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Chef's Kitchen

Each month we bring a guest chef into our Chef's Kitchen column to give us a tip that elevates their cooking (and hopefully ours). They also provide a recipe that showcases their tip. Our guest chef this month is Executive Chef Angie Roberts of BOKA Kitchen + Bar.


Angie Roberts found herself wearing a chef's toque while studying to be a nutritionist. A job as a caterer's prep cook led her into the pastry kitchen. Blissfully knee deep in brownies, cakes and scones, she decided to pursue formal culinary training and shifted curricula by enrolling in culinary programs at Seattle Central Community College. She jumped into preparing breakfast in a high volume Seattle neighborhood restaurant and never looked back. 

In 1997, Jeremiah Tower brought her into the kitchen to open Stars in downtown Seattle, and by age 21 she was a sous chef at a finer Italian restaurant in Pike Place Market. She joined Earth & Ocean's opening team in the pantry in 1999. She joined executive chef Jean Michel Boulet in New York City to help execute a James Beard Dinner. When Jonathan Sundstrom took the helm, she found herself sharing his passion for local, foraged and wild ingredients – core components of every menu Angie has touched since. In 2003, she became the executive sous chef. 

In 2005, Christine Keff, chef and owner of Flying Fish, hired her as chef de cuisine position. Angie realized her dream of becoming an executive chef in moving to BOKA in 2007.

Photo by Amos Morgan


How to choose and store fresh scallops:

1.)   Smell fresh scallops; they should be odorless or slightly sweet in scent. If you note a displeasing smell do not purchase.

2.)   The flesh should be firm and spring back when pressed. 

3.)   The scallops should be fairly dry and there should not be liquid at the bottom of the package, if they are packaged.

4.)   Upon bringing the fresh scallops home, place them in a container lined with paper towel to avoid excess liquid. Place the container over another container of ice and refrigerate immediately.

5.)   Keep the container in the back of the refrigerator where it is coldest and use them within a couple of days.

Some tips on purchasing avocados:

Unlike other fruits, avocados do not ripen on the tree.  They actually ripen after they have been picked which is why they are often hard when you find them in the store. Unless you are going to be serving the avocado immediately after purchasing, it is better to buy one that is still hard so that you can control the ripening process and determine when it will be ready for consumption. 

An avocado is ripe when its skin turns from green to a dark brown-green color and becomes slightly soft when it is gently squeezed. You can select the best, ripe and ready-to-eat avocado by looking for one that is slightly soft, without dark sunken spots or cracks.

How to store avocados at home:

Never refrigerate un-ripened (hard) avocados because they will not ripen in cold temperatures.

Un-ripened (hard) avocados are best stored in a cool dark place until they have ripened.

Place unripe avocados in a brown paper bag to ripen. This traps the ethylene gas they produce and helps them to ripen. A firm avocado placed in a paper bag will ripen at room temperature in about three to six days. As the fruit ripens, the skin color will darken.

Add a tomato, apple or banana to a paper bag in which you have placed an avocado. This will produce more ethylene gas and speed up the ripening process. It will usually only take one to three days to ripen. 

How to segment a citrus fruit:

1.)   Using a sharp knife, cut off both ends of the fruit.

2.)   Place fruit on flat end and cut away the peel from the top to the bottom

3.)   Cut down along the fruit section to center, then turn knife to loosen section and lift out.  Remove other sections the same way.

 

BOKA Kitchen + Bar
1010 First Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104
206-357-9000

www.bokaseattle.com

See website for restaurant hours


Click here to see Angie's recipe

March 2008


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Bargeen-Ellingson

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