– This story has been all over the place, but it’s too cool not to mention on ES. Julia Child: superstar chef; badass undercover secret agent. [Seattle PI]
– Who’s the richest celebrity chef? You only get one, annoyingly cutesy guess, but the rest of the top ten list is worth a read. [Forbes]
– Can’t wait for Top Chef Season 5? Head to Williamsburg and do some D-list celeb stalking [Jaunted]
Photo: Wikimedia
I actually made this soup in tandem with Padma Lakshmi’s first course: the mushroom and goat cheese flautas. But, as you’ll soon understand, this one took a lot more inventiveness. (Editor’s Note: This was all before we heard about Vi’s potato-and-cream fueled cucumber soup, which, for the record, makes Ms. Lakshmi’s recipe look like a little girl’s soup). So Padma’s soup is pretty simple: English cucumber, yogurt, mint and sea salt, all blended together and chilled. I’m not sure why I was so taken with it. I guess she just drew me in with lines like “It tastes of the cool, grassy notes of summer.” Who knew she was a poet too?
So I whipped this all up, chilled it a little bit, and…I mean, it was fine. It did kind of taste like the cool, grassy notes of summer, but it was also kind of bland and unexciting, like the second week of June, and you’re still in school. But of course I took some liberties and managed to spice it up a bit….
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I finally got my ass over to Spike’s (Top Chef) new burger joint on Cap Hill, Good Stuff Eatery. And to our surprise, Spike was there, passing out burgers while spending equal time adjusting his fedora and flirting with fans. While my bocce team usually heads to the Pour House with the rest of the league, yours truly seriously craved a burger, so we ventured to the nearby Good Stuff. (And one time when we left Pour House we saw Dennis Kucinich eating there with his wife!)
And while we were waiting in line*, Spike got out from behind the counter and had to walk through the long line. And he actually stopped right next to me. I of course took this opportunity to introduce myself and remind him of his LIVE BLOGGING on ES during the season finale (see previous Top Chef link.) He at least acted like he remembered and seemed pleased to meet me. I’m a fan. But, this wouldn’t be a review with out some harsh, maybe unnecessary judgments.
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Gansie recently got her hands on a copy of Padma Lakshmi’s cookbook Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet, which of course I promptly stole. As has been mentioned countless times on ES, while this pretty face may not be a trained chef, girl really can cook. The book is a healthy 250 pages of recipes ranging from simplistic snacks (grilled cheese toastie with portobello and bacon) to complex crap I can’t even imagine making, like Moroccan b’stella. Of course, there are also ample photos of Padma salaciously chowing down on a fried chicken drumstick and the like.
While I’m not gonna do a full cookbook-through on this one for ya’ll, I am trying a few of the most enticing recipes, from appetizer through dessert course, so here’s my first attempt.
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– It’s official: The next season of Top Chef will be taking place right here in New York, supposedly starting very soon. So expect some full-fledged Padma stalking around these parts! [Snack]
– Unverified rumor: The cheftestants will be bringing their suitcases full of sriracha and pork fat to one of those atrocious new condos surrounding McCarren Park in Williamsburg. [Eater]
– Spike’s much anticipated DC eatery is now open. Check it out. [Capital Spice]
Photo: Bravo
So Top Chef Season 4 is over, and America has our first female commander-in-chef. Richard may have shot himself in the foot, but I think it’s pretty clear that Stephanie won because of her brilliant tactics on one specific dish. Her roasted lamb medallions, cooked with mushrooms, braised pistachios, olives and blackberries, were so over-the-top, so utterly batshit insane that the judges had no choice but to give her the win. I mean, whoever heard of a braised pistachio? And blackberries with olives? On lamb? All flavored up in miso, butter, red wine, balsamic, and chicken stock?
Stephanie really pulled a fast one on the judges here. If you put that dish on a menu in a fine restaurant you would have zero people order it. But they put her all the way into the final, so they couldn’t very well admit that she had made something fit for service at the looney bin, so they had only one choice: proclaim her a genius.
This is my favorite part of Top Chef. The just plain insane things that the cheftestants make in an effort to appear “avant garde.” I love that Bravo puts all the recipes on their web site, as if any human would actually make these. Like one day you’re just gonna say, oh ho-hum, I happen to have some leftover braised beef tips in my fridge, perhaps I’ll batter them in crumbled frosted flakes, quickly sear them on each side and serve them up with a pomegranate-truffle foam. Yeah, that sounds nice.
So for this week’s Who Cooked It Better, we’re looking at the craziest, most nutso things that the Top Cheftestants have ever put before us.
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