Simply Ming
Ming Tsai with guest Karen Akunowicz
2/3/2022 | 25m 2sVideo has Closed Captions
We’re doing artichokes two ways! Ming cooks with chef Karen Akunowicz.
This week, Ming cooks with James Beard Award winning chef Karen Akunowicz. Karen makes a flavorful Carchiofi Alla Guidea – deep-fried artichokes – among the best-known dishes of Roman Jewish cuisine. Ming follows it up with Shrimp and Jerusalem Artichoke Toast with a Watercress Salad.
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Simply Ming is presented by your local public television station.
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Simply Ming
Ming Tsai with guest Karen Akunowicz
2/3/2022 | 25m 2sVideo has Closed Captions
This week, Ming cooks with James Beard Award winning chef Karen Akunowicz. Karen makes a flavorful Carchiofi Alla Guidea – deep-fried artichokes – among the best-known dishes of Roman Jewish cuisine. Ming follows it up with Shrimp and Jerusalem Artichoke Toast with a Watercress Salad.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship>> MING: Hey, Ming Tsai here.
Got one of Boston's best in the kitchen, Karen Akunowicz.
She has a brand-new restaurant, it's an enoteca called Fox and the Knife.
She has great training, as well.
She worked at Via Matta, she worked at Myers+Chang.
She won a James Beard Award.
>> Right?
>> MING: Oh, that's perfect.
>> That's great, right?
>> MING: Magic salt.
And she was one of Top Chef's most popular, and she's cooking baby artichokes.
She's frying them up, making a delicious aioli and a seasoned salt.
I love it how there's no coating, no flour, nothing.
>> If you just give them a little time and love, they just fry up perfectly.
>> MING: I'm going to make the other artichoke, Jerusalem artichokes, and put them into one of my mom's favorite dishes, shrimp toast.
All right, so it's about three- -and-a-half, four minutes.
>> Ah!
>> MING: That's what you're looking for.
>> That is perfect!
>> MING: We are cooking artichokes two ways, coming up right now on Simply Ming.
♪ ♪ >> MING: Karen, nice to have you here.
>> Hi, chef, how are you?
>> MING: So good to have you in the house!
>> It's so good to see you.
>> MING: All right.
So, as tradition has it on Simply Ming, I'm going to have a little cocktail for us so we can cook with passion.
>> How else would we cook?
>> MING: I don't know.
>> (laughs) >> MING: So, you do me a favor, and by the way, this is a Pollytini, named after my awesome wife, Polly, because she actually created this drink.
>> Oh!
I love that.
>> MING: Thank you, dear.
Just dump that for me and I'll get this cocktail going.
It's a vodka-based drink that has pink grapefruit juice, has a little bit of cranberry, and the secret, which makes it a little bit different-- you can put those back there-- is lychee purée.
Do you like lychee?
>> I love lychee.
>> MING: All right, so we're going to do three ounces of vodka... That's an ounce-and-a-half, and a touch.
Then we're going to do just three ounces of grapefruit juice.
You can use pink, you can use regular, right?
So right now this is a classic, right?
>> It's perfect.
>> MING: That's a vodka grapefruit.
>> And you could stop there and it'd be delicious.
>> MING: You could stop there but now we're going to add a little bit of cranberry.
>> Mmm.
>> MING: And then... A little bit of lychee puree.
>> Beautiful.
>> MING: That's the drink.
Which I love.
You can throw a lime wedge on the side if you want.
If you want to actually rim the glass with a lime wedge, that would be great.
>> Got it.
(ice rattling) Give it a good shake, get it nice and cold, because that's the reason we're here.
Oh, yeah.
>> Do you want a little garnish on the side, as well, or...?
>> MING: No, just on, leave it on, absolutely.
>> There you go.
>> MING: This is a classy place.
We only do the finest.
Then... >> I love that the lychee gives it a little bit of body, too.
>> MING: Right?
>> A little bit of viscosity.
>> MING: Oh, yeah, it does, a little bit of viscosity.
