Blais-in' Through The ATL

Photo from johnmariani.com

My mom is in town this week (yay!) and we went to Atlanta yesterday for some high-calibur shopping and eating. We also happen to be huge Top Chef fans - especially Top Chef All Stars. So, we went to the only logical place to go - Richard Blais's (he won TCAS) Flip Burger Boutique in Buckhead. We were EXCITED.

How cool is the inside of this burger place? Very modern and very spotless. Awesome.

Our meal



Candycane Beet Salad ($4)



The Local: local organic grass-fed beef, tomme cheese, lettuce, yellow tomato,
red onion, coca cola ketchup, picked peach & pecans
($14)

Nutella + Burnt Marshmallow Liquid Nitrogen Shake ($6)

The meal was incredible - hands down the best burger either of us had ever eaten. What a flavor combo! Pickled peaches? Coca cola ketchup? The man has an imagination. Also, that beet salad was to die for! And who would ever put a beet salad with arugula on a burger menu. Richard Blais would. I might start salivating if I start talking about the milkshake. Holy moley it was fantastic! It was unlike any milkshake I've ever had in my life - rich, creamy, chocolatey - and the best part? There was no air in it like most milk shakes. It was solid deliciousness. And the topping of burnt marshmallows? Perfection.

It made my mouth glad. :) So, if you're in the neighborhood, go. And if you're not, figure out a way to get there.

~ Mari

Eggs for Dinner

It was such a nice day out today that I thought I might make a light dinner. So, I decided a quiche would be perfect! We had some goat cheese and cherry tomatoes in the fridge, so I thought that would be a delicious mix.

First, I made the dough for the crust. All you need for the crust is:

1/2 cup cold butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1 egg

1 Tbsp. ice cold water

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix the flour, salt, pepper, and thyme together in a mixing bowl (with your hands...I promise it's fun!). Then chunk the butter, plop it in the bowl, and smoosh it around until the butter chunks are evenly distributed. Then pour in the ice water and mix it around. If it is too wet - add more flour. If it's too dry, add more water!

Then just wrap up your little dough ball in plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge while you work on the rest of your quiche!

Now, we will make the quiche filling. Here's what you'll need:

3 eggs

3/4 cup Half & Half

2/4 cup light soymilk

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

8 oz. goat cheese

Combine everything in a bowl and mix it around until the eggs are completely combined. The goat cheese will be chunky , but that's fine!

By this time, your dough should be ready to roll (lol...)! Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out the dough to be about 1/8 inch thick. Put it in a greased & floured tart pan and cut off the excess with a pairing knife. Then stick the whole thing in the fridge!

I had some extra pie dough and I didn't want to waste it, so I thought I would cut circles out of the dough (with a biscuit cutter) and bake them to make crispy, buttery crackers! They came out delicious!

I brushed them with egg so that they would brown and become nice and shiny!

After it's chilled, take your crust out of the fridge and cut a piece of parchment paper that fits in the bottom of the pan. Then put pie weights on top and stick it in the oven! Bake it for 15-20 minutes.

Then take it out of the oven and remove the parchment paper and pie weights. Brush the entire thing with egg and stick it back in for about 2-3 minutes. This will brown the crust and seal it off from the moisture in the egg mixture.

Once it's brown and delicious-looking, take it out and let it cool a little. Halve cherry tomatoes and place them on the pie crust cut-side down.

Sliver garlic cloves and sprinkle them over the tomatoes. Then poor the egg mixture over the whole thing, leaving the tops of the tomatoes peeking out.

Bake it for 20 minutes and it will be a beautiful thing of beauty! Let it cool, slice it, and serve it!





Mmmmmmm... it came out so good! We sliced it up (it kinda looks like pizza doesn't it?) and served it with some simple sauteed spinach with garlic and pine nuts.

Happy eating everyone!

