California is a place rich with the bounty from land and sea. From San Francisco where you can buy locally caught seafood, to the produce from the middle of the state andthe wine country of Sonoma, California produces so many different ingredients that the lucky residents can eat fresh, locally produced food year round. In addition to the ingredients found all over California, many celebrity chefs own restaurants known world wide. With Alice Waters (Chez Panisse), Thomas Keller (The French Laundry, Per Se), Mark Peel (Campanile), Nancy Silverton (La Brea), and Wolfgang Puck (Spago, Chinoise) among them, California chefs use all those resources to produce menus that highlight the fresh ingredients.
Wolfgang Puck exemplifies California cuisine. An Austrian cook who relocated to the State, he embraced California, a melting pot of different cultures and variety. When the ingredients are so fresh and plentiful, the recipes should be simple to highlight the ingredients themselves. That is what Wolfgang Puck has done since the 80’s. He is known for using fresh ingredients in simple ways, often using French techniques in fusion dishes. The following two recipes are from his cookbooks.
Sautéed Shrimp with Chardonnay-Dijon Cream Sauce
Wolfgang Puck Makes It Easy (2004)
Ingredients
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt and white pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup Chardonnay
½ cup cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Italian parsley, chopped
Pasta or rice, cooked
Instructions
Pat shrimp dry and sprinkle with salt and white pepper. Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add oil. Add shrimp to pan in single layer. Let cook for about 2 minutes on one side. Turn over and cook about 2 minutes more. Do not overcook. Remove from pan and set aside, covered with foil to keep warm.
Raise heat under pan to high. Add wine and let reduce by half. Reduce heat and add cream. Reduce slightly and add mustard. Simmer about 5 minutes. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning.
Add the shrimp and parsley to the sauce and simmer briefly to heat up the shrimp. Serve with rice or pasta as entrée. Or by itself as a starter.
Whiskey Fudge Cake
Wolfgang Puck: Adventures in the Kitchen (1991)
Ingredients
1 ¼ cups pastry or cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 ½ ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into small chunks
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 plus ¼ cups sugar
4 eggs, separated
1/3 cup whiskey or brandy (I used French brandy)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set an 8 by 3 inch ring on it. Wrap an 8-inch cardboard round with foil and set aside. Sift flour and baking soda together. Set aside.
Melt chocolate over double boiler or microwave. Keep warm. Cream butter until light in mixer until light. Gradually at 1 cup sugar and continue to beat until fluffy.
Beat in egg yolks, one at a time. Add whiskey or brandy. Add vanilla. Mix. Well.
Fold in half the flour mixture. Fold in other half.
Whip egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining ¼ cup sugar. Whip until shiny and firm, but not stiff. Stir one quarter of whites into batter to lighten. Fold in the remaining whites.
Pour the batter into cake ring and bake for about one hour, or until toothpick comes out clean. Invert immediately onto the f oil-covered round. Run a sharp knife around the sides of the cake. (I did not do that.) Do not remove the ring from the cake. Let cool completely on a rack. Then, carefully lift off the ring. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
That cake looks phenomenal! Gorgeous photography also :)
Great looking cake, I can’t wait to try it soon – brandy flavour and fudgey consistency sound divine. Gorgeous photos as well
Wow is that ever tall!! Wish I could see the consistency inside. i will be making this
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