Classic Pesto Recipe
Well…. look who we have here. You were having a good day and volunteered to host a party for your friends. But you don’t know how to cook! How are you going to feed a crowd without leading them on to your culinary faux pas?
You’ll be well on your way to “Wowing” your guests if you just follow these few simple steps and trust your instincts!
Mise En Place
Us Culinarians have a term in the kitchen. It’s called “Mise En Place” and it is very important for any chef to be successful in the kitchen. First, lets go over what ingredients you need (which is a delightfully small quantity) and which substitutes might be acceptable to make your own pesto creations.
The Base
The base of a pesto is typically the following:
Basil
Pine Nuts
Parmesean
Olive Oil
A pro-move would be breaking this down a step further. So a “pesto” is essentially just a combination of herbs, nuts, cheese, and fat. If you wanted to get a little crazy you could substitute some of the basil for carrot stems and use almonds or even bread crumbs in place of the pine nuts. BOOM! you have a dish that is now uniquely YOU!
BUT, as much as you love your friends, their connoisseurship doesn’t involve food, so it’s best to start with the classics to keep things moving nicely.
The Process
Simple blend together your basil and pine nuts while slowly adding an olive oil drizzle. Once the sauce begins to thin out and looking like a pesto, begin to add the cheese, and black pepper to taste.
ENJOY!
Keep spreading love, good people!
Best,
Chef Jake
Tips for Pretty Plating
The Holiday season is fast approaching. That means lots of family gatherings, playing host, and entertaining people. You’ve gone the catering route already. Now you wan’t to make something homemade for your dinner guests and show them what you’ve got!
Hi Friends,
The Holiday season is fast approaching. That means lots of family gatherings, playing host, and entertaining people. You’ve gone the catering route already. Now you wan’t to make something homemade for your dinner guests and show them what you’ve got! Wether you’re a good cook or not, the final presentation of the plated food is very important in how the taste of the dish is perceived, believe it or not. Here are some tips and tricks to “wow” your guests with beautifully designed plates…….and hopefully the food is good too. heh
Build on your Starches
A typical balanced dinner meal will include a starch of some sort. “Build on your starches” means add it to the plate first. I usually will put it right in the center of the plate. For example, a big spoonful of rice or potatoes neatly mounded in the center of the plate.
Add a variety of Color
Be mindful of the different colors that will be in your dish. For this example plate, We’re building off a base of roasted diced potatoes and our main entree is roasted airline chicken. Those are two ingredients with very minimal color. If we presented these items on the plate by themselves, no one would be excited to eat it. So, We’re going to add a bright vegetable to the mix. It could be something green like broccoli. Red like beets. White like cauliflower. It really could be anything. For the example dish we’re building, we’re going to add broccoli and keep a fresh lemon, as well as some fresh chopped parsley handy for later.
Build “Up” on the Plate
Alright, so we’ve got our mound of diced potatoes in the middle of the plate and our steamed broccoli on the top right side of the potatoes in a nice neatly presented mound. Now we’re going to take our nicely caramelized airline chicken and lay it over the potatoes on an angle. Making sure we build the plate up high and not letting the potatoes flatten under the chicken. Building “up” on a plate with the focal point at the center is more of a southern style of plating. It creates for an interesting contrast of depth that catches the eye.
Don’t Underestimate the Power of Garnishes
Alright, lets review this again. So now we have our neat mound of potatoes in the center of the plate stacked nice and high. Our bright green steamed broccoli in a neat mound to the top right of that. And we just added the chicken atop the potatoes in a visually interesting way. This plate is already quite pretty by itself but it is missing a little something. Take the fresh parsley you chopped earlier and sprinkle it on the plate - dusting the chicken, potatoes, broccoli, and exposed part of the plate. Now take your lemon and zest some of the lemon rind over the chicken and the broccoli. Once satisfied, slice the lemon in half and drizzle some of the juice over the food on the plate.
Finishing Touches
Alright, now my mouth is watering. The only thing left to do is get a damp paper towel and gently wipe around the edges of the plate where juices may have dripped or unwanted parsley or zest may have fallen. Finish with a little salt and pepper, take a step back, and be proud of the edible piece of art that lays before you.
pro tip: You could even take the presentation up a notch further by adding a quartered wedge of salted tomato or a very light sprinkling of some smoked paprika to give it an extra pop.
Keep spreading love, good people!
Best,
D.B.
Working with Yeast Doughs - What to Look For
As someone that bakes bagels for a living, I’ve learned a thing or two about what you need to look for in a healthy yeast dough. Here are a few pointers and things to look out for when working with a yeast dough.
Hey Friends,
As someone that bakes bagels for a living, I’ve learned a thing or two about what you need to look for in a healthy yeast dough. After all, yeast is a living organism and you need to treat it as such! Here are a few pointers and things to look out for when working with a yeast dough.
#1) Use Instant Yeast, for your baking endeavors. It’s easy to work with, has a relatively long shelf life, and you don’t need to worry about keeping it alive. Besides, even most professional kitchens and bakeries use instant yeast for their dough.
#2) When hydrating the flour with water remember that cold water will slow down yeast activity ultimately giving the dough more time to develop its flavors. This also means it will take longer for your dough to rise and be ready to work with, however. Warm water will speed up the yeast activity meaning that it will rise much faster, but at the compromise of flavor.
#3) Oil is often called a “Shortener”. This is because when added to a flour that contains gluten, the oil will cause the gluten strands to shorten, making the dough less stretchy, which could ultimately affect the oven spring of your finished product. This could also be a desirable characteristic, depending on what type of final product you’re trying to make.
#4) Besides sweetening the dough, the presence of added sugar speeds up yeast activity and allows the dough to proof more quickly. Be careful of adding too much sugar, however. If the dough rises too quickly the gluten strands won’t have time to strengthen. This means as soon as you try to pick up the dough or work with it at all, it’ll deflate very quickly and most likely be sticky and hard to work with. Also be mindful of the affects of white vs. brown sugar. Brown sugar causes the end product to have a more firm and darker crumb.
#5) Salt is necessary in order to give the dough flavor. Be weary when mixing the salt with your other dry ingredients, though. Salt prohibits the development of yeast in the dough. To be safe, add salt to one side of your bowl and yeast to the other side of your bowl before adding your wet ingredients. This allows the yeast a chance to get hydrated by the dough before the salt comes into contact with it.
#6) Mixing the dough allows the gluten strains to strengthen and develop. In most dough applications, the dough is properly mixed when you can poke it with your finger and the exterior of the dough bounces back from the indentation left by your finger. Dough is slightly tacky but easily comes off fingers.
#7) A little baking soda when dissolved in water, can be brushed on to most dough products just before they are about to be baked to give your dough a “pretzel effect”.
#8) Baking with dough can be very challenging for cooks of any level. The moisture in the air can affect the way flour fills your measuring cups. When baking, it’s important to measure ingredients by weight. Using a scale will ensure consistent results and a better finished product!
I hope these tips helped you overcome whatever baking challenges your facing! If this blog didn’t answer your baking questions, reach out to us on chefjpexperience.com and we’d be happy to do our best to steer you right.
Keep spreading love, good people!
Best,
Chef Jake