Culinary De-Lite

Cooking Class Feb. 21, 2010

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:20:43 +0000

We are so excited about starting cooking classes. So many of you have asked for more and we spent most of 2009 looking for locations. We have finally managed to partner with MYTBE, a new event company in Tampa Bay offering exciting things to do, with the help of MYTBE we will be hosting cooking classes through out the Tampa Bay every weekend. The classes will not only be taught by Culinary De-Lite Chefs’ but some of Tampa Bays greatest Chefs from all back grounds. We will be covering all the foods that you love and request. The classes will consist of a:

full spread of food to sample
menus
complete grocery lists
step by step instructions
and a two hour demo from the featured Chef

We want you to come to our classes and leave knowing that you can duplicate what you saw. We actually want to teach you what our great Chefs do day after day and make it look so easy. Our Chefs are not only talented they are also good speakers, so the food will be delicious and the Chef entertaining and informative.

The first class is Sunday Feb 21st at the Treasure Island Community Center @ 2pm. There is sitting only for 40 guest and seats are already filling up fast so tickets must be pre-purchased. This makes a great Valentine’s Day Gift in Tampa or maybe a Birthday Gift.

The menu for the first class is a three course meal.

Tri-Cheese Balls
Garlic Crusted Porkloin
Roasted Root Vegetables
Zucchini Ribbons
Dark Cocoa Chocolate Mousse

To purchase tickets go to our Cooking Class page. We can’t wait to see you there and share our passion for cooking with you.

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Blu Figs Restaurant Review

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:12:01 +0000

Over the Christmas Holiday I went to one of my favorite websites Tampa Bay Half Off. http://tampabayhalfoff.mediawebconnect.com/

I bought a $50 gift card for like $12 for a new restaurant called the Blu Figs in North Tampa.

I then went to there website http://www.blufigs.com/.

I was not impressed with the website, I am not fond of flashy, but the menu looked great. I took my husband there and I fell in love with the place, don’t worry the restaurant is nothing like the website. The Blu Figs (French, Italian, Greek, Spanish) was very Mediterrean and romantic, our waiter was well trained, and the menu was perfectly simple. (most of you know I like a simple menu) Here is what we ordered:

Bearboat Pinot Noir
Vin Plat
Calabrese, Bresaola, Sopressata, Brillat Savarin, Idiazabal, Point Reyes, Roasted Red Peppers,
Candied Pecans, Sun Dried Figs, Olive Provence
Strawberry & Avocado Salad
buttered lettuces, walnuts & champange vinaigrette
Tree Shade Mushroom Soup
velvety blend of mushrooms with a cheese crouton
Chicken a la Grecque
chicken breast& moussaka potatoes
Honey Lavender Duck Confit
slow braised and hand pulled served with herbed cous cous
Brulee a la Liza
creme brulee & fresh berries
Galaktoboureko
Greek phyllo pastry stuffed with ground nuts and spices

The waiter suggested the Bearboat Pinot Noir which was a very smooth wine with a hint of spice, next was the Vin Plat which is a sampler of creamy sharp cheeses, salty cured meats, olives, and one of my favorites candied pecans. This was a great prelude to what was to come. My husband ordered their Strawberry & Avocado Salad, which was lightly dressed and of course I went for a soup. It was not an easy decision all of the soups sounded yummy, I eventually settled for the Tree Shade Mushroom Soup, it was velvety and earthy at the same time. I also ordered the Duck Confit for dinner, which is why I picked the restaurant, I love Duck Confit and it is one of those dishes I never get around to making. Needless to say I was not disappointed in fact I think I moaned as I savored every bite. We ended the meal with two desserts and I don’t think they measured up to the rest of the meal, of course I am not much of a dessert person.

Now most of you are probably wandering how I managed to eat all of that food and still walk out the place on my on two feet. The Blu Figs serves what they call Petits Plats which in my translation is proper portion sizes so you have plenty of room to try several of their amazing creations.

I can’t wait to go back. Be sure to check out their website they run several specials and they have live music during the week.

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Fighting Winter Weight part 1

admin — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:20:06 +0000

Did you know that the average American gains is 3-5 lbs over the Holidays, which is 20lbs in 10 years. The thought of me gaining 20lbs scares me to death, not just because I will be over weight, but because of health reasons.

What is your healthy weight? There are hundreds of website to help you figure this out plus your BMI. http://www.healthcentral.com is one of my favorite sites. Health Central can answer a lot of your questions.

Being over weight almost guaranties most of us will develop a disease. So all we have to do is maintain a healthy weight. So how do you maintain or lose weight. I am going to cover 5 things that sabotage our perfect weight goals, then I’ll go over some tricks on how to avoid them.

