Learn from the Best: Ming Tsai

I was watching PBS one day with my wife and the show Simply Ming came on. My wife told me that he was a restaurateur and chef in the Boston area and that we should watch, so we did. It was Episode 1004-Cooking on the Fly: Thickening and unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available online. We caught the part of the show where he was cooking his final recipe which was Pan Seared Chicken with Orzo Risotto. I was amazed at how good it looked and how easy it seemed to be to make. I had to try it for myself, so I went online and found the recipe (wasn't easy to find). There were a few things about the recipe that were a little out of my comfort zone and so I did my own "on the fly" substituting! Instead of using the pumpkin puree I used cremini mushrooms and I didn't make the Endive Caper Salad. About 2 minutes into cooking the red onion I added the mushrooms so they could cook down a bit. At first, I was worried that the sauce wouldn't thicken without the pumpkin puree but after some simmering and a little more butter the sauce thickened nicely!

Here is the end result!

I also chose to use chicken tenders and made a nice little spring mix salad as a side. All in all it was a delicious success! This successful meal took me about 15-20 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook. I know it is a bit of an obvious thing but I think that a lot of people miss this point and go right to cooking from a recipe. Watch an Expert and learn from them, they are called an expert for a reason. Making something from a recipe is great but you miss out on the small details that might make a good meal great and a great meal = memorable!