Yesterday, I revealed that I would feature three unique chicken fried steaks on the blog in celebration of Texas Chicken Fried Steak Day. So, who are the lucky honorees?

Congratulations to Olivia in Austin, Beaver’s in Houston, and Bone Daddy’s in Dallas. These three Texas restaurants feature some amazing pan-fried steaks. Read further to learn more about the methods and concepts behind their creations.

Beaver’s (Houston)

Description: Chicken Fried New York Strip with bacon-shroom gravy, bacon-cheddar mashers, bacon-braised greens, and Texas toast.

Method: ½ pound New York strip steak (tenderized and pounded thin). Toss in seasoned flour. Dip in buttermilk. Press back into seasoned flour. Fry for 3-5 minutes at 365 degrees or until golden brown. Top with cream gravy with thick-cut bacon and local, roasted mushrooms. (Beaver’s serves their chicken fried steak with braised greens with bacon and mashed russet potatoes with thick-cut bacon and sharp white cheddar cheese.)

Olivia (Austin)

Description: The Willie Nelson Chicken Fried Steak at Olivia is an homage to an unfortunate run-in Willie Nelson had with the law in El Paso in 2010. Look closely at the description: 6 ounces (ahem) of meat, red-eye gravy, herbed smashed potatoes, two fried eggs, and chopped salad with buttermilk dressing. James Holmes (executive chef of Olivia) said he would have contributed a portion of sales to Willie’s legal defense, but that obviously wasn’t necessary. As of now, Holmes has no plans for a Waylon Jennings plate.

Method: Take 6-ounce ribeye, pound it out, and begin standard breading procedure. Drop in seasoned fried chicken flour and throw in a wet mix (4 cups buttermilk, 4 eggs, and ¼ cup hot sauce). Drop ribeye in a cast-iron skillet with hot canola oil at 350 degrees. Cook until golden brown; Flip over and spoon hot grease over it. Serve with herbed smashed potatoes: skin on, gold potatoes, whole milk, salt and pepper, and various herbs: parsley, tarragon, etc.

Red-eye gravy: Make a medium-brown roux, chicken stock, 1 cup of strong-brewed coffee, ¼ cup hot sauce, couple hits Worcestershire, lots of pepper. Bring to a boil until it becomes a gravy. Use the leftovers for gumbo.

Bone Daddy’s (Dallas)

Photo taken by Dick Patrick.

Description: Tender, hand-battered steak topped with homemade gravy and served with garlic & chive whipped potatoes, creamed corn, and a warm cheese roll.

Method: Take 6 ounces of cubed steak, pound it out, and season it. Press the steak in seasoned flour and then dip in batter. Coat steak once more with flour and drop in deep fryer until it is golden brown, tender, and floats. Drain the oil from the steak and plate it with mashed spuds and veggies. Top it off with gravy!

Tagged: austin, Beaver's, Bone Daddy's, Chicken Fried Steak, dallas, Houston, James Holmes, Layne Lynch, Olivia, Texas Chicken Fried Steak Day, Willie Nelson

Yesterday, we featured a few pumpkin dishes from Dallas, Houston, and Austin; today, we bring you part two of the pumpkin feature. Check out these fall-inspired dishes below.

Olivia’s Pumpkin Ravioli
8 oz roasted cubed pumpkin (you can also use a can if you’re lazy)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp goat butter
½ cup cream
½ cup whole milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
¼ cup grated parmesan
3 scratches of nutmeg
1 tsp fresh sage
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 fresh laurel or bay leaf
Homemade pasta or ½ pound store-bought fresh pasta sheets (Olivia makes their own pasta)

Olivia’s Pumpkin Ravioli

Throw butters in pan. Sauté pumpkin for 3 minutes. Add cream and milk. Add bay leaf, thyme, and sage. Cook for 10 minutes on low to medium heat until pumpkin is tender. Puree the mixture until it’s smooth. While the pureed mixture is still warm, fold in the egg, parmesan, and nutmeg. Let it cool down. Fill the ravioli sheets and boil for 7 minutes. Brown 4 tablespoons of goat butter to make your sauce and top with goat cheese and candied walnuts. Plate. Eat. Swoon.

