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When you live in the middle of an apple
orchard, and ninety trees are overloaded, it’s time to get creative. I’m a
great cook, but my youngest daughter, Dakota, is a chef, with a creative
mind that has no end. She graduated from Scottsdale Culinary Institute in
Scottsdale, AZ. Her cooking credits include sous chef at Mark Miller’s
Coyote Café in Santa Fe. |
| While in Dallas, Mansion on Turtle Creek’s Chef
Dean Fearing hired her for his kitchen, and then she moved on to a sous chef
position at The Riveria in Dallas. After working under Chef
Bruno Menard at the five-star rated The Restaurant at Ritz-Carlton,
Buckhead, Dakota became the executive sous-chef for the Ritz-Carlton's
Sarasota, FL. Beach Club Bar and Grill. Today one can find Dakota as the
chef-de-cuisine for Jer-ne at the Marina del Rey, CA. Ritz-Carlton. |
A Six
Course Meal with Apples – with a New Mexican Spice
(Serves
Four)
By Chef Dakota Weiss
1st Course:
Squash Blossom & Red
Sweet Corn Cakes With Apple Butter
Corn
Cakes:
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1 egg
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. corn
4 tsp. squash blossoms
In a medium bowl, mix all dry
ingredients together.
In a small bowl, mix all wet ingredients together.
Whisk in dry to wet, add corn and
chopped squash blossom. On hot griddle, pour 2' diameter cakes and cook
until done. Set aside.
Apple Butter:
1 cup chicken stock
5 sweet apples
1 tbs. butter
1 tsp. salt
Peel and core apples.
Sauté apple in chicken stock –
slightly caramelize.
Deglaze with chicken stock. Simmer
until apples are soft. Puree in food processor.
Serve on top on corn cakes.
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2nd
Course:
Field Salad with Apple Balsamic Dressing & Roasted Fennel Baby
Carrots
Baby red oak, mazuna frisee and arugula.
½ cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup apple juice
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. toasted ground fennel
1 tsp. sugar
Juice of one lemon
16 baby carrots
¼ cup olive oil
Dressing:
Whisk balsamic vinegar into apple juice. Add oil and dry herbs, add
lemon juice. Dress salad greens. Set aside.
Carrots:
Toss peeled carrots with 1-tbs. oil, fennel and salt. Place on a cookie
sheet and roast at 300 F. about 30 to 40 minutes or until soft.
Place salad greens on four individual
plates and top with roasted carrots.
3rd
Course:
Muscat & Calvados Sorbet
(prepare the day before)
1 Bottle of Muscat – reduced by ½.
1 cup Calvados
1 cup sugar
Juice of one lemon
Several springs of fresh mint
In a bowl, mix all ingredients,
thoroughly dissolving the sugar. Pour into an ice cream machine and once
mix is froze, let it freeze overnight.
Serve a small scoop in individual
bowls with a spring of fresh mint.
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4th Course:
Apple-Cumin Rubbed Tenderloin With Sautéed Chard & #10
Apples, Zucchini &
Yukon Potatoes With Herbed Beef Sauce
Apple-Cumin Rub for Tenderloin:
Tenderloin, approx. 8 oz. per person
8 ounces of dried apples – made into a powder
½ cup ground cumin
1 tbs. salt
1 tbs. ground white pepper.
Mix all ingredients and rub beef
well. Set aside.
Vegetables:
2 apples
2 Yukon potatoes
2 medium zucchinis
1# of rainbow chard (any other chard is OK)
Using a #10 melon ball tool, scoop
the apples, potatoes and zucchini. Sauté with 1 tsp. of butter, add salt
to taste. Keep warm and set aside.
Wash Chard well and dry. Sauté with 1-tsp. butter and salt to taste.
Mix
into above sautéed
Herbed Beef Stock:
32 oz. beef stock
Using fresh:
1 cup basil
1 cup rosemary
1 cup thyme
1 cup marjoram
Simmer beef stock with all of the
herbs until sauce is reduced by 1/2. Strain and serve over grilled
tenderloin.
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5th Course:
Apple Blueberry Potpie
1 pie crust
4 peeled and cored apples
1 pt. blueberries
2 tbs. butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. orange zest
1/2 cup Riesling
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water
Streusel:
2 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2# melted butter
Mix streusel ingredients in a medium
bowl and set aside.
Sauté both zests with butter. Add
apples and sauté for 3 minutes. Add blueberries and sauté an additional 3
minutes. Add sugar and cook until in dissolves. Deglaze with Riesling.
Make slurry with cornstarch and water and
slowly whisk in with above ingredients. Cool mixture.
Form the piecrusts in 4 individual
potpie bowls and bake the piecrusts for 5 minutes at 350 F.
Add filling into each potpie and top
with streusel. Bake at 350F until bubbles form on the edges
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6th Course: Carmel Apple Fritters
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. cloves
2 eggs -- beaten
1/4 cup milk
2 apples cored and quartered
1/2# caramels -- melted down
In medium bowl, mix beaten eggs with
1/4 cup to make an egg wash.
Mix all dry ingredients in separate
larger bowl.
Dip apple quarters in egg wash, then
in flour mix.
Fry in corn oil until golden brown.
Sort apple fritter on 4 individual plates and pour melted
caramels over fritters.
For more information about
Dakota's recipes, e-mail her at dakotamweiss@netzero.net
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