Ignored Calories
Lack of sleep
No Daily exercise
Stressful life
Diets that destroy our Metabolism

So what are the tricks to avoid those extra pounds? We will start with calories, I will not bore you with all the elementary details, I am sure everyone knows what a calorie is.

Lets talk about how to control calories and I am not talking about dieting. I will say right up front that I do not believe in dieting. I don’t believe in telling myself or someone else to stop eating a certain food. The minute someone tells me I can never have chocolate (or fill in the blank) then I am going to crave it and dream about it. So what do I do? I tell myself today I am going to drink 8 glasses of water and eat 3-4 pieces of fruit. I make better choices and I write my weekly menu on Sunday, all with healthy choices. I plan 3 snacks at 100 calories and three meals around 300 calories, I never let myself get hungry or full. This makes it easier to cut down on cravings. By planning a head I don’t have to think about it on my busy Mondays rushing between clients. I don’t do caffeine and I haven’t in years, but the way I eat gives me plenty of energy. A lot of my clients come to us because they want to eat healthy, but they don’t have time to think about it, so Culinary De-Lite does all the calorie counting, menu planning and cooking for them.

Lack of sleep.
Get 7-9 hours of sleep. I love to sleep and everyone who knows me knows I need 8 hours of sleep. My work days are demanding and I have to be quick, organized, and sharp thinking. I have come to realize the minute I didn’t get those hours I don’t think as clear. Also sleep deprivation infers with hormone levels that increase our appetite. Sleep deprived people are generally overweight. So turn off the TV and go to sleep, whatever you have not finished will be there the next day waiting for you.

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Pashas Miami Restaurant Review

admin — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:02:08 +0000

Thanksgiving weekend I had the pleasure of being in Miami visiting good friends. Of course, one of the subjects we covered was food. Not just any food, but healthy delicious food, my favorite. I was told about this great Fast Food Restaurant called Pashas. Is there such a thing as healthy Fast Food were the food is all natural, no additives or preservatives? http://www.pashas.com/company.html

I had to go and check it out. There are several locations spread through out the Miami area, but we chose the one on Lincoln street in South Beach, which is a treat in itself. The location was great and the restaurant’s two stories and out siding eating looked anything but fast food. The weather was perfect Miami style which was great for dining out.

As we were being seated I was looking at everyone’s plate and I could hear my stomach growl. This gorgeous blond sitting at the table beside us was eating this mixed salad of vibrant fresh vegetables, I knew immediately that I had to have that.

I must admit though when they handed us this book for the menu, I was intimidated. I am not a fan of large menus. But this one large menu consisted of breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts, and drinks, so I was able to skip through. There were so many things that I wanted to try, luckily I brought my Husband to help me, so I could order many wonderful dishes.

Pashas is Mediterranean Cuisine with yummy traditional foods like:

Adana (no not the city in Turkey) it’s a ground meat with herbs and spices cooked kind of like a kabob.

Baba Ghanoush roasted eggplant dip (one of my favorites)

Hummus of course this was on the menu and it was done perfect

Muhammara the first time I have ever had this dish, and I loved it. It’s a tangy spread made out of walnuts.

Plus there are wraps, kabob platters, salads, and yummy pastries and desserts.

The next best thing about Pashas is the price, dinner entrees on average about $9.00. I think our bill was about $35.00 that included beverages, a couple sampler platters and a split dessert.

Now a cool thing that I found out after I got on line to do some digging, was that they have what they call a Partnership Program http://www.pashas.com/healthymenu.html

They have partnered up with local fitness facilities and other nutritional programs to help promote a healthy lifestyle for their clients. What an amazing concept. Now if only I didn’t have to drive over 4 hours from Tampa to get there.

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Chef Knives Part 4

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:24:42 +0000

I recently had a client ask me about the new ceramic knives, and to be totally honest I had no idea what she was talking about, so of course the first thing I did was research and call all my friends to ask them. The client was saying she heard it was the strongest and sharpest knife ever, but the kicker was she said it never needed to be sharpened. I immediately thought “yea, right.”

This image is from http://www.purewellbeing.com

So, I went on line to Google it, I can say it’s a very pretty knife. They are made out of Zirconia, which is suppose to be the second hardest material to diamonds. It is stated that it is very sharp and holds an edge longer than any other Chef Knife. It has a very dense blade with few pores, which means it cuts down on cross contamination.

It is brittle and thin and tends to chip and any culinary gadget that chips is not a good kitchen choice, several other people agreed on

http://cookingcache.com/Index.aspx www.cookingcache.com.

Also it was mentioned that you need a special sharpener to sharpen it, so I guess it does need to get sharpened after all.

I would love to hear your thoughts and comments on your knives.