All right, this one's for you.
>> Beautiful-- I love that color.
>> MING: There you go.
>> Thank you.
>> MING: Cheers.
>> Cheers.
>> MING: Chin-chin, congrats to your James Beard award.
>> Thank you, I appreciate that.
>> MING: Cheers.
>> Cheers.
Mmm, that's delicious.
>> MING: How's that?
And by the way, Fox and the Knife?
>> Yes.
>> MING: Top ten restaurant, Food & Wine?
>> Thank you, I appreciate that.
>> MING: Huge, best new, fantastic.
All right, ready to cook some artichokes?
>> I am.
>> MING: Let's go.
It's time to fry.
Karen, let's cook artichokes.
So talk about, first of all, what's the Italian name?
>> Carciofi alla Giudea.
>> MING: That's what I thought.
>> It's beautiful.
>> MING: It's beautiful.
>> It sounds like eating artichokes in the springtime... >> MING: And it's actually a Jewish-Roman dish?
>> Exactly, so... >> MING: Explain that.
>> So, in the Jewish area of Rome, where, you know, so many years ago, everyone was kind of forced to go and live there... >> MING: Right.
>> This is a delicacy.
This is a specialty of that area.
And now when you go, so many tourists are in that area, every single restaurant has a big cart of artichokes out front saying carciofi alla giudea.
But really, they're best in the springtime, as artichokes are here, as well.
>> MING: Okay, let's talk.
>> And they're typically globe artichokes, right?
But we're going to use these little babies.
They have no thistle on the inside, no choke on the inside.
>> MING: So the choke is what chokes you, right?
>> Yeah, exactly.
>> MING: Oh, that makes it so much easier.
All right, prep one, let's see how we do it.
>> They're delicious, delicious little finger food.
We're just going to take the top off.
>> MING: Yup.
>> And we're going to... And can you just peel down the outer leaves.
>> MING: Yup, and you have to get at least two or three, right?
Because otherwise... >> Oh, yeah, they're still going to be a little bit... >> MING: It is tough, right?
>> They're tough, even though they're babies and they're much more delicate than globe artichokes, um, you kind of want to go until they're light.
>> MING: Yup, light green.
>> Right, and then we're just going to trim down on the outside, leave some of that stem, leave a little bit of that base, because that's all delicious and edible.
>> MING: Yup.
You cut a little of the base off, though, right?
>> Yeah, we trim it a little.
>> MING: Okay.
>> We're going to go right in half.
You can leave them whole, which is beautiful-- they look like a flower.
>> MING: Right.
>> But they're going to fry up a little faster this way.
Some of the leaves will fall off; they're like little...
They're like little artichoke potato chips, almost, so... >> MING: Love it.
>> That's perfect, and we're going to throw them into the acidulated water.
>> MING: Which is key.
Meaning acid, meaning lemon, right?
Because otherwise they turn brown within seconds.
>> Seconds.
>> MING: Seconds.
Awesome.
So what's the magic of this dish?
>> So the magic of this dish, I mean, we could eat these, we could fry them and just eat them with a little bit of lemon and salt, and they'd be delicious and perfect, right?
>> MING: Right.
>> We're going to make an aioli.
We're going to make a really lemony, mustardy aioli, so kind of an aioli on steroids almost, right?
>> MING: Awesome.
>> And we're going to serve it with a little bit of spicy salt or magic salt.
>> MING: Magic salt!
Love it.
>> (laughs) >> MING: So what's in your magic salt?
>> So the magic salt is Szechuan peppercorns and dried Thai chilies that both get roasted until they're beautiful and fragrant.
>> MING: Okay.
>> And then pulsed together with a little bit of kosher salt.
>> MING: Awesome, so get these toasted?
>> Mm-hmm, exactly.
>> MING: So, not really classic Italian Szechuan peppercorn.
>> Not even a little bit.
>> MING: I believe they're from Szechuan, hence the name.
>> Um, not even a little bit.
