Goodbye Summer, Hello Good Cooking
This is Labor Day weekend, the weekend we traditionally say goodbye to summer. To send the season off with a flourish, we invited Michael Sullivan to create a delicious, entertaining menu for The Saturday Early Show's Chef on a Shoestring challenge.
Sullivan is the executive chef at Le Zinc restaurant in New York City's Tribeca neighborhood, where he puts his modern twist on classic comfort foods.
The chef's culinary pursuit began in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. There, he grew up dining with his family at local restaurants and enjoying the diverse cuisine for which New York City is known.
At age 15, he washed dishes at a pub to earn spending money. After quickly advancing from the cold station to the sauté station at another neighborhood restaurant, Sullivan says he knew that the late-night hours, the energy and the camaraderie that came along with working for a restaurant were for him.
Sullivan was hired as the sous chef at a restaurant in Park Slope called Adèle. Every Sunday, the kitchen at Adèle would host a guest chef, and on Super Bowl Sunday when Sullivan was less than enthusiastic about working, David Waltuck, chef and owner of Chanterelle, cooked as guest chef. Meeting Waltuck (a Chef on a Shoestring last spring) would change Sullivan's life.
A few months after Waltuck cooked at Adèle, Waltuck offered Sullivan a job on the cold station at Chanterelle. After only nine months at a place with normally very low turnover, Sullivan found fate on his side when the sous chef suddenly quit and he was asked to fill the vacated position. Sullivan stayed at Chanterelle for nine years, never missing a day of work.
Sullivan's perseverance led him to almost a decade of experience creating four-star cuisine. In 1998, Sullivan left Chanterelle. Two years later, after working at three restaurants in the city that prepared him for a larger menu and more covers, Sullivan accepted Waltuck and his wife Karen's offer to open as the head chef of their new restaurant, Le Zinc.
On The Saturday Early Show, Sullivan created a three-course Labor Day feast for six on our holiday budget of $60.
Chef Sullivan's menu: an appetizer of Grilled Brie with Tomato and Basil; an entrée of Marinated Pork Chops with Mustard and Cilantro Served with Asparagus and Polenta; and for dessert, Grilled Peaches with Vanilla Yogurt.
Terminology
Brie (Pronounced BREE): Brie is a soft cheese that has an edible, white rind with a creamy-colored interior that is slightly runny. Several countries produce brie including the United States, however, French brie is considered the best. You can find both whole and skim milk brie.
Polenta: A staple of Northern Italian cooking, polenta is made from ground corn. Polenta can be served warm and mushy or firm and fried. Sullivan served it as a side dish, warm and mushy, with grated Monterey Jack cheese.
Recipes
Grilled Brie with Tomato and Basil
Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 small round of brie, roughly two pounds
2 cups of sweet grape tomatoes, chopped
1 clove garlic, diced
2 cups of fresh basil, loosely packed, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
aluminum foil
Slice the round of brie in half horizontally and place one half on foil, cut side facing up. In a bowl, mix basil, tomato, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside for 5 minutes so the flavors have a chance to come together. Spread mixture on open side of first half of brie and place the other side on top. Fold foil to seal the brie.
Place on a hot grill for 10 to 15 minutes or in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with a sliced baguette or with crackers.
Marinated Pork Chops with Mustard and Cilantro, Served with Asparagus and Polenta
Serves 6
Ingredients:
6 center cut, bone-in pork chops
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons, honey mustard
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup fresh cilantro, loosely packed and chopped
juice of 1 lime
In a bowl, mix together a marinade of mustard, vinegar, olive oil, lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Pour half of the marinade in the bottom of a shallow baking dish large enough to hold all of the meat in a single layer. Place chops in baking dish and pour the remaining marinade over them. Marinate for at least two hours or overnight.
Grill or broil pork chops for 5 to 8 minutes on each side. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Grilled Asparagus
Serves 6
Ingredients
1 pound or 2 bunches asparagus, bottoms trimmed
juice of 1 lemon
3 or 4 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
Place asparagus in a bowl. Add lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and toss. Grill or broil asparagus for 4 to 5 minutes. They should start to turn a deep green and wilt slightly.
Polenta
Serves 6
Ingredients
12 ounces polenta
1 quart whole milk
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, grated
salt and pepper to taste
On medium heat, pour milk into a saucepan. Add the butter. Season with salt and pepper. Bring the milk to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low, then slowly add polenta and cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring. Add cheese and stir. If mixture is thicker than desired consistency, add an extra half-cup of milk.
Grilled Peaches with Cinnamon and Vanilla Yogurt
Serves 6
Ingredients:
6 peaches, halved and pitted
approximately 1/2 cup white granulated sugar (add more for sweeter taste)
1 cup vanilla yogurt
2 tablespoons cinnamon
In a bowl, toss peach halves and sugar. Allow to sit for one hour at room temperature. Place foil over a hot grill and place peaches on foil, flesh side down.
Grill for 5 to 8 minutes; turn and cook 3 to 4 minutes more. Remove peaches from grill with any resulting syrup. Serve two halves per person; drizzle with 2 to 3 tablespoons of yogurt and sprinkle with cinnamon.