Since the Swamp Chef arrived on the scene, he is getting to know the kinfolk, including his nephew Chef Zak.
We all meet up at Mom's in Gonzales, Louisiana as often as possible. Zak lived here for a few years in high school and a bit more after.
He worked restaurant kitchens to make ends meet and picked up some kickass cooking skillz, just watch the video below to see what I mean!
It's always a fun time when Chef Zakmakes an appearance here in the 99 Cent Chef's food blog, especially when he brings his big dog Marshal along for the ride.
So check out what happens when my brother from another Daddy, the Swamp Chef, runs into his nephew, Chef Zak, on a walk in my Mom's neighborhood.
Chef Zak Meets The Swamp Chef - VIDEO
Play it here, video runs 1 minute 41 seconds
My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.
Please note, Justin Wilsonis a boiled crawfish and was not eaten alive!
What a wild 5 years it's been. And I've got 366 blog posts and over 130 food-themed videos to prove it. So check out the Culinary Cheap$kates video highlight reel below -- it's a feast for the eyes and ears, and it's just the icing on the cupcake. (And click on any color-coded name in the paragraphs below to see recipe links and/or video links.)
Play it here. Video runs 8 minutes, 20 seconds.
When I started The 99 Cent Chef five years ago food blogs with videos were just beginning to appear on the internet. Noticing how easy it was to upload videos, I decided to start my food blog. I've always followed television cooking shows: from The French Chef with Julia Child (I watched as a teenager,) to the unveiling of the Food Network. What I noticed lacking were tasty recipes cheap enough for anyone to make, presented with a bit of wit.
This Grinchy Chef does not live for recipes alone, heck that's no fun. I like to mix it up, so I delve into many food-related themes - my blog is a variety show for foodies. If you look on the right side of this blog and scroll down just a little bit, you'll see different groups of videos that are just a click away, including Recipes, Comedy, Restaurant Reviews, and Documentaries. Or you can go to YouTube and subscribe here to see all my videos.
My nephew Chef Zakk
There were no silver spoons on my dinner table growing up -- my mother was a waitress for some years and I was exposed to the working-class side of the restaurant business. Counting my Mom's tips after her shift, I grew up literally pinching pennies.
I like the challenge of creating scrumptious meals using inexpensive ingredients. And this blog is dedicated to working stiffs, struggling-to-pay-tuition students, retirees living on Social Security, and families (without health insurance) living on minimum wage. You can just get by and still eat well. I moved to Los Angeles when I turned 21, knowing nobody, and with only a few hundred bucks in my wallet -- so I learned how to stretch a dollar in the big city.
For my blog, I create appetizers, side dishes, and entrees with ingredients costing 99.99 cents or less, that I cull from 99c only Stores, ethnic markets, and regular grocery stores. I include fresh fruit and veggies in my recipes, too (that I get on sale for way less than a dollar per pound.)
You won't find many recipes using beef, but I've created plenty of delicious entrees using economic chicken and pork. (Like my go-to recipe of French Cassoulet that combines roasting chicken with white beans - so good.) You won't go hungry reading The 99 Cent Chef food blog, and you'll be entertained along the way with playful prose, eye candy photos, and clever videos.
I began this just as the economy crashed -- then things started happening fast, and after 6 months I was a chintzy food expert on NBC's Nighty News and NPR Marketplace! You could say I was the flavor of the month to the media.
The Chintzy Chef & Brendan Francis Newnam of NPRradio
I've been steadily cranking out videos like a fast-food burger slinger - quick and tasty, like my one minute Coffee Comedy shorts; or sometimes it's a Wolvesmouth-like tasting menu involving 8 unique video small plates illustrating my trip to Seattle for a Public TV cooking segment (on the menu was a Thanksgiving side dish twist I called Stuffing Cupcakes.) You'll never know what I'll come up with, so do check back.
As you can see I do more than just rattle pots and pans -- when I get out of the kitchen that's when the fun really begins. Living in Los Angeles, I get a thrill introducing my blog visitors to our melting pot food culture. You can check out my month long series of videos on the local exploding food truck scene, including the one that jump started it all, Kogi Taco Truck. I covered it's travels through the streets night and day. When chef Roy Choi added Korean BBQ onto a Mexican tortilla he created a culinary sensation, and an avalanche of unique food trucks followed. I still think Kogi Taco Truck is the top dog.
