Coastal Cooking with Chef Michael Hutchings

Dogs Pigs and Truffles, Oh My!

 

Fresh White Winter Truffles

 

Now that is a photo of a truffle of a different color. From my vantage point inside The Berry Man Produce, I get to see some of the exotic products that come in to the Santa Barbara restaurant kitchens. Cory, head sales manager, called me over to show me the treasures. These monster white truffles were very aromatic and a great heft, weighing in at over 5000 grams. Cost? Over $2400! These beauties are destined for the kitchen of the El Encanto Hotel and I am told for an article appearing in the NY Times. My General's Model Swiss Army Knife is dwarfed by the largest of the truffles.

I recall a story related by Chef Albert Roux of Le Gavroche fame. Chef Albert cooked for Mdm. Rothschild as a private chef early in his career. He mentioned that there were over twenty servants for a household of one. Truffles were served, braised in champagne, as a side dish. One of the best ways to enjoy truffles is in a properly made risotto. It's even better when the truffle has been stored in the rice. Storing the truffle in the rice absorbed the condensation from the surface and keeps it from spoiling faster and as a bonus the rice is perfumed with the truffle essence. If you do not have a giant, $2400 truffle, the risotto is pretty good on its own.

Chef Michael Hutchings

 

Jumbo White Truffle from Alba

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Wild Chives

Wild Chives

My daughter sent me a photo of wild chives she had gathered from her yard in North Carolina. What do you do with a crop of wild chives besides having baked potatoes and chives?

Chive away!

Chef Michael Hutchings

Here are a few thoughts.

Chive Spiked Fettuccini Alfredo

Gruyere Cheese Soufflé with Chive Cream

Chive Oil on Grilled Striped Sea Bass, Parsnip Puree

Cream of Cauliflower Soup, Chive Flan

Goat Cheese, Chives and Black Pepper on Potato Latkes

Raw Oysters, Chive Gelée

Grilled Scallops, Chive Butter Sauce

Chicken Kiev, Chive and Porcini Butter

Butter Poached Wild Salmon, Chive Coulis

Scrambled Eggs, Chives and Caviar

 

 

Maritime Museum Tastings and Lecture

SBMM Maritime Tastings

 

Where: Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, 113 Harbor Way, Santa Barbara, California

What: Enjoy presentations by Fishermen and Scientists, as well as tastings by local Chefs. 

When: Wednesdays, October 16, and 23, 2013     Time: 7 pm 

Why: To celebrate local seafood, fishermen and local chefs

Cost: $20 (members), $30 (non-members)

RSVP: (805) 962-8404 x115
Visit: www.sbmm.org

The museum will be hosting two more nights of fresh seafood presentations and cooking demonstrations during the month of October. Local fishermen and seafood producers will give a short presentation on how they harvest fresh seafood, followed by a presentation by scientists/experts on the catch, and a demonstration by local chefs on how to prepare each item.

 

Chef Michael Hutchings - Presenting

 

Uni will be featured on October 16^th, with presentations by local uni diver Bill Hooten; marine biologist Dr. Pauline Yu of UCSB’s Hofmann Laboratory; and Chef Michael Hutchings of Michael's Catering in Santa Barbara.

Mussels will be featured on October 23^rd, with presentations by local mariculturalists Bernard Friedman of Santa Barbara Mariculture and Doug Bush of Cultured Abalone; marine biologists Dr. Gretchen Hofmann and Dr. Morgan Kelly of UCSB’s Hofmann Laboratory; and once again, Chef Michael Hutchings of Michael’s Catering.

Each presentation will also feature tastings from local wineries and businesses.  Guest appearances will be made by SBMM’s partner organizations, the Ty Warner Sea Center and Community Seafood, to discuss sustainable seafood events and efforts. Tickets are $20 for Santa Barbara Maritime Museum and American Institute of Wine and Food members, and $30 for non-members.  For ticket information please contact the Museum Store at (805) 962-8404 x115.

