ByKen Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Sample recipes courtesy of Mary Sue Milliken,
left, and Susan Feniger.
Try two of chef Susan Feniger's favorites, both spicy, palate-piquing dishes for cool weather.The rich, creamy rigatoni is an original dish created at Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken's former City Cafe in Los Angeles. Serve the pasta as an appetizer or entree. The Potato Bhujia fritters are a specialty from India - once served at City Cafe as appetizers.
3/4 pound rigatoniCook rigatoni in a large pot of rapidly boiling salted water until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain in a colander and chill in a large bowl of iced water. Drain chilled pasta until nearly dry and toss with olive oil to coat; reserve.
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 pound chicken, white meat only, ground
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, roughly chopped
1 egg white
1-1/4 cups cold heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
2 dashes Tabasco
Cream sauce:
2-1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Puree chicken, fennel and egg white in a food processor until smooth, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl nested inside a larger bowl half-filled with iced water. Stir until evenly chilled.
Add cream, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon after each addition, until all is added. Stir in salt, pepper and Tabasco.
At this stage, the stuffing can be stored in refrigerator up to 24 hours.
To stuff the rigatoni, fill a pastry bag fitted with a No. 4 plain tip with chicken mixture and stuff rigatoni from both ends; reserve.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
To make the sauce, combine the cream, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper in a medium ovenproof skillet. Bring to a boil, add stuffed rigatoni, return to a boil, then transfer to oven.
Bake until sauce is thick and bubbly, and rigatoni is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
Spoon into serving bowls or plates and sprinkle with chives. Serve hot. Makes 6 servings.
Approximate nutritional analysis per serving: 870 calories, 62 grams total fat, 37 grams saturated fat, 240 milligrams cholesterol, 970 milligrams sodium.*
2 pounds potatoes, peeledCook potatoes in salted water until soft. Drain and cool. Grate potatoes on large side of the grater. Pop mustard seeds and roast cumin seeds in a preheated dry pan. Add clarified butter and crushed neem leaves. Add onions; brown. Add garlic and tumeric.
2 tablespoons black mustard seeds
3 tablespoons whole cumin seeds
3 tablespoons clarified butter
3 tablespoons crushed curry neem leaves (optional)
2 large Spanish onions, diced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons turmeric
1/4 cup (packed) chopped cilantro leaves
2 Serrano chiles, diced
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 cup chick pea flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup to 1 cup water
Remove the pan from the heat and add cilantro, Serranos, salt and black pepper. Gently mix potatoes with onions and spices. To form, press tightly into half-dollar rounds. Chill and cover for at least 2 hours or overnight. Makes 30 to 35 rounds.
To prepare chick pea batter: Mix all batter ingredients, except the water, until smooth.
Moisten with 1/3 to 1/2 cup water. Dip formed potato fritters in batter and fry in vegetable oil until golden-crispy. Drain on paper.
Serve with plain yogurt and a cilantro-mint chutney (made with chopped fresh cilantro, mint, garlic, ginger, jalapeno and salt). Makes 30 to 35 fritters.
Approximate nutritional analysis per fritter, not including yogurt and chutney: 85 calories, 6 grams total fat, 1 gram saturated fat, 5 milligrams cholesterol, 90 milligrams sodium.*
WAILEA, Maui - The 1997 Grand Chefs on Tour at the Kea Lani Hotel will showcase:Feb. 20 to 22 - Dean Fearing, Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas; and Beverly Gannon, Hali'imaile General Store, Maui
March 27 to 29 - Michael Foley, Printers Row, Chicago; and Mark Ellman, Avalon, Maui
May 8 to 10 - Nobu Matsuhisa, Nobu, New York City, and Matsuhisa, Beverly Hills; and Gary Strehl, Hawaii Prince Hotel, Oahu
July 3 to 5 - Emeril Lagasse, Emeril's and NOLA, New Orleans, and Emeril's New Orleans Fish House, Las Vegas; and Sam Choy, Sam Choy's Restaurants, Honolulu, Kona and Tokyo
Oct. 16 to 18 - Douglas Rodriguez, Patria, New York City; and Roy Yamaguchi, Roy's of Honolulu, Maui, Kauai, Tokyo and Guam
Dec. 28 to 30 - Bradley Ogden, Lark Creek Inn and One Market, San Francisco; and Russell Siu, 3660 On The Rise, Honolulu
Call 1-(800)-659-4100.
Big-time rock promoter, film producer and gourmand Shep Gordon represents 150 of the world's chefs. His clients include French culinarian Roger Verge, so-called father of Nouveau Cuisine, and Dean Fearing of Dallas' Mansion on Turtle Creek, so-called father of Southwest cuisine.
Gordon also helped create the year-old Grand Chefs Tour at the Kea Lani Hotel.
"I'm a Maui boy," says Gordon, 51, who owns a home in Kihei.
Indeed, he set up a meeting with Verge, Fearing and isle chefs at his Valley Isle digs. Out of that gathering came an appreciation for the farmer-chef relationship. The latter collaboration also resulted in the Upcountry Maui cultivation of 20-inch long Jerusalem artichokes and bright red carrots, says Gordon.
Also, the Hawaii Regional Cuisine formula has gained impetus - what Gordon describes as the bounty of the islands combined with Asian influences and classical French cookery. His vision is that Hawaii Regional Cuisine becomes as ubiquitous as Thai cookery.
Chef product endorsements, such as "Emeril Lagasse olive oil, like Michael Jordan shoes," are a next step, he says.
After all, Gordon's credits include representing entertainers Alice Cooper, Groucho Marx, Raquel Welch, Luther Vandross, Kenny Loggins, Pointer Sisters and Yvonne Elliman. He was also executive producer and distributor of two Oscar-winning films, "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and "The Trip to Bountiful."
Gordon says a chef equivalent of Michael Jackson is part of his vision.