Coastal Cooking with Chef Michael Hutchings

Cooking with The Santa Barbara Chef Venice, Italy

This past April, we made a trip to Venice, Italy. Christine, my pastry chef wife, had made the trip before. This was my first. I have worked in Venice, Venice, California, not the same vibe. The real Venice, Italy, is a whole world apart. Just about anywhere you looked was a Kodak moment. The art, architecture, food stalls, gondolas all evoke an era of a time past. This ancient city has little treasure wherever you walk, and you do walk. 

 

Naturally, we visited museums, cathedrals, the Dodge, and the like. For me, this fish market was the best. The fishes of the Adriatic were on display from monkfish to sardines to eel to shrimp to scallops...I always get inspired by great ingredients. The real surprise was to find a produce vendor selling raw artichoke bottoms trimmed and ready to cook. I have spent many an hour "turning" artichokes for the famous Chef Albert Roux's dish Oeufs Froide Carême, cold poached eggs set on an artichoke bottom filled with smoked salmon and a slice of smoked salmon on top.

The Italian phrase “fritto misto” roughly translates as “mixed fry.” In Venice, the term almost always applies to the city’s famous Frutti di Mare—fruits of the sea. Frying this array of fish and shellfish is a great way to showcase the varied catch of the Mediterranean. You can sample all manner of tiny fresh fish, miniature soft-shell crabs, shrimp, and many more. Here are some other suggestions: fresh sardines, anchovies, baby squid, baby cuttlefish, small crabs, shrimp and other assorted shellfish, tiny whiting, sole or whatever else you would like to include.

 

Rialto Bridge

Carpaccio is an Italian version of steak tartare. It is made of raw beef and dressed with lemony mayonnaise and was created in Harry's Bar in Venice, which, despite the name, is actually a first-class restaurant opened by an Italian named Giuseppe Cipriani in 1931.

The main dish is a simple version of grilled tuna with the ubiquitous garnish of polenta. The polenta was introduced in Venice after the discovery of America, but it soon became the main staple of the Republic, very often substituting bread on Venetian tables.

Fregolotta is a typical and ancient dessert that was born in Treviso and made part of the traditional products of Veneto. The roots of this dessert date back to the far ‘700, but the first written witness of its existence can be identified during the first years of the XX century. Giuseppe Maffoli, a famous expert, really keen on the Venetian cuisine, told that this recipe was prepared in 1924 by Zizzola bakery, founded by Angelo Zizzola and located in a small town in Castelfranco Veneto, in the province of Treviso.

Chef Michael Hutchings Cooking "Veneto" Style

 

 

The light and sound masters of Hellcat Productions, bring the magic to you. Will Conlin, Harlene Conlin, and Gary Conlin form the triumvirate that produces, directs, and edits The Santa Barbara Chef.

One Banana, Two Banana, Three Banana Four

A Very Young Chef Michael Hutchings

In the mid 1980's there was a banana farm at a costal city call La Conchitas near Santa Barbara. Dough Richardson was growing as many as 60 varieties at the time. It was not easy farming an area prone to freezing, infested with  gophers and punctuated with mudslides. I used Dough's bananas in a variety of recipes including curries, salsas and desserts. It was a real education to tasting the varieties and develope recipes for them. See below for a few delicious dishes.

At one pint, Dough and I teamed up to do a story with CNN. The show was delayed airing due to the Gulf War. When it did air, I got a call from Chef Albert Roux (Le Gavroche, London). He said that before I spoke a word, "let me tell you what I saw on the tele in my room in Moscow. There you were cooking bananas at Michael's Waterside."

Seaside Banana Gardens—considered the first banana farm in the continental U.S.—once sold nearly 60 varieties of locally grown bananas through the 80s and 90s at markets and a roadside stand by the 101. But in 1995, owner Doug Richardson stopped selling at markets after mudslides flooded part of his farm. And in 1999, he vacated the property, six years before another slide wiped out more of the farm and killed 10 nearby residents.

Here is a link to another story in the L.A. Times.

Cooking with The Santa Barbara Chef

 

Welcome to another episode of The Santa Barbara Chef. I am Chef Michael Hutchings, the chef/host. Join me for some delicious cooking on the American Riviera. Set against the backdrop of Santa Barbara, we showcase the jewels of my culinary repertoire from some forty-five years at the stove. Look for the finest local ingredients, classic food styles and bushels of tips to prepare elegant, tasty meals.

The eclectic menu begins with an exotic mussel dish the originated at St. James in the Vineyard restaurant, Palm Springs. I was the chef de cuisine there in 1999-2000. James Offord was the chef/proprietor of this world cuisine restaurant. The menu reflected St. James' world travels especially to India and Asia.

Here is a short bio from his obituary:

"James A. Offord, known to all as St. James, or just Jimmy, passed away peacefully on March 3, 2014, at home with his life companion, Judith Chapman, at his side. He was a genial host, artist, chef, and restaurateur whose first eatery, Cafe St. James, successfully opened in 1984. This was followed by St. James at the Vineyard and The Vineyard Tuscan Grill. When asked if he would be opening a place "Down Valley" he would politely grin and say "No." When not holding court behind the bar at one of his restaurants, the adventurous St. James loved traveling the world, bringing exotic artifacts and new taste sensations home to Palm Springs. Friends of the restaurant were charmed by his tales of trekking the Himalayas and the outrageous costumes he grandly wore."

The main dish is an upscale breast of chicken sauced with a green peppercorn jus. In past decades it would be called the "Madagascar" style due to the sourcing of peppercorns from that island. The sauce is finished with a compound butter much like an escargot butter.

Dessert is a rich chocolate velvet cake (my pastry chef wife's recipe) sauced with fresh poached cherries. Port wine also comes in to play.

Join us watching the show on COX cable television, channel 4 at 11:00 Friday mornings (Areas Santa Barbara, Long Beach Orange County, San Diego, and Palm Springs). Check your local listing as well. We will be airing on Amazon Prime starting in January 2020.

Tastefully, 

Chef Michael Hutchings

 

 

The light and sound masters of Hellcat Productions, bring the magic to you. Will Conlin, Harlene Conlin, and Gary Conlin form the triumvirate that produces, directs, and edits The Santa Barbara Chef.