Food Facts: Panko Bread Crumbs

A few posts ago I made a dish with Red Snapper coated with Panko Bread Crumbs.

This is a slightly new food for me, and these kinds of posts will include fun facts and some compare and contrasts, like the post about Shallots.

This post will help us to know what sets Panko apart from regular bread crumbs and what it is best for.

Panko style bread crumbs are originally Japanese, and are often referred to as Japanese style bread crumbs. The main difference between panko and traditional or italian style bread crumbs is the part of the bread it comes from and the texture that the pieces used create.

Basically, Italian bread crumbs are made from the whole of the bread, including the crust, which often brings the darker color.

Panko bread crumbs only include the white of the bread and are first dried and then shredded, which gives them their texture, which is often best used with fish. These bread crumbs are crispier and airier, which in turn makes the dish so. Which is why they go so well with fish, and why I loved it with the Red Snapper dish I prepared.

They can be difficult to find a your grocery store, but they are there. I have found them both in a box as well as in bulk.

more variety is always good. more education on different types of foods helps us create better dishes! :)

Always in the kitchen,

Mel

New Recipe: Red Snapper with Orzo

So, miraculously, Utah county finally was blessed with a WINCO Foods grocery store. This store has amazing selection, prices, and great quality everything. As I have been shopping there the past few weeks it has been open, I have found ideas for dishes based on great things they are selling. As comes the inspiration for this Red Snapper dish I found.

Some people ask my how I became such a talented chef with good recipes, and I think half of it is finding good recipes and excelling at the executing the process of cooking the food. And of course tampering with flavor combinations and dishes to make them your own.

This dish was great, but even before I made it, I decided to change it up. The fish was supposed to be grilled originally. But since I have no grill, and am still saving up for my cast iron grill pan, I had to find an alternate cooking method.

Since WINCO sells Panko bread crumbs at an amazing steal, I bought some with the intent to bread and bake the fish to perfection. (for more infor on Panko style bread crumbs see my next post.)

To coat and bread a fish, there are two steps, first the eggs to have something for the bread crumbs to stick to. With only two fillets to cook, one egg was sufficient. Just beat it with a fork and place in a shallow dish (I used a pie tin). I have seen people use just egg, or use egg or milk. Your call.

For the coating, I mixed the Panko, kosher salt, pepper, and some freshly chopped parsley that i would also use for the orzo pasta side dish. Dip in egg mixture. Coat with Panko mixture. I just placed it on a baking sheet with parchment paper and baked at 450 degrees, I believe. It was hot enough to cook it well and fast and to give a light crisp to the Panko crust.

Orzo pasta is basically pasta that looks like rice. Very elegant and tasty.

This dish was pretty much the pasta with a citrus vinegrette. It had parsley, shallots, dijon mustard, lemon and orange juice, lemon zest, and oil. It was a great tart flavor, that just lightly coated the pasta. (Also more info on shallots soon!)

While it was a great dish, I think it could have a stronger sauce with a more pronounced flavor. I think this will be a dish I tinker with in the future. But it was a great light and refreshing component to have along side the fish.

And I have also decided I love Red Snapper.

Always in the kitchen,

Mel

Favorite Recipe: Chicken Pot Pie

My best friend, Ariel, and I discovered this recipe one night. We were craving pot pie, and wanted to try something new. Ariel was the genius and found this one. For sure, this recipe will always remind me of her :)

Its quite an impressive recipe. The directions actually include making your own stock by roasting a whole chicken. The few times I have made it I end up just using chicken bouillon cubes, simply because I prefe

r to eat sooner than later.

While this recipe is beyond delicious, some of the processes and ingredients caught me by surprise.

For example, the pie dough is made of both butter and shortening. The two recipes I have are my fail safe Betty Crocker pie dough recipe with shortening. And the second is the classic "poor mans puff pastry" recipe made with butter I got from my time working as Pastry Chef at Communal (a divine restaurant in Provo.)

So needless to say, it was the first of its kind i encountered. And I have to say, it is fan

tastic. It gives great flavor, with the perfect amount of flakiness. Also, the egg wash on top adds a great deal of yumminess.

