September Chef of the Month Wrap Up

On Monday we had our last Bobby Flay meal and to be honest I'm kind of relieved.  The food was all very good but it was a LOT of burgers.  I honestly feel like my cholesterol is up.  For the 2nd half of the month we had:
Garlic Butter Burgers
Argentinean Burgers
Chicken Cutlet with American Triple Cream Cheese, Southern Ham and Arugula Salad
Arthur Avenue Burger
Cheyenne Burger
Oven Fries and finally
Double Chocolate Shake

The bulk of these recipes cake from Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries and Shakes and the cutlet recipe came from his Bar Americain Cookbook.

The chicken cutlet was good and very pretty.  It is his twist on the traditional chicken cordon bleu and was actually much easier to make than the usual roll.  The chicken was topped with a arugula salad that was dressed with a sharp vinaigrette.  The salad combined with the chicken topped with Camembert and Prosciutto was a really good flavor combination but I didn't care for the cheese on its own.  If I made this again I would switch the cheese to something a little less mild.

As for the burgers, they were all very good.  The Arthur Avenue was probably my least favorite because I didn't love the baked fontina frico that went on top instead of regular melted cheese.  However the herbed ketchup was so delicious that it made up for it. Next time I'd just top the burger with some pieces of fontina and let them melt in the traditional method.  The Garlic Butter Burger, Argentinean Burger and Cheyenne Burgers were amazing.  His oven fries are my new method for making fries at home.  They're easy and you can change the seasonings based on what you're serving them with.  The milkshake was very tasty but what milkshake isn't?

Bobby Flay's cookbooks, with the exception of his Burgers, Fries and Shakes book, were a little challenging for me to make menu plans from.  While most of his recipes are if not simple still very do-able they involved more expensive cuts of meat than I regularly purchase or took to much time.  Everything I made from his books turned out really well and was pretty on the plate as well.  If I wanted to add something new to a special occasion or just make a very nice meal I would definitely hunt down some of his recipes.  As for his Burgers, Fries and Shakes Cookbook I will most likely end up buying it.  All the burgers were completely different with great combinations of cheese and sauces.  Definitely a fun way to spice up a very ordinary meal.

Now to start cooking my way through Giada De Laurentiis's books!