And, you know, we... we're not trying to make anything sort of fusion-y or so on and so forth, but this salt makes... We call it magic salt because it makes almost everything better.
>> MING: Well, you know, the flavor of Szechuan peppercorn, and you just wanted to get it smoking?
>> A little bit, we're going to smoke it a little bit.
And it's fragrant and delicious and then we know they're done, and we're going to blend them up.
>> MING: Anything else?
So salt and Szechuan peppercorn?
>> We're roasting some dried Thai chili.
>> MING: Oh, yeah, that's what I was smelling.
>> Beautiful-- yeah, that's what that is.
>> MING: Oh, look at those.
Awesome.
>> Beautiful and roasted, and they just take on such a deep flavor.
And the salt really gets... it's more warm.
We call it spicy salt, but it's almost more warm than it is spicy.
>> MING: Yeah, you're right about that, and in Szechuan food, when you see these huge chilies, like, in the, in your fish soup and stuff.
>> Right.
>> MING: They're actually not that spicy.
>> No, and everyone gets really scared of it, like it's going to be so...
It's going to be hot, and it's not.
But I think it just creates this round warmth.
>> MING: Yeah.
All right, so this is smoking.
These are good for you?
>> Yeah, that's beautiful.
>> MING: Right?
So you want that, right?
Because that releases the oil.
The whole thing, chef?
>> Yes, please, thank you.
>> MING: Okay, here we go.
That's a lot of Szechuan.
>> We're going to be using a lot of salt; we've got a whole bowl of salt over here.
So it's all going to balance out.
So we're going to start just by pulsing.
(blender whirring) This is a nice blender.
>> MING: Whoa!
(blender stops) That worked pretty well.
>> Give it a little shake.
(blender whirring) (blender stops) >> Beautiful.
>> MING: Wow.
All right, say when, chef.
>> We're going to add all that salt.
>> MING: All of it?
>> Because like you said, it's so much...
It's so much chili, and we're just going to give it a quick pulse.
>> MING: All right.
(blender pulsing) >> Beautiful.
>> MING: More?
>> No, that's great.
>> MING: Okay.
>> Because we want to kind of keep the salt intact.
We don't want it to be too, too pulsed and too thin.
>> MING: You can really smell it, awesome.
>> This is one of my favorite things.
So if it's a little too spicy, you can always go ahead and add more salt.
I mean, you know, you're the boss of the food.
The food's not the boss of you, right?
>> MING: Ah, that's perfect.
>> That's great, right?
>> MING: Magic salt.
All right, so we got our salt, we have our artichokes.
>> We have our artichokes.
>> MING: Want me to drain these for you?
>> Yeah, we're just going to drain them on a little paper towel.
>> MING: Okay.
You have a lot of lemons-- what are all these lemons for?
>> We have a lot of lemons.
So the lemons are for the aioli.
We're going to zest them and we're going to juice them.
And like I said, it's a really lemony, mustardy aioli.
So we want to get a lot of that lemon flavor in there.
>> MING: Okay.
So you want to really drain them well, right?
>> Yeah, we want to drain them all, pat them dry, because, you know, that water and the oil don't...
They don't love each other that much.
>> MING: We'll pat these dry, all right?
>> Beautiful.
>> MING: So you want to start with the aioli?
>> Yeah.
>> MING: We can use the same cup?
>> You can use... You know what?
We can go ahead and use the same blender.
We'll just have a little spice in our aioli, reinforce the flavor.
So we're going to start with five egg yolks.
We're adding Dijon mustard, which is pretty classic when you're making an aioli, right?
>> MING: How long do these take to cook, chef?
>> Take about five or six minutes.
>> MING: So go ahead and get them in?
>> Let's go ahead and start them.
>> MING: Okay.
>> And I love that we're frying them in a, in a wok today.
>> MING: Yeah, it gets them a little... (oil sizzling) Oh, yeah, that's a nice hot wok.
So, just a safety guide, when you add stuff to... Don't dump stuff into a fire, because... (oil sizzling) This has water, so it's going to splatter, so just know that, right?
