Spring Fare With French Flair

Chef Dominique Filoni is America's youngest "French Master Chef" and was named one of Food & Wine magazine's "best new chefs" last year.

His Philadelphia restaurant, Bianca, has been open six months, and continues to win praise with its simple, yet sophisticated cuisine.

Filoni agreed to prepare a meal for four on The Saturday Early Show's shoestring $40 budget.

Filoni and his wife, Sabine, opened their restaurant and named it after their daughter in October. Their son was born just ten days later.

Their goal was to create a somewhat casual restaurant that would feel enable patrons to feel as if they were eating in their own home.

Because Filoni is French, the menu has definite French overtones.

Born and raised in St. Tropez, France, Filoni saw cooking and eating as a family affair. Activities often revolved around food, whether it was helping his grandmother prepare one of her legendary culinary feasts, foraging for wild mushrooms and leeks with his uncle, tending to the family garden, or searching for snails with his mother.

By the time Filoni was 16, he had already graduated with honors from the intensive culinary program at the Lycee Hotelier Institute in Hyeres, France.

For five years, Filoni cooked at several well-regarded restaurants in the French Alps, the French Riviera and Paris. During that time, Filoni learned the importance of using the freshest ingredients, and the necessity of incorporating these ingredients, on a seasonal basis, into menu development.

As he rose through the ranks, he began to understand the subtle hand needed to coax maximum flavor from dishes by letting flavors speak for themselves.

Always eager to expand his knowledge and take on new culinary challenges, Filoni moved to the United States in 1995 to accept the position of Chef de Cuisine at "Tierra" restaurant in Gulph Mills, Pa.

In 1997, the owners of the former Tierra restaurant recognized Filoni's extraordinary talent and promoted him to Chef de Cuisine at the subsequently named "Savona." Sticking with his simple philosophy of utilizing only the best ingredients available, Filoni blended his superb French discipline with his love of Italian spontaneity.

The combination developed into his own innovative signature style of cooking.

Filoni's dedication to "Savona" was rewarded when he became one of the restaurant's partners and executive chef in 2000.

Just three years later, Filoni was inducted into the Maitres Cuisiniers de France, making him the youngest French Master Chef in the United States.

Filoni has been featured on the TV Food Network, in Wine Spectator, Bon Appetit, Town and Country and Culinary Trends magazines, among others.

He now lends his talents exclusively to his own establishment.

FOOD FACTS
Emulsion: A mixture of one liquid with another, with which it cannot normally combine smoothly. Emulsifying is done by slowly adding one ingredient to another while mixing rapidly.RECIPES

Spring Pea Soup

Ingredients:
1lb frozen peas
1 shallot, chopped roughly
1/2 cup curly parsley
1 qt chicken stock
2 T vegetable oil
2 sprigs mint, finely sliced.
Salt / pepper

Method:
1. In a large saucepot, bring water to a boil (salt heavily to keep the peas green). Blanch the peas by briefly plunging them into the boiling water, straining the peas in a colander, and then plunging them in an ice water bath for a minute. Remove from water and let sit on a tray or a bowl.
2. In a small sauté pan, heat the oil. Fry the parsley rapidly, drain and put on a tray with paper towels. Leave it in the refrigerator to cool off. Also fry a few green peas for garnish.
3. Bring the chicken stock to a boil.
4. Working in batches, combine ½ the peas in a blender with ½ the shallot and fried parsley, turn on the blender and pour in some of the hot chicken broth. Mix until you have the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Repeat as necessary until all ingredients are combined.
5. Before serving bring the soup to a boil, adjust the consistency if necessary by adding chicken stock or water. Pour into a bowl, garnish with fried peas & sliced mint. Serve immediately.