Bar Mirabeau‘s Pumpkin Pie Pancakes (Courtesy Parind Vora)
2 ½ cups cake flour
3 cups roasted, pureed seasonal pumpkin or acorn squash, passed through a tamis
½ tbsp aluminum-free baking powder
4-8 tbsp sugar, depending on the sweetness of the pumpkin
4 egg whites, whipped to medium-stiff peaks
2 yolks
½ cup – 1 cup milk (as needed)
1/6 cup brown butter
pinch salt
pistachios, chopped
mascarpone
fresh berries

Bar Mirabeau’s Pumpkin Pie Pancakes

Sift the dry ingredients together. In another bowl, mix the pumpkin puree, egg yolks, most of the milk, and the brown butter together until smooth. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the mixed wet ingredients all at once. Stir until just combined. (Over-mixing will make for a tough pancake.) Beat the egg whites until medium-stifft peaks appear as for meringue. Add the sugar toward the end of the beating. Fold the egg whites gently into the batter with a spatula. Add milk as necessary to get the right consistency. Cook as you would other pancakes. Top with mascarpone, chopped pistachio, and fresh berries.

Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop‘s Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (yields 18 whoopie pies)
Whoopies
½ cup unsalted butter
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
1 ½ tsp Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups milk
2 cups pureed pumpkin

Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop’s Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add in eggs and vegetable oil. In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Alternate adding dry ingredients into the butter-oil mixture with milk. Stir until just combined. Stir in pumpkin, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl until no more streaks remain and pumpkin is fully incorporated. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop 36 whoopie halves onto greased baking sheet – this will yield 18 complete whoopie pies. Bake for 10 minutes, rotating halfway.

Filling
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup vegetable shortening
8 oz cream cheese
5 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 tsp Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract

Glaze
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
2-4 tbsp milk
½ tsp pure maple extract

Beat butter and shortening until combined. Add in cream cheese and beat until combined. Slowly add in powdered sugar, then vanilla. Beat for two minutes or until light and fluffy. Fill cooled whoopie pies. Glaze. Enjoy!

Prego‘s Jumbo Texas Gulf shrimp with caramelized pumpkin and housemade pancetta risotto
2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup pumpkin, caramelized and cubed
16 jumbo gulf shrimp
1 cup pancetta, diced
2 green onions
1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
4 tbsp butter
½ cup grana padano or parmesan cheese
2 tbsp heavy cream
2 tbsp garlic, minced

Prego’s Jumbo Texas Gulf shrimp with caramelized pumpkin and housemade pancetta risotto

To prepare rice, brown 2 lb of Arborio rice in ½ cup of olive oil. Once it’s browned, add vegetable stock two cups at a time and stir until all the stock has been absorbed. Continue adding stock and stirring until rice is fully cooked. To prepare the pumpkin, slice pumpkin in half, remove the seeds, and separate the soft interior from the hard exterior. Discard the exterior and cube the soft interior into one-inch cubes. Drizzle with olive oil and liberally salt and pepper on a sheet pan. Roast the cubes in a 400-degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. Sauté diced pancetta until most of the fat has been rendered and the pancetta is turning brown. Add jumbo shrimp, green onion, and minced garlic and continue cooking until the shrimp are pink. Add the butter, cream, and cheese. Stir until integrated. Add the cup of caramelized pumpkin and 2 cups of risotto. Add chopped parsley, cracked black pepper, and coarse sea salt to taste.

ASTI Trattoria‘s Bunch Kale & Pumpkin Salad
small pumpkin
kale
goat cheese
pan gritata (fried torn bread in garlic oil)
rendered bacon
olive oil
salt & pepper
sherry vinegar

ASTI Trattoria’s Kale & Pumpkin Salad

Dress kale with a little olive oil and grill; if you don’t have a grill, heat up an iron skillet or large sauté pan until it’s smoking, carefully add dressed kale, and toss until bright green and crispy. If you’re grilling, make sure to get charred edges. Set aside kale to cool. Tear up old crusty bread – focaccia, ciabatta, french (something chewy) – into slightly larger than bite-size pieces. Heat up garlic oil in a small pot for about 5 minutes, don’t let it smoke or it will burn. Carefully fry torn bread in oil until golden brown and remove from oil to drain on paper towel. Discard remaining oil. Cut bacon into small chunks and render off in a sauté pan until golden brown. Drain fat. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Quarter small pumpkin and drizzle olive oil, salt, and pepper and place on sheet tray in oven for about 15-20 minutes. Once removed from oven, let cool for about 5 minutes and scoop out flesh carefully. Rough chop into medium-dice pieces. In a large bowl combine kale, goat cheese, fried bread, roasted pumpkin chunks, and bacon. Season with salt and pepper (to taste) and dress lightly with olive oil and sherry vinegar.

