Wine & Food Week, presented by H-E-B, will take place until June 10 in The Woodlands. Chef Philippe Schmit from Philippe Restaurant + Lounge is among the 50 chefs taking part in the Wine & Food Week Wine Rendezvous Grand Tasting & Chef’s Showcase Waterford Crystal Chef of Chefs competition, with a $5,000 prize at stake. As a preview to the competition, Chef Philippe prepares Lamb Navarin on FOX 26 Morning News.

Born in France, Texas loving Chef Philippe Schmit is executive chef and owner of the upscale, eponymous eatery Philippe Restaurant + Lounge, which was recognized by Texas Monthly as one of Texas’ “Best New Restaurants,”. In 2012, Schmit was named “Master Chef of France”, the most sought after award given to chefs dedicated to French cuisine. Prior to opening Philippe, Schmit served as Executive Chef and Partner at bistro moderne in Houston, where he was hailed as one of the city’s most innovative and talented chefs since his arrival in 2004.

Born and raised in Roanne, France, he apprenticed at age 14 at a local restaurant in the picturesque French town northwest of Lyon. Upon leaving Lyon, Schmit trained at three of Paris’s most respected Michelin 2-Star restaurants – Le Carre des Feuillants, Pavillon Elysee Lenotre and Restaurant Jacques Cagna – in addition to extensive training in Holland and England. In 1990, he set sail for New York and ignited his stateside career with lightning speed, becoming Sous Chef at the internationally respected Le Bernardin and later as Chef de Cuisine at Park Bistro.

In 1994, he became Executive Chef of the fashionable and immensely popular Madison Avenue mainstay, La Goulue. In 2000, Schmit became Executive Chef at Orsay, which took the New York restaurant scene by storm and is consistently rated as one of the best and most popular restaurants in New York City.

On the Web:

Wine & Food Week 2012 — http://www.wineandfoodweek.com/

Lamb Navarin
Ingredients

• Lamb shoulder 56 oz
• Couscous 12 oz
• Dry Apricots, diced 4 oz
• Dry Dates, diced 4 oz
• Dry Figs, diced 4 oz
• Carrots 8 oz
• Zucchini 8 oz
• Peas 4 oz
• Turnips 4 oz
• Cumin 4 pinch
• Mint julienne 2 oz
• Lamb Bones
• Tomato compote 4 oz
• Tomato paste 2 oz
• Virgin olive oil 4 tsp
• White wine 2 cups
• Lamb stock 2 quart
• Butter 4 oz
• Flour 6 oz
• Chicken stock 2 cup
• Pomace Olive oil 4 Tbsp
• Rosemary tops 1 sprig
• Virgin Olive Oil 4 tsp
• Thyme 1 bunch
• Bay leaves 2 Leaves
• Parsley 1 Small bunch
• Cherry tomatoes 8 each
• Almonds, toasted ½ cup

Mirepoix

• Onions 8 oz
• Garlic 4 oz
• Celery 8 oz
• Carrots 8 oz

For deglazing:
White wine 2 cups
For 4 People

Method
1. Sear lamb pieces in pomace olive oil and butter using a roasting pan until colored, add mirepoix. Cook until mirepoix is light in color, add flour, tomato paste and cook for 4 minutes on low heat. Deglaze with white wine, add lamb stock (or veal stock), tomato compote, rosemary sprigs, thyme, bay leaves, parsley (bouquet garni). Season with salt and pepper. Cook slowly for about 2 hours, until the meat is tender.
2. Boil the chicken stock and pour slowly – little by little – into the couscous. Mix with hands or a fork. Add salt and pepper, virgin olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap for 5 minutes to steam and then add mint julienne and almonds.
3. Cook separately in salted water: baby carrots, zucchini, turnips and English peas. Once cooked but still crunchy, chock in ice water then sauté in the left over butter until hot. Check seasoning.
4. Separate meat from mirepoix. Pass the remaining sauce through a strainer and add back to the meat.

Presentation
Add the diced dry fruits and cumin into the lamb stew and its sauce. Plate the couscous in a side dish. Plate the lamb stew in a soup bowl and place the vegetables around the meat. Top with a mint sprig tip for the final presentation.

Bon appétit

Wine & Food Week, presented by H-E-B, will take place until June 10 in The Woodlands. Will Springfield, chef and owner of Your Private Chef Houston, is representing GO TEXAN and Texas Shrimp as part of the Wine Rendezvous Grand Tasting & Chef Showcase, presented by Capital One Bank, on Saturday, June 9 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The Wine Rendezvous Grand Tasting & Chef Showcase will feature 50 chefs cooking in the Chef of Chefs competition, more than 500 wines, the Art of Wine Tasting – People’s Choice, Just Desserts competition, and the Cadillac Gourmet Coffee & Chocolate Bar

Among Springfield’s duties at Your Private Chef include personal chef and catering services and teaching private in-home cooking classes. He launched Houston Pro Demo in January, a promotional company for food/wine retail products that calls upon Springfield’s many years of experience at H-E-B markets as their media chef/new products program developer/retail sales trainer for chefs.

