Another great review of Chef Michael Bennett’s GLUTEN FREE cookbook

Charolette Amaile Wahoo – Chef Michael Bennett

chef Michael's "deep" flavored GLUTEN FREE Wahoo dish

Char0lette Amalie Wahoo Credit: Chef Michael Bennett
Recently, I had the opportunity to read and review Chef Michael Bennett’s book on gluten free cooking. It’s amazing. So much so, that my daughter was quick to ask for it, since she knew I had just finished the review (still waiting to be published). Chef Bennett’s recipes are amazing, but his cook books are so well laid out, you will love them. Well worth the investment.
Charolette Amaile Wahoo -
a Caribbean-influenced gluten free recipe.
Serves: 6
Chef Michael Bennett says this is a simply elegant gluten free dish and its depth in taste equals that of the port for which it is named. The port of Charoltte Amaile (St Thomas U.S.V.I.) is deep enough for the Queen Mary 2 (largest steamliner in the world) to be docked.
The gluten-free recipe calls for Wahoo but, chef Michael Bennett says you can also substitute Mahi Mahi or Cobia. Both are great locally caught fish that is extremely popular in Miami. This sauce is a glaze to be “mopped” over the fillet of Wahoo as it cooks on a wood-fire grill. Chef Michael gives us this recipe to highlight some of the Gluten-free recipes in his new cookbook “In the Land of Misfits, Pirates and Cooks”.
Ingredients:
3 lbs. Wahoo, evenly divided into 6 portions
1/2 cup Caramel mop, see recipe below
As needed Salt and white pepper, 5:1 ratio-mixed
2 tbs. Thai peanut sauce dry mix, found in Asian markets
1 cup Plantain chips, found in Latino grocery markets
As needed Oil
3 cup Yucca pieces, 1/2 inch chopped, blanched in boiling salted water
1 each Red bell pepper, roasted and chopped roughly
1 each Shallot, chopped
2 each Garlic kernels, finely chopped
2 bunch Pencil asparagus, blanched in salted water
Directions:
Dust the wahoo with a little of the salt and pepper mixture. Let rest in the refrigerator, while you are doing the other parts of this recipe. Grind the plantains into a meal with a food processor. Add in the Thai peanut sauce base mixture. Mix well.
Over hot coals, grill the wahoo fillet for 3 minutes per 1 inch of thickness on one side and then flip and cook 3 minutes more on the other side, glazing with the caramel mop as it cooks. Coat with the Thai peanut-plantain mixture on the top of the fillets of wahoo after the second side is cooked. Keep in a warm oven.
Next, saute the shallots and garlic quickly, add the yucca and continue to cook about three minutes. Toss in the peppers and saute (”to jump”) to distribute them in the pan. Press the yucca into a 4 or 5 inch ring mold in the center of the plate. Remove the mold and set the wahoo on top. Encircle this presentation with more of the caramel mop sauce. Arrange the asparagus around the yucca, pointing out to the edges of the plate like the hands of a clock.

Second part of recipe:

Caramel Mop
Serves: 25
One of my favorite “mops” for grilled NY strip steaks and richly flavored fish fillets like mahi mahi, wahoo, escolar and even salmon.

Ingredients:
12 oz. Coca-Cola, reduced to a syrup
4 oz. Espresso
4 oz. Garlic, roasted, chopped
6 oz. Shallots, chopped
2 oz. Apple juice concentrate
3 oz. Kahlua liquor
3 oz. GF Soy sauce
2 oz. Balsamic vinegar
1 oz. Frangelico liquor
1 oz. Triple sec
5 oz. Pick a peppa sauce, see weblink QR code
2 tbs. Black pepper
2 tbs. Seasalt
2 tbs. Xanthan Gum

Instructions:
In a small pan, bring 12 oz. of Coca-Cola to a boil and let this volume reduce by 2/3. Add the next 10 items to the pot and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool. Place in a food processor and grind well until everything is pulverized into a slurry. Add the thickener slowly to this mix and place in a squirt bottle.

To use:
Drizzle this “mop” (sauce) over top any grilled poultry, pork, beef or baby back rib and brush all around the food as it is cooking atop the grill.
Read more: http://www.thedailymeal.com/gluten-free-recipe-new-cookbook-land-misfit-pirates-and-cooks#ixzz1ZHs1Ukva

I hope to be able to share more of Michael’s recipes.

Fresh Ingredients, Tropical Flavors and Gluten-free dining are deliciously absorbed in a Value-Endorsed State of Mind

