Top Chef

Have you watched Top Chef? It’s one of our favorite shows. We had dinner on Christmas Eve at Oceanaire, whose Executive Chef, Brian Malarkey, was on the show last season (season 3). I asked our waiter if he would send Brian out to our table, and he said he’d send him out if things slowed down in the kitchen. About 10 minutes later, Brian showed up at our table! He was really nice. I told him how we rooted for him last season! Since the Chargers were playing at the same time as our dinner, we started discussing the team. Brian started telling us which players had been into the restaurant and what kind of fish they liked to eat. He talked with us for quite a while, and it was fun to meet him after seeing him on t.v. for all those weeks!

So, inspired by watching all the cooking reality shows, I decided to try to create a “gourmet” dinner for my family. I used to cook a lot when Dave and I first got married, but haven’t done so much lately. Of course, I used my new camera to take pictures of my creations!

First course was an ‘experiment’ of sorts, but it turned out great! I took filo dough and cut it into about 3 inch strips. I melted butter and spread it on one side of the filo, and put another strip on top and added butter. Then I took a slice of feta cheese and a slice of tomato, put it in one corner, topped it with oregano, then folded the filo dough up in a triangular fashion. I popped them in a 350 degree oven for about 15 – 20 minutes. They were delicious! Dave said that it reminded him of the kind of pizza he used to have back in New York…nice and fresh. (We’ve been eating feta and tomato so much since our trip to Greece!)

Next up was a veal dish, with all kinds of ingredients like Italian parsley, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc. Served it all with mashed potatoes and broccoli. Yum. Dessert was warm apple slices with cinnamon, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

It was a lot of fun to get back into the kitchen and create a special dinner for my family. . . . it beats the burritos, and the sandwich meals, that we've had of late!

Creativity in the kitchen . . . . gotta love it!