This series is being held in collaboration with the American Institute of Wine and Seafood and the Ty Warner Sea Center, and these events are part of Visit Santa Barbara’s Epicure promotion.

The 7,825 square-foot Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, located at the Santa Barbara Harbor, opened to the public in July 2000.  Today, the museum is a vital part of the community, offering educational programs, interactive displays, and both temporary and permanent exhibits, attracting thousands of visitors each year. To date, more than 81,000 schoolchildren from 140 area schools have participated in the Maritime Museum’s educational programs.

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum is located at 113 Harbor Way, Suite 190, Santa Barbara, California 93109 or sbmm.org. 

 

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Sensation Seafood Event at Ty Warner Sea Center

Recently I participated in an event showcasing sustainable seafood at the Ty Warner Sea Center. My roll was to prepare the cocktail abalone supplied by The Cultured Abalone mariculture operation from Goleta. Dough Bush is the marine biologist that oversees the facility.

 

The farm has been in operation over 15 years and grows red abalone, haliotis refuescens, for the seafood trade. The farm is onshore based. Cold ocean water is pumped into gravity fed tanks that are used to grow out the abalone. Dough breeds the abalone from a selected stock of red abalone. They are selected for growth rate, adaptability to mariculture conditions. The juvenile abalone feed on algae that grow on the sides of the tanks and as they mature, dulce and kelp are fed to them. Cocktail abalone, about 2-1/4 inches in the shell, are about two years old. The standard restaurant size abalone are about 3-1/2 inches in diameter and some three plus years old.

My preparation is the essence of simplicity. After shucking, cleaning and a light tenderizing, the abalone are placed back in their shell, topped with an herb butter and baked for 5-6 minutes. We prepared some 200 abalones and served them all in forty-five minutes!

Chef Michael Hutchings

Here is the purpose of the sustainable seafood program at the Sea Center:

"The mission of the Sustainable Seafood Program is to educate our community about the impact of their seafood choices on the health of the planet.  By increasing community support for sustainable and local seafood, we hope to do our part to ensure that all the tasty dishes we enjoy today are available for generations to come.  Our vision is to see Santa Barbara become known as a town that actively supports the longevity of their local fisheries and that leads the county in support for a sustainable seafood movement. 

We want to shift our community’s seafood consumption to sustainable sources, consumer by consumer and restaurant by restaurant.

By helping restaurants and markets replace unsustainable seafood items with sustainable ones, we hope to shift thousands of dollars spent supporting unsustainable fisheries to supporting the new sustainable seafood movement.

We also work to spread awareness by educating and inspiring our community to raise their standards for their seafood choices." 

 

Related articles

SBMM Maritime Tastings by AIWF and Santa Barbara Maritime Museum

Sustainable Seafood Promoted at Tasting Event.

Chef James Sly - Intrepid Gourmet

My dear friend Chef James Sly is up to his culinary shenanigans next week. Chef Sly presides at his eponymous restaurant in Carpinteria, CA. His resume would be the envy of any Iron Chef, having worked at the Hotel de Paris, Paris Ritz and Michel Guerard to name a few. His international travels and wide-ranging culinary curiosity endows him with an international repertoire of cuisines.

Sly's is doing a special dinner in the East Coast Italian American tradition on Sunday night October 20th. "Sunday Gray" is a popular part of East Coast tradition - the gravy is the "tomato gravy" or meat sauce that is the center piece of the meal. It's a complicated complex meal to prepare, especially if you don't enlist the help of an Italian grandmother or two.

The dinner at Sly's will have an aperitif with appetizers, a sit down three course dinner with a main course of braised bracciole, meatballs, ribs, Sly's homemade pinwheel sausage and hot italian sausage, mostacciolli pasta and the rich tomato gravy that all of the meats are braised in. Three great Italian American classic desserts will follow the dinner, along with "una Supresa" - a little surprise.

The price for the aperitif, three course dinner, and including some interesting Sicilian wines is $65 per person, plus tax and tip. Seating is limited and reservations are a good idea. You can read more about it at the Sly's web site.