Sweet Paris Creparie & Café’s Pumpkin Cinnamon Crème Brûlée Crêpe

 

Sweet Paris Creparie & Café‘s Pumpkin Cinnamon Crème Brûlée Crêpe
Made-to-order crepe with caramelized sugar and caramelized slice of pumpkin on top. It’s the creparie’s monthly special served in October.

 

Sonya Coté‘s Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Hash
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups sweet potatoes, julienned
2 cup french pumpkin,  julienned
2 tsp red pepper flake
1 medium onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced
fresh sage, chiffonade
white pepper
4 oz vegetable stock

Sonya Cote with a Pumpkin

In a heated sauté pan add olive oil, sweet potato, pumpkin, peppers, and onions. Sauté until vegetables begin to soften and brown. Add the garlic, sage, salt, and pepper. Continue to sauté for one more minute. Do not burn the garlic. Add the vegetable stock and place in a preheated 350-degree oven until all vegetables are completely cooked but still maintain most of their shape and texture. The finished dish has should have some moisture to it. A little stock may be added.

Uchi‘s Pumpkin Dessert

Uchi’s Pumpkin Dessert

Uchi’s desserts aren’t simple enough to make at home, but I figured I’d at least give you the components of this delicious pumpkin dessert: White Pumpkin puree, Goma croquant, lemon vinegar gelee, Kuro Goma Sorbet, five-spice powder, white pumpkin cake, and ginger thread.

Philippe Restaurant + Lounge‘s Pumpkin Gnocchi and Lobster

Gnocchi
7 oz flour
17 oz pumpkin puree
18 oz baked potatoes – peel and pass through a tamis while still hot
4 eggs
salt & pepper

Mix the hot potatoes with the flour, eggs, pumpkin puree, and seasoning. Roll each gnocchi [12.5 gr = 1/2 oz] in the palm of your hand, using a little bit of flour, and blanch them in salted water until they come to the surface, then chock them in ice. Drain in a towel. Pan sear on each side for a few seconds in a Teflon pan with hot butter and then bake for 4 minutes (turning once) at 300 degrees.

Philippe Restaurant + Lounge‘s Pumpkin Gnocchi and Lobster

Lobster (optional for an appetizer or as hors d’oeuvres)
1 whole – 1 lb and a quarter lobster
4 qt vegetable stock

When the vegetable stock simmers, cook the lobster tail [4 min] and the claws [6 min]. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes before taking the shell off. Thinly slice. Save lobster body.

Lobster Beurre Blanc
Lobster shells
2 tbsp olive oil
2 quarts vegetable stock
1 cup vegetable mirepoix
1 shot cognac
1 cup white wine
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 roma tomatoes, each chopped
6 oz butter
½ bulb shallots, thinly sliced
2 tbsp vinegar
4 tbsp cream
2 tbsp lobster reduction

Clean the lobster body and make a stock out of it by sweating the shells and mirepoix vegetable in olive oil until light in color. Add the cognac, white wine, and water or vegetable stock. Add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Cook 30 minutes then pass through the strainer and reduce until a syrup-like consistency is achieved. Boil the vinegar with shallots, add the cream and whisk the butter [previously at room temperature] that you will incorporate slowly at a low heat. Salt and pepper and add the lobster reduction. Warm the lobster slices in the beurre blanc, at a low heat, Place the lobster on each puffy, warm gnocchi and use a bamboo fancy skewer to hold it together before serving. Drizzle a little bit of beurre blanc on top of the lobster at the last second.

