YaDa Chef Private and Personal Chefs

The Italians love to celebrate holidays with food and Easter is one of those special holidays.  The breads come in every shape and size. Many are sweet, braided  and wrapped around eggs. The Neapolitans have a delicious savory one stuffed with ricotta and sausage or ham. This recipe is more along the lines of a Calabrian bread. Easter is preceded by Lent, a time of fasting for many Christians. Come Easter Sunday, it is time to come together... 3 cups/375g all purpose flour 1/4 cup/48g sugar 1 package active dry yeast 1 teaspoon salt 2/3 cup/158ml warm milk (120F/49C) 2 tablespoons butter/29g, softened 2 large eggs  grated orange zest 1/4 cup/43g chopped blanched almonds 1/2 teaspoon anise seeds 5 hard boiled eggs neutral oil Glaze 1 cup/130g confectioner's sugar, sifted 2 to 3 tablespoons/30-45ml orange juice sprinkles or nonpareils, for decorating In a mixing bowl, combine 1 cup/125g flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Add milk and butter; beat 2 minutes on

We have been working on a deconstructed "skinny" version of Banoffee pie.  Next is to make it dairy free. Banoffee is an uniquely English dessert pie made from bananas, cream and toffee from boiled condensed milk and is what I believe the American version of Banana Cream Pie is based on.  Both can have either a pastry crust or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter. The name Banoffee is a combination of the words "banana" and "toffee.  Serve 4-6 1 sheet of store bought pie dough, cut into strips or triangles 1 ounce/30 ml/30 g/2 tablespoons butter, melted 1 ounce/30 ml/30 g/2 tablespoons brown sugar lightly packed 5 large bananas, peeled (over ripe works best) 12 ounces/375 g of dairy free sweetened condensed “milk” see recipe below. 1 15 ounce/425 g coconut milk, place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour Dairy Free Sweetened Condensed Milk Recipe 1/2 cup/125 ml cold water 1 1/3 cups/304 ml/90 g carnation nonfat dry milk powde

Wholesome broccoli pairs with irresistible sausage in this one-pot dinner that will please kids and adults alike. Anchovies are the secret ingredient in this dish. They give it deep, savory flavor without a bit of fishiness, so if you're tempted to skip them, don't! Coarse salt and ground pepper 1 pound/450g rigatoni 2 heads broccoli, cut into florets 1/4 cup/60ml extra virgin olive oil 2 garlic cloves, minced zest of one lemon, plus 2 tablespoons/30ml lemon juice 4 anchovy fillets, minced 1 pound/450g sweet Italian sausage, casings removed Parmesan, grated, for serving In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions. In last 2 minutes of cooking, add broccoli and cook until bright green and crisp-tender. Reserve 1 cup/250ml pasta water; drain pasta and broccoli. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, garlic, lemon zest and juice, anchovies, 1/2 teaspoon/2ml salt, and 1/4 teaspoon/1ml black pepper.  Add sausage to the  pot the pasta was coo

Traveling Dinner Parties  or  Supper Club  or  Dinner Club or Sup'clubs or Popups  also known as  Underground Dinner Parties , whatever you choose to call it, the concept of a chef dinner is actually very simple. A dinner party is put in place at people's homes, private venues, or places of business. Those invited are charged a fee to attend to cover the cost of the chef, servers, food, china/rentals and other incidentals.  In our case, the balance of the monies taken in go to the chosen charity or non-profit specified by the host or venue. In many cases, the servers can be volunteers, the china/rentals can either be high-end disposables or the guests bring their own plates and cutlery. Doing this helps with your bottom line and allows more funds for your charity or non-profit. Often, if wine is needed, this could be donated by a winery - with the chef customizing the menu to be paired with the wines of each course.  The same can be of spirits. These dinner part

This is a fun project to do today with the kiddos as we are sure they are getting excited about Peter Cotton Tail hopping down the bunny trail… And after a couple of these cookies so will they! 1 cup/8 ounces/225g butter, softened 1/2 cup/110g firmly packed brown sugar 2 eggs, separated 1 1/2 teaspoons/7ml vanilla extract 2 1/4 cups/281g all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups/174g walnuts, finely chopped 2 tablespoons/30g butter, softened 3 tablespoons/45ml light corn syrup 2 drops blue food coloring 1 drop green food coloring 1 teaspoon/5ml almond extract 2 cups/260g confectioners' sugar Preheat oven to 350F/175C/Gas4 In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks then stir in the vanilla. Stir in the flour and mix well. Beat egg whites until foamy. Spread walnuts on a plate or waxed paper. Roll 1 teaspoon of dough into a ball; roll in egg whites then in walnuts. Place 2 inches/5cm apart on a cookie sheet. Make a depress

White Fish Gravlax Serves 4 Here is a great starter, light lunch or a fantastic item for your holiday buffet.  If you have problems with gluten substitute the wheat bread for a flax or millet bread or leave it out entirely and eat on some mixed greens.   Gravlax 5 ounces/145 grams white fish, bass, snapper-I used tilapia (sushi grade) 2 tablespoons/30 ml coarse salt 2 tablespoons/30 ml caster sugar 1 tablespoon/15 ml of ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon/2 ml ground allspice 1/2 teaspoon/2 ml ground cloves 8-10 pieces of fresh dill fronds Mustard Butter 2 Tablespoons/30 ml 28g of unsalted butter, softened 2 Tablespoons/30 ml of dijon mustard. Salad 1 handful of watercress dressed with simple vinaigrette Creme Fraiche or Sour Cream Mix salt, sugar, black pepper, allspice, and ground cloves.  Liberally sprinkle on both  sides of the fish.  Lay half of the dill in a glass container.  Place the fish on top  and cover with rest of the dill.  Leave o

Mother’s day is fast approaching both here and abroad.  We all take this “holiday” for granted.  It was not that long ago in the scope of things when the second Sunday in May was just that, the second Sunday in May. In the United Kingdom and Ireland Mother’s Day or Mothering Sunday is celebrated on the fourth Sunday in Lent  (the 40 day period leading up to Easter) in honor of Mary, the mother of Christ.  The history as well as the date are completely different than in the USA and other countries, even though customs are now similar. Mothering Sunday goes back to the time of early Christians in England.  Some believe that the ceremonies in honor of Roman mother goddess, Cybele were adopted by the early church to worship Virgin Mary.  Others say the Mother Church was substituted for Mother Goddess and according to a custom a person visited the church of his/her baptism (Mother Church) on this day. The origin of Mothering Sunday can also be traced to times when people in En

Unhealthy you say? How can that be? Whether you are already eating a vegetarian or vegan diet or just considering it, you can still eat unhealthy. Potato chips (crisps) and French fries (chips) are vegan. Coca Cola and Sprite are vegan. Eating a surfeit of these foods is definitely not healthy. We have all seen and heard the outspoken person harping on how much more healthy they are because they switched to a vegetarian diet, yet some are either obese or sickly thin with an unhealthy pallor. So why eat a non-meat diet you ask? Some people are vegetarians because of animal rights, some are vegetarians for religious reasons, and some do it for health reasons. There are different categories of the vegetarian diet.  Lacto vegetarians are vegetarians that eat dairy products; however they do not eat eggs. Lacto-ovo vegetarians eat dairy products and include eggs in their diet. Pesco vegetarians eat everything that lacto-ovo vegetarians eat plus fish. Vegans eat only plant based foods and