Reel Chow Blog

Culinary Postings from the Original Gourmet Craft Service Industry Insider

Bella Mushrooms with Toasted Pecans

April 26th, 2013
   
Jenn Egatz
         
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Reel Chow Original Recipe!As the days get warmer, there seems something natural in us demanding we no longer need heavy, winter comfort food. More vegetables become available in stores, and outdoor grills get uncovered and cleaned in preparation for good times with friends and family. More on that after today’s recipe.

Here’s a great creation that just cries out, “Spring!” Made with simple ingredients, this is a light and healthy side dish which goes best with steak and chicken. When toasted, the raw pecans add a hint of nutty sweetness to the earthy mushroom flavor. Adding one-half of a tablespoon of honey brings all the flavors out and joins them, creating a light and tasty addition to a spring meal.

Baby Bella Mushrooms with Toasted Pecans.

Baby Bella Mushrooms with Toasted Pecans. ©Reel Chow

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Lentils with Roasted Tomatoes and Feta

April 19th, 2013
   
Jenn Egatz
         
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I had this lentil dish at my cousin in-law’s house and loved it so much I had to re-create it. Sharyn added gorgonzola cheese to her dish, which was really delicious. For my re-creation, I added feta instead, along with some fresh home-grown chives from our loft.

Lentils with Roasted Tomatoes and Feta.

Lentils with Roasted Tomatoes and Feta. ©Reel Chow

This dish is healthy and super easy to make. I roasted the tomatoes with sea salt and black pepper, plus a little light olive oil. The lentils were cooked with plain water and no added salt.

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Sapporo-Roasted Chicken

April 12th, 2013
   
Jenn Egatz
         
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My mother-in-law recently gave me a beautiful pottery to roast chicken. At the center of the dish is a cup-like structure to set the chicken on vertically, with a hollow center for liquid of your choice. For this recipe I chose Sapporo beer to place in the center of the dish, then stuffed an herb mixture under the chicken’s skin. I also sprinkled sea salt and black pepper on the outside of the chicken. My 4.5 pound organic bird roasted for two and a half hours. It came out juicy and flavorful, just as I hoped and hungered for.

On one of our trips to Napa, Ron and I ate at The Wine Bounty Hunter, where we thought it would be funny to get a similarly-cooked chicken roasted with a beer can inside it. With the gift from my mother-in-law, it dawned on us we could now recreate this Southern classic, but not have any aluminum contamination from cans. It’s a double-win!

Sapporo Roasted Organic Chicken with a side of organic beet and dill salad tossed in an orange vinaigrette.

Sapporo Roasted Organic Chicken with a side of organic beet and dill salad tossed in an orange vinaigrette. ©Reel Chow

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Honey Roasted Vegetables

April 5th, 2013
   
Jenn Egatz
         
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I first fell in love with this dish one year ago at Easter. In 2012, Ron and I went to Montclair, New Jersey to have dinner at his cousin Sharyn’s home. Sharyn was also featured in this post. She made the most delicious meal, which I’ve been dreaming about ever since.

For Easter of this year, I was so happy to see what she was making for dinner: my favorite honey roasted veggies, which she made the previous year! Huge chunks of vegetables tossed with sea salt, black pepper, olive oil, and honey, then roasted for 40 minutes until browned, sweet, and juicy. Below is my attempt at recreating Sharyn Taylor’s dish.

Honey Roasted Veggies.

Honey Roasted Veggies. ©Reel Chow

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Herb Salsa!

March 22nd, 2013
   
Jenn Egatz
         
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Reel Chow Original Recipe!I love growing herbs year-round in our loft. I use heirloom, or at least non-GMO seeds, which always seem to taste better. Even if they didn’t, I’d still feel better about eating them than something patented by a laboratory. Here’s a great original dish of mine which utilizes healthy, fresh herbs. It’s incredibly easy to make, I hope you’ll enjoy whipping some up yourself.

Herb salsa is possibly the healthiest side to any protein dish. It’s a blend of parsley, thyme, rosemary, dill, shallots, garlic and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Add it to steak, chicken, fish, or pork. It’s even tasty on top of a sunny side up egg at a Sunday brunch.

Herb salsa served with beans and egg on a crispy blue corn tortilla.

