Watermelon and Feta with Toasted Cashews – Old footage, new narration, watercolor filters, and one really amazing summer salad!

I vaguely remember eating a slice on watermelon as a young child and watching in shock and horror as my grandfather started sprinkling salt on his slice. I said whatever the 5 year old version of “what the hell are you doing?” was. He said something like “it makes it sweeter.” What? Needless to say that didn’t make any sense at the time. Fast forward 30 years later to a café in San Francisco where I was served a green salad garnished with sweet, juicy watermelon, crumbled feta che ese, and toasted cashews. Wow, it was amazing! What a combination of sweet, salty, juicy, creamy, crunchy, and just…mmmmm. Ah ha! I finally understood what grandfather was doing. Better late than never.
This video recipe was pieced together with footage I shot last year when I was just playing around with my new webcam. I found it and decided to add some new voice-over and show you this great salad. Yes, it’s a bit unusual, but one bite and you will be hooked. You’ll get to see and hear both sleeveless and blurry 2006 Chef John, as well as the new and improved 2007 Chef John. So, here’s the clip, a whole year in the making, as they say. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
1 small ripe watermelon
4 oz feta cheese
1/2 cup toasted cashews
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
*optional garnish: some fresh mint or basil

Wild Halibut Steaks with Warm Bacon Dressing – Mmmmm….Bacon

Yes, it’s true what they say, bacon makes everything tastes better. Even bacon tastes better with bacon. Recently I saw an online lecture by a woman who makes specialty chocolates and she had actually done chocolate with bacon. So, now it’s really official, bacon goes with everything! By the way, I plan on posting her lecture, which I found equally inspiring and perplexing, but that’s for another day.

Today we’re making a very simple warm bacon dressing to go over some pan cooked halibut. With just a few ingredients, and a very simple procedure, we’re going to produce some amazingly delicious results. The smokiness of the bacon is such a great match with the meaty halibut, and the slightly sweet/sour profile of the fresh lemon and rice vinegar brings this all together. Usually at this point I tell you a few ways you can alter the recipe to match your personal tastes…forget that. Make this exactly like I show you. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
2 halibut steaks (about 3/4 to 1 inch thick)
1/2 lemon
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
4 strips of bacon
fresh parsley to taste (about 1/2 bunch for me)
salt and pepper to taste
* I served this on baby romaine, but any greens would be nice

The “Fava of Love” Salad starring Fava Fav!

If you don’t watch VH1, or have never heard of Flavor Flav, then today’s post headline isn’t funny. Come to think of it, even if you do know what I’m referring to, it still may not be that funny. Anyway, today’s post’s title is a take-off on the wildly popular VH1 reality show “The Flavor of Love” starring Flavor Flav. While I’m a huge Public Enemy fan, I’ve never been able to watch more than a few seconds of Flava’s television show. The cringe factor is off the charts for me. It’s right up there with Nancy Grace and Jerry Springer.

I’m a Chef, not a TV critic, but how anyone can watch that show is beyond my comprehension. To be clear, I’m not judging you negatively if you are a fan of the show, hey, I was crushed when they cancelled Pirate Master! I’m just saying I can’t watch it, I don’t get it, and I think it may be the worse TV show ever made. OK, back to the fava beans!

This salad is so delicious, so refreshing, so satisfying, and so easy, that you must try it. Yesterday, I showed you how to prep your fava beans for a recipe. Today I show you why all that work was so worthwhile. One key to this very simple combination is letting it chill in the fridge for a few hours to marry all the flavors. You can substitute parsley or basil for the mint, but I beg you to try it with the mint, which is just amazing with these flavors. There is something about the taste of fava beans that the mint really brings out like no other herb. Enjoy, or as I’m sure Flava Flav would say if he tasted this, “Yeah Boyeeeee!”



14 oz jar of butter beans, rinsed and well drained
1 1/2 cup prepped fava beans (see previous demo!)
1/2 cup diced roasted red pepper
2 tbl chopped fresh mint
1 clove garlic
1/2 to 1 lemon
4 tbl olive oil
salt and pepper to taste (this salad will be “flat” if you don’t salt it sufficiently, I used about a teaspoon at least)
*red pepper flakes are also a nice addition if you want more heat.

Homemade Mayonnaise - The Recipe Video the Big Mayo Companies Don’t Want You to See!

A fan of the blog just wrote me asking for a mayonnaise recipe. I could have sworn I posted this clip a while back, but I guess not. It’s been on YouTube, but apparently never made its way over here. Or maybe I did post it and the IT guys at Hellmann's hacked into the system and deleted it from this blog for fear of its effect on their sales! I mean can you imagine if everyone knew how easy it was to make their own mayo? The whole mayonnaise industry would crumble. Of course, I have to give the standard “this is an old clip” disclaimer/warning; old equipment, bad sound, bad lighting, bad jokes, and some really bad singing.

