Cooking Like a TV Chef

Fiddlehead Ferns Photo by Brad Sylvester. Copyright 2012, all rights reserved. When one orders pesto in a restaurant, one expects the flavor of fresh basil. After all the classic basil pesto recipe is simply fresh basil, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, a little garlic, pine nuts, salt and pepper. Pesto, however, doesn't have to be made with basil. Parsley, cilantro, and a variety of fresh, flavorful greens can be used instead to provide twists on the classic pesto. Pesto, of course, is a thick sauce often used in place of tomato sauce on pasta, but also appropriate for many other dishes. It's great with chicken, with gnocchi, in place of mayo in a sandwich, with pork chops, in place of horseradish with beef, with fish or in almost any dish that can be enhanced by the addition of fresh garden flavors. Since it is springtime in New England, it is the only time of year that we can get fresh fiddlehead ferns. These are often available in the produce department of good grocery...

Black truffles Photo by Arpingstone, Wikimedia Commons On MasterChef, the remaining home cooks were asked to cook with an ingredient that few home chefs have the opportunity to use: black truffles. I have never cooked with black truffles, and it was pretty clear that few of the home cooks on MasterChef had used it either. Truffles are a kind of fungus, so it was the first instinct of some to use them as they would other more common kinds of mushrooms and use them to flavor steak. As I said, I haven’t cooked with a black truffle, but I have had truffle dishes at restaurants. The winning dish of this MasterChef challenge was in fact quite similar to a ravioli truffle dish that I have had before. Experience, even having eaten a particular ingredient before trying to cook with it, definitely helps. I can sympathize with the cooks on MasterChef. Outside of television reality cooking shows, few of us would ever cook with an ingredient for the first time when we have important guests....