Don’t worry about the stern faces in the pictures above. Ignacio Alvarez (or “Iggy,” but only if you’re lucky) wowed the Kitchensurfing team with his affable, outgoing personality. But please don’t misunderstand — that focused face lets you know that he’ll still cook you a kick ass meal no sweat. Born and raised in Argentina, Iggy embraces his Spanish and Italian heritage and combines this with his French training.

When he came by to cook for us, Iggy whipped up some smoked whitefish and potato cakes with a tomato ratatouille. The saltiness and smoke from the fish really gave the dish an unexpected unique hit of flavor and won a fair amount of our praise. Flexing his Italian muscle, he also made us perciatelli (or bucatini) with asparagus-mascarpone cream sauce and bacon. We loved it so much that when Iggy asked for a bowl himself, we had to take a minute to think if we wanted to share (we did, reluctantly).

Iggy started his professional career in Advertising, and stayed there for almost a decade. However, after much prodding and encouragement from friends and his fiancee, he took the dive and enrolled at the French Culinary Institute. He has specialized in cooking small, intimate meals ever since.

He explained to us, though, that he never saw himself in a restaurant environment, even while training specifically for that type of work. Iggy values the opportunity to interact with the people he is cooking for (whether old friends or new) and creating an open dialogue about the experience. Growing up, food was always something that brought people together and enriched the interactions he had with his family, and that tradition continues through the present day.

We couldn’t agree more.

We assumed that, for the most part, Kitchensurfing would be a place where people could find chefs to bring into their own homes. Jessica Moore, however, is a chef that wants to invite you into hers. While she is certainly more than willing to work wherever her customers need her to, Jessica has been entertaining in her Midtown West apartment for years and has held dozens of events in that time.

When she came by to cook for us last week before Memorial Day weekend, Jessica didn’t pull any punches on the hospitality/comfort/richness front. We started with spring risotto with morel mushrooms, fava beans, asparagus, and fiddleheads, all enhanced with parmigiano and heavy cream. Like we said, no punches pulled. Jessica then moved us on to braised short ribs over melted leeks. The texture and doneness of the ribs were perfect, and the creamy leeks were great with some of the extra braising liquid. We finished with lemon tart with poached rhubarb, cold and tangy and refreshing.

Jessica explained to us how she enjoys the process of tailoring an experience to what her customers desire, whether it be a dinner with cocktail hour, or an intimate cooking class (which can also come with a cocktail hour! ). She loves the ability to open her home and provide real, honest hospitality to her guests. The space looks gorgeous (take a look at her profile for pictures!) and we can definitely vouch that the quality of dinner will match.

Chef Elyse Bekins came over for lunch on Wednesday, and made a few fresh, colorful dishes for the Kitchensurfing team. Elyse has worked everywhere from along the path from farm to table. Steps along the way have included work on a goat farm in Israel and, more recently, personal chef and restaurant work here in New York.

The first thing that strikes you about Elyse’s plates is her use of vibrant color wherever possible. Elyse allows the simple, bold flavors of fresh, in-season produce to build dishes that are as delicious as they are visually arresting. This seasonal, produce-heavy sensibility does not rule out richness, and the three dishes Elyse prepared for us demonstrated the delicate balance between fresh and rich. 

Our first plate was a Roasted Beet Salad with Arugula, Navel Oranges, Goat Cheese, and Arugula Flowers. Elyse’s approach to a beet salad won points for its straightforwardness, balance and the quality of her ingredients. The goat cheese in question was a Coupole from the Vermont Butter & Cheese creamery: a delicious, creamy cheese with two distinct textures coming from the buttery, edible rind and the rich, fresh chevre itself. I’ve heard it claimed before that great cheese makes the salad, but, in this case, the perfectly cooked beets and tanginess of fresh, young arugula played equal parts.

Next was a lovely plate of Asparagus with Lemon, Olive Oil, Capers, Egg and Tarragon. Again, a simple looking dish that packed a lot of flavor into every bite. Elyse chose to “shred” a soft boiled eggs to produce a lovely textural and visual effect, and add a different spin to Asparagus with eggs. The briny, saltiness of the capers helped to bring out the richness (that word again) of the egg.

