easy to get last minute for a friend, family member or work colleague. These gifts feature guests from Kitchen Chat along with their favorite charity.

Chef Katie Chin’s Global Family Cookbook, Utensils and Red Colander

What an honor to write the foreword for Chef Katie’s Global Family Cookbook and share the first recipe I created with the help of some foodie friends. This is a great gift idea to create lasting taste memories for your family and to bring the flavor or the world into your kitchen. Her wooden utensils and red colander have become a staple in my kitchen. Tune in for the fun Kitchen Chat with Chef Katie Chin. And also, please consider a donation to National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Chef Katie is the Culinary Ambassador for this impactful charitable organization.

2. Stephen Bruce’s Sweet Serendipity

Stephen Bruce, the original co-founder of Serendipity3 is an icon in the world of food, fashion and art. It was a special moment to have a Kitchen Chat with him in the James Beard House where James Beard taught him how to prepare an omelette over 65 years ago. The Sweet Serendipity Sapphire Edition celebrates the 65 plus years of deliciousness in this famous restaurant. Savor the day with a Frrrozen Hot Chocolate for the holidays.

Stephen Bruce and Margaret McSweeney in the James Beard House kitchen

3) Chef Bill Kim’s Korean BBQ Cookbook

Expand your palate this season with Chef Bill Kim’s Korean BBQ Cookbook. And learn about the flavors and spices in this special Kitchen Chat with Chef Bill Kim. You will even learn how to make kimchi and delicious sauces with this cookbook. And how fun would that be to gift the book and homemade sauce! His wife, the beautiful and talented Yvonne Cadiz-Kim is a dear friend and is a great inspiration for this cookbook. Please consider making a donation to one of their favorite charities, Inspiration Kitchens.

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[image error]4) Teri Turner’s No Crumbs Left Cookbook and Pottery

Teri Turner aka No Crumbs Left is a modern day Julia Child who is passionate about cooking and sharing recipes and techniques. Her followers are affectionately known as “Crumbles.” Her No Crumbs Left Cookbook is a timeless gift for yourself or any foodie on your holiday list. And her No Crumbs Left pottery is exquisite! Enjoy this special Kitchen Chat with Teri Turner that Chef Jaime Laurita and I had in the Middleby Residential Chicago Showroom. Please consider donating to her favorite charity of choice A Doll Like Me, a non-profit organization that provides dolls to promote inclusivity for children and help change the narrative of how we see each other.

5) Chef Dorian Hunter, MasterChef Season 10 Winner and Wooden Cutting Boards

Chef Dorian Hunter inspired us all with her win on MasterChef Season 10. It was so special for Chef Jaime Laurita and me to do a Kitchen Chat with Chef Dorian Hunter in 2019 in the Middleby Residential Showroom as part of a fundraiser for Wings to celebrate Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization. I hope you will consider donating to Wings, one of Chef Dorian’s favorite charities.

[image error]Chef Dorian Hunter with Margaret McSweeney and Chef Jaime Laurita in the Middleby Residential Chicago Showroom

Wishing you the Merriest of Holidays, dear foodie friends! Thank you for your generous hearts for charity and for supporting those who are in the food industry. And thank you for being a blessing in my life with Kitchen Chat.

Savor the day!

Margaret McSweeney

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Celebrating Serendipity with Co-Founder Stephen Bruce: How Food (James Beard) and Art (Andy Warhol)Influenced the Success of an Iconic Restaurant

“New York was the spell, the impetus of making it work. We were three young men and we came to New York to seek fame and fortune. We turned out to be the toast of the town, at least on the East Side.” Stephen Bruce

Serendipity3 is a place of celebrating delicious milestones with family and friends while savoring an omelette and sipping a Frrrozen Hot Chocolate. This iconic restaurant recently celebrated 67 years, a rare honor in New York City. Very few restaurateurs can say that James Beard taught them how to cook in the James Beard House. Stephen Bruce, a founder of Serendipity3 shares how America’s First Foodie taught him along with his co-founders, Patch Caradine and Calvin Holt how to make an omelette. Stephen Bruce attributes James Beard for helping create the popular menu staple, Caviar and Sour Cream Omelette served at Serendipity3.

During this special Kitchen Chat, Stephen returns to the James Beard House for the first time in over 67 years and reminisces about his weeklong cooking lessons with James Beard. Stephen was one of my first guests on Kitchen Chat many years ago, and I have always wanted to capture his compelling story on camera. He is dashing, gracious, stylish and charming.