Chef Michael Hutchings

The Art of the Dinner Party - Santa Barbara

 

Small dinner parties are a great way to showcase the art of food and wine. This dinner was for 10 guests at an elegant estate in Santa Barbara, CA. We served the guests al fresco surrounded by stunning views of Santa Barbara. The guests were a sophisticated group of food and wine enthusiasts that brought a pannier of great vintage wines to match up with the dinner menu.

 

I pulled out the classics for the dinner. The first course was a Roux dish, of Le Gavroche fame. The lobster mousseline called Mousseline d'Homard Regine is a dish dedicated to the disco queen Regine who reigned in the 70s-80s. I worked with Chef Albert Roux to prepare the dish in 1978 during my tenure as sous chef at Le Gavroche. The recipe is a study in luxury. A small oval mold is lined with spinach leaves, filled with an ethereal lobster mousseline with a dab of caviar in the middle and sauced with a vodka-spiked sauce americaine with a flourish of caviar to crown the dish fit for the disco queen.

 

 The "palate cleanser, " a term I object to, was a lemon verbena granité made from fresh herbs gleaned from the local farmers market. It is simply an infusion with a small amount of sugar and a touch of gelatin for texture. The gelatin helps keep the ice crystal small for that grainy texture typical of a granité. With a short pulse in a food process, it's done. My all time best "palate cleanser" is a grapefruit granité doused with a shot of freezer-cold bourbon whiskey, a sort of adult slushy.

 

 

 Wines ran the gamut from a Dom Perignon Brut, to Puligny-Montrachet with a finish of Chateau d'Yquem. The Yquem is one of my all time favored wines. In 1981 while doing a "stage" at the Lenotre restaurant Le Pré Catalan in Paris, I assisted at a dinner for all the ambassadors in Paris hosted by the President de la Republique, François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand. At that dinner the first course was a Terrine de Foie Gras with a paring of Chateau d'Yquem, 1970. I mentioned to the Chef de Cuisine, Patrick Lenôtre, that I always wanted to have a taste of the legendary Sauternes. Moments later he returned with a Fred Flinstone slab of Foie Gras Terrine and a bottle of d'Yquem. I settled in to a quite corner of the kitchen and did my own "gavage" with the holy duo. The menu for the evening follows along with a recipe for that lobster dish.

Tastefully, 

Chef Michael Hutchings

 

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  Rack of Lamb "Persillade"
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  Cheese by C'est Cheese
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  "Cigar" with Ganache

Rack of Lamb "Persillade"

 

Taste of the Town 2013

Chef Michael Hutchings Taste of the Town 2013

Since 1981, I have participated in the Taste of the Town in Santa Barbara, CA. Some fourtey food establishments and fourtey wineries offer tastes to some 1000 participants.

I have prepared a number of dishes for the event over the tears including Potato Blini with Caviar, Pealla, Bouillabaisse en Gelée, Chocolate Mousse, Lobster Quenelles, Rock Shrimp Sausage, Pork Tamale Pancakes and my famous Abalone Waterside. 

It has always been a great event for a great cause. The Arthritis Foundation benefits from the event and uses the proceeds for local programs and services.

Stay tuned for next years event on September 7, 2014.

Chef Michael Hutchings

Wedding Cake Season

A picture is worth 1000 words. Wedding cakes by Christine Dahl Pastries.

 

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Royal Chefs' Reception by Chef Albert Roux and Chef Michel Roux, JR.

 

Chefs Michel Roux, Jr. and Albert Roux

 

Chefs Albert and Michel Roux Jr are leading a team of chefs from The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts in London, England. Square Mile Salute is not only a fantastic event that allows supporters to enjoy the cooking of some of the country's best and most inventive chefs in the stunning surroundings of Guildhall; it supports magnificent causes including the Mayor’s Fund for London, which aims to give disadvantaged young Londoners a decent start in life.