Because this, these are wet-- they're patted dry, but they're still a little bit wet.
>> Yeah.
>> MING: So you just have to be careful when you add stuff to the oil, because it's just going to splatter.
Just be careful, right?
I've seen people dump the whole thing in and... Nightmare.
>> (sighs): Yeah.
>> MING: It's okay to slide them in.
>> It's perfect.
And they're happy-- look how happy those artichokes are.
>> MING: Oh, yeah, these guys are going, "All right, keep going."
>> (laughs) >> MING: Okay.
>> All right, so we added a little... the rest of our whole-grain mustard, so Dijon mustard, classic, adding a little whole-grain mustard.
Adding five garlic cloves, also, really strong garlicky flavor, as well.
>> MING: And you want some zest, right?
>> Yeah, I'd love some zest and some juice.
>> MING: Okay.
>> You're gonna zest, I'll juice.
>> MING: Sounds like a plan, chef.
>> And we're typically... we just add a little bit of Dijon, a little bit of lemon.
We're really... We're really kind of going for it here.
>> MING: So why the two mustards?
>> Um, because we just want... You know, the Dijon mustard is going to help it emulsify.
It's a little bit spicy.
And the whole-grain mustard is just rounder, right?
>> MING: Yeah.
>> It has that, like, delicious, round kind of... like we were saying before, warm flavor to it.
>> MING: I think you're right.
Does the zest go in there, too?
>> Zest is going to go right in.
>> MING: Awesome.
>> Beautiful.
>> MING: Little bit more-- okay, what else?
>> Lemon juice is going to go right in.
>> MING: Nice.
Perfect.
>> And we're going to go ahead and blend that.
>> MING: There you go.
(blender whirring) >> You're on blender duty next time.
All right.
Beautiful.
>> MING: Lightly?
>> Go ahead and drizzle it right in.
>> MING: You want the whole thing, chef?
>> I think so.
We're going to watch it.
You know, when cooks always say, "How do I know when it's... How do I know when it's ready?"
I always say you can hear it before you can even see it.
Right, when it's getting nice and thick.
Yeah.
Was just going to say, we need to add a little salt, add a little pepper.
Bet we need a little more... little bit more salt than that.
(blender stops) >> Let's take a peek at it.
>> MING: That's good, all right.
>> How are our artichokes looking?
>> MING: Here, here's a spoon, want to give it a quick try?
>> Looking pretty good.
>> MING: Let's see how these artichokes... Oh, yeah, they're getting G, B, and D. You want, you want them nice and crispy and brown, right?
>> Yeah, beautiful, like...
Almost like little, like I said, like little potato chips.
When the outer leaves fall off, that's, like, the good little bits.
>> MING: Awesome, so these'll probably take another, what, two or three minutes?
>> I think so.
>> MING: Okay, all right.
Two or three minutes back, we're going to have crispy baby artichokes, magic salt, and a delicious lemon aioli.
Stick around, artichoke time!
Chef, these looking good?
>> These are beautiful.
>> MING: Yeah, they're looking gorgeous.
G, B, and D. >> I might have to get a wok and start doing them this way at the restaurant-- these are perfect.
>> MING: (laughs) >> I love how they look like beautiful little flowers.
>> MING: Oh, they are.
That's like those tea things, the jasmine tea, right?
>> Yes, exactly, when they bloom.
>> MING: You get that and they explode and bloom.
>> They're perfect.
>> MING: I love it that, how you... there's no coating, no flour, nothing.
No tempura, it's very light.
>> You know, they just don't...
I mean, I love a good tempura, but they just don't need it, they don't even need a dusting of rice flour.
>> MING: Right.
>> They fry up if you just give them, if you give them a little time and love, they just fry up perfectly.
So we're going to add that little bit of magic salt to them.
>> MING: Love it.
>> A little dusting, for warmth.
We're just going to pile them up on a plate.
I mean, this is meant to share, right?
>> MING: Right, right.
