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The Flavors Newsletter - From the Kitchen of Judi Gallagher

Somehow, I feel as though Thanksgiving has already come and gone. Preparing for the holidays on television and magazines can mean taking out the butternut squash recipes and searching for fresh cranberries in August- thus the makings of a creative culinary scavenger hunt. So far, I have prepared five different turkeys with various stuffing, too many hams with glaze to ever fill a year’s worth of omelets and opened enough cans pumpkin pie filling to create a masterpiece metal sculpture at the Bay front.

Yet I find creative inspirations with new ingredients and the edginess of holiday recipes gone “new age”. Why not try roasted fingerling potatoes with truffle oil and sautéed leeks instead of your mother’s mashed potatoes? (Sorry Mom) Roasted corn and edamame succotash sure beats creamed corn and adds a little bite of flavor and crunch.

Dear Fellow Foodies,

Can you believe the change in temperature? Just in time for the fall flavors of tart McIntosh apples and pumpkin ravioli. I dream of turning off the air-conditioner, opening the doors and windows and planting my autumn herbs. I also dream of warm apple cider and short ribs braising in a rich hearty red wine.
It is the optimum time for comfort food and in these challenging financial times, staying in your own home and cooking with fresh garden vegetables from the local farmers market seems like a warm blanket around our soul.

I decided to toast the season with a simple recipe for turkey chili. Just log on to www.mysuncoast.com and click on the “recipes” link. Try pouring the turkey chili over warm cornbread for a tailgate get together that is both simple and hearty.

Chef Judi’s Favorite Foods of the Month:  

The Watermelon salad and filet mignon with Oxtail reduction and oyster mushrooms at Big Sugar won my heart. A clear balance to the hot weather flavor in the salad and the cooler weather homage with the flavorful oxtail ragout.

The Greek Pizza at Jimmy Dimitri’s (in the former Big Kitchen Space) crust is luscious and the cheese melted into the peppers and artichokes hit the foodie happy place!

The sliced tomatoes at Word of Mouth deserve a medal of flavor honor. Recently, I stopped in for breakfast (not exactly my favorite meal of the day) but delighted in the sliced tomatoes served with my scrambled egg whites Trust me, without a plane ticket to Jersey- this is the closest you will get locally to a real jersey tomato!

Happy New Year to all those celebrating Rosh Hashanah-how fortunate I was to receive Ila Stone’s infamous  homemade apricot rugulah. I did manage to share a few with my friend’s at John Carl Salon but also managed to finish off the box before I made it home. Oh well, some things are just too good to save.
Get ready for Chef Judi’s Dish- stay tuned to ABC 7 for all-new creative cooking segments and an interactive web page on www.mysuncoast.com

Suncoast Cuisine with Judi Gallagher, now in its 6th year welcomes a new format and change. Thursdays from 8:30-9:30 p.m. (replay Saturdays from 6-7 pm) Look for the creative talents of Marsha Fottler, Jonathan Kendall Slentz, Alix Redmonde, Mike Kradlak and the illustrious Dining Divas from www.thisweekinsarasota.com along with Larry Hoffman from www.dinesarasota.com to stir up some sassy restaurant news and add the flavors of healthy dining, guilty pleasures, table décor and more- Channel 21

Don’t forget to check out www.sarasotamagazine and foodies notebook. I will be blogging from Hawaii as we toast to Chef Roy Yamaguchi’s 20 years in the restaurant business with Roy’s special guests that include some of my all-time favorites like Marimoto and  Ming Si.

Last Saturday my husband and I drove up to Jacksonville, Fl- a 5 hour drive to catch a Springsteen concert- our 5th of the summer. It is my religion in a sense, going to a Springsteen concert and at my age, I would venture to say that I have been to my “house of worship”, on E street more times than someone my age can actually recall.  We have some rituals- tailgating with what we like to call Bruce juice and a buffet of sausage and pepper sandwiches as our homage to Jersey.

