simple is most probably best

yeah, it turns out they're not

The old adage “simple is best” is one that chefs and cooks - as well as designers - can often be heard saying, but follow irregularly. I remember many instances of falling into this trap myself. Once I spent all this time working out a new steak sauce, and I was so excited about it that I ended up putting it on thick on some burgers I had just made for some friends. To my horror (although in hindsight, not surprisingly) the reaction ended up being a lackluster, “it’s ok, but I wish I could taste the meat more”. Covering up the main ingredient in the burger – the patty – I’d sort of killed the part that should have been speaking for itself.

Ken over at www.onlyknives.com made this travesty

It’s important to let ingredients that can already talk say their part, and pick out things that help flavors along rather than smothering them out. I think in the current generation we’re all working to get better about this. Fancy techniques and special effects have never been able to beat good solid basics, but it seems like everyone's been realizing that in a big way lately.

Photoshop filters proved this one a long time ago. I’m also pretty sure the Star Wars movies proved it (and a lot of recent movies besides); layer after layer of special effects with less and less meaning behind each one. We all have to ask ourselves – is what I’m doing adding to the situation? Whoa, sounds like one of those motivational speeches.

prosciutto-wrapped amberjack over avocado basil salad

Amberjack is a trout-sized fish that's common in Japan, but it could be replaced with cod or another firm white fish fillet. I should also say that prosciutto is simply the word for ham in Italian, and what is meant here is dry-cured ham, which is what us Americans tend to mean when we say prosciutto. You will want:

 

Fillets of white fish (de-boned and de-skinned)

Enough prosciutto (you’ll see)

Sea salt

For the salad:

Avocado

Fresh basil leaves

Lettuce (of choice, something crisp)

Something crunchy (I use celery)

Simple dressing

Wrap the prosciutto around the fillets, covering them entirely as best you can. Season with sea salt – both sides, always both sides – and set aside. Preheat your oven to 210 C.

Break up the lettuce coarsely with your hands. Wash and throw in the salad spinner (an absolute essential kitchen device) along with a couple handfuls of fresh basil leaves. Also cut up a celery stock or two and toss those in as well.

To make a simple dressing, shake lemon juice with olive oil and some salt together in a mason jar. This isn’t emulsified but it works fine. Dress your salad and toss. The wrapped fillets go into a hot frying pan with a glug of olive oil. There should definitely be a big sizzle when they touch the pan, and we’re going to keep high heat the whole time. By the way, a glug is a unit of measure based on sound – it’s more than a splash but less than 2 tablespoons, according to me (who you gonna trust?).

Now, since we’re going to pop this into the oven after pan-frying, the goal here is not to cook the fish but rather to crisp up the ham with a nice sear. Golden brown with maybe just a touch of black char will tell you that it’s done. Do both sides. The searing will only take a minute or so, so watch the fish and adjust heat down a bit if needed. Take the fishy bundles of joy out of the frying pan and put them in an un-greased baking pan in the oven for 10 or 11 minutes.

While that’s baking, get the avocado out of its shell with a spoon and slice it up thinly. Arrange that on your salad, lumping it up in the middle a bit. Take out the fish, let it rest for just a bit, and then place it atop the avocado. This will warm the avocado without much wilting the leaves. One spoonful of pan jus - the juices left over in the pan after cooking - over the finished fish gives it that sexy sheen (and I don’t mean Charlie!).

 
This works really well as a light luncheon or entrée for a romantic dinner. I would say lager beer with the luncheon and chardonnay with the romantic dinner. The juices from the prosciutto seep into the fish, giving it a meaty, fishy, chicken-y, my-taste-buds-don't-quite-know-how-to-respond-but-it's-wonderful-y feel. Brilliant.

just what you were looking for!

Welcome to food graffiti! food graffiti a food design blog and something of a New Year's resolution.

I would say design is a way of life, like art is a way of life. I think of  art as a search for beauty, and design as the conscience application of what was found searching.  If art is flowing and shapeless like water, then design is a bottle or a container that gives art a specific form. Art is hard to understand I think, but good design helps anyone recognize what an artist is trying to say.

Food is a necessary part of life as well as a way of it. Everyone knows that eating badly hurts your body. But like eating badly can hurt you, eating well can make you healthier, stronger, and happier. Good design also gives us good impressions, just like bad design gives us bad impressions. Anything can be designed, so of course food can be designed too. Interior designers, city planners, and graphic designers all understand how important good design is to change how people see and think, but chefs understand it too.

The thing is though, not everyone feels confident about making good food, let alone making it look pretty, right? That's where I hope this blog will come in. I want to show you how fun, creative, and original you can be with food without worrying too much about recipes, traditions, or not having the right ingredients on hand at the time. That's why the recipes here are loose and based more on ingredient types rather than specific ingredients - oil, leaves, herbs, that kind of thing. Along the way I hope to show you tips and ideas that will have you - metaphorically - spray-painting the culinary brick wall of your kitchen.

My name is Daniel Chamberlin. By combining good eating with good design I believe anyone can make some awesome food, and I want to share that with you. Take the paint you have laying around - let's make some graffiti!