Aug 28, 2010 - SALEM’S “B & B” CLOSE OUT THE CHEF’S CIRCLE IN STYLE

The 12th and final Chef’s Circle program of the 2010 season turned out to be one of the best as newly named Roanoke College Chef Brian Murtagh joined forces with Salem High School culinary arts director Bev Allman on Saturday, August 28.

Murtagh has been the head chef at both VMI and the University of Virginia, and most recently he was in charge of the food services at the Roanoke Country Club.  He recently joined the staff at RC and was kind enough to give of his time at the Chef’s Circle before helping feed 650 new freshmen who moved on campus this morning.

Brian and Bev did a tremendous job of making those in attendance part of the process as they whipped up four tasty treats and incorporated  a wide variety of products from the Salem Farmers Market’s merchants.  They began with a unique appetizer that included a pretzel-pastry cup filled with onions, peppers, tomatoes, spices and grass finished beef from the Sparks Family Farm in Patrick County.

Murtagh then broke out a family recipe and whipped up a batch of his mother-in-law’s squash casserole.  The two chefs them complimented that with a Greek Salad featuring Quinoa, feta cheese, Kalamata olives, onions, cucumbers and a number of spices.

Allman then wrapped up the presentation with a unique and refreshing dessert.  She welcomed in the apple season by creating a Green Apple Sorbet that hit the spot and cleansed the palate.   All of their recipes are available on the recipe section of the website.

Aug 21, 2010 - McCrady- Once Again, The Center of Attention

Chef John McCrady, the director of Salem Catering at the Salem Civic Center, graced the Chef’s Circle on Saturday, August 21, and put on a show for the second straight summer.  McCrady began the morning with a cantaloupe and peach soup that was made with apple and orange juice, fresh cantaloupe and fresh peaches from the market.  All of the ingredients were blended together, topped off with a squeeze of fresh lime and garnished with fresh mint.

McCrady then whipped up a gazpacho soup made with some V-8 juice, fresh green peppers, cucumbers, onion, garlic, a bit of red wine vinegar, olive oil and a hit of cayenne pepper along with fresh bread crumbs.

McCrady then finished the demonstration with a grilled chicken dish that featured a breast of chicken on bow tie pasta with a basil pesto and fresh tomatoes. All of McCrady’s recipes are available in the recipe section of the Chef’s Circle website.

 

 

Aug 14, 2010 - MICHELE ONCE AGAIN RULES MAIN ST.

Michele Carder, returned to her restaurant roots on Main St. in Salem Saturday, August 14, and put on a show for the diehard Chef’s Circle fans who turned out despite a persistent drizzle.   The owner of Michele’s on Main, which used to be one of the most frequented restaurants in Salem, shared some of her most popular recipes and also dished out plenty of samples for those in attendance.

One of Michele’s most popular dishes is her Florentine Meatloaf, so after a number of requests for the secret recipe during her 2009 Chef’s Circle performance, Michele came prepared this year and showed those in attendance how to mix up the ingredients and then offered up samples of the mouth-watering entrée.  She complimented it with a side order of homemade onion straws and then finished things off with a scrumptious Bananas Foster dessert. (These Recipes are available in our 2010 Recipe section)

Michele used the Salem Farmers Market vendors for many of her ingredients including the beef for the meatloaf and the tomatoes, onions and peppers she used in two tasty appetizers.   Michele is currently the chef at Allstate and also maintains her catering business.

Aug 7, 2010 - DOWDY AND BRODKIN PUT ON A “SUNNY” PERFORMANCE

The month of August at the Chef’s Circle opened with our final Celebrity Chef presentation of the season as Roanoke Radio legend, Larry Dowdy of Sunny-FM, joined forces with the award-winning Chef Chad Brodkin from Preston’s in Blacksburg, to serve up some mighty satisfying steak fajitas splashed with a touch of bar-b-q sauce.

Dowdy and Brodkin used a variety of products from the vendors on the Salem Farmers Market to whip up a refreshing pica de gallo that was used as a tasty condiment.  Chef Brodkin also brought some freshly made guacamole from Preston’s to help accent the star attraction which was grass-finished Hanger steak courtesy of The Sparks Family Farms in Patrick County.  The unique cut of steak, that is becoming extremely popular these days, was grilled to perfection sliced and sautéed with fresh peppers and onions.

