Choc-a-lot
When I was approached by Nicole Thomas to become a judge in the first-ever Best in Show competition for Chocolate Decadence, it was hard to conceal my enthusiasm.
When I joined Louisa McCune-Elmore and Carol Smaglinski at the Hudson-Essex building for the annual Automobile Alley fundraiser, my enthusiasm was brimming like Gene Leiterman’s chocolate fountain at the CoCo Flow booth. However, that enthusiam flagged somewhere between samplings 15 and 20. I was, however, able to, umm, gut it out. No pain, no gain…took one for the team…insert your favorite cliche, you get the picture.
The Best of Show was not too difficult. While the tortellini with white chocolate sauce from the Skirvin, the chocolate tortelonni and white chocolate zuppa from Trattoria il Centro and the lamb chop with balsamic-chocolate reduction from Mickey Mantle’s were all sensational, CoCo Flow was king. With the aforementioned fountain as a dipping bowl for accompanying kabobs of fresh fruit and cakes, Gene also had as fine a bread pudding as I’ve ever tasted and a collection of bite-sized chocolates so that his booth examined the full potential of chocolate and its decadent nature.
Other contenders included the twin bites from Paseo Grill, the ultra-clever cotton candy from Nonna’s and accompanying carnival atmosphere and the bacon, chocolate and pistachio bites from Deep Fork. Thanks also to the Whiskey A-Cocoa from Sean and Cathy Cummings and to Iguana Mexican Grill for making chocolate sippable. Also shouts to Red Primesteak for the chile-ancho sauce and to La Luna for bringing mole to the table and making it work.
The best part of the evening was reconnecting with Nicole, who is a friend from a previous life. She’s planning events now, and based on the success of this one, I suspect she’ll be behind a lot more really cool events to come.
Don’t Pass on Empanadas For Your Super Bowl Soire
Thanks to Spain for the pastry, thanks to Tejas for the filling. These can be baked or deep-fried. Baked might be the better choice for the buffet table. This will fit in well with the requisite watch-party guacamole and salsa.
Ingredients
DOUGH:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening or freshly rendered lard
- 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cold water
FILLING:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 small diced white onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 5 dried guajillos chiles, rehydrated, stemmed and finely diced
- 1 large serrano chile, stemmed and diced
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground
- ½ teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
- 3 tablespoons water
- Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
- 1¼ pounds ground chuck
- Juice of ½ lime
Directions
- In a large bowl, combine flour, shortening, butter, and salt.
- Mix lightly until the dough forms cherry-sized pieces.
- Stir in the water.
- Lightly and carefully knead until the dough forms a ball. Add a little more water if needed.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- In a heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and saute until soft but not browned, 3-4 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, guajillo and serrano chiles, cilantro, cumin, oregano and water.
- Cook the mixture down until the consistency of marinara sauce.
- Crumble the ground beef, mashing and stirring it to combine with the sauce. Increase the heat to high and cook, covered, until the meat has lost its pink color and the filling is moist but not liquid, about 12 minutes. The meat should be soft like meat loaf.
- Remove from heat, stir in the lime juice, and set aside to cool.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and let it return to room temperature, about 1 hour
- Pinch off about half the dough. Roll out, on a floured surface, to a thickness of 1/8 inch.
- Cut out 3-inch circles. Then, gather the scraps, add to the rest of the dough, and roll out another batch of circles. Repeat, with the rest of the scraps.
- Place a spoonful of filling in the center of each circle of pastry.
- Fold over the pastry and seal the edges, then crimp with a fork.
- Let the empanadas rest in the refrigerator 30 minutes or freeze immediately.
To Bake: Preheat oven to 400. Frozen empanadas don’t need thawing. Glaze with egg wash (1 egg and 2 tablespoons milk, well beaten) and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
To deep fry: Heat oil to 375 degrees and fry pastry until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes a side.
Festival of the Arts Food Jury Selects 2010 Vendors
PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN: Ryan Jones, 6, works loose a couple of bottom teeth at last year's arts festival.
The Festival of the Arts Food Committee has selected the 28 food vendors in charge of your appetite during the Arts Council of Oklahoma City’s six-day community celebration of the arts April 20-25.
With up to 750,000 people expected to attend Festival of the Arts this spring, the committee has a tremendous responsibility of sampling and agreeing upon the menu. Committee members evaluate the food items based on taste, presentation, cost, portion size and previous sales, while keeping in mind the need for unique, diverse dining options.
In 2010, the International Food Row will feature old favorites like Indian Tacos, Craig and Carter’s Fish Tacos, and Bodacious Burritos. The signature dessert Strawberries Newport also returns but will introduce two new food items: chocolate covered strawberries and shaved ice with strawberry purée.