>> We want, we want people to come over and we want us all to sit around a big bowl of artichokes, have a cocktail, sit on your...
Sit on your deck or your patio, and just kind of go at it.
>> MING: It's gorgeous.
>> Yeah, and it's lovely, because, you know, I love a... Like, I love a roasted artichoke.
You don't need a bowl for the leaves, you don't need to worry about kind of the waste, and you've got a perfect... Like this.
We'll just add a little bit of the aioli on the side.
Then we're going to go ahead and we're going to add some fresh mint.
You know, I always think that...
I cook with a lot of mint.
It gives a brightness... >> MING: Yeah.
>> ...to things, and especially earthy green veg.
So, artichokes, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, they all love mint, and I think it's something people really shy away from.
And I really just encourage, like, to take a big piece of the mint and kind of almost wrap it around the artichoke before you dip it in the aioli.
>> MING: Oh, God, that looks so good.
So, we're going to eat this at the table, but we have to eat it now, too.
>> I mean, they're hot.
>> MING: They're hot, exactly.
>> It would be a sin not to.
>> MING: It would be just sacrilege-- crispy-hot.
>> It's so good.
>> MING: Oh, God.
>> (laughs) >> MING: Cheers, yeah.
>> Cheers.
>> MING: Unbelievable.
>> Thank you so much.
>> MING: Will you stick around?
>> Of course!
>> MING: I'm going to do a Jerusalem artichoke with shrimp toast.
>> That's why I'm here.
>> MING: Stick around.
That's why I'm here.
For this.
♪ ♪ Those fried artichokes rocked, so good.
>> I'm glad you liked them.
>> MING: Seriously, chef, fantastic.
>> One of my favorites.
>> MING: All right, so I'm doing shrimp toast Chinese-style, which is not with a food processor.
You actually use a cleaver, and this is how you... You get nice... >> I love it.
>> MING: So, what we're going to do is make kind of a shrimp mousse, and if you just peel one of these.
These are Jerusalem artichokes that look nothing like the artichoke that you did.
>> Right.
>> MING: Actually not even related species-wise, I don't think.
This is a tuber, but traditional shrimp toast in China, what my mom taught me, was fresh water chestnuts.
Which are so much better than canned water chestnuts, because canned water chestnuts taste like a can.
>> Right.
>> MING: Fresh ones taste sweet and crunchy; I like jicama, that's a good substitute.
>> Yeah.
>> MING: But Jerusalem artichoke is an awesome substitute, so that's going to be my crunch on the shrimp toast.
So, and then we already did a bunch, and acidulated, just like with the regular artichokes.
You don't want them to noircir, to get dark.
And what we're going to do is, then, if you could give me, like, mini-dice, and we'll mix it in with the shrimp.
>> Perfect.
>> MING: All right?
And I'll just smash a bunch of shrimp here.
>> I love that.
We were talking about Jerusalem artichokes before, and I always describe them as having the texture of a water chestnut.
>> MING: Yeah.
>> But with, like, a nutty flavor.
So I think this is really fun.
>> MING: Actually, I don't even know where they got the name Jerusalem artichoke, to be honest.
I should know, but... >> No, I don't know, either.
>> MING: I don't think the artichoke is kosher or not kosher.
I don't think it's that.
>> No.
You know, and then, they're called sunchokes, as well... >> MING: Yeah.
>> ...which I think might just be marketing.
>> MING: Right.
I think sunchokes is marketing.
>> (chuckles) >> MING: I'll do a couple more here.
Good to go.
So, if you don't have a cleaver, guys, you can always just use, uh, any type of meat mallet.
Or just a small sauté pan, right?
That's a way you can smash it.
And then I just, I like to run just a knife through it, just a little bit.
And by the way, if you're doing shrimp toast, you don't necessarily have to have...
These are pretty good-sized shrimp, right?
You can go smaller shrimp, because...
Since you're mashing it up.
But I do like, I do like shrimp that has a good flavor to it.
