Chef Alice Waters – The Chef Who Pioneered California Cuisine

Do you like this post?

Chef Alice Waters lead a very colorful life and culinary career, and to add more color to it, her restaurant, Chez Panisse, was named as the 69th best restaurant of the world, according to S. Pellegrino. Chef Waters is known in the culinary world for being a strong advocate of “good, clean, and fair” food economy, and she is also considered as the chef who pioneered California cuisine, which is, simply put, a fusion of the different cooking styles and culinary movements that have evolved all throughout the years with the focus being on the use of fresh local ingredients and artistic presentation.

Chef Waters was born in Chatham, New Jersey on the 28th of April 1944. She took up college in UC Santa Barbara but transferred to the University of California in Berkeley, where she graduated. During her studies, she also traveled to France where she continued her education. It was there that she fell in love with cooking. She had to cook for herself and discovered the pleasure in shopping for fresh produce and preparing her meal herself. Her time in France allowed her to experiment with the variety of ingredients and be creative in the presentation of her dishes, which, she found out, was a huge part of enjoying a meal.

When she finished her studies in France and went back to Berkeley, she brought with her her knowledge in French cooking. It was also in the college campus that she got involved in the Free Speech Movement, and it was here that she learned that a person has the power to make changes if one acts on his or her beliefs.

After graduation, she went back to Europe and traveled all over the continent. She immersed herself in the European culture and soaked in all her experiences, strengthening her philosophies and beliefs. In fact, her time and experiences in Europe, especially in France, and her involvement in the Free Speech Movement were what defined her cuisine later on in her culinary career.

It was her stay in Turkey that the inspiration to go back to California and open her own restaurant came. So she returned to the United States, and in 1971, Chez Panisse opened. At first, she intended it as a place where friends and her diners would be entertained with her rustic and very simple French menus. However, one of the obstacles that she soon found out was that it was difficult to look for fresh ingredients in California, and fresh ingredients are an integral part of the French cuisine. To solve this problem, she developed business relationships with local farmers and producers, and it is through them that she gets her ingredients and products for her restaurant.

The need to use only the finest and freshest ingredients for her menu has led her to become an advocate of organic products, and i n 1995, she opened the Edible Schoolyard. This school teaches children the importance of organic products as well as its beneficial effects to the environment. It is also here that the children are taught about gardening and harvesting their own produce, and in the kitchen classroom, they are taught how to prepare the ingredients for cooking.

Aside from her restaurant and her other advocacies, she has also written and published numerous books as well as cookbooks, all of which have been received wonderfully by the public.

Throughout her culinary career, she has received numerous awards. In 1986, the Cuisine et Vinis de France named her as one of the world’s best chefs. In 1992, the James Beard Foundation named her as the best chef in the United States. The same foundation has also given her a humanitarian award in 1997. Her restaurant has received its own Michelin star in the years 2006 and 2007, and it has also been included in the top 100 best restaurants of the world by S. Pellegrino.

Chef Alice Waters’ Lentil Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup lentils (French green lentils or black Beluga lentils are the best varieties to use for lentil salads because they have lots of flavor and they hold their shape when cooked.)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt
Fresh-ground black pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions or
3 tablespoons finely diced shallot
3 tablespoons chopped parsley

Directions:

1. Sort and rinse the lentils. Cover with water by 3 inches and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook until tender all the way through (adding more water if necessary), about 30 minutes. Drain and reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.

2. Toss the lentils with the red wine vinegar, salt, and fresh-ground black pepper. Let sit for 5 minutes. Taste and add more salt and vinegar if needed.

3. Add the extra-virgin olive oil, scallions or shallot, and parsley. Stir to combine. If the lentils seem dry and are hard to stir, loosen them with a bit of the reserved cooking liquid.

Variations:

Add 1/2 cup diced cucumber.
Dice very fine 1/4 cup each of carrot, celery, and onion. Cook until tender in a couple spoonfuls of olive oil. Cool and stir into the salad in place of the scallions or shallots.
Garnish with 1/2 cup crumbled goat or feta cheese.
Toast and crush 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds and add to the salad. Substitute cilantro for the parsley.
Dice 1/4 cup flavorful sweet peppers, season with salt, and let stand to soften. Stir in with the scallions or shallots.

Servings: Serves 4.

Image Credit: obamafoodorama.blogspot.com

thedailygreen.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

Currently 0 comment - But what do you think?