Coastal Cooking with Chef Michael Hutchings

Paella - Carmel Style

 

Chef Grasing at the Paella Pan

My friend, Kurt Grasings, has mastered the art of Paella for large crowds. Kurt is the Chef/Owner of Grasing's in Carmel, California. His six foot paella pan serves some 200 diners. This version is populated by an ocean of shellfish including crab claws, mussels, clams, oysters along with chicken, chorizo, peppers, peas, tomatoes and a rich saffron broth. Purists, and you know who you are, would bristle at the use of rice pasta instead of a good Spanish rice. The rice pasta has the advantage over rice in holding well on a buffet but would probably insult any Spaniard who loves his paella.

Wikipedia has the history of the dish on its web site.

"Paella (Valencian and Spanish: [paˈeʎa], English approximation ['paɪ.jɛjɐ] or ['paɪ.jɛlɐ]) is a Valencian rice dish that originated in its modern form in the mid-19th century near lake Albufera, a lagoon in Valencia, on the east coast of Spain. Many non-Spaniards view paella as Spain's national dish, but most Spaniards consider it to be a regional Valencian dish. Valencians, in turn, regard paella as one of their identifying symbols.

There are three widely known types of paella: Valencian paella (Spanish: paella valenciana), seafood paella (Spanish: paella de marisco) and mixed paella (Spanish: paella mixta), but there are many others as well. Valencian paella consists of white rice, green vegetables, meat (rabbit, chicken, duck), land snails, beans and seasoning. Seafood paella replaces meat and snails with seafood and omits beans and green vegetables. Mixed paella is a free-style combination of meat, seafood, vegetables, and sometimes beans. Most paella chefs use calasparra or bomba rices for this dish. Other key ingredients include saffron and olive oil."

I am catering an event next month for some 300 folks at the Santa Barbara Sunken Garden. Budget and diet issues led me to create a chicken version with more or less the same vegetable, saffron embellishments. I will use rice just in case my culinary guardian angel takes notice!

Chef Michael Hutchings

 

Oyster Stew

A few years back on a trip to N.Y. city, we made a pilgrimage to Grand Central Station and dinned at The Grand Central Oyster Bar and Grill.
The list of oysters served is an encyclopedic listing over 100 varieties. I opted for an oyster stew. It is a simple dish of oysters and cream.

I recently made my own version using the local farmed oysters (yes, we eat well). My version adds shallots, garlic, Yukon gold potatoes, cream, chives and white wine. The local oysters ranged from three inches to about seven inches and were fat and full of juice. Maybe getting them the same day of harvest made the difference.

In Santa Barbara, the oyster farm off the coast of by the Hope Ranch residential area. Santa Barbara Mariculture farms not only oysters but also mussels and scallops. Back in the 1980s the Pacific Oyster Farm attempted to raise belon oysters but had issues with the bacterial count. A lawsuit agains the City of Santa Barbara followed and the city was forced to do a better job treating discharge from the sewage treatment plant. Each harvest has to be tested prior to sale.

Chef Michael Hutchings

 

From their web page: "Santa Barbara Mariculture’s Farm is situated about 3/4-mile off of Hope Ranch near Santa Barbara California. The shellfish are grown utilizing submersible long-lines originally developed by the Japanese. The shellfish hang suspended off of the bottom where they can filter the nutrient rich water of the channel. Our mission is ultimately to enrich the quality of life in our community. The farm was conceived and developed to produce top quality seafood without endangering or degrading the surrounding environment. The open ocean is viewed as the last frontier for agricultural development, and Santa Barbara Mariculture plans to be on the forefront of this movement. It is the general consensus that aquaculture will supply the demands for the increasing consumption of seafood in the United States. We have studied the success and failures of past endeavors and are developing our own methodologies. Our techniques are simple and straight forward. We only grow species that can thrive in the environment without damaging it. No chemicals or feeds are added that would alter the balance of the ecology. We do not visually impair views of the ocean and marine life can move freely throughout the farm. We harvest and produce quality seafood from our local waters. Through community awareness and education, we believe we can make a difference in how people understand aquaculture. We strive to provide the highest quality local seafood while managing and conserving our precious natural resources.