The Royal Chefs’ reception

Canapés and caviar and Champagne Billecart-Salmon
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The Roux Banquet With matched wines selected by Silvano Gilraldin, Le Gavroche
Mixed game terrine, pistachio and pomegranate
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Baked paupiette of Lemon Sole Mousseline of Cornish Crab
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Beef Tournedos Celeriac puree, girolles with port and red wine jus
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Apple liqueur-soaked baba Compote and crisp
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William Curley Chocolates and a dram of The Balvenie 14 year Caribbean Cask single malt

Wedding Cake Season

Wedding Cake for 300 Guests on Green Mums

 

Flour, Butter, Sugar, Eggs, Chocolate, Fruits, Vanilla, Liquors, Imagination

Seemingly simple ingredients, crafted with skill, are the stuff that dreams are made of. Chef Christine Dahl, Christine Dahl Pastries makes extraordinary, dreamy cakes. During the wedding season, she crafts some 175 wedding cakes  from her kitchen in Santa Barbara, CA.

 

 Note of Disclosure: I am married to Christine Dahl yet harbor no predjudice as to her pastry skills. The proof is in the cake!

High Tea

 

High Tea Buffet

Centerpiece and Petit Fours

Pastry chef Christine Dahl and myself recently produced a wonderful high tea for a client in Montecito, CA. We modeled the menu on our repertoire and what is served at Fortnum and Masons in London. The event was for the veteran event planner, John Daly, as a benefit for his Key Class. Some 125 guests enjoyed beverages and the buffet at a lovely estate. John Daly provided antique linens and an array of silver platter, rare china and service pieces to create an old world feeling. Floral accents were displayed in heirloom silver. It was as if we were at an old English manor house. I expected a butler in coattails to appear and corgis to be wandering in the garden. 

Cooking for a high tea is fussy work. Each bite of food must look tempting and be delicious. We prepared over 1500 pieces of sweet and savory selections of some 17 menu items. Chef Dahl prepared the detailed classic moist petit fours and I did the easier crisp petit fours and finger sandwiches. At the end of the day, everything was gone!

 

 

Sulphur Shelf Mushroom

Sulphur Shelf Mushroom

While out on a hike last week, I spotted a sulphur shelf mushroom sprouting from an oak tree. It is a sure sign that it is fall. These mushroom bloom even if there has been no rain. They tap into the moisture in trunks of trees. Usually I find these growing on eucalyptus and they are to be avoided as they pick up resins from the tree. I have picked specimens weighing in at over 10 pounds.

I will let this specimen grow a bit more before harvesting it. If you wait too long, the mushroom get tough. Also called Chicken of the Woods, it is a meaty mushroom that lends itself to several cooking methods including sauteing, braising and in a stew. I'll post the recipe in a later blog.

From Wikipedia:

Laetiporus is a genus of edible mushrooms found throughout much of the world. Some species, especially Laetiporus sulphureus, are commonly known as sulphur shelf, chicken of the woods, the chicken mushroom, or the chicken fungus because many think they taste like chicken. The name "chicken of the woods" is not to be confused with the edible polypore, Maitake(Grifola frondosa) known as "hen of the woods", or with Lyophyllum decastes, known as the "fried chicken mushroom".

The mushroom can be prepared in most ways that one can prepare chicken meat. It can also be used as a substitute for chicken in a vegetarian diet. Additionally, it can be frozen for long periods of time and retain its edibility. In certain parts of Germany and North America, it is considered a delicacy.

Photo Wikipedia

L. sulphureus prepared dish

In some cases eating the mushroom "causes mild reactions . . . for example, swollen lips" or in rare cases "nausea, vomiting, dizziness and disorientation" to those who are sensitive.^[4] This is believed to be due to a number of factors that range from very bad allergies to the mushroom's protein, to toxins absorbed by the mushroom from the wood it grows on (for example, eucalyptus orcedar), to simply eating specimens that have decayed past their prime. As such, many field guides request that those who eat Laetiporus exercise caution by only eating fresh, young brackets and begin with small quantities to see how well it sits in their stomach.