Ingredients

This is a great film for anyone who is interested in making a change in the way they purchase and consume foods.  If you are in to farmer markets and understanding the how and why different people go about pushing the importance of shopping local watch this film!!! Click on the Link and take it all in. Ingredients

There is nothing like some fresh ingredients!!! This is a picture of some produce available at one of my favorite farmers markets. It is in Malibu off of the Pacific Coast Highway...the drive to the market is as wonderful as any you could imagine on a beautiful California day.

Anything is possible through food and music!!!

Anything is possible through food and music!!! This is one of my favorite moments and highest achievements to date....Through the boxing program that i was working for, the opportunity came up to cook for Stevie's daughter and fiance who happened to be a boxer that I cooked for named Joey Hanks...after doing several dinners for them they gave me a chance to meet the great Stevie Wonder at his house full of toys concert. My friend Jay Massone came with me to the show....backstage we where hanging out with the singers and musicians!!

Cleaning the fish we caught in the Golf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico.

The time was right. Following tough times the family had finally come together for Christmas. This was a long awaited trip, not only for me but for my mother and three brothers. At the time I was working for All American Heavyweights producing nutritional food for athletes six days a week. When mid December came I couldn't wait to rendezvous with the fam. Work had been tough and my thoughts on life in general needed to be re-arranged. This vacation did just that. We were able to relax and re-load before starting a new year. For me it was a time to evaluate my path to success and re-establish my love for food, music and family.

The Little cabin my mother had set up for us to stay in was fantastic. The humble abode was nestled right on the beach giving us a spectacular view! With everyone unpacking and coming together we started discussing each others accomplished goals, new found loves and past adventures. It had been some time since we had all gotten together. For those of you who do not know.....all of us live in different cities covering the us. For one...I stay in Los Angles which is far considering my brother Robert lives in Boston, Matt and the lovely Su reside in Washington DC and Nick stays at our campground in Northern Indiana with my mother Hope. After the hugs, a few laughs and a solemn moment of silence for loved lost ones we began planning our days to come....food, games, site seeing and some fishing....fun check, knives check, no stress.....straight crossed out and forgotten!!!!! The next day we wiped away our exhaustion from traveling in the sand, walking barefoot along the beach dodging random washed up fish.

This was quite a sight to see. As avid fishermen and lovers of seafood we all loved stopping for a second to check out each specimen.

The sight of these lost creatures was saddening. Yet this moment of sadness wouldn't last long.... my brothers and i began discussing how awesome it would be to fish the gulf, trying our hand at pulling out a beast of our own. That was all it took for us to set in motion a plan to fish during one of the days to come. We were cruising on cloud nine........at this point nothing could bring us down!!

Love the fam!!!!! Our week was set on cruise control. Things were going very well...that is except for the change in weather! Thankfully the days prior were sunny and warm. We had done the whole beach and site seeing stuff already, so the time to fish was at hand. With the sun hiding behind dark clouds a cold wind was able to sneak in but it couldn't slow down a handful of rugged Bostonians on a mission! It would have to snow a couple of feet accompanied by thirty foot swells to keep us from voyaging out into the golf...seeing as though that wasn't occurring any time soon we made our way to the docks. With our mise en place in order...

we walked towards the BAY KING!!!

As the Boat began casting out a flock of birds decided it was time to roll as well. This would end up being one of my favorite moments captured by film of my brother nick. Such a great in the moment sign of excitement!! Love it Nick!

With a huge grin and an overwhelming sense of anxiousness we awaited the moment to drop lines into the grey choppy ocean. What could we possibly catch here in the gulf. None of us had ever fished this far south so dreams of the big one began rolling through our thoughts.... as we all visualized snagging the biggest fish anyone has ever seen!

The fishing rods were ready and the bait was set. All we had to do was kill a few hours, pull in some fish and make dinner happen. The trip to the first spot came quickly but the fish didn't so the captain pushed onward to another location. This would carry on a couple times until we started seeing some results. The bites were few and far between, so when we started landing fish size became an after thought...the action alone was exciting and was received, however small, with open arms. After several hours we had caught a couple of little white fish and lost far too much bait...it was time to head a shore and begin prepping our catch. If you have not had the satisfaction of catching and preparing your own food you do not know the sense of accomplishment that was pouring out of our souls. It is a great feeling getting down to the basics of life, catching, preparing and devouring ones own food. It should be on everyone's bucket list!!....that is unless you find that same feeling walking down the frozen food isle of your local super market....I fortunately do not get a sense of satisfaction doing that therefore an adventure awaits around every bend! Keep it fresh and always use what you have. Early that day we had picked up some vegetables and herbs....with the shopping done and the fish in the cooler we began preparing our family style dinner!

