Leopard Courtesy Christian Sperka

Christian Sperka has captured the essence of the Big Five animals in his wildlife photography, particularly the lions and leopards from the cat family.

South Africa is the ultimate life-changing trip and it certainly was for my family. The rich culture, breathtaking landscape and jaw dropping wildlife take one’s breath away.

Elephants Courtesy Christian Sperka

Can you name the “Big Five” wild animals of South Africa?  That would include the lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo, but that only begins to tell the story you will see on an African safari.

Photograph of Giraffes Courtesy Christian Sperka

If you are fortunate enough to go on a wildlife safari, you will watch the sun come up during morning safari and watch it set on the late afternoon safari. After sundown, its time to have cocktails in the wild before returning for dinner.

I contacted Christian after we returned from our trip to South Africa. I wanted  to purchase one of his books and this connection became the start of a friendship. The Blue Baker and I worked with Christian on a primary school fundraiser.  Her third grade class raised money to help fund Nikomo Primary School, which is a small school that started under a tree in the community of Kwa Zulu, South Africa.

 Christian donated wildlife photographs for all of the fundraiser promotional materials.

Fundraiser Collage Courtesy Christian Sperka

The fundraiser is perfect for primary age school children. We designed animal fun fact sheets, paint bucket cans with animal photographs and much more. The kids learned a lot about wildlife and South Africa, and helped build a school for kids their own age.

If you’d like to view publications spotlighting Christian’s work, start with the complete article  of Phinda’s 9 Lives, which features Christian Sperka’s photography.

Christian Sperka PhotographyFind out more about Christian Sperka at www.sperka.com, and learn photography tips on capturing the essence of African wildlife. Christian hopes to retire one day in South Africa.

Personally, I think going on a photography safari with Christian should be on everyone’s “bucket list!”

– -The Gourmet Review

Photo Courtesy Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Puck’s food is creative, beautifully presented, healthy and easy to prepare. Try this chicken recipe with garlic and fresh parsley next time you want to impress your family or friends.

SERVES  4

INGREDIENTS

4 chicken breast halves, boneless, skin-on
12 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup Italian parsley leaves
Salt
ground white pepper
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter
Juice of 1 large lemon
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped

INSTRUCTIONS

In a small saucepan, blanch the garlic cloves in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and slice the garlic thinly. Toss them in a small bowl with the parsley and a little salt and pepper.

Stuff a little of the garlic mixture into the pockets under the skin of the chicken breasts (about 2 teaspoons per chicken).Transfer the chicken to a plate, cover with plastic wrap and chill until ready to use.

Heat a charcoal or gas grill until moderately hot. Grill the chicken 8 to 10 minutes per side until cooked through. Do not overcook.

Heat the butter in a sauté pan and gently sauté the remaining garlic mixture. Add the lemon juice and chopped parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

PRESENTATION

Place the chicken breasts on 4 large heated dinner plates.Top with the sautéed garlic and parsley. Serve with fresh vegetables cooked al dente.

Note: Make sure to get the charcoal very hot and let it get coated with gray ash before grilling the chicken. If you are using a gas or electric grill, get it very hot, too, then turn the heat down to medium to cook the chicken.

WINE RECOMMENDATION

Wolfgang Puck recommends Rosé with barbecued chicken. “Rosé wines are fresh, fun and ideal for summer. Look for a Provencal wine or perhaps a white Zinfandel from California. Domaine Ott’s classic Rosé is one of the best from the South of France.”

—Wolfgang Puck

NOTES

This entree has been a favorite on the menu at Spago since the restaurant’s opening, probably because it is so easy to prepare, quick and delicious.

– The Gourmet Review

Courtesy Spago Restaurant

Wolfgang Puck is a world famous master chef and restauranteur. His first flagship restaurant, Spago, in Beverly Hills, instantly made him a culinary phenomenon. Puck has picked up numerous awards over the years, including the highly respected James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Chef of the Year (twice) and Restaurant of the year.

Lobster Salad Courtesy Spago

As Las Vegas began to make a name for itself as a fine dining mecca, it was only fitting that Puck’s flagship restaurant, Spago, open in Caesars and help place Las Vegas on the culinary map.

