In The Kitchen with Neal Fraser: On Ad Hoc Cooking and Searing Scallops

Last month I attended Los Angeles Magazine's "In the Kitchen" event held at the Snyder Diamond showroom with Chef Neal Fraser of Grace and BLD.

As usual the night starts with some appetizers made by a chef from Sub Zero/Wolf, Brian Beaudry, including endive bites, mushroom with truffle oil on toast, and smoked salmon-wrapped asparagus.

After we sat down, chef Fraser walked us through his recipe of making Sautéed Day Boat Scallops with Risotto, midnight moon, English peas. It turns out that Chef Fraser is quite a funny guy, and apparently hates measuring ingredients (thus claims to be a bad pastry chef). He had actually forgotten to bring some basil for the recipe, but when you're an experienced chef you know what to substitute to get the right results.

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Recipe: Sautéed Day Boat Scallops, Pea, Risotto (Chef Neal Fraser)

At Los Angeles Magazine's "In the Kitchen" event held at the Snyder Diamond showroom, Chef Neal Fraser of Grace and BLD shared his recipe for sautéed day boat scallops, served with risotto and English pea sauce.
(Save the date for Nov 10, where Loteria Grill's Chef Jimmy Shaw will do a cooking demonstration. Details here.)

Sautéed Day Boat Scallops
Risotto, midnight moon, English peas
by Chef Neal Fraser (Grace, BLD) - serves 4 people

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In The Kitchen with Chef Ray Garcia (Recap, Recipes)

Los Angeles Magazine has been holding cooking demonstrations titled In The Kitchen, featuring a different LA chef each time. The next event will be on Wednesday, September 15 with chef Neal Fraser of Grace and BLD.
The event runs from 7-9pm at the Snyder Diamond showroom in Santa Monica and costs $40 (see LA Mag's webpage for more info).

If you've never read the previous reports and are wondering what to expect from this event, here's a recap on the last In the Kitchen with FIG's chef Ray Garcia.

Some hors d'oeuvres from Snyder Diamond's chef.

FIG's bar concocted this amazing Blood Orange and Beet Bellini
Recipe:

1 oz Solerno (Blood Orange liqueur)
2 oz Sanguinello Puree
1 oz Beetroot juice
3 oz Prosecco

Combine ingredients in a tin or beaker and stir over ice. Strain into a champagne flute. Finish with a tiny flower garnish.

After munching on the appetizers and drinking wine and cocktails, we were seated at black-clothed tables and Chef Ray Garcia began his cooking demonstration.
While watching Chef Garcia cook and our dish to be ready, we snacked on some stuffed dates.


The two dishes were paired with Kunin Wines from Santa Barbara county. The winemaker from Kunin was present and explained his pairing logic.

For the main recipe, Chef Garcia seems to have focused on being healthy, using vegetable stock instead of chicken stock for his Red Beet Risotto (you can see the recipe here).

Dessert:
Chocolate Pot de Creme (this was paired with Kunin Zinfandel, trying to balance the sweet creaminess with some acidity)
Recipe:

7.5 oz semisweet chocolate (64%). Chef Garcia uses Cordierra colombian chocolates.
4 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 egg
9 egg yolks
1/2 cup + 3 tbsp granulated sugar
contents of 1 vanilla vean
pinch of kosher salt

1. Scald milk and cream with vanilla bean, salt, and half of the sugar. (Do not let the milk boil).
2. Add hot liquid to the chocolate and mix until all chocolate is melted and incorporated.
3. Whisk together the remaining sugar with the whole egg and egg yolks.
4. Slowly whisk warm chocolate liquid into eggs and pass through a fine strainer.
5. Pour mixture into ramekins or pots. Remove any air bubbles by gently "burning" containers with a blow torch.
6. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake in water bath at 225' for 25-30 mins.

All attendees left with a goodie bag, which always contains the latest issue of Los Angeles Magazine, and usually some wine and cupcakes!


Full disclosure: I attended this event as a guest of Los Angeles Magazine's PR.

