Carino's: Chef's Corner

At Carino's, we have always been very passionate about our food and taking care of our guests.  Behind the scenes, we have always been very passionate about being involved in the community, supporting children's causes and helping out whenever we can.  I was recently given an opportunity to teach nutrition to some great kids at a local elementary school.  They had already been studying nutrition all week so the children were well versed in understanding the basic food groups and what they are for.  We kicked off the class learning about the healthy ingredients we had at our disposal - fresh lettuce, tomatoes, pasta, tomato sauce, chicken, and olive oil (in moderation of course).  Some brave volunteers cut fresh salad and tomatoes, we discussed how to make a healthy salad dressing and then talked about how wheat turns into pasta.  Then it was time to eat!  The healthy meal of tomato salad, penne with tomato sauce and grilled chicken was a hit and we even had some kids asking for seconds!  Who would have thought nutrition could be so fun and taste so good?  Thank you to Ms. Temple and her teachers for allowing me to spend some time working with these great kids!

A few weeks ago, I cooked on Good Day Austin (Fox 7) to showcase our "Sweetheart's Month" menu items and our Sweet Chicken Marsala (see 'Recipes' section) - Here are some fun, behind the scenes shots we put together from that morning.  It's amazing how much preparation goes into a 4 minute long television segment!

Ruffino Modus Super Tuscan

OK, I've been thinking about our wine list at Carino's and how we offer half-price bottles of wine on Wine-Down Wednesdays (participating locations of course...I have to say that) and how for Sweetheart's Month in February we are offering half-price bottles for the entire month of February and I have come to this conclusion............

The best deal on the planet is a hidden secret on our list....the Ruffino Modus.  This is one of my favorite wines of all-time.  It is called a 'Super Tuscan', and this one is a blend of sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon and merlot grapes that will knock your socks off.  This is a full bodied wine with big fruit and a little spice that goes great with something hearty, like a grilled steak and some red sauce.  The crazy thing about this wine is this - we already sell it at a discount since we like to keep our prices low but the half-price promotion makes this ridiculous - a bottle of wine that should cost about $80-$100 available for about $30.  Wow.

Don't tell anyone, it will be our little secret!

To kick off Sweetheart's Month (February), I made a special 'home version' recipe of my Chicken Marsala for those of you that want to do some cooking for your special someone.  Here is the recipe that I cooked on Good Day Austin (Fox Channel 7) this morning.  Enjoy!

Sweet Chicken Marsala with Garlic Wilted Spinach - Serves 2 - Pan sauteed chicken breast and mushrooms reduced in a sweet marsala wine sauce, served with fresh spinach wilted in hot olive oil and garlic.

Ingredients:

Chicken Breast, 8 Ounce, 'Butterflied'                                  2 each

Butter, Melted                                                                           2 ounces

Flour, All Purpose                                                                     as needed

Mushrooms, Sliced                                                                2 cups

Salt and Pepper                                                                       to taste

Marsala Wine, Sweet                                                              6 ounces

Broth or Demi-Glace, Chicken or Beef                                  4 ounces

Butter, Room Temperature                                                    1/8 cup

Olive Oil                                                                                      2 ounces

Garlic, Fresh Chopped                                                           2 tsp

Spinach, Fresh                                                                      4 cups

Salt and Pepper                                                                     to taste

1.     Work area and utensils should be clean and sanitary.

2.     Cut butterflied chicken breasts into half, yielding a total of four chicken breast medllions.  Place on sheet pan and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Chicken medallions should be fully cooked, set aside.

3.     To a heated saute pan, add melted butter.  Dredge chicken medallions in flour, shake off excess flour and add to saute pan.  Add mushrooms, salt and pepper.

4.     Saute chicken and mushrooms until thoroughy heated and golden brown.  Add marsala wine and broth/demi-glace.  Reduce by 50% and then add room temperature butter, let butter reduce into the wine/broth reduction until a thickened sauce forms.

5.     To prepare Wilted Spinach:  Add olive oil and garlic to a heated saute pan.  Once oil is hot and garlic starts to turn golden brown, turn off heat and add spinach slat and pepper.  Toss with olive oil until it becomes warm and starts to wilt.

6.     Place wilted spinach on the side of a plate.  Using tongs, remove the chicken medallions from saute pan nd place next to spinach.  Pour marsala sauce and mushrooms over chicken.  Serve and enjoy!

Now that the Holidays are over and our 'Two Can Dine for $19.99' limited time promotion is underway, I am back in the test kitchen hard at work on some new recipes and projects.  One of my goals for this year is to improve the quality of our pizza dough.  We have a pretty good pizza now, mainly because of our sauce.  We import San Marzano tomatoes for our sauce, which most chefs will tell you are some of the best in the world.  I fell in love with these tomatoes a few years back when I was on my annual trip to Italy to source new products.  They are a little more expensive than other tomatoes, but they are SO worth it!

My current focus is on the dough itself, and I am trying to figure out what the guests at Carino's will prefer.  I am leaning towards more a "Naples" style pizza, which is a little thinner and crispier than a traditional "American" style pizza.  This texture of dough can be achieved by using a Doppio Zero flour, which is an Italian style of flour with a little less gluten than traditional flour.  With less proteins in a light gluten flour, the dough will have a slight crack and tear to it without being too much like a cracker.  A typical "American" style pizza will have more gluten in the flour, giving it a chewier, softer texture.  I need to find the recipe balance for the perfect pie, in which there are so many other things to consider like humidity and oven temperature.  Well, I'll be focused on trying to make a great pizza better but who knows.....I might end up back at the current Carino's pizza recipe.