Check out some great photos of my last cooking class series “Thrill on the Grill”.  Due to the threat of inclement weather, we had the class in the OZ Restaurant and a great experience was had by all.

Our menu for the day consisted of:

Grilled Onion Bruschette, Goat Cheese, Baby Arugala

Grilled Six Spice Steak

Whole Grilled Rockfish

Grilled Pineapple, Coconut, Curry and Dark Rum

The next class will be an “At the Beach Theme” on July 18th.  Hope to see you then!

How do you treat your ingredients?  Cleaning fruits and vegetables are often viewed as menial tasks.  Watching someone who loves food delicately clean berries and peel asparagus demonstrates the passion and detailed awareness needed to cook well.

Yesterday I was asked to make a  strawberry pie.  After the dough is made and chilling I clean the strawberries one by one to make sure they are perfect.  It is the small details which make someone great and food delicious.

What do you do to your ingredients that separates you from the rest?

Breakfast Bread Pudding is a cross between french toast and coffee cake but with apple sauce in place of the butter and oil found in traditional breakfast recipes.  This is a scaled down recipe of what I use in the conference center at the hotel.

1 cup natural apple sauce

1 cup 2% low-fat milk

2 large eggs

1/4 cup brown sugar

4 slices cinnamon raisin bread, cut into cubes (about 4 cups)

Streusel Topping (recipe follows)

Mix together until thoroughly combined

2/3 cup quick-cooking oats

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Makes 9 servings

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly greased 8×8 inch baking plan.

Combine apple sauce, milk, eggs, and brown sugar in medium bowl.  Whisk until well combined.  Gently stir in bread cubes until well moistened.  Pour mixture into prepared baking plan.  Top with streusel topping, if desired.

Bake 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  Serve warm.

To taste fresh picked lettuce is somthing I thought I knew.  I have eaten greens fresh from the farm before but it turns out that where the farm is and who is growing it it also important.

Chesapeake Greenhouses in Sudlersville, Maryland has a bouquet of baby lettuce that is awesome.  There is no comparison to the lettuce I have eaten in the past.  These were tender and flavorful as well as incredibly beautiful.

They only required a hint of dressing, a squeeze of lime, the pan juices from seared shrimp deglazed, and a few tablespoons of wine to make them spectatular.