NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2008
Meal Fit For The Obamas, On A Shoestring!
Tony Mantuano, Chef Of One Of Their Favorite Chicago Eateries, Preps Holiday Spread, On The Early Show Saturday
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Play CBS Video Video Bellisimo! An Italian Feast President-elect Obama and his wife Michelle are some of the biggest fans of Chicago-based Chef Tony Mantuano, who creates a magical three course Italian meal with a "Chef On A Shoestring" budget.
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Chef Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia in Chicago prepares Flaming Anisette Shrimp for Chris Wragge as this week's "Chef on a Shoestring." (CBS)
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In The Spotlight Chef on a Shoestring Check out recipes and tips from many chefs who accepted our "Chef on a Shoestring" challenge!
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News Tools Recipes Galore Searching for a new dish? Get cooking with recipes presented on "The Early Show"!
Tony Mantuano, chef of Spiaggia, can make that boast about the restaurant he co-owns, the only four-star eatery in Chicago, and a favorite of Barack and Michelle Obama.
In fact, that's where they decided to celebrate Barack's victory on their first post-election date night.
But his political connections aside, Mantuano was the Early Show Saturday Edition's "Chef on a Shoestring" this week, accepting our challenge to try to make a scrumptious holiday meal for four on our budget of only $40.
The dishes all come from the cookbook he wrote with his wife, Cathy, "Wine Bar Food: Mediterranean Flavors to Crave with Wines to Match" (Clarkson Potter).
Mantuano was named Best Chef: Midwest 2005 by the James Beard Foundation.
His menu Saturday:
FOOD FACTS:
Baccala: Baccala is Italian for salted cod. Usually, the salted fish is soaked in water for several days prior to use, with the water changed every four-to-five hours to reduce the amount of salt.
Crostini: Meaning "little toasts" in Italian, crostini are small, thin slices of toasted bread that usually brushed with olive oil.
Pecorino Romano: In Italy, cheese made from sheep's milk is known as pecorino. Most of these cheeses are aged and classified as hard, granular and sharply flavored. Aged pecorinos range in color from white to pale yellow and have a sharp, pungent flavor. The best known of this genre is pecorino romano, which comes in large cylinders with a hard yellow rind and yellowish-white interior.
Mascarpone Cheese: Hailing from Italy's Lombardy region, mascarpone is buttery-rich double-cream to triple-cream cheese made from cow's milk. It's ivory colored, soft and delicate, and ranges in texture from that of a light, clotted cream to that of room-temperature butter. It's versatile enough to be blended with other flavors and is sometimes sold sweetened with fruit.
RECIPES:
Whipped Baccala on Crostini
4 ounces (1/4 pound) salt cod, soaked* and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 small yellow potato, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
1/2 small onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
1 cup whole milk or more to cover
1 baguette
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Combine the cod, potato, onion and garlic in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add enough milk to cover.
Simmer, covered, until the potato is tender, about 30 minutes. Let cool.
Slice the baguette into ½-inch thick slices and toast lightly.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cod, potatoes, onion and garlic to a blender or food processor and process until smooth adding the extra virgin olive oil and enough poaching liquid until the cod is creamy and smooth, the consistency of mashed potatoes.
Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
*Buy the salt cod in its dried state. Soak the cod in water in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days, changing the water at least twice a day to remove excess salt. Rinse the reconstituted fish and pat dry before cooking.
Flaming Anisette Shrimp
1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 potato, cut into cubes
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1 jalapeño, thinly sliced
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
2 ounces Anisette
1/2 lemon
Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil.
Blanch the cubed potatoes in the boiling water for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. After 1 minute, add the olive oil.
After another minute, add the garlic, and brown for about 1 minute.
Add the jalapeno and the shrimp and sauté for 3 minutes.
Add the potatoes and season with salt and pepper and sauté for 1 additional minute. Add the anisette.
Stand back and carefully hold a lit match to the juices to flame the dish. As the flame begins to die down, squeeze the lemon over the shrimp. Serve immediately.
GO TO PAGE 2 FOR PASTA AND DESSERT RECIPES
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Add a Comment
- Great segment and interesting ideas. I''ve had the pleasure of dining at Spiaggia''s as a guest. Sounds to me like the Obama''s went over-board on mostly booze or wine for that kind of money. Isn''t it ironic, that the Obama''s were never harangued by their being ostentatious throughout the campaign and what a non-average, cushy extravagant lifestyle these two have? They''re hardly the average American family they''ve been purported to be and misdiagnosed as by the media.
- Reply to this comment
- Well, nice to have the means to enjoy perks like a 700 dollar meal. I really don''t care about how much a dinner costs for anyone. I think this article is trashy, the author seems 3rd rate and would better serve the public by reporting news instead of this drivel. This kind of trash is why I don''t watch television news, read newspapers or even have a radio anymore. Just can''t seem to get the news without it being swamped with reports of celebrity mishaps or opinions.
- Reply to this comment
- Before judging others, step on a scale and weigh yourself.
Also, the United States is a country of wealthy, poor and some in between. If a person is worth 50 billion dollars why should they eat McDonald''s hamburgers or Campbell''s soup? A person with 3 billion dollars can eat 10 meals per day, 365 days per year for 100 years at the price of $700 each and consume less than 10% of their money.
If you really want equity then you apply more regulation including an increased tax for the wealthy and a decreased tax for the poor. You break up the monopolies and give the poor and middle class a chance to compete. - Reply to this comment
- Thirty million Americans are going hungry while foreign aid, and charities send food all over the world. We do not even try to count the homeless. The United States has a government of criminals and a religion of ******.
- Reply to this comment
- Man, I would love to even afford to go out to eat. I eat peanut butter crackers, grow my own vegetables, and eat cactus. $700 for one meal? I don''t spend that in two months on food. This President Elect is representative of the American people? What country am I living in? Did the aliens move me to a third world country that speaks English and has the same city I have to work in?
- Reply to this comment
- Obama''s kin in Africa would be happy to have shoestrings to eat.
- Reply to this comment
- I guess when you receive a 6 figure check from Fannie and you wife gets a $200,000 dollar raise why stop at $700. Spread the wealth!
- Reply to this comment
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