An Afternoon in School

During my school years, I often found myself mentally wandering as I wondered when class would end so I could get on with my more bona-fide major; the pedantic studies of life. Today, an eager student in a class of 40 plus,  like most, I sat there salivating for more, wishing  class would never end! This was the third and last demonstration in the series The Fine Art of Kosher Cooking at De Gustibus School of Good Taste, located on the 8th floor of  the world famous NYC Macy’s, on Broadway and 34th.

Chef David Kolotkin

David Kolotkin, Executive Chef for Prime Grill and Corporate Chef for both Solo and Prime Grill, taught the class today. His warmth, energy and passion for his art dazzled us all.. Chef Kolotkin’s personable charismatic banter and marvelous talents, captivated our interests, as he explained the intricacies of the various dishes he prepared.

We sampled four enchanting culinary creations (brought, cooked and supervised by a mashgiach, directly from Prime Grill). One could clearly hear “oooooh,” “woww,” “heavenly.” and other such cries of delight  throughout the demonstration. The dishes consisted of: Smoked Salmon Mousse Filled “Latkas” (I’m not a fish eater, but I found the taste unbelievably delicious!), Chicken Liver Eclaire, Mustard Crusted Rack of Lamb with Celery Puree, Caramelized Onion and Fried Rosemary, for dessert the Chef prepared Baked Apple and Ginger Brown Betty. In short, a feast of ambrosia for the gods! Libation offerings were: Weinstock White by W and  Baron Herzog Syrah. Hardly anything on the menu sounded conventional, nor was it commonplace in taste. As Chef David told one of the attendees, “I’m not a conventional guy!” Conventional or not, it all worked superbly well, a true testimony to Chef Kolotkin’s’s imagination and understanding the subtle nuances of flavor of the various ingredients. Truly exotic and daring, but with such a refined tasting palette, the mix of flavors was sheer artistry.

I’ll share one recipe here; for the other three you’ll have to wait for our – almost ready to go live website – thesupremegourmet.com.

BAKED APPLE AND GINGER BROWN BETTY

Special Equipment
4 5ozs Souffle Ramekins

Struesel

3/4 cup All Purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup margarine

Method:

1. -In a bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients and mix. Well.
2. -Wash your hands, cut the margarine into the dry ingredients by sifting until the mixture resembles wet sand.

Baked Apple and Ginger

2 tbsp margarine
4 tbsp sugar, plus an additional 4 tbsp
4 Fiji apples, small diced
1 1/2 tbsp All Purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated ginger

Method:

1. -Pre-heat an oven to 350 degrees. lightly grease the ramekin using the margarine.
2. -Pour the 1st 4 tbsp of sugar into a greased ramekin and move it over the margarine by tillting the ramekin.
3. -When the 1st ramekin has an even coat of of margarine and sugar, pour the remaining sugar into the 2nd ramekin. Do the same for the remaining 2 ramekins.
4. -In a bowl, combine the remaining 4 tbsp of sugar and the last 4 ingredients. Stir until combined.
5. -Evenly fill the 4 ramekins with this mixture.
6. -Spoon 2-3 tbspof the streusel on top of the apples.
7. -Bake for 30 minutes until the apples are cooked and the streusel has browned.
8. -This is ready to serve.

Salvatore Rizzo, owns and operates De Gustibus. Its curriculum boasts a vast array of cooking classes in almost every style of cuisine. Sal, with his insight and understanding of cooking, asked Chef David some very interesting questions as did a number of those attending the class. Sal’s smile is infectious and his skillful direction of the class amply enhanced it!

Salvatore Rizzo, posing in front of one of three walls filled with photos of some of the great chefs who lectured at De Gustibus

CS