Well, since we had just arrived home from a 2 concert tour at Giants Stadium and Gillette stadium, and were feeling some pressures like, working for a living- we ran out the door and headed up the Thunder Road, (down pours, lighting bolts and Springsteen blasting from the cd player,) we made the fatal mistake of thinking we would just grab a bite on the way to the concert. SO, we checked in, washed up, donned our black t shirts and blue jeans and were about to head out for a bite when I noticed several people around the elevators, kept at bay by security. A hotel employee, most likely noticing my Boss” team uniform” attire, whispered that Bruce was in the building.

Something was sure going on- two large busses pulled up, the crowd hummed and yelled and in walked the entire Miami Dolphins team. So, after about 15 minutes my husband convinced me that there was no Bruce coming down the elevator- only the entire football team and since I didn’t like football, he was hungry and wanted  to find sausage and peppers, I like a fool left. 20 minutes later, Springsteen was ushered out the front with the football team still blocking the view. 

I am glad for my husband that he enjoyed his Jersey style Italian dinner before the concert- because he will forever more have a Hungry Heart- I left him and his full belly Dancin in the Dark, down by the River in Jacksonville and headed home.

Sodium free zone

For some sick, distorted kick in the pants, God has decided to elevate my blood pressure. Call it menopause or call it the food writers curse, I have been placed on a low sodium diet. Easier said than done I am afraid though.

Hey, I love fresh salads and can often be seen nibbling fresh broccoli and raw green beans while driving on the expressway.

I have a distain for fast food and very seldom use extra salt on our food at home, even though I boast a salt collection from 10 different countries. The problem is that I was born Jewish, thus the eternal craving for Asian food. I eat at a local Vietnamese restaurant an average of 2 times a week, and since Southwest Florida is a Chinese culinary wasteland, I have the bad habit of “stocking up” when I travel.

Even Houston, Texas has some great Hunan joints.

So when I was given the word to lower the sodium, I embraced the challenge, even ordering my Vietnamese bun salads sans the dressing and peanuts.  But, when my husband’s business travels took us to the Bay City of San Francisco, I instantly became  a Chinese eating monster. There was a first night dinner at Unicorn that preceded a green papaya salad to go only hours before.  A cocktail party the next night featured Peking duck, sushi and dumplings, which came 3 hours after a MAJOR chopstick workout at Hunan Home in China Town was only fitting, right? The next night was the Slanted Door Restaurant- fresh spring rolls, more green papaya salad and a taste of my friend’s noodle dish.

Saturday , being the Sabbath and all- I rested my sodium intake only  slightly by downing an order of tuna tartar and a dinner size portion of Chinese chicken salad no dressing at Cheesecake factory before getting ready for a semi formal progressive dinner at San Francisco’s city hall.  

Keeping in theme, I had two full plates of sushi, no soy sauce though, and a few dumplings and shoo mei before hitting the beef with broccoli and spicy shrimp stir fry. Realizing I had done myself in, I decided to forgo the Asian on the last night. Yup, that 4 course dinner at Restaurant  Gary  Danko with foie gras and roasted lobster (by the way one of my all time favorite dining experiences)  was really going to me from the sodium high, right?

So, when they offered me a little crème anglaise with my no cholesterol plum soufflé with peach sorbet- how could I refuse? So now I sit on a plane with my ankles as swollen as a grandmother sitting on the stoop of the town’s piazza after Sunday supper with the family, with my ankles jut as swollen.

So, check this out- I recently heard of a local restaurant in the town  that I live in decided to only serve bottled water. Now, this is not exactly a fine dining joint- although the veal parm and lasagna is pretty great. It seems the owners decided they were sick of the diners that drank water with lemon. Apparently no one told them that being an H2o drinker at a high end pizzeria does not make someone a cheapskate or a shyster. I myself am prone to drink ice water with lemon on the odd days that I am not reviewing a restaurant or entertaining as a fine food and wine consultant. Besides, with the news of Pepsi using glorified tap water for their bottled water brand, I find it a little cruel. I don’t trust the bottlers, heck I don’t trust Hagen Daz since my heart was broken back in the early 80’s when I first found out it is made in the US, not the picturesque mountain town somewhere in Switzerland. So, in turn to their nasty comment- which they managed to tell a few regulars that immediately called me for an opinion, I have decided to go across the street of their tap water bashing policy restaurant, where the pizza is just as good, albeit not the veal parmesan, and decidedly more expensive, but the tap water and slices of lemon are poured with almost as much care as a bottle of Napa’s finest cabernet!