For Immediate Release:
The Professional Image
and FoodBrats.com

Fresh Ingredients, Tropical Flavors and Gluten-free dining are deliciously
absorbed in a Value-Endorsed State of Mind
“Food and healthy cooking has been my entire life…making it a value just seems right!”, chef Michael Bennett.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida ~ August, 2011 – Chef Michael Bennett’s current post as the Executive chef – Bimini Boatyard (BBy) that was first usher into the Fort Lauderdale dining scenescape in September of 1989. A lot has happened in the world since the time of its opening. Remember the fall of the Berlin Wall?
The reins of Bimini’s protracted journey have been taken by chef and cookbook Author – Michael Bennett; once acknowledged by the American Culinary Federation as Chef of the Year.
Today the BBY is best-known for its exciting and innovative “Caribb-ican” menu, value-based wines and the best local Happy Hour in Fort Lauderdale. Like BBY’s menu, the wine list selections are globally sourced, chosen for their value price point and a complementary taste that harmonizes with our menu. United with our casual-style of service – that is straight from the heart – referring to a sense of caring and friendliness, it is the combination of good food and this almost neighbor-like service has inspired this 21 year landmark.
Based on his culinary experiences, from a four year escapade in the Caribbean, Chef Bennett has created another “Caribb-ican“inspired menu – he refers as…”New World Cuisine revisited”. This menu feature his unique twist on this menu featuring local tropical ingredients – with a focus on seafood, complimented by: low-fat, Gluten-free “Coulis-grette’s © .
”Since the original opening of BBY, we have embarked on a new course”, says Chef Michael. “The decision was made to create a more accessible and creditable Gluten-free Caribbean slanted seafood-based menu.
Before becoming the executive chef of Bimini Boatyard, chef Michael Bennett recalls; “I lived and worked on various British, French and American Caribbean islands there were unbound by classic European cookery disciplines.” He has blended modern American food with “Caribbean” cookery techniques and ingredients invented during his four year journey through the Caribbean.
This is where Chef Michael reflected upon his culinary edification and began to write his first cookbook: “In the Land of Misfits, Prates and Cooks”. It has become The Professional Image’s first published cookbook and first Gluten-free book written by a chef for chefs.
See more below:

The first Gluten-Free Caribbean-influenced cookbook
that is enhanced with QR codes.
The Professional Image, Inc. that is touted to be the publisher for the Culinary profession, announced its first Cookbook release on September 1st, 2009. “In the Land of Misfits, Pirates and Cooks” has now been revised to be 100 percent Gluten-Free.

In the Land of Misfits, Pirates and Cooks is now Gluten-free and boasts over 125 mouth-watering Caribbean-inspired recipes. This four color book serves up an easy to read 180 pages of delectable tropical recipes each emphasized with a narrative about what it is like to live and cook in the Caribbean.

This cookbook is the result of Michael’s equating and collaborating hundreds of years of compelling Caribbean food and cookery elements. This book is overflowing with a scrumptious mix of seasoning blends and marinades, salads, appetizers and entrees written in a way where you are the aspirant chef and YOU can compose or alter recipes while atop the stove.

The modern metropolitan recipe styling captures the distinct local flavor of a multi-national cookery heritage. Vibrant photography, easy to use design, one-of-a-kind recipe flow and, interesting and helpful sidebars and QR (Quick Response) codes blend to create the perfect sampling of what this multi-cultural, Caribbean based cookery style has to offer.

The cookbook was developed as a way of thanking the many fans of Caribbean cuisine that know “curry powder” or a “jerk glaze” are not the only examples of a Caribbean chefs repertoire. Michael asserts that after working as a chef for the past four years in applaudable Caribbean dining venues, each has played an important role in the successful dispatch of this book. Michael’s travel and oeuvre throughout the Caribbean, whether on a British, American, French or Spanish island nations, has helped Michael to shape this unprecedented recipe collection.
QR CODES:
THIS IS THE FIRST COOKBOOK IN AMERICA THAT IS ENABLED WITH INSTANT-LINK QR CODES. QUICK RESPONSE (QR) CODES ARE INLAID WITHIN THE PAGES TO HELP THE READER LINK TO AND SEE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION THAT UNTIL NOW WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO INCORPORATE INTO A PRINTED COOKBOOK.

QR CODES BRING THE READER TO WEBSITES, COOKING DEMONSTRATION MOVIES AND SUPPLEMENTARY COOKERY INFORMATION ABOUT THE FOODS YOU ARE READING ABOUT. USING A QR CODE ENABLED SMARTPHONE OR IPAD DEVICE, TAKE A PICTURE OF THE PRINTED SYMBOL AND YOU ARE INSTANTLY CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET. CHEF MICHAEL BENNETT HAS PLACE LINKS TO PRODUCT INFORMATION WEBSITE, HOW-TO AND GLUTEN-FREE FOOD PURCHASING WEBSITES THAT MAKES YOUR EXPERIENCE ONE OF A KIND.

As guests enjoy chef Bennett’s award-winning Gluten-free cooking as they are treated to the casual elegance of newly remodeled spacious dining rooms, floor to ceiling windows peering out onto the riverfront – in which BBY is perched, three expansive Bar/Lounge areas and an outdoor (riverside) dining terrace. The remodeled interior design captures the feeling that you are in a family friendly, comfortable, Cape Cod stylized restaurant.

For more information on either the cookbook “In the Land of Misfits, Pirates and Cooks” or The Professional Image, inc. “publisher for the Culinary profession”, visit:
www.foodbrats.com (initiate July ’09) | contact T.P.I. at (305) 851-3441 | the_professional_image@yahoo.com.

“In the Land of Misfits, Pirates and Cooks” cookbook is priced at $34.95 (Please add $3.50 for shipping and handling) Books can be ordered online at www.foodbrats.com as well as through the Mail to this address: