Michael Smith

Cookbook / Michael Smith — View Comments
27
Jan 10

Michael Smith: Prosciutto Wrapped Salmon

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I’ve only recently discovered what prosciutto is in the past year, by making a meat sauce for lasagna. It’s delicious!! I also love salmon – BC is lucky to have so many kinds of fresh salmon. So when I saw this recipe in Michael Smith’s Chef At Home book I jumped at it. It’s very simple and quick.

Summary

Preparation Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 15 min
Servings: 4
Meal type: Main
Cost: $16.00 ($4 per person)

Recipe Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Ingredients

  • 4 salmon fillets (6oz, 175g) ~ $12.00
  • 1/4 cup (60mL) of grainy mustard ~ $0.50
  • 4 (thin) slices of prosciutto $3.57
  • Sea salt, ground pepper

Instructions

1.Preheat oven to 375°F (190°F).
2. Season the salmon filets with a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
3. Evenly spread the mustard on the top surface of each filet.

4. Tightly roll each fillet in a slice of prosciutto so that the end is weighed down beneath the salmon.

5. The filet should be sitting on the seam and the ends of the salmon will protrude beyond the prosciutto.
6. Place wrapped fillets on a baking pan, seam side down.
7. Bake until done – about 15 min.

Quick Notes

I didn’t specify the thickness of the prosciutto when ordering it at the grocery store so it was way too thick. I’d recommend getting the thinnest slices possible and get more than just 1 slice per salmon. Since my prosciutto wasn’t wrapping the salmon nicely, putting the whole thing in parchment paper really helped preserve the juices in the salmon and prevent drying out.

Variations

Michael Smith’s cookbook has a “Freestyle Variation” with every recipe. For this recipe, he suggests: “This dish is also very good with pesto, tapenade or hummous spread on the fish instead of the mustard. This technique also works very well with chicken breasts.”

Results


I like quick and simple and this definitely is quick and simple! Within 30 min we were done! There’s minimal ingredients (3 + salt/pepper) and is delicious.

I really enjoy cooking from Michael Smiths Chef at Home book. The recipes are simple, the ingredients are simple and easy to find as well. I really would recommend this book to anybody starting to cook at home.

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Cookbook / Michael Smith / Recipe / Side Dish / Special Event — View Comments
25
Jan 10

Chef at Home with Michael Smith::Potato Bacon Cheddar Tart

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At one of our recent YouCook meetings, we were talking about giving back to the community. Thu had volunteered at a food bank in Vancouver and was inspired by the people there. Elaine told us about Cook for the Cure, where if you host a dinner through their site, KitchenAid will donate $50 in addition to any funds you raise for breast cancer research. Hosting a party through Cook for the Cure gives you some nifty tools, such as online donation and automatic generation of tax receipts. So I decided to host my very own Cook for the Cure party! It was a great opportunity for me to try some of the recipes from Michael Smith’s “Chef at Home” cookbook.

Upon flipping through the Chef at Home cookbook, I came across the recipe for Potato Bacon Cheddar Tart. It was essentially layers of potatoes, cheese, onions and garlic, all wrapped up in bacon. With ingredients like that, how could this taste anything but delicious? It sounded like a perfect side dish to go along with my Apple Roast Chicken and looked impressive too.

Summary

Preparation Time: 45 min
Cook Time: 3 hours
Servings: 8
Meal type: Side Dish
Cost: $8.02 ($1.00 per person)

Recipe Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Ingredients

  • 2 lb (1 kg) of bacon, at room-temperature ~ $5.99
  • lots of freshly ground pepper
  • 4 cups (1 L) of shredded aged cheddar ~ $1.11
  • 5 large baking potatoes (unpeeled) ~ $0.62
  • sea salt
  • 1 onion, minced ~ 0.25
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced ~ $0.05

Instructions

1.Preheat oven to 350°F (180°F).
2. Carefully arrange the bacon in a radial pattern from the centre of the bottom of a 10- or 12-inch (25 or 30cm) round non-stick baking pan, continuing up and over the sides. Let the ends hang over. The slices should overlap slightly around the sides of the pan. To reduce the thickness of the bacon in the centre, stagger every other piece, starting it 2 inches (5 cm) from the centre and extending it further than the adjacent slices.

3. With the palm of your hand, flatten the centre area, leaving no gaps in the bacon. Season the bacon with lots of pepper and then sprinkle on several spoonfuls of the shredded cheddar.

4. Slice the potatoes as thinly and uniformly as you can, about 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick. I used a mandoline to help me do this quickly and uniformly.


5. Arrange a circular pattern of overlapping slices around the inside bottom edge of the pan. Continue arranging overlapping layers of the potatoes until the bottom is evenly covered. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper.

6. Mix together the onion and garlic and sprinkle some of the mixture onto the potatoes. Continue with a layer of shredded cheese.
7. Continue with a layer of the shredded cheese. Cover with another layer of the potatoes, pressing it down firmly before continuing with alternate layers of the potatoes, onion mixture and cheese, insetting each a bit from the edge of the pan until the top is 1 inch (2.5 cm) or so higher than the pan’s rim.
8. Fold the overhanging bacon neatly up and over the top of the potatoes.

9. Trim a small piece of parchment paper and place it in between an oven-proof lid and the bacon. This will prevent the bacon ends from pulling back and shrinking during cooking.
I didn’t have a lid, so i used tin foil to fold tightly over the pan instead.
10. Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake for at least 2½ to 3 hours. You’ll know when it’s done when a small, thin bladed knife inserts easily.
The baking sheet is key – I didn’t do it and a lot of oil dripped to the bottom of the oven. I spent a lot of time cleaning it the next day!
11. Pour off as much of the fat as possible. Let the tart stand for 15 minutes and then invert it onto a cutting surface.
12. Slice into wedges and serve immediately.

Quick Notes

Take note of the baking time – it’s long (3 hours)! The first time I made it I didn’t realize and only got to it an hour before I wanted dinner ready. I did a short cut by boiling the slices of potatoes first, which I think worked out alright, but the bacon was a bit under cooked. Definitely make sure to bake it for the full 2½ hours.

Variations

Michael Smith’s cookbook has a “Freestyle Variation” with every recipe. For this recipe, he suggests: “Try mixing a few spoonfuls of your favourite fresh herb into the onion mixture. Thyme, rosemary and tarragon all work well”. I didn’t really try any variations since I didn’t have any fresh herbs, but I can see it working well with what he suggests.

Results


This required a lot of work in terms of prepping the ingredients and arranging the bacon, but the results were impressive. Everyone liked it at the dinner party. I found the bottom of the tart a bit crispy and tough – not sure if it’s supposed to be like that. Other than that, the bacon, potatoes, cheddar cheese and onions go really well together and is a great side dish. With the amount of work involved, I don’t think this will become part of my everyday repertoire, but definitely a great side to pull out for a fancier party that’s sure to impress!

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Cookbook / Michael Smith / Vegetarian — View Comments
19
Jan 10

Chef at Home with Michael Smith: Ratatouille

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Before the movie Ratatouille came out, I had no idea what the dish was. After the movie, the name stuck with me but I never did look up how to make it or what the story behind it was. During my 6 month Vegetarian cooking adventures, a number of people told me to make Ratatouille but again I never did! Well finally, I was sent the book, Chef at Home with Michael Smith and the page appeared before me – I absolutely need to get to the bottom of this Ratatouille curiosity.

So the first impression was hey, this is a fancy french name for a veggie stir fry dish. I’ve absolutely made this before! :) Although I don’t think I ever used the exact combination of vegetables, peppers and herbs as called for in the recipe. So I learned that there’s different schools of thought about how traditional Ratatouille is supposed to be made. One way is to saute all the vegetables together. However Julia Child and of course Michael Smith in the recipe I followed is to saute groups of vegetables separately and layer it. Also, Michel Guerard came up with a variation called Confit Byaldi which replaced the peppers with mushrooms. The major advancement was instead of using rough cut cubes of vegetables, Guerard used thin slices. Then last but not least, Thomas Keller modified this Confit Byaldi to demonstrate to the producer of Pixar’s Ratatouille how to make this dish! The recipe for the version in the movie can be found here with pictures or from the NY Times. I will have to make this dish again following that recipe!!