Herb salsa served with beans and egg on a crispy blue corn tortilla. ©Reel Chow

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Carrot Beet Bisque

March 12th, 2013
   
Jenn Egatz
         
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Reel Chow Original Recipe!I enjoy making and eating classic carrot-ginger soup. This recipe loosely follows the classic, but adds a punch. It’s not a true bisque because it contains no cream or crustaceans. More accurately, it’s a mock-bisque, but that just sounds wrong as the title of the dish, so welcome to my Carrot Beet Bisque!

I added one beet, green apple, whole cloves, one garlic clove, fresh-pressed ginger root, along with fresh thyme and dill. As I often do with my original recipes, this contains no butter and no dairy—just pure vegetables and herbs cooked in part-broth and part-water. Afterwards, it is pureed and topped with crispy roasted kale. I think this is my favorite soup of all time, and that says a lot, as I’m a serious soup-lover.

Carrot Beet Bisque.

Carrot Beet Bisque. ©Reel Chow

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Jenn Egatz on Living Arts

March 3rd, 2013
   
Jenn Egatz
         
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Jenn recently appeared on Living Arts, hosted by Jackie Suarez. Jackie questioned her about Reel Chow and Stitched Tailors. Thanks to the producers of the show, we’re able to embed the episode below.

We’re currently working on our own video projects. Keep checking back for future Reel Chow videos covering recipes, food prep, and kitchen gear reviews. Until then, eat well.

Seared Scallops with Beet Ginger Purée

February 27th, 2013
   
Jenn Egatz
         
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Reel Chow Original Recipe!I love scallops and definitely don’t eat it often because wild caught anything is pricey. However, I couldn’t resist my craving so I bought and seared scallops yesterday. Being me, I wanted to make it my own, so I served it with beet ginger purée.

This dish is very delicate and savory, but also light. The beet ginger purée was simple to make. I first boiled one beet. Once it was cooked, I let it cool, then removed the skin and placed it in my smallest food processor, adding a drizzle of light olive oil, a pinch of sea salt, and fresh squeezed/crushed ginger. It came out extremely succulent, and not bitter at all!

My husband does not like beets very much. He smirked at the plate I served him until he took a bite. He was pleasantly surprised, just as your lunch or dinner guests will be when you serve them this quick and easy dish. Ron said it was the best-tasting beet he’s ever eaten. He’s now a convert to my Seared Scallops with Beet Ginger Purée. You will be, too.

Seared Scallops with Beet Ginger Puree

Seared Scallops with Beet Ginger Puree. ©Reel Chow

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Cocoa Loco’s Choco Nibbles

February 22nd, 2013
   
Egatz
         
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As longtime entrepreneurs, Jenn and I love to find new startups devoted to the culinary arts. We’ve covered several on the Reel Chow blog in the past, and hope to continue to do so.

Cocoa Loco's Choco Nibbles. ©Reel Chow

Cocoa Loco’s Choco Nibbles. ©Reel Chow

Our latest find is Cocoa Loco, run by Jake Maude, 23, and Mason Amato, 24, of Old Greenwich, Connecticut. While in high school, Maude and Amato often spoke of entrepreneurial opportunities. Upon graduation, Amato went to USC for Economics, Maude attended Trinity Westner University in British Columbia.

College didn’t interfere with their desire to be self-employed. During summers, Amato detailed cars while Maude cleaned garages. After graduation in 2012, they teamed up to find their first venture together.

“One thing that always made the counterspace was chocolate,” says Maude. “We also noticed there haven’t been many changes to point-of-purchase chocolates in a while. A couple of companies dominate that space with well-worn products.”

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Reel Chow in Westchester Magazine

February 20th, 2013
   
Egatz
         
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Reel Chow in Westchester Magazine

We’re very excited to have Reel Chow featured in the February issue of Westchester Magazine. Written by John Bruno Turiano, the article is a nice feature on Jenn, our craft service origins, and the kinds of gigs we do at Reel Chow for everyone from large corporate clients to intimate gourmet dinner parties in private homes.

Read a version of the story on the Westchester Magazine site, or pick up a copy of the publication to see a great shot of Jenn in action. We love technology, but there’s nothing like seeing things in print!

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