Dine with Jay

We were so lucky to have our very own Skybox Chef! Jay Cosico came back in town from schooling in New York for a few weeks.  Currently, Jay is going to the Culinary Institute of America to further enhance his love of the culinary industry. While Jay was in town, I decided to take the opportunity and invite him to cook for my dinner club. We started this dinner club up a few months ago with myself and a few of my close girlfriends to get together every other week, produce any meal, while teaching each other the recipes of our bi-weekly dinners. This time Jay created a delicious meal for us using the new recipes and skills he picked up on the east coast.  Since everyone doesn’t have a private chef at home to make their meals, we has decided to share his recipes so everyone can have a gourmet meal which is not only delicious, but very simple to make.

Marinated Skirt Steak

¼ cup olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
zest and juice of 1 lime
Salt and Pepper
2lb piece of skirt steak

combine all ingredients in a resealable plastic bag.  Marinate for 30 mins, or up to 3 hours.  Grill over high heat, or pan sear.  Cook to medium, and slice to serve.
Chimichurri

1 cup olive oil
6 cloves of garlic
zest/juice of 2 limes
1 tsp of mustard
leaves of 1 bunch of parsley
leaves of 1 bunch of cilantro
Salt and Pepper

combine all ingredients in a blender.  Blend until smooth.  Set aside. (notes: can use a combination of parsley/cilantro, or all of one herb.  Mustard is to emulsify the sauce and prevent separation, but can be left out)
Miso Glazed Sea Bass

⅓ cup sake
⅓ cup Mirin (sweet cooking wine)
⅓ cup miso
¼ cup sugar
2 tbls soy sauce
6 6oz sea bass filets

Combine the first 5 ingredients and set aside.  Season the sea bass with salt and pepper.  Heat a heavy bottomed pan with a little oil.  Quickly pan sear both sides, getting color, but not cooking all the way through.  Allow the fish to cool, spoon the glaze on top of the fish.  When ready to serve, place fish in a 400 oven for 15 mins, or until the fish is cooked through.  Garnish with chives or green onion.

White Quinoa Salad

Dressing

1 can of peaches, drained but juice reserved
¼ cup of white vinegar (or apple cider, whatever you have on hand)
1 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
Salad
1 box of white quinoa, cooked to instructions
1 white or yellow peach, diced
2 avocados, diced
1 cucumber, diced
3 green onions, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, diced
¼ cup of basil, chopped
Salt and pepper

Combine all the ingredients for the dressing, except the reserved juice/syrup, in a blender.  Blend together until smooth.  Taste for sweetness.  If you desire it more sweet, add some of the reserved juice.  If you like it more tart, add more vinegar.  Set aside.
Salad

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and toss together.  Dress with the dressing, and salt and pepper.  Garnish with freshly chopped green onion and basil over the top.

Heart of Palm Salad

Dressing

2 limes, zested and juiced
1 bunch of cilantro, leaves only
1 tbls of sugar
1 cup of olive oil

Salad

3 heads of romaine, cut in to “shards”
1 bunch of pea shoots
1 can of hearts of palm, cut on a bais
2 avocados, sliced
3 roma tomatoes, sliced
Roasted rosemary thyme potatoes
2lbs of baby new potatoes or fingerling potatoes
3 tbls of olive oil
3 sprigs of thyme
1 sprig of rosemary
salt and pepper

Start a large pot of boiling water.  Boil the potatoes til they are cooked all the way through.  Allow to cool.  Preheat an oven to 450.  20 mins prior to serving, toss the cooked potatoes in olive oil, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven for 20 mins to heat the potatoes through and crisp the skin.

Cronuts with Vanilla Creme Anglaise

1 package of Pilsbury croissant dough
vegetable or other neutral flavored oil

Cream

1 pint heavy cream
2 egg yolks
1 cup of sugar
1 tbls of vanilla

Creme- combine in a pot cream, and vanilla.  Put on low and allow to heat up to a simmer.  Combine egg yolk and sugar, whisk til combined. Slowly add warm cream mixture to egg mixture to prevent cooking the egg.  Return egg mixture to the stove on low and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.  Rapidly cool in an ice bath and reserve for later use.
Preheat oil to 360 degrees.  Cut croissant dough in to desired shapes, and deep fry.  Fry in small batches to prevent a temperature drop.  Remove and drain on to paper towels. Dust with powdered sugar or glaze in vanilla creme.

Hope you enjoy these tasty and amazing recipes by Jay!

Post Published on Nonmember 7, 2013.