Brodkin then lightly brushed the inside of the soft floured tortillas with “Sweet Baby Ray’s” bar-b-q sauce and served the audience member in attendance with their own fajitas.  Chef Brodkin and Dowdy also did a tremendous job of answering questions and entertaining the crowd with a variety of stories related to their professions and past experiences in the culinary and entertainment fields.

July 31, 2010 - ROANOKE COLLEGE CHEFS WEATHER THE STORM:

Roanoke College Chefs Bob Prophet and Matt Phillips “weathered the storm” on the final day of July and once again charmed the patrons at the Chef’s Circle.  Rain greeted the duo as they made the short trek from campus to the market, but so too did a devoted crowd of umbrella-toting food lovers, who soon discovered that getting wet in the rain was well worth it.

Prophet and Phillips opened their presentation with a refreshing chilled cantaloupe soup complete with orange zest and a touch of champagne.  They followed up the appetizer with a unique main course  featuring a Panzanella - Italian bread salad that was topped by fresh grilled sea bass.

And as if that wasn’t enough, they cleansed the palate of all in attendance with a lip-smacking dessert -  Crepes with Peaches topped with Zabaglione.  The dynamic duo also was kind enough to bring plenty of freshly made raspberry lemonade to wash it all down.

 

 

July 24, 2010 - CLASS IN SESSION WITH CHEF ZEISLER

James Zeisler, the Director of the Culinary Institute at Virginia Western Community College, turned the Chef’s Circle into a unique classroom experience with the help of some of his students on July 24.  Zeisler and his assistants whipped up everything from fresh smoothies to fried cabbage with apple wood bacon and made sure everyone in attendance got to sample the dishes.  The students also helped Zeisler prepared grilled vegetables, homemade salsa, miniature cupcakes and delicious marinated beef kabobs served on couscous.

Chef James and his crew were not only impressed by the facilities during their first tour of the Chef’s Circle kitchen, but they also were extremely pleased with the quality of fruits and vegetable that they were able to pick-up during their tour of the Salem Farmers Market.

Zeisler, has a wealth of experience in the food industry and besides developing future chefs for the region, he and the folks at Virginia Western also offer a variety culinary classes for the general public.

 

July 17, 2010 - TEA AND BERRIES ON LISA’S MENU

Lisa Janney, the owner of Teaberry’s on Main, decided it was too “Doggone” hot to fire up the stove in the Chef’s Circle and instead the Highland County native whipped up a cool raspberry tea and a satisfying fruit dip.  To make the dip, Lisa used a quart of blueberries, a quart of blackberries, about 10 early golden apples and a quart of raspberry jelly from our farmers. She added kiwi and 3 packs of fresh red raspberries from the grocery store. While she used this as a dip, Lisa reminded those in attendance that this also would work well as a cake topping.

Lisa also told the food fans who were in attendance how to make deep-fried sugar and cinnamon coated chips from flour tortillas.

 

 

 

 

July 10, 2010 - NAZIM AND NAIR PLEASE THE PALATE

The Executive Sous Chef at the Hotel Roanoke and the Food Writer for the Roanoke Times tag teamed the Chef’s Circle on Saturday, July 10, much to the delight of the more than 100 food lovers on the Salem Farmers Market.
Nazim Khan and Lindsey Nair joined forces to produce 3 mouth watering dishes and a satisfying summer lemonade.  Nazim used ingredients from more than 10 Market vendors to whip up his delights and he and Lindsey began with a refreshing homemade lemonade complete with fresh blueberries.
They followed that up with another fruit infusion of cantaloupe and mango.  Those two items were part of an explosion of flavor within a crab parfait that also included fresh tomatoes, onions, celery, red peppers, cilantro and yogurt.

After warming up the appetites of the food lovers in attendance with those two items, Nazim and Nair smothered the stove’s grill cook top with grass fed beef from the Sparks Family Farm in Stuart.  They prepared one of his specialties – steak with chimichurri sauce -  complete with a fresh summer sauce of blended tomatoes, onions, thyme, salt and pepper and olive oil.  The two chefs wrapped up their 1 hour and 45 minute demonstration with the perfect dessert – fresh grilled peaches, a miniature Doubletree Hotel Chocolate Chip cookie and whipped cream that was “whipped into shape” by Salem’s own Parks and Recreation Director, John Shaner.

