Vegas Baby! National Association of TV Program Executives January 30, 2010
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Say what you want about Vegas and the type of people that go there and what it represents and how the terrorists hate us because of it and that people that go there should probably not be blowing next month’s rent on slots and horse racing. You COULD say all that. But what you cannot say about Vegas is that it’s not the very best place in the world to people watch and make amazingly bad financial decisions. I don’t think the pure excess of Vegas really is what we are about, but it is pretty damn fun to go there and get, as the Black Eyed Peas sing “retarded in here.” Max’s face when he realized that drinks are free if you are gambling was like when I realized that my best friend in 7th grade had endless supplies of Tostino’s Pizza rolls in his freezer. PURE. GLEE.
We were there presenting at the National Association of TV Program Executives at Mandalay Bay. Overall it was a really awesome experience. How often does one get to go mingle with some amazing chefs, do a demo for TV executives and get to judge a celebrity chef cookoff? We got to judge an Iron Chef style cookoff between Chef Jet Tila of Wazuzu at the Wynn and Chef Neal Fraser owner of BLD and Grace in Los Angeles. It ended in a tie and both dishes were delicious.
Here is a pic of them competing:
And a few of us at our demo:
Max and I did our thing and demo’ed 2 dishes. First up was a japanese stacked appetizer.
Daikon and Tuna Small Bite
INGREDIENTS
1 Diakon, cut to rectangle pieces appx. 1/8 inch,2 inches long by 1 inch wide
1/4 lb. sushi grade tuna
1 bunch radish, cleaned, sliced paper thin
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup mirren
Wasabi paste
1 teaspoon chili paste
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
½ carrot, very finely diced
1 package buckwheat or sunflower sprouts
1. In a small dish cover diced carrots with liquid.mix in 1 tsp chili paste.1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar to make make a marinade.(You can use leftover marinade for salad dressing or stir fry)
2. Slice the tuna into 1/4 inch thick by 1 inch long pieces (so that it can sit atop the daikon without draping over the edge).
3. Place 1 piece of tuna on a piece of daikon. Using a slotted spoon (or allowing the liquid to drain of first) top with a 1/2 teaspoon of the carrots.
4. Arrange several of the paper-thin radish slices over the carrots.
5. Place 1 small dot of wasabi paste on top of the radish.
6. Garnish with sprouts to achieve desired look.
Chinese style Panko encrusted Orange Chicken
4 chicken breasts
3 cups Panko bread crumbs, divided
Salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs
1/2 cup half and half
1 cup flour (more if needed)
For the chicken
1. Mix the half and half with eggs.
2. In three separate shallow containers, place the egg mix, flour, and
Panko. Season each with a pinch of salt.
3. Prepare the chicken by butterflying, then slicing each in half to make
two thinner pieces.
4. Season each piece of chicken on both sides with salt.
5. Bread the chicken by dredging in flour, shaking off excess, then
dipping in the egg wash, then in the Panko. Get a nice even coating on each piece.
6. Set aside on plate.
For the sauce
½ cup orange marmalade
2 tbsp rice vinegar
4 tablespoons soy sauce
Juice of 1 orange
1. Mix marmalade, vinegar, and soy sauce together
simmer in a small saucepan. Mix until marmalade is melted, shut off
heat and cover. Set aside.
To cook the chicken:
1. In a large skillet, heat a 1/2 inch of vegetable oil until medium hot.
2. Place the chicken gently down, being careful to not overcrowd the pan.
3. Flip when golden brown (appx 2-4 min), and brown the other side for appx 2 min. (Cut open a piece to check if it cooked throughout)
4. Remove each cooked piece to a sheet tray.
5. Add more oil to the pan if necessary to cook remaining chicken.
For the vegetables:
1 cup snow peas
1 red pepper, rough chop
1/2 onion, rough chop
1 head garlic, minced
1 tsp minced ginger
1. Heat a wok or large skillet with 4 tablespoons oil. When very hot, add snow peas, red pepper, and onion. Season with a pinch of salt.
2. Toss or stir until just cooked, about 3-4 minutes.
3. Add garlic and ginger and cook for another minute.
4. Pour in 1 tbsp of soy sauce and remove from heat.
Plate and serve veggies with Chicken. Cover with sauce to your liking.
WITH CHEF RICHARD BLAISE OF TOP CHEF (http://www.flipburgerboutique.com/) AND CHEF ERIC GREENSPAN OF THE FOUNDRY IN LA (http://www.thefoundryonmelrose.com/). You can check out Chef Greenspan on this season’s Iron Chef competing against…gotcha watch to find out
