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Foodie Chap With Chef Colin Dewey of Florio SF

KCBS radio "Foodie Chap" and KPIX 5 television "Eye On The Bay" host Liam Mayclem introduces us to the culinary stars behind the food and wine loved by so many in the Bay Area.


 
About Chef Colin Dewey:

Colin Dewey's love for Italian food was evident since youth, as he grew up eating and learning how to cook the traditional dishes of Italy from his Sicilian grandmother in his home of Southbury, Connecticut. He was drawn to a career in the culinary arts, which started in Burlington, Vermont, at the age of 20 at a local Italian restaurant. Here he got his first taste of cooking stations on the line, beginning in the wood fired pizza oven, and moving to pantry, grill, and sauté. After two years of cooking professionally in Vermont, he decided to move west to San Francisco to attend the California Culinary Academy.

Upon graduation from the California Culinary Academy in 2003, Chef Dewey met Bruce Hill, restaurateur and executive chef of Fog City, Zero Zero, Picco, Picco Pizzeria, and Bix Restaurant. Chef Dewey began as an extern at Bix, but quickly rose through the ranks to sous chef, and finally Chef de Cuisine, where he stayed for more than four years.

In 2009, Chef Dewey made the decision to move to New York City and spent a year working at Del Posto, under chefs Mario Batali and Mark Ladner. Chef Dewey then moved on to work as a sous chef and food stylist for Lidia Bastianich at her flagship restaurant, Felidia.

In 2011, after two years of furthering his experience with traditional Italian cooking in New York, He returned to San Francisco, reuniting with Chef Bruce Hill at Zero Zero, Chef Dewey was eager to experience life inside true Italian kitchens and spent three months in Italy, working in multiple Michelin-starred restaurants throughout Piemonte, Fruili, Umbria, and the Amalfi Coast.

In early 2015 he joined Florio and has refocused the menu to reflect the heartfelt cuisine of the regional trattorias and osterias of Italy.

We met at the Fillmore street restaurant for our Foodie Chap chat. Chef prepped an authentic dish he discovered on his travels to Italy - "Roman Braised Artichoke".

We talked about his education in kitchens from San Francisco to New York and the mentors who taught him well: Bruce Hill, Mario Bartali & Lidia Bastianic.

Enjoy the tasty talk and the recipe below. Be sure to visit FLORIO in SF soon where authentic dishes from the FLORIO region are being showcased nightly with a lot of love, passion and pride.

Cheers!


 


 

ROMAN BRAISED ARTICHOKES
Executive Chef Colin Dewey
Serves 4-6, as a side

Ingredients:
6 cups water
1 ½ cups white wine
¼ cup olive oil
½ lemon, sliced
½ red onion, sliced
2 Tbs kosher salt
½ bunch of mint, plus extra for garnish
½ bunch of parsley
4 large artichokes
A pinch of dried chili flakes
A pinch of sea salt

Method:

Combine water, wine, oil, lemon, onion, mint, parsley and saltin a wide, shallow saucepan. Bring to a boil.

While you wait for the liquid to come to a boil, clean the artichokes. First, trim off the top inch of each artichoke. Remove the tough outer leaves. Use a vegetable peeler to clean the stem. What remains of the artichokes should be yellow or very pale green. Cut each artichoke in half, lengthwise. Using a spoon, remove the fuzzy interior. (If you do this step in advance, place the artichokes in lemon water to prevent browning.)

When the liquid has come to a boil, add the artichokes. Cook on a low heat for 10-15 minutes, until the artichokes are soft to the touch and the center is tender when pierced with a knife.

Cool the artichokes to room temperature in their liquid by placing them in a metal container over an ice bath (or put them straight in the fridge to cool there). When you're ready to serve, remove artichokes from their liquid, then dress them with additional olive oil, chili flakes, chopped mint and coarse sea salt.

Enjoy!
 


 

 

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