Stephen Bruce and Margaret McSweeney at the James Beard House

After the James Beard House, we went to Serendipity3. Seated upstairs in the newly decorated restaurant, Stephen shared amazing memories about some of the celebrity guests including Cher, Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Onassis, Gloria Vanderbilt and many others. How special to see the sketches that Andy Warhol had done for Stephen at the restaurant. Stephen and Andy were great friends, and Serendipity3 was a place of inspiration for this artist. Many film scenes have taken place at Serendipity3, and Stephen even has a cameo in the Serendipity movie.

Andy Warhol in front of Serendipity3

Fashion also played a key role at Serendipity3. Stephen’s many talents also include being a fashion designer. On the May 1964 cover of Vogue, Wilhemina is featured wearing one of his beach wrap designs. Serendipity3 even had a pop-up denim museum that featured famous contributors, including a denim apron from James Beard and a denim purse by Gloria Vanderbilt. Diana Vreeland loved this collection so much that she brought it to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art where she was a special consultant.

Thanks to the vision and passion of Stephen Bruce, Patch Caradine and Calvin Holt, Serendipity3 has always been a fulcrum of food, pop-culture and fashion in New York City. Selena Gomez, a “newly minted partner and investor” will help Serendipity3 continue this special legacy for families and generations to come.

What are you favorite Serendipity memories?

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The Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook: 125 Homegrown Recipes from the Hills of New England

“Allow the serendipity of the garden’s harvest to decide your menu.” Michael Ballon, farm to table pioneer and friend of the Bildners

The taste of summer is a celebration of fresh produce at our local farmers markets. Elisa Spungen Bildner and Rob Buildner recently wrote The Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook: 125 Homegrown Recipes from the Hills of New England. Join Margaret McSweeney and Jaime Laurita for a Kitchen Chat with the Bildners about the farm to table culture in the rolling New England Hills. The Berkshires are a cultural mecca and food hub thriving with small farms and specialty food. Elisa and Rob’s cookbook shares and celebrates these homegrown secrets.

The Bildners’ Farmers Market Tips:

Go to a farmers market and go with no preconception. Listen to what speaks to you. Try things that haven’t spoken to you yet.Try the simplest ingredient and do something extraordinary with it.

Try this delicious recipe for Chilled Melon and Mint Soup. Excerpted from The Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook. Copyright 2020 by
Elisa Spungen Bildner and Robert Bildner. Reproduced by permission of The Countryman Press.
All rights reserved.
 

Clay Williams Photographer

Chilled Melon and Mint Soup
DAVE’S MELONS
SERVES 4
This refreshing cold soup is an elegant starter course or a healthy dessert on a summer evening.
Zesting citrus, like the lime and oranges in this recipe, is a great way to add flavor. It’s
important, though, to zest only the colored surface of the fruit’s skin, not the white pith, which
can be bitter. This recipe lends itself especially well to being doubled (and to experimenting
with different varieties of melons).
1 large lime
2 large oranges
½ large honeydew melon (2 to 2½ pounds), seeded, peeled, and 1- inch diced
3 tablespoons loosely packed fresh mint leaves
½ large cantaloupe melon (1½ to 2 pounds), seeded, peeled, and 1- inch diced
Mint sprigs for garnish (optional)

Place four soup bowls in the refrigerator to chill.Zest the lime until you have ½ teaspoon of zest and set aside. Zest one orange until you have
½ teaspoon of zest and set aside. Juice the lime and oranges until there is 1 tablespoon of lime
juice and ½ cup of orange juice. Mix the juices together in a measuring cup with a lip for easy
pouring and set aside.Working in batches if necessary, puree the honeydew cubes and mint leaves in a blender
until smooth and the tiny pieces of mint are as fine as possible. Pour half of the juice mixture
into the puree and blend again to mix well. Transfer to a glass jar or covered dish and chill in
the refrigerator for 1 hour.While the honeydew puree chills, rinse the blender with cold water. Working in batches if
necessary, puree the cantaloupe cubes until smooth. Pour the remaining juice mixture into the
cantaloupe puree and blend again to mix well. Transfer the cantaloupe puree to a glass jar or
covered dish and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.Remove the chilled soup bowls from the refrigerator and line them up on a work surface.
Pour ¾ cup of the honeydew puree into the bottom of each bowl. Gently, to avoid splashing,
pour ¾ cup of the cantaloupe puree down the side of each of the serving bowls, so that the two
colors of soup are separate and each takes up half of the serving bowl. Sprinkle a pinch or two
of the orange zest on the green honeydew soup side, and a pinch or two of the lime zest on the
cantaloupe soup side, and serve. If desired, garnish with mint sprigs.

What inspires you at your local Farmers’ Market?

Savor the day!

