Iced Tea Recipe

Summer is here. And with summer comes the craving for one of the South’s greatest contributions to thirst quenching. I’m talking about iced tea.

At MCL Restaurant & Bakery we sell more iced tea than any other beverage. It’s so in demand, we even sell boxes of tea bags so our customers can home-brew the same brand we do.

We use and sell Orange Pekoe & Pekoe Cut Black Tea blended and imported direct from India by Irani Tea.

Here’s an iced tea recipe that’ll keep your summers cooler than cool.

1. Buy good tea. As you know by now, my number one rule is to use the best quality ingredients.
2. Place 6-10 tea bags in the jug/container you plan to use.
3. Boil 4 cups of cold, soft water (hard water makes tea cloudy).
4. Pour the boiling water over the tea bags.
5. Let the tea steep for 3-5 minutes. Tea should never steep longer then 10 minutes. Doing so will make your tea bitter.
6. After steeping, remove and discard the tea bags. You should not reuse them.
7. Pour four more cups of cold, soft water into the brewed tea.
8. Pour into a glass over ice.
9. Kick back, feet up and enjoy.

Note: Tea will get cloudy and bitter the longer you hold it. A 12-hour refrigerated shelf life is my recommendation.

Best,

Chef Ian

Mother’s Day + Breakfast in Bed = Happy Mom.

An omelet is an omelette is an omelet. No matter how you spell it, an omelet is a great Mother’s Day breakfast in bed delight.

As a kid, when Mother’s Day rolled around, it was our family tradition to serve breakfast in bed to Mom. She loved it. What mother wouldn’t?

As my cooking skills improved, so did the menu. Tea and toast soon gave way to fried eggs and fresh fruit. Which eventually evolved into pancakes topped with homemade blueberry syrup. But when I figured out how to make omelets, the Mother’s Day breakfast in bed menu was complete.

20 years later, and I’m now the Executive Chef for MCL Restaurant & Bakery. Mom must be proud.

If you’re in search of something simple, yet tasty to prepare for the mother in your life this Mother’s Day, I’ve got you covered. And diced. And flipped. And topped with melted cheese.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to showing Mom how much you care.

Step 1: Get prepared

Here are the basic items you’ll need:

• A good non-stick pan. This is key when you get to the “flipping” part.
• A rubber spatula.
• A whisk.

Step 2: Pick an omelet, any omelet.

Get as creative as you like. Here are some thought starters:

• Ham and cheese omelet.
• Smoked salmon and cream cheese omelet.
• Mexican omelet with chorizo, tomatoes, peppers and cheddar served with sour cream and salsa.
• Steak and eggs omelet.
• Veggie omelet.
• Asparagus omelet with brie.

You get the point. But no matter what you choose, don’t overfill your omelet, or it’ll likely fall apart.

Step 3: Break some eggs.

Here’s my recipe and top-secret technique for the famed Western Omelet.

Western Omelet Recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/8 cup green and red peppers diced small
• 1/8 cup onion, diced small
• 1/8 cup ham, diced small
• ¼ cup shredded cheese of your choice
• Butter
• Salt & Pepper to taste

How to Prepare:

1. Start by cracking the eggs into a bowl and whisking them until they are fluffy. Set aside.
2. Heat your omelet pan on a medium high heat with enough butter in it to coat the bottom.
3. Add your onions and peppers to the pan and cook until tender. Do not brown.
4. Add the ham to the vegetable mixture. Stir so that everything is equally dispersed.
5. Ok now for the fun part. Check to make sure there is still some butter in the pan and the other ingredients haven’t soaked it all up. You can add more if you think you need it.
6. With the pan still hot, pour in your whisked eggs and take your rubber spatula and swirl the mixture while it is cooking.
7. As soon your eggs have started to get firm but are still a little runny, stop swirling. Make sure that the mixture is evenly covering the bottom of the pan.
8. Evenly spread the shredded cheese over the egg mixture.
9. Once the cheese has started to melt, you can fold or roll your omelet over. To do this, hold the pan at a slight angle and using the other hand with the spatula gradually lift and roll/fold the omelet down the pan.
10. To plate the omelet just slide it out of the pan onto the serving dish.
11. Garnish it with more shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream or fresh herbs.

And now for my top-secret technique: If at any point you mess up, you can scramble the eggs and confidently call them “Loaded Scrambled Eggs.”

Now get in that kitchen and make Mom an Omelet. Or a Loaded Scramble, depending on how it goes.

Best,

Chef

How to season fish.

Seafood is a healthy and flavorful cornerstone to any meal. With so many fish in the sea, there’s a near endless
selection of flavor profiles and textures.

Let’s discuss a few ways to season your favorite fish.

Basic Seafood Marinade

Ingredients:

• 2 fillets of your favorite fish
• Juice 3 lemons
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tb Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup fresh snipped dill
• 1/4 tea spoon salt
• Fresh ground pepper ( to taste)
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Preparation:

1. Mix all ingredients well.
2. Marinate fish 2 hours in refrigerator.
3. Cook as desired.

Fresh Herb Marinade

Ingredients:

• 2-4 filets of your favorite fish
• 1/4 cup of fresh chopped herbs
• 1 lemon or lime
• Salt and fresh ground pepper (to taste)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, broken record, broken… Always try to use the freshest ingredients you can. In this case, a home herb garden would be epic. The flavors of home grown herbs are more intense since they take a trip from the garden direct to the kitchen vs. the trip from the farm to the truck to the store to the kitchen.

