NOVACHEF – A personal chef and caterer in Fairfax Virginia

Mixed olives for tapenade

It starts with a selection of four different types of pitted olives; Piri Piri stuffed green colossal olives, Greek green olives, Greek black olives and Kalamata Olives which I scooped up from the local Wegmans olive bar. They’re prepared, seasoned and oil or brine soaked. Be sure to strain off the juice whatever it happens to be. You can see from the picture that the majority of the mix consists of the green variety.

Continue reading Mediterranean Inspired Mixed Olive Tapenade Provencal

Beef Bourguignon

Everyone has their own style – in everything they do. To me the king of the kitchen – other than legs of venison or whole-hog BBQ, has to be Beef Bourguignon.

Continue reading The Mightiest Meal in the Kitchen – Beef Bourguignon

Fresh Simit at Home

Simit is one of the favorites in street-fare found around Istanbul. Baked fresh daily, the best of them in wood fired ovens, these treats can look a little bland to the uneducated. What a delightful surprise once you give in and get one that is fresh from the fire place mantle.

Continue reading After a long trip to Turkey – we’re making Simit in our kitchen…

Now – admittedly we grew the eggplant and cukes in our garden so there is a little bit of an advantage there.

We took a batch of about 5 or 6 purple finger eggplants, skin and stems on and roasted them to perfection over an oak-wood grill.

You can poke them with your finger to check for done-ness, but be careful as they tend to steam inside while on the grill and one of them popped and sprayed molten eggplant goo all over the place – so you’ve been warned. Basically, when they’re good and wrinkled it’s time to pull them off and let them rest. They can even be refrigerated overnight if you want.

Once they’re cooled enough to be handled – open them up and scrape the contents into a bowl being careful not to include any skin. Chop them up fine in the bowl with a spoon or metal spatula. Add a tablespoon of fresh tahini paste or grind your own from fresh toasted sesame seeds. You can also add some whole toasted sesame to the mix.

Grind one or two cloves of garlic in a mortar and add them.. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon. A tablespoon of good olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir until well combined. Serve with fresh cucumber slices or quality crackers..

I’ll take a picture of the next batch and post it seeing as how we ate this one before I could grab my camera.

M

This morning was an extra special treat. Eggs and Diced Alaskan salmon with baby bella mushrooms and red onion sauteed and topped with shredded mozzarella cheese – served over a thick-cut slice of homemade molasses-honey whole wheat bread. All washed down with a cup of fresh ground Colombian coffee. Next time I’d like to add a little fresh garden tomato and applewood smoked bacon. But for today – it was simply perfect.

Simply scramble 3 eggs, chop 1 medium red onion (we prefer very thin slices rather than a dice), a 7oz piece of fresh salmon (small cubes), 1lb of baby bella mushrooms and shred a cup of your favorite cheese. Add 3 tblspn canola or vegetable oil and a small pad of butter if you wish, saute the onion, then the thinly sliced mushrooms, then add the fish after the bellas soften. Once the ingredients have combined well, add the egg, incorporate and then add the shredded cheese . Allow the mixture to simmer gently on med-low heat until the eggs are cooked through.

You can speed this process by placing the pan in a 400 degree oven or under a salamander to make it more like a fritata. We elected to be patient and let the slow heat do its work. Add a dash of fresh or dried oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Serve over a slice of nice hearty bread.

Brie Stuffed Puff Pastry Pillows

Cooking for me is about a connectivity with the soul, usually mine.  I often times will see a dish and cook it a hundred times in my head, work out all the ingredients, oven temperature and process – all before I’ve ever bought a single ingredient.

I don’t really have any interest in cooking what I don’t want to cook. Life to me is too short to spend my time challenging myself with unknown quantities and cuisines, trying to impress a stranger with a flavor from a food I know nothing about. I only want to cook what I know intimately. The things I trust and understand and can prepare with my mental eyes closed. Cooking is about a harmony for me; a harmony which can be disrupted when I toil with dishes unfamiliar to me. Experimentation is for my kitchen, not your dinner table.