You wouldn't know it, but Los Angeles is fast becoming the Hot Dog Capital of the World. Well, I did another video series on some of my favorite temples to tube steak. There are Soul Dogs topped with yams and collard greens, and carts selling wieners made from heirloom, grass-fed and hormone-free, animals (check out my video on Let's Be Frank, here.)
But, I would say the epicenter is way out in the Valley, at Fabs Hot Dogs, located in an outdoor mall (wouldn't you know it.) The owner, Joe Fabrocini, travels throughout the country picking up regional recipes like the Kansas City Dog, Carolina Slaw Dog, New Jersey Ripper, and our own LA Street Dog. And he does them to perfection, including a Chicago Dog topped with neon green pickle relish -- and be sure to check out my radioactive reaction after ingesting one! And as a bonus, I shot a video recipe of bacon-wrapped LA Street Dog.
I live in South Los Angeles so you know I got the soul food angle covered. Check out the video of my favorite chintzy soul food restaurant Marilyn's Soul Food Express. And just down the street on Crenshaw Boulevard are the Pulitzer Prize food winner Jonathan Gold's recommended hot dogs at Earlez Grille. Rub elbows with the chefs, colorful customers, and the raconteur owner, Duane -- for hot dogz in the hood.
Just this year I introduced a unique way to present my cheap and delicious recipes -- using stop motion animation and time lapse photography. These short videos give you step-by-step instructions presented succinctly while retaining my clever and fun antics. (Plus, you don't have to look at my mug!) To see what I mean just click on the video compilation below:
A Year of Stop Motion Food Animation
Play it here. Video runs 2 minutes, 16 seconds.
My background is in art, film, video editing, and street photography. All these disciplines come together in my cinematic series, Restaurant Nocturnes. This Noir-Eyed Chef likes nothing better than cruising neon splashed nighttime Los Angeles streets and shooting restaurant facades -- this is when they look the coolest. And as a bonus, I collect audio menu descriptions for each one, so this series is groovy to look at, and you learn their culinary stance.
With 11 Restaurant Nocturnes under my belt, I've only scratched the Teflon surface of LA's dining scene. I compile a baker's dozen eateries in each Nocturne, and I include every kind of cafe: from Top Chef season 6 winner Michael Voltaggio's hip ink. restaurant on Melrose Avenue, to Chinatown's Hop Louie, a time capsule constructed in the 1940s.
I also started an anthropological series called First Bites. I'm shooting my now 2 1/2-year-old neighbor, Lola, tasting her first sushi California Roll, wheatgrass, asparagus, and many more ingredients. It's a hilarious series that I will be revisiting. 99 thanks to her parents Bob and Lori. I've also started shooting a Southern version called Miles First Cajun Bite, which includes tasting: crawfish, jambalaya, and cheese grits -- the kid not only eats it but wears it! Click on the titles above to see a sample of these too cute L 'Enfant Terribles.
Lola's First Bite
My food blog would be anemic without the contributions of family, friends, restaurants, and their staff. Anytime you see me in a video, there is someone helping me shoot it (especially Amy, Pete, and Bob) and I owe them 99 thanks. And it's so much better when I can get my Mom, sisters, and my young buck nephews, Chef Matt and Chef Zakk, on camera. They are fun to hang out with, plus they make look good.
Finally, thanks to all my blog visitors for your time and comments. Subscribe and keep coming back as I have a cupboard full of recipes, videos, and fun food ideas to share with you!
5th Anniversary Video YouTube link (to view full size) click here
One Year of Stop Motion Animation YouTube link click here
Cajun Chef Zak is back and I got the recipe video to prove it! Cheffing runs in the family and my young buck of a nephew is a chip off the cutting board block.
You know what I'm talking about if you are a 99 Cent Chef follower -- if not, then just scroll down a little bit and look to the right, and enter your email address in the "Follow by Email" window, to keep up the the Chintzy Chef's family antics.
Every time I go back to Gonzales, Louisiana to visit the Cajun side of the family, it's always a good-time cooking party when I get together with my chef relations. If you don't believe me then just click on any of the following cooking videos I've made with my ex-brother-in-law Chef Tony, nephews Chef Matt, and his younger brother Chef Zak (or Zakk as he likes to spell it).
For Chef Zakk's latest recipe, it's pasta done Cajun Style. Don't worry, you can live anywhere and make this veggie-loaded Italian entree. Actually they, along with the French and African early settlers, had a strong culinary influence on Louisiana cuisine. You can check out my Cajun Muffaletta Sandwichrecipe here to see what I mean -- it's just a huge Italian deli sandwich.
