Celebrity Chef Alton Brown gets creative with cooking at home
With some restaurants closed or with limited indoor and outdoor seating due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more Americans are enjoying cooking at home.
Celebrity chef Alton Brown has helped contribute to the at-home culinary revolution by creating a live YouTube Show “Quarantine Quitchen.” He shares his scientific approach to cooking and eating and offers tips to others who have embraced quarantine cooking.
Bio:
Alton Brown began his career as a cameraman when he was still in college, then followed with eight years directing television commercials before heading to culinary school in the early 90s with the goal of making food shows. Today, Brown has been on Food Network nearly 20 years, 14 of which he spent as the writer, host and showrunner of cooking/science/history/comedy show called Good Eats.
During that time, he also served as the culinary commentator and host of such shows as Iron Chef America and Cutthroat Kitchen, wrote eight books on food and cooking and toured two live culinary variety shows to sold-out houses around the country, as well as Broadway. There are two James Beard awards with Brown’s name on them in a drawer in his office, and somewhere in the world there’s a coveted Peabody awarded to Good Eats that was stolen out of his car back in 2013.
Brown is producing Good Eats: Reloaded, for which he’s shooting new material to “renovate and repair” classic Good Eats episodes and plans to reboot the series in 2019 with The Return of the Eats on Food Network.
This interview is provided by Conagra- Healthy Choice Power Dressings.
Recipe:
French Avocado and Hearts of Palm Salad
Recipe Courtesy of Alton Brown
Active Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Software
4 ounces (115 grams) French bread, sliced into 1-inch cubes (about 3 cups bread cubes)
7 tablespoons Healthy Choice Power Dressing Garden French
1 1/2 teaspoons safflower or other neutral oil
2 (5-ounce/140-gram) ripe avocados, pitted, peeled, and sliced into thin wedges
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 lightly packed cups butter lettuce, torn into 2- to 3-inch pieces
3/4 cup (4 ounces/115 grams) thinly sliced rounds of hearts of palm
1/4 cup (1 ounce/30 grams) finely diced inner celery stalks
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Procedure
- Heat the oven to 300 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, combine the bread with 1 tablespoon dressing and the oil. Toss, squeezing the bread lightly, to coat it completely with the dressing and oil. Transfer to a sheet pan and bake, stirring occasionally, until the croutons are lightly browned and crisp, about 30 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. Measure out 1 cup of croutons for the salad and save the remainder for another use.
- In a medium bowl, toss the avocado slices with the lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
- Divide the lettuce between four chilled salad plates and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Top with the seasoned avocado, hearts of palm, and celery. Drizzle 1 1/2 tablespoons dressing over each salad, then top with the croutons and a few grinds of black pepper. Serve immediately.
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