Jet Chef

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Jet-Chef.com Spotlight Member: Meals on Heels

Jet-Chef.com shines their spotlight on one of its members: Meals on Heels!

Meals on Heels is the Premier Personal Chef Delivery Service on the Main Line in Philadelphia Pennsylvania!

Meals on Heels caters to the needs of those on ‘special diets’. Whether you are on Weight Watchers or another commercial diet, are a Vegetarian/Vegan, or have a dietary issue such as Celiac Disease, or Diabetes, Meals on Heels will make the food that’s right for you.

With Meals on Heels as your personal chef:

· They will create an individualized menu based on your personal tastes and needs

· You choose the entrées you would like to have delivered to you

· All entrées are packaged in microwave safe containers and labeled with all of the nutrition information and heating instructions

· Everything is prepared right in their own commercial kitchen

· Entrées will be delivered conveniently right to your home or office!

Catering menus and options are also available including fantastic hors d'oeuvres, handcrafted soups, pasta, sandwiches, wraps, specialty salads, and so much more. Meals on Heels would be happy to honor any special requests for items that you do not already see on their catering menu.

The chef behind Meals on Heels, Lila Jai, grew up in her grandmother’s kitchen and was immersed at a very young age in the art of cooking. She apprenticed with her uncle, who was a locally renowned chef and owned a successful gourmet catering business. She took her love and passion for cooking with her when she went off to college. Even though she was studying to become a behavioral therapist, she fantasized about attending culinary school and would cook for her whole floor of dorm-mates. She eventually combined her love of cooking with her humanitarian spirit and began volunteering in the kitchen at Project Home, an organization in Philadelphia that assists individuals suffering from homelessness. After 5 years of experience working with special needs children as a Behavioral Therapist, Lila decided to resign from the human services field and once again began to dream about what it might be like to become a chef.

Chef Lila Jai is now working on her Master’s Degree in Holistic Nutrition and is attending classes at the Restaurant School. She is finally manifesting her dreams into a passionate culinary reality and has started her own personal chef business. Her creative and health conscious meals are enjoyed by many, especially catering to the needs of clients on special diets (including Weight Watchers, Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and those with Celiac Disease).

Contact Meals on Heels today for your Personal Chef and Catering Services in the Philadelphia area!

Visit Jet-Chef.com to find a caterer, personal chef or restaurant for your special meal or occasion!

Are you a caterer, personal chef or restaurant and want to be part of the Jet-Chef.com success? Log on to Jet-Chef.com and start your listing today with a FREE, NO OBLIGATION 6-month membership! Contact us via email at info@imaiusa.com or call us toll-free at 1-877-774-1255.

Today is National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day!

Today is National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day! Not that I need a national food holiday as an excuse to savor one of my favorite sandwiches, as I do love me a great hot pastrami sandwich!

(image from www.countryliving.com)

Here is an easy way to make a fantastic hot pastrami sandwich, courtesy of Emeril Lagasse and www.FoodNetwork.com!

Emeril's Favorite Pastrami Sandwich

Ingredients
6 ounces sliced pastrami
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
4 ounces beer
3 slices onion, rings intact
1 tablespoon oil
Salt and pepper
2 slices rye bread or thick crusty brown bread

Directions
Preheat a grill. Season onions with salt and pepper and brush with oil. In a small saucepan combine beer and mustard and bring to a boil. Add pastrami and simmer for 3 minutes. Grill onions on both sides and toast bread on a cooler part of the grill. When all ingredients are heated, prepare sandwich.

Feeling like you want to make your own pastrami as well? Here is a recipe from www.CountryLiving.com to make Hot Steamed Pastrami, which you could certainly use in the above recipe, or to design your own sandwich creation!

Hot Steamed Pastrami

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon(s) whole coriander seeds, toasted
2 teaspoon(s) whole allspice
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon(s) caraway seed
1 tablespoon(s) yellow mustard seeds
2 tablespoon(s) cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon(s) ground ginger
1 teaspoon(s) garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
3 1/2 pound(s) whole corned beef, rinsed and patted dry

Preparation:

Fill a large stockpot, fitted with a steam basket, with water to about 1 inch below the level of the steam basket. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Coarsely grind the coriander seed, allspice, bay leaves, caraway, and mustard seeds using an electric spice grinder or a mortar and pestle, and mix with the cracked black pepper, ginger, garlic powder, and salt. Press onto the entire surface of the corned beef. Set the beef in the steam basket, cover, and steam over medium-low heat until fork tender -- 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Carefully add water as needed to maintain level. Transfer the pastrami from the pot to a cutting board. Let the meat rest for 30 minutes before slicing thinly. Serve in sandwiches or alone with vegetables.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Today is National Peach Melba Day!

Today is National Peach Melba Day! Yummmm...what a sweet day to celebrate!

(image from www.bbcgoodfood.com)

According to Wikipedia, "The Peach Melba is a classic dessert, invented in 1892 or 1893 by the French chef Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel, London to honor the Australian soprano, Dame Nellie Melba (1861 - 1931). It combines two favorite summer fruits: peaches and raspberry sauce accompanying vanilla ice cream." Definitely a few of my favorite things!

Here is my favorite recipe for Peach Melba from www.Epicurious.com. Enjoy!

Peches Melba
Gourmet, September 2005

Yield: Makes 6 servings
Active time: 30 min
Total time: 2 hr (includes cooling)

The leftover peach-poaching liquid makes a delicious sweetener for iced tea.

Ingredients:

For peaches
6 medium firm-ripe peaches (2 1/4 lb)
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 (1-inch) piece vanilla bean

For raspberry sauce
1 (12-oz) package frozen raspberries (not in syrup), thawed
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Accompaniment: 2 pt superpremium vanilla ice cream

Preparation:

Poach peaches:
Cut a shallow X in bottom of each peach with a sharp paring knife and immerse fruit in a 4-quart heavy pot (preferably wide) of boiling water 30 seconds, then transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice and cold water to stop cooking. Transfer peaches to a cutting board and peel, starting with cut end, then cut in half, discarding pits.

Combine sugar and water in cleaned pot. Halve vanilla bean lengthwise with a paring knife and scrape seeds into pot, then add pod and bring mixture to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add peaches, pitted sides down, to sugar syrup, then reduce heat and poach, covered, at a bare simmer 6 minutes. Turn peaches over and continue to poach, covered, until tender, 5 to 6 minutes more.

Cool peaches in poaching liquid in pot, uncovered, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Make raspberry sauce while peaches cool:
Force raspberries through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on solids.

Combine sugar and water in a small heavy saucepan. Cover pan (so condensation will wash any sugar crystals down side of pan) and bring to a boil, then remove lid and boil 2 minutes.

Immediately stir sugar syrup into raspberry purée and cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Stir in lemon juice. 3Serve peaches over ice cream and drizzled with sauce.

Cooks' note:
Peaches can be poached and cooled 1 day ahead, then chilled, covered.