Send me a photo..

Take a pic of whats in your fridge and pantry, send it to me and I'll come up with some great suggestions of what you can prepare from the ingredients you already have. Believe me, even the beer filled , condiment and mystery meat found in the worst bachelors fridge has potential.

ZOOFARI 2009..

Last week I had the opportunity to experience Zoofari at the National Zoo here in Washington DC. Of course I was in the mix of it all, getting wet from, rain, teary eyed from grill smoke, kissed by clouds of liquid nitrogen and working hard. I was the designated cook for the night in the booth representing my current job at Cafe Dupont. Our restaurant served its signature crab cakes with a carrot and cabbage slaw. Of course they are always a crowd pleaser, especially here in the Mid-Atlantic region, where you DO NOT mess with their crabcakes, but for one night they took a backseat and made room for another star to take center stage . Our Chef de Cuisine, who is often referred to as the Mad Scientist, came up with the idea to mix liquid nitrogen, popcorn, white chocolate powder and peanut butter powder. The combination made for some exciting moments, and priceless looks on the faces of those who experienced the oddly pleasurable sensation in their mouth. The images are forever frozen in my brain. The entire evening was a great experience, seeing so many people enjoying food from over 100 of the cities best restaurants, was amazing. I look forward to experiencing the whole thing again next year but, as a guest.

A little breakfast goes a long way. . .

A little bit of breakfast goes a long way when you wake up with that starving feeling in the pit of your stomach. This morning, I felt inspired to go beyond the standard scrambled eggs and sausage combo. Fresh berries, yogurt and granola parfait, cinnamon-raisin toast, smoked sausage, and the star, Spanish tortilla. This popular Spanish egg dish is basically a frittata but when flipped over onto a plate it looks like a tortilla. Earthy portobello mushrooms, baby red potatoes, and sweet onions help create this hearty breakfast delight. As you know if you keep up with my blog, I am all about recipe interpretation and freestyling but for this one to succeed the potatoes have to be sliced thin. If they are too thick they won't be cooked all the way through and completely ruin the whole Spanish frittata experience. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this recipe and hopefully you will too.

Spanish Tortilla
(serves 2)

3 large eggs, beaten with 2 tb of water or milk
1/4 cup thinly sliced red potatoes
1/4 cup diced portobello
1/4 cup sliced sweet onion
olive oil for cooking
salt and pepper for seasoning

1. Heat olive oil in small skillet over medium high heat.
2. Next add the potatoes and cook for 2 minutes, stir frequently
3. Next add onions and mushrooms
4. Season with salt and pepper
5. When all the Ingredients have cooked down add the beaten eggs
6. Stir one time and cover and turn the heat down to low
7. Allow to cook for 12-15 minutes
8. When done, flip it onto a plate allowing the bottom to become the top, cut and serve.

Enjoy!