We prepped up beef, chicken and the catch we had brought home. The vegetables were kept simple using zucchini, spinach, onions and mushrooms. The biggest task of that day was butchering our small catch.

The length of time it takes to properly scale, draw and filet the fish can be overwhelming to beginners. If you are not proficient at it and are a bit intimidated, feel free to use the local marinas butcher...there is usually a boat or two with some fisherman ready to assist. Talk to them, tell a story, listen to there's and learn a little bit about what they do. Ask questions and you might even walk away with your fish cleaned and a lesson given to you by an expert...priceless!!!!!

Sitting down with the brothers grubbing out....one of my favorite past times!!!....the other is Baseball!!....go red sox!...ohhh wait a minute???..ya lets not talk about that #@$%...we should be keeping our manager, wasn't his fault just my opinion Theo......you are a dingleberry!!

Family Meal Status!!!! The following are videos of me demonstrating the process of butchering small fish...if you have any questions or comments fire away...... if you need advice or a step by step break down for a fish you need to prepare, feel free to ask for help.....sometimes you will receive it.

Choppin it UP with Nevin

A small breakfast

Breakfast, one of the most skipped and forgotten meals of the day. How could something so important be left out as we begin our busy day? In this day and age with all of our gadgets and widgets you would think that time could be made for indulging our bodies need for nutrients. Whether it is a piece of fruit, toast or quick shake it is very important to begin your day on a positive note.
When you are waking and beginning your day try to give your body that initial boost it so desperately needs. For this particular morning I kept it real simple. Whole wheat toast, a little butter, cranberry chutney, a fried egg and some bacon.

At first glance this seems to be a high load of saturated fat, yet at my height and weight this is acceptable. Remember that everyone is different and to keep portions to a minimum. As you can see with the finished dish, it was simply one egg a piece of bacon and some toast. Keep things in moderation and enjoy the goodness of life!

Have some Creme Brulee

Chocolate Creme Brulee
Makes 5 portions

Heavy Cream 16 fl oz
Sugar 3 0z
Vanilla bean 1ea or a 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract as a substitute
Egg yolks, beaten 3 ea
Chocolate melted 3oz
Brulee Sugar 2.5 oz

Method and Technique

Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees f.
Bring the cream and half of the sugar to a boil. After it boils pull off the heat and place the vanilla bean, which has already been scraped, into the the hot cream and sugar. Allow for this mixture to steep for 15 minutes covered with plastic wrap.
While the base is steeping mix the egg yolks and remaining sugar. After the 15 minutes has passed your base should be well infused, it is at this point you should start tempering the warm cream with the egg yolk base. It is very important that you take your time with this stage. If you add too much of the warm base to the eggs your custard will look like scrambled eggs. This is certainly not a characteristic you would like to see in your finished creme brulee. With that said, be patient mixing slowly until all the cream base has incorporated smoothly with the egg yolks and sugar. Once you have a nice custard base it is time to add the chocolate.
Melt the 3 oz of chocolate either in a microwave over small increments of time or over a double boiler. Personally I use a pot of slow simmering water with a metal bowl on top of it stirring my chocolate with a rubber spat until melted. Do whatever makes you comfortable.
Once the chocolate has melted place it into a large bowl and start mixing a third of the custard base into it at a time. Strain once all the base is mixed in.The end base should be smooth and well incorporated. Pour the custard into your creme brulee ramekins evenly about three-quarters full.
With the oven set at 325f, prepare a deep sheet tray with the ramekins set into it. Fill the tray with water until it reaches half way up the ramekins then place into the oven and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until the custard has set. You can test this by simply shaking the ramekin lightly. If it is set the custard with have no ripples. At this point you can pull it out and cool.

When the custard has cooled it is time to create the delicious sugary crust that we all love about the beloved creme brulee.


Take some granulated sugar and dust the tops of your ramekins with it. Once you have covered the tops pull out your blow torch! ....there really cant be many times in life that you can say that and be serious about it. I love it.



With the torch in hand light it up and quickly run the flame over the sugar melting it with out burning. Let stand for a moment then serve. Enjoy!

Monday Dinner with Friends

Last Monday a couple friends and I got together and made a meal happen. In these trying times funds are very hard to come across. If you, like me, are not apart of the one percent of individuals wealthy enough to simply live off of money earned from money here are a few easy guidelines you can follow.