Sometimes those really small baby shrimp, they're not quite as tasty.
>> Not as delicious.
>> MING: Right?
Not quite.
>> What kind of shrimp are you using today, chef?
>> MING: So these are, like, 18/20s, farm-raised.
Southeast Asia, as most shrimp in the world is from.
>> It is, yeah.
>> MING: Right?
All right, that looks about right.
Nice and kind of... it's not... it's not like a food processor.
You're not going to get purée, but you just got to get it... Not quite mousse, but just pieces.
Really small pieces.
All right, that's looking pretty good to me.
>> Looks great.
>> MING: So now, I'm going to take this into a bowl.
Then we'll take... oh, that's a nice dice, yeah.
I'll take that.
Take your time, because... >> All right, I'm not quite there yet, catching up.
>> MING: No, no, no, no, I got to do a bunch of stuff here.
>> All right, cool.
>> MING: So, we're going to add to this minced ginger.
A good amount.
>> Mmm.
>> MING: We're going to add to this a couple of eggs.
I'm going to knock out some scallions here real quickly.
We're going to just do... We're going to put the scallion whites in.
>> I love it, I hate when a recipe only calls for the whites or the greens.
>> MING: Oh, yeah, I know.
>> Because it's such a waste.
>> MING: It's such a waste.
>> Drives me crazy.
>> MING: So we're going to have scallion whites here.
Because this is really going to be the only allium group in this dish, right?
Scallion whites to the light green part.
All right, in here, because I want... And the reason, for those that may not know, whites are stronger in flavor.
So that you want to cook.
And then the greens you can use as garnish.
All right, mix this all up.
Season it up.
Very un-Chinese, I don't know if you know this or not, but to use black pepper.
>> Yeah, absolutely.
>> MING: Chinese cuisine, we always use just white pepper.
>> White pepper.
>> MING: Because black pepper looks like the little pieces coming off the wok, so... A little mousse like that.
All right, that's pretty close.
>> Waiting for these?
>> MING: You went for some brunoise, girl.
>> Listen, I thought you'd... >> MING: Yeah, it's very nice.
>> I'm trying to, I'm trying to impress you here.
>> MING: Yeah, you're definitely impressing me, I love it.
I love how it's so small.
>> You're, like, "A little faster, please."
>> MING: No!
>> (laughs) >> MING: I have all day.
All day.
So, are you happy with Fox and the Knife?
>> I'm so happy.
If I could've, you know, talked about, like, my dream restaurant, this would really be it.
And the neighborhood's been so amazing... >> MING: And why's that?
Why's it your dream restaurant?
>> It just, I love the food that we're making.
I think our, you know, the hospitality, from the minute you walk in the door till the minute you leave, is... Our team is so fantastic and we're so happy to be there.
It's just... it's awesome.
It reminds me of places I used to go when I lived in Italy.
>> MING: Yeah.
>> So I lived in Morena.
It's just, it's my little love letter to that time in my life in that region, so... >> MING: I love it.
>> I couldn't, couldn't be happier.
>> MING: Perfect, now...
The drier the better for shrimp toast.
>> Mmm.
>> MING: So, quite often, I even put it into an oven to dry out.
Why?
Because I actually just, I don't, I don't need soft.
I'd rather have it dry so the shrimp toast ends up a little crisper.
>> Beautiful.
>> MING: All right?
So, you just lay this on pretty thick.
I like a ratio of one-to-one, meaning one part protein, or shrimp mousse, so to speak, and one part carbohydrate or bread.
Whole wheat bread-- any type of bread would work, just not big, thick pieces of bread.
>> No Texas toast?
>> MING: No Texas toast, no.
>> (laughs) >> MING: It just, I don't think it would cook in time.
There would have to be an inch of shrimp.
>> Right.
>> MING: Okay, so we go to a pan here.
Test your oil first, see if it's sizzling.
All right, that's pretty good.
So carefully lay the shrimp toast in.
(sizzles) Protein side down.
(sizzles) All right.