Elyse’s final dish was a colorfully plated Seared Scallop on an English Pea Puree, with Lime-Pickled Onions and Horseradish Green Sprouts. Once again, a rich protein shone when balanced against the flavor of english peas and the slight kick of the Onion and Sprouts. This dish, like the preceding two jumped out at the eye, and, like the other two, had the flavors to back up its strong first impression.

Find more information about Elyse on her Kitchensurfing profile. Of course, the best way to learn more about her food is to taste it! Send her a request and discover this week’s menu in the comfort of your own kitchen.

Since he came highly recommended, we felt like Tolga Klein would be a great chef to work with. So we met for a coffee and after hearing him talk about his relationship to food and cooking, we were sure that we wanted him to be the next chef for our weekly lunchbreak in Berlin. 

And he did not let us down. This Wednesday he managed to astonish us with an amazing lunch that in various ways exceeded our expectations. He served seared and baked salmon with ginger-lime reduction, black forbidden rice and crunchy cucumber-radish salad. The fresh salmon, which was seared in coconut butter and then dressed in salt and pepper before baked in the oven did not fail to elate the hungry crowd. But out of all those mouth-watering ingredients it was the ginger-lime reduction, which turned a great dish into a phenomenal one.

Not only was the food delicious, but the ease and timing it was prepared with, were impressive. The relaxed atmosphere created by the well-feed Kitchensurfers was supported by interesting and funny little Q&A-moments with their chef, which delivered insight into the history of black rice and the art of reductions.

From the moment we saw Melissa Danielle’s chef profile, we knew that we couldn’t wait to have her visit the Kitchensurfing office. With a chef title that proclaims her as the “Badass Blender Woman” and a picture of her with a Vita-Mix® looking, well completely badass, we knew that Melissa was someone we wanted to meet ASAP.

We finally got our wish when Melissa paid us a visit earlier today, along with the necessary supplies to make some delicious smoothies. We started off with a Spiced Carrot Drink, which consisted of water, carrots, ginger, cinnamon, and maple syrup. The ginger added a spicy kick to the drink, which was a great way to start off our tasting.

The second drink we tried was the Gateway Green Smoothie, which was made using whole milk yogurt, spinach, pineapple, banana and water. The pineapple was the most dominant taste in this drink, which gave it an awesome sweetness without any unhealthy processed sugar.

For our dessert course, we had a smoothie called Chocolate Avocado Banana Pudding. Comprised of banana, avocado, whole milk yogurt, cocoa powder and maple syrup, this smoothie would be the perfect post-workout snack or a healthy dessert. The consistency of this smoothie was very thick and we used spoons to gobble this sweet treat down.

With summer just around the corner (high of 80 degrees in NYC today!), smoothies are a great option for something that will keep you cool and satisfied during the hot months. Book Melissa today!

For people that love to cook and eat, memories and food are inevitably linked. Whitney Johnson, an adventurous home cook who has lived across the USA and abroad, is a strong champion of this belief. While cooking the Kitchensurfing team a delicious dinner yesterday evening, she shared with us some of her favorite food memories.

To start, Whitney prepared a Chicken Liver and Shallot Terrine served with a sliced baguette. The terrine had wonderful texture to it and the freshly baked baguette was the ideal companion. There is nothing like organ meat and whiskey!

The main course was Herb and Pancetta Wrapped Pork Loin served with Roasted Carrots and Tuscan Kale Salad. Whitney shared with us that the pork loin was the first meal she ever served for a crowd of people and that it brought back the memories of friends, family, and togetherness. The pork loin was amazingly moist (considering that it had been prepared the night before) and perfectly seasoned. The pancetta crust was the perfect complement as it enhanced the subtle flavors of the pork.

The carrots were simply dressed in olive oil, salt and pepper. They were slightly caramelized on their bottoms, which gave it an extra sweetness that contrasted nicely with the savory pork loin. The salad was comprised of Italian Kale and roasted chickpeas. Combined with olive oil dressing and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese, this was the perfect light side dish. Whitney described how while living in Rome, she learned to cook using few, high-quality ingredients which allows for the flavors to really shine in a given dish.

This dinner was the perfect ending to a long day of work. Huge thanks to Whitney for filling our bellies and creating new food memories!

