April 17th, 2009 Chef
This will be the new great thing on menus….BLACK GARLIC…I have been beating up my food vendors for the past three months to get this stuff to me. When it finally came, I know exactly what my 5yr old feels when she is running around the house looking for Easter eggs….I was Pumped!!!
As Jed would say thats BLACK GOLD, Its produced in Japan, China, Korea and California. The process now have machines that are all temperature controlled and all patented. Long long loooooooooooooong time ago this stuff was stored in caves, clay jars and other cool areas to let the fermenting process begin.
I am going to go Dr Brandt on you here…. It has ten times the antioxidants then regular garlic has ( Superoxide Dismutase, and important antioxidant) when allicina powerful antibiotic and anti-fungal compound naturally occurring in garlic is fermented it turns int S-allylcysteine, The body can process it easier. S-arylcysteine that raw garlic doesn’t have is produced and helps the fight against cancer,alzheimer’s disease inhibiting cholesterol, sclerosis and heart diseases.
The flavor reminds me of a balsamic, roasted garlic, molasses . It doesn’t have that strong in your face flavor that regular garlic has. I know this is going to sound weird,but it’s a very sexy garlic taste on your tongue….silky, smooth, deep mysterious flavours….hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…ohhhhhh…ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Sorry……anyways……. I am so pumped to add this to my arsenal of weapons in my cooler and have this to battle with. I love being able to find things like this and sharing it with my employees and guest.
When I first used it, It was very simple but a flavorful pasta dish. I simply sauteed the great flavors of the Del Cabo heirloom tomatoes, breakfast radishes, shallots,mixed olives, Greek olive oil and BLACK GARLIC… I swear it sang like a Baptist church choir on a Sunday afternoon….loud and proud……This hugged my tongue and wouldn’t let go. It was making love to your taste buds in full force…
I think you all can guess what am going to have tonight for dinner… YUP>>>my wife’s Tuna noodle casserole!!!! I cant wait… Come on, I see and eat this great stuff all the time….I like going home and eating the good stuff..plus I had this Black Garlic Pasta for lunch……….
Cheers,
Chef Brandt
Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely (New Summer menu release date 4/20/09)
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April 7th, 2009 Chef
Asian Chicken Wraps
Yields 4
Ingredients
16 Bibb leaf lettuce
2# shredded left over roasted chicken
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoon sweet soy
1tablespoon minced pickled ginger
1 tablespoon Thai Chili Sauce
2 bunches of Scallions
2 Cucumber
1 diakon radish
1 large carrot
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Method
Shred carrot, diakon, cucumber on a mandoline place in a bowl, add ingredients and toss set aside for 15 minutes to soften. Place on bibb lettuce wraps and serve.
** What a great Demo!!! I have to start off by saying sorry if hit any of you ladies in the face with an egg…( you had to be at the demo to understand) and for those in the back row, Great hands!!
I want to thank everyone that came out to the demo and hope everyone walked away learning something new and wanting to try something new in your kitchen. I hope to see everyone at Blue Canyon soon….The Patio will be opening up soon….ya I know its snowing out right now!~! -
Cheers,
Brandt
You can do anything in the world…………..but not Everything!!!!!
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April 5th, 2009 Chef
I -we have been in a rebuilding period in the kitchen of the Blue Canyon. It’s always hard to start over with an employees after you put so much time and effort in to them…….how to explain it….you go threw Break phases…MAD-SAD-REGRET-REBUILDING….
There are things that the public doesn’t really get nor understand(Chefs haters…that’s you too out there) WE are Blue Canyon…(Ohio)We do large numbers every day every week……..the BC Train doesn’t stop for nobody, if you want to get off ,you have to jump and be ready to drop a roll…….. I have a free pass rail for anyone who wants to ride with me anyday any week…….You will work……….I MEAN WORK, not sit around and watch. (My Chef had one of those mileage clickers one day that to see how far he walks, he clocked in 10 miles!!) those guys work their tails off.
We still make 90% of our stuff from strach, I am very proud of that, it cuase heart burn some days also……..
I have some new BC seals in the kitchen…..and boy am i happy with this last group, the fire in there eye’s are inspirational, they are hungry, they are pissed! they want to cook!!!! It reminds me of two brothers that I worked with back in day…and they are now the Executive Chefs of the BLue Canyons in other States…
I had some great customers that would come see me at Kostas back when i was young on fire!! skinny did i mention on fire….lol and i don’t mean in the kitchen. But They told me last night how excited they where with their meals and how great the food was.. just like the old days….I had three newbies on the line….don’t get me wrong I have had my generals and tank comanders running up the beach taking the hill all night. We ran 25 minute tickets times when 165 people hit us all at once. ( we try to stay around 14 minutes) we ended up doing 570 for the night
but over all We took the hill and won the battle!!
Great Job Everyone Last Night…..now get back to work…we have 300 on for brunch 250 for Dinner…..900 screaming down the track at us for Easter………All AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Board!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I look forward to working with you everyday, i welcome the newness and welcome the new culinary branches to be developed and grown on my tree.
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March 29th, 2009 Chef
Just got back to town from my Dallas trip. Boy I sure do love Dallas!!!! Spring has sprung, the birds are out and they are cutting GRASS>>>>>>>>>>>> I love that smell, I wish someone could truly bottle that.