New this year, the committee selected several new vendors with original food items such as Sammy Pizza’s calzone and chocolate chip pizza, Deep Fork Grill’s prime rib slider and drunken fries, Café do Brasil’s chicken stroganoff and vegetarian rice and black beans, Helmut Strudel’s beef wellington and Bavarian strudel.
All food items are priced at $8 or less to keep meals affordable for families. In addition, each food vendor is paired with a local nonprofit agency, so each bite supports the arts in central Oklahoma.
Since 1967, the Arts Council of Oklahoma City’s annual Festival of the Arts has been the city’s guide to good taste and cure for any drought. So without further ado, here are you food vendors for 2010:
Bella Crema Gelato
Bodacious Burritos
Brewer Entertainment
Café do Brasil
Coco Flow
Craig and Carter’s Famous Fish Tacos
Dippin Dots
Deep Fork Grill
Goode Kettle Korn
Gopuram – Taste of India
Harry Bear’s All American Grill and Bar
Helmut’s Strudel
I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt/Plaza Deli
Iguana Mexican Grill
Indian Taco
Interurban
Just Nuts
Maui Wowi
Nuts and More
Orient Express
PaPa’s Greek Foods
S&S Concessions
Sage Gourmet Café
Sammy’s Pizza
Silver Dollar Bakery
Sno-Biz Shave Ice
Strawberries Newport
Sweet Corn Express
Super Cooking Class
The Epicurean’s Pantry, 1333 N Santa Fe, is hosting a class Tuesday, featuring the Prairie Gypsies. The event is from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and will feature Super Bowl appetizers derived from beef, cheese, chicken, and pork, and in the form of dips, spreads. There will also be dessert ideas.
Cost is $40, call 471-5777 to reserve your space.
Taco bout a weird kid
When I met my first taco at Taco Bell in the mid-1970s, the taco sauce came in packets like the kind used for jelly at diners. They were sturdier, easier to open and less likely to be handled at the point where the sauce was dispenced thanks to the foil-like cover. I mention this because I developed a habit of drinking the hot sauce after my two tacos were gone. If two seems like a small number, it is. But that’s all either mom or dad would spring for back then. So, after plucking every last bit of residual meat, lettuce and cheese, I routinely peeled back the top of the taco sauce containers and drained them.
Taco Bell, pre-4th Meal and Chihuahua.
Having watched my two children and a dozen nieces and nephews navigate their sixth year without ever endeavoring to drink chile-based sauce as if it were a Kool-Aid, retrospect tells me me that this was indeed the birth of my flavor profile. I literally couldn’t get enough chile, garlic, onion and tomato puree. That really hasn’t ended.
Thus, it’s time to unveil some of my taco recipes. Starting in February, I will release one taco recipe per month. They sometimes will be Gringo-style, but mostly authentic.
Tomorrow, we’ll get started with a simple chicken taco with green sauce.
Meantime, share your taco recipes right back, and we’ll try them out.
Pigs to Fly at Rococo Tonight?
Chef Bruce Rinehart might’ve staged the bout of the century without meaning to. Tonight at Rococo Restaurant and Fine Wine, 2824 N. Pennsylvania, 10-percent of receipts go to Prairie Dance Theatre. Meanwhile, a meet-and-greet is planned for the Oklahoma City Victory Dolls roller-derby team.
Chef Bruce Rinehart features an eclectic menu that includes classic Italian fare, Asian influences, steaks, seafood and the best crabcakes you can find, though I’m waiting for chef John Bennett to put his crabcakes where my palate is. Stop in tonight as tomorrow may never come if the Prairie Dancers and Victory Dolls get too rowdy.
Speaking of charitable acts and Rococo, Rinehart is supporting efforts by “The Biggest Loser” to help food banks around the country. The “Pound For Pound” promotion pitting state against state and city against city in an effort to form a leaner union continues through the end of June. Individuals and teams can pledge to lose weight on the Pound for Pound Challenge. For every pound pledged up to 50, General Mills will donate 14 cents to Feeding America, which filters down to local food banks. As of Jan. 25, Oklahoma was in 24th place. California and Texas were first and second. Oklahoma City was 38th in the city-by-city competition, which St. Paul, Minn., leads. Pledges will be accepted through June 30.
Chef Rinehart says, “You can enjoy all the world has to offer if you watch your portions, and stay out of the processed foods – starving doesn’t work.”
He shared this recipe, which he developed for the American Heart Association.