Preparation:

1. Simply chop your herb of choice.
2. Chop 2 cloves of garlic.
3. Juice one lemon or lime.
4. Mix all of these ingredients together.
5. Place your fish in a Pyrex dish
6. Salt and pepper each fillet to taste
7. Pour a tablespoon or more marinade on each fish to coat evenly.
8. Let marinate for 20-30 minutes.
9. Cook as desired.
10. While the fish is resting, pour a tablespoon of the reserved marinade onto each fillet. This will add moisture and enhance the fish appearance.

Note: Never reuse marinade that has been used on any raw meat. Marinades must be discarded after they are used.

Lemon Ginger Marinade

Ingredients:

• 2 fillets of your favorite fish
• 1 ginger root
• 1 lemon
• Olive oil
• Salt and fresh ground pepper (to taste)

Preparation:

1. Salt and pepper both sides of a fish fillet to your taste.
2. Peel and thinly slice ginger root and cover both sides of the fish with it.
3. Thinly slice a lemon and cover both sides just like the ginger.
4. Place the fillets in a rectangular Pyrex dish and drizzle with olive oil.
5. Let the fish marinate for 15 minutes while the grill is getting hot.
6. With your spatula scoop the fish out of the dish lemons, ginger and all and place it on a hot, well-oiled grill.
7. Cook for 5-7 minutes per side with the lid of the grill closed.
8. Be sure to keep the lemons and ginger on the fish as it rests. The juices from the fish, lemon and ginger will make a delicious sauce.
9. The lemons and ginger will not look appetizing. Remove them before serving. They’ve done their job.

Dry rubs

Dry rubs are great for grilling fish. A rub puts a protective coating on the fish, deterring sticking and adding concentrated flavor.

Most spice rubs have a long list of ingredients in them. I won’t bore you with that. Instead I am going to direct you to the spice masters:

Chef Paul Prudhomme. He has a line of Magic Seasoning Blends. These rubs are time tested and widely used by professional chefs across America.

Chef Emeril’s line of Essence Spices are also well received.

Now here’s the secret. When serving a fish that has a dry rub, make sure to have a cooling condiment to serve with the fish since dry rubs are often spicy and intense. Think along the lines of fruit, cucumber, tomato salsa or a greek-style yogurt or sour cream sauce. Anything cooling will play nicely with the spiciness.

Best,

Chef

I’m opening the vault and bringing you one of MCL Restaurant & Bakery’s time-tested, top-selling recipes: The delectably delightful Waldorf salad. Mouths begin to water.

A tasty Waldorf salad is the perfect accompanying dish for the holiday season. To add to its perfection, prime apple season in Indiana is November through the end of December. We always try to buy locally. Our apples come from Garwood Orchards in LaPorte, Indiana. You can also find self-pick apple orchards across the country here.

Before we start chopping apples, a quick history lesson.

The Waldorf salad is a true American classic. Dating back to the 1890s, it’s obviously been around for a while. Creation credit goes to Oscar “of the Waldorf” Tschirky. Oscar was the famed maitre d’ at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria. Hence the name.

Success is in its simplicity.

The original recipe called for only three ingredients: apples, celery, and mayonnaise. MCL introduced pecans and raisins, because that’s how we live. On the edge. Success.

MCL’s Waldorf salad recipe (serves 10):

Ingredient list:

• 3 cups  Red, or Golden Delicious Apples, cored and diced in ½” pieces (soak cut apples in enough water to cover, and add the juice of one lemon so the apples don’t brown)

• 1 cup Celery,  diced in ½” pieces

• ½ cup Raisins

• ½ cup Pecans

• ¾ cups Mayonnaise or Salad Dressing

Preparation:

1.     Be sure to wash all of your fresh fruit and vegetables with cold running water before you start working with them.

2.     Start by coring and cutting the apples and place in lemon water mixture while you are preparing the other ingredients.

3.     Trim the tops and bottoms of the celery, cut each rib of celery down the middle lengthwise and then dice in ½” pieces.

4.     Drain the lemon water from the apples.

5.     Place all ingredients into a suitable mixing bowl and mix until the mayonnaise evenly coats all ingredients.

6.     Serve chilled.

Make it your own.

Start with the basic recipe as your foundation. Then get creative with it. Let me know what lovely concoctions you conjure up.

Best,

Chef

Asian Infused Steelhead Trout (modified for the home kitchen. Serves 4)

Ingredient list:

Steelhead Trout:
Four 4 ounce pieces of Steelhead Trout (can substitute Salmon as well)

For Vegetable mixture:
1 cup of shredded cabbage
1 carrot peeled and shredded
1 stalk of celery, sliced on a bias very thinly
½ cup broccoli florets
¼ cup water chestnuts, drained
Pinch of kosher salt

For the sauce:
Pan coating spray
1 clove of garlic, chopped
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¾ cup soy sauce, low sodium
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon corn starch
¼ cup sesame oil

Step by step:

1. Spray skillet with pan coating spray. Heat over medium high heat.

2. When pan is hot add chopped garlic. Cook just until it gives off a sweet roasted smell. Tasty.

3. Add ginger and red pepper flakes. Toast for a few seconds.

4. Add soy sauce, black pepper and kosher salt. Reduce heat to medium.

5. Mix corn starch with the water and the sesame oil. Stir into the hot soy sauce mixture.

6. Continue to heat and stir the sauce until it has reached a slow boil.

7. Remove half of the sauce and save extra sauce to offer guests. Guests will like it.

8. Place trout in pan with remaining sauce. Turn to evenly coat the fish with sauce.

9. Cover skillet with a lid. Reduce heat to low. Continue to cook for 10 minutes.

10. While Trout is cooking toss vegetable mixture with kosher salt. Place in a steamer. Steam for 5 minutes.

11. Place vegetables on a serving tray. Lay the finished trout on top of them. Coat the fish with remaining sauce.

12. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and serve.

13. Sit back and receive praise.

If you have specific questions email me.

Best,

Chef