So, raw shrimp, raw egg, at least three-to-four minutes on this side, then we'll flip it.
It'll get G, B, and D, kind of like your artichokes.
>> I love that.
>> MING: Golden, brown, and delicious.
And then we'll slice it up, put a little watercress lemon salad on top.
>> MING: Four minutes-- stay here.
All right, so this is about three-and-a-half, four minutes, right?
>> Ah.
>> MING: That's what you're looking for.
>> That is perfect.
>> MING: G, B, and D. Just be careful.
Now, this only needs, because the shrimp's basically already cooked, for the most part.
I just want to get the backside crispy.
>> Beautiful.
>> MING: Just one minute.
So let's go ahead and make our quick watercress salad.
>> Okay.
>> MING: Which... Juice of half a lemon on top, if you don't mind, chef.
Just a little extra virgin olive oil.
Like that.
Little bit of salt.
Little bit of pepper.
(mill grinding) Okay, pretty simple.
All right, and that.
We'll plate it here.
So, we need 30 more seconds there.
>> Beautiful.
>> MING: Maybe not even 30, these may be...
These may be ready.
Oh, yeah.
Perfect-- see that, guys?
That's what you want.
>> It's beautiful.
Now, do you ever use another green with it, or do you try and stick to watercress?
>> MING: Oh, no, oh, any green, I just, I just like... >> Whatever you got just hanging around?
I love how peppery watercress is.
>> MING: It is.
>> Such a nice counterpoint.
>> MING: It's peppery, and I love...
I love that there's acid from the lemon, right?
Because you need, you need to have some type of acid.
So here, we're going to go fingers.
>> Mmm.
>> MING: Right?
Like this.
You can take the crusts off if you want to go fancy and charge more in your restaurant, but... >> (laughs) >> MING: We paid for the crust, right?
So we're going to just go... Ooh, these are hot.
There is no joke.
We have room, right, chef?
>> It's perfect.
>> MING: We're hungry.
There.
All right, looking good.
A little watercress on top.
Just... >> Oh, it smells delicious.
That's great.
>> MING: There, and a little scallions... ♪ ♪ It's time to eat our toast-- come on, chef, let's go.
Chef, to you.
>> To you.
>> MING: This looks so good.
All right, this is finger food, please.
>> I'm really excited about this.
I'm going to grab a little extra watercress.
>> MING: Yeah, all right, I'm just going to go in again.
Just to confirm how delicious this is.
>> Mmm.
>> MING: Oh, my God.
>> This is so good.
I'm, like, making this tomorrow.
>> MING: Well, let's talk about this first.
The aioli is spectacular, right?
>> Thank you.
>> MING: The lemon comes out, but the magic salt?
>> It's what does it.
>> MING: I mean, ridiculous.
But I love how it-- you said it, like potato chips.
>> Yeah.
>> MING: Right?
It just, it's the most crunchiest, ridiculously multi-textured... >> You know, and like you said before, there's no flour, not even rice flour, tempura, nothing-- we just fry them as is, which is kind of nice.
>> MING: Okay, how did we do here?
It's nice that it's pieces, right?
>> Totally, it's perfect finger food.
I mean, I would just make this for lunch, or for, you know, having folks over in the springtime, sit outside-- this is a perfect meal.
>> MING: This is... this is a perfect meal.
And we got a bottle of champagne.
>> Mm!
>> MING: So...
Unfortunately, we have to go.
But, great to have you here.
>> Cheers.
>> MING: Congrats on everything.
>> Thank you.
>> MING: Continued success with Fox and the Knife.
>> Thank you.
>> MING: And I can't wait to get in there and chow down on artichokes.
>> We can't wait to have you.
Come in for a cocktail, a spritz.
>> MING: A cocktail?
>> Some artichokes-- many cocktails?
>> MING: We may...
I may never leave.
>> (laughs) >> MING: Awesome.
And I hope you never leave.
As always, thanks for watching.
Peace and good eating.
>> MING: Cheers.
>> Cheers.
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
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