Chicken Mediterranean
Serves 4
- 4 lightly pounded chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
- ½ cup of sun-dried tomatoes
- ¼ cup of Calamata olives
- ¼ cup of sliced red onions
- 2 ounces sherry wine
- 1-2 ounces aged balsamic vinegar
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 6 ounces of low-sodium chicken stock
- Crumbled feta cheese (optional)
Directions
- Lightly flour chicken breast and place in a sauté pan with a little hot oil.
- Lightly brown on each side, then in center of pan add garlic.
- Lightly brown garlic and then add onions.
- Sauté for 2 minutes and then deglaze the pan with sherry.
- Add olives and sun dried tomatoes then toss a couple of times.
- Add vinegar.
- Add chicken stock.
- Reduce heat and simmer till the sauce clings to a spoon.
Serve with nice light rice; the cheese gives it a great finish.
Source: Bruce Rinehart
Learn to make sushi
Untitled Art Space, 1 NE 3 St. presents “A Taste of Art: Sushi Made Simple” Tuesday night at 6:30. Chef Eric Smith of Sara Sara Cupcakes and the soon-to-be-open Pachinko Parlor will teach Sushi Made Simple, the next in our A Taste of Art series of cooking classes.
Smith began his career as sous chef at The Coach House restaurant. He then moved to Chicago where he worked for several prestigious chefs and eventually became owner and executive chef of two highly-acclaimed restaurants, Romeo Romeo and Citizen. He has received many accolades for his culinary skills including three stars from the Chicago Sun Times and third place in the Best of OKC desserts category. Pachinko Parlor is a new concept he plans to open soon.
Smith will teach participants how to prepare fresh ingredients and create a variety of sushi rolls. Participants will then enjoy their own hand-rolled sushi with wine. The class is $75 and gift certificates are available.
For more information, call Lindsay at 405.815.9995 or download the registration form from here and fax to 405.813.2070. In order for your space to be held for a class, you must provide a credit card number and contact information.
Food and drinks will be provided. You are required to bring your own chef’s knife and apron to class. There will be aprons available to purchase. Without a knife, you may not be able to participate in all facets of the food preparation.
Children 16 years and older are welcome to participate in our cooking classes. Those under 21 will not be served alcohol. There will not be a reduced price for those under 21.
Blend Your Own Chili Powder
Whether you spell it with an i or an e, the blending various powderized chiles with onion, garlic and salt is the basis for Southwestern flavor.
Enthusiasts will doubtlessly want to mix and match their favorite varieties and adjust the amounts for heat preference. Some will simply buy some Gebhardt’s or McCormick’s, though there’s a considerable savings in creating your own. Others will try this and like it, and use it forever. Whatever your future plans, here’s a good, simple chili powder/chile blend.
Makes 1 cup
1/4 cup ground ancho chile
1/4 cup ground hot New Mexico chile
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon ground Chimayo, chipotle or guajillo chile
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoon toasted, ground cumin seed
1 1/2 teaspoon toasted, ground coriander seed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Dine Out for Haiti
Kyle Guffey spent three months in post-Katrina New Orleans, so he’s familiar with the effort it takes to recover from disaster. While helping restaurants rebuild databases, he witnessed the slow, laborious nature of rebuilding a population center.
So after the tragic earthquake in Haiti, the man behind BeConnectedOK used his relationships with local restaurants to organize Dine Out For Haiti. Starting Sunday, local restaurants will donate 10-percent of sales to the American Red Cross. Sapphire Night Club gets the drive started Saturday night with a pre-party from 8 p.m. to close. Here is the full schedule.
Super Sunday Comes Early thanks to Sean Cummings and John Bennett
Last Sunday started as so many I’ve mine do…at 11 a.m. Big day ahead. Sean Cummings Pub “wake,” San Diego Chargers game and The Cellar Restaurant at Hightower retrospective hosted by Paseo Grill that evening.
We made it to the pub about 1:30, the crowd was late-arriving. Sean was bouncing off the emptied walls, thanking those in attendance while actually trying to get moved from one space to another.
Cathy Cummings, who now is her husband’s de facto landlord, was telling the story of Sean getting kicked out of the Vatican in a dispute over confession etiquette. By 2 p.m., the bagpiper was playing “Danny Boy.” Sean raised a toast to the old spot, the band played “Parting Glass.” Then the piper led the ramshackle crowd clad in black the one and half miles south down N. May Avenue, snarling Sunday drivers and drawing a gentle nudge grassward from a uniformed officer of the local constabulary. The party sallied forth to 6 p.m. when the beer taps ran dry and the bottles of Jameson emptied.
Alas, another celebration of ancestry beckoned, its prominence illustrated by the sweet sorrow of our parting. Bonny an afternoon as it was, the majesty promised in the night ahead was delivered in full.
