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Recipe: Citrus Veggie Tuna Salad by The Golden Pear Cafe, a Platinum Palate Award Winner, Celebrating 30 Years in The Hamptons, NY!

Posted on May 30, 2017 by Fred Bollaci

Citrus Veggie Tuna Salad

Recipe and photo courtesy of Keith E. Davis, The Golden Pear Cafe.

Serves six

Ingredients:

For the dressing

½ cup canola oil

juice from 1 lemon

juice from ½ lime

2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme

1 teaspoon fresh chopped oregano

1 tablespoon coarse grain mustard

1 teaspoon kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

For the salad

2 (10-ounce) fresh tuna steaks (may substitute with 2 (6-ounce) cans white tuna pieces)

¼ cup canola oil to brush on tuna steaks

½ cup diced celery (1 stalk)

½ cup diced carrots (1/2 medium)

1 cup diced zucchini (1 small)

1 cup diced, peeled, and seeded cucumber (1 small)

1 cup diced yellow squash (1 small)

2 heads of Boston bibb lettuce

1 cup cherry tomatoes

Instructions:

Preheat your grill on high setting.
Brush the tuna steaks with canola oil, and salt and pepper both sides
Grill for 4 minutes on each side, remove, place on a plate, and put in the refrigerator to cool completely.
When cool, remove from refrigerator; break into pieces into large bowl.
If you are using the canned tuna, strain all water and spoon tuna into large bowl.
Prep all vegetables, except lettuce and tomatoes, and add to tuna; fold together using a spatula.
In a separate bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients (oil, citrus, mustard, and fresh herbs).
Pour over tuna salad and fold together.
Add more salt, pepper, and fresh lemon juice according to your liking.
In a large serving bowl or platter place bibb lettuce leaves on bottom and sides to cover.
Spoon tuna salad over the bibb lettuce.
Arrange tomatoes around the edge of the bowl or platter.

Note: You can also plate this salad on individual salad plates.

Nutrition Facts (by serving)
Calories	303
Calories from fat	69%
Fat (grams)	29
Saturated fat (grams)	3
Cholesterol (milligrams)	43
Carbohydrates (grams)	8
Protein (grams)	24
Sodium (milligrams)	675
Fiber (grams)	3

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Recipe: Pan-Roasted Bluefin Crab Cakes with Roasted Asparagus & Truffle Potatoes by Michael’s on East (Sarasota, FL)

Posted on May 29, 2017 by Fred Bollaci

Pan-Roasted Bluefin Crab Cakes
Accompanied by Roasted Asparagus & Truffle Potatoes  with Herbed Tartar Sauce

Courtesy of Chef Jamil Pineda

Serves 4

8 Crab Cakes (recipe follows)
8 oz Roasted Red Bliss Potatoes (recipe follows)
20 Spears of Asparagus (recipe follows)
8 oz Herbed Tartar Sauce (recipe follows)
4 oz Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Truffle Oil
1 Tablespoon Chopped Parsley to garnish

Michael’s On East Crab Cakes

For the Crab Cakes
(Makes 8 – 3 oz cakes)

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
2 oz Dijon Mustard
2 Tablespoons Cilantro, chopped
2 Tablespoons Basil, chopped
½ Tablespoon Garlic, chopped
1 Tablespoon Coriander
2 oz Mayonnaise
4 Stalks Celery, minced
1 Spanish Onion, minced
¾ Cup Panko Breadcrumbs to mix in cakes
4 Cups Panko Breadcrumbs (in a bowl to bread cakes (coat exterior))
8 oz Jumbo Lump Crab
12 oz Lump Crab
1 egg

In a medium sauté pan over low heat, sweat celery, onion and garlic. (Do not allow them to brown, the low heat will take liquid out of vegetables.) Set aside and allow to cool.

Mix all ingredients except the crab meat, then fold in the lump crab. Gently mix in the jumbo crabmeat gently. (DO NOT BREAK UP THE JUMBO LUMP MEAT.)

To portion each cake, use a 3 oz scoop or mold into cakes with your hands. Coat the exterior of the cakes in Panko breadcrumbs. Set aside until to ready to sauté and finish.

For the Roasted Red Bliss

16 Red Bliss Potatoes
1 Teaspoon Dried Thyme
4 oz Olive Oil
Salt and Black Pepper to Taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Slice red bliss in half lengthwise, then into thirds. Place in bowl, season with salt and pepper, dried thyme and olive oil. Lay out on roasting pan and cook about 20 minutes, until golden brown.

For the Herbed Tartar Sauce

1 1/2 oz Cornichons
2/3 oz Capers
½ Shallot
6 oz Mayonnaise
¾ oz Parsley
½ oz Dill
1 oz Lemon Juice
½ oz Dijon Mustard
1/8 oz Garlic
¼ oz Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Process all ingredients in food processor. Cool until ready to plate and serve dish.

For the Asparagus

40 Spears of Asparagus
4 oz Olive Oil

Salt and Black Pepper to Taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush asparagus spears with olive oil and salt and pepper. Place on a sheet pan and roast in oven for 5 minutes. Remove, plate and serve immediately.

