SF Chefs 2010: Gary Danko and Joanne Weir Cooking Demo

Gary Danko and Joanne Weir

Gary Danko and Joanne Weir are best friends in the kitchen and in real life too. Their great dynamic made for a fantastic, fun cooking demo at the Williams Sonoma test kitchen last Saturday during SF Chefs. Weir and Danko took a controlled chaos approach to the flow of their demo, as they helped with cooking each other’s dishes during their demonstration and socializing with the audience. The demo showcased teamwork at its best.

When brainstorming what to present for their demo, they both agreed showcasing a seasonal summer ingredient was a must. They decided to focus their demo on seasonal summer berries, with raspberries being the star of the show.

The demo began with them describing how make a raspberry vinegar or Raspberry Shrub, as Weir and Danko called it. They combined beautifully ripe raspberries to make a raspberry vinegar reduction, which was used as an ingredient in each of their dishes. Before they added the shrub to anything they passed around a bowl of it for the audience to try. We all passed it around and dipped our little spoons into the deliciously sweet and slightly tart reduction and I think we all could have been content just eating it straight from the bowl the whole demo.

However, of course, our chefs had bigger and better things up their sleeves. First on the list was Weir’s grown-up Ice Cream Float with Raspberry Shrub and Peruvian Pisco Italiana. Nothing like some ice cream and booze to spruce up a Saturday afternoon. Glad you agree, Joanne, who is the author of newly released cookbook TEQUILA and likes to cook with alcohol as much as possible. My type of gal.

Weir shows off her cocktail making skills

Loosened up from the samples of the delicious float, next up was Weir’s fresh Summer Fruit Salad which she prepared surprisingly fast. With the simple raspberry vinaigrette used as the dressing, this light summer dish couldn’t get any easier. The ripeness of the summer fruit really stole the show — the nectarine was almost freakishly ripe, and all the flavors of the different stone fruits with the vinaigrette really balanced each other well.

And then there was Danko’s Raspberry Tiramisu. Mmm hmmm. He made his tiramusu with the raspberry shrub, brandy (he likes to cook with booze too), mascarpone cheese, and Savoia ladyfingers (which I learned is simply a sponge cake made with no oil).

Raspberry Tiramisu

He took all of the ingredients and began the construction of this layered dessert. The end product was pure heaven. You could tell that he had made our batch more than 24 hours before, the lady fingers were moist and full of flavor, and the lightness of the mascarpone with the tartness of the raspberries was perfection. I was also impressed with how seemingly simple the dessert was.

“Cooking is not rocket science. Anyone can do it, I want to give people confidence to cook,” Danko said.

Danko's dessert in the making

Look out for a new restaurant from Danko next year in the Fisherman’s Wharf area. While he couldn’t divulge many details at this point, Danko did reveal that it would be more casual than Restaurant Gary Danko…and that there will be a hamburger on the menu. Here’s hoping raspberry shrub makes an appearance as well.

A round of applause for Danko and Weir

Raspberry Vinegar a.k.a. Raspberry Shrub
Recipe courtesy of Gary Danko and Joanne Weir

Ingredients:
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 1/2 quarts raspberries
Sugar

Preparation
1. In a non-reactive bowl, combine the vinegar and raspberries. Cover and let macerate for 3 days. (3 days makes it taste as great as it does, wait for it…wait for it.)

2. Mash the raspberries in the bowl, then strain the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve lined with a cheesecloth. For every 1 cup juice, add 1/2 pound of sugar.

3. Combine the juice and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Let cool, then bottle. (Can keep in fridge for up to 3 months).

Stone Fruit Summer Salad
Recipe courtesy of Gary Danko and Joanne Weir

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar syrup (recipe above)
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (you can use red too)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup toasted almonds
1 peach
1 nectarine
1 plum
1 apricot
1/2 cup pitted cherries
8 cups mixed greens
4 ounces fresh goat cheese (or feta)

Preparation:
1. In a small bowl, whisk together the raspberry vinegar syrup, vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place almonds on a baking sheet and toast in oven until golden, around 5 to 7 minutes. Let cool.

3. Just before serving, cut the peach, nectarine, plums and apricots into 3/8-inch wedges. To serve, toss the salad greens with the fruit, almonds and vinaigrette. Top with the crumbled goat or feta cheese and serve.

Raspberry Vinegar Float
Recipe courtesy of Gary Danko and Joanne Weir

Ingredients:
1 ounce raspberry vinegar (recipe above)
2 ounces Pisco Italiana (if you can’t find it, use Pisco)
1/4 ounces fresh lemon juice
1/4 ounce Maraschino liqueur
Club soda
Vanilla Ice Cream (recipe below)
Mint sprig to garnish

Preparation:
1. Place all of the ingredients in a shaker, add plenty of ice, and shake well. Strain into a tall float glass. Top the drink with club soda to taste (1/4 to 1/2 cup).

2. Carefully place a scoop of vanilla ice cream into the glass. Garnish with mint sprig, a tall bar spoon and a straw, and you got yourself an adult version of a float!

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
Recipe courtesy of Gary Danko and Joanne Weir

Serves: About 10; Makes about 1 1/2 quarts.

Ingredients:
2 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 vanilla beans, split and scraped
9 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:
1. In a saucepan, combine milk, heavy cream, sugar and vanilla bean. Over medium heat, heat or scald the mixture until it bubbles around the edges and a skin forms on the top, 5 minutes. Place the yolks in a bowl and whisk together to break them up but do not foam.

2. Remove the milk and cream mixture from the heat and very slowly add the milk/cream mixture to the yolks, whisking constantly. Turn the heat on to medium. Stirring constantly, bring the mixture to 165 degrees or until it begins to thicken and coats a wooden spoon. Immediately remove from the heat, strain into a clean bowl and whisk quickly, 20 seconds. Add the vanilla extract. Chill the mixture until ice cold in the fridge.

3. Freeze according to the instructions with your ice cream maker.

Raspberry Tiramisu
Recipe courtesy of Gary Danko and Joanne Weir

Serves: 12-16

Ingredients:
3 cups raspberry vinegar syrup (recipe above)
8 tablespoons brandy
1 pound mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup sugar
4 large eggs, separated
1 cup heavy cream
50 to 60 Savoia ladyfingers
2 to 3 pints fresh raspberries

Preparation:
1. In a large skillet, combine the raspberry syrup and 6 tablespoons of the brandy, warm gently but not to a boil.

2. Place the mascarpone in a large bowl and mix until smooth, do not over beat as it will separate.

3. In a clean mixer bowl, with whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until frothy, start adding the sugar and continue to stuff but not dry peaks. Remove meringue to larger bowl.

4. In the same mixer bowl ribbon 4 egg yolks, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons brandy, remove, scraping into a bowl on top of meringue. In the same mixer bowl whip the cream until it forms soft peaks and scrape into the master bowl. Fold all of the mixtures together ensuring not to over fold the mixture.

5. To assemble: Macerate half of the ladyfingers in the raspberry syrup and line the bottom of a 13 X 9 baking dish. Spread half the cream mixture over the ladyfingers. Sprinkle the raspberries evenly. Repeat with the remaining ladyfingers, raspberries and cream mixture. Smooth out. Cover w/parchment paper or plastic, pressing on the surface to completely seal. Place in the fridge for at least 4 hours or best overnight.

Print Recipe

Related posts:

1. SF Chefs 2010: Sugar & Spice Parties
2. SF Chefs 2010: Hog In The Fog Opening Party
3. SF Chefs 2010: Fork It Over Foodraiser
4. SF Chefs 2010: View from the Top
5. SF Chefs 2010: Saturday Grand Tasting