But I digress. Back to Michael Smith’s Ratatouille. The vegetables are cut into 1 inch thick chunks. And there is no baking involved in his recipe – unlike the ones I had found online! Perfect.

Summary

Preparation Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 30 min
Servings: 4-6
Meal type: Main
Cost: $9.37 (It fed 2 people + 4 or 5 meals in the next few days)

Recipe Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Ingredients

  • 1 eggplant – cut into 1-inch (2.5cm) chunks – $2.07
  • 1 zucchini – cut into 1-inch (2.5cm) chunks – $0.43
  • 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into 1-inch chunks – $1.14
  • 1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into 1-inch chunks – $0.81
  • 1 onion, sliced – $0.64
  • 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped – $0.50
  • 3 garden ripe tomatoes – cut into 1-inch chunks. – $1.78
    Alternatively he suggests using 1 can of whole tomatoes.
  • 1 bay leaf
  • A few sprigs of fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon of dried thyme
  • 1 bunch of fresh basil, chopped – $2.00
  • 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
  • Olive oil
  • Sea salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Chop all the vegetables up separately.

2. Heat a skillet with olive oil on high heat.
3. Saute the eggplant and zucchini stiring and tossing until they are golden brown and tender. About 10 minutes.
4. Set the eggplant and zucchini into a large bowl.

5. Turn down the heat a little and add more olive oil.
6. Add the bell peppers and cook until they are tender. About 5 min.

7. Add the peppers to the large bowl of vegetables.
8. Add more olive oil and sautee the onions until they are soft. About 5 min.
9. Add garlic and continue for a few more minutes.
10. Lower the heat (to low) and add tomatoes, bay leaf, thyme and simmer until the mixture thickens. About 10 min.
11. Add all the other vegetables back in. And simmer until everything is heated through. Add salt and pepper.
12. In the end, stir in fresh chopped basil and balsamic vinegar.

Quick Notes

I have never made a stir fry this way, where I separate the vegetables! What a great idea. I find that anything cooked with tomatoes will turn out soggy. This way all the vegetables get their chance at cooking at their own pace and not cross contiminated with the other juices until the end. I will start to use this technique in my cooking when there are many vegetables all with different cooking times.

I didn’t have a bay leaf and thyme but I can say it was still delicious without. I can bet that there’ll be more flavours if I had added it.

Variations

Michael Smith’s book even mentions that “There are as many ways to make ratatouille as there are cooks, all with the same basic group of ingredients. The easiest method is to simply pile everything into a stockpot and simmer until tender. While this is a perfectly appropriate way to make a vegetable stew, it’s not the tastiest way. For maximum flavour try it this way”. I completely agree!

He also suggests you can make ratatouille with freshly made basil pesto, fresh oregano, sliced green onions or parsley. For a more Mediterranean flavour, try adding lots of kalamata-style black olives or artichoke hearts. You can also grill the eggplant, zucchini and peppers. This is definitely a good base recipe to start experimenting from.

Results


Wow, this simple easy to follow recipe really excites me because there’s so many possibilities with this base of ingredients. I’m going to definitely experiment with this recipe for the years to come. Next time I’m going to try Thomas Keller’s version with the thin cut vegetables instead so I can say I cooked the same dish as the movie :)

Remix

I’m not sure if anybody else thought of this – it probably has been done before. But I made Ratatouille and Bo Luc Lac as described in a previous blog post. What a GREAT combination of vegetables and meat. I mean the flavours of the vegetables really balanced out the meaty beef. If you’re looking for a truly fusion meal, try this out! I ate this for a few days and each time, I couldn’t believe how well it went together.

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