To Finish and Plate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, add olive oil then four crab cakes. Sauté crab cakes on one side until golden brown, flip in pan and place in 350 oven for 5 minutes to finish. Repeat with the additional four cakes.

To plate individual servings, place two crab cakes, nestled together in the center of a rectangular plate. Prop asparagus between crab cakes and spoon tartar sauce on plate. Place potatoes on other side of cakes, drizzle with truffle oil, garnish with parsley and serve!

Posted in Fred Bollaci on Dining | Tagged asparagus, crab, crab cake, crab cakes, michael's, michaels on east, potatoes, sarasota | Comments Off

Recipe: Roasted Atlantic Swordfish with Roasted Red Potatoes, Onions & Prosciutto and Caper Mushroom Beurre Blanc by Michael’s on East (Sarasota, FL)

Posted on May 29, 2017 by Fred Bollaci

Recipe courtesy of Michael’s on East

Serves 4

Swordfish

4 8 oz swordfish filets, thickly cut
4 oz roasted red bliss potatoes (recipe follows)
1 oz caramelized onions (recipe follows)
3 oz roasted green beans & cherry tomatoes (recipe follows)
1 cup caper, prosciutto, and shiitake beurre blanc (recipe follows)
2 oz blended oil
Kosher salt
Fresh black pepper

For the Swordfish

In a sauté pan over medium-high heat, add the oil. Season swordfish with salt and pepper and immediately sear on one side until the fish is golden brown. Flip fish and finish in 350 degree oven for approximately eight minutes, until it is moist yet cooked through. Set aside until the dish is ready to be plated.

For the Roasted Red Bliss

8 Red bliss potatoes
2 oz olive oil
Pinch of thyme
Kosher salt
Fresh black pepper

Slice red bliss potatoes in half lengthwise, then into thirds. Place in a mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper, dried thyme and olive oil. Spread out on a roasting pan and cook in oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Set aside until the dish is ready to be plated.
For the Caramelized Onions

I yellow onion, julienne
1 ½ Tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of brown sugar

In a pan over high heat, add the oil and onions. Sauté onions until caramelized. (If the onions begin to burn, add small amounts of water to the sauté pan as the onions stick, scraping and stirring to develop color.) Set aside until the dish is ready to be plated.

For the Roasted Haricot Verts & Cherry Tomatoes

Blanche the green beans until semi-tender. Place in ice bath, once cooled, drain water and allow the green beans to dry thoroughly. In a sauté pan over high heat, add the green beans and cherry tomatoes. Place green beans in a mixing bowl and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside until the dish is ready to be plated.
For the Beurre Blanc

4 oz white wine

1 lemon, juiced

1 Tablespoon capers

2 Tablespoon chopped prosciutto

2 oz shiitake mushrooms

16 oz, cold butter, cut into small pieces

Place wine, lemon juice, capers, prosciutto and shitake mushrooms in a sauté pan. Simmer until almost all liquid is gone and the mushrooms are soft. Add individual slices butter to saucepan, whisking it in under low heat, briskly whisking as it melts and emulsifies. Continue whisking until all the butter has emulsified. Keep warm on stove until ready to serve.
To Plate

On a large round plate, place potatoes in a half circle. Place the haricot verts next to the potatoes. Place the swordfish filets in the circle on top of the vegetables and top with the beurre blanc sauce. Serve immediately.

Posted in Florida Golden Palate Partners | Tagged michael's, michaels on east, potatoes, sarasota, swordfish | Comments Off

The Golden Palate: Caffe’ Milano: Fun, Fresh, Milanese Favorite by the Bice Group in Downtown Naples, Florida!

Posted on May 8, 2017 by Fred Bollaci

One of the most popular restaurants in fashionable downtown Naples, Caffe’ Milano has been delighting diners since opening in 2015.

Known for authentic Italian cuisine and Milanese specials, this hip young offshoot of the Bice group has an excellent daily happy hour from 3-5pm, where the entire menu is 50% off, in addition to discounted drinks.

Above photos by Caronchi photography.

Lamb Ossobuco (photo by Caronchi)

Caffe Milano Naples has been awarded the Golden Palate Certificate of Excellence!

Caffe Milano Naples

800 5th Ave. S.

Naples, FL 34102
239.692.8480

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The Golden Palate: Bice Naples: Milanese Classic in the Heart of Paradise on Fashionable Fifth Avenue South in Naples, Florida!

Posted on May 8, 2017 by Fred Bollaci

The beautiful “al fresco” seating area at Bice on the corner of 5th Avenue S. and 3rd St. S, the best corner in downtown Naples!

