This week was filled with fun charity events in Chicago. The challenge was to make food for the various events out of my home (small Chicago apartment) kitchen.
The first event was a charity event at the Anti-Cruelty Society. I am a huge animal lover, though at the moment I have only my niece (sister’s dog) Callie. A little too nutty right now to take care of my own pet but I can visit with her whenever I need some entertainment.
The event is one of the newer ones in Chicago but has been growing every year. The Anti Cruelty Society is located downtown and is actually a great venue for this event. One room is dedicated to chef’s tables while auctions and other entertainment are spread throughout. As I often do, I decided to do pork belly for this event. With a lot of cooking going on this week, my apartment refrigerator was suddenly filled with 50 pounds of pork belly and 25 pounds of duck leg along with a variety of vegetables. A little overwhelming for such a small space. I decided to brine my pork belly ahead of time with a simple brine of heavily salted water, garlic, onion and brown sugar. I boiled the liquid and then when cool simply covered my pork bellies and refrigerated overnight. I had about 10 pounds of chicken wings in my freezer so I decided to buy some packages chicken stock and infuse it with browned wings, browned mirepoix, apple cider, some canned tomato and red wine. It is hard to always have a batch of stock on hand when cooking at home, so I often buy packaged stock and infuse it with a bit more flavor before use.
The next day I got my bellies strained from the brine and braised until very tender. I usually do belly until tender but not falling apart so I can serve crisped pieces. For this event, I decided to braise until very tender, shred the meat and stew with apples from the market. I also added a little coconut milk for some additional richness. I also made some acorn squash polenta and a caper vinaigrette to serve along with the braise. A sprinkle of toasted pumpkin seeds for some crunch and it was all set. The dish went over very well though I must have gotten a little excited with the pork belly (as I often do) and had a decent amount of leftovers. Luckily the next night was Meals on Wheels with an expected 500 or so guests so I figured it would not go to waste.
Meals on Wheels are a great event in Chicago that is held at Macy’s (or the former Marshall Fields) on State Street downtown. There are two types of tickets sold; one for a sit down dinner with a multi-course meal and the other for the tasting party where a number of chefs each create little bites. Last year, I had a unique experience with the event as one of our Top Chef challenges was to create a course for the sit down dinner. I was teamed up with Lisa and Dale and we were given the element of Fire as our inspiration. We made fire grilled shrimp with spicy glazed smoked bacon, devilled aioli and spicy pepper salad. The dish was a success and Lisa won a trip to Italy from Ming Tsai. Lucky girl!
This year I was given a tasting table at the event. I decided to combine my leftover pork ragout with braised duck leg, bacon and some sweet peppers from the market. This was served over maitike mushrooms with a miso-almond butter and cilantro yogurt. I must say it was pretty tasty. Maitakes are my favorite mushrooms and the two sauces created a nice balance. Plus bacon makes everything taste better. The event was a great success as usual and I am excited to be part of it again next year.
The week finished up with a dinner party for eight women that was bought during a charity auction for a local school. Kristin (who bought the dinner) invited over a group of fun young mothers who like to get together for a special event once a month. We started the meal off with a simple acorn squash soup finished with some reduced cream that brings a unique richness and finished with a lemon yogurt and lump crab. Next was some spiced sautéed shrimp served over creamy polenta with a pickled pepper relish. Then came seared scallops with apple butter, trumpet mushrooms with rosemary vinaigrette. I love the combination of apples with a subtle use of rosemary in the vinaigrette. To finish off the savory dishes, I lightly dusted skate wing with rice flour and sautéed until very crisp. Similar to a dish I had recently done with pheasant in Montana, I served it over pan roasted cauliflower and kohlrabi with a savour of golden raisins and pine nuts. Kohlrabi is a very underutilized vegetable available this time of year at the market. It comes in both purple and green and looks almost like a ball with large leaves growing off of it. It can be prepared various ways though my favorite is to either peel and shave very thin to use in salads, or simply slice thin and Sautee until just tender with some butter and olive oil. It has a mild flavor with a hint of a radish spice and a texture similar to a broccoli stem.
To finish off the meal, my former pastry chef, Jessica Oloroso made some chocolate-hazelnut gelato served with sautéed pears and figs. Jessie has recently started up her own gelato company in Chicago, Black Dog Gelato. She currently sells wholesale to restaurants around the city and is hoping to soon have a storefront as well. She has some great unique flavors like salted peanut and balsamic.
Dinner was a hit and we were able to enjoy a glass of wine with the ladies to finish off the night. Time for me to get some rest as I head off to California and Arizona next for some more events.
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