Taking a catering job just to take the job is a mistake. If the guest is requesting a cuisine that you don’t rehearse – then it is time to bow out and and refuse the work – or it will be much like watching someone read Shakespeare aloud for the first time. Confusing and without flow – or familiarity. These are events that sit like hot coal in my belly when I dream about them taking place in a guests home while cooking for them. They are the epitome of my nightmare scenario in the kitchen.

It is with this understanding that I must announce my intention to bow out of preparing vegetarian meals and dinners from here on out.

They do not feed my soul. I don’t understand them. That being said, I cook a lot of meatless dishes at home for my wife and myself. I also eat in a few vegetarian restaurants, mostly Indian. But that doesn’t mean I understand the cuisine or that I’ve earned the right to call myself an expert in vegetarian preparation. I eat vegetarian food for the experience, for adventure, for something different. I would never try to duplicate the process in someones kitchen. It’s simply not what I love to cook and I have a hard time understanding the palettes of anyone who eats it exclusively. Asking me to cook vegetarian is like asking a life-long vegan to explain to me what roast venison wrapped in bacon tastes like. It’s exactly that foreign to me.

My experimentations in the kitchen with meatless food preapration are exactly that – experiments. They certainly aren’t something I would bring into the public lexicon and attempt to put on people’s tables.

I cook meat, fish, poultry, game, mollusks, shellfish, pasta, reduction sauces, bread and lentils – and occasionally some vegetables to go along with them. Though I do make a pretty killer eggplant and potato gratin…

Asking me to hinge the success of one of my dinners on the happiness of a couple of vegetarians at the table is like asking my to command the final shuttle launch. Everyone in the room would just be sitting there – wondering who I was and what the hell I was thinking when I tried to pull it off. Sorry veggies.. I’m just not the right guy for you…

The new catering menu has been posted here on the site. We’re currently expanding our new salad, sandwich, veggie, seafood and Creole categories – so they look a little light at the moment. We’ve also added Oyster shucking and raw bar catering to the menu. We’ve wanted to add it for a while! Be sure to give us a call for the best raw bar event around. We’ve been opening clams and oysters and steaming fresh seafood and lobsters since we were knee-high to a grasshopper. Check back soon for new items as they are added. As many of you know – these are just ideas for different items. We can always customize any dish for your special tastes!

This party came with a lot of things; a lot of people, a lot of food, a lot of drink, a lot of service staff and a lot of cooking. Oh yeah, and a lot of fun. Once again – the hosts are awesome and like to do things right. That simple fact combined with good taste always makes these parties a hit.

The menu:

• Mixed Veggie Trays
• Cibatta and Raisin Bread with Strawberry Butter
• Mixed Table Crackers with Havarti, Cheddar, Brie and Goat Cheeses
• Cashews, Almonds, Macadamia and Walnuts
• Bacon Wrapped Sea Scallops with Citrus Remoulade
• Smoked Salmon Stuffed in Fresh Crepes with Creme Cheese Sauce
• Baked 3-Bean Casserole
• Cider Braised Pork Shoulder
• 5-Cheese Baked Rigatoni
• Turkey Finger Sandwiches
• Roast Beef Finger Sandwiches
• Imported World Mixed Cheese Trays with Cured Olives
• Fruit Fruit Trays
• Deviled Eggs
• Mixed Cannolis and Pastries Trays
• Fudge Bar Desert Trays
• 2 Chocolate Cakes to wash it all down…

This was a simple, elegant, relaxed birthday treat.

The guests had a warm comforting home, the Steelers were on TV, the dog was curled up in a ball on the floor, feet were propped up and glasses of wine were in hand. This is how the first couple of courses were served. Then it was off to the dinner table for the remainder of the meal and the rest of the wine – then some coffee… as the dog got a pat or two on the head.

The menu:

• Pepper Jack Cheese and Sour Dough Bread with Strawberry Butter
• Saute Jumbo Shrimp with Garlic, Pepper and Brown Butter
• Mixed Greens with Roasted Red Pepper, Fresh Mozzarella, Red Onion and Fresh Tomato in a Citrus Herb Vinaigrette
• Pan-Seared Oven Roasted Filet Mignon with Rosemary Roasted Redskin Potatoes and Green Beans
• Individual Chocolate Dome Cakes with fresh Berries and Fresh Made Whipped Cream