![]() ![]() Any time we got a new protein in, be it fish or meat, we always discussed what the best cooking technique would be to coax the most out of the specific ingredient. It was a valuable lesson about respecting ingredients and doing just the absolute minimum necessary to make an ingredient shine. When I asked Jordi if he liked it, he said it tasted like butter and that if he wanted his fish to taste like butter he would just eat butter. I pan roasted it and threw in a ton of butter and basted the fish with herbs and whole garlic like I’d learned how to in French kitchens. I remember the first time I cooked with him in his kitchen, he asked me to make family meal and we had dorade, fresh from the Mediterranean. One of the chefs that has had the most influence on my cooking is chef Jordi Vila of Alkimia in Barcelona. Who is your food mentor? What is the most important thing you learned from him/her? I’ve had a few mentors over the years. ![]() Finish with some fresh basil, a few cherry tomatoes and a drizzle of fruity olive oil. Add the cheese at the very end, once the rice is fully cooked and then stir in the butter and the lobster meat with the rice off the flame. When it comes to making the risotto, the most important thing is to add the stock little by little, allowing the rice to absorb the moisture. Deglaze with some white wine, add your fish stock or chicken stock and a pinch of saffron, and you’ve got a flavorful lobster stock. In a heavy-bottomed large pot, brown the shells over high heat with a little tomato paste. Simply poach the lobster for four minutes in boiling water, remove to an ice bath to chill and separate the meat from the shells. ![]() With a little bit of attention to detail, it’s actually not that hard. A good dish for a neophyte? I always suggest something simple, with a little “wow!” factor like a lobster risotto. We finished with a squeeze of fresh lemon and a spoonful of capers. ![]() Then my grandmother Mutti helped me clean them, season them, dust them in flour and fry them in brown butter. I caught two six-inch brook trout with a spin caster rod and a worm on a hook. What was the first dish you ever cooked yourself? And what is the best dish for a neophyte cook to try? That troutling dish was the first thing I ever cooked. It’s a dish that seems very straightforward, but there is a lot of technique and depth of flavor behind it. There are some spicy baby mustard greens for a little spice, and candied pistachios. At first glance, this is a simple beet salad with a creamy, funky Spanish cow’s milk cheese, but once you dig in, it’s layered with nuanced flavors: some of the beets are thinly sliced raw, some are pickled, some are deeply smoked for an intense meaty flavor. Delicious! What's a dish that defines your cooking style? The “Ensalada de Remolachas” at Tertulia. Mutti taught me how to clean them, dust them with flour, fry them in brown butter and finish them with lemon juice and capers. The very first dish I remember cooking was pan-fried troutlings that I had caught in the stream by our house when I was 6. She knew how to cook and eat really good food, and instilled that in me at a young age. She went to the Cordon Bleu in Paris and lived with the famous knife-making family, the Sabatiers. F&W Star Chef » See All F&W Chef Superstars Restaurant: Tertulia, El Colmado (NYC) Sea Containers (London) Experience: International Café (Kalamazoo, MI) Le Colonial (Philadelphia) Mecca (San Francisco) Mugaritz (Errenteria, Spain) Abac and Alkimia (Barcelona, Spain) Tabla, Crudo, Brasserie 8 ½, Boqueria, Suba, and Boqueria Soho (NYC) Who taught you how to cook? What is the most important thing you learned from him or her? My grandmother Mutti was my first cooking teacher. ![]()
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