Castillo's Castle

Iron Chef at Pier Sixty

2009-03-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

As you all know I started this blog because I enjoy cooking and want to make a career out of it. I will be attending culinary school and started working for Abigail Kirsch at Pier Sixty and the Light House. I am honored to be around some of the best chefs in New York City. A few days ago executive Chef Phillip DeMaiolo set up his version of Iron chef, the grand prize was a 5-6 course dinner with wine for the winning team and a guest. The competition was amongst 3 teams of five members. The teams were lead by the following chefs: Team 1: Chef Rob, Team 2: Chef Seth, and Team 3: Chef Hansen.

Check out some of the images and visit: www.abigailkirsch.com

Chef Phillip DeMaiolo

Judges

Chef Hansen

Alison Awerbuch, Partner and Chief Culinary Officer

Team 3- WINNER!

Team 2

Team 1

Final Score

Lunch with George! Corfu

2009-03-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,

You don't have to always have to go to Astoria to have Greek food.I just got back from having lunch at one of my favorite local spots in Forest Hills, Queens. Corfu Grill located on 70-17 Austin St. across the street from the movie theater. First thing you do when you walk into Corfu is ask for George the owner, he will greet you with his Greek accent, make friends, and will share some of his tales with you. Its a local spot you can always count on having a good meal with out killing your pocket.

Dinner is great especially before a movie and if you are in the mood for some Greek wine.

We went for the famous lunch special- $6.00 a plate! For $6 you get soup, salad, your choice of meal (gyro, chicken, befteki, falafel, and more) and your choice of side from fries, lemon potato or rice.

Check out what we had for under $20.00: I order my usual- Befteki and Fries, Sabrina had the chicken with the lemon potato. For dessert we added the classic Greek baklava with vanilla ice cream and Greek yogurt with honey and walnuts which George says is an aphrodisiac.

Here are the images:

Befteki

Chicken Kebab Greek Yogurt with honey and walnuts
Baklava with Ice cream
Meet George

Pizza Night!

2009-02-20T18:06:00.000-08:00

So we had a pizza night and it was only right to have the 2 pizza fiends join us in our first time making pizza. Yes I am talking about ALEX and MELLY!

They brought key ingredients to make it a better experience, they brought fresh mozzarella, fresh sage, and lots of good energy.

We had a lot of fun and it was a great experience to share with friends and it was inexpensive. We made 7 personal pies under $20. You can't go wrong!

Here are the results:

Here's how it's done:

Instructions

In a large bowl combine yeast with water, olive oil, salt and stir well. After 5 minutes, add half of the flour and mix well to thoroughly incorporate. Add all remaining flour except 1/2 cup and mix well with your hands or a fork and then use your hands. Move the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead dough for about 5 minutes, adding enough additional flour as necessary to form a smooth and elastic dough. Dough should not be sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled 2 or 3 quart bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, usually at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 500ºF.

Divide dough into 2 portions (for two 12-inch pizzas) and form into balls. Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet and cover with a damp towel. Let rest for 15 minutes, then transfer to a lightly floured surface, shape as desired and roll out to a thickness of 1/4-inch. Transfer dough to a pizza peel and top with toppings of choice. Transfer to the preheated oven and bake until crispy and golden brown, usually12 to 18 minutes (depending on the toppings). Remove from the oven.

Pizza sauce instructions:

Mix the tomato sauce or pizza sauce, pepper, salt, sugar and milk onto a medium pot and cook at medium temperature uncovered for about 5 minutes. Spoon the sauce onto the dough round, and spread it to within 1 inch of the edge with the back of the spoon. Sprinkle the basil (if using), cheese evenly on top and any other toppings of your choice.

Ingredients:

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110?F)
2 ½ to 3 cups flour plus more if necessary
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ cup basic red sauce or
store-bought pizza sauce or any tomato sauce
grated mozzarella cheese
¼ cup minced fresh, cleaned basil (optional)
½ cup of milk
1 tablespoon of black pepper
2 teaspoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of salt

King of the castle!

2009-01-09T23:43:00.000-08:00

This is my first post and I am going to show you some of the dishes we have done. The most recent recipe that we did was burgers with home made burger bread, as a side dish we made plantain fries. We used a combination of our own recipe and altered others to meet our needs.

Homemade Murda Burgers

To make your burgers taste better, MAKE FRESH bread! It makes a BIG difference! How did we make this burger:

Meat:

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs Ground beef
3 - slices crumbled bread
2- beaten eggs
1- medium yellow onion finely chopped
Seasoning- add salt, pepper, adobo, garlic and your favorite seasonings

Directions:

First blend one onion, one garlic clove, and your favorite seasoning. (we used cilantro, garlic, mustard, adobo) To make make this blend easier you can add 1/2 cup of water or beer. Let the meat soak in this seasoning for about an hour or over night.
Put the meat in a large bowl with 3 regular slices of white crumbled bread, 2 beaten eggs, and your seasoning mix.
Get your hands in there and mix it together and mush away.
Make patties nice and thick, this will give about 6-8 burgers.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Oil up surface of baking pan with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil or butter
Bake 30-40 minutes until brown and no longer pink inside

(Please use judgment when adding in ingredients and always add your own spice- we added sauted onions, mushrooms, bacon, and cheese)

Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Directions:

In a small saucepan, heat milk, water and butter until warm, 120 degrees F (50 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mix together 1 3/4 cup flour, dry yeast, sugar and salt. Mix milk mixture into flour mixture, and then mix in egg. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Transfer it onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and stretchy, about 5 minutes.
Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. Shape into smooth balls, and place on a buttered baking sheet. Flatten slightly, sprinkle sesame seeds as you wish. Cover, and let rise for 20 to 25 minutes.
If you like a crusty bun, spray water directly on the it.

Buen Provecho- Carlos Castillo