A restaurant's inspiration: Roasted Bell Pepper & Corn Chutney

Good Morning everyone! I hope all of my foodies are well. Last week me and my girlfriend made our second round to what might be one of our favorite restaurants downtown. Carmen’s is a great little Spanish restaurant that does tapas style food on Queen West. After we did our trip to Spain, we were having tapas withdrawals and finally, we found a restaurant to give us our fix when we needed a little Spain in our life! We knew exactly what we were having along with a few new additional items to try. There was one specific dish that made me smile, the Tomate Verde Frito con Queso Feta, Maiz y Pimientos (breaded green tomatoes, feta, roasted red peppers and corn chutney). The Chutney was so good, and being a cook I instantly wanted to try recreating it myself. So that weekend I decided that I was going to experiment. It didn’t matter whether or not I knew how to make a jam or chutney. In the end, I took it as an opportunity to be able to practice something and maybe when I am done I might think of a new idea or dish.

Here it is, my recipe for a Roasted Pepper & Corn Chutney

1 Roasted red bell pepper(rough dice)

1 Small onion (diced)

2 cups corn

½ Cup sugar

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Coriander

½ tsp Cumin

¼ Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Lemon Zest

Season your bell pepper with salt, pepper and oil. You want to roast it evenly in the oven. I roasted mine at 450 F for fifteen minutes on each side. The point of this is so that skin can come off. So if you notice the skin starts separating from the pepper, you're doing the right thing. Once your pepper is finished, get it in a bowl and cling wrap it. 

The steam will help continue any separation that needs to be done. Get all of your other ingredients together. Once you’ve done that then peel the pepper and give it a rough dice. Combine all the ingredients in a pot, covered on a low heat until the liquid is almost dehydrated. Its not going to be extremely sticky like that of a jam. Taste it periodically, get an idea of the textures and flavors as it cooks, understand what happens as you leave it on longer. Sure this is something that you just leave to sit but watch it every fifteen minutes, see what you can learn from it.

In the end I was very happy with the taste, I think next time I might put more peppers. Mine came out a little bit more orange looking and wasn’t as red as Carmen’s own but nevertheless it was yummy and is now in my fridge waiting to be used on a new dish.

A book I love: Culinary Artistry

Hey everyone I hope all is well out there in the culinary world. I know its been a while since I’ve done a book review and I’m hoping this article will be able to shed a new light on a book that I try to live and die by. It is honestly one of the greatest books, when it comes to ingredients and advice on dishes. The first time I came across the book “Culinary Artistry” was when I was attending the local hospitality college back in my home country of Antigua and Barbuda. I had a really close friend who I felt was a bit further ahead of me in the culinary field when it came to food memories and imagination. He introduced me to the book. It felt like a shining light came from the heavens as I held it - the key I needed to help take a step forward. As I flicked through there were so many ingredients I knew nothing about and immediately felt a jolt of motivation and love for my new discovery. Eventually I got my own book, given to me by my grandmother. I felt like no one could stop me now.

It’s a soft cover book written by Andrew Dorneburg & Karen Page, and is at least 20 years old. But I would advise you to always keep it nearby. It talks about being an artist, choosing a medium, understanding flavors, combining flavors and much more. There is a wealth of information in here from a few chefs, who give a quick reasoning behind a dish or a menu. This way you have an understanding of why everything was done or the logic behind it. From this book your brain could instantly start getting ideas and techniques. It doesn’t limit you to a specific technique with a meat or cuisine, but shows you how versatile one can be in this field.

I remember reading a section where one chef, Patrick O’Connell, understood that you can’t just serve barbeque pulled pork in a restaurant and charge people any amount of money. So instead he took a boneless rack of lamb and barbecued it and made his own twist.

Your ability to create is only limited by your imagination and curiosity. If you already have a curious mind, then get to reading. I take little markers and tag pages that I like or don’t want to forget. If there is an ingredient you can think of the book usually has it. Being about 20 years old, there have been a few ingredients I haven’t been able to find, but I can count on both hands how many times that has happened since I’ve owned the book. Also, if you can’t find it in the book just look online. Once you have this book you can make your own notes on the side of a page if you have an idea that you should jot down. At the back of the book is the long index, you will find that some ingredients will have multiple page numbers. That’s because some ingredients have a sub category called “accompaniment”, or they are mentioned in a recipe. I can guarantee that you will find your ingredient though.

I think the book is awesome and I am hoping one day that there will be a new issue with more ingredients added to the list.