Market Basket
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Winery Chef
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Peter Pahk
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Photographs by Rick Bolen
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In The Market Basket
Pork Porterhouse Chop
2 Red Snapper Filets
3 Medium Shrimp
2 Thick-cut pieces smoked bacon
Bunch fresh baby spinach
Bunch scallions (green onions)
Bunch chives
Bunch dill
Small head of cabbage
2 Japanese eggplants
1 Ear of corn
Red pepper
Yellow pepper
Red onion
Small (3 inch) Jalapeno pepper
Package vermicelli
Pint heavy cream
Unsalted butter
Light soy sauce
Pint Glace de Viande (optional)
Fresh pepper
Salt
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Though Executive Chef Peter Pahk
has been firmly ensconced at the Silverado Resort in the Napa Valley
for five years, his career prior to 1997 reads like a travelogue.
A native of Hawaii and a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America
in Hyde Park, New York, he has worked at restaurants in Hawaii,
including the famous Ritz Carlton Mauna Lani, and at other Ritz
Carlton properties in Atlanta and Marina Del Rey as well. His resume
also includes an early stint at the River Café in Brooklyn,
and time as executive chef at restaurants in Los Angeles and Beverly
Hills. In 1994, he was selected to cook the New Years Eve
Dinner for members of the James Beard Foundation, a singular honor.
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At Silverado, the personable and enthusiastic Pahk supervises 42
chefs and cooks, three restaurants and the comprehensive banquet
facilities. He has also taken great care to cultivate suppliers
of fresh regional products, much of it from the Napa and Sonoma
Valleys. Drawing on the bounty of his home state, fresh fish is
delivered to the kitchens daily from the waters of Hawaii, to join
a pantry full of fresh-picked strawberries, heirloom tomatoes and
other local produce.
Not surprisingly, Pahks culinary interests are wide-ranging.
French classics share space on the menu with Italian, Asian, Southern
Regional and California specialties; macrobiotic and vegetarian
dishes are given the same care and thought as the rest of the extensive
menu.
Peter Pahk brought this enthusiasm and skill to this issues
Market Basket. As with every chef to take up this challenge, he
had no idea what would be in the Destination basket of ingredients.
He had about an hour, could use no fancy professional equipment,
had no assistants and had access only to the ingredients most home
cooks would have in their own kitchen, such as salt and pepper and
olive oil. Here is what he came up with for us.
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Sautéed Red Snapper with Fresh Spinach,
Butter
Poached Shrimp with Jalapeño & Chives
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4 oz. Red Snapper Filets (1 per person)
1 bunch Fresh Baby Spinach
8 oz. Whole Unsalted Butter
3 oz. Rice Vermicelli Noodles
3 Peeled & Deveined 25 -30 count Shrimp (keep tail on)
1 oz. Light Soy Sauce
1 tsp. Chopped Chives
1/2 tsp. Finely-julienned Jalapeno Pepper (no seeds)
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Served With Soy Infused Rice
Vermicelli Noodles
Season and sauté snapper in 2 oz. whole butter on high heat
for 30 seconds on a side. Keep warm. Sauté spinach in butter
until wilted.
Season and keep warm. Sweat julienne jalapeno in 2 oz. whole butter
until fragrant. Add shrimp and chives and cook for 30 seconds, turning
rapidly. Keep warm. Cook rice noodles in boiling salted water for
30 seconds. Drain, then season with soy sauce.
To Plate:
Place spinach in center of plate and arrange rice noodles on top
of spinach. Place snapper on top of spinach. Spoon shrimp around
and drizzle Jalapeno-Chive Butter jus around the plate.
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Pan Seared & Roasted
Pork Porterhouse Chop |
Ingredients:
1 each Pork Porterhouse Chop
2 strips Smoked Bacon, blanched & diced
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
_ cup Freshly Shucked Corn Kernels
1 oz Diced Red Pepper
1 oz. Diced Cabbage
1 oz Diced Yellow Pepper
1 oz. Diced Red Onion
1 oz. Glace de Viande (optional-can be found at gourmet food
stores)
2 Japanese Eggplant cut in half lengthwise
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For Garnish:
A Chiffonade of Scallion, Chives & Dill Sprig
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degree (F). Season both sides of pork chops
with salt and freshly ground pepper and sear in sauté pan
'til golden brown on both sides. Put in 350 degree oven and roast
for 10-12 minutes or until 140 degrees internal is reached. Reserve
in warm place (save pan juice as well).
Sauté bacon until crispy. Remove bacon - reserve. Keep
bacon fat to sauté rest of ingredients. Add rest of ingredients
to pan and cook for 1 minute. Add cream and Glace de Viande. Reduce
to sauce consistency. Keep warm.
Sauté eggplant in oil until golden brown and then deep
fly for 1 minute in peanut oil. Drain, pat dry and season with salt
and pepper. Reserve.
To Assemble:
Spoon Succotash in center of plate; crisscross eggplant on top of
succotash, Remove meat from bone of chop. Place bone on eggplant
slice and arrange around bone. Garnish (the chiffonade)
with scallions, chives and dill sprig.
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