Also the sauce was not a tradition, make a bechemel then add the sauteed vegetables. But I think this fact helped add the vegetable and chicken flavor to the sauce.

It only called for celery, onion, ca

rrot, peas and chicken, but I added potato. And in the past we have added whole bags of frozen veggies, like green beans and corn.

What I really loved about this recipe was that it has fresh thyme in it, making it great down home cooking with great flavor. However the few times I have made it, I end up putting at least double than it calls for. Cant pass up that great comforting flavor.

The recipe calls to make it in small ramekins so that they are more individual. U

ntil yesterday I had made it in a big pie pan, making it easier to serve, and also having enough inside stuff to make two. Last week I made it this way and yesterday made it in the ramekins. Both are great. And either way, you will always have great leftovers.

And, as always, if you want the recipe, feel free to let me know and I will hook you up!

Always in the kitchen,

Mel

My First Creation

So when I started this blog, I had every intention of writing several times a week. But as of today I have written once. And that was two weeks ago.
I think I just got scared. Like I had to do awesome things, "worthy of a blog post." But I am ready to step past that. Any cooking is great. Even if its not great. At least its cooking and at least its progress.

This post is about the first dish I created on my own (apart from some modifications I made to a bread recipe in high school). This was my first, "oh my gosh, I could be good at this, and do it on my own."

As for the story, we were at the restaurant I worked at at the time, and the owner asked the head chef and I to cook him something, cuz he was hungry. This guy was a big eater, so its no surprise he asked us both. It was basically, okay, you have have 20 minutes, make something unique, and something I will like.

So I created this dish. What made is to great was the rush of making a dish in such a short time, and once I was finished, that the head chef preferred my dish to his :)

I'm not sure on the name, but something like Savory Pesto Spaghetti.



I made it today for the first time since I created it last summer.
Basically its a sauce made of Alfredo and Basil Pesto with garlic, mushrooms and spinach.

This time I made it, I realized after I finished I forgot the garlic, but it still turned out okay.

To make this dish, saute 1 clove of garlic in olive oil until soft, but not browned. Add Alfredo Sauce and Pesto.








Once heated, add a few hand fulls of spinach.









Once the spinach has cooked down, add the mushrooms, that were previously sauteed with butter and onions, but do not include the onions in the pasta.










Simmer that for a while, so that the flavors can meld.
Finally add enough spaghetti to be coated in the sauce, but not too little to leave it too saucy.

Top with Pine Nuts and enjoy!










Always in the kitchen,

Mel

Becoming a better Chef

Hello!

I have started this blog, although in a similar fashion than others, as a tool to advance my cooking knowledge and my cooking skills. I am an aspiring chef making my way through college as I prepare to enroll in a Culinary School hopefully in January 2012.

I have been wanting to do pursue this passion for about a year now. I first became interested in cooking more than just at home last summer while working at a new local restaurant. Most of it was thanks to the chef that was there to encourage me and be my mentor. (Lots of thanks to Chef Luke Fowles). He helped me a great deal to understand a lot of basic things about cooking and showed me alot of great skills that have helped me advance and be a chef on my own.

So while I have this great desire to be a great as I can, and learn all I can, by going to Culinary School, unfortunately I will not be able to attend school until January 2012.

I figure the time I have til then is a great opportunity for me to get even better and start creating dishes and learning and creating a style that is my own. More time behind the stove and putting different things together is money in the bank as far as becoming a chef.

And I figure having this blog to write about it will help to motivate me to learn and try new things. And maybe some of you can learn along with me. Plus I think writing about things tends to add a new level of learning and retention.

This blog will include things like new recipes I try, dishes I create, new techniques, any fun new gadgets I get, cool restaurants I go to, fun facts about common foods, and fun facts about less common foods, or new foods I discover altogether!. And any other cool things I encounter while trying to make myself a better chef.

I will try my best to make my posts short, because I know when there is a great deal of writing I don't bother reading at all.

So begins the journey!

Always in the kitchen,

Mel