Tagged: asti trattoria, austin, Bar Mirabeau, James Holmes, Layne Lynch, Olivia, Parind Vora, Philippe Restaurant + Lounge, Prego, Pumpkin, Sonya Cote, Sugar Mama's Bakeshop, Sweet Paris Creparie & Café', uchi, uchiko

As the clock strikes midnight, many will be sipping fizzy champagne, kissing strangers standing nearby, or staring at the television watching New Yorkers and Dick Clark ring in the rockin’ New Year. For chefs, these hallowed traditions are rare luxuries – most are confined to their upscale restaurant kitchens, preparing their intensively planned and carefully executed New Year’s Eve menus.

For those individuals bold enough to host New Year’s Eve parties of their own, a few favorite Texas chefs – James Holmes of Olivia and Lucy’s Fried in Austin, Scott Gottlich of Bijoux in Dallas, and Paul Qui of Uchiko in Austin (and Top Chef Texas) -have kindly shared some of their favorite New Year’s Eve recipes with TEXAS MONTHLY crew, which we bestow unto you all. Happy New Year!

Paul Qui

My typical New Year’s Eve consists of going to work [and] making sure the food is up to par and my staff is ready for service. It’s been a while since I’ve had a New Year’s Eve off. I usually do the toast with my guys at the restaurant. If I wasn’t, I would spend it with my girlfriend Deana and my family, but that’s rarely the case. Usually Deana has dinner at the restaurant and waits for me to get off, then we go off and find a place to have drinks.

I love eating satsumaimo during the wintertime. It’s a simple, common dish that’s great when it’s cold out. Eating satsumaimo is a sensory experience, from holding the warm potato to the aromas you get from the ginger and garlic. This is a dish I would prepare for New Year’s Eve because it’s an engaging dish and great to serve for dinner parties. There is an element of surprise being hidden in a humble wrap of foil. The surprise comes from all the flavor of the sweet potato.

Roasted Satsumaimo

1 Japanese sweet potato
1 teaspoon ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon white soy
1 teaspoon green onion

Cut the sweet potato into four pieces. Wrap each of them in foil with the listed ingredients.  Cook in oven at 350˚ for 1 hour or until tender. Serve in foil. Satsumaimo is something very common in Japan during the winter months.

Scott Gottlich

My usual New Year’s Eve tradition is manning the kitchen at Bijoux. The restaurant is always booming, and I make sure to go over and beyond to ensure my guests have a memorable New Year’s Eve meal and dining experience. As for New Year’s Day, I spend time with my wife and two sons watching football and eating black-eyed peas. You have to eat those black-eyed peas. They bring you good luck.

Carrot Soup with Marshmallow Panna Cotta

For the soup:
3 pounds carrots, peeled
¼ onion, chopped
1 quart milk
3 tablespoons butter

Place onion and cut, peeled carrots in a pot with butter and milk. Cook until fork tender. Blend all ingredients together and pass through a sieve. Season with salt to taste.

For the Panna Cotta:
6 ounces marshmallows
1 cup milk
2 sheets of gelatin

Place marshmallows and milk in a pot and melt.  Add bloomed gelatin to the mix by mixing thoroughly.  Place in greased molds for desired shapes. To serve, place marshmallow in bowl and ladle the carrot soup tableside.

James Holmes

We jam it out at the restaurant every New Year’s Eve, and after all that is said and done, it is time for me to hang out with my wife and two daughters [Olivia and Lucy]. We go grab a New Year’s Day bite and usually catch some live music. Being with my family is my favorite way to usher in the New Year.

Grilled Oysters with Black-Eyed Peas
Courtesy of James Holmes and Ryan Town, Lucy’s Fried Chicken

Cook your favorite New Year’s black-eyed peas, but take some out before they get creamy and cool them off for this recipe. You’ll need one teaspoon for each oyster.

1 dozen Gulf oysters
3 tablespoon reserved black-eyed peas
1½ roasted red peppers, diced
½ lemon
3 tablespoons butter, softened
green onions, thinly sliced (garnish)

Shuck and clean a dozen oysters, being careful to reserve the juice in the shell. Place the oysters on the half shell on the hottest part of the grill and divide the black-eyed peas and roasted red peppers among them.

When the black-eyed peas are warm, place a teaspoon of butter on top of each. Cook until bubbly and remove from heat. Squeeze the lemon over all of the oysters and garnish with the green onions.

- LAYNE LYNCH

Tagged: James Holmes, Layne Lynch, Lucy's Fried Chicken, Olivia, Paul Qui, Top Chef, uchiko