Tuna Salad Courtesy Spago

Spago features seasonal American cuisine with a focus on fresh ingredients from all around the world. What I love most is the comfortable, contemporary surroundings at Spago, but most of all the excellent service and feeling of family.

The Gourmet Review

It’s always fun to see what Executive Chef Eric Klein will be featuring. fresh this season? How is Chef Eric going to incorporate seasonal ingredients into this month’s menu? Take a look at a mouthwatering spring menu.

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Courtesy The Gourmet Review

Or, might you come and try one of Spago’s signature dishes like smoked salmon and caviar pizza or the Chinois chicken salad. Whatever it is, you are guaranteed a great meal with excellent service!

Be sure and check out Wolfgang Puck’s website at www.wolfgangpuck.com.

– The Gourmet Review

Courtesy Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Puck serves his perennial celebrity favorite strawberry desert at the brunch following the Governor’s Ball after the Academy Awards. It’s the perfect way to enjoy fresh strawberries just coming into season.

SERVES  5

INGREDIENTS

1 ¹/₂ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¹/₄ cup sugar
¹/₈ teaspoon
salt
2 eggs
1 ¹/₂ cups buttermilk, or 1 cup buttermilk and ½ cup milk
¹/₄ cup melted unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Dried Apricot Jam
¹/₂ cup whipped cream or crème fraiche

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat an electric griddle or a stovetop griddle or heavy pan over medium-high heat.

Sift together the flour, baking power, baking soda, sugar, and salt into a medium bowl.

In another medium bowl, beat the eggs and whisk in the buttermilk (or buttermilk and milk), the melted butter, and the vanilla extract.

Quickly whisk in the flour mixture and stir only until it is combined.

Ladle the batter onto the griddle by tablespoons for small, 2-inch pancakes. Cook until bubbles break through and turn over.

Cook another 30 seconds to a minute, until nicely browned on the other side and transfer to a plate.

Serve the pancakes hot with dried apricot jam and whipped cream or crème fraiche.

– The Gourmet Review

Spago’s Eric Klein Courtesy Jeffrey Green

Spago’s Executive Chef Eric Klein is passionate about his job and it shows. It’s why guests return night after night to Spago’s in Las Vegas. Eric’s smile is contageous and spreads throughout the kitchen, where he continuously deflects credit to his staff, as well as guests, whom he greets like family. The food is so beautifully presented,  guests always pause before picking up a fork!

Chef Eric  was kind enough to share a little about his background, along with a tour of the kitchen for the “Blue Baker” and myself.

The Gourmet Review

Q  Where did you grow up and learn to cook?

In northeastern France, Alsace. But it’s not what we — what person influences, it’s life in general that influences you to cook something. I mean I love to give a smile to the people.

Courtesy The Gourmet Review

Q  What is your favorite food you cook at home?

You know, when you cook every day like we do, the most simple food is the most important thing. Sometimes, it’s food that comforts you, food that makes you happy, not one food. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a kind of food junkie. I like to eat popcorn and, you know, potato chips.  You spend time with your family, so that’s  what’s  the most important thing.

Courtesy The Gourmet Review

Q  What do you enjoy most about your job?

I do not enjoy. I love my job. I think what I love the most about my job is to be in contact with people and be a part of a celebration. It’s hard sometimes. But, you know, there are so many things to be joyful about cooking and why we love a job is to make a difference and give — reach other people.

Courtesy The Gourmet Kitchen

Q  How much time do you spend creating dishes?

Creating a dish comes by inspiration. It is not just “Okay, today I’m going to create a new dish” and I’m thinking about it. When you cook every day and when you change food all the time, we go with the flow that’s coming in season and say “Ah, let me try something out” and I cook something on the spot and it becomes something  different. So, we spend a long time researching things and reading and looking at what’s happening, and what’s going on around the world.  We think about it and we eat it. We want to please the customer.

Courtesy The Gourmet Review

Q  Where do most of your ingredients come from?

Courtesy The Gourmet Review

Our ingredients come from all over the world. We have Yuzu coming from Japan. We have the onions coming from Spain. We have fish from Hawaii and the four corners of the world.  We have halibut coming from Alaska. We have oysters coming from the Pacific Ocean. We have our stone crab from Florida and meat coming from Japan.  All the products are coming from all over the world.