Santa Barbara Mariculture Company 721 1/2 West Valerio Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 805.886.1283"

 

 

 

 

 

The Grand Central Oyster Bar and Grill Menu

Ile Flottante - "Floating Islands" from Sly's Restaurant

Floating Islands may sound like a Santa Barbara dessert inspired by the Channel Islands. While not true, it is a classic dessert from the French repertoire. Eggs, sugar, milk, almonds and vanilla are combined with the pastry chef's alchemy. In essence it is a caramel-almond topped poached meringue set on vanilla custard cream.

There are other versions that layer sponge cake with jam, almonds, currants, whipped cream with vanilla custard (Larousse Gastronomique, 1977 edition). In the L'Art Culinaire Française, another version bakes the meringue with almond, pink pralines and caramel  then served cold on a custard sauce.

I first encountered those pillows of meringue at a dinner done by the then relatively unknown, and of modest means Chef Wolgang Puck. He was a guest chef at a series of dinners at the Pomona College. Chef Puck hung his hat at the hip Ma Maison on Melrose Avenue, Beverly Hills.

Chef Michael Hutchings

This just in from James Sly of Sly’s Restaurant, 686 Linden Ave, Carpinteria:

"In celebration of the reopening of the El Encanto this week, Sly’s will be serving the famous “Floating Islands” just like I used to make when I was the Executive Chef at the venerable hotel some 24 years ago.

Ile Flotante, or Floating Islands, is an extremely simple dessert – a poached cloud of lightly sweetened meringue, vanilla-bean scented crème anglaise, a few threads of caramel, and some toasted sliced almonds. It’s simplicity is perhaps it’s main attraction. We had a large bowl in sparkling crystal at the entrance to the dining room, competing for the diner’s attention with the beautiful vista of Santa Barbara through the dining room windows ahead.

We’re all excited here in town to see the El Encanto Hotel reopen after seven years. It’s a bit nostalgic for me, as I first came to Santa Barbara in 1989 to be the chef at the El, and had an enjoyable time there until leaving in 1993. Nothing will ever compare to the view, of course, – the view from the terrace at 7 am before a busy Easter Brunch is the best view of Santa Barbara ever. It was great fun working at the “El”, and I have fond memories of the old place. I’m sure the new one will be stunningly better.

Sly’s will be serving the Floating Islands for a couple of weeks to celebrate the long awaited reopening.

Sincerely,

Chef James Sly"

 

Eggs Benedict

Photo Wikipedia

Egg Benedict have been a classic for decades. I first made them during my stint at the Club 33 in Disneyland. They are really pretty simple, toasted English muffin, hot Canadian bacon, poached eggs and a dollop of hollandaise sauce. All that is needed are great ingredients and accurate execution of each step, sort of like all things. I recall my days as banquet chef for a hotel when I poached 800 eggs for a Benedict breakfast banquet.

Over time, given jaded palates and bored-creative chefs, there have been many variations. There are two variations done by Santa Barbara locals of note. One created a whole new breakfast profit center and the other a very witty tribute to that variation.

Herb Petersen, a local McDonald's franchisee, is credited with inventing the egg McMuffin. As the story goes, we went to the McDonald's headquarters with a whole Canadian bacon uner one arm to see founder Ray Kroc. Herb prepared the Egg McMuffin which was inspired by eggs Benedict.

Stage Two. Chef James Sly was preparing a reception for Herb Petersen at a local Santa Barbara restaurant. One of the palette teasers was a small, bite sized brioche toast topped with a thin slice of Canadian bacon, poached quail egg and hollandaise.

On a recent trip to the Carmel area, we dinned at a local breakfast spot. While the service was swift and friendly, the execution was poor and the prices very high. However, I was intrigued by the eggs Benedict selection.