When we travel, the places we go certainly affect what we eat. For some of us, though, it affects what we cook as well.

Fresh from a trip to Norway and Croatia, Petrina Holoszyc came by to hang out and cook us up a few dishes inspired by her recent trek to Europe. Her mother is Norwegian, and Petrina wasn’t afraid to flex a bit of hometown muscle with some of her dishes. See her home-cured salmon with spring onions served with crème fraiche on wafer crackers.The flavor of the salmon was deliciously refreshing with plenty of salt, dill, and black pepper. Light as the salmon was, though, the rest of Petrina’s offerings weren’t going to let us off that easy.

Petrina explained, her voice and demeanor giggly and bright, that she did a lot of cooking with white truffles while in Europe, so she highlighted their flavor with some roasted chicken atop asparagus and mushrooms with a truffle bechamel sauce. It was a classic flavor combination made that much more special with the extra hit of white truffle. Not content with just one cream cause, she also made us fresh black pepper tagliatelle with creamy mushroom sauce, this one sans-truffle. The pepper bite of the pasta was perfect with the richness of the sauce and meatiness of the mushrooms.

Did we want to take a nap after lunch? Yes. Were we totally okay with that feeling? Absolutely.

This afternoon, we had Brooklyn chef Martha Sarfaty prepare a tasty, light lunch making great use of the seasonal produce, cheese and fresh fish with a tasty dessert to boot!

We started our meal with Crostini with Chevre and Pickled Ramps. Martha works as a cheesemonger by day, and explained that this is the best time of year to eat goat cheese. The goats in question are just starting to produce the milk used for this year’s batch fresh, light cheeses. Today’s chevre Vermont paired simply and elegantly with Martha’s home pickled ramps, which kept every bit of their and natural crunch, and introduced a slight briny sweetness to the dish.

Our main course was a delightful Bluefish en Papillote with Bok Choy, Pea Shoots, and Chive Blossoms. In my book, bluefish is far too often neglected in the world of gourmet seafood, and Martha’s dish successfully championed the natural flavor of the fish. Her pairing with pea shoots (they taste like peas but they aren’t!) and radishes provided a nice textural balance and added to the aura of greenmarket freshness surrounding the dish. Edible blossoms, shoots, fresh fish, pickled ramps…this was a menu for this particular spring. 

And, as spring turns to summer, it’s time for strawberries. Fitting, as we finished our lunch with a Gingersnap Strawberry Chess Pie, a sweet finish to what was a very light, refreshing midday menu.

It was a pleasure to have Martha in the kitchen, and she is now available for bookings on Kitchensurfing. Check out her food for yourself!

Revelation of the day: Malaysian food is really, really good.

Though our failings are few and far between, the Kitchensurfing squad was admittedly ignorant on the subject of Malaysian cuisine until Auria Abraham paid us a visit and laid some knowledge on us. With most of her family still in Malaysia, Auria regularly goes back from her home here in New York and always returns with various culinary goodies in tow. We were indeed pleased to be the beneficiaries of her travels (read: her food is crazy delicious).

The menu:

Spicy Shrimp Sambal - a real firecracker, not only with respect the heat from (literally) handfuls of dried chiles, but also from the immense flavor and bright red color. Onions, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, shrimp paste, spices, and (again, literally) a pile of chiles, brought together with coconut milk. Paired with jasmine rice.

Yellow Dhall with Carrots & Potatoes - deceptively flavorful, as Auria kept sneaking things into the stock while we weren’t looking. We don’t really care whatever spices went in, we were just glad to have them. Also included some fried onions, shallots, and red chiles.

Mum’s Singhalese-style Cucumber Raita - crisp vegetables and a tangy yogurt sauce, which was the perfect compliment to the fire and flavor punch of the sambal.

Cantaloupe with Coconut Milk and Tapioca Pearls - a light and creamy dessert, again refreshing after the bagful of red chiles.

Auria ate with us after preparing the meal, and all we can say is she certainly has a bold palate. She proceeded to salt everything on her plate (we thought everything was perfectly seasoned) and noted that when she cooks for herself, she goes through roughly twice as many chiles as she used for us (more spice would have made our faces hurt.)