Keep it Simple:
When looking to cook search for a protein, veg and starch. You don't have to make it more complicated then it is. For this meal I started with a protein we already had in the freezer. Chicken thighs and drumsticks. If you don't have anything frozen or readily available it would be a good idea to start watching sale trends at your local market. On occasion you can walk away with a great deal! Those deals can lead you to creating several meals off of a bulk purchase.

Create with what you already have:
With our chicken thawing I began searching through my cupboards and found a box of orzo that was purchased and forgotten about. Orzo is a great starch option and it is an extremely easy pasta to cook. This strange pasta is very close to resembling rice and could be used as a substitute in many dishes. Now that we had the main components of the dish figured out a simple trip to the market would round it out.

Only purchase what you need to finish the dish:
Needing some vegetables to smooth out the rough edges of our meal the group and i talked about which flavor profiles we would want to follow. Keeping it simple was the path and my cupboards supplied an answer...Italian. With a little dried basil, red chili peppers, onion powder, salt, pepper and red wine vinegar it was decided for us. Now that a flavor profile is found one can then decide which vegetables at the market would coincide the best with the dishes flavors.
At the store we found Asparagus, Broccoli, mushrooms and spinach. With the addition of these vegetables our dish would come together nicely. Giving us a well rounded meal at a low cost.
The following recipe is how I put it all together.

Chicken:
5ea drumsticks
5ea thighs
2 cups red wine vinegar
1 cup Olive oil
1 tbs dried basil
1 tbs red chili flakes
1 tbs onion powder
s/p to taste

Defrost the chicken. Preheat the oven to 375. While the oven is heating up take the chicken and rinse. Place it into a large container that will enable you to store it and the marinade together in the fridge. With the chicken rinsed, measure out all ingredients mixing them well with the poultry. Store in fridge for 30-45 minutes. This will allow all flavors to combine and settle with the protein.
After the chicken has marinated for a while pull it out and place it on a baking tray evenly spacing it. Remember that overcrowding will not allow for even cooking and a proper crisping of the skin. Once you have done this place in the oven for 45 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked and golden brown.

Orzo
3 cups of orzo dried
8 cups of water
1 tsp salt for water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
pinch of red chili flakes
s/p to taste

Bring the eight cups of water to a boil. Once the the water boils drop the pasta in giving it a stir. The water temp will fall then come back to a boil. As this happens you will want to control the boil by bringing it down to a simmer. Controlling the heat is very important when making pasta or rice. Simmer the orzo for 8-10 minutes or until it has expanded and softened up. With the orzo cooked strain it discarding the water. Place it into a bowl or back into the pot you cooked it in. Measure out your olive oil, red wine vinegar and a pinch of chili flakes, add them in with the orzo. Mix thoroughly so you ensure all ingredients are incorporated. Cover and keep warm.

The Vegetables
1 bu Asparagus
2 small heads of Broccoli
1 pk Button Mushrooms
1 bag of Baby Spinach

Take and wash all vegetables, making sure to dry them after rinsing. Wile washing all vegetables have two small pots of water heating up. Take the asparagus and cut off the wood-like bottoms leaving you the nice tender green stems and tips. Cut the Asparagus in half after trimming the bottoms off and put aside. With the broccoli heads, trim off the florets creating small bite sized pieces, put them aside. The mushrooms purchased where already sliced so washing them was all that needed to happen. As for the spinach it says washed but it is always good to take that extra step rinsing it off, put it aside and prepare to blanch the asparagus and broccoli.
With the two pots of water boiling by now drop the Broccoli florets in one and the asparagus pieces into the other one. Let them cook for 1-2 minutes strain and run cold water over them to stop the cooking process. Place onto a plate and hold.
Heat up a large saute pan with a little olive oil in it and once hot, start off by browning the mushrooms. Cook the shrooms for 2-3 minutes then add broccoli and asparagus, brown a touch then add in the spinach. With all of those beautiful leaves hanging in the pan splash a bit of water or stock in to speed up the cooking process of the spinach. Once the spinach is cooked and well incorporated in your vegetable medley turn off heat and hold.

To Finish:
Pull the chicken out when it is fully cooked and golden brown. At this stage you can decide to either platter up the thighs and drumsticks, the orzo and your side separately like a family style buffet or you can plate it up for your guests. For the platting I made a bed of orzo, having the vegetables come off of the side allowing the thighs and drumsticks to stack giving them an appealing height while show casing that golden brown crispy skin.
Have fun and enjoy.