I am thrilled to have just posted an exciting new Novice2Pro interview with Executive Chef Bertrand Chemel. It’s a great read for anyone interested in food especially if you are thinking of going to culinary arts school to start a career in the food industry.

Chef Chemel, previously executive chef at Café Boulud in New York City, and now executive chef of 2941 Restaurant in Falls Church, VA. He answers my questions about where he learned his craft, what he looks for in hiring new cooks, favorite cookbooks and a lot more. You can read the entire interview here.

I asked Chef Chemel if he had a signature dish or favorite recipe and here is how he responded:

“I don’t have a signature dish, because I like my recipes to remain fresh for both my clientèle and myself. I do happen to favor some ingredients however – for instance, I love to prepare dishes with black truffles, because they have a very intense and interesting flavor. I am happy to share the following recipe for Ricotta Gnocchi, which features black truffles and is simple to make at home.”

Ricotta Gnocchi

• 7 oz. sheep’s milk ricotta (strained, firm)
• 2 oz. potato (baked, skin on)
• 1 oz. all purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• ¼ lb baby Brussels sprouts
• 1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
• 4 tablespoon breadcrumbs (Italian or panko)
• 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 3 teaspoon (12 grams) fresh Black Truffle (or quality canned), chopped
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 tablespoon dry white wine
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream

Method:

1. Bake the potato in foil at 375 degrees until soft, about 45 minutes, and while still hot, pass through a potato ricer into a mixing bowl to get rid of the skin. Measure the amount of potato you need based on the scale of recipe you are making, add the strained ricotta while still warm and sprinkle mixture with the flour and salt.

2. Mix gently to combine and using a lightly floured work surface roll the mixture into ¼ inch logs about 12 inches in length. Cut into ½-inch rectangles, place gently onto floured parchment lined sheet pan, and refrigerate until ready to cook.

3. Bring 6 quarts of heavily salted water to a rapid boil and cut the brussel sprouts into fourths and drop into the water and blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes until soft, remove and place in bowl of ice water to shock and stop cooking, then drain and reserve.

4. Meanwhile, bring a sauté pan to high heat and once the sprouts are dry, add olive oil, and sauté them until slightly brown, add the bread crumbs, sauté 2 minutes more, then add the butter and let brown for 1 minute and take off heat.

5. In a medium saucepan, sweat the shallot, and black truffle in a little olive oil over low heat for 3 minutes, add the white wine, reduce until the shallots and truffles are glazed, then add the heavy cream and simmer over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, or until the sauce is just slightly thick in consistency.

6. Drop the gnocchi in the same pot of water used to cook the brussel sprouts, making sure that the water is boiling rapidly and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the gnocchi rise to the top of the water, remove with a strainer and add to the cream mixture, stir and serve. Top with the brussel sprouts and grated Parmesan.

Related Topics:

More Pasta Recipes

A Chef’s Secret’s to the Best Risotto Recipe Ever

I have made lots of risotto meals over the years and they usually turn out pretty good but the other night I made a simple Asparagus Risotto that was the best I’ve ever made. Some of my other favorite risotto recipes include Basic Risotto with Shrimp,  Risotto Milanese and Wild Mushroom Risotto.

What inspired me to make the Asparagus Risotto is a wonderful little book by Chef Robert Reynolds called An Excuse to Be Together. It’s not really a cookbook like we think of, although it has numerous incredible recipes, but more of a dialogue with the reader about Chef Reynolds experiences in France shopping for amazing local ingredients and then preparing them with his students.

I have his book next to my bed and every so often I pick it up and read a chapter to get inspired about food and learn a new trick or two from Chef Reynolds. That’s how I came across his recipe for a simple Asparagus Risotto.

By the way, Chef Robert Reynolds was trained in France by Madeline Kamman and is an experienced restaurateur and teacher. He and Josephine Araldo wrote the cookbook From A Breton Garden. You can find my interview with Chef Reynolds at my Novice2Pro Chef Interviews and if you are interested in attending his cooking school in Portland, Oregon, there is a link to his web site at there too.

A Recipe Written Like A Novel

I love reading recipes that read like an essay or novel. For example, here is a excerpt from Chef Robert’s book about preparing his risotto:

“I went in search of a straight-sided sauté pan. I tend to use an equal amount of butter and oil in the pan when starting risotto, heating one until it releases its perfume before adding the other. When the temperature is right, I put in onions cut to the size of the grains of rice. I give them a sprinkle of salt and sauté gently until they melt.”

Not only is that a joy to read, you can learn a bunch of cooking tips in that one paragraph.

1. Cook risotto in a straight-sided sauté pan. I used to always make my risotto in a large saucepan or small stockpot.
2. Use butter and oil instead of just one or the other.
3. Wait to add the oil until you can smell the butter.
4. Cut the onions very, very small.
5. When to add salt – right after you add the onions.

All that from just a couple of sentences. That’s what I call a “learning” recipe and gets me excited.

More Chef Secrets About Cooking Risotto

Here are a few more tips and techniques I learned from reading Chef’s Chapter 12, Having a Man in the Kitchen. I’m sure every time I read this chapter, something new will pop out at me but for now:

1) Find the freshest ingredients available. The fresher they are, the more flavor your dishes will have.

2) Before adding any liquids, cook the risotto with the onions until the rice becomes opaque. I made this dish with my 10-year-old daughter and she was delighted when she could see the rice change from solid white to opaque.

3) Use the best chicken stock you can find. Chef Reynolds says you can “judge the flavor of the dish by the taste of the broth.”

4) Don’t over salt or salt too early because the “reduction only concentrates salt.”

