The Official Chef Robert Irvine Blog

Golden Sunshine to Rising Sun

As I always say, and always will say, there’s no place like home, but there’s a great big world out there and a big part of me will always love to get out and see it. When last I posted, I was just coming off of four glorious days in Disneyland, CA, doing live cooking demonstrations and signing what felt like thousands of autographs, at Disney’s California Food and Wine Festival. Thanks to Gary Maggetti, Jim Ames, Debbie our VIP guide and all the cast members who helped to make what could have been a madhouse a truly memorable event.

I have always had a great relationship with the Disney folks, in LA and Orlando, I would be remiss if I didn’t single out Marianne Hunnel at Disney World for the amazing work she does in organizing and running the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, at which I have had the great honor of appearing for three years running now. They take pride in attending to the smallest details and every event is seamlessly run and executed. They are selfless and are always giving credit to their teams; just phenomenal.

And, as always, it’s wonderful to have the opportunity to meet all of you, and thanks to all of you who made the time to come to a demo, to stand on line or who were kind enough to ask for a autograph, to introduce me to your kids or to just stand and chat. I can’t say “thank you” enough for your enthusiasm and support. No wonder they call it the Happiest Place on Earth!

Had some amazing dinners in LA, one at Mario Batali’s Pizzeria Mozzo, and another at a hidden gem in the Disney crown, called Napa Rose. Special kudos to Chef Andrew Sutton and to Master Sommelier Michael Jordan for work that epitomizes excellence and deep knowledge of their crafts. If you ever get a chance, try it out, it’s amazing.

After that we headed off to Japan, Land of the Rising Sun, to a place called Yokosuka, which is about two hours from Narita Airport. Let me tell you, after about 14 hours in a plane and two more hours on a bus, I felt more like a piece of luggage than a badly jet-lagged chef. We were there to create food for Navy service personnel and their families, as part of a thank-you and customer appreciation weekend for Nexcom, the Navy Exchange Service Command. I was accompanied by my long time friend and business partner Randall Williams, Pastor Michael Carr and fellow chef, David Britton. As usual, we proceeded Dinner: Impossible style, cooking on the fly, with the help of a young man named Vince Brown, who helped us pull it all together logistically. In all, we cooked for about 600 active military personnel and their families, the captains and their wives from the base and those from the aircraft carrier George Washington and the USS Lassen(DDG 82).

Nothing is more special to me than cooking for and meeting US service people, at home and especially abroad. We had the help of culinary students from a local school and lots of “weekend warrior” cooks, who all pitched in and did a great job. The food and the company were both a cut above.

I would love to spend more time in Japan. Their culture and history are fascinating and there never seems to be enough time to immerse oneself on a trip like this. Their discipline and reverence for finding harmony in nature offer lessons I would like to have more of a chance to learn about, for sure.

I should let you all know, that when I mentioned “home” at the top of this post, I not only meant home with my wonderful family, but the United States of America, as well. I officially became an American citizen just a few months back (passed the test with flying colors I should add!), so hooray for the Red, White and Blue (and let’s have a quick chorus of Rule, Britannia! for the folks back in the UK) and now I’m off to start shooting more new episodes of DI. How’s that for burying the lead?

Here’s a really nice recipe I demonstrated in Anaheim. Enjoy!

FILET MIGNON OVER LOBSTER BOURSIN MASHED POTATOES WITH A MERLOT REDUCTION
Robert Irvine. All Rights Reserved

Yield: 6 servings

Merlot reduction
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon (1 to 2 cloves) chopped fresh garlic
2 finely diced shallots, or one white onion finely diced
any meat trimmings you may have from the beef (see beef ingredient below)
½ 750 ML bottle merlot wine
½ pint (1 cup) strong beef stock or demi glace
1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme
1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter

Method of Preparation
1. Heat the 3 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan.
2. Sauté the garlic and shallots over a gentle heat until translucent. (If you have any
trimmings of meat, you would add them at this time).
3. De-glaze the pan with the wine, and add the beef stock and the thyme and rosemary.
4. Allow this mixture to reduce. It could take 20 to 30 minutes (sometimes longer) at a
rolling boil, uncovered. You want the liquid to evaporate to about ⅓ of what you started
with (in order to intensify the flavor).
5. Once the liquid is reduced to the required volume, remove from the heat.
6. Strain the merlot reduction through a chinois (a conical strainer) or some cheesecloth - so
you can remove all the vegetables and herbs, and allow to rest in a warm place.

Lobster mashed potatoes
4 medium to large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
2 bay leaves
1 pound lobster meat
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (to sauté lobster)
Salt, to taste
White pepper, to taste
½ cup butter (or one 4 oz. stick) – for potatoes
3 ounces Boursin cheese
¼ cup chopped fresh chives

Filet mignon
⅛ cup grapeseed oil
Six 4-ounce. beef tenderloins (filet mignon)
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes with the bay leaves until the potatoes are tender. While the potatoes are cooking, sauté lobster meat in oil and butter until it is no longer translucent, and set aside. Drain the potatoes well and discard the bay leaves, then mash the potatoes and whip butter, salt and white pepper into the potatoes with a beater. Fold the lobster meat into the potatoes and set aside in a warm place.

For the filet mignon, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Season beef with salt and pepper. In a heavy bottomed, oven-safe sauté pan, add just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and heat on medium high heat on the stovetop. When the sauté pan is hot, cook each side of the filets for approximately 2 to 3 minutes, leaving undisturbed for the first two minutes or so. Turn the filets and continue the searing process on the other side of the filets for another 2 to 3 minutes. Place the pan of steaks into a hot oven at 375 degrees. Allow the filets to cook a further 6 to 8 minutes in the oven (depending on the thickness of the steaks and the heat of your oven).

While the steaks are in the oven finish the potatoes by crumbling the Boursin cheese into the lobster mashed potatoes which you have been keeping warm and gently stirring it in to allow cheese to melt.

Remove the pan of steaks from oven and allow them to rest. (Remember to use an oven mitt; the handle of the pan will be hot!)

If necessary, briefly re-heat the merlot sauce, then remove the pot from the heat and whisk in the whole stick of butter.

Plate a portion of mashed potatoes in the center of serving plate. Top with the filet mignon, spoon the merlot sauce over and around and garnish with chopped chives.