The network of Bice restaurants spanning the world today began 90 years ago in Milano, Italy by Beatrice Ruggeri – also know as Bice. She was the first child of a family of 10, and so had to help her parents raise her young siblings almost as they were her own. They lived on a farm where all had to work on the land and help with all chores, so she learned a lot of things that would help her create her future. For years she was encouraged to open her “cucina” to the public as she was known for her extraordinary hospitality and personal warmth, and in 1926, when her husband Gino asked her to move to America with him where he had previously been to make good money, she decided that she would rather try a city like Milano so that she could stay close to her family. They agreed to open a “trattoria” – loosely translated as a friendly gathering place with a farm to table approach. With Bice in the kitchen and her brothers and sisters serving in the dining room, il ristorante “Da Gino e Bice”, or Bice as it would later be known, had a family feeling. The first customers said it was like being at the home of a friend, as Bice hoped they would.

Beatrice “Bice” Ruggeri

As Milano emerged as a European fashion and banking center in the 1970’s, Bice Milano was embraced by a new international clientele that included the continent’s reigning designers. In a city where understated elegance is the norm, word spread of the restaurant’s stylish interiors, the Tuscan origins of the food and of Bice Ruggeri’s unwavering commitment to satisfying her clients. Bice was now a recognized Milanese restaurateur and her sons, Remo and Roberto, were taking steps to extend her vision throughout the world.

In the early 1970’s Remo and Roberto took a more active role, as they ventured into learning all that could be learned within the restaurant business. They managed to stay true to their mother’s vision of Bice Ristorante being an inviting place where friends and family could come together and feel much as if they were at the home of a friend. Bice Milano remained a flourishing local establishment throughout World War II and is enjoying 9 decades of success located at Via Borgospesso 12, Milano, Italy. In 1978 Remo and Roberto took the first steps to give Bice an international cache, opening a second Bice in Porto Cervo, on the island of Sardinia, where the Aga Khan had just established a playground of sorts for international socialites, celebrities and other affluent world travelers. It wasn’t unusual to find royal families in addition to the Agnelli’s and the Kennedy’s dining on the same night. This international destination was a good match for the Bice brand of hospitality and for contemplating future locations.

Fast forward to 2008, Bice opened in the heart of fashionable downtown Naples, adding to its roster of Florida restaurants in Palm Beach, Orlando, and Miami.

Luca Di Falco, born in Italy (Catania, Sicily) started his career at the young age of 15 when during his study at the Hotel Management School started working at a his brother restaurant in the “Centro Storico of Catania”. His passion for the hospitality, service and food industry grown when at the age of 18 started traveling outside Sicily, working for a very big company called “Bagaglino Vacanze” in Porto Cervo (Sardinia); that is when Mr. Di Falco, working as a server in one of the best hotels of Italy, serving the top clientele from all over the world, got promoted at his young age as Chef De Rang. From the hot summer of Sardinia, was transferred to their locations in the cold “Madonna di Campiglio”, a very famous ski place for the “Alta Borghesia” of Italy.

After a few years Luca got hired from one of the top hotels of London, The Grosvenor House Hotel. “One of the best experience was working in a different country learning another language and meeting international chefs and Maitre D`”, Mr. Di Falco says. His career take him back to Sicily and while working for a five stars “Grand Hotel Excelsior” got hired from Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida. His American Dream started from one of the biggest worldwide company as Disney back in 2002.

At the age of 23, Luca moved to California working in La Jolla, a very rich community not too far from San Diego in one of the best restaurants of Prospect Street. After one year, Luca got hired from the Princess Cruise in one of the biggest company on the sea. It was while working on the Cruise when the land called him back: BiCE Group, was opening a new restaurant in Orlando, in the city where his American Dream has started. One of the best year of his life, working with an amazing group that became slowly slowly like a family for him. It is with BiCE Group that Luca started his first management role at the opening of BiCE Sunny Isles (Miami) at the Le Meridien Hotel by Starwood.

At the young age of 25, Mr. Di Falco was promoted as a Corporate Maitre D’ for BiCE Group training also all the future Managers for the other locations. While opening BiCE San Diego and BiCE Chicago Luca was relocated again in Florida, in the beautiful city of Naples running one of the best restaurant of this town: BiCE Naples!

Today, Mr. Di Falco is Managing Partner for BiCE Naples, proud to run an operation of 75 employees. His vision is not only to provide the best customer service, the best italian cuisine but also to make sure that every single guests, when they enter to BiCE, they feel like they have just traveled to Italy.

Above photos by Caronchi photography.

Bice Naples is a favorite spot for lunch, dinner, and especially to enjoy happy hour:

5$ HOUSE WINE BY THE GLASS, WELL LIQUOR – $4 BEERS

Every Day (except holidays) from 3PM to 5:30PM

Plus live music! The patio overlooking fashionable Fifth Avenue South is one of the best spots for people watching in Naples.

Above: two Milanese classics: Veal Ossobuco with Saffron Risotto alla Milanese and Veal Chop alla Milanese.

Bice Group’s focus is on furthering its reputation as the premiere Italian restaurant company throughout the world. This is accomplished through expansions in strategic locations and countries, and the continuous improvement and monitoring of each element of our operations. As we establish new restaurants, Bice makes a commitment to position each concept and location as a very welcoming place where friends and family come together for a skillfully prepared and authentically Italian dining experience – just like they did in Bice’s kitchen in the 1920’s.