Eggs Benedict

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eggs Benedict with a potato dish.
Details
Course	Breakfast
Main ingredient(s)	Eggs, English muffin, ham or bacon,Hollandaise sauce
Variations	Multiple

Eggs Benedict is a dish that consists of two halves of an English muffin, topped with ham or bacon, poached eggs, and Hollandaise sauce.

Origin

There are conflicting accounts as to the origin of Eggs Benedict, including:

• In an interview recorded in the "Talk of the Town" column of The New Yorker in 1942, the year before his death, Lemuel Benedict, a retired Wall Street stock broker, claimed that he had wandered into the Waldorf Hotel in 1894 and, hoping to find a cure for his morning hangover, ordered "buttered toast, poached eggs, crisp bacon, and a hooker of hollandaise." Oscar Tschirky, the famed maître d'hôtel, was so impressed with the dish that he put it on the breakfast and luncheon menus but substituted ham for the bacon and a toasted English muffin for the toast.

• In the early eighteenth century Pope Benedict XIII was so fond of a particular egg dish, that he requested it very often. It is also believed that Benedict XIII had an illness which contributed to his desire for the egg dish.

Variations

• Eggs Blackstone substitutes streaky bacon for the ham and adds a tomatoslice.

• Eggs Florentine substitutes spinach for the ham. Older versions of eggs Florentine add spinach to poached or shirred eggs

• Eggs Mornay – substitutes the Hollandaise with Mornay (cheese) sauce.

• Eggs Atlantic or Eggs Hemingway (also known as Eggs Royale and Eggs Montreal in New Zealand) substitutes salmon (or smoked salmon) for the ham. This is a common variation found in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and theUnited Kingdom . This is also known as "Eggs Benjamin" in a few restaurants in Canada.

• Huevos Benedictos substitutes either sliced avocado or Mexican chorizo for the ham, and is topped with both a salsa (such as salsa roja or salsa brava ) and hollandaise sauce.

• Eggs Hussarde substitutes Holland rusks for the English muffin and adds Bordelaise sauce.

• Eggs Hunter Substitute the muffins for crumpets with a couple of slices of streaked bacon on, a poached egg on each crumpet served with a little brown sauce over it.

• Eggs Sardou is a complex dish from Antoine's Restaurant in New Orleans which originally replaced the English muffin and ham with artichoke bottoms topped with crossed anchovy fillets, and then, atop the egg and its hollandaise sauce was a dollop of chopped ham and a slice of truffle.  A more widespread version of the dish starts with a base of creamed spinach, substitutes artichoke bottoms for the English muffin, and eliminates the ham.  For more background see the article.

• Artichoke Benedict replaces the English muffin with a hollowed artichoke.

• Country Benedict, sometimes known as Eggs Beauregard, replaces the English muffin, ham and hollandaise sauce with anAmerican biscuit, sausage patties, and country gravy. The poached eggs are replaced with eggs fried to choice.

• Campfire Benedict replaces the English muffin, ham and hollandaise sauce with cornbread, bacon and barbecue baked beans. The poached eggs are replaced with eggs fried to choice.

• Eggs Chaucer founded at Tiny Tim's Tearoom in Canterbury UK adds portobello mushrooms and replaces the Hollandaise sauce with a homemade rarebit.

• Irish Benedict replaces the ham with corned beef or Irish bacon

• Portobello Benedict substitutes Portobello mushrooms for the ham, and is a popular alternative for Catholics observing theFriday Fast.

• Eggs John Scott replaces the Hollandaise sauce with HP Sauce.

• Oscar Benedict, also known as Eggs Oscar, replaces the ham with asparagus and lump crab meat.

• Eggs Provençal replaces the Hollandaise sauce with Béarnaise Sauce.

• Russian Easter Benedict replaces the Hollandaise sauce with a lemon juice and mustard flavored Béchamel Sauce, and is topped with black caviar.