The Gourmet Review

Q  So you go to a central person who oversees all that?

We have companies all over the world – in Chicago, a company in San Francisco, a company in L.A. who are importers. They know what we like, so they call us once a week. “Hey, we’re getting some asparagus this week. Do you want some?” or “We have something today they like from Japan, like Japanese Kobe beef.”

Some (ingredients) are directly imported from Japan. Yuzu comes directly from a small farm in Japan.

Courtesy The Gourmet Review

 Q  Do you have vendors that grow any specific ingredients for yo

Courtesy The Gourmet Review

We have a local land farmer who grows lamb for us. He’ll say, “I got the lambs ready. And then we serve the lamb, which is locally grown.

Courtesy The Gourmet Review

Another example is Olsen Farm in Nevada. They grew all the microgreens for us. And basically, we say, “Oh, we like this microgreen for radish, we like chives, we like onions, we like .   .   .    or they come to us and say, “Hey, Eric, we have lot of land. I want to grow some melons and some tomatoes. How much do you need?” I say, “Listen, you bring them. I’ll buy them from you.” So the answer to your question is  yes.

NOTE

Thank you Eric, for showing us the kitchen and taking the time  to be interviewed.

What impressed us most is that every single item on the menu is made from scratch every day – every single bread, pasta, dessert, including the six different ice creams and sorbets featured daily. Every item, from whole halibut to meats and chickens are butchered in the kitchen to ensure only the freshest quality meats ever reach the plate.

There is a hands-on component to Spago, which is what makes it such a special place. Chef Eric’s attention to detail in the kitchen, which includes ordering only the very best ingredients, combined with the professionalism of the staff, makes dining here an extraordinary experience!

– The Gourmet Review

Courtesy The Gourmet Review

University Seafood is a fourth generation, family owned seafood and poultry business known to locals in Seattle, Washington for over 67 years. If you phone in an order from anywhere in the world, you’ll probably talk to Dale or Jeanette Erickson, or you might as easily connect with their grandson. It’s a tradition for this family to have customers see familiar faces or hear familiar voices, whether they pick up an order in person or place an order for Copper River salmon from across the globe.

Courtesy The Gourmet Review

I asked Dale how long it takes between catching the fish, such as salmon or halibut, to when the fish arrives at the store. According to Dale, the boats come in at the end of the day in Alaska, shipments are processed that evening and are  ready for a next day  flight to Seattle. One of the Erickson family picks up the shipment at the airport the next morning. It doesn’t get much fresher than that.

Courtesy The Gourmet Review

The store may be small, but that doesn’t stop  customers from picking out a live Maine lobster, fresh oysters, halibut, or seafood from the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, the South Pacific, Asia, Canada, South America or the Mediterranean.

Courtesy The Gourmet Review

There’s something really nice about getting fresh seafood from a family that is committed to the highest standards of sustainability and good health.

Courtesy The Gourmet Review

You don’t need to be in the Pacific Northwest to phone in an order at 206-632-3900. I always add a few extra seafood specialties.  I know that the next morning, Federal  Express will have a box at my door. Check out their website at http://www.universityseafoodandpoultry.com.

NOTE 

You might just as easily speak to Drew, who is the Erikson’s 26 year old grandson. Jeanette told me this morning that Drew has been helping out since he was three years old. Or, Chuck might answer the phone, and he’s been working here since his 20’s. That might not seem impressive until I tell you that he is in his 60’s now! Or, perhaps Mike, who has been here for 35 years. Now, the newbies, such as Harold and Martin, have only been here for 20+ years! No wonder customers feel at home here.

P.S.  No, I don’t get paid for this endorsement. I just love to support this family owned business. I’m never disappointed. I make sure I don’t just limit my selection to salmon and halibut, or any other seafood in particular, but always include my favorite Dungeness crab and shrimp for salads for the week. Or, if entertaining, I make sure I order some beautiful whole Dungeness crab legs to serve with mustard sauce or fresh lemon juice.

– The Gourmet Review