~ Mari

The Presidents' Tarts

I really wish that I could claim that stunning orange Bavarian cream torte in the photo above, but that would be blasphemy. The man who actually made it is Roland Mesnier, the former White House pastry chef (for 26 years), and he deserves all of the credit for that masterpiece. Not only is he brilliant, he's hilarious and irreverent (two of my favorites).

But, now I'm getting ahead of myself. I did not travel to Washington, D.C. or take a special pastry class at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) to meet this famous chef. Nope. All I did was hop in my little Prius and drive 20 minutes to my alma mater - The Rel Maples Institute of Culinary Arts! The Culinary I teacher there, Chef Joe Cairns, started a program there called "Visiting Chef Series." He is the one I really have to thank, because how else would people in teensy little Sevierville, TN ever get to meet and learn from a man who served 26 years worth of presidents his culinary confections?


There he is! How precious is this man? He grew up in a very poor family (he said he even had hand-me-down underwear... of his sisters) in France, and then wound up in the white house! Amazing! But, it didn't take me long to realize how he "wound up" there. Not luck, but talent. This man created some of the most beautiful creations I've ever seen out of sugar, chocolate, sorbet, and fruit.

He enlightened us with hilarious tales of Mrs. Reagan and what a perfectionist she was (No roses in the rose garden? Just have the staff wire individual roses onto each stem in the entire garden!), Mrs. Clinton's favorite cake (Mocha), Mrs. Carter's warm and understanding personality, George W. Bush's hot dog cake that he didn't quite understand how it could possibly be a dessert if it was clearly a hot dog, and Bill Clinton's period of eating his meals very much alone.



In his demo, Chef Mesnier made an effortless chocolate ganache (he recommends using 36 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips to 2 cups of heavy cream) and turned it into a chocolate buttercream frosting. He then iced a three-layer chocolate cake with it, which was depressing to watch knowing how long it would take me to do such a task.

I ended up buying his "Dessert University" recipe book and had him sign it. And, like icing on top of a cake, he turned the "R" in his name into a little smiling person with a chef's hat. How much do I love that man? A lot.

I'll have to post when I make something from that book. And if you are in the market for a dessert cookbook that explains everything very well and is a no-nonsense approach to gorgeous and delicious desserts, I would point you in his direction!

~ Mari

Chef Bland Gets a Job

Yeppers... I'm employed! I will be spending my tuesdays through saturdays at Chef Audrey's Bistro & Bakery in Warner Robins, GA - starting in March. I will be baking, chef-ing (you know what I mean... right?), and coming up with specials. And, in case you were wondering just what kind of food I might be chef-ing, here is the Valentine's Day 2010 menu:

Course I:
Zucchini & Goat Cheese Amuse Bouche

Course II:
Intermezzo Lime Sorbet
Wine:* Beringer White Zinfandel

Course III:
Coffee Rubbed Petite Filet
Pan Seared Sea Bass & Jumbo Scallop
Potato Tart
Wilted Spinach
Sweet Potato
Fresh Baked Bread w/Creamy Butter
Wine:* Beringer Merlot

Course IV:
White Chocolate Tulip w/Chocolate Raspberry Mousse
Coffee Service

Course V:
Mixed Greens w/Blackberry Vinaigrette Blue Cheese, Dried Cranberries

Dinner Begins @ 6-8 RESERVATIONS ONLY
65.00 per person

So, now I'll be moving all of my many pieces o' crap that I own down to Ryan & my house down in Kathleen, GA (only about 10 minutes from Chef Audrey's) for the next month. Oh, and I need a nice-fitting women's chef coat - one that doesn't make me look like a female trying to wear a large male's straight jacket. And I think I've found the place... crookedbrook.com. Check it out sometime if you want to drool over some freaking awesome handmade custom chef coats. This is the one I'm thinking of getting...

I might want to get it in green... because, well, green is awesome. If and when I get my new piece of chef-amazingness, I will post a photo.

Until then, I'm planning on eating lots of pasta, packing, planning the wedding, and... well... watching Lost. ;)

Mari