He bounces into the room, all wide smiles and high energy. The diners, who had been dawdling over their drinks, snap into attention. Chef Matt Basile may be a “Rebel Without a Kitchen,” as his TV show on the Asian Food Channel is called, but he’s certainly not without a cause, and not without an audience.
In Manila recently to promote his show, Basile was at Chef Jessie restaurant in Rockwell Club to present an extraordinary dinner of his own doing (with a little help from chef Jessie Sincioco and her staff).
It was North American cuisine inspired by Eastern and European influences. For starters, there was a salad of octopus painted with hoisin sauce and layered on a nest of fennel, capers and sweet orange segments. Then there were roasted beef hearts that had been marinated overnight in soy sauce, after which they were skewered, grilled and brushed with a salsa verde made of tomatoes, tomatillos, cilantro, olive oil, lemon juice and chili peppers.
A soup of ground lamb meatballs and orchietti pasta in a hearty chicken stock preceded the mains, which was a choice between salt and vinegar prawns with pickled cipolini onions and trinity sauce, or Moroccan beef tenderloin seasoned with spices and dark beer and served with edamame mash and pistachio nuts.
The dessert, on the other hand, had an all-American ring to it. Called Elvis in a Jar, it was a tribute to the king of rock ‘n’ roll, being an adaptation of his favorite peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwich, all piled up in a mason jar.
Served with the dishes were Balvenie Single Malt Scotch Whisky, produced by William Grant & Sons Ltd., an award-winning family-owned distiller founded in 1886 and still run today by his direct descendants.
If the dishes all tasted unconventional, full of surprising, unexpected flavors, it was only in keeping with Basile himself. Born in Toronto, Canada, Basile learned cooking early on from his Italian grandfather, who was always busy baking bread and curing meat. While at university, he worked at various food-related jobs to support himself. His first job after graduation was at an ad agency, which left him feeling restless and unfulfilled, leading him to quit. It was the beginning of a culinary adventure that would lead to his present calling.
Today Basile is known in Toronto for his pop-up cooking and his food truck named Priscilla, from where he serves robust Cuban-style sandwiches popularly called Extremo Sandwiches. At Lisa Marie, his flagship restaurant in Toronto, he gives further vent to his unorthodox way of cooking by giving an unfamiliar twist to otherwise regular fare: smoked duck deep-fried pizza, for example, or burgers stacked up like pancakes.
One of the ingredients that intrigued me during the dinner was the capers sprinkled over the octopus salad. They were crunchy, with a hint of sweetness, much unlike the briny capers in jars. According to Basile, the capers had been lightly floured, then fried in olive oil till they were crunchy and had lost some of their vinegary flavor.
That gave me an idea. Borrowing this technique, I cooked chicken piccata and lavished the lemon butter sauce with fried capers. Here is the easy and delicious recipe, thanks to an inspiration from Matt Basile.
“Rebel Without a Kitchen” airs Thursday, 10 p.m., on the Asian Food Channel. For more information on his show, visit asianfoodchannel.com.
Chicken Piccata with Lemon Butter and Crispy Caper Sauce
For the lemon butter and caper sauce:
- ¼ c capers
- ¼ c flour
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ c butter
- ½ c freshly squeezed lemon juice
Drain the capers and wipe them dry with paper towels. Press the stem end of the capers to open the tips into small flowers. Or you can snip off the tips opposite the stem ends.
Dredge the caper flowers in flour. Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan, then fry the caper flowers until crisp. Transfer to a plate lined with absorbent paper or paper towels and let cool.
Meanwhile melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the lemon juice. Bring to a simmer. Stir in the capers. Remove from heat. Pour over the cooked chicken thighs.
For the chicken:
- 8-10 boneless chicken thighs
- Salt and pepper
- 2 egg whites
- ¾ c flour
- c clarified butter (see tips)
Season the chicken with salt and pepper. In a bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Dip the chicken in the egg whites, then dredge lightly in flour. Shake off excess flour.
Heat half of the clarified butter in a frying pan. Sauté the chicken thighs, 3 or 4 at a time, until fully cooked and golden brown, turning once. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels.
Pour the remaining clarified butter into the frying pan and cook the remaining chicken thighs similarly.
When all the chicken thighs have been cooked, arrange them on a serving dish. Pour the lemon butter and caper sauce on top of the chicken. Or you can also just serve the sauce at the table separately (in a sauce boat, for example).
For more tips, recipes and stories, visit the author’s blog normachikiamco.com and Facebook fan page normachikiamco; follow on Twitter@NormaChikiamco
Cook’s tips:
To make clarified butter: Cut 1 cup unsalted butter into large cubes. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat, until it liquefies and foamy particles appear on the surface, about 5 minutes. Strain the liquid over a strainer lined with cheesecloth. The resulting liquid is the clarified butter.
Instead of egg whites you can use whole eggs, if preferred.