5) Blanch the asparagus separately and add later. In the past, I would often cook vegetables with the risotto and this would often result in overcooked, soggy vegetables.

6) If you like creamy risotto, you have to stir vigorously and constantly. The entire dish should take about 25 to 30 minutes and you can’t walk away to do something else. You need to stay with it and keep stirring.

7) “Stop cooking when the rice feels soft but still retains enough toothsome quality that allows me to still distinguish the shape and texture of the grain.”

Let the risotto rest for 5 minutes when done cooking. This allows it to absorb more liquid and “soufflé” (fluff up).

Asparagus Risotto
From Chef Robert Reynolds’ An Excuse to Be Together

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and blanched tender
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large white onion, cut in a tiny dice
• 1 pound of risotto-style rice, preferably Canaroli or Arborio
• 2 cups white wine
• 1 quart chicken stock, heated
• 1-quart asparagus blanching water
• Freshly ground Parmesan cheese
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste

How to Prepare Asparagus Risotto

Heat the butter in a 9 – 10 inch straight-sided skillet. When it melts, add the olive oil and wait for it to come to temperature. Add the diced onion, a sprinkle of salt and sauté 3 to 4 minutes without browning until the onions soften. Add the risotto, stirring with a wooden spoon to coat the rice. Heat without browning until the grains turn opaque.

Raise the heat, add the white wine and quickly evaporate. Turn the heat back down, add enough warmed broth to cover the rice and cook slowly until the liquid evaporates. While the rice cooks, stir constantly, sometimes vigorously to release starches. Repeat this operation of adding liquid and reducing until the risotto seems tender. Taste the broth as you go along and add salt discretely to make the liquid flavorful.

When you think you are ready to add the last ladle of liquid, liquefy half a dozen asparagus in the water used to blanch the asparagus and finish the risotto with this liquid. When the risotto is cooked to your liking, turn the heat off and let it rest for five minutes.

Spoon the risotto into flat bowls and garnish with whole asparagus stalks. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and give a grinding of pepper before serving.

When I made this recipe, I used my blender to make the liquefied asparagus water and didn’t use all that much of it to finish off the risotto.

As I said at the top, this was the best risotto I’ve ever made. It was creamy, simple and delicious.

What Are Your Favorite Risotto Tips & Recipes?

I would like to hear about your favorite risotto recipes and techniques for preparing them. Please head on over to my new Reluctant Gourmet Cooking Community Forum and share with us some of yours favorites. It’s a great place to meet other home cooks, share recipes, ask questions and offer your experiences in the kitchen.

Another event brought me back to Harriton House last weekend. This time it was the Harriton Plantation Fair and featured horseback rides, sheep herding, Pennsylvania Dutch barbecue, music, log cutting and the infamous Stinging Nettle Eating Contest.

Rose Bochansky, the assistant to Curator Bruce Gill, thought up this event and was one of the 5 contestants. Being a vegetarian, I think Rose thought she was a lock to win, but Rose had no idea that my friend Barbecue Bob, that meat-eating gourmand was going to show her how to wolf down a pile of stinging nettles and win the first place prize, a case of beer. (Photo is of Rose and Bob extracting honey from honey bee combs back at the end of July.)

Stinging nettle (or should I say Urtica dioica) is an herbaceous flowering plant that can be found in Europe, Asia, Africa and Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. It is covered with tiny little hairs that act as needles that release a toxin when penetrating the skin. The toxin is harmless but burns at first and causes a nasty itch afterwards.

Why Eat Stinging Nettles

Not that I’m recommending you eat them raw, but stinging nettle has been used by many cultures as an herbal medicine. Because they are rich in calcium and iron, nettle is often used to make soups. (See http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/stinging-nettle-000275.htm) Supposedly, when you cook the leaves, the stinging hairs are disabled.

Some people dry the leaves, crush them and use them for making tea. I have also heard young plants with new leaves are more tasty than older plants. The leaves I tried after the contest tasted like raw string beans. And yes they did sting my hand but not my mouth.

Rose found a bunch of recipes for stinging nettles on the Internet and told me this one for pasta with nettles, sorrel and lemon was one of her favorites. I’m sure you are not going to find stinging nettle in the produce section of your local supermarket so learn how to identify it and find some locally. Be careful you don’t pick some poison ivy by mistake. And don’t forget to bring some gloves.

Pasta With Nettles, Sorrel and Lemon
Serves 2 to 4

Ingredients

• ¼ pound fresh stinging nettles
• 8 ounces pasta
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ pound fresh ricotta cheese
• 1 lemon for zest and juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh parley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 small handful of fresh sorrel leaves, washed and torn into bite sized pieces
• ½ cup toasted walnuts

How to Make at Home

Bring two large pots of salted water to a boil. One will be for the pasta and the other for the nettles.

When the water comes to a boil in one of the pots, “carefully” add the nettles and give them a stir. Cook for 5 minutes and transfer them to a colander with a slotted spoon. You want to leave any dirt or grit in the cooking water. Let the nettle drain.

Add the pasta to the other pot of clean water and cook until al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, press most of the water out of the nettles, transfer them to a food processor and puree. Drizzle in the olive oil and process until completely smooth. Add the ricotta, lemon zest and juice and herbs. Pulse the processor to blend all the ingredients.

Season with salt and pepper.

Remove a cup of the water the pasta is cooking in and reserve. Drain the pasta and then return it to the pot. Toss in the nettle ricotta cheese mixture and stir to combine. Add the fresh sorrel and a little of the reserved pasta water to create the desired consistency of the sauce.

Stir in the walnuts and serve.