Springfield began his culinary career, which has spanned more than a quarter-century, as an apprentice at one of Houston’s best-known French restaurants of the day. He then served as an apprenticed under a “mad” Italian Chef at a resort on the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. After returning to Houston, he worked on building his resume by working in local restaurants, hotels, and country clubs where he eventually worked his way up to an executive chef title. Along the way, Springfield took off from time to time to attend several notable cooking schools around the world.

The H-E-B Wine Walk @ Market Street will take place Thursday, June 7 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at
The Woodlands’ Market Street on 9595 Six Pines Drive in The Woodlands. Tickets costs $50 in advance and $60 at the door. The taste and stroll experience in Market Street’s European-style center will feature wine and light bites at more than 40 tasting stations.

Sips, Suds & Sliders, presented by The Woodlands Mall, will take place Friday, June 8 from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott on 1601 Lake Robbins Drive in The Woodlands. Tickets cost $20 in advance and $25 at the door. The Texas-size celebration will feature live music, specialty beers, values wines and a gourmet slider competition.

Tickets cost $125 in advance for the Wine Rendezvous Grand Tasting & Chef Showcase and will take place at the Woodlands Marriott Waterway on 1601 Lake Robbins Drive in The Woodlands.

Several chefs, including Chef Roberto Castre of Latin Bites Cafe, will compete against one another during a Wine & Food Week event to determine who is the ‘Chef of Chefs.’

The Wine & Food Week Wine Rendezvous Grand Tasting & Chef Showcase will take place on Saturday, June 9 from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. at the Woodlands Marriott Waterway on 1601 Lake Robbins Drive in The Woodlands. The Water Crystal Chef of Chefs Award will be presented at the event where 50 chefs will compete for a $5,000 cash and prize package.

During a visit to “FOX 26 Morning News Extra,” Chef Roberto Castre demonstrated how to prepare Pulpo al Olivio, a Sashimi-style thinly-sliced octopus on a homemade olive creamy sauce, and previewed the Chef of Chefs competition. Castre was named the 1st runner-up during the 2011 Chef of Chefs competition.

Chef Castre was set to compete in Wine & Food Week 2010 when Latin Bites, then a catering company, had just begun to flourish as a small restaurant off Nance Street near downtown Houston. Instead, he donated a kidney to owner Carlos Ramos that summer. With the restaurant, Castre, and Ramos flourishing in 2011, Chef Castre competed for the first time in the Wine & Food Week Chef of Chefs competition and came in 2nd! The restaurant has moved to a larger location off Woodway Drive and is packing in patrons understandably enamored with the Latin-infused cuisine.

Born and raised in Lima, Peru, Castre decided he wanted to be a chef since he was 13 years old. He attended Escuela de Alta Cocina from Los Andes culinary school in Peru, where he learned the basic skills that allowed him to begin his career as a chef. Later he moved to United States, and worked in restaurants in Miami, New York, and Texas.
Over the years, Chef Castre has been able to achieve a remarkable taste thanks to his creativity in the fusion of Latin flavors. His passion for food has allowed him to develop a variety of cooking techniques, from traditional to the latest trends in modern cuisine such as molecular gastronomy. His knowledge of Latin American, Japanese, Chinese, French, Italian and New American Cuisines has been reflected in his style, which pays close attention to the balance between delicate flavor and sophisticated appearance. Those flavors and appearance also have a strong connection with his Peruvian background. Chef Castre enjoys sharing and promoting the Peruvian gastronomy through his cooking.

Chef Castre started Latin Bites Catering in 2009 , a catering company inspired by the exquisite flavors of the Latin American cuisine. Later in August 2010, he opened Latin Bites Cafe. Both, Latin Bites Cafe & Catering represent the culture, tradition and heritage of one of the richest, most diverse and sophisticated cuisines of the world.

Tickets cost $125 in advance for the Wine Rendezvous Grand Tasting & Chef Showcase, presented by Capital One Bank.

Pulpo al Olivo (Octopus Tiradito with Olive creamy Sauce) — Chef Roberto Castre of Latin Bites Cafe

For the octopus:

• 1 tomato
• 1 red onion
• 3lb Octopus
• 1tbl salt

For the sauce:

• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 1 tbl Olive oil
• Juice from ½ lime
• 3oz of paste of olive (made from 4 large Peruvian Botija Olives)
• Salt and Pepper

For the sweet potato puree

• 1 sweet potato
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 cloves
• A pinch of anise

For the Choclo (Peruvian Corn on the cob)

• ½ cup of choclo corn kernels
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 clove
• A pinch of anise

For the garnish

• 5 oz Green onions
• 2 limo peppers
• 2 oz fl Extra virgin olive oil
• 3 oz micro cilantro

Preparation

To cook the octopus
Bring water to a boil in a large pot, and boil the octopus, with the onion , tomato and salt for aprox 45 min. Once it’s ready, take away from heat, let it get cold and finely cut the octopus in thin slices.

For the sauce:
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until it has a nice creamy and silky consistency.

For the corn:
Bring water to a boil and put all the ingredients. Boil for 10 minutes. Take away from the heat, and let it get cold.

For the sweet potato puree:
Cut the sweet potatoes in round pieces, cover with water and boil with the sugar and cloves until tender. Take away from heat and refrigerate. Later mixed them in the food processor, add water if necessary to obtain a puree consistency.
Clean the aji limo, (Peruvian chili pepper) and cut it in little cube pieces.