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PHOTO BY JOHN KNOUFF
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What's Cookin'?
by
Wendy Pramik
Tony Miller’s
sparsely furnished condo in Gahanna says a lot more about him than
he’d probably like it to. It says that Miller, 33, hasn’t lived in
the Columbus area long. He moved here less than a year ago from
Florida to become the executive chef at Latitude 41, a trendy
new restaurant located Downtown in the Columbus, a Renaissance
Hotel.
It also says that he’s not home much. Miller spends up to 110 hours
a week preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner at Latitude 41.
And it says that he’s serious about cooking. His kitchen cupboards
reflect the telltale ingredients of a professional chef:
Tellicherry peppercorns, sea salts and a bottle of good extra-virgin
olive oil.
“If I decide to cook for myself at home,” Miller says, “I’ll buy
everything fresh.”
Such is the case on this rare day as Miller pulls out the makings
for Moroccan - spiced roasted pork loin to cook in his condo’s
neglected electric oven.
“It doesn’t matter where you prepare a fine meal,” he says, while
chopping vibrant green parsley, mint and cilantro. “It’s what goes
into it. The key is the freshest ingredients that you can get.”
Whether he’s fixing meals at home or at the restaurant, Miller says
he buys vegetables from regional farmers and fresh meats from local
suppliers such as Bluescreek Farms Meats in the North Market.
Miller’s insistence on freshness stems from his childhood. Growing
up in Louisiana, he enjoyed picking strawberries alongside his
great-grandmother in the family garden. The two also gathered fresh
tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs for salads, gumbos and jambalaya. The
recipes shared by Miller’s great-grandmother, grandmother and mother
ignited his desire to become a chef.
“There were six chefs in the family ahead of me,” Miller says. “So
there was never a shortage of people who were willing to cook.”
When Miller was 12, his mother took a job outside the home,
requiring him to prepare meals for his parents and his brother and
sister. It was a duty he honorably accepted. As Miller’s mother
watched his interest in cooking build, she bought him subscriptions
to gourmet magazines and cookbooks from the Great Chefs series.
It sometimes took Miller several hours to decipher a complicated
recipe. But eventually he would work it to perfection, allowing his
family to enjoy such dishes as tarragon chicken with white-wine
sauce and homemade spaetzle.
“One day I thought, ‘I’ve been doing this forever, I might as well
get paid for it,’ ” he says.
Miller’s culinary career has taken him to Las Vegas, Maui and Palm
Beach, Fla., where he perfected various techniques and cuisines.
In Palm Beach, Miller worked at Café Boulud, run by legendary chef
Daniel Boulud.
“That was the best experience of my entire cooking career because
Daniel Boulud is one of the true masters of culinary cuisines
today.”
Miller learned skills he’d never seen before. “It was like opening
another cookbook and going ‘wow.’ ” He got a chance to work with
Boulud, who taught him consistency and how to properly prepare fresh
vegetables.
Miller moved on to the Harbor Beach Marriott in Fort Lauderdale,
where he worked with chef Dean James Max. Miller planned to return
to Hawaii, but Max said, “Not so fast. I’ve got something going on
in Columbus.”
Max was developing a new restaurant called Latitude 41. Miller
helped plan recipes for its menu and also designed the restaurant’s
layout.
In August 2006, Miller moved to Columbus. “And it was hit the ground
running,” he says. Latitude 41’s menu reflects Miller’s experiences
and travels. “If you look down the menu, you’ll see Vietnamese,
Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Moroccan, Spanish, French. It’s definitely
a mix of global cuisines. But we don’t fuse. When we do a Moroccan
dish, we stay true to what they’d do in Morocco.”
He calls it global cuisine. “There are so many different cultures in
America,” he says. “Everybody’s brought a little piece to make
America what it is today, and we just kinda picked from that to give
you a little bit of an experience.”
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Moroccan-Spiced Roasted Pork Loin and Citrus
Pistachio Couscous with Fresh Cilantro Vinaigrette
By Tony Miller
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Serves 6
Pork Loin
4 pounds whole pork loin
3 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon ground coriander seed
½ tablespoon garlic powder
½ tablespoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
½ teaspoon ginger powder
½ tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Enough olive oil to make a paste |
What the pros do
When preparing meat dishes, such as roasted pork loin, wrap exposed
bones in tinfoil before baking in order to preserve color for
presentation. |
Couscous
1 ounce olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 pound Israeli couscous
16 ounces chicken broth (if canned,
low sodium)
1 lemon zest, julienned
½ cup pistachios
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped mint
Vinaigrette
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup white wine vinegar
1 shallot, sliced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ cup grapeseed oil
½ cup olive oil
½ bunch fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
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1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the
spices in a sauté pan and toss lightly over medium heat to toast
slightly and bloom flavors. Transfer to a small bowl. Combine with
enough oil to make a medium-thick paste (about ½ cup).
When cool,
rub generously over pork. Place pork in roasting pan and cook until
internal temperature reaches 145 degrees, or about 35 to 45 minutes.
Remove and set aside to rest.
2. While pork is cooking, add olive oil to a medium-sized pot over
medium-high heat.
Bring to almost smoking and add onions. Reduce heat to medium and
sweat for 2 to 3
minutes, or until onions turn translucent.
3. Add couscous and toast
lightly for 4
to 5 minutes. Add liquid and zest, and cook according to package
directions. When done, remove from heat and add pistachios and
herbs. Season to taste, fluff gently and set aside.
4. While couscous is cooking, add all ingredients for vinaigrette up
to the oils into a
blender. Blend at high speed. Slowly emulsify oils one at a time.
Add fresh cilantro at the end and blend just enough to mix
thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Place a bed of couscous on a large serving platter. Cut pork loin
into ¼-inch-thick
slices and place on top of couscous. Drizzle with vinaigrette.
Wendy Pramik is a writer for At Home in Columbus.
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