September: Upcoming Events!

Thursday, September 2-Sunday, September 5, 2010. Taste of Beverly Hills

This Beverly Hills' weekend extravaganza kicks off with a party on Thursday followed "sessions" starting Friday night. Famous chefs from around the country will be doing demos including Art Smith, Michel Nischan, and of course all the famous local chefs you can think of. Mixology? Brunch? Wine? Choose the right session for you by studying their full schedule.
Tickets for each session is pretty expensive starting at $135 and a day pass starts from $185, but luckily you can get 50% off tickets to The Art of Brunch on Sunday via Goldstar. There is also buy-1-get-1 deal for the BBQ on the Hills on Sunday night.

Thursday, September 2, 2010. FREE Turkey Burgers

Jennie-O Turkey is hosting a Turkey Burger pop-up restaurant and is giving away free turkey burgers to remind people of this leaner alternative to beef burgers (turkey burgers have 10 g less fat and 100 fewer calories than typical beef burgers). The eastsiders get the goods this time, as this is happening in El Monte.
11am-3pm. 11655 Valley Blvd, El Monte, CA

Saturday, September 4, 2010-Sunday, October 3, 2010. LA County Fair

The LA County Fair kicks off this weekend also. For this one you should expect things like deep fried Klondike bars and chocolate-covered, bacon-wrapped Oreos, but if those things turn you off you can go for steamed artichoke. Not to leave you dry, you can also sip on the winners of this year's Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Awards. I'm looking forward to Esmeralda's Traveling Circus myself. Trapeze lessons, anyone?
Wed-Sun (hours vary). Pomona Fairplex, 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona, CA 91768

Sunday, September 5, 2010. LA Times Food & Wine Fest

It's LA Times' first food festival. Not only will there be food from LA's best chefs (including Ludo Lefebvre, Suzanne Goin, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, etc) the festival will also feature live performance by She & Him and Angela McCluskey. There will be a VIP-only area with cheese and sake tasting with the Cheese Impresario and a cooking challenge with Michael Voltaggio, but alas, the VIP tickets are sold out.
Thanks to Goldstar, you can now get 50% off non-VIP tickets to this event.
12-8PM. Paramount Studios, Hollywood.

Thursday, September 9, 2010. Taste of FPAC

This is the kickoff reception for the 19th annual Festival of Philippine Arts & Culture.
The event will feature The Manila Machine, SoCal’s first Filipino food truck and more food from Chef Guerrero, owner of The Oinkster. You can read Pleasure Palate's post for the full menu. Tickets are $50 and includes all food. Beer will be available for purchase. Proceeds benefit The Association for the Advancement of Filipino American Arts and Culture, also known as FilAm ARTS. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Nerissa Silao at nerissa@filamarts.org.
6-10 PM. Oinkster. 2005 Colorado Boulevard, Eagle Rock, CA 90041

Wednesday, September 15, 2010. In the Kitchen with Neal Fraser

Los Angeles Magazine is hosting another culinary demonstration at Snyder Diamond, this time featuring chef Neal Fraser of Grace and BLD. The night will start with some appetizers from the Snyder Diamond's chef. Chef Fraser will show you how to cook two dishes:
Entrée: Sautéed Day Boat Scallop aged goat cheese risotto and peas
Dessert: Vanilla Panna Cotta, market berries, salted caramel
Everything will be paired with wine by LearnAboutWine.
Tickets are $40. Please call Estrellita Dacanay at (323) 801-0034 to purchase.
7-9PM. Snyder Diamond Showroom, 1399 Olympic Blvd, Santa Monica.

Saturday, September 18, 2010. Munch LA - CANCELLED!!

It's time school fundraising graduates from the door-to-door donut sales. Fairfax Highschool is holding a one day festival featuring 30 food trucks, culinary demos, even designer shopping (shopping for Paige Denim or T Bags dresses while munching on kimchi fries?). Tickets are $7 pre-sale and $10 at the door.
11am-5pm. Fairfax High School, 7850 Melrose Ave, LA 90046

Recipe: Red Beet Risotto by Chef Ray Garcia, FIG Restaurant

Los Angeles Magazine held another In The Kitchen event on June 16th at the Snyder Diamond showroom in Santa Monica, this time featuring cooking demonstration by Chef Ray Garcia of FIG restaurant.

