Cooking With My Father

If I could travel to any destination in the world right now, I would choose Thailand.  The levels of patience and tolerance in the culture impress  me. There way of life  is simplistic, moderate, resourceful.  Typically in Thai cuisine they blend sweet, spice, sour, bitter and salt.  This is a powerful blend of flavors that  I always try to embrace on a personal level because of the beliefs and culture my father gave me, bringing me up in the Florida Keys

So today I'm blending my love for seafood, and bold Thai flavors, deep rooted and instilled with my father's style of life. I'm using shrimp with a mixture of seasonal and year round ingredients to influence and create a dish based on pieces of my heart.

I start by pre steaming some brown rice, than let it cool while I sauté my vegetables. Then I add my shrimp and cooled rice and continue to sauté, finally adding some farm fresh eggs and my lemon,orange, honey firecracker sauce, until the eggs are cooked through.   I personally love the depth of this dish it has its own flare and style but has the essence of Thailand layered in every bite.

Live Free Eat Free
Chef Jacob Lyons

More Rustic Passion From Chef Jacob

10/3/2012 

If you look up the word rustic in the dictionary, it is related to or suitable for the country (farmland).  I spoke on this before and I feel we should get back to growing and purchasing local.  And continue to cook brilliantly with what we get and maintain from the earth.  Stylistically speaking, every region and country has it's own soul and technique in regard to their rustic beginnings and on a plate it is pure beauty anywhere.  It's been heavy on my brain for days so I took some time to create a rustic dish using some of my favorite earthy ingredients.

I started by breading my boneless chicken breast, then marinated in a roasted garlic and buttermilk mixture, coated with Panko and flower, flash fried and then finished baking in the oven.  While they were resting I blanched the asparagus, let it cool in an ice bath and wrapped it in bacon ind into the oven it went.  I steamed the potatoes at the same time, pulled them out of the pot and sauteed them with smoked ham, shallots, mushrooms, arulula, yellow pepper and tomatoes, creating a hash.  I started plating, letting the chicken rest.  I made my spinach pesto to finish the dish.

 I wanted the south rusticness to show and still be creative art.  This is at the forfront of the culture and movement I love.  I hold it dear to my heart.  I'm going to continue my mission to profile the earthiniss in bite form to keep us as close to balance as possible.  Live free, eat free, Bon Appetite!

Chef Jacob