June 26, 2010 - STEVE GIVES HIS ALL WITH JAY WEBB

Steve Alls, the local favorite from Glenvar, returned to the Salem Farmers Market on June 19 with his special guest Jay Webb, the WDBJ meteorologist and host of “Weekend Diner.”  Alls was representing Foodies and Kroger during his visit to the Chef’s Circle.

Steve talked to those in attendance about the proper way to prepare a steak and said that two of the most important factors for a good steak are cooking it on high heat and leaving it alone!  Steve says most folks tend to flip their steaks too much and squeeze all of the juice out of them.  Chef Alls used ribeye steaks donated by the Sparks Family Farm and onions from the market for his delicious beef barbecue which he said was a street food that he learned about while living and working as a chef in Hawaii.  Chef Steve also prepared one of his own recipes: edamame salad from fresh ingredients that he brought with him from Kroger.

For the second straight year he also showed those in attendance the proper way to hold a knife, and emphasized that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a good knife.

June 19, 2010 - CHIP AND JO’S OWNER PASSES OUT THE PORK

Chip Shearer, the owner of Chip and Jo’s restaurant in Salem, took over the Chef’s Circle on June 19 in the name of Bar-B-Que.  Chip brought in two pans of pork that had been smoked in advance at his 8th Street restaurant, and he made good use of the Market’s vendors as he prepared some complimentary coleslaw from cabbage donated by Layman Farms.  As he discussed the importance of putting in just the right amounts of mayonnaise, vinegar, and salt, he got a big assist from his friend and Chef’s Circle favorite, Chef Jeff Bland from U.S. Foodservice.

As the two talked about slaw and bar-b-que, they prepared a sauce from the peach and blackberry jellies that Chip picked up from Rafie Malouf on the market.  He topped the smoked pork with this unique sauce and then thanked those in attendance by giving everyone samples and 10 percent discount tickets to his restaurant.  Chip also gave away several free meals coupons to the crowd. Chip did that as a tribute to fathers on that Father’s Day weekend and Salem’s Teri Atkins, the emcee that day,  gave away artisan bread from the market to the “Oldest Father” - “Youngest Father” -  “The “Father with the most children”, and “The Father who had traveled the farthest” to attend the Chef’s Circle.

June 12, 2010 - THE RETURN OF "THE BACONATOR"

Joshua Smith, the Executive Chef at the Local Roots Café returned to the Salem Farmers Market on Saturday, June 12, and yes, he brought bacon!  The man who turned the Chef’s Circle upside down last year when he made “Bacon Ice Cream” – and then on his second visit donned a t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan – “Bacon is  a Vegetable” – got more traditional uses out of the all-time pork favorite during this visit.

Joshua lightly sautéed tomatoes, cucumbers, swiss chard, sugar snap peas, Spring onions, and zucchini with some especially delicious smoked bacon (that was produced in Madisonville, Tennessee by Allan Benton of Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Ham fame.  Chef Smith served the hot dish alongside some Rosemary Bread. For dessert, he sautéed apples and served them topped with fresh raspberries, blueberries, and of course fresh local honey from Catawba Farms.

Cooking fans of all ages attended Joshua’s demonstration and were later able to sample the delicious dishes prepared by one of Virginia’s biggest proponents of Farmers Markets.

June 5, 2010 - CHEF JEFF AND ROBIN REED
TAG TEAM THE CHEF’S CIRCLE

US Foodservice Chef, Jeff Bland, and WDBJ-7 Meteorologist, Robin Reed, “tag teamed” the Chef’s Circle on opening day 2010 as the two kitchen magicians entertained more than 150 cooking enthusiasts and curious onlookers with the perfect mix of storytelling and culinary pointers.

Bland and Reed created a Berry Glazed Beef with Stir Fried Rice with a little help from three audience members who selected strawberries, blueberries and broccoli from a menagerie of mystery ingredients.  The two then had to incorporate those items into the entrée “on the fly” by using their imaginations and skills.  To make that process even more entertaining they interjected a 16 ounce bottle of Dr. Pepper to fire up the reduction sauce for the glaze.

Bland, who is a frequent guest on WDBJ’s “Weekend Diner” and Reed, who himself is an avid cook, complimented their main dish with a decadent Cherry Couscous with Berry Sauce and Whipped Cream dessert.  The two gathered most of their ingredients for the cooking demonstration that same morning from the local vendors, who regularly set up shop on the Salem Farmers Market.