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Babette’s Feast, Chef Lasse Sorensen

“TAK for mad” means “Thank. you for the meal” in Danish. My husband is half Danish, and my mother-in-law taught me this lovely phrase. How fitting that for our first date, my husband took me to see the Oscar-winning Danish movie, Babette’s Feast, based on Isak Dinesen’s book.

Its an endearing film about Babette, a mysterious French female chef who flees France to live in a small village in Denmark to work for free as a housekeeper for two elderly and austere, spinster sisters. After winning the lottery, Babette chooses to spend all the proceeds on preparing a culinary feast for the community with the finest wines and imported ingredients to create a menu found only at the finest restaurants in Paris. Babette decides to remain in this small villas and live the simple life.

Recently I had the delightful hon of interviewing Chef Lasse Sorenson who was the actual chef of Babbet’s Feast

How fascinating to hear his stories about cooking for this beloved movie. And Chef Sorenson has the sole rights to prepare Babette’s Feas in the United States!

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Global Family Cookbook with Chef Katie Chin

“Cooking is an expression of love, an act of friendship and a bridge to new cultures.” Chef Katie Chin

A fun day in Central Park with Chef Katie Chin

Celebrity Chef Katie Chin and I share a parallel culinary journey. She is honoring her late mother, Leann Chin, who was a successful restaurateur in Minnesota. I am honoring my late father, Dr. Claude H. Rhea Jr., who was a wonderful home chef. Cooking was an expression of love in both of our homes and a bridge to new cultures. What an honor it was to write the foreword to Katie’s new book “Global Family Cookbook.” She has been featured on Beat Bobby Flay, a judge on Iron Chef, Cutthroat Kitchen and many other media appearances. And she is also the Culinary Ambassador for National Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

Chef Katie Chin doing a cooking demo in the beautiful Middleby Residential Showroom in Orange County

After a fun event in the Middleby Residential Orange County Showroom, Chef Katie and I sat down for a Kitchen Chat to discuss her new cookbook and her online Facebook cooking show with her daughter, Becca. With over 170 global recipes, Katie provides a taste of the world and brings us all to the table together.

Here are Chef Katie’s top three tips for the home chef:

It’s okay to use store bought wrappers for dumplings. Invest in a really good sharp knife and a great cast iron pan. Don’t be afraid to season.Focus on fresh food.

Here is Chef Katie Chin’s delicious recipe for Salmon with Sesame Ginger Glaze and Coconut Lime Rice (used with permission) from her new Global Kitchen cookbook with Tuttle Publishers.

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A Father’s Day Celebration with Chef Bradford Thompson

First of all, Happy Father’s Day to all who celebrate as a dad, granddad, or as someone who is a father influence in another person’s life.

For this week’s celebration of Father’s Day, I am spotlighting James Beard Award winner, Chef Bradford Thompson. He has a special tradition with his children to engage them in the appreciation of food preparation and fine dining.

From a very young age, his children have understood how families connect in the kitchen. His daughter videotapes him creating recipes. For back to school celebrations, Chef Bradford and his daughter have a special tradition of going to fine restaurants and creating opportunities for her to appreciate the choreography of the dining and hospitality experience

My father always tried to get me interested in the meal preparation at home, but I never had a keen interest in participating. However, I treasure the memories of his taking me to The Club, one of very few fine dining options in Birmingham, Alabama during the 1970s. He exemplified table etiquette with the proper placement of silverware and the ceremony of white-gloved servers placings linen napkins on the lap. And after dinner, we waltzed across the floor dancing to the live orchestra. I am sure that my feet stepped on his shoes several times.

Here are Chef Bradford’s top three tips for the home chef:

Have a well-stocked pantry, including salty, spicy, Chile paste, etc.Planning. Have a plan that can change.Organize pantry by cuisines, i.e. Asian, Italian, etc.

Food can create special memories for loved ones. What are your special ways to celebrate a meal?

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Best Of Barbecue and Grilling

Enjoy the Best of BBQ and Grilling with some of the top experts! Steven Raichlen, Meathead, Mike Mills, and Myron Mixon share their tips and techniques to make you a BBQ Rock Star in your backyard!

Here’s a quick sampler. Steven Raichlen, aka “America’s Master Griller” provides great tips for smoking everything, even a cheesecake!  He will also help you understand the flavor of smoke.

Meathead shares the science behind barbecuing and grilling and even gives great tips on how to outsmart the grill. He is your “GPS at the Grill.” Meathead highly recommends using Grill Grates.

The Legend Mike Mills gives great tips about seasoning your meat and explains the regional tastes of barbecue sauce.

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