Grilled Atlantic Salmon with Braised Leeks and Citrus Emulsion

Ingredients:
1-1/2 to 2 lbs Atlantic salmon (4 portions about 6-7 oz. each)
2-3 large leeks, cleaned w/ green parts removed, cut in half
2-3 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup carrots, sliced
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1/2 cup white wine
2 T vegetable oil
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 navel orange, juiced
1 lime, juiced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 pinch sugar
Salt, pepper

Method:
1. Season the leeks with salt and pepper.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepot over medium heat, add the leeks, and coat the vegetable with the oil by turning them from time to time. Cook until lightly golden, about 3-4 minutes. Keep a close eye on the leeks as they may cook quickly. To keep leeks from turning too brown, cook on outside edge of pan instead of the middle of the pan.
3. Add the carrots to the pot and cook for about one minute. Add the white wine to pot and cook until almost reduced, about one minute. Add the herbs and the chicken stock.
4. Cover the pot with foil. Cook in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes. Remove pot from oven.
5. Remove the leeks from the pot, reserve on a tray or a plate along with a ½ cup of the stock. Strain the remaining liquid through a chinois into a smaller sauce pot. Reduce this liquid to almost a syrup-like consistency.
6. Transfer syrup mixture to a high-speed blender. Add the fruit juices and sugar. With the blender on, slowly add the olive oil until fully combined. Mix for a minute more. Set aside.
7. Heat the grill on high heat. Season the salmon on both sides with salt and pepper and place on grill, flesh side down, for about 3-4 minutes for medium rare. (if you wish, cross mark the fish by moving it halfway through the cooking) Flip the filet onto the skin side and cook for another minute.
8. While the salmon is cooking, add the leeks to a saute pan along with the rest of the chicken stock and cook for about a minute until the leeks are warm the stock glazes the vegetables.
9. To serve, place a leek in the center of the dinner plate, arrange the salmon on top of the leek and drizzle the citrus emulsion around the plate.

Banana Chiffon Cake
Yield: 6 3-1/2" cakes

Ingredients:

Strawberry-basil compote:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
1 cup sliced strawberries

Roasted banana puree:
2 bananas

Banana Chiffon Cakes:
3 bananas, medium ripe
butter for coating cake pan bottom only
sugar for sprinkling over butter-lined pans
3 large egg whites
1/4 cup plus ½ cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 Tb. fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large egg yolks

Vanilla whipped cream:
3/4 cup heavy cream, chilled
1 T granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Method:

To make strawberry basil compote:
1. In a small saucepan, heat sugar and water to boiling. Remove from heat.
2. Add basil leaves and strawberries; let steep for 20 minutes; cool.

To roast bananas:
1. Pierce each unpeeled banana 2-3 times to allow steam to escape. Wrap tightly in foil and place on rimmed baking sheet.
2. Roast in oven at 400F for 30-40 minutes, or until banana skins are blackened and flesh is soft and cooked through.
3. Let cool to room temperature, unpeel and scoop flesh into bowl.

To make cakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. On a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper, butter the bottom ONLY of 3½-ring molds; sprinkle well with sugar.
3. Arrange overlapping banana slices over sugar in a circular pattern, pressing down to ensure no batter will flow around bananas during baking.
4. In a clean, grease-free bowl, whip egg whites until frothy, then add ¼ cup sugar and whip to soft peaks. Set aside.
5. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda together into a small bowl.
6. In a large bowl, whisk lemon juice, oil, and yolks until well combined.
7. Add flour mixture to yolk mixture and blend with a hand mixer until sugar is dissolved.
8. Fold roasted bananas into yolk-flour mixture, then fold whipped egg whites (meringue) into yolk-flour mixture in thirds (fold in one-third of the meringue mixture at a time).
9. Fill ring molds ¾ way full with batter.
10. Bake at 350F until tops are golden and cake is set, about 15 to 20 minutes. You'll know cakes are done if you pierce with knife tip and knife comes out clean.
11. Let cakes cool completely. Carefully unmold, running blunt end of knife around sides to release cake. Cakes will keep, wrapped tightly and refrigerated, for 3 days.

To serve:
1. Just before serving, make vanilla whipped cream: Pour cream, vanilla extract and sugar into a small deep bowl. Whip to soft peaks; set aside.
2. Spoon ¼ cup whipped cream onto bottom of serving plates; spread in a circular pattern. Place cakes on top of whipped cream.
3. Pour 3 T strawberry compote liquid onto cakes.
4. Place a small dollop of whipped cream atop cakes. Garnish with strawberries and basil, on top of cake and on plate.