Chef Zakk's Tuscan Pasta Primavera has a few shakes of Cajun Spice to kick it up a notch. The main ingredients include Angel Hair pasta, mushrooms, purple onion, garlic, fresh basil, toasted pine nuts, a jar of marinated artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, and white wine.
Now, all of these ingredients are hard to get for 99 cents each, but over the years I have found most of them at my local 99c only Store. Some other tasty marinated veggies I have found include zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, and roasted bell pepper. (Every once in a while I have to take a vacation from the 99-cent lifestyle when guest chefs visit this blog, but I do offer cheap substitutions in his recipe along the way.)
Really, almost any canned or jarred marinated veggies you find on sale would be a tasty variation on Chef Zakk's recipe -- you could even exchange super-cheap peanuts for the expensive pine nuts. (I make this kind of budget substitution all the time when I'm figuring out a recipe to publish on this food blog.)
As for preparation, it's just some veggie chopping and sauteing. The most complicated part is easy: toasting the pine nuts for a few minutes in the oven. Chef Zakk used Angel Hair pasta, but you could use any favorite you find on sale.
So kick back and check out Uncle Tightwad's latest recipe video, Chef Zak's Tuscan Pasta Primavera. And be sure to notice Chef Zakk's slicing and chopping skillz, I even learned a few things.
Chef Zak's Cajun Style Tuscan Primavera Pasta - VIDEO
1 Whole red Onion - julienned (thin-sliced), about 2 cups.
1/2 cup of Pine Nuts - okay to substitute with any cheap nuts.
4 Sundried Tomato halves - sliced
Small jar Artichoke Hearts - in oil and/or vinegar, drained. Okay to use canned in water. Whatever Pickled Veggie you can find cheaply can be used.
2 cloves Garlic, minced - or 1 tbsp. from jar.
1 tablespoon Cajun (Creole) Seasoning - Chef Zakk used Tony Chachere's. I have a homemade Cajun Spice Mix, just click here.
1/4 stick of Butter - okay to use 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup of olive oil.
1/2 cup White Wine - Chef Zakk used Chardonnay.
1 package of Angel Hair Pasta - okay to use any pasta you have on hand.
Shaved Parmesan Cheese - enough to top finished Tuscan Primavera with Angel Hair Pasta.
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and start a pot of water to boil.
Add 3 shakes of salt and a tablespoon of olive oil to the pot of boiling water. Cook pasta al dente (I usually shave off a minute from cooking direction time.
Drain and rinse pasta (to stop cooking) and set it aside. Drizzle on a tablespoon of olive oil, and lightly mix so it doesn't stick together.
Saute a 1/2 cup of pine nuts over medium/low heat in a pan for about 2-4 minutes, until lightly browned. Move pan to oven and toast an additional 3-5 minutes.
Now time to cook the veggies. Add a 1/4 stick of butter (or olive oil) to a medium heating pan. When butter is melted add minced garlic, julienned red onion, and sliced mushrooms. Salt and pepper to taste then add a tablespoon of Cajun Seasonings (okay to leave out salt, as Cajun Spices usually have plenty.) Mix all ingredients and saute about 2-4 minutes.
Next, add drained artichoke hearts and sliced sundried tomatoes to the sauteeing veggies. Heat through for a couple of minutes then add the cooked pasta.
Pasta just needs to be cooked with the veggies for a couple of minutes to reheat. Mix well. Pour in a half cup of white wine. Cook for a couple of minutes to reduce the liquid.
Finally, mix in half of the sliced basil leaves.
Time for plating. Add a serving of pasta to the plate and top with some pine nuts, sliced basil, and shaved parmesan cheese.
This week, it's a feast for the ears. The 99 Cent Chef ends where he began: Breakfast in Louisiana. Last week I featured Crawfish Etouffee, my final Cajun Cuisine Diary recipe. After this post, it's back to my normal format of unique budget recipes. No overriding menu theme, just scrumptiousness wherever I can find it.
Chef Matt's Shrimp and Grits
For my final Cajun video, you will eavesdrop on audio clips from my two-month-long Louisiana vacation food diary series. Listen in as my family paints quite a culinary aural mural of Cajun delicacies.
I hope you had as good a time is I did -- taking in my very personal tour of the sights and sounds of Cajun Country. I have to give a huge 99 Cent Chef thanks to my Louisiana family and friends for an unforgettable vacation. They are fun to hang out with, and are enthusiastic, passionate Chefs -- one and all!
Breakfast in Louisiana - Video
Play it here. The video runs about 1 minute and 11 seconds.