• Eggs Chesapeake substitutes Crab cake for the ham.

Smoked salmon eggs Benedict

 

One More Time for Summer Chanterelles

Summer Chanterelles

If you are a regular reader of this blog you might be annoyed by the number of posts about chanterelles. You might think I am obsessive or otherwise lacking in mental function and you might be right. Our very productive winter mushroom spot has bloomed ALL SUMMER. This is a very rare occurrence in Santa Barbara county. I have encourage the blooming by watering the area every 4-5 days. The regular morning mists have also contributed to a heavy dew fall that kept this micro-micro climate for chanterelles productive. The amount produced is minute but the act of finding chanterelles in the summer is memorable. Brillat-Savarin, the noted gastronome from the 1700s was quoted to have said, "The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity, than the discovery of a new star." To that I would add that the discovery of a summer chanterelles has given me more happiness that the discovery of a new Galaxy.

Robert Cummings, resident mycologist at the Santa Barbara City College told me he heard of a picker finding summer chanterelles some 15 years ago. I am picking this little crop today and plan to have a lovely breakfast with creamed mushrooms on brioche.

Chef Michael Hutchings

Michael's Catering

Santa Barbara, CA

Author Paying Homage to "The Spot"

Author Paying Homage to "The Spot"

 

 

Late Summer Chanterelles

Fall Chanterelle? or is it Late Summer?

 

Finally, I have harvested the minuscule bloom of chanterelles that I have been nurturing all summer. These are the little gems of a rare summer flowering of the Santa Barbara County chanterelle, Cantharellus californicus.

The phenomenal season of 2010-2011 was a bumper crop for chanterelles. The harvest went well into the late spring. Oddly, I discovered a small patch of tiny buds in July in an area I had picked during the season. Between a wet, foggy summer and periodic watering on my part, I managed to tease out a few mushroom. I decided that it was time to harvest the mushrooms as they were drying out. The condition of the caps was good, although there was a little rot starting in the lower stem. I mentioned the bloom to Robert Cummings, the local mycologist at the Santa Barbara City College. Robert had been told by a fellow picker that he was harvesting summer chanterelles some 15 years ago. In my thirty years of picking in the area, this wa a first.

Tastefully,

 

Chef Michael Hutchings

Michael's Catering

Santa Barbara

 

Chanterelle in the Hand is Worth Two in the Duff

View of the Mycelium, the vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a network of fine white filaments

Nacent Chanterell

Ready to Eat

 

Summer Chanterelles

The winter 2010-2011, was a bumper crop for Santa Barbara County chanterelles. We have been monitoring and unusual summer bloom that has continued up to the present. We discovered a micro-climate that has supported a continuous fruiting well into September. We have encouraged the mushroom growth by watering the area every 3-4 day.

We have watched this bud grow from an erasure size to about 3/4 of an inch. The mushroom feels moist and cool to the touch. I suspect that there have been other years when there have been fruiting in the summer, but this is rare.

The location will be kept a secret but I will say that it is in the fog zone near downtown and there has been some dripping of condensed fog from the oak trees. The topography channels any rain so this are was super saturated by last winter's storms.

 

Chef Michael Hutchings

Michael's Catering

Santa Barbara

 

Summer Chanterelles

 

 

Giant Porcini Mushroom

My catering kitchen is inside a commercial produce company called The Berryman. From that unique position I often get to see some of the specialty products that come to the warehouse. Yesterday, a mushroom picker from the central California coast pulled up with a pick-up full of porcini, some 250 pounds. The shroomer claims to harvest as mush as 500 pounds a day when the season is good.

The fellow has a large ranch as well as contracts to pick on other ranches in the area. Most of the porcini were the more desirable fist size or smaller. However, he had a box of giants including the specimen below. It was still pretty solid and would make a great potage! They are also great in a risotto, with pasta and as a side with roasted venison loin.

 

Chef Michael Hutchings

Michael's Catering