The Blue Canyon in Rockwall is doing well and fighting the good fight dealing with this economy. Chef Scott and the kitchen is pumping out some killer food and Aimee is doing such a great job with the FOH..(Front of the House)
I went on Dallas Fox 4 on Wed and did the Left Over Gourmet segment. I think its so fun to show what you can do or how you can make a completely different meal and fool your family into eating leftovers. The Fox people are such great people to work with. I always love to go on Cleveland Fox and Dallas Fox from Make up stylist to the Anchors to the Producers are so nice to be around and are always super cool to me.
Chef Scott and I worked on some new dishes and great Tapas menu ideas. We installed a wood grill down in Blue Canyon from the beginning and YES there is a huge difference on how a steak tastes. I never order steaks when I eat out, but I always have to get a couple when am downt there….yummmmmmmmmmm.
We had an AMICA happy hour party for this great group. Its alwasy so nice to see my new friends and every time I am apart of something they are doing, I get tomeet some new friends….They are a Class Act!!!……….they sure do love to have a GREAT TIME.
I had a lunch date with a Great Friend of mine, She took me to Twisted Root Burger…What a killer place the shakes are the dittley dank and the burgers are pretty good also…. if you can go check it out….hopefully you will get the Bill Cosby card….listen up when they call you..( you just have to go and check it out to understand)
What I love about traveling is all the new and great people you meet. From my new little Gluten buddy out in Denver to my oh so styling” Jean girl”… I just got to know this last trip. You got to love FACEBOOK, it’s so helpfully to stay in contact with all of them. (Send me a message on FB would love to hear from you)
Someone close to me just told me last week “Its the last step to the top of the mountain that is celebrated but it is every step before that makes it possible. No day of you life is unimportant. Each is a critical step.
Dont forget to pay it forward today……
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March 24th, 2009 Chef
Now, I have always had a bad habit of putting things off to the last minute, and then rushing around trying to get it done. I have been like this since I can remember.I can say I do it now because of all the disraction I encounter on a day to day basis, but to to tell you the truth its how I roll.I don’t like it, and am trying to change that, My mentorhas always told me ” Don’t put anything off what you can get down today”..maybe that’s why he is so successful…hmmmmm
But this time it was different, I had the Top Chef application in front of me for about three months just staring at me. It stared at me like I stared at all the girls in 8th grade at the big dance dancing on the dance floor, I was so scared and nervous to go out and ask just one of those pretty girls to dance with me. Every time I looked or thought about filling this application out I would get those butterflies and tingling sensation in my gut.
Now for those of you who do know me, I am very confident person..(sometimes mistaken for having an Ego) but I was raised to always believe in yourself because nobody else will. But this time I really think I…….. was……..I….cant believe it…………….I was scared!!!
I was scared of the thought of just maybe I will get picked and IF I do get picked what happens if I lose or not know how to cook something right, I will be letting the whole Blue Canyon Family team down. Lets face it, I am no Master Chef here that knows everything about every type of cuisine in the world, I know what I know, I know how to cook Brandt’s Food….I do that pretty damn good…( oops didn’t mean to pat myself on the back so hard)
For example I saw an episode that they did Deep Dish Pizzas. Now I have never made one of those before, but I know for a fact someone could teach me a thing or two about Deep Dish Pizza making. I wouldn’t truly know how the dough/crust would react on the sides when its cooked,,will it raise? or will it shrink? do I need to over compensate for that????… Should I pre bake the shell first or not? should the sauce go down first or will that make the dough to soggy?……….See its just not as easy as making a Pizza….you need technique to make great food. ( And over thinking, can kill a recipe)
So I decided to ask the girl to dance with me. I filled out the application…it was longer then what I filled out to buy a house…I also need a videoto go with it. So instead of just turning in a “Hi am Chef Brandt” video, I decided to walk up to someone in a grocery store parking lot and ask if I could come over and cook the dinner that night, right then, right there. I wanted to show Top Chef my QUICK FIRE ( you need to watch the show)
So I met a wonderful lady and walked right up to her and asked her if I could come over..She was pretty pumped, she had a great big smile and she asked me “Are there any strings attached”?, I laughed and said…”No am married”
I swear I didn’t now this person, but boy did I hit the jackpot!!! after I helped carry the groceries in, I started going all through her pantry and refrigerator…WOW she had the goods….I don’t like to stereotype anyone but she was the typical classic Italian mom that loves to cook…even her knives and pans rocked!!!
Her two beautiful daughters joined in for dinner and seemed pretty excited that a stranger was willing to come over and cook for them that night. We started with a Thai Peanut Soba noodles with Almonds and Asparagus. The girls loved this and couldn’t believe that had of those flavors in there pantry. We moved onto a Sun dried Tomato, Artichoke Risotto with Seared Salmon, topped with a caper mustard sauce. Mom gave me a thumbs up on the risotto…. she told me she was the risotto queen, I was nervous to see what she thought, (you never cook sauce, meatballs and i guess now risotto for Mama or anyone’s Mama…it will never be as good as there’s)
I really believe they liked what I cooked for them because they cleaned the plates clean!!!
What a fun night, I met some great people because of this and was happy that I got up and walked onto the dance floor and asked…….
“The Girl” to dance, now I am just waiting to see if she wants to dance with me??
Cheers, Chef Brandt
Sometimes taking bricks away makes a wall stonger
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