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Chef Knives Part 3

admin — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:48:18 +0000

Japanese Chef Knives have taken over the knife market. They are beautiful knives and are made of several layers of steel beaten down to a fine point. They are a soft blade making them sharper and easier to sharpen than German. Their handles are usually metal as well. Most Japanese brands have no bolster so they are a lot lighter. I find the lack of bolster and a smaller tang throws off the balance, but like I stated earlier I like heavy knives. So handle a German and Japanese side by side and find which fits your hand better. The more popular Japanese Chef Knives are Misono, Masahiro, Masamoto, and Shun

Come back for part 4 and read about who has the strongest knife blade.

This image is from http://hubpages.com/hub/How_to_sharpen_your_kitchen_knives

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Chef Knives Part 2

admin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:23:06 +0000

People often want to know do I prefer German, American, French, or Japanese Knives. Well, I went to a French Cordon Bleu school and my first set of knives provided with my books were German, I still own those Babies. All of my knives since purchased have been German. I have held, looked at, read about, and drooled over other brands, but I am very fond of my German Knives.
The German knife is typically:

forged
full tanged
very comfortable handles
easy to maintain the sharpness
very strong
stainless steel
well balanced

They are heavier then Japanese knives, now for a lot of people that is not a plus, but I love a heavy well balanced German Blade.

Why? I am not a big male chef with meaty wrists, I am small framed female with small wrists, a heavy knife helps me put some cutting force into my cuts.
If you are going to purchase a Chef Knife let it rock back in forth in your grip and get a good feel for the balance and weight. My favorite German Knives are Wusthof and Henckel. Thanks Honey, for my favorite Henckel.

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Chef Knives, Part 1

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:05:32 +0000

Anyone who knows me knows of my love for my knives. All through Culinary School my knives where an extension of my arm. My knife bag replaced my purse and my Christmas wishes soon turned into forged stainless steel or a three sided wet stone.
I am often invited to friends and relatives to cook and I am immediately kicking myself for not bringing my knives. I cringe as I carve a perfectly roasted Duck or roasted chicken, as I hack at it with a serrated Ginsu knife. Rare standing rib roast looks like shredded beef after several attempts of carving it with a knife no sharper than my butter knives, I have often thought I might have been better off grabbing their steak knife.
Needless to say I am the first to recommend the perfect knife for friends, family and any stranger willing to listen to me spout poetic about my love.
So what type of knife do I recommend to these confused souls?
First, I try to educate them about knives in general. I always recommend a Chef’s Knife, if picked properly it will replace several of your kitchen gadgets. A good Chef Knife will run you over a $100, but it should last you forever.
A Chef’s Knife in general is 8-12 inches in length and should be forged with a full tang. What am I talking about? The tang is the metal of the blade running from tip all the way through the handle, this gives the knife proper balance and strength. If it is not full tang, don’t even think about it.
I don’t recommend the traditional wooden handles, they look great, but harbor bacteria, go for a composite plastic, they are also great for gripping.
I also prefer a knife with a nice heel, no I am not talking shoes. The heel is the curved wide part by the handle, this is great for gripping & controlling the knife and it is perfect for rocking the blade.

Come back to see what my favorite knives are in Part 2. Subscribe to my newsletter.

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Chocolate! Did You Know …

admin — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:25:56 +0000

A few things you might not know about chocolate …

Cocoa beans were once used as currency by the people of Mexico and Central America.

Chocolate grows on trees. The cacao tree’s tiny delicate pink or white flowers bloom and produce fruit all year round in the wild. Only around five per cent of the flowers develop into fruit about five months after pollination.

Each cacao tree yields 20-30 fruits or pods per year. These big pods hang directly from a branch or a tree trunk. The seeds within the pods, following a process of fermentation and drying, become cocoa beans – ready for the process of chocolate making.

Think you know everything about wine? It’s also possible to be a chocolate connoisseur. Similar to the grapes used to make wine, cocoa beans also vary in aroma, flavor, appearance and even nutrients based on the region where they are grown. So you can know your drops – and your blocks.

It is said that the French military and political leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, insisted on having chocolate and wine from Burgundy available during military campaigns.

Chocolate contains more than 400 distinct flavor compounds – more than twice as many as any other food.

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Red Wine – To Chill Or Not To Chill

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:15:59 +0000

If you are storing your wine at room temperature (and you don’t happen to live in a wine cave in the hillsides of Burgundy), then chances are the bottle needs to be chilled before serving. Most reds are best enjoyed at temperatures ranging from 55F to 65F, but the average room temperature is about 70F (or in Florida a lot more). Serving wines too warm will emphasize the alcohol rather than the flavor and aroma nuances. For lighter reds like Pinot Noir, Beaujolais or Cotes du Rhone, put the bottle in the fridge for about an hour before serving. A medium-bodied Rioja or Chianti might chill down for 45 minutes, while a powerhouse Australian Shiraz or a big California Cabernet Sauvignon or Zinfandel would benefit from half an hour of chilling out!

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