Garde Manger Recipes

I taught garde manager for many years at the CIA and this is one of my favorite recipes from class. I actually developed this recipe with one of my students, inspired by a recipe he had learned on his externship.

Years ago I was competing in Erfuft, Germany with a CIA Culinary Olympic team. When the competition was over, we had time to walk around Erfurt (home of the famous poet Goethe). There was a man grilling German sausages on a small grill in the center of the town square. I joined the long line of locals purchasing delicious, grilled German sausage with onions-amazing!

I taught garde manger for years at the CIA... it was one of my favorite classes. I love caviar, foie gras, preparing hors d' oeuvres, decorative platters and especially forcemeats. And yes... I love making watermelon carvings too!

One of the many recipes new culinary students learn to prepare is duxelle. It's a delicious mixture of sweated shallots, garlic, minced mushrooms/stems, herbs, seasoning and often cream. It's cooked to almost a paste like consistency. Duxelle can be used to stuff chicken breasts or veal chops, vegetables and I especially like shiitake duxelle stuffed mushroom caps.

My absolute favorite phyllo dish is Pastilla, a rustic, pastry type dish of shredded chicken, almonds, Ras El Hanout etc.. wrapped in a very simple, flaky phyllo dough made with flour and water.

Galantine of Chicken Winter time is perfect for practicing (and eating) terrines, pates, galantines, etc… The photo (top left) is prepared by pounding the breast and wrapping it around the forcemeat. The photo underneath is a galantine with a whole breast. (the chicken galantine style in this recipe)

The classics! One of my earlier cooking jobs was at a restaurant on a docked boat serving high end continental cuisine... old school. I was the pantry cook and prepared shrimp cocktail, herring appetizers, oysters and clams on the half shell, clams oreganata, clams casino etc.. I opened a lot of fresh clams in those days! That waterfront kitchen taught me that you cannot shortcut freshness when it comes to seafood.  Why Fresh Shucking Matters Natural clam liquor : Retains the essential salty, briny juices that flavor the entire breadcrumb filling. Superior texture : Freshly shucked clam meat remains tender and succulent, never rubbery or tough. Authentic presentation : Using the pristine, natural half-shells creates a beautiful, rustic plating style

I made this crab strudel for a fun, virtual cooking class Junnie & I did for the Research Chefs Association. I love the sweet crab and crunchy water chestnuts in the filling.

There is a restaurant in Santa Fe, New Mexico called Cafe Pasquale. I was inspired to create salsa recipes after reading their wonderful cookbook. I had the chance to visit Cafe Pasquale with my son Ciro & we enjoyed an amazing meal of delicious, Southwest foods together.