Homemade Mayo is one of those indescribable culinary pleasures. If you have a stick-style or regular blender, you CAN make your own mayo! It’s so much cheaper, and way more delicious. You also get to decide what kind of oil you want, a nice fruity olive oil, or a lighter vegetable oil, or your own secret custom mix. Give this a try, it’s fun and you can taste something so few Americans ever taste…fresh, creamy, homemade mayo!



Ingredients:
2 egg yolks
1 tbl fresh lemon juice
1 tbl white wine vinegar
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp sugar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup olive oil

Wasabi Dipping Sauce – How much can you take?

This very simple (and fat free) dipping sauce is a great all-purpose condiment for many things. I love it with the spring rolls I made yesterday, but it’s also good with many Asian dumplings, pot stickers, etc. As I mention in the video clip the amount of Wasabi you add is completely up to you and your pain threshold. I ended up with 3 teaspoons worth, but I think most of you will be fine with one or two. By the way, I know full well that “I’m over-powering the flavor of the fish.” I’m fine with that. For me the spring rolls were just an excuse to catch a Wasabi buzz.

This sauce can be varied in many wonderful ways by adding lemon, lime, cilantro, garlic, green onions, ginger, etc; well, you get the idea. Happy dipping, and enjoy!



Ingredients:
1 to 3 tsp Wasabi powder
1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1 tsp Shiracha hot sauce
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce

Bonus Wasabi Video Clips: Damn you Budweiser!

In the clip I joked about people that still do the “Waaassssaaaabiiii” greeting from the Budweiser commercial that ran ages ago. Like I said, it was funny for about 2 days. Then it was just annoying. Now it’s actually painful to hear. Please, I beg you, stop doing it! Believe me, your friends (if you have any left) will really, really appreciate it. Here’s the original commercial that started the insanity.

Simple Sherry Vinaigrette – Shake it baby!

Today’s post is really two separate demos. One is to show you a fantastic, all-purpose salad dressing using sherry vinegar. The second is a technique that makes emulsifying a dressing a fast and easy process. The reason I like sherry vinegar so much is that combines the complex, tartness of really good wine vinegar, with the rich, sweetness of balsamic vinegar. The vinaigrette shown today literally goes great with everything; whether it’s under a delicate filet of poached fish, over a grilled steak, or with an avocado salad, as you see pictured here (avocado salad sold separately).

The squeeze bottle method I show is such an easy way to emulsify a dressing and eliminates the need for the old “stand there and slowly drizzle in the oil in a fine stream” method. Lots of professional cooks will of course use a blender, which works great, but for the home cook making smaller amounts, I think my squeeze bottle is the way to go. By the way, as you’ll hear me attempt to explain during the video recipe clip, the small amount of mustard is a key ingredient, and if you leave it out, the oil and vinegar will not stay bound together. Needless to say, this is my base recipe and can be varied in countless ways by adding herbs, garlic, shallots, etc. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
1/3 cup sherry vinegar
1 cup olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

The Nasturtium Salad - Pretty Delicious

Nasturtium, which is Latin for "nose-twister,” is a very common, very colorful ground cover that, as you’ll see in today’s video recipe clip, is a great addition to a green salad. By the way, I got the "nose-twister” translation from Wikipedia, but it didn’t say why or how it got that name. So, all you gardeners out there, if you know PLEASE tell me why, it’s driving me crazy. Speaking of crazy, no, you don’t have to be crazy to put flowers on a salad. As long as they are there for flavor AND color you are culinarily correct to do so. It’s hard to think of another flower whose petals are as intensely colored as the Nasturtium. It actually makes filming and photographing them quite a challenge (at least that’s my excuse).

Culinary students are always reminded by their Chefs to never add things to plates solely for cosmetic reasons. Ideally, everything on a plate should add both flavor and visual appeal to the dish. Nasturtium petals meet both goals; they’re incredibly beautiful as I have already stated, AND have a subtle, delicious flavor. It’s a slightly peppery taste similar to a mild Watercress. Many grocery stores have these flowers in the herb section during the summer and you can always find them at any farmers market.

By the way, since we are talking salads in today’s post, in my next recipe clip I’m going to show you what I consider to be the best “all purpose” oil and vinegar-style salad dressing. It’s a simple Sherry vinaigrette I leaned ages ago, and it’s my all-time favorite, and soon, maybe yours. Stay tuned. Anyway, take a walk around the backyard, or the neighbor’s garden, and find some Nasturtium (it shouldn’t be too hard) and make that plain old mixed green salad explode with color and flavor. Enjoy!