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Foodie Chap With Chef Hubert Keller

(credit: Foodie Chap/Liam Mayclem)

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.

Hubert Keller is a Frenchman classically trained by France's top chefs and is now one of America's most widely recognized and acclaimed chefs. His world-renowned restaurants, Fleur de Lys San Francisco (shuttered 2014) and FLEUR Las Vegas, feature Chef Keller's contemporary French cooking accented with Mediterranean flavors.

With his palate attuned to America's evolving tastes, Chef Keller launched his wildly popular Burger Bar restaurants in Las Vegas, St. Louis, and San Francisco, as well as the cutting edge SLeeK Steakhouse and Ultra Lounge in St. Louis.

He has won numerous awards including the James Beard Foundation's "Best Chef: California" and has been elected to the Foundation's prestigious Who's Who in Food and Beverage. Food & Wine magazine tapped him as one of the Ten Best Chefs in America, and Restaurants & Institutions gave him its Ivy Award.

Chef Keller has cooked for several United States Presidents and was the first guest chef invited to the White House to personally prepare his sophisticated vegetarian menu for President Clinton and his family.

Chef Keller is also known for his appearances as a judge on Top Chef, as well as for his grace-under-pressure performance as a contestant in the first season of Top Chef Masters on Bravo. He appears frequently in the media including appearances on Regis & Kelly, Rachael Ray, The Early Show on CBS, and Extra among others.

Chef Keller's own cooking show for PBS, Secrets of a Chef, is now entering its third season.

Dubbed a "Rebel with a Cuisinart" in The New York Times for his early championing of original, multi-course, vegetarian menus in a 4-star setting, Chef Keller consistently cooks with a light hand and an eye on health.

Chef Keller's own cookbooks include The Cuisine of Hubert Keller (Ten Speed Press), Burger Bar, and Build Your Own Ultimate Burgers (Wiley). In 2013 Chef released a personal account of his amazing Culinary journey "SOUVENIRS". At his side the entire way, his amazing wife Chantal. They divide their time between San Francisco and Las Vegas.

Just like his cuisine Chef Keller himself is full of surprises. In his spare time Chef Keller likes to travel, keep fit (he out runs me every time) and he DJ's. Yes, DJ Keller can often be seen and heard playing "house" at the Starlite Room and Ruby Skye in SF and often with the awesome DJ Frenchy Le Freak also on the bill. It was Frenchy who first taught HK to DJ a decade ago. The duo brought the house down and raised the top off at one of the first SF CHEF parties.

Enjoy my candid Foodie Chap chat with my friend, Chef Hubert Keller, taped recently at FLEUR in Las Vegas. We discussed the culinary scene in Vegas, the famous "pasta in the shower" episode of Top Chef Masters and life after FLEUR De LYS for he and Chantal!

The BEST is yet to come from this great Chef.
Listen below and on iTunes.
Cheers and enjoy making that sensational onion soup!!

(credit: Foodie Chap/Liam Mayclem)

Truffle Onion Velouté Shooters
Makes 8 to 10 demitasse portions

The sweet onion flavor makes a delicious backdrop for the truffle flavor. The soup would make an elegant passed hors d'oeuvre or appetizer for a very special party, perhaps Christmas or New Year's Eve. Make sure to read the ingredients label of any truffle oil you plan to buy and choose one that says it is made from oil and truffles, nothing more or less. We serve the velouté at Fleur by HK as a shooter.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter or extra virgin olive oil
2 pounds yellow onions, thinly sliced (about 10 cups0
2 clove garlic, sliced
1 ounce black Périgord truffle, finely chopped by hand
2 cupslow-salt chicken or vegetable broth
1 bouquet garni
sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
½ cup heavy cream
1-tablespoon truffle oil
8-10 small sprigs fresh chervil (optional)

(credit: Foodie Chap/Liam Mayclem)

Preparation:

- Melt the butter in a large heavy sauté pan over low heat. Add the onions and garlic, stir well, cover and cook for about 10 minutes to allow the onions to soften. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are very soft but not browned. Stir in three-quarters of the truffle (reserve the rest for garnish) for the last few minutes of cooking so the flavor bloom.

- Add the chicken broth, bouquet garni, salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes. The liquids will begin to reduce and the soup will thickens. Add the cream and continue to cook very slowly to meld the flavors, another 10 minutes. Let cool slightly.

- Transfer the soup to a blender, add the truffle oil, and blend until very smooth. Pour the soup through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean saucepan and reheat gently over low heat. The soup should be fairly thick but still easily pourable. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into small shooters glasses or demitasse cups, sprinkle with the remaining black truffle, add a small chervil sprig, and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Hubert Keller - Chef/Owner
www.hubertkeller.com

 


 

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