Meeting Chef Stephanie Izard

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to attend an event where Season 4 of Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard spoke and prepared some spring salads. It was interesting to hear her speak about her time on the show – one of my favorites!

She talked about her background, her time in Ann Arbor (she is a UofM grad) and about owning a restaurant before being chosen to appear on the show.

She made three dishes for us. The first was an oil poached shrimp tossed with roasted asparagus and roasted shiitake mushrooms and served over soba noodles with a vinaigrette made with fresh garlic, fresh ginger, soy sauce, honey, sriracha and sesame oil. She told us about making shiitake chips, which I am excited to try. She takes the caps and roasts them after tossing with oil, salt and pepper in a 300°F oven until crisp. That sounds interesting and tasty.

The second dish she made was a skirt steak marinated with an Asian garlic-chili sauce, soy sauce and honey. This was grilled medium, sliced thin and placed a top a salad of shaved fennel, fresh orange zest and juice, roasted red peppers and garbanzo beans then drizzled with a fresh chive yogurt sauce (Greek yogurt and chives blended until creamy). A treat she shared with us (again which I am interested in trying) is dipping garbanzo beans in rice flour and deep frying until crisp.

The third and final dish was a brown sugar cake, which was served as a mini cupcake. There were moist and tasty, sweet without being too sweet.

All three recipes will be available shortly on her website, StephanieIzard.com. She will be opening another restaurant in Chicago in the fall, The Drunken Goat (exact location TBD). It sounds like she has a lot of ventures she is involved in: TV, cookbook, new restaurant. I think she is going to be a rising star we need to keep our eyes on. I feel so honored to have had the chance to meet her. She has an even bigger fan now.

Cristeta Comerford to be White House Chef

As you may have heard, the Obamas will be keeping White House Executive Chef Christeta Comerford. She has been Executive Chef at the White House since 2005 and is the first female and minority to hold the position. She has been working in the White House kitchen since 1995.

Chef 'Cris' Comerford was raised in the Phillipines. After culinary school, she trained in classic French cooking in Vienna, Austria.

"Cristeta Comerford brings such incredible talent to the White House operation and came very highly regarded from the Bush family," Michelle Obama said in a statement released by the transition team. "Also the mom of a young daughter, I appreciate our shared perspective on the importance of healthy eating and healthy families."

Farmer In Chief?

Today I happen to catch Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR. Terry's guest was author Michael Pollan who wrote an open letter to the next President in the NY Times Magazine, titled Farmer in Chief. In the letter, Mr. Pollan speaks frankly and opening about his concerns with the food industry. He believes that they days of cheap food are ending and the next President can set an example and create programs to change the way we feel about food.

If you are at all interested in food, maintaining healthy food practices or keeping food safe through organic and safe food practices I would recommend listening to this program and/or reading his letter. He was a very interesting speaker and had some very reasonable requests. However being a realist I do not anticipate our next President to follow his suggestions, but oh to dream!

He touched on organic farming including pesticides and crop rotation, treating farms as industrial plant for waste treatment and ways for the average person to take more responsibility in their food growth. He encourages the next President to plant produce gardens at the White House to encourage everyone to maintain gardens, to think locally. He also has some interesting ideas for changing school lunch programs and suggests schools grow their own food to teach students the importance of fresh foods and to see firsthand where it comes from.

I found the program very interesting and hope you do as well.