TV Alert!

Tonight is the finale of Top Chef All-Stars on Bravo (10 P.M., EST). 

This All-Stars season (#8, if you're keeping track) has been one of my favorites.  Top Chef won the 2010 Emmy Award for Best Reality program and its recipe for success continues to challenge the "cheftestants" and entertain the TV audience.

The current season began with eighteen former competitors who all came close to winning the title of Top Chef. The last two competitors standing are D.C. based chef Mike Isabella and whiz-kid Richard Blais from Atlanta, GA.  They'll go head-to-head tonight after a season of fierce challenges, including fishing and diving for their main course, cooking for Muppets(!), and making stuffing without the use of cutlery and kitchen utensils.

I have become such a fan of this show.  I watch it not for the sometimes immature and ridiculous antics of the competitors (hello, it IS a reality show), but for the creativity of the chefs' dishes, the rare flashes of brilliance. I've also become a big fan of Head Judge Tom Colicchio and love seeing rotating guest judges such as Ming Tsai, Jimmy Fallon (obviously a huge fan of the show), and Anthony Bourdain, whose razor-wit always make me laugh out loud at judges' table.

Tonight's finale features one of my favorite star chefs, Art Smith, formerly Oprah's private chef.  I love his Southern dishes and long to visit his restaurants, Table Fifty-Two in Chicago and Art and Soul in D.C.

Already a bit sad that the season is over, I discovered with glee that a new Top Chef Masters season is about to start on April 6 (Bravo, 10 P.M., EST).  Instead of a cast of unknowns, seasoned chefs compete for the title.  Previous winners include Rick Bayless and Marcus Samuelsson.  Australian chef Curtis Stone (who is everywhere nowadays), Saveur magazine editor-in-chief James Oseland, and former Gourmet magazine editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl are the judges.

The list of cheftestants is here.

(Go Blais!)

Slows BBQ and the Detroit Food Scene

A wonderful article about Slows BBQ in Detroit and its MC, Phil Cooley.  This kind of work warms my heart.

Detroit's Renewal, Slow-Cooked

French Onion Soup

This is a good, go-to recipe for

French Onion Soup.

Just a few small changes/additions...

I would add some garlic to the onions, maybe two-four minced cloves, depending on how garlicky you like your soup.  Then, because this has a beef stock base, I would use red wine instead of white.  It'll give the soup a much deeper, richer flavor than the white wine.

The only bread I have in the house today is whole wheat flatbread pita so I improvised some croutons.

Quick Bread

I tried this recipe today:

Brown Butter Soda Bread

Reasons: 
I had some rosemary in the fridge leftover from the weekend.
I wanted to give something homemade to my neighbor (for previous good deeds) and this recipe made two loaves.
I needed a bread fix.

I made yeast breads in culinary school and love them, but I tend to make quick breads (no yeast needed) at home.  My cravings for homemade bread arrive fast and furious and I have no patience for rising and proofing and rising again.

Finished product (wish you were here to smell this bread...to die for):

My fellow foodie friend, Cheryl, visited last weekend and left behind some Meyer lemon marmalade.  Perfect for today's bread.

Mardi Gras

Check out my post on annarbor.com:

 Mardi Gras At Home

Chicken Stock

One thing you do over and over again in culinary school is learn how to prepare stocks.  Chicken, beef, veal, fish...you name it.

Stock is a flavored water preparation; it forms the basis of many dishes, particularly soups and sauces.

I wanted to make some soup last week and discovered that I didn't have any chicken stock in the house.  I usually keep a few quarts of the boxed stock (low sodium version) in the pantry at all times, but we were all out.  I remembered that I'd bought some chicken backs specifically for making stock so I thawed them Monday and today I took out the stockpot and started to work.

All you need to make chicken stock:  a chicken carcass or necks/bones; carrots; onion; celery; parsley; bay leaf; thyme; peppercorns; water.

Put all of those ingredients into a stockpot, add eight quarts of water, bring just to boil, and then simmer for at least two hours.  The longer you can let the stock simmer, the better.

Strain the stock and let it sit in the fridge overnight.  The fat will rise to the top and solidify in the fridge so that you can easily remove it and use your homemade stock.  That's all there is to it!

Onions, carrots, celery.

Parsley (including stems).

Backbones, bone-in breast.

Just about to boil; time to simmer.

Strained stock.

Skimming fat.

The stock will keep in the fridge for three days.  I also try to freeze some as well in case I need some homemade soup ASAP.

A great source for stock recipes (among other tasty dishes) is:  Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.