I'll have a full report out soon, but in the meantime, you can enjoy the recipe for this delicious Red Beet Risotto from Chef Garcia!
It's made with vegetable stock too so it's healthier, lighter, and vegetarian friendly.


Red Beet Risotto

by
Chef Ray Garcia
FIG Restaurant
Santa Monica, CA







Beetroot Purée
2 red beets
1/2 medium onion
16 oz vegetable stock

Risotto
5 cups Carnaroli Rice
1 onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
7 oz red wine
2 cups vegetable stock
4 oz beetroot puree
3 oz unsalted butter
3 oz parmesan cheese
2 oz crème fraiche
2 tbsp chopped dill
2 tbsp chives

Garnish
5 each: yellow & red baby carrots, white & green asparagus
10 pieces golden beetroot

1. Boil red beets and onion until soft. Transfer to blender or food processor and purée. Set aside for later.
2. In a new pot, heat 1 tbsp oil and sauté onion until fragrant.
3. Add rice and bay leaf, cook for 2 minutes.
4. Pour wine into pot and allow to reduce by 3/4.
5. Add stock, one ladle at a time (wait until previous stock boils off before adding more), and stir frequently until risotto achieves desired texture.
6. Add beet purée and stir to incorporate. Finish with butter, parmesan cheese, crème fraiche, herbs, salt and pepper.
7. Blanch vegetables for garnish in salted water. Sauté with butter and season with salt and pepper.
8. Serve risotto in a medium-sized bowl, topped with sautéed vegetables.

Los Angeles Mag Brings You in the Kitchen with LA's Best Chefs

Los Angeles Magazine hosts a series of culinary events featuring cooking demonstrations with some of LA's best chefs.

The next "In The Kitchen" event will take place on June 16th with Chef Ray Garcia from FIG Restaurant in Santa Monica. The event costs $40 per person.

Here's what you can expect:

The last In The Kitchen with Chef John Sedlar from Rivera started out with a Casino Cocktail prepared by one of Rivera's bartenders. There is also wine served during the "cocktail hour" as well wine paired with your main meal prepared by Ian Blackburn of Learn About Wine.

Passed hors d'oeuvres were prepared by Eddie Sell, The Firehouse Chef (that's right, he's a chef and he's a fireman. He's a whole other interesting story on his own).
The shrimp ceviche with the tiny bits of blue tortilla chips was wonderful - the flavors smooth and not too acidic, the chips really added a nice textural contrast. Bruschetta was latin-ized by spicy salsa.

The events take place at Synder Diamond showroom in Santa Monica, but just because it's a showroom don't expect to be standing while eating with your plate on top of a displayed washing machine. The showroom is decked out with round tables, black tablecloth, complete with fresh roses as centerpieces.

Taking the "stage" in front will be your guest chef of the night. Last time, chef John Sedlar brought along his executive chef at Rivera, Kevin to help him demonstrate how to prepare two delicious dishes.
Chef Sedlar will show you how to go from these raw scallops:

to this:
Scallop Arabesque (here's the recipe)
The menu for the night will typically be one savory dish followed by one dessert.

Chef Sedlar prepared Chocolate Torte with Caramel Lime Sauce (recipe)
That's not all. You won't be leaving empty handed. Each attendee received a goodie bag filled with various items. My loot: a bottle of wine, Los Angeles Magazine's newest movie, and other treats including this chocolate cupcake from Vanilla Bakeshop:


Don't forget, the next In The Kitchen event with Chef Ray Garcia from FIG will take place on W ednesday, June 16, 7 – 9 pm at Snyder Diamond (1399 Olympic Blvd, Santa Monica).

Tickets: $40. Call Estrellita Dacanay at (323) 801-0034 to purchase.