When Frank Hightower made his mind up to do something, he spared no expense to ensure the pursuit wrought perfection, according to his widow, Dannie Bea. When her husband resolved to convert his tea room in the Hightower Building into a world-class restaurant, he contacted this country’s foremost gourmand. Namely, James Beard.
Beard only knew one other Okie, a young culinary student he’d connected with his good friends Paul and Julia Child– young man from Healdton called John Bennett. Though Bennett assured Beard that no one in Oklahoma was capable of appreciating the French cuisine that their mutual friend Julia Child had made all the rage in discerning kitchens, Beard refused to let Frank Hightower down. Rather than listen to his young and clearly ignorant ward, he convinced young Bennett to meet with Hightower. From that meeting came Oklahoma’s first restaurant of truly fine dining.
“It was opulent,” Dannie Bea Hightower told me. “It was lush with its draperies and Dansk plates, almost regal.”
The restaurant would stay open another 21 years. And almost 30 years later, it would open once again. This was the menu:
Reception: Francois Montand Blanc de Blanc, The Cellar Gin Gimlet.
First course: Sampler of Cellar specialties, including New England Clam Chowder, Grilled Corned Beef Sandwich, Chicken Salad and Shrimp de Jonge paired with Ancien Chardonnay.
Second course: The Cellar Salad with Vinaigrette and Parmesan Cheese Toast. Paired with Cliff Lede Sauvignon Blanc.
Third course: Filet of Beef Lucius Beebe with Wild Rice Pilaf, braised Belgian Endive, Tomato stuffed with Celeriac Puree and paired with David Bruce Petite Syrah.
Fourth course: Rolling dessert cart sampler, including Mama Bennett’s 4-Layer Coconut Cake, Ouefs a la Neige, Trifle Chantilly and Mousse Au Chocolate with Whipped Cream paired with Tiamo Prosecco and Dark Roast Coffee with Cinnamon stick, Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans and Sugar Cube.
And I was there, listening to stories of those that frequented the city’s finest restaurant in its heydey. I didn’t see a single frown at any point in almost three hours. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t any. Those seated with me got to see me frown when, while chewing a delicious bite of Filet of Beef Lucius Beebe, someone said something that made me laugh, and I breathed in the slice of tender beef an instant to early.
Swallowing delicious bites of food too rapidly isn’t foreign to me. But this sensation was. When I tried to politely swallow harder, it only seemed to spin somewhere north of my esophagus. A hint of panic in my heart, I made for the nearby front door the way Penny the Beagle makes for unmonitored trashcans.
Once outside, it was clear I was choking. I fought back the impulse to panic, and thought back to Mama Cathey’s strict instruction on the Heimlich Manuever when it came into vogue in 1974 (or was it 75?). I pressed my thumbs together and pressed upward in the area of my lower diaphragm, and….POP goes the Beebe.
And I alone lived to tell it. Furthermore, the convenience of a vegetarian wife reared its lovely head, as I was able to supplement what I’d lost with what she couldn’t bear to eat.
Beyond that embarrassing bit of sniffing the hereafter, I was treated to a meal brilliant in flavor and artistry and the privilege to share in the celebration of Mr. Hightower and chef Bennett. The lump crabmeat in portobello topped with gruyere was succulent and rich. The corned beef sandwich made my omnivore wife carniverate. So did the chicken salad. The clam chowder was soul-soothing. And of course the dessert cart offerings were decadent and delicious. When the chocolate mousse accidentally danced with Mama Bennett’s Coconut Cake, I swallowed the evidence before scandal could take root.
Iguana Mexican Grill and Table One chef Ryan Parrott helped Paseo Grill chef Jason Heald on Sunday, reporting that he spent most of his time in the kitchen getting yelled at by chef Bennett.
Bennett addressed the accusation during dinner, saying, “Ryan is going around telling people I brow-beat him, and it’s true. But just let me say, I enjoyed it.”
In a room full of smiles, no one smiled broader or longer than Paseo Grill owner Joe Jungmann. The restaurant he closes every Sunday was at capacity. Demand for more compelled he and chef Bennett to repeat the event on Monday for another full house. His over-acheiving staff performed impeccably, and his restaurant staged one of the city’s most memorable command performances.
Mrs. Hightower spoke glowingly, “Paseo Grill, is one of our favorite places to eat, and we just love Joe and are so happy he and John were able to come together to create such a magical and memorable night.”
So memorable a night that when I learned my beloved Chargers had lost against the underdog New York Jets, I didn’t bother watching the game on DVR. No, I just went to bed.
Before dozing into the sleep of the dead, I couldn’t help but wonder if fate would’ve been kinder to the Chargers had my mother been give a chance to give kicker Nate Kaeding the same Heimlich primer she’d given me.