As the economy continues to tank, with gas prices in line with Kobe beef these days, I am humbled to think about the restaurant business and how leaner times are affecting so many facets of the industry I cherish. Most people do not realize that servers are paid at a much lower rate than the standard minimum wage. Think about that next time you decide to save a buck or two and under tip. How would you like to clock in at $2.31 an hour and wait three hours for a table to be seated in your section? Now, there is a flip side like most things. I have yet to meet a server in my 30 some odd years in the biz that declares 100% of their revenue and if you really, really hone your skills, you can perfect the lost art of fine dining service and bring in some serious cash. Friends of mine often boast up to $80,000 a year between over the top gratuities and high check averages at Ritz Carlton dining rooms, especially when the reserve wine list is called for and beluga is  near endless.  But, that is a small percentage of the overall industry and what worries me most is that restaurant people in general are the most generous tippers; hopefully I am included in this group by those that have graciously served me. But in the downturn, one cannot help but to wonder, when sales are down in the higher end restaurants, how do the breakfast and lunch bistro servers balance their check books? Many restaurant people are saving their own pennies by cooking at home more often. But, when they do dine out, they ensure their wallets are balanced with a high gratuity factor. So, when I recently read that some diners are cutting back by lessening the tips, I could not help but to appeal to them, does this mean the servers will cut back on their service to you?  Here is my theory since I was a poor college student back in the day. If you can’t afford a good tip- at least reasonable, get take out pizza instead.

 By Chef Judi Gallagher
     Coming from the North, when I first moved to Southwest Florida, I had New England Snow Storm preparedness on my mind. That means stocking up on at least 2 gallons of milk, lots of meats, chickens and baking products, so if you were snow bound for a few days, you cooked stews, bolognaise sauces and baked chocolate cakes and cookies and the family ate like royalty. Of course, if the power went out- we stuck everything in the snow pile just outside the back door.  Well, welcome to hurricane season in Florida, where the first thing to go out is your cable TV, closely followed by all power. With temperatures that range in the 90’s in the summer with even higher heat indexes, Sun coast residents need to be prepared.

First- do not keep your freezer more than half full during hurricane season. Have a plan for what is in there incase of electricity outage for more than 24hours. Our plan is pretty simple- we stock easy to grill items such as chicken breasts, Italian sausage and roast beef (perfect for grilling with olive oil, rosemary and garlic salt.)

Once the power goes out, you must limit opening the refrigerator of freezer so- if a storm is predicted buy jumbo bags of ice and fill coolers.

Buy separate coolers for dairy which needs more ice, produce and prepared foods. Use zip lock bags and jumbo plastic air tight containers as ice melts pretty quickly and will water down the cooler contents. To hold ice longer- sprinkle salt onto ice to hold the cold temperature longer.

If you don’t have a side burner on your gas grill, (and of course have an extra tank filled as a back up) purchase a portable burner at a restaurant supply store with a large pack of propane cans

Arrange with neighbors and friends ahead of time about community meals, that way you will all use up your perishables and rotate who does the cooking so no one runs out of propane.

Don’t waste your propane by boiling water unless it is for washing dishes. Pasta can wait until the power is back on.

Potatoes sliced thin, seasoned and layered with sliced onions and oil wrapped in foil and cooked on a grill taste delicious and is filling. Best of all, they do not need refrigeration.

As for the ice cream bars in the freezer- eat them all the first